Hackleburg celebrates renewal one year later - KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports

In the midst of singing and tears, employees at the Wrangler plant in Hackleburg stopped to remember their coworker who died here on April 27.

"It did bring back a lot of memories to look at it. We did lose one lady, she died in the building. We think about her every day, but you just have to go on, I guess," Pam Moteulle, an employee, said.

Both company and city officials say Governor Bentley's personal involvement in the first hours after the storm was key to keeping the plant and its 200 jobs.

"I like to go out and announce new job openings, and this is one I'm especially proud of. This took a lot of hard work to convince Wrangler to come back to Hackleburg, but we knew if they didn't, we just didn't know what would happen to this area," Bentley said.

"They've been in Hackleburg over 50 years. And when you lose something like that, plus 200 jobs, but I'm so proud they're building back because it's a great honor," Mayor Douglas Gunnin said.

If you'd told some of these employees last April 28 they'd be watching their bosses turn dirt on a new building this April 26 they would've had a hard time believing it.

[Click here to see more photos from the groundbreaking.]

"I looked at my husband that morning and said ‘Well now what am I supposed to do with myself?' At the time we didn't know if they would build back. So yeah it was a good surprise to know they were gonna build back," Moteulle said.

Hackleburg's mayor says the theme for this city's recovery is "bigger and better." Stores that are being built back are bigger, rebuilt houses are twice their value, and the new Wrangler plant will employ up to 75 more people than it did on the day of the storm. It's a sign, the mayor says, of this city's growth, even after such a tragedy and a good theme, perhaps, to celebrate that one year anniversary.

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