Ashamed and saddened at the status of Morganton\Western NC (Asheville: appointed, insurance)

[Forrest Wright]

I am a native of Morganton; I moved away in the mid 90's. I recently returned there for a family reunion and was very disappointed with what I saw. Almost all of the manufacturing jobs have went overseas; at the same time many rich and well to do folks have moved in to the area. So what was once a good blue collar town has now turned into a playground for the rich. If you're a middle class person like me and are considering moving to this area, my advice to you is: DON'T, unless you like being unemployed and broke.

[Catbirds]

Forrest, It is not just Morganton. This has happened in all the areas where textiles, and furniture were king. Look at Hickory. At one time they went from the lowest unemployment in N.C. to the highest in one year. Imagine that. Hickory thought they had diversified by having all those fiber optic companies there. When the dot com bust happened, Hickory lost 4000 jobs just on those companies not to mention textiles and furniture. They are trying to get retirees to move there and tout it as a medical center. My ex husband had too many things going at once and did a lot of stupid things but went from being wealthy to dirt poor. He is not the only one that it happened to. A friend of mine whose family had a large furniture company for generations, just shut down. Lenior, lost almost all of the business it was use to in the furniture business. I will say they have a very active group of people that have managed to bring in Google and also some pharmaceutical co. to come in. At least they are trying to bring in good jobs and not just throw their hands in the air and give up. Some of the other towns think it is just okay to bring in retirees. That is great, they are certainly welcomed and it will help, but for a town to grow, bring businesses in as well. These are beautiful and desirable places to live. I think companies would jump at the chance to come here if they only knew about these places and what they had to offer. All the educated young people, like my son that goes to App. State in computer science said he would never consider moving back to Hickory. Nothing there for him or young people like him. It breaks my heart.

[Forrest Wright]

I'm sorry to hear that those you know have experienced this downturn also. I know that other cities in the surrounding area are going through this also; I guess the reason why I name dropped Morganton is because it is my hometown, so it pains me much more then talking about a generic area or subject, like say, Michigan losing auto worker jobs. What hurts me the most is that this used to be a middle class, blue collar area; now it's like an exclusive club where only the well to do are allowed to attend.

[Catbirds]

Believe me, Forrest, I know how you feel. I will tell you that I have some friends that work in Morganton doing Upholstery. They are the best that I have ever seen. They have done some custom work for famous people. There are a few small companies left there, but still just not enough. If I won the big lottery, and that would be hard to do since I don't buy tickets anymore, I would love to see some plants in the area making solar panels or something like that so people would have a future. Where I live in Blowing Rock, everything is geared to the tourist and rich. Mostly all service industry jobs that pay very little. Even here, I have friends that are in the building sector and although it can be great in the summer, try going through a winter up here. I tried for years selling antiques and finally threw in the towel because I just couldn't make it. Thought about making a tee shirt that said, Go Green and Recycle...Buy my Junk. Lots of different reasons for that including the Chinese imports. I live here because its home. For me, it is worth the sacrifice. I just don't know how long we can hang on. Still trying to get something going. I hope you move back. We need people like you that not only love the area, but also love the people. Maybe with folks like you, we can make things better for the folks that have lived here for generations.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Forrest Wright

I am a native of Morganton; I moved away in the mid 90's. I recently returned there for a family reunion and was very disappointed with what I saw. Almost all of the manufacturing jobs have went overseas; at the same time many rich and well to do folks have moved in to the area. So what was once a good blue collar town has now turned into a playground for the rich. If you're a middle class person like me and are considering moving to this area, my advice to you is: DON'T, unless you like being unemployed and broke.

Just wanting clarification - who exactly are you "ashamed" of??? Because you make it should like in your title you are ashamed of Morganton and its people! That can't be right?

It's not Morganton's fault, or the people's fault that so many jobs have gone overseas. Morganton is a great little town - it doesn't have ANYTHING to be ashamed of. It is doing the best it can to hang on to its tax base and attract new business. And I think they are doing a good job of keeping the downtown alive and thriving. It IS disappointing that so much is changing in all our small manufacturing towns across America, but don't resent the very things that are at least keeping them from dying completely - new money coming in from retirees. At least those coming to Morganton aren't hacking up the place like they are in Asheville - good grief.

[Forrest Wright]

I'm not ashamed of Morganton, I'm just disgusted at the shape that it and the surrounding area are in. I know the folks there didn't ask for their jobs to be moved overseas.

[LiveLoveLaugh]

Your post was titled "ashamed and saddened" One can be 'unemployed and broke' anywhere in the Country today. I'm curious where you moved to and why you are posting a message 'not to move to your beloved hometown'? Honestly????? Why not post how WONDERFUL your town is and encourage people to move there and generate business?

[lovesroses]

It can be unnerving to see the place you loved as a child change in ways you never imagined. I guess there is some truth to the Thomas Wolfe's "you can't go home again"

[Catbirds]

I might be wrong, but how I took what Forrest said was probably coming from the perspective of someone actually from the area. I do not think for one second that he is ashamed of the people. These people, some of my people, worked hard in these textile and furniture plants. My take on what he said comes from the fact that when these companies, usually family owned, were bought out by big corporations, no one prepared these hardworking people that they would be left to twist in the wind as if what they had contributed for generations meant nothing. A lot of the family owned businesses that sold out early on, made big money. What about the people that had worked for these companies all of these years. What were they left with? And the family owned businesses that didn't sell out could not compete with the big corporations that took their jobs overseas. I am afraid you don't understand what we are really addressing here. Of course you bring in folks from other areas that come and retire and enjoy the beauty and lifestyle. What I am trying to say is that these hardworking people want jobs. Not everyone wants to be in the service industry. Sorry, but the money is not the same. Most of the jobs that cater to the wealthy are jobs that have no insurance, no retirement, no benefits. This is what I am trying to say. Some of the companies took the money from the big corporations and retired to Florida while the people that help make them rich sit stunned. As someone in an earlier post said, this is happening all across this country. But when you see your own hometown and the people you love feeling helpless and worthless, you feel ashamed that this could happen to them. These mill people, as I heard new people in the area call them, were the backbone of these little towns. Being from Hickory, like I said before, the city thought they had branched out into other industries. There was all of these fiber optic companies moving in. A good friend was an engineer with one of these companies. He was one of the big guys sent to China to modernize it into the modern world with communication. He and his wife were there for three years. A couple of years ago, we sat and talked about how it changed everything in China. He told me that at the time, he had no idea how it would affect the people that worked under him and looked up to him. He said that when he realized that all these people that he had asked to give it their all for the company would lose their jobs he couldn't handle it. He retired and had a heart attack. What no one, he said, had anticipated, was the incredible greed of the big corporations. Not, what is the cheapest place in the U.S. to run a company, but where is the cheapest labor on earth. That is what I am ashamed about.

[SunnyKayak]

Originally Posted by Forrest Wright

I am a native of Morganton; I moved away in the mid 90's. I recently returned there for a family reunion and was very disappointed with what I saw. Almost all of the manufacturing jobs have went overseas; at the same time many rich and well to do folks have moved in to the area. So what was once a good blue collar town has now turned into a playground for the rich. If you're a middle class person like me and are considering moving to this area, my advice to you is: DON'T, unless you like being unemployed and broke.

You could always get a job at one of the institutions
Morganton is home to

A prison
Mental Institution
Blind and Death Institution