Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Firestone dedicates distribution center

Politicians and members of the Firestone staff were joined by members of the community May 18 for an official ribbon cutting ceremony at the plants newest addition - a 153,000 distribution center.

This project represents an $11 million investment in Southwest Arkansas, said plant manager Bill Smith.

Firestones local plant manufactures several commodities, including roofing material. According to Smith, workers at the Prescott facility ship out some 30 million square feet of roofing membrane every month. That material will now be held in the plants distribution center as a way to more effectively ship to customers and other distribution centers around the county.

In addition to roofing, the Prescott Firestone workers produce whitewall rubber used for making the raised white lettering on the sides of tires and other rubber materials. Smith said there are plans to begin shipping Prescott-made materials to facilities in Canada and Mexico.

Those on hand for the dedication ceremony included U.S. Congressman Mike Ross, State Rep. Johnnie Roebuck, State Sen. Percy Malone, Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor, Nevada County Judge Baker Butler and Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce President Brad Crain.

Both Taylor and Butler offered thanks to the Firestone company for their economic commitment to the area and for providing jobs for many area residents.

From the bottom of my heart, and the citizens of Nevada County, we thank you, Butler said.

Thank you for investing in the future, Roebuck said.

Malone also commended Firestone as a company, but said its important to remember that the company is successful - at least in part - because of the hard work of the employees.

Ross briefly turned his attention to a project planned for Prescotts near future - an overpass across the Union Pacific Railroad lines. He said the Arkansas Highway Department is in charge of that project and predicted that it wouldnt move nearly as quickly as the Firestone Building.

Ross then turned his attention back to Firestone and the companys commitment to the local facility.

This is a great day for Prescott, Nevada County, Ross said.

He called the building a symbol of progress.

Progress for Firestone, progress for Prescott and progress for Nevada County, Ross said.

Contractors Doug Otte and Chris McCoy, both with the Dallas-based company Panatoni, were on hand to accept congratulations. Smith said the group was the most professional building team hed worked with and congratulated them for completing the project on time.

The project included the distribution center building and a smaller storage facility for specific compounds and the building was completed on time.

A representative of the Arkansas Department of Economic Development was also in attendance and he said his role at dedications is often to present a check. He said the Firestone project was one of the minority - a totally private investment without any state aid. He called it the best kind of project.