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American Morning
Economic Slowdown Hits Gettysburg, PA
Aired July 05, 2002 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: For more than a century, millions have traveled to the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. That is the site of a battle that was turning point in American history. But the town has other industries besides tourism.
And our Garrick Utley thought it would be a good place to see how Americans on Maine Street are dealing with the flood of bad news from Wall Street.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gettysburg, the name resonates with tragedy and triumph, a nation divided that came together again. Today, the old Pennsylvania battlefields are bucolic. The town of 8,000 attracts nearly two million visitors a year. But it's more than history that's on people's minds. There is the here and now.
(on camera): Gettysburg is little different from any other American community. Listen and you'll hear questions about where the economy is headed, concern over what that could mean for an employee's 401K plan, deep anger at those who hold corporate and Wall Street power and have cut corners to enrich themselves and, yes, determination that the war on terrorism will be won, though no one can say when.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we're going to start off today with "God Bless America" led by Larry Bullus (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: God bless America...
UTLEY (voice-over): At the weekly rotary luncheon, concern about the financial future depends on where you sit in life.
BOB NORDFALL, RESIDENT: The stock market is, I think, a big issue because a lot of people have retired sort of on the hope that the stock market was booming and now that it's not booming they're a little more apprehensive.
JOYCE JACKSON, RESIDENT: I'm a bargain hunter and I think it's a great time to be buying stocks.
UTLEY: Perhaps. But that's not what Dick Wainwright sees happening around his big dairy farm. He sees his neighbors, old and new, putting their money into more tangible assets -- land and homes. Real estate prices are soaring. What does that show him?
DICK WAINWRIGHT, FARMER: Well, it's somewhere a little less than optimism. We're trying to take the lessons of the last couple years that have happened and say now, let's be a little more cautious and not get caught up going down that road again.
UTLEY: But then there are those who were caught on that road. At the Schindler plant just outside town, Norm Drasher makes components for elevator systems. And now you begin to hear the rumblings of a real discontent. For 17 years, Norm worked for another company as a well paid engineer. And then...
(on camera): What happened?
NORM DRASHER, RESIDENT: I just came to work one day and they said you have an hour to pack your bags and you don't have a job anymore.
UTLEY (voice-over): The company that laid him off was Tyco, whose former CEO has been indicted for tax evasion.
(on camera): And how much of a cut in pay did you have to take?
DRASHER: Probably about 30 percent.
UTLEY: Thirty percent?
DRASHER: Yes.
UTLEY: But you're smiling.
DRASHER: Yes. What can you do, you know? You have to deal with it and go on.
UTLEY (voice-over): At the neighboring work station, Ron Golding knows what to do.
RON GOLDING, RESIDENT: They ought to just clean house with them. They ought to take and take everything from them and give them some jail time. And if they've got any Swiss bank accounts or anything like that, take it from them. Take everything from them. They shouldn't have it.
UTLEY: Back at the rotary lunch, the anger burns, too, even if the language is more discrete. Ron Hankey runs the local bank.
RON HANKEY, BANKER: People cannot be permitted to think that there's corporate dishonesty occurring.
UTLEY: But if there is one investment everyone at this table agrees on, it's in the future of their country. The confidence is there.
SHARON DEOMS, RESIDENT: We just keep going. You don't worry, you just keep going and you make it better. If you're not making it better, you're mediocre. UNIDENTIFIED CITIZENS: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
UTLEY: Call it patriotism or simply the fighting spirit human spirit, you'll find it in Gettysburg today, as the nation did back then.
Garrick Utley, CNN, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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