BOLLINGER COUNTY MAY GET NEW PLANT

Loyd Ivey grew up dirt poor in Bollinger County.

He left home at 16 and made a fortune in high-tech electronics. Now he wants to return to Marble Hill and build a 40,000- to 60,000-square-foot plant at the city's industrial park, adjacent to the local airport.

The plant initially would employ 50 workers and ultimately about 200 people.

Ivey also plans to build a home in the Marble Hill area. He hopes to move back to Bollinger County this year.

At age 45, Ivey said he simply wants to give something back to the community where he was raised.

But first the city has to secure funding to bring sewer and water to the airport along Highway 34, extend the runway and pave it. The airport currently has a grass runway.

Improvements at the Twin City Municipal Airport would cost about $900,000. The city hopes to secure state and federal funds to do the work. It has enlisted the support of Gov. Mel Carnahan in its efforts.

"The airport is the key to this thing," said David Jackson, city administrator.

"We think now Marble Hill's time has come," he said.

Born in Scopus, Ivey dropped out of high school in Marble Hill at the age of 16. His father had died and he couldn't afford schooling.

"I had no money. I was going to school during the day and working at a gas station at night," he recalled.

It was the 1960s, and jobs were limited in Bollinger County, particularly for a high school kid.

He knew a few people in Chicago. So he left home with $35 to his name. He bought a bus ticket to Chicago for $25, which left him $10 in cash. He arrived in Chicago with little more than true grit.

"I think I coined the phrase 'homeless.' I went up there and I had no place to live," he said.

He took a day job and a night job. He worked almost around the clock, seven days a week.

He bought an old '57 Chevy that didn't have a reverse gear. He slept in the car, parking it under a bridge at night.

He held a number of jobs from steel mill worker to janitor.

"Hunger is an amazing motivator," Ivey said.

Two years later he owned his own business making wooden television cabinets.

"I talked the banker into giving me a loan at age 18 when it wasn't legal to sign a contract until you were 21. I convinced him I could make it happen," remembered Ivey.

"You've got to have faith and confidence in yourself or no one else will," he said.

At 18, Ivey passed the GED test. "I didn't even study," he recalled.

He enrolled in a junior college, taking classes at night and running his business during the day.

But he never obtained a degree. "I don't believe you go to school to get grades or a degree; you go to school to get an education."

Ivey said his life has been one of applied learning. When it came to business, he was a quick learner.

He soon merged with another company and ended up in the electronics business.

Over the years he has bought a number of companies. He invented an electronic bug zapper.

In 1979, he founded MTX Inc., a high-tech electronics manufacturer that today makes everything from amplifiers to communications speakers.

He opened operations in Phoenix, Ariz., eight years ago in a house. He put engineers to work developing high-tech amplifiers and electronics products.

Today, Ivey's Phoenix manufacturing plant covers two and one-half acres under roof.

In all, Ivey has 17 factories and warehouses, divided between Phoenix, Winslow, Ill., and Monroe, Wis.

His business includes everything from CD players to speakers. "We build speakers for nuclear submarines and battleships. We do them for all the commercial aircraft and for private jets," said Ivey.

NASA plans to use MTX speakers exclusively on the space station.

Jackson said Ivey lives in a multimillion-dollar home. The home is on the grounds of a general aviation airport Ivey owns near Phoenix.

He visits his plants by private jet. His plants are built near airports so he can land, walk right in and conduct business, and fly off again.

Ivey already has some business interests in Bollinger County. His company has show cars, which are used to demonstrate the company's car stereo equipment. That operation is now based out of Marble Hill.

He also owns a cattle operation in Bollinger County. He also may launch a timber operation so he can sell wood chips to be made into speaker cones for his electronics business.

Ivey bought the old elementary school he attended in Marble Hill. He paid about $150,000 for the 1939-era structure and plans to preserve it.

The money went to help the school district, which is building a new elementary school adjacent to the Woodland school complex.

Ivey has donated money to Southeast Missouri State University. He also plans to provide money for scholarships so Bollinger County students can attend Southeast Missouri State.

He has a home along the Castor River and has visited Marble Hill from time to time.

Although he has become a business success, Ivey remains low-key about himself.

"I don't want to be revered or anything. I am just a plain, ordinary guy trying to do the right thing," he said.

Still, Ivey admits that when it comes to business he doesn't take no for an answer.

"The world is full of people who want to throw hurdles in front of you," he said. "I have been jumping hurdles all my life."