The Fonda Blog

Fonda buildings become history

Written By: Michelle Monroe

ST. ALBANS CITY — The buildings at former Fonda paper products plant site have been taken down and now meticulous cleanup work will begin, according to St. Albans City Director of Planning Chip Sawyer.  “It’s coming along really well,” said Sawyer of the demolition that’s taking place on Lower Newton Street.

Only a small structure, outfitted with hoppers remained at the site this morning and those soon will be taken down with a crane. Materials from that portion of the complex will then undergo asbestos abatement and any recyclable metal will be reclaimed.  Thus far, 1,160 tons of general debris have been removed from the site along with 65 tons of mildly contaminated debris, Sawyer reported this morning.

There are a couple of areas within the former factory where there is a high level of PCBs – a class of chemicals which have been linked to cancer – and those areas will be sealed off and permanently fenced, explained Sawyer.  Currently, the pieces of the buildings are still being sorted through and cleaned. Recyclable materials are being gathered and recycled as part of that process, as well.

About a month of work remains, said Sawyer today. The basement will be filled in and all of the cleaning areas and materials will need to be dismantled and cleaned.  As part of the demolition, steps have been taken to insure water does not leave the site and stormwater is being treated on site before being sent to the wastewater treatment facility.  Funds for the demolition project have come from the State of Vermont and the Northwest Regional Planning brownfield’s loan program. Total cost of the demolition, which began on Sept. 15, is roughly $900,000.

The paper products factory was built in 1942 and was acquired by Fonda in 1980. In 2002, about 245 people were employed at the plant, which was sold to Solo in 2004. A year later Solo announced its intention to close the factory, and the doors were shut for good in 2006. When Solo announced the closing there were 168 employees. In some local families multiple generations have been employed at the plant.  The site, which straddles the town-city divide, is now owned by the city.

The future of the site is still undecided, but a feasibility study for a co-generation facility found that a facility generating 10 megawatts of electricity along with steam heat — fueled by wood chips — would be able to pay for itself in approximately seven years. The city is investigating the possibility of a private company building such a facility at the Fonda site.

Clock ticks for Fonda building

Written By: Leon Thompson, St. Albans Messenger

Demolition bids’ deadline Tuesday

The Fonda Solo Building will be demolished this summer.

ST. ALBANS CITY, VT –– Crews responsible for demolition of the vacant Fonda/Solo plant on Lower Newton Street could be mobilized and ready by May 1, according to one of the city’s development leaders.  Contractors’ bids to raze one of the largest enclosed spaces in the city, are due at City Hall Tuesday. Jim Tischler, planning and development director, told aldermen during their regular meeting last week that he hopes to have a contractor’s bid to them by the second week of April.
The city has secured all funding necessary for the $600,000 demolition project, including two grants totaling $400,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and $200,000 from a state brownfields program.
The city purchased the 120,500-square-foot building on a 4.5-acre parcel in 2007 for $300,000.  Toward the end of 2010, the state approved a phased-in mitigation plan to clean the contaminated site, once used to manufacture paper products. The first phase calls for demolition of the two buildings and to keep the area protected until the city has a development project in place.  “It was the administration’s position that the best way to show the community that the project needs to move forward is to proceed with the use of that grant money and get the buildings demolished,” Tischler told the city council last week.

The Fonda / Solo brand lives on, with headquarters in Illinois and manufacturing worldwide.

Two weeks ago, about 65 people – more than has graced the inside of the plant for years – went on a walk-through of the site for potential bidders.  Tischler said the city has already received 24 sets of plans from bidders all over New England and the Midwest.  Ward 5 Alderman Joe Luneau wondered $600,000 was adequate. Tischler said demolition could come in under bid. Project specifications also require the city to recycle some materials at the site.  During demolition, workers will fence off the area and post signs that warn of contamination in the area. Contaminated areas will be covered with gravel for protection.  The winning contractor will provide flaggers for traffic control and also remove debris without going through neighborhoods, Tischler said.
Last November, the city council unanimously chose Weston and Sampson, a Peabody, Mass., environmental consulting firm, to oversee razing of the Fonda/Solo plant. Weston and Sampson also facilitated the bidding process for demolition.  During the demolition process, the city has been working with three EPA officials, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the Northwest Regional Planning Commission.  The city had wanted to raze the building by the end of 2010, but delays bumped that goal to this July, the end of the current fiscal year.  The city has a redevelopment concept in mind for the site, with several contenders interested in it, but city officials have been reticent in releasing any details.
The Solo Cup Company, which purchased the paper products manufacturing plant from Fonda, closed the facility in 2005 and laid-off 168 employees.  The proposed remediation would occur at the surface level, with sub-grade remediation (soil clean-up) occurring once a new business has committed to the site, so that remediation and construction can happen simultaneously.  Brownfields testing in 2008 revealed contamination by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), trichloroethene (TCE), and some metals were in concentrations above regulatory limits.
In the 1960s and 1970s Fonda was a leading U.S. food container company that provided paper cups and other paper products which among other uses, were found at large professional sports venues. The ink used to manufacture other products contained PCBs – potentially toxic environmental compounds – and was spilled on the concrete floor, leaving it contaminated.  Groundwater on the western side of the building also contained TCE, a cleaning solvent that previously was used in anesthesia.
Also see previous post here.  Solo Cup Company info here.

Note: It is not certain why the company originally took the Fonda name, but there is a family branch which settled in the area in the mid-1800’s and a local town used to be called Fonda Junction.

written by admin \\ tags: Business, News, Vermont

Attorney Honored with Community Service Award

Fayette County resident and attorney Angela Hinton Fonda was recently awarded the Justice Robert Benham Award for Community Service, presented by the State Bar of Georgia and the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism. She was the 6th Judicial District recipient at the 11th annual award presentation Feb. 16 at the State Bar Center in Atlanta.

Fayette resident and Atlanta Assistant City Attorney Angela Hinton Fonda (far left) recently received the Justice Robert Benham Award for Community Service presented by the State Bar of Georgia and the Chief Justice’s Commission of Professionalism. Joining Hinton Fonda at the ceremony were (from left) Fayette County DFCS board member Pete Nelms, Fayette County Commission Chairman Jack Smith, therapeutic counselor Connie Thomas and Carol Nelms.

“Although I am deeply humbled for being selected for the Justice Benham Award for Community Service, I regard it as an affirmation of the values of Fayette County,” Hinton Fonda said. “I was, and am, honored to have been chosen to serve with the wonderful members of the Fayette County DFCS (Dept. of Family & Children’s Services) Board. Fayette residents are kind and generous in times of trouble. I am glad to have the opportunity to contribute to our community in such meaningful ways and I am proud to call Fayette County my home.”

Hinton Fonda last week commented on her service with Fayette County DFCS and on some of the aspects of of that service that put an undeniable human face on those receiving services.

“In the course of my service on the Board, I discovered that children who were aging out of foster care were sent off to college, trade schools or independent life with their belongings in trash bags. What a humiliating message for those children. I thought about what it must be like to arrive at school alone, with no one to fret over whether your room will be comfortable or whether you have enough study snacks. The absence of a parent can be explained, but the indignity of bringing everything you own in trash bags has no easy explanation,” Hinton Fonda said. “Community leaders and churches donate backpacks and school supplies for grade school and high school students but there is, generally, no collection for students aging out of care. After getting an assessment of needs from Fayette DFCS, I got community members to buy brand new suitcases for the college students. We put a set of towels and an alarm clock with a battery backup in the bags and gave them to DFCS to pass along. The point was to give the newly-independent young people the appearance of normalcy, and a few ‘life tools,’ for this new phase of their lives. I anticipate an expanded effort in the coming months.”

Hinton Fonda was nominated by therapeutic counselor Connie Biemiller Thomas for her work on the Fayette DFCS Board and on behalf of families and children in crisis and based on a career-long history of community service and involvement in Fayette County and in Chatham County, her previous home.

In addition to her work with the Fayette DFCS board, Hinton Fonda led a Leadership Fayette project with the assistance of the Southside Chapter of the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers to collect career-appropriate clothing for women at the Promise Place domestic violence program.
“We received donations from as far away as Alpharetta and the donations included shoes, purses, and scarves, all of the ‘uniform’ elements of a successful interview candidate. It is my hope that the clothing will be a confidence booster to the recipients as they build independent lives,” Hinton Fonda said.

Since 1998, the Justice Robert Benham Awards for Community Service have been presented to honor lawyers and judges in Georgia who have made significant contributions to their communities and demonstrate the positive contributions of members of the State Bar of Georgia beyond their legal or official work.

Bar members have served a wide range of community organizations, government-sponsored activities, and humanitarian efforts. Their fields of service include: youth athletics and mentoring programs, literacy programs, social and support services, church and religious activities, politics, conservation and the environment, promotion and support for legal aid programs, community development, health, education, sports, recreation, and the arts.
The awards recognize the commitment of Georgia lawyers to volunteerism, encourage all lawyers to become involved in community service, improve the quality of lawyers’ lives through the satisfaction they derive from helping others and raise the public image of lawyers.

Hinton Fonda serves as Atlanta senior assistant city attorney and holds a J.D. from Duke University and a B.A. cum laude State University of New York at Albany.

Among her many accomplishments with the Georgia Bar Association and the American Bar Association, Hinton Fonda also affiliated with the Promise Place Women’s Shelter, the Arts Leadership League of Georgia, the Georgia Association of Woman Lawyers and the State Bar Fee Arbitration Panel.

New vehicles granted to county departments

Fayette County resident and Atlanta attorney Angela Hinton Fonda was also applauded for her commitment to public service. Fayette Commission Chairman Jack Smith recognized her for receiving the Justice Robert Benham Award for Community Service. The State Bar of Georgia selected Fonda for the prestigious award, which Smith said she was very deserving of. He also noted Fonda’s diligence as a board member of the Fayette County Department of Children and Family Services.

written by admin \\ tags: Achievements, Business, Legal, SouthEast

Faith & Finance: A Boom in Religious Funds

What if Jesus were a stock picker?

It’s a question more investors seem to be asking these days. At a time when investors’ confidence in the markets has been shaken—even after the big rally of 2009—experts say a growing number of Americans are integrating their faith with their finances. The number of religious mutual funds has tripled over the past decade, to more than 90—with one now available for almost every flock, from evangelical Christians to Mennonites and Muslims.

Religious funds now control more than $27 billion in assets, up from $10 billion in the late 1990s, making it one of the hottest sectors in the broader category of socially responsible funds. “People are waking up and saying, ‘What I do with my money ought to reflect my values,’” says David Miller, a scholar at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Religion.

Socially responsible funds have been around for years, of course, attracting both diehard followers and critics who see their stock-screening methods as a drag on returns. But the faith-fund boom is part of a growing hunger among religious people for financial guidance. While some financial planners specialize in estate planning and others claim an expertise in taxes, more and more are claiming the label of Christian financial adviser. Churches are also getting into the act, setting up workshops that dispense financial advice. And just this month, five new religion-based exchange traded funds were launched.

While most mutual fund managers place a laser-like focus on financial measures such as earnings per share and balance-sheet debt, managers of faith-based funds first check whether they think a company violates scriptural teachings. But injecting morals into financing is not without its share of controversy. Catholic funds typically draw a line at companies they believe support abortion or contraception; the evangelical Timothy Plan bans stocks of companies deemed supportive of a “gay lifestyle.”

Personal beliefs aside, each fund’s interpretation of scripture is open to criticism. “Why single out companies that provide same-sex benefits when they also provide benefits to employees who are greedy or venal or in other ways immoral according to biblical teaching?” asks Gary Moore, an investment adviser and founder of the nonprofit Financial Seminary in Sarasota, Fla.

Of course, just because a fund claims to have God on its side doesn’t mean investors will be blessed with top returns. Diversified U.S. religious stock funds are up an annual average of 2.27 percent over the past five years, just below the 2.34 percent return for all diversified equity funds, according to Morningstar. Religious funds tend to have expenses above the industry average, and because they often screen out certain sectors, they can be handcuffed when market sentiment shifts to an industry they’ve excluded. To find the best options, we looked for funds with solid long-term records and managers who have been at the helm for at least three years. (more at site)

written by admin \\ tags: Achievements, Business, Professional

Bright Idea: The Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb

Since its creation by Thomas Edison in Menlo Park, New Jersey in 1879, the light bulb has undergone a number of changes. Many of the innovations that make the incandescent bulb what it is today came out of General Electric’s laboratory in Schenectady, New York.

Dr. Gorton R. Fonda (1884-1973) scientist for General Electric Laboratory in Schenectady, NY

The first major advance was crafting a tungsten filament, the wire the electricity heats to create light. When Edison first invented the bulb, he used a carbon filament which has a much shorter lifespan than tungsten. Although others attempted to make the thread out of tungsten, they found it too brittle to mold into the needed shape. However, working in the Schenectady laboratory, Dr. William Coolidge discovered how to increase the wire’s flexibility in 1909. To this day, manufacturers continue to use tungsten in incandescent lights.

Dr. Irving Langmuir, another scientist in Schenectady and a Nobel Prize-winner, made two other major discoveries. A significant problem with light bulbs was that they blackened as the filament burned, decreasing the amount of light produced over time. In 1912, Langmuir realized that if you filled the bulbs with a neon-like gas, you could prevent this effect. He also developed the technique of coiling the filament, which doubled the bulb’s lifespan.

In addition to incandescent bulbs, the Schenectady laboratory also played a role in the development of the compact fluorescent light bulb. Although the “spiral” fluorescent was officially invented in an Ohio General Electric laboratory by engineer Ed Hammer, Dr. Gorton Fonda** in Schenectady played a key cooperative role in its development. Unfortunately, when it was created in 1976, the company decided it would be too expensive to mass produce. Thanks to modern technology, fluorescent bulbs are now both economically and environmentally smart.

**For info on Dr. Gorton R. Fonda, see rootsweb and findagrave listings.

written by admin \\ tags: Achievements, Business, Schenectady Co., Science

	Sand Flats Orchard 371 Martin Road Fonda, NY  12068 http://www.sandflatsorchard.com 518-853-4999 Sand Flats Orchard is a family farm owned and operated by The Hoffmans
	The Fall season is Apple season. Our offerings include U-Pick and picked apples.  Pumpkins, squash and other fall vegetables are available during September and October. Our bakery and store are open daily September and October! Fall Hours:  9:00am  —  6:00pm 7 days a week November & December: Sat & Sun 9:00am – 2:00pm Sundae on the Farm September 20, 2009 Presented by: Montgomery County Farm Bureau Sand Flats Greenhouse. Open April 25 – July 11th Monday – Friday: 10:00am – 6:00pm Saturday & Sunday: 9:00am – 5:00pm Hanging baskets, potted flowers, annual packs, geraniums, and vegetables. Strawberries We picked from 6/10 to 7/10
	I had the pleasure of visiting the orchard recently and I came away with a good sampling of fresh apples, raspberry spread, apple-cinnamon donuts and coffee. This is a genuine family-owned operation and you should stop by to sample the fresh produce and abundant hospitality!!  Mark Fonda

written by admin \\ tags: Business, Montgomery Co., News