Tyson CEO and President Tom Hayes was the BMOC (big man on campus) at the Humboldt plant ground-breaking on Wednesday when he promised a $500,000 kickback grant to Gibson County.
But it’s not really a no-strings unconditional gift, nor is it really money from Tyson Foods’ pocket, is it Tom?
First, the ever paternalistic Tyson leadership that has come to rescue Welcoming Witherspoon – who is now out of favor with his Democrat party – has not agreed to just let Gibson Countians decide on their own how to spend their new found wealth.
Nooooo. A steering committee “of community leaders and Tyson Foodsteam members” will decide how to spend the money. Any chance the “community leaders” will be same ones that worked the deal that could possibly “fowl” some of the already threatened nearby waterways? The same leaders like Welcoming Witherspoon who has said that, like Randy Boyd, he welcomes Muslims and immigrants to come work in Gibson County:
Randy, like me, isn’t afraid of a Muslim coming to the county and maybe seeking a job, or a legal immigrant coming to the county. He’s not afraid of that; neither am I. If somebody wants to come here legally, and seek employment and be productive and work hard, God knows we need more of that, not less of it.
And the $500,000? Chicken feed for a company that last year boasted sales of $38.3 billion dollars. That’s BILLION with a capital B.
Better yet, remember that $18 million dollar hush-hush FastTrack grant that showed up as a supplemental appropriation to Tennessee’s budget as going to Tyson Foods?
Recycling a measly $500,000 of the $18 million corporate welfare dollars. Tyson Foods must think Tennesseans really are asleep at the wheel.
Unfortunately, many of the Tennesseans in the western part of the state are asleep at the wheel. They can’t see straight because heir eyes spin with dollar signs when they see the Tyson “chicken farming” industry clucking at the backdoor to be let in. What they don’t realize is that they’re being taken in by the promise of jobs that may or may not materialize for them.
If Tyson follows its standard pattern, they’ll offer minimum wage for most of the jobs and will hire refugees who’ll strain the social, educational and law enforcement services of the county. And how about the fact that the large scale “chicken farming” will pollute the environment and the Duck River could be messed up for fishing, boating and canoeing. This is a bad deal for the state and those involved (like La Raza Randy) should be held accountable.