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Millsboro Facilities NOTE: Sussex Beat is a mix of news, analysis and commentary by Eric Magill, publisher of Sussex County Online.
Townsend's Inc. has confirmed that it is selling its chicken processing and soybean facilities in Millsboro as soon as it finds a buyer that will continue the operation there. Townsend's, the largest poultry processor in Delaware, informed 2,000 employees of the facilities and Millsboro town officials in a memo on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 1999 that it intended to sell the plants. Townsend's officials told employees it would try to sell the plants to another poultry processing company that would continue the operation intact. The company is one of the Top 25 employers in Sussex County. The company, founded in Millsboro but now headquartered in Wilmington, says the sale is part of an ongoing restructuring and that is was moving away from producing traypack chicken for Northeast retailers, one of the principal jobs of the Millsboro plant. In its first restructuring move, Townsend's sold its culinary operation to a Kentucky firm. Townsend's Poultry Products Group produces more than 3 million freshly processed chickens each week and is the nation's 10th largest broiler producer. It was incorporated in 1938 and a year later built its first hatchery in Millsboro. It built the poultry processing and soybean plants that are for sale and a feed mill in the 1960s. The company expanded the poultry plant in 1992 to meet its increased traypack demand. It also has facilities in North Carolina and Arkansas. Townsend's has a long history in the Millsboro area. It was founded as a lumber company in the 1890s by John G. Townsend Jr., the grandfather of P. Coleman Townsend Jr., the company's current chairman and CEO. John G. Townsend Jr. served as governor and senator during his lifetime. John Townsend and his son, Preston C. Townsend, began developing the poultry business in the 1930s.
Dewey Beach Town Council will hold a public hearing Saturday, Dec. 11, 1999, at 9 a.m. to discuss and vote on a proposed moratorium on the construction of new multi-unit dwellings including motels and townhomes. The hearing will continue a discussion begun at November's meeting that resulted in a moratorium on such construction but the moratorium was repealed two days later after questions arose regarding the town's advertising of the proposal. The moratorium would prohibit the issuance of a building permit for new hotels, motels, multi-family and town housing projects, according to the town's agenda for the meeting. Council will also vote on ordinances to increase parking permit and beach fire fees.
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If you're looking for medical information on the Internet, a good place for basic information about medical topics is Drkoop.com, a site led by former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop. In addition to reference material on more than 60 conditions, the site also provides breaking medical news and a dozen medical forums broken down by topic. You can search the site by symptom or by illness or disease. Local News Index | News Index |
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