Fort Worth Business Press, June 2, 2014 May 19, Vol. 26, No. 19
May 19 - 25, 2014
Vol. 26, No. 19 • $3.00
Shifting
tastes
Glen Garden may become
distillery, meeting center
n Scott Nishimura
Hard return
[email protected]
washington post photos
Veterans’ unemployment defies simple answers
ABOVE: Christopher Lloyd, a former Army sergeant, cleans the windshield of a car at an auto dealership in Wichita Falls. TOP LEFT: National Guard Sgt.
Nathan Bianchi sleeps Feb. 16 at home in San Antonio after having root-canal surgery. TOP RIGHT: Lloyd, pictured in the living room of the Byers home that he
rents, says he prefers to live alone peacefully.
A
By Greg Jaffe - The Washington Post
two-tour Army veteran of the Afghanistan
war pulled on a pair of old combat boots
and headed off to his $8-an-hour job washing cars at a Ford dealership in Wichita Falls.
“My military background don’t mean nothing,”
he said. “I am just another guy with a GED.”
An unemployed Iraq veteran in San Antonio
woke up late, as he always did these days, and
searched the online job boards for new listings.
“Same garbage as usual,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS
37%
somewhat useful
not too useful
not at all useful
44%
very useful
Among Iraq and
Afghanistan veterans
9%
10%
How well do you
think the skills
you learned in the
military translate
to the civilian job
market?
SOURCE: Washington
Post-Kaiser Family
Foundation poll
The 102-year-old Glen Garden Golf and
Country Club in southeast Fort Worth,
where Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson
learned the game, could soon have a new
use.
Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co.,
the two-year-old Near Southside whiskey
distillery that produces the popular TX
Blended Whiskey and packs the house
for $15 Saturday
tours and tastings, is
already outgrowing
its current space,
proprietors Leonard
Firestone and Troy
Robertson say.
They have taken
the 106-acre golf
Firestone
course
under
contract from the
two men who
own it and are
seeking a zoning
change to allow
the construction of
a distillery, related
uses, food service
Robertson
and – down the line
– lodging. Firestone
and Robertson see the potential for a big
visitor and meeting draw, in the bucolic
mold of Kentucky’s distilleries and
California’s wineries.
“We’ve been fortunate the brand has
taken off and demand is high,” Robertson
said in an interview May 15. “It’s going to
be a true attraction and a great spot for
entertaining.”
Tentatively, the zoning case is
scheduled to go before the city zoning
commission June 11 and before the City
Council July 9.
On May 17, Firestone and Robertson
planned to brief a meeting of Glencrest
Civic League neighborhood association
that abuts the golf course off of East Berry
Street.
The association president Marie Love,
who Firestone and Robertson briefed
See veterans u 20
See distillery u 12
Everyone’s all
40 Under 40
Joel Burns takes on
The Weather Channel
(and wins) on social
media site. P8
Fort Worth Business
Press celebrates Class
of 2014 at awards
dinner P24-25
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