Lions Club Meeting Held on August 28th

By Staff, 08/28/17 11:49 PM

HOPE- The Hope Lions Club heard from the Plant Manager of Amerities which is located on US 278 between Hope and Washington. Mark Diles noted the plant processes crossties for Union Pacific Railroad. He notes the plant processes about 1.2 million ties per years. That may sound like plenty of ties for the railroad but Union Pacific has about 32,100 miles of track and Amerities produces enough ties for 341 miles of track. It takes over 3,500 ties for a mile of track.
Diles said there are 54 employees at the plant and the annual payroll is $2.2 million in regular wages not counting overtime or benefits. Diles also said the company tries to use local vendors when possible and last year spent $1.6 million with Hempstead County businesses. Bethany Barney of the Co-operative Extension Service brought Harlie Lockhart and Sarah Ward who are showing in the Hempstead County Fair this week. Bethany reminded everyone about the Premium Sale at the County Fair Friday September 1st at the Coliseum. The meal for the premium buyers starts at 11am with the sale set for 11:30am.  The young people who are showing animals at the fair “sell” their animals in an auction for a premium.  The youngsters get to keep the animal to keep showing at the district fair, 4 States Fair, and possibly the state fair.  All interested persons are welcome to come out to the premium sale Friday at the Fair Park Coliseum.