Fulton, NY: Losing Chocolate, Factories, and Jobs

In a journal entry dated 4-16-10:

I could tell immediately today was going to be an odd day at YNN. Everyone was pretty quiet at the morning news meeting, there weren't a whole lot of fresh ideas brought to the table, and Joleene didn't show her normal chipper attitude.

It had been announced yesterday that New York Chocolate & Confection in Fulton had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company had taken over the former Nestle plant in 2003, but because of embezzlement and financial issues, the work never really got underway.

Joleene and I researched the issue as much as possible and headed to Fulton in Oswego County to figure out how we could turn a package on it. We also got some insight from Andy, one of the Oswego County reporters who just so happened to be covering for someone in Syracuse that day. He knew a bit about the situation and was able to inform us of some of the details.

We interviewed a woman at the BOCES in Fulton to see if there had been an increase in people looking to train for future employment, but she didn't really speak to the Chocolate Factory issue, so our interview didn't amount to much. It was also an awkward interview since the PR and higher-ranked people at BOCES were in the room, observing our interview, making sure the woman didn't leak any information she shouldn't have.

Eventually we left, but with no word back from the Fulton mayor, we didn't have enough for a whole story, and we went back to the station. (Though not before making three pitstops on a search for chocolate covered pretzels before finally settling for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!)

I spent the rest of the day writing a VOSOT for air about the National Grid President who spoke at the New York Energy Symposium.

It was disappointing that we weren't able to make the story happen, but it has been updated on the YNN web site since. Here's the link.