Editing Richmond County, North Carolina (section)

=== Economic decline ===
Hamlet's economic situation came under strain beginning in the 1960s, as the railroad faced increasing competition from growing road networks, [[trucking]], and air travel. Seaboard acquired smaller competitors and consolidated its operations, moving workers out of the area. It also froze wages, terminated some positions, and reduced passenger services, diminishing the number of outside visitors. Seaboard became [[CSX Transportation]] in 1986.{{sfn|Simon|2020|pp=26–27}} Foreign competition and increasing automation led the county textile industry to cut jobs, and by the 1970s mills in Richmond only retained about 5,000 workers. Declines in textile employment continued through the 1980s and 1990s.{{sfn|Simon|2020|pp=32–33}} In 1986, the county's single largest manufacturing employer, [[Clark Equipment Company]], closed its plant in Rockingham. Many of the remaining available manufacturing jobs required [[skilled labor]] which the county lacked.<ref name= Ruffin/> The traditional railroad and manufacturing jobs were supplanted by menial service positions and work in [[food processing]] plants,{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=33}} while local small businesses were displaced by national retail chains.{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=28}}

[[File:Imperial foods - plant front and side.jpg|thumb|left|[[Hamlet chicken processing plant fire|A 1991 fire]] at the Imperial Food Products plant (pictured) in Hamlet led to 25 deaths and a record fine from state regulators.]]
In 1986, the [[Southeast Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Compact]] voted to build a [[low-level radioactive waste]] disposal site in North Carolina.<ref name= pilcher>{{cite news| last = Pilcher| first = James| title = N.C. fined by nuclear waste group| newspaper = The Charlotte Observer| agency = Associated Press| page = 10C| date = December 10, 1999| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115244643/the-charlotte-observer/}}</ref> In November 1989, Chem-Nuclear Systems, the contractor in charge of constructing the disposal facility, announced a prospective Richmond County site for the nuclear waste. Local residents promptly formed For Richmond County Environment (FORRCE) to lobby against the site.{{sfn|Sherman|2012|p=87}} The group attracted wide grassroots support across Richmond, including significant backing from both white and black communities and both of the county's major municipalities, Hamlet and Rockingham.{{sfn|Sherman|2012|pp=88–89}} FORRCE conducted an opposition [[petition]] drive and obtained 26,756 signatures, over 60 percent of the county's total population.{{sfn|Sherman|2012|p=87}} Under significant political pressure, local officials denounced the site,{{sfn|Sherman|2012|pp=92–93}} and 1,200 residents traveled to [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]] to deliver the FORRCE petition to the governor.{{sfn|Sherman|2012|p=94}} In 1993, a state panel voted to move the site to [[Wake County, North Carolina|Wake County]], but listed the Richmond location as its second choice.<ref>{{cite news| last = Patterson| first = Dennis| title = Wake Site Picked As Regional Waste Bin| newspaper = News & Record| agency = Associated Press| date = December 8, 1993| url = https://greensboro.com/wake-site-picked-as-regional-waste-bin/article_936f0ddc-f335-5609-ac76-fea1773d6f3f.html| access-date = December 27, 2022}}</ref> The project was later abandoned under scrutiny from state regulators.<ref name= pilcher/>

On September 3, 1991, [[Hamlet chicken processing plant fire|a fire]] broke at the Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet. Many exits at the plant were locked in violation of fire codes, and 24 workers and one visiting delivery driver died in the conflagration. Emmett J. Roe, the plant owner, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the [[involuntary manslaughter]].<ref>{{cite web| last = Mims| first = Bryan| title = '30 years in anguish.' Survivor reflects on horrors of Hamlet industrial plant fire| website = WRAL-TV|publisher=Capitol Broadcasting Company| date = September 3, 2021| url = https://www.wral.com/30-years-in-anguish-survivor-reflects-on-horrors-of-hamlet-industrial-plant-fire/19857356/| access-date = May 6, 2022}}</ref> State authorities imposed a record fine upon the company for the violations and the incident brought negative national attention to the town.<ref name= quillen>{{cite news| last = Quillen| first = Martha| title = Hamlet fire defines and divides a town| newspaper = The News & Observer| date = September 4, 2011|url=https://www.newsobserver.com/2011/09/04/1459661/hamlet-fire-defines-and-divides.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130715154824/http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/09/04/1459661/hamlet-fire-defines-and-divides.html|archive-date=July 15, 2013|access-date=March 26, 2022}}</ref> National declines in textiles through the 1990s and into the early 2000s further strained the county's economy;<ref name= mims1>{{cite news| last = Mims| first = Bryan| title = Town square: Rocky road| newspaper = Business North Carolina| date = February 21, 2017| url = https://businessnc.com/town-square-rocky-road/| access-date = December 24, 2022}}</ref> from 1993 to 2005, the county suffered nine textile mill closures and the loss of 1,730 mill jobs.<ref>{{cite news| last = Nesbitt| first = Jim| title = Workers cool to trade pact| newspaper = The News & Observer| pages = 1A, 20A| date = July 15, 2005| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115240826/cafta-richmond-county-part-2/}}</ref> Unemployment rates worsened after the [[Great Recession]] commenced in December 2007.<ref name= dunn>{{cite news| last = Dunn| first = Andrew| title = Economy rules in rural N.C.| newspaper = The Charlotte Observer| pages = 1A, 8A| date = October 27, 2012| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115696509/the-charlotte-observer/}}</ref>