POWERGRAMS

26 Thomasville has seven public parks, including baseball and soball fields, picnic areas, tennis courts, gardens and handicap- accessible playgrounds. "I like to think of Thomasville as an oasis in the middle of a vast forest," Day says from his office in the 1927 high school building that was for years abandoned aer the new school opened, but renovated through a community effort completed under his direction. "This was a diamond in the rough that's now shining." The old city hall downtown became the Chamber of Commerce building. Inside the former school, 500- seat Bedsole Theater opened to dance recitals, high school proms and concerts, as well as productions like "The King and I" set for July 26-29 by the 100-member community theater and orchestra. An Alabama Power Foundation grant helped start the ART 150 building for classes adjacent to the main structure. The combination of these factors led five years ago to the $100 million Gold Dragon Copper plant opening 7 miles west of the city limits employing about 400 workers. The Chinese manufacturer has a major expansion underway. Louisiana-Pacific (LP) employs nearly 200 in one of Thomasville's five industrial parks, has recently completed an expansion and has another on the drawing board. Alabama Timber Industries and Thomasville Lumber Co. are major employers and exporters of Black Belt wood. Construction has started on the $190 million Westervelt lumber mill that will employ 140 workers by 2020 in a plant adjacent to LP. It will be the second sawmill in the history of the 135-year-old Tuscaloosa wood products manufacturer. Adjacent to both plants will be the Southwest Alabama Regional Airport, a $12 million facility with a 5,000-foot-long runway already approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and state. Thomasville will soon have what Day calls "our first skyscraper," with the opening of the four-story, 80- room, $9 million Holiday Inn Express next to the new hospital and medical campus on Highway 43. A $10 million, 56-unit apartment complex has also broken ground. "We actually have traffic jams now sometimes," Day says grinning. "And that's a good thing, in my opinion." Coastal Alabama Community College About 750 students take a variety of courses on the 12-building campus of Coastal Alabama Community College in Thomasville. They study nursing, business, computers, cosmetology, welding and earn credits to transfer to four-year universities. But there's lile argument that the college's reputation hinges on its highly regarded technology labs and training. "This is our pride and joy," Campus Director Chips Shepherd says as he walks into the National Center for Paper and Chemical Technology Training. "We can replicate anything they do in the big mills." Instructors plucked from engineering positions at paper mills watch from behind glass in the laboratory control room as they "sabotage" efforts by students using sophisticated equipment that mirrors what they will use upon graduation. Students on walkie-talkies go back and forth with their instructors until they solve each problem that might one day happen in the workplace. "We just lost $87,000," a teacher says in response to what a failed effort could cost at a paper mill. The concrete floor is painted with yellow pathways alongside steel-grated liquid-overflow pits. There are 97 blue metal lockers for storing hard hats, safety glasses and work clothes. A sign on the wall warns: "Danger High Voltage." On one side are six scaled- down "plants" for each step of paper production. On the other side are mechanical training stations. Students can produce their own paper in this mill that would cost $10 million to replicate, Shepherd says. THOMASVILLE Coastal Alabama Community College has about 750 students; Fredrick Culpepper, Nick Nelson and Malik Saulsberry are among many taught in the highly regarded technology labs.

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