THE PUBLIC MIND: FORMER LENCO CHAIRMAN SPEAKS TO CONCERNS RAISED CONCERNING RETIREMENT BENEFITS

To the Editor:

I'm writing this letter in response to the June 17 front page article about Lenco, Inc.

The caption under the picture said that the Lenco employees did not receive their retirement benefits. That's incorrect. Lenco had two retirement plans: a pension plan and an ESOP stock plan. All employees received 100 percent of their monies from the pension plan, over $700,000 in total!

The ESOP plan was designed to purchase company stock. Lenco purchased the stock for the employees. In other words, no employee ever paid any money for the stock, not one dime. An employee said in the article that she had $20,000 invested in the ESOP. That's incorrect. Again, the company purchased the stock on her behalf. Like any other stock, values change. Unfortunately, Lenco's stock has no value. I feel as bad about it as anybody. I lost my potential value in the stock like everyone else.

Jerry Ford

Former Lenco chairman

Cape Girardeau