How the Boar’s Head plant closure could wreck this tiny Virginia town

JARRATT, Va. — Raheem Bittle needed a job straight out of high school and knew just where to go in this tiny rural town in Southside Virginia: Boar’s Head. “I had a son on the way and I went there to support them,” said Bittle, 27, who started eight years ago at $500 to $600 a week, moving pallets of meat products around the plant. Although Bittle eventually moved on — he became a commercial truck driver, then a Sussex County sheriff’s deputy — the plant that helped him get his financial footing has done the same for many others in Jarratt. Advertisement The plant was the largest private employer in Jarratt (population 637) and overlapping Greensville County, an area that also has relied on a state prison for jobs as work in manufacturing and peanut farming dried up. “They are a good employer in the community, and there aren’t a lot of other options for folks,” said Jonathan Williams, a spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, which represents the employees at the shuttered plant. Advertisement “It was a good job,” she said in Spanish, adding that she was worried about paying her rent, water and electric bills. The effects could ripple out well beyond those who lost jobs at the sprawling plant in Jarratt, a once-bustling railroad town about 60 miles south of Richmond that lost its most infamous workplace — the execution chamber at Greensville Correctional Center — three years ago, when Virginia abolished capital punishment. The Exxon station housing the Blimpie and Pizza Hut that drew Boar’s Head workers at lunchtime, the new Mexican restaurant and the old-time hardware store in Jarratt’s otherwise moribund downtown, the local auto shop, the Ford dealership, the concrete company that just rolled at least six truckloads of the stuff into the plant: All expect to feel the pinch. “We can’t fix their cars if they ain’t got no money,” said Mike Wilkens, 63, an auto technician in Jarratt. Everybody’s got to get a job, otherwise it’ll be a ghost town with everybody riding a horse and buggy.” In recent years, the facility had been cited repeatedly by Agriculture Department inspectors for health and safety violations, including having “dirty” machinery, flies in pickle containers, “heavy meat buildup” on walls, blood in puddles on the floor, and multiple instances of leaking pipes, clogged drains and heavy dust buildup in certain areas. Advertisement “There wasn’t a whistleblower,” said Tanisha Bailey, 50, who works at a local mental health facility. … This is the cost you pay and the consequences when you don’t do your job effectively.” On its website Friday, Boar’s Head posted a message: “Comprehensive measures are being implemented to prevent such an incident from ever happening again.” State Del. Howard Otto Wachsmann Jr. (R-Sussex) issued a written statement saying that he was “devastated” by the closure and that he personally knows many who had “worked very hard at this plant.” “This is a tragic situation overall and a major impact to our district,” he said. State Sen. Emily M. Jordan (R-Isle of Wight), who also represents the area, said state officials were on the ground Monday helping the workers file unemployment claims and trying to match them with other jobs in the region, which still has manufacturing plants for tools, machinery and safety glass. Advertisement “It’s going to be an obvious, major shift in the community, and these are the times where we get to use our positive relationships for good,” she said. After Union forces burned the station, houses, a church and a railroad bridge in 1864, the town “rebuilt and grew in the 20th Century,” a historical marker on the edge of downtown proclaims today. From that metal sign at sunset Friday, as a CSX train loaded with gravel rumbled past, downtown looked charming, a gray water tower with “Jarratt” in blue lettering looming over one- and two-story red-brick buildings lining Jarratt Avenue. Advertisement Residents said there is no quick fix for replacing the jobs, even as some wondered why the community has failed to capitalize on its proximity to freight rail lines and Interstates 95 and 85. “We’ve got all highways, major shipping points, but we ain’t got nothing here,” lamented Roy Key, 75, while chatting with a friend outside the Jarratt post office. Key lives in Sussex County, which extends to a part of Jarratt north of the Boar’s Head plant. “We ain’t got nothing but farmers, and they don’t employ a lot of people now, because … it’s a lot of automated equipment,” he said. “It’s going to be a big hit because it’s a huge employer,” said Traci Morris, a nurse manager at the prison. “That kills us around here,” he said of the closure. “The Virginia peanut is the biggest and best and prettiest peanut,” said Moore, whose pride in what he calls “the Cadillac of all peanuts” led him to help launch the local festival in 1963. “In Greensville County, I’m going to say 12 to 15 farming operations are doing what probably 200 did 20, 25 years ago,” he said. There is still one plywood plant in town, and a composting facility is getting off the ground, but that hardly cushions the blow from Boar’s Head. Advertisement “We’re going to miss the Boar’s Head payroll in the community,” he said. End of carousel “This is a challenging time, but we are a resilient community, and we will navigate and get through this together,” James Brown, chair of the Greensville County Board of Supervisors, said in a news release. County Administrator Charlette T. Woolridge said the county was focused on supporting workers after the departure of a plant that “has been an important part of our local economy, providing jobs and stability for many families for decades.” Landscaper Roger Mason, 70, sat in his truck outside the Exxon. “It’s going to be hard for them to make it,” he said. I really do.” At a small trailer park not far from the plant, Michael Porter said he was worried about a friend — a father and breadwinner — who had been working there. “Your kids depend on you,” said Porter, 26, who is unemployed but has done tree work in the past. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/09/18/jarratt-virginia-boars-head-plant-closure-listeria/