This past week members of the chambers leadership class of 2012 toured the local Solo plant as part of its business day activities.

All were impressed by the size the productivity and the length of time the Solo cup company has been a major business stalwart in the Rockdale/Conyers community.

One of the questions asked during the visit to the tour leaders during was who were some of Solo's biggest competitors and one of the answers was Dart Container.

Little did anyone in the class and we are sure in the community know at the time that Solo Cup was at that moment in the process of being sold to its largest competitor Dart Container.

The Solo plant here in our community employs between 400-500 employees who operate the plant 24/7. It provides not only a major tax base for community but Solo employees support many businesses in the community as well.

Robert M. Korzenski CEO of the Solo cup company said, "Dart's leadership team has shown a high level of respect for what Solo has accomplished and I believe we are putting the company in the right hands to succeed and grow going forward."

We certainly hope that Mr. Korzenski is right about his assumption.

Our community would suffer a major loss if our plant was to be moved.

We would expect that all hands will be on deck from elected officials to the chamber to insure that Solo Cup continues to call Rockdale/Conyers home.

The Dart Corporation currently operates a plant in Lithonia.