an only in America story...

I wonder if this young gal will stick it out; its hard work and she will have to get used to the cold both inside the plant and during the winter in town. What the WP missed and what makes it the sort of ironic "only in America" kind of story is who owns this turkey processing plant in Huron (population less than 20,000, one of the top 10 sized communities in South Dakota). The owners are, at least when the place opened up, the Hutterites.

The Hutterites are German-speaking (at least they all know how to speak their rather old-style isolated German) farming folk who live in "colonies" typically of less than a 100 people. They came to be during the Protestant Reformation in what is now modern Austria and were persecuted for their faith the next 300 years across central and eastern Europe, ending up in Russia before coming to the US with other Germans living under the Tsar in the 1870/1880s. In the next 100+ years, they built successful farming operations where they mix their communal culture with modern ag technology. As about the only farmers in SD that raise turkeys in large numbers, they decided to open a processing plant in the state and save on transporting live birds to Minnesota. To operate the plant, they had to bring in other workers because typically South Dakota has a very low unemployment rate and working in a fast-paced meat packing plant, well, isn't for everybody even if the wages were double.

So, only in America could a people who were long persecuted for their religious faith come, work hard, be successful, and employ other people who come seeking a better life than from where they had been. How many of the turkey plant people will end up staying in Huron? Who knows, but at least its a start...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...=.816fa1b91245

Honestly a really good story, thank you for sharing. Mike

From my own experiences when I worked at Swift - meat processing is not easy !

I felt bad for the young woman featured in the story. Puerto Rico ought to be a beautiful place to live but they had terrible economic problems even before the storm hit. The storm was the final straw to break the camel's back. The quality of life there went from marginal to awful.

I hope that life in the Dakota's turns out to be a better one for her. Early on, when i first moved here to Maine, i worked at the local sardine cannery. It was a starting point from where were eventually able to build a life for ourselves but we were more the exception than the rule. Most of the rest of the folks that were working there stayed right up until the day they closed down the plant. Sometimes people get stuck in a rut that they never get themselves out of. For some, forty years on the assembly line is a good fit. For others .... it seems like such a waste of human potential.

There have been many stories about folks who left New Orleans after hurricane Katrina and making a new life where they landed.

I visited Puerto Rico many years ago and I was ashamed of it. I have been to many poor countries, 20 years in the US Marines, and Puerto Rico was similar to many of them. I am hopeful for those who get out. Mike