INVESTING IN MARBLE HILL

Although Loyd Ivey's assessment that the people of Bollinger County have "always been looked at as second-class citizens" at the "bottom of the food chain" over-dramatizes actual conditions, his intentions to do something for the county in which he was raised are dramatic.

Ivey, who grew up dirt poor in Bollinger County and left home at 16, making a fortune in high-tech electronics, has returned from Phoenix, Ariz., to his roots to try to spur economic development in a county that always has been deprived of it.

Ivey bought a home near Marble Hill and opened a high-tech electronics manufacturing business at the city's industrial park adjacent to Twin City Municipal Airport. He also has opened a home center and will soon open a new restaurant and a car wash. Ivey has purchased 80 acres of ground to develop a subdivision. Situated on Highway 51 South, it will be called Deer Path Estates.

He is developing a 40,000- to 60,000-square-foot plant to house MTX, the company he founded in 1979, making it into a multimillion-dollar business with headquarters in Phoenix and 17 factories and warehouses from Arizona to Wisconsin. He says the plant will employ 200 people.

Throughout his absence, Ivey has not forgotten the conditions that surrounded him during his youth. He has come home with dreams of providing employment for the county's young people and helping give Bollinger County a new image. His efforts to do so will be watched by many.

Let's hope that his new endeavors are successful and that his becomes a classic rags-to-riches tale that Bollinger County can be proud of for generations to come.