tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20147126.post3609359901845296919..comments2024-01-26T01:49:56.783-06:00Comments on Lagniappe's Lair: Just becauseMurphy's Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17164780742334950772noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20147126.post-38080371760269153702014-01-29T18:21:54.752-06:002014-01-29T18:21:54.752-06:00Don, it's a shame what Cumberland, like many c...Don, it's a shame what Cumberland, like many cities, has become. Walking around, you can still see what it used to be like once. Sadly the ones who built it and made it thrive are gone now, and today's generation just doesn't seem to have what it takes to keep it going, much less improve on it. I hope that you'll keep coming back to the blog.Murphy's Lawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17164780742334950772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20147126.post-85869014928208034162014-01-29T18:12:07.518-06:002014-01-29T18:12:07.518-06:00Read your blog with must interest. I was born and ...Read your blog with must interest. I was born and raised in Cumberland and cannot refute anything you have said. During the 50's and 60's, the city had a soul and as stated, most worked at Celanese, KS Tire and Rubber, PPG and the B&O Railroad. Downtown was vibrant and alive. Today, your observations are spot on. It is my opinion that unions killed Cumberland and Allegany County. Strikes and labor unrest negated any advantage corporations had in being here. As you observed, we aren't exactly in the thick of things. Midway between Pittsburgh and Baltimore/Washington, businesses tend to gravitate to population/disposable income areas and that is NOT our fair city any longer. HunterDouglas, Western maryland Health Systems and CXS are the prime employers. Interestingly, our city and county planners all tout the minimum wages that the citizens will work for here as a lure for them to set up here. Yep, we're better'n moving to Mexico!<br />donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17019845337167760478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20147126.post-57854822694313766012013-04-09T07:19:00.806-05:002013-04-09T07:19:00.806-05:00Good points Murph, and your observations pretty mu...Good points Murph, and your observations pretty much spell doom for that town... I'm betting the bars do a booming business and not much else is open...Old NFOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16404197287935017147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20147126.post-16465786397437059942013-04-08T21:26:38.533-05:002013-04-08T21:26:38.533-05:00@ Expat. Owl: Unless I miss my guess, Cumberland&#...@ Expat. Owl: Unless I miss my guess, Cumberland's biggest employer these days is CSX railroad. They have a HUGE yard and shop there and it's got to provide boo-coo jobs.Murphy's Lawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17164780742334950772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20147126.post-19516442044240396802013-04-08T21:23:34.539-05:002013-04-08T21:23:34.539-05:00Yes, I spent the better part of a week in Cumberla...Yes, I spent the better part of a week in Cumberland 20-something years ago, back when I worked for Uncle Sam.<br /><br />Piecing together what the locals told me, the American Celanese plant in Amcelle was a major employer, but the plant was padlocked in the early 1980's, a few years before my arrival. They made, among other things, a synthetic substitute for silk. A high school classmate of mine later told me that his father, who was in the women's hosiery business, had frequent occasion to go to Cumberland to talk with the Celanese people.<br /><br />I am informed that once the American Celanese plant went under, so did the better part of the economy of Cumberland.<br /><br />When I was there I took a drive out to Amcelle and saw the American Celanese plant. By that time, the padlocks were superfluous becase just about every window in the facade was smashed.<br /><br />My own official business was at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in Rocket Center, West Virginia. They maintain a P.O. Box address in Cumberland so that government travelers can get paid the Maryland per diem rate instead of the West Virginia rate.<br /><br />Actually, the depressed economy was not a total negative for me. The guys from my office were all directing one another to some out-of-the-way motel up the Potomac river, which was removed from anything resembling civilization. When I went into downtown Cumberland the first afternoon, I learned that the Holiday Inn there would give a government employee with a travel order a king bed room for the government per diem rate. Not only was the hotel near some nightlife and shopping, but it had a bigger and better room than the fleabag motel.<br /><br />Anyway, the old American Celanese plant has been torn down, an a state prison has sprung up in its place.<br /><br />Thanks for the memory, Murph!Expatriate Owlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05094406368801045958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20147126.post-6170340784503323552013-04-08T20:16:38.037-05:002013-04-08T20:16:38.037-05:00Well done commentary on our sad state of affairs i...Well done commentary on our sad state of affairs in this country/world. Will we ever have a Margaret Thacker???RV There Yet?https://www.blogger.com/profile/05123146437274243439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20147126.post-79473346337034486762013-04-08T17:45:04.065-05:002013-04-08T17:45:04.065-05:00Sadly welfare has corrupted quite a few people and...Sadly welfare has corrupted quite a few people and made it just so easy to do nothing (and we are paying the tab for that.)<br /><br />Now those who are truly maimed, paralyzed, have severe mental problems, etc... I am happy for us to take care of them (it IS the Christian thing to do.) But way way to many can work. <br /><br />As St. Paul said... "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat". <br /><br />And that is the truth of the whole matter! Welfare is destroying people left and right by making them lazy.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11635784352780834494noreply@blogger.com