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MARIA WATSON Herald Bay Bureau Chief
Hancock County, which once boasted of teeming logging communities at Pearlington, Kiln and Logtown, seems on the road to industrial success again through the efforts of the Port and Harbor Commission.
The 2,400 acre Port Bienville Industrial Park at Pearlington, which has been developed at a cost in excess of $6 million, has approximately 40 per cent of its lands either occupied or under option, according to port Director Wilson Webre.
Webre said the commission is “extremely optimistic about 1976.”
The park’s biggest prospect to date, Borg-Warner Chemicals, of Parkersburg, W. Va., a division of Borg-Warner Corp., has extended its option on 205 acres of choice property and officials hope the com-pai:«y, will announce this year its decision to build
a multi-million dollar thermoplastic resin plant in Hancock County.
Borg-Warner is the world’s largest producer of thermoplastics used in telephones and other communications equipment, automotive products, furniture, cabinets and sports equipment.
The plant, a $50-$70 million operation and the first of its kinds in the South, would employ a minimum of 160 persons, ultimately increasing its work force to 450.
Other industries already located in the park are:
—- Marine Concrete Structures, a Louisiana-based firm which has purchased 45 acres and optioned 39 more. The company manufactures concrete barges for offshore drilling, prestress pilings and bridge structures.
— International Demolition and Salvage Co. of Nashville, Tenn., has a lcase-purchase agree-
ment on 47 acres for the purpose of dismantling tive World War II Liberty Ships.
The stripped-down hulls are being towed outside the offshore islands for sinking as artificial fishing reefs.
—	Hancock Grain Inc., which has situated a grain elevator on six acres.
Bienville Steel Inc., a New Orleans company which has completed construction of a 50,000 square foot building on 26 acres in the park and will soon begin production of custom steel buildings.
—	Bienville Terminal Inc., occupying two acres, is a lease operation of a terminal and public docking area.
—	Jackson Landing Fabricators, purchasers of four acres, are in the railroad car repair business.
Development of the industrial park, which originally had a maximum of 2,200 acres, began in the early 1960s. The Economic Develop-
ment Administration (EDA) entered the project after Hurricane Camille in 1969 and it was completed in 1974.
Webre said the park places the county in “a most fortunate position,” adding the Port Bienville facility has gained more industry, proportionately, in the past two years than any park in the state.
The county also has a modern airport and space for an air industrial park which, Webre said, the commission hopes will be developed.
A $2.8 million expansion program was undertaken at Stennis International Airport, located off Mississippi 603, in 1973 and was completed in 1975.
The project included a 4,000 foot runway extension bringing the runway to its present 8,500 feet and installation of modern lighting. Jet fuel tanks were later installed, placing the airport development five years ahead of the 15-20 year growth mas-
ter plan, Webre said.
Financing of the airport project came from the Federal Aviation Administration (75 per cent), with the remainder coming from the or-iginal county bond issues.
The airport was first developed in the early 1960s in efforts to facilitate the National Aeron-autics and Space Administration's rocket test facility in Hancock County.
Later plans envisioned its use as a cattle depot, a project which never got off the
ground.
At least one prospect is interested in locating in th? industrial airpark, Webre said.
The New Orleans-based Walle Corp., a tin can labeling business, is interested in six acres adjoining the Vocation-al-Technical Center, according to Webre. The corporation, which makes Dole pineapple labels, would construct a $1 million operation in Hancock County upon approval of a Mississippi Agricultural and Industrial Board revenue bond issue.
American Independence. This gigantic copper figure was executed in Paris by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and in 1886 it was placed on a 154-ft pedestal on Bed-loe's Island (renamed Liberty Island in 1956). From the base of the pedestal to the tip of the torch, the world's loftiest statue rises 305 ft.
Construction of the statue began on August 5, 1884 and was unveiled October 28, 1886 by President Grover Cleveland.
Entitled “Liberty Enlightening the World” Bartholdi’s sculpture holds the torch in her right hand while a book of laws rests in her left. On its pedestal is inscribed a sonnet by New York-born poet Emma Laza-
LIBERTY POLES, TREES
Symbols before which the patriots known as the Sons of Liberty (political organizers) assembled to “pledge their fortunes and their sacred honors in the cause of Liberty.” As symbols the idea of liberty was meshed with and amplified by a strong use of numerology.
For example, 45 was the issue number of John Wilkes' newspaper' which had criticized the king. 92 was the number of votes in the Massachusetts Legislature against any unpopular action. Hence, 92 Sons of Liberty would erect a Liberty Pole 45 feet high.
*** * * AMERICA BREATHS BOAT & MOTORS
HWY 90 BAY ST. LOUIS 467-4211 r —= ik	—....... 
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Breath home. . .
Staff photo by Vernon Matthews
The spacious home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles In 1819 by Demetry Canna, according to records.	lieved to have belonged to Baptiste Favre.
Breath, 616 North Beach, Bay St. Louis, was built The property on which the house was built is be-
ocatesin Hancock
*1.111 1:1 I I I h i
SPECIAL SELECTION OF SUMMER MERCHANDISE
1/2 OFF
AND MORE
GROUP OF JUNIOR AND MISSES SEPARATES
Vl TO 1/3 OFF MISSES AND JUNIORS SWIMWEAR 1/2 to V3 OFF
DRESS SHOP
BAY ST. LOUIS SHOPPING CENTER HIWAY 90 BAY ST. LOUIS 467-9338,


BSL 1970 To 1976 Newspaper-Clippings-BSL-'70-'76-(07)
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