Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

GP takes over plant

As of midnight Sunday, International Paper of Gurdon is officially Georgia-Pacific. A special sign unveiling ceremony, along with a catfish dinner, welcomed the new owners.

Carmine Perri, senior vice president of operations and compliance, said the company was proud to acquire the Gurdon Wood Products Plant and other related operations.

International Paper had a strong commitment to the community, Perri said. Georgia-Pacific has the same strong commitment. We plan to be here for a long time.

Perri said his company values the dedication of the longtime employees at the plant and wants that relationship to continue.

We bought this facility to invest in the community, he said. We9re excited about the future and are looking forward to it.

The company has 3,500 employees in Arkansas, including the plants at Gurdon, Crossett and Fordyce.

Gurdon Mayor Clayton Franklin welcomed Georgia-Pacific to Gurdon, and extended a welcome on behalf of Clark County Judge Ron Daniell. Arkadelphia Mayor Chuck Hollingshead, Arkadelphia City Manager Jimmy Bolt and Clark County Sheriff David Turner were also in attendance at the ceremony.

Franklin said he was happy to see the transition happen so smoothly.

Its been a nervous time for us, he said, referring to the insecurity of the situation. Theyd tell us the plant sold, then wed read in the paper that nothing was happening. We9re happy that Georgia-Pacific

came along.

Franklin said that he was looking forward to having you (here) a long,

long time.

The Gurdon plant manufactures lumber and plywood, and also has a forestry division. Other facilities, including plywood and lumber complexes in Springhill, La., and Camden, Texas, a plywood mill at Corrigan, Texas and an engineered lumber plant at Thorsby, Ala., were also part of the sale to Georgia- Pacific. The company gained an additional 2,400 employees overnight with the acquisition of these facilities.

Georgia-Pacific also has six facilities in Crossett, which include two chemical plants, a pulp and paper plant, a softwood plywood and stud mill and a softwood lumber plant. It has a Southern pine sawmill in El Dorado and two facilities in Fordyce, along with a consumer products plant in Fort Smith.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific employs more than 50,000 people in 300 plants in North America, South America and Europe. In addition to lumber and building materials, Georgia-Pacific also manufactures household paper products such as Brawny, Angel Soft and Dixie.