RICHMOND —
B&H Tool of Richmond has received a $2.3 million low-interest loan from the federal government that will keep the metal stamping business in operation and its more than 80 local workers employed.
The firm, which stamps metal parts for the automotive industry, also employs more than 30 in Rockcastle County. Its weekly payroll in Madison County is $50,000, with the Rockcastle payroll totaling $20,000 a week, said its president, Sammy Hammons.
B&H, on Lancaster Road, makes parts mostly for Toyota and Honda, but also for General Motors and Ford, he said.
Federal and local officials, including U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Sixth District, met Monday morning with B&H Tool’s workers and management to celebrate the transaction.
The loan, with a 20-year payback, was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the “Stimulus Bill,” and came through the Dept. of Agriculture’s Rural Development program with coordination by the Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp.
B&H Tool is using the money to pay off higher interest short-term loans from private lenders, Hammons said. Most of those loans were made in 2006 near the height of an economic boom when B&H employed about 160 and had the best year since it was founded in 2006, he said.
“The bottom dropped out of the market in 2007,” Hammons said, and the firm had to layoff workers as it experienced its worst year ever.
The following year was about as bad, but the market started to pick up in 2009, Hammons said. Still, “If Kentucky Highlands had not come to the rescue,” Hammons said, B&H might not have survived, because the manufacturer’s “long suffering” private lenders were running out of patience.
Jerry Ricketts, president of London-based Kentucky Highlands, praised Hammons as the kind of entrepreneur “that eastern Kentucky has too few of. If each our counties had 10 entrepreneurs like Sammy Hammons, we’d have no unemployment problem.”
Chandler also praised Hammons and his employees.
“This is the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” the congressman said. “Anybody who can survive in this economy is doing something right.”
In addition to being a great day for B&H Tool, Chandler said Monday also was a great day for the federal government.
Although the federal government and the stimulus act have been much maligned, Monday’s announcement shows how both have been able to keep businesses in operation and workers employed, he said.
The survival of manufacturing firms such as B&H Tool are important for the nation’s future, Chandler said.
“America can’t be strong if we don’t make things,” he said. “Government assistance, however, does no good unless it goes to good people like the fine folks of B&H Tool.”
Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.
Local News
Related Photos
-
Sparks fly as Shanna Kavanaugh operates a spot-welding machine which stamps parts for the automotive industry at B&H Tool on Lancaster Road. Bill Robinson
$2.3 million in federal loans helps keep B&H Tool going
Saving more than 80 local jobs
- Local News
-
-
‘She wasn’t just a teacher’ : Lambert retires after 43 years at Berea
Scroll to the bottom of the story to read "Love for Lambert: Berea graduates share memories of their teacher," as well as a list of other Berea retirees this year.
Writer’s Note: Brenda Lambert is the reason I write articles today (Class of 2000).
Years ago, a little blonde-haired girl from Rockcastle County gathered her friends to “play school” in a 10-by-10 foot playhouse her father built.
Even at 12 years old, Brenda Lambert knew she wanted to be a teacher one day.
“I always felt like an old person trapped in a young person's body,” said Lambert, who is retiring after 43 years of service to Berea Community School. -
Special Olympics return for 18th year at EKU
Next weekend, the Special Olympics Kentucky State Summer Games return to Eastern Kentucky University campus. This is the 18th consecutive year EKU has hosted the event.
The games will be Friday through June 2. About 1,300 athletes will compete this year. -
Assault charges reduced, dismissed by grand jury
Two men arrested in connection with serious assaults had their charges reduced, and in one case dismissed, by a Madison grand jury.
Jerry Wayne Edington, 34, of Berea Road, was charged Jan. 19 with second-degree assault after an altercation at the Blue Moon bar on East Irvine Street, according to a Richmond police report. -
Dump of the Day
The Dump of the Day is a recurring series the newspaper publishes to highlight illegal trash piles and push local governments to cite perpetrators and get illegal dumps cleaned up. See Page A7 in Sunday's paper to read a copy of the city’s ordinance related to trash pickup.
-
Paradise Cove open through Labor Day
Opening day of Paradise Cove Family Aquatic Center coincided with a spike in temperatures Friday which reached 90 degrees. The facility, located in Richmond’s Lake Reba Park, will be open through Sept. 3. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
-
Dump of the Day
An old mattress, a car seat and other debris sit Friday afternoon on North Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets where it was first spotted Thursday. The “Dump of the Day” is a recurring series the Richmond Register publishes to highlight illegal trash piles and push local governments to cite perpetrators and get illegal dumps cleaned up. See Sunday’s Richmond Register to read a copy of the city’s ordinance related to trash pickup.
-
Undefeated academic team brings pride to Madison Middle School
Madison Middle School 6th and 7th grade academic teams have been undefeated for the last two years.
The 8th grade team also has done well, having some students qualify to compete at the state level. -
Woman fends off burglar with knife
A Berea woman used a kitchen knife to fend off an alleged burglar early Wednesday morning, and police say they were able to catch the man in the act.
-
Man is indicted on additional sex charge involving teen in 1998
A man already accused of sex abuse in November 2011 has been indicted on a charge of first-degree rape involving a child in 1998.
Charles W. Peyton, 63, of East Irvine Street, was indicted Wednesday by a Madison grand jury. He used “forcible compulsion” to have sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl between March 1 and May 1 in 1998, according to the indictment. -
Woman fends off burglar with knife
A Berea woman used a kitchen knife to fend off an alleged burglar early Wednesday morning, and police say they were able to catch the man in the act.
Officers responded to a call in the 1000 block of Scaffold Cane Road about a man trying to break into a home, according to a release from BPD Public Information Officer Jake Reed. - More Local News Headlines
-
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
