[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 59 (Wednesday, May 4, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2679-S2681]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO DAVID AND IRENE MORRIS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the extraordinary 
accomplishments of two of the most dedicated and hard-working citizens 
of the Commonwealth, David and Irene Morris of Hager Hill, KY. Working 
as a team of husband and wife, David and Irene have worked tirelessly 
over the years to strengthen and improve the manufacturing industry in 
Johnson County and throughout the State through their work at the 
Atlantic India Rubber Company.
  Although Irene and David's native roots are in Michigan, the couple 
moved to Kentucky when the Atlantic India Rubber Company, a 92-year-old 
company, moved its operations here from Illinois and Ohio in 2003. 
David and Irene were hired to oversee the day-to-day operations of the 
facility. Their son and one other employee joined them on their move, 
and the rest of their employees were hired locally.
  David and Irene's decision to take on their responsibilities as 
manager and executive came at a time when the State's manufacturing job 
rate was on a steady decline. In recent years, Kentucky has lost too 
many of its manufacturing jobs, with some especially hard-hit counties 
losing as many as one-third of their manufacturing employers. But 
thanks to David and Irene, this was not to be in Johnson County. The 
couple lived in their warehouse while trying to establish the business, 
and had to have machines shipped from other locations since the local 
business community was geared more towards the coal industry than 
manufacturing, but they succeeded. As only one of nine manufacturing 
employers in the county, they have raised the local area's 
manufacturing employment rate, and have helped keep jobs from drifting 
overseas.

[[Page S2680]]

  Last spring, after the couple had poured nearly 10 years of their 
lives into building the company, then-owner Jim Green announced that he 
would be retiring. With none of the interested buyers having ties to 
Johnson County, David and Irene knew what they had to do. Later that 
fall the couple announced they were the new owners of the Atlantic 
India Rubber Company.
  Because of their purchase, the rubber parts used on Harley Davidson 
motorcycles, Arctic Cat snowmobiles, and Boeing jets would still be 
made in the heart of the Commonwealth, and eight hardworking people 
would still have their jobs. With combined help from the Southeast 
Kentucky Economic Development Corporation and the Mountain Association 
for Community Economic Development, David and Irene secured a $1.3-
million loan to buy the company and the location.
  Irene once said that at first she was hesitant to take on her 
responsibilities at Atlantic India Rubber Company for fear of failure. 
Well, as she discovered, along with her employees and the residents of 
Johnson County, failure was simply not in the cards for the Morrises. 
It is people like them, who have extraordinary aspirations and faith in 
themselves and in Kentucky, that continue to make the Commonwealth a 
thriving and positive place to work and live.
  Mr. President, the Lexington Herald-Leader recently published an 
article highlighting the impressive careers of David and Irene, and I 
ask unanimous consent that the full article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was printed as follows:

                   [From Kentucky.com, Jan. 29, 2011]

    Johnson County Couple Buys Out Employer, Keeps Jobs in Kentucky

                          (By Dori Hjalmarson)


                   ky. manufacturing employment woes

                Percent Change in Employment, 2005-2009

       United States--16.8
       Kentucky--18.6
       Johnson Co.--11.6
       --Kentucky Office of Employment and Training
       Hager Hill.--Irene and David Morris could have packed up 
     and taken jobs elsewhere, maybe back home in Ohio or 
     Michigan, when the owner of the manufacturing company retired 
     and sold out. If that had happened, Atlantic India Rubber Co. 
     grommets and parts might be made in China now.
       But the Morrises--working as manager and executive--decided 
     they'd poured nearly 10 years of their life into building the 
     factory in Johnson County.
       They cared about their employees, all hired locally when 
     the 92-year-old company moved from Illinois and Ohio in 2003. 
     They cared that the rubber parts used on Harley Davidson 
     motorcycles and Arctic Cat snowmobiles and Boeing jets are 
     made in the U.S.A. They wanted to save their jobs. And 
     ultimately, Irene Morris said, the company survived ``one of 
     the toughest years ever'' for manufacturers, so ``we knew the 
     business was sound.''
       So the couple, whose children are grown and whose only debt 
     was a mortgage and a car loan, borrowed nearly $1.3 million 
     to buy out their employer last summer.
       ``When we came on board here, we ran it like it was ours. 
     We put a lot of ourselves into it,'' Irene Morris said.
       ``I think we're proud of what we do here.''


                     Kentucky's manufacturing slide

       Many manufacturers haven't fared so well. Since 2005, 
     Kentucky has lost more than 18 percent of its manufacturing 
     jobs. Some counties have lost as many as a third of their 
     manufacturing employers and more than 60 percent of 
     manufacturing jobs, according to the Kentucky Office of 
     Employment and Training. The Morrises' purchase of Atlantic 
     India Rubber helped Johnson County buck that trend.
       The company is one of nine manufacturing employers in the 
     county. Atlantic India's eight employees count for less than 
     10 percent of the 135-strong manufacturing labor force in the 
     county.
       But since 2005, Johnson County's manufacturing employment 
     has grown by nearly 12 percent.
       The rubber company has an old brand name, but before it 
     moved to Johnson County, it was really just a distributor. 
     Contractors made all the parts, Irene Morris said.
       ``We were a start-up in the sense that for probably 30 or 
     maybe more years, it was maybe just a distribution center,'' 
     she said. ``Distribution isn't all that much cost to set up; 
     manufacturing is because you've got all your presses.
       ``Coming into this area, that was probably one of the 
     biggest challenges we've had. No one in this area had 
     experience.''
       They brought two employees from Michigan, including their 
     son, who now manages a restaurant in Paintsville. But they 
     hired the rest of their employees locally.
       The Morrises worked to improve the quality of their 
     products and relationships with customers. Atlantic India's 
     owner, Jim Green, was a former Johnson Countian who knew the 
     area but lived in Florida. He trusted Irene and David Morris 
     to run the business as though it were their own.
       Irene Morris said her husband, who had served in Germany 
     and Spain in the Army, was the one who talked her into 
     pulling up her Michigan roots to move to Johnson County in 
     the first place.
       ``I didn't have a lot of faith in my ability,'' Irene 
     Morris said.
       She had gone to college to be a social worker but got a job 
     as a trimmer at another rubber company. She has learned the 
     business from the ground up over 20 years. She and David met 
     working for the same rubber company, before they were hired 
     by Atlantic India.
       There were advantages to working in Johnson County: Their 
     boss knew the area and wanted to move; costs were lower than 
     those in factory-saturated Ohio and Michigan; the small-town 
     atmosphere and cost of living appealed to the couple.
       But there were problems, too. The local business community 
     isn't geared toward manufacturing.
       ``In Michigan,'' David Morris said, parts makers used to be 
     so plentiful ``you could just go around the corner and find 
     what you need.''
       Now, the Morrises need a tool-and-die maker, for example, 
     but the market is so geared toward the coal industry, they 
     aren't sure where to start looking locally. Also, they are 
     pleased that one of their Oregon contractors might be opening 
     up facilities in Ohio, cutting travel and distribution costs.
       When they first moved to Hager Hill, Irene and David Morris 
     lived in their warehouse while trying to establish the 
     business. They had to have machines shipped in and find 
     workers they could train to run them.
       They still feel like outsiders in Johnson County, but local 
     leaders have welcomed them, Irene Morris said. She has a 
     relationship with the local chamber of commerce, the judge-
     executive, state representatives. She said she personally 
     knows the local UPS and FedEx workers, as well as bankers and 
     suppliers.
       ``They made us feel like a big deal, even though we were 
     small,'' Irene Morris said.


                           Hands-on managers

       The Morrises were managers, but they knew every job in the 
     business and were hands-on. They filled in for their workers, 
     and they trained a press operator to fill in for them. They 
     bought a house and two cars, and their son eventually moved 
     on to other jobs.
       ``We're just ordinary people,'' Irene Morris said. She 
     didn't have aspirations to ``get rich'' or even to own her 
     own business until a couple of years ago, when her boss 
     decided to retire and sell.
       There were interested buyers, but none with ties to Johnson 
     County. The economy was starting to slide, manufacturing jobs 
     nationwide were disappearing, and the Atlantic India brand 
     might have been valuable enough to those outside buyers 
     without keeping the manufacturing in Kentucky.
       A few years earlier, a major Johnson County manufacturer, 
     American Standard plumbing parts, had sent hundreds of jobs 
     to Mexico. The Morrises feared Atlantic India would have had 
     a similar fate.
       The couple made contacts with local government and non-
     profit groups, as well as the state Cabinet for Economic 
     Development.
       The Morrises are part of a trend, said Economic Development 
     Commissioner Erik Dunnigan.
       In 2010, 84 percent of job growth and investment growth 
     came from existing local companies, as opposed to companies 
     new to Kentucky: ``That's redirecting our efforts,'' Dunnigan 
     said.
       In September 2009, Atlantic India started talking with 
     Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, a 
     Berea non-profit. MACED and Southeast Kentucky Economic 
     Development, a London non-profit, began the year-long process 
     to help Atlantic India secure nearly $1.3 million in 
     financing to buy the company and the building they were 
     leasing.
       Irene Morris had to write an application for the loan, a 
     three-year forecast, growth projections and a business plan.
       She said she knew the manufacturing side of her work, but 
     she had to learn quickly about the financial side.
       Half of the loan came from a federal Small Business 
     Administration program handled by SKED: the other half came 
     from MACED. If the couple defaults, the organizations would 
     seize the business and property.
       The feeling, when they signed their names to the loan, was 
     both empowerment and trepidation.
       ``We've never been that far ever in debt,'' David Morris 
     said.
       But he believed in his wife. Irene Morris is officially the 
     51 percent owner, which gives the company a leg up in some 
     contracts because it can call itself a ``woman-owned'' 
     business.
       The fact that the Morrises know the business so well made 
     them good candidates for a loan, said Justin Maxson, 
     president of MACED.
       Irene Morris said she might have given up trying to get the 
     loan if not for such encouragement from MACED and Southeast 
     Kentucky Economic Development.
       When she's ready to retire in 20 years, Morris said, ``I 
     would like to see a couple of our employees be able to buy 
     the business.''

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