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James Madison University Libraries Special Collections
880 Madison DriveChristina Bolgiano
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[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Christopher B. Martin Oral Histories, circa 1985, SdArch 31, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University.
Items were donated by Christopher B. Martin in July, 1988.
There are no audio recordings accompanying the transcripts. Collection was formerly assigned Collection Number SC #1763.
Christopher B. Martin, journalist, has had a career as a reporter-photographer for a number of regional newspapers and for WJMA Radio News, Orange, Va. In January 1979, the Adolph Coors Brewing Company announced it was considering acquiring an area of land in Rockingham County for its new Eastern brewery. It was not until later that year that Coors decided to construct the brewery in Rockingham County, Virginia, rather than North Carolina. Local citizens had mixed feelings about this. Many people felt that the brewery and the coming of industry to the area would significantly help the economy. For example, Coors projected the creation of 1,200 jobs. Others from the local community believed that creating 1,200 jobs would create a greater need for homes, schools, and other public services thereby increasing local taxes. Still others believed that brewing beer in the Shenandoah Valley would increase alcoholism, and corrupt the morals of Rockingham County citizens. In a letter to the editor of the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record a concerned citizen wrote, "Alcohol makes alcoholics, and beer is alcohol. Let them go away. Let our good land, our good grain, and our good resources be used for something better." (DNR, January 29, 1979, p.6)
Christopher B. Martin Oral Histories, circa 1980s, consists of two undated typed transcripts of interviews conducted by Christopher B. Martin concerning the Coors controversy, which began in 1979. Interviewees are F. Everette Smith, president of the local Farm Bureau Association and poultry farmer; and Eugene K. Souder, co-chairman of the Rockingham County Concerned Citizens and pastor of a church in Grottoes. Both interviews represent positions against the Coors Company. Smith discussed zoning issues, and what he felt was the waste of good agricultural land. Souder discussed the moral and social implications of a large-scale local brewery in Rockingham County.
Interviews are not arranged in any particular order.
Transcripts of an interview with Eugene K. Souder, church pastor and co-chairman of Rockingham County Concerned Citizens, regarding the potential moral and social implications of a proposal by the Adolph Coors Company for a beer brewery to be built in Rockingham County, Virginia. The interview was conducted by newspaper reporter Christopher B. Martin at an unrecorded date in the early 1980s.
Transcripts of an interview with F. Everette Smith, poultry farmer and president of the local Farm Bureau Association, regarding the implications of a proposal by the Adolph Coors Company for a beer brewery to be built in Rockingham County, Virginia. Smith discusses the potential environmental impact as well as the fiscal and infrastructural demands the new plant would impose on local municipalities. The interview was conducted by newspaper reporter Christopher B. Martin at an unrecorded date in the early 1980s