A state economic development team will tour the Ironton area today then hold a 2 p.

Thursday, February 03, 2000

A state economic development team will tour the Ironton area today then hold a 2 p.m. press conference, the Ohio Department of Development announced.

"They didn’t decide to hold the press conference until yesterday," Greater Lawrence County Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Pat Clonch said this morning.

The tour will give state officials a chance to see Ironton’s industrial buildings, sites and housing areas, a department of development news release said.

Mrs. Clonch agreed and called today’s tour a marketing tour, but would not release details about the press conference, which will be held at the chamber office in South Point.

The state already has a marketing plan in place for the Lawrence County area, which has been hit with the loss of 450 Cabletron jobs last year and 600 Ironton Iron jobs. Ironton Iron is expected to begin layoffs this week in preparation for its shutdown.

That marketing plan was developed by the state’s First Frontier marketing group as called for by state legislation, Mrs. Clonch said.

Delegates from Gov. Bob Taft’s economic development team who will tour Ironton today include T.J. Justice, the governor’s regional economic development representative; Joy Padgett, director of the governor’s Office of Appalachia; Jean Carter Ryan, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Development’s economic development division; and Mike Jackson, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Deveoopment’s special projects office.

Local city, county and Greater Lawrence County Area Chamber of Commerce officials are expected to take the tour as well.