Please vote before the polls close on Nov. 3 because Mason County’s economic future is on the ballot.

Before you vote, look at what anchored our economy in 1991, and what became of it:

  • Inland Container → still here, now International Paper
  • January & Wood → out of business
  • Browning Manufacturing (EPT) → left the area
  • Carnation Company → left the area
  • Carnation – Tin Can Division → left the area
  • Parker Tobacco → out of business
  • Wald Manufacturing → now Midwest Equipment Manufacturing
  • Vickers Welco → may now be Welco Technologies
  • TRW (two facilities) → both gone; buildings now used by Precision Pulley Inc. and Good360
  • TechnoTrim → left the area
  • Crystal Tissue → left the area
  • Jockey International → left the area
  • Clover Leaf Dairy → out of business
  • STÖBER Drives → arrived in 1991

Two more engines didn’t even make the map because they seemed permanent: burley tobacco is almost entirely gone, and dairy is entirely gone.

Employed persons in Mason County: about 8,200 before 2008, about 6,300 today.

STÖBER is the exception, and I know its story firsthand: I helped start it. We began with three employees in two rented rooms. Today it’s a company-owned campus with two buildings and 180 employees. That happened because Mason County said yes to something new.

What replaced the jobs we lost came from new ideas, not from waiting for the old ones to come back. Today those new ideas include data centers, solar, and other innovative uses of land that bring tax revenue for schools, roads, and public services without raising your taxes.

Some candidates want moratoriums and setbacks and sound limits so strict that no new project can be built. Others are willing to welcome new investment with sensible rules. That choice is on your ballot.

Before you vote, see where every candidate stands:
👉 Candidate land-use positions

Then cast your vote before the polls close on :

Election Day: Tuesday, November 3
6 a.m. – 6 p.m. at any of these vote centers:

  • Mason County Public Library
  • Mason County Fieldhouse
  • Mays Lick Fire Hall
  • Highland Christian Church
  • Orangeburg Fire Hall

Vote as if Mason County’s economic future depends on this election, because it does.