Daily Archives: October 2, 2023

Aiken Corporation, Editorials, October 2023

The Amentum Model: A Corporate Coup

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Corporate Coup:
Part Two in a Three-Part Story

1998-1999: The Playhouse Considers a Move
2000-2001: The Amentum Model: “Corporate Coup”
NEXT: 2002: The Amentum Model: “Loosey Goosey”

The super-sized January 28, 2000 Aiken Standard headline was subtitled, “Government Services picks Aiken for HQ” — a development that signaled a paradigm shift in the Playhouse project. Newberry Hall had been the site of an announcement that day, “sure to keep area economic development officials and downtown business owners grinning for months.”11

According to the article, Morrison Knudsen Government Services Group, (GSG) “decided to locate its corporate headquarters in downtown Aiken.” The new building was to be located on Newberry Street at the site of the Mark II theater and other properties purchased six months earlier by the City. 

Governor Jim Hodges, Mayor Cavanaugh and other dignitaries were on hand for the occasion. Governor Hodges said “Today’s announcement reaffirms the long-standing partnership between Westinghouse and the Aiken community… and strengthens that commitment to economic development.” 11

Mayor Cavanaugh said, “It’s a great time here for Aiken,”11 and expressed hope that folks attending meetings and conferences would be inspired to move to Aiken. 

Morrison Knudsen GSG was holder of a number of defense contracts, including the Westinghouse Savannah River Co. contract. Morrison Knudsen GSG’s new corporate headquarters was estimated to cost $3 million dollars and would share the building space with the Aiken Community Playhouse. The expected move-in date was spring 2001. The GSG side of the building was to be funded through private sources, and the playhouse side through public funding. The City of Aiken, (owner of the property) and the Aiken Corporation were to oversee the work, including both the construction and design stages, which were slated to begin immediately. 

Below the fold on the front page with this January 28, 2000 headline was a smaller headline, that read, “Sharing the Stage,” which described the building that would house the new Morrison Knudsen GSG headquarters. Designed by McDonald Law, the structure was described as a “two story brick structure comprised of two 18,000 square foot facilities joined by a 2,500 square foot, two-story lobby and courtyard.” At the top of the article was an architectural rendering of the building that exists there today. 

One can only imagine the amount of work it must have taken behind the scenes over the prior six months to pull together this done deal. Taking center stage was the SRS contractor, whose move-in date was just over a year away.

February 9, 2000: Sub-Chapter S Corporation to own the Westinghouse side of the building

The Aiken Corporation board discussed several key issues in their February meeting, including:

  • The logistics of building ownership. Morrison Knudsen GSG, now referred to as Westinghouse, didn’t want to own the building, nor did the City, which desired the ability to collect taxes on the property.
  • The logistics of leasing the building and the impact that long-term leasing might have on the Aiken Corporation’s tax-exempt status.
  • The possibility of establishing a sub-chapter S-Corporation and revising the organization’s charter to address some of these issues.

Excerpts from the Aiken Corporation minutes 2/9/2000
(Click images to view full size)

March 7, 2000: Aiken Corporation to own the Westinghouse side of the building

The Aiken Corporation met on March 7. In the wake of City Council’s recent vote to sell approximately one half of the Newberry properties at cost to the Aiken Corporation, the board discussed their willingness to develop “the Westinghouse property,” the terms of the loan necessary to doing this, and the proposed leasing agreement with Westinghouse. A motion was made and approved to move forward with the development, ownership and leasing of the Westinghouse property in close cooperation with the City.

Buzz Rich was to develop a lease with Westinghouse and an agreement between the City of Aiken and the Aiken Corporation. Speed was of the essence, as Westinghouse desired occupying the facility by this same time next year.

The wisdom of establishing a subchapter S corporation was raised, and agreement was reached to seek a second opinion.

Excerpt from Aiken Corporation minutes 3/7/2000
(Click image to view full size)

April 12, 2000: City of Aiken to own Westinghouse side of the building. Also: Project costs exceed original estimates.

Discussion in the April 2000 Aiken Corporation meeting focused on the the updated construction costs for the Playhouse, which had exceeded original estimates. Discussion ensued on additional funding sources.

It was also determined that, due to the requirement for a “firewall” to separate property owners, the Aiken Corporation would not own the Westinghouse building, after all, but would instead lease the property from the City and lease the building to Westinghouse.

Excerpt from Aiken Corporation minutes 4/12/2000
(Click on image to view full size)

May 2, 2000 newspaper headline: “Westinghouse deal discussed by City Council”12

Aiken City Council held a special meeting to work out the logistics of the planned  home for Westinghouse and the Playhouse. Counsel passed two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) regarding the new building to be constructed where the “abandoned” Mark Twin Cinema and the Whittle Building currently stood. One MOU was to specify the role between the City and Aiken Corporation regarding ownership of the Westinghouse side of the building. 

The second MOU concerned the Playhouse side of the building. The shell of this portion of the building would be constructed by the City, but the Playhouse would be responsible for finishing the interior. The City’s expenses were not to exceed $1.5 million for the construction.

Importantly, the second MOU also addressed concerns over the Playhouse’s inability to raise sufficient funds to relocate. It was decided that, if the Playhouse didn’t have an operational theater in the new building by January 1, 2003, the city had the right to terminate the MOU and/or lease. 

Lease arrangements on the building were formalized. The City owned the land; the Aiken Corporation would hold the lease on the WGSG side of the building which it would, in turn, lease to WGSG; the City would lease the other side to the Aiken Community Playhouse for $1 per year. 

According to Aiken Corporation’s May 2000 meeting minutes, the organization entered into a MOU with Westinghouse for a 10-year lease. They agreed to form the Subchaper S Corporation, LED. This would resolve issues over activities that were not included in the Aiken Corporation’s charter and/or could threaten their tax-exempt status.

Excerpts from Aiken Corporation minutes May 10, 2000
(Click on image to view full size)

June 14, 2000: The $3.5 Million Westinghouse Property

Aiken Corporation was working on finalizing the MOU for a 99-year lease with the City of Aiken, with discussion and agreements being forged on costs for the mortgage, maintenance, and parking. All area banks, except Wachovia, signed a commitment letter for permanent financing for the Westinghouse building.

Motions were made and passed for Aiken Corporation to:

  • Purchase part of the lot with the blue house (on Chesterfield) for Westinghouse parking, with the cost of the land, demolition and paving to be rolled into the Westinghouse lease payment.
  • Purchase steel outside of the contract for General Contractor.
  • Enter into a circulated loan agreement with the City of Aiken for a mortgage of, at a maximum, $3,500,000 for the construction of the Westinghouse property .
  • Open a checking account for construction, plus another account for lease payments.

Excerpts from Aiken Corporation minutes 6/14/2000
(Click image to view full size)

June 29, 2000 headline: “Building set to begin for new ACP location.”13

The low bid for the construction had been submitted by local contractor H.G. Reynolds. The demolition of the Newberry Street buildings was scheduled for July, pending the signing of the final lease agreements. The winner of the contract was to build the shell of the building, and complete the interior on the Westinghouse Government Services Group (WGSG) side of the building. The “up fitting” of the playhouse side would be determined at the conclusion of the ACP’s 2001 fundraising campaign. 

July 12, 2000 headline: “Contributions pouring in for ACP campaign”14

With the demolition of the Mark II Theater and the next door Whittle bulding underway, donations began pouring into the Aiken Community Playhouse, which was tasked with raising $1.2 million to move into the building. Bechtel Savannah River and Weldon Wyatt each pledged $50,000, and Westinghouse pledged $400,000 to the campaign. The Subchapter S Corporation, LED, was now a major player in the Westinghouse project.

Excerpt from Aiken Corporation minutes 7/12/2000
(Click image for full-size view)

August 8, 2000: “Groundbreaking for ACP complex to be held Aug 21.”15

Ground was broken for what was now being described as a $6 million dollar project. Mayor Cavanaugh, called the project “the most diverse and most interesting public private partnership in perhaps the history of Aiken.”

It was thought that the visibility of the playhouse would be boosted by the presence and shared lobby with the SRS contractor, whose name had recently morphed again, this time from “Westinghouse GSG” to “Washington Government.”

The Playhouse had so far raised $250,000 to fund their half of the two-story building. By April 2001, the earlier-quoted $1.2 necessary to fund their half of the building would jump to $1.6 million.

Excerpt from Aiken Corporation minutes 8/9/2000
(Click image for full-size view)

August 2000-December 2001

For the following 18 months, from August 2000 onward, the hardworking playhouse group would hold numerous fundraisers and benefits, which included joint efforts with the larger community. With the help of the equestrian community, the playhouse held a series of benefits, including polo matches, a carriage parade, and a dinner dance. A champagne brunch was held at Whitney Field and Ford Conger Field.

The Women of Woodside held a garden party and a home tour. Numerous Aiken homes were opened to tour and events to benefit the playhouse, including Joyce Cottage and Nancy Wilds’ 18th century Zahara Plantation. In May 2001, a large donation by Mr. and Mrs. R. Dale Phelon put the fundraiser over the $1 million mark. The new auditorium was to be named in their honor. A “design house event” was held in a Kalmia Hills home in September 2001 to benefit the playhouse. During the December 2001 holidays, the playhouse held a dinner theater benefit.

Various excerpts from Aiken Corporation minutes16 during construction provide a glimpse into the scramble of activities between financing, fundraising, leasing agreements, and creating parking spaces for what was now being called “The Washington Group/Playhouse.”

Two Asides: Willow Run and the Railroad Depot

Among the items of interest in the 2000-2001 Aiken Corporation minutes was the Aiken Corporation’s purchase of the “Willow Run” property on Beaufort Street to build a spec building — a private-public development project that promised to lure industry to the site. The spec building was completed in 2003. Afterward, it stood unoccupied and unsold for almost 20 years before the property finally sold, and the building was demolished. The year is 2023. A readily-accessed financial accounting of this venture, from start to finish, should be made available to the public.

Excerpt from Aiken Corporation minutes 10/10/2001
(Click image for full-size view)

Also among the 2000-2001 Aiken Corporation minutes were ongoing, early negotiations with Friends of the Railroad Depot regarding the “reconstruction” of a railroad depot on the grounds of the former Southern Railway passenger station that the City demolished in 1954. The Railroad Depot would finally be constructed in 2008-2010, drawing even more controversy then the Washington Group/Playhouse project.

Excerpt from Aiken Corporation minutes 11/8/2000
(Click image for full-size view)

A Mammoth Yard Sale

In late January 2002, the Aiken Community Playhouse capped off their 18-month fundraising efforts with a “mammoth yard sale.” Two weeks later, the Aiken Corporation’s chickens would come home to roost.

Next: The Amentum Model: “Loosey Goosey”

11. Burton, Adam, “Corporate Coup,” Aiken Standard, January 28, 2000.
12. Burton, Adam, “Westinghouse Deal Discussed by City CouncilAiken Standard, May 2, 2000
13. Burton, Adam, “Building Set to Begin for New ACP Location,” Aiken Standard, June 29, 2000
14. Burton, Adam, “Contributions Pouring in for ACP Campaign,” Aiken Standard, July 12, 2000
15. Burton, Adam, “Groundbreaking for ACP Complex to Be Held Aug 21,” Aiken Standard, August 8, 2000.
16: Excerpts (below) from various Aiken Corporation minutes from Nov 2000-Dec 2001. Click to view full size.

Nature News, October 2023

The Ants at Our Feet

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By Burt Glover
October 1, 2023

I have not written much in the past few weeks, the reason being that I have been overwhelmed. It all started innocently one day, while sitting in my backyard scanning the treetops for birds, I happened to look down at the (ahem!) slightly overgrown lawn at my feet, and there they were… ants. Ants of various colors and sizes; ants scurrying over every blade of grass; ants feeding on small wildflowers; ants scouring the ground.

Taking an afternoon walk, I photographed some of the ant mounds along the sidewalk in my neighborhood. My big mistake was pondering, “I wonder what kind of ants these are?” Since then, my mind has been in a tizzy.

As it turns out, it’s difficult to find information about ants, unless you’re looking for one of the hundreds of articles on fire ants. There are apparently hundreds of other ant species in the southeastern U.S., but the lion’s share of university research and information is is on fire ants and how to kill them.

Don’t get me wrong. I did find some articles on non-fire ants. These articles explained whether my ants were monomorphic or polymorphic, analysis of male genitalia, whether they are monogynous or polygynous, etc. This was, maybe, a little more than I was looking for. 

In the South, talk of ants usually leads straight to, “Fire ants… kill!” It is the same for any ant that may happen into kitchen, lawn or garden. “Kill!”

Pest control companies respond by drenching house and garden with insecticide poisons. According to popular belief, there is no such thing as a good ant. To be an ant is, in itself, akin to an act of war. Mention of this draws me into memories of the 1960’s. Like, wow, man. 

It was in early May of 1967 when the B-17s descended on Aiken. Simultaneously, orange-red balloons were strategically placed above the fields adjacent to Kennedy Jr. High. The students milled around on the playground, doing what adolescent teens do on a barren playground during their lunch period. Suddenly, the air filled with a deafening roar and the ground shook.

A giant B-17 bomber appeared overhead, flying at treetop level as it dropped its payload — insecticide bait, Mirex, targeted to kill fire ants. One student who witnessed this spectacle recalled years later, “The bait rained down. It smelled nasty- a chemical scent- but it wasn’t enough to make anyone go inside. I watched, hoping the plane would hit the balloons. It was cool!”

All in all, this poisoned bait was broadcast over at least 100,000 acres in the CSRA that May, followed by subsequent applications months later, and then more in the following years, up into the 1970’s.

In 1967, very few people had ever heard of, or even seen a fire ant. Clemson and USDA representatives had to hold county meetings to apprise farmers and landowners of the dangers of this ant. “Over 13% of our land has been overtaken by fire ants. We must eradicate them completely.”

Mirex was purported to target only the invasive fire ant, and be totally harmless to native ant species, wildlife, and humans. It was an easy sell. Despite their efforts, or maybe because of them, fire ant populations exploded in our state.

After dropping 550,000 lbs. of Mirex on Southern lands over those years, the results of this pesticide use were beginning to be known. Surprise! This poison is long-lived in the soil, the water, and in the bodies of animals who are exposed, or eat other animals who are exposed. Turtles, fish, birds, people, bears, coyotes, shrimp, crabs…. you name it — all with dangerous levels in their bodies. The pesticide accumulates and stays in fat cells for decades, affecting liver health and reproductive success. It was banned by the EPA in 1976, then unanimously banned by convention worldwide as one of the 12 worst pesticides in 1978.

So, what did the massive kill campaign of the 60’s-70’s accomplish? Well, the claims of “not hurting native ant species” turned out to be totally wrong. Yes, fire ants are bad guys who can dominate indigenous species — but only if they can gain a foothold. In my opinion, the 1960s era poison campaigns carried unintended consequences, wiping out the only reliable check on their spread: native, indigenous ants. It was the extirpating of native ants that fully opened the door for fire ant invasion.

I realize that fire ants are a problem. They can and sometimes do kill anything and everything in their path — turtles, alligators, baby bunnies, baby birds, lizards and their eggs, butterfly larvae…. everything! And as anyone who has ever stepped on a fire and nest could attest, it takes less than 2 seconds to rouse a stinging rebuke.

Step on a fire ant mound and see what happens.

Fire ants also inflict large-scale damage to agricultural crops. The damage can be seen on a smaller scale in home gardens. In my mother’s garden, fire ants chew holes in the okra flowers. The also farm aphids on the plants, which suck juices from the young fruit, producing hard nodules on the pods. Fire ants also frequent the flowers in her yard, with heavy visits to her “Dr. Tinsley” camellias, which sometimes exude copious nectar.

In my extensive reading over the past three weeks, I have found what may be effective in both the short and long term — spot control. It seems that selective treatment is key. By killing or subduing only the individual colony, rather than all the ants on the property, enables native ants to gain control and, over the longer term, keep the invasive populations in check.

Spot control can be done with boiling water– maybe 3 gallons worth– poured over a mound in your yard. Another spot control method used with success is an extremely dilute solution of D-limonene doused/sprayed onto the mound or trail. D-limonene is derived from citrus peels and can be bought as a food additive or cleaner on Amazon. 

Eliminating your fire ant colonies may give you a chance to pat yourself on the back and give a hardy “Har, har, har.” But as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. There are other introduced ants that may fill the void left by fire ants. Argentine ants? Maybe. Crazy ants? Oh lord, you’ll be wishing for good ol’ fire ants after the crazy ants take control.

Watching the numerous ant species in my yard, I suddenly realized that there were no fire ants in the mix. Only a coalition of co-existing other ants, hopefully not invasive, competing for their space. I managed to identify two native species in my yard and learn about their life cycles and habits. This led me to wonder how ants fit into the larger scheme of things. Researching this, my eyes were opened wide. My next question became, “Could our ecosystem survive without ants?”

The short answer is “No.”

Ants are natural “farmers” in our forests, fields and yards. They build their extensive nests, sometimes as deep as 25 feet, multiple times per year; in the process they cycle the inaccessible soil nutrients to the surface, making them more available to plants and trees. This effect is the equivalent of turning over 1.36 tons of soil per acre per year.

Additionally, their tunnels provide needed channels for air and water to access the roots of those plants and trees. If that were not enough, their waste products and the food products they scavenge add to the fertility of the soil. These actions by ants have been determined to be superior to those provided by earthworms. Some human cultures introduce ants to their agricultural fields for just this purpose. It doesn’t hurt that these ants prey upon the pests that feed upon their crops. 

Whenever the health of any ecosystem is evaluated, ant diversity is always a factor. Ants are at the base of the food chain. They are a source of protein for so many other organisms. Baby bears love to feed on them. Woodpeckers rely on them heavily. Turkeys, hummingbirds, coyotes, spiders (especially the wolf and jumping species), fish, lizards, snakes, dragonflies, toads, and so many other animals, eat ants as a source of sustenance.

On the flip side, ants prey on those species that plague us humans– ticks, termites, stink bugs, chiggers, caterpillars, housefly larvae, etc. They dispose of dead organisms that would otherwise amass in our own habitat. Ants move plant seeds to their nests, and some plants rely on this for seed dispersal. Some of the seeds are eaten; yet others germinate in the rich soil of their nests.

As of this evening, I am no longer in a tizzy. I never would have believed it, but I stand in awe of ants. They have been in existence for at least 140 million years and have established themselves into the ecological balance of nature. Human intervention has served to severely disrupt this balance, and we are seeing the effects. I am somewhat optimistic that maybe that balance may someday be reattained. And, I am optimistic, also, that, one of these days, I will be able to identify all of the fascinating ants that are scouring my yard. 

__________________

Contributor Burt Glover became an accidental naturalist during his earliest childhood days exploring the dirt roads, backyards, polo field and barns of the Magnolia-Knox-Mead neighborhood of 1950s Aiken. Birds are his first love, and he can identify an impressive range by song alone. He asserts that he is an observer, not an expert, on the topics of his writings, which range from birds, box turtles, frogs and foraging, to wasps, weeds, weather and beyond.