NEW LEE-ROWAN OWNERS REASSURE WORKERS, REGION

The sale of the Lee-Rowan plant in Jackson this week spurred a mixture of feelings.

- There was relief. The new owners - the Newell Company of Freeport, Ill. - announced they would retain the more 700 workers in Jackson. As one of the top employers in the region, the news was certainly reassuring. Lee-Rowan represents an important cog in the local economy.

- There was anticipation, the kind that comes with new ownership. Newell, itself, is a corporate giant. Among the 20 companies it owns are Levelor, BenzaMatic Propane and Easy Painters.

- There was sadness. The sale will bring a diminishing role for Lee-Rowan President Desmond Lee. Under the sales plan, Lee will serve as an adviser for the next two years before retirement. Lee embodies a remarkable American success story. He fashioned a small metal closet accessories manufacturing firm into a multi-million dollar business. It was Desmond Lee who came to Jackson to personally break the news to workers.

Lee-Rowan has enjoyed remarkable growth - both in Jackson and company wide. It was founded in 1939 by Edgar D. Lee and John V. Rowan in St. Louis - manufacturing metal trouser creasers for Sears, Roebuck and Co. and JCPenney. Today, it manfacturers and distributes home organizational products in the U.S., Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia, and the Caribbean.

The Jackson plant represented the largest of the Lee-Rowan facilities - encompassing more than 635,000 square feet under one roof. When the firm opened its Jackson operation in 1964, 25 employees worked in a 42,500 square foot building. Since then, the plant has expanded more than 10 times. Lee-Rowan also employed some 300 at its St. Louis operation and had recently opened a new plant at Newbern, Tenn. In all, there are more than 1,200 workers.

In 1992, the firm had retail sales of $100 million. We are hopeful this growth continues under the new ownership. That growth has translated into three shifts of workers at the Jackson plant.

We welcome these new owners, and wish them well in their endeavors in Jackson. We are confident they will be pleased with the hard-working productivity of local workers and solid support from the region.