RON COCKERILLE/STAFF

Mr. Phelon spoke candidly about many personal, news and business issues. Inextricable from the discussion was the day that has colored every day since.

Q: Now that Mr. Wise has been sentenced, what is the mood around the plant?

A: I think I would characterize the mood as anything other than relief or jubilance. That's not it. (long pause) The tragedy, the emotions will always be there. And I think, again, we start the process of distancing ourselves from it, which is a natural, emotional function of the human being.

Three and a half years passed from the event to the trial - which in my opinion is way too long. ... (At the trial) it was like it was happening all over again. All the emotions were still there.

I will tell you right now, that in another 3´ years if we have to get together and discuss this for any reasons, the emotions will come right back. I don't think you ever lose them. I think they just go subterranean for a while.

RON COCKERILLE/STAFF

Q: How did the shootings change your security measures? I noticed the monitors on the television (a four-way split screen) up front.

A: We had a meeting with the security people, Regent Security. And, well, a lot of questions came up: guns, building a fortress... I let (Regent management) play an important part in the decision on what was done because I have held them responsible for providing a reasonable measure of security. Keep in mind this is not a prison. I think it's a very delicate balance because I try to foster a team environment and a family atmosphere. I refer to as it my Phelon family, and other people at the plant use the same term. You may have heard it at the trial. (It's) very hard to promote a family concept if you're frisking everybody when they come in, if you've got an armed guard at the gate. This is supposed to be an open, free, accessible, nice place to work. The last thing I want to make it look like is a military installation.

So we tried to balance one against the other. The decision afterward was made, specifically made, and recommended highly by Regent Security, was not to carry guns. They did not want to have their people carrying guns.

In the case of Stan Vance (the wounded security guard who has sued the company) it wouldn't have done him any good. In fact, it probably would have gotten him killed ... Hastings came into the guard shack so fast he got the drop on Stan right away. Stan thought he was there to pick up a couple of boxes of personal belongings, and Stan had actually bent over to start picking up the boxes to hand to him. When he looked up, Hastings Wise had a gun right in his chest.

This is speculation on my part, but if I were Hastings Wise and I saw a guard there with a gun and I was in a hurry to get into the plant, I would shoot him not once, (but) I would shoot him enough times so I knew he was dead, so when I turned around to walk into the plant he wasn't going to take his gun and shoot me.

So as it turned out, I think it got Stan critically wounded, but not dead. ... You've got a gun and an aggressive employee could literally overpower the guard and use the gun on him. So you have to think about that, too.

So we did install the cameras, which was your original question, but that was sometime afterward.

Q: How about the fencing around the building?

A: That was another issue that came up. When I had expanded the plant, I didn't have a fence around. I have never had a fence around any plant I have ever had in the United States - ever. (Mr. Phelon owns plants in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.) What happened was when we expanded the plant we had a parking lot out back for the increased employees. As soon as we had the lot in the back, we started to have neighborhood kids come in and riffle the cars (to steal things).

RON COCKERILLE/STAFF

At the time, I was reluctant to do it, but I did it. I said, `Boy, this is a sign of the times when you have to take your plant and put a fence around it.' The only modification to the design was in the front. I wanted it to look nice. ...I wanted it to blend in. I'm very conscious of the workplace.

Q: Have there been other changes related to human resources?

A: No.

Q: You mentioned Mr. Vance. Is that case still active?

A: Because that's a pending case, I can't talk about that at all. You may recall (The Chronicle) published a letter of mine written a couple of years ago because I was absolutely bananas. ``Sign of our times!'' Guess which case was going to be heard first? (The Vance civil suit had been planned for a hearing prior to the Wise criminal trial, but the civil case was postponed.) And that's a plaintiff case represented by a plaintiff lawyer down here that's trying to rip off the company. ...

Mr. Vance worked for Regent. Regent Security has all the customary benefits, including workman's compensation. Mr. Vance has been taken care of through workman's compensation. It is not like Mr. Vance has been deprived. Mr. Vance and his plaintiff lawyer are going for the lottery, they are trying to win the lottery - namely Dale's lottery.

Q: So you think that is part of the implied risk for a security person?

A: Of course. It's not something you expect really to see. The point being that he was employed by Regent, and he's ending up suing the R.E. Phelon Co. He's already been compensated by his workman's compensation, so he is trying to collect twice.

We hear this lame excuse about our court system being so crowded. Why did it take 3´ years to bring Wise to trial? To me, the case is uncontroverted. He did it. All you have to decide is the punishment. To me, a judge could have heard this case two weeks after the happening. No more than two weeks. I mean, let's put closure on this. Number one, let's make to the extent we can ... the punishment a deterrent to (future) crime.

I think we should have summary judgment by a judge, not a jury, but a judge. Two weeks after, say, ``We know you did it. You killed four people, and your punishment is XYZ.'' And have that punishment carried out within another week afterward. So three weeks after, certainly within a month, we could put closure on this thing.

But to take 3´ years to have this thing come before our legal system, when one of the excuses you hear is that the court system is so overloaded - well if it's so overloaded, why do we have time to hear the plaintiff's case before the guy who did it?

That was the essence of my letter to the Augusta Chronicle and many others. I mean I was incensed. And they (court officials) finally changed (the court date.) But, I think they only changed it because they didn't want anything to come out in the Stan Vance trial that would then ruin the other trial, hurt the other trial, and then make an appeal possible. That's the real reason they changed it. Not because of my letter, believe me. My letter didn't do anything but vent my feelings.

Q: All your companies are privately held by you. Can you give me any kind of feel for how big you are in terms of annual sales or share of market?

A: Oh, I got a bad memory. It's one advantage of being private. People won't learn anything that way.

Q: You can't compare to other competitors?

A: I don't think there's a category I can give you. ... We just come into work every day like everybody else. That's all.

``He's just such an outstanding citizen of the community and is so education-oriented. Anyone who is that sold on education has to have his heart in the right place.'' - Lionel Smith, owner of Lionel Smith Ltd. men's clothier ``I've known Dale for several years and have come to know him as a true friend and a giving person. He's not selfish and is very community-oriented and likes to see other people succeed. He'll do whatever it takes as far as making that happen.'' - Ronnie Young, Aiken County Council chairman

How about racing? You want to talk about racing? Flying? Family?

Q: I do want to know about the history of this family business.

A: I'll tell you a cute little story about that. My father started the company in a garage in 1946 in Springfield, Mass. - 199 Union St. ... In 1946, I was only 5 or 6 years old.

Well, every Saturday I would go into work with my father and he would put me in a high chair, and I made breaker points. They don't make them anymore.

On a good Saturday, I would make 50 breaker points. And he paid me a penny apiece for every one I did, and on a good Saturday, he would pay me 50 cents. In 1946, 50 cents was probably like five or 10 bucks today, you know? So I was well paid for my efforts. I worked for my father every Saturday all the way through high school.

And that's how we started it. My mother wound coils behind my bedroom when we first got started. We took the bedroom behind mine and converted it, and she was winding coils. I can remember it today. I can see it. I was just a tiny kid.

Q: So the ignitions portion of the business is how it all started. And that's the biggest portion, right?

A: Yes.

Q: And then you got into other parts of an engine.

A: We branched out from there.

Q: What brand names do your parts go into that people might recognize?

A: We make for all the small-engine people in this country and some in Japan and Europe. People like Briggs & Stratton, Tecumseh (for the Sears Craftsman brand), Kohler, Onan, and now we're dealing with all the Japanese transplants in the country - Honda, Kawasaki. In the two-cycle (engine) business, we do business with all the Weed Eater people - right down there in Augusta is the parent, Electrolux (Home Products). But it's through their division in Nashville, Ark. We do business with John Deere. Ryobi is another one. Stihl. Echo. I could go on and on.

It's fairly hard to buy a piece of gas-powered lawn equipment that doesn't have our ignition on it. You could do it, but we dominate the market.

Q: You're also involved in racing, but your parts don't go into those larger engines, do they?

A: No. The race team is strictly because I've always been interested in it. I built my first hot rod when I was 15 or 16 years old. I call myself a ``gear head,'' someone who's crazed with the car phenomenon. That led me on to engineering.

I was in the sixth grade, and I remember taking a disassembled engine, a two-stroke engine, to my class in sixth grade and explaining to my teacher and the class how this engine worked. When I got finished explaining, the next subject to come up after that was art. We had art class. And the teacher mistakenly asked me to pass out the art paper. I was already at the front of the class.... Everybody that day got an art paper with a black thumb print on it.

Q: Talk about how far you've brought the company since your father left it in your hands.

A: My father was a fantastic engineer and an inventor, and he brought the company through the '50s and firmly established the company as a leader in the ignition field. I started to really, seriously affect the company during the '60s, more toward the late '60s. And I have continued to build the company to world dominance in our field, and have also branched out into other areas.

Q: Are all of your corporations profitable at this point?

A: Not always. One of the biggest problems I've had is the Aiken plant. Part of it's work ethic, part of it's education, and part of it's high turnover. ... Finding people who are responsible and accountable for what they do is one of my biggest problems. A lot of people want a job but haven't got a clue what's involved and what's expected of them.

Q: It probably doesn't help that the job market has been pretty good in the past couple of years, right? They can think, ``Well, I can find a job somewhere else.''

A: As you know, another thing that has happened, is you have a company come in here like Bridgestone (Bridgestone/Firestone). The city wants them in here, the city and the county. So they give them tax incentives in here and job training grants to help train their new employees. Well, what do they (Bridgestone) do? They come in and pay a much higher wage and they take all the good people we've already trained. They don't need to train them. We've already trained them, but they get the money for it, and we're left with training all new people. We've lost a number of people to Bridgestone/Firestone. We used to lose them to Savannah River (Site) when they were hiring. We couldn't compete with Savannah River. Nobody in the area could.

We've had a terrible time getting maintenance mechanics here. Good production people in die cast has been difficult. It's hard work. It's not for the faint of heart.

Q: Is that part of the reason for the (Dale Phelon Information) Technology Center? Are you trying to get young people who can make a clean transition?

A: You mean at Aiken Tech? Absolutely. I firmly believe that the key to individual success is through continuing improvement. I was more than happy to help with the building at Aiken Tech. However, as I said in the dedication ceremony, the building was the easy part. The hard part is getting the high school students and those who should be improving their education and skill levels to actually do it. To motivate them to do it. That's the hard part.

I'll say something to you now. I probably shouldn't, and you may not want to write this down, but the irony during the trial - and this is staggering - that Hastings Wise had applied for a job in our tool and die area, and he was rejected because he didn't have the skills. Other people did. Rather than get ticked off and cop an attitude like he did, all he had to do was go to Charles Griffith, who he ended up killing, and say Charles, ``How can I get that job? I want it. How can I get it?'' Charles would have said to him, ``Why don't you go to Aiken Tech and take some courses?'' Because they had courses in machining. Exactly what you need to do the job. And furthermore, Charles would have told him, ``The company'' - and he had his own handbook if he could read - ``The company will reimburse you for the course.'' All you do is bring back your finishing grade, whether it's an A or a B, and we'll pay up to 90 percent of the cost of your course.

And the irony of the whole situation is it would have cost him less money to take the course and improve himself and get the job than it cost him to buy the bullets to shoot people.

He came in there with 150 to 160 bullets in his gun (and on him). Just that alone is more than it would have cost him to take the damn course. You tell me, am I nuts here or what? And I don't know if that's something you even want to put in the paper. You think about it before you do, OK.

That's why I'm involved with Aiken Tech. People want to know, why did I succeed? No. 1, I didn't give up in anything I tried. No. 2, I've always educated myself to make myself better, try and understand more. That's the key. ... Maybe the school system has broken down. The family values have gone. Single parents and whatnot. I think that somehow the message has been lost. It's a very simple message. Anybody can do it. Why don't more people get the message?

I'm sitting there during the trial and saying to myself, ``If only somebody could have gotten to this guy to explain how simple life is.''

Q: It seems like workplace rage is a trend everywhere. You need to look no further than the Augusta Chronicle's front page.

A: And this fellow (a former employee of Navistar machinery plant in Illinois, who opened fire at the plant killing four people before killing himself.) I understand was in his 60s. So what happened to him? That's a hard one because the guy was let go for stealing company property. Hastings Wise was let go because he used aggressive behavior toward employees and a supervisor.

I didn't even know Hastings Wise, wasn't involved in any of the decisions, never knew him.

Our people made the right decision. You cannot have a workplace that has intimidation and fear in it. You can't allow that to happen, any more than they can allow somebody to stay there that was stealing.

Where are these people coming from? I don't know what went through that guy's mind. I don't know why he took it out on the employees when he was stealing stuff. I would suspect he was probably a little mentally off.

In Hastings' case, I just can't imagine what he thought he was doing. Other than the animalistic instinct of saying, ``I'm going to get even with you for letting me go.'' Did he get even? I don't see where he got even. By his own mind, I don't see how he could possibly think he got even with anybody - because he was a loser, too. He lost.

I don't know, maybe it's a little too much Hollywood. I'm very critical of our Hollywood movies that come out, where it's strictly made for sales purposes. How much money can we get? Now we have to be a little more kinky or a little more ruthless and bloody than the last one. Anything to get people to spend their entertainment dollars. There's no level that's low enough for them.

Name: Russell Dale Phelon

Born: Nov. 14, 1941, Springfield, Mass.

Family: Married to Jackie; one son; three daughters

Title: President and CEO of R.E. Phelon Co.

School: Undergraduate in engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.; graduate work toward MBA at Babson College, Wellesley, Mass.

History: Employed by Springfield Wire Inc. before officially joining his father's company

Civic: Charter founder of People's Community Bank; active in airport development efforts, donation of $500,000 to build Dale Phelon Information Technology Center on the grounds of Aiken Technical College

Company: R.E. Phelon Co.

Divisions: R.E. Phelon Co. Aiken

R.E. Phelon Company D.R. (Dominican Republic) since mid-80s

R.E. Phelon Co. Wisconsin (Lomira, Wis.)

Power Parts in Puerto Rico

Carlin in East Longmeadow, Mass. (oil and gas burners)

Sales: Withheld, privately owned corporations

History: Company was founded by Russell Eastman Phelon in 1946

Reach Eric Williamson at (706) 828-3904.