Full Text of HR1319 95th General Assembly
HR1319 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives are pleased to congratulate the staff of the | 4 |
| Furst-McNess Company on the 100th anniversary of the | 5 |
| agribusiness and consumer goods institution; and
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| WHEREAS, Frank E. Furst, an attorney and the son of | 7 |
| pioneers to Stephenson County, and Frederick W. McNess, a | 8 |
| pharmacist and transplant to Freeport from Ohio, combined their | 9 |
| talents to a singular and novel business concept in 1908 with | 10 |
| the founding core values of quality, safety, and innovation, | 11 |
| epitomized in the first self-regulating policy of sanitary | 12 |
| safety seals on every product and instituted decades before any | 13 |
| government regulation required they ensure the integrity of | 14 |
| their products and offer this added layer of protection for | 15 |
| their customers; and
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| WHEREAS, The confidence of these two founders who came of | 17 |
| age as entrepreneurs in an industrial town was mirrored by | 18 |
| local investors, salesmen, and customers, the farm-to-farm | 19 |
| direct sales company that started on $21,000 became one of | 20 |
| Freeport's most prominent industries, known for its extracts | 21 |
| and spices (and its premium ingredients, including Madagascar | 22 |
| vanilla beans), and entered the international stage almost | 23 |
| immediately after its founding; and
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| WHEREAS, The Furst-McNess Company moved to the Sunlight | 2 |
| Laboratory in 1919, undertook a 60,000 square-foot expansion of | 3 |
| in 1929 (the year the stock market crashed) and another 60,000 | 4 |
| square-foot expansion in 1948, and completed a nearly $2 | 5 |
| million renovation of the building on Clark Street in 1980; and
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| WHEREAS, An early commitment to quality, safety, and | 7 |
| innovation has consistently been manifested over 100 years with | 8 |
| the development of a new tablet making process during World War | 9 |
| II to supply the U.S. Army with vanilla tablets, to eliminate | 10 |
| the vice of vanilla extract and its alcohol content in war | 11 |
| zones, and won the Freeport manufacturer the majority of war | 12 |
| contracts because of its efficient tablet making, producing | 13 |
| nearly one billion vanilla tablets during World War II, which | 14 |
| became an export business when the government sold its | 15 |
| surpluses; the themes of quality, safety, and innovation have | 16 |
| consistently recurred, when the company launched its vitamin | 17 |
| and mineral premixes in 1958, and was one of the first to | 18 |
| develop computerized programs for ration-balancing in the | 19 |
| 1980s; and
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| WHEREAS, The Furst-McNess Company acquired Miracle Feeds | 21 |
| in 1992 from John Labatt Limited to become a North-American | 22 |
| based, multinational company with offices in London, Ontario, | 23 |
| and with the knitting together of two organizations, became a |
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| niche market player in the distribution of ethanol and biofuel | 2 |
| residuals, for the first time offering livestock producers a | 3 |
| complete feed (vitamin and mineral premixes, along with | 4 |
| commodities), and now is a beacon in the agribusiness industry, | 5 |
| with a vision for helping to build sustainable models in | 6 |
| agriculture; and
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| WHEREAS, Following the success of its production of Spike | 8 |
| O'Dell's Bite Your Butt Mustard, a collaboration with the | 9 |
| Mustard Museum in Mt. Horeb, Wis., the Furst-McNess Company | 10 |
| returned to its roots in the consumer goods industry in 1997 | 11 |
| when it unveiled the Terrapin Ridge line of gourmet condiments, | 12 |
| including Wasabi Lime mustard before wasabi products had been | 13 |
| incorporated into American foods; manufacturing continued in | 14 |
| the consumer goods vein with products sold under the McNess | 15 |
| trademark, and with private label production for two Fortune | 16 |
| 500 companies; and
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| WHEREAS, With the acquisition of the family business, Aero | 18 |
| Group in 2003, the company showed its committed to technology | 19 |
| as a core value, and now offers broadband and Voice Over | 20 |
| Internet Phone Services (VOIP), as well as computer networking | 21 |
| for commercial and business clients; and
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| WHEREAS, The family business has entered its fourth | 23 |
| generation, maintaining its headquarters in Freeport and |
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| giving back to the local community in each generation, and has | 2 |
| survived the trials of history over the course of one century | 3 |
| because of its commitment to enduring values of quality, | 4 |
| safety, and innovation, and its adaptability to changing | 5 |
| marketplaces in new eras; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 7 |
| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 8 |
| congratulate the staff of the Furst-McNess Company of Freeport | 9 |
| on the 100th anniversary; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 11 |
| presented to Martha Furst, President and CEO of the FurstMcNess | 12 |
| Company, as a symbol of our esteem.
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