Kannapolis biopolis will be on the Dole.

• Author: Willis, Dail
• Position: TAR HEEL TATTLER

When it comes to Dole Food Co. owner David Murdock, Kannapolis has long been of many minds--some of them angry ones. That could change if the California financier's plan to turn the town into what he calls a biopolis comes to fruition.

Molly Broad, president of the University of North Carolina, says Murdock wants to establish three biotechnology research centers on the site of two shuttered Pillowtex mills he owns. That, she says, would make the city "a viable player in the biotechnology economy."

Well, Murdock has been hailed as a hero before in Kannapolis. In 1982, he bought what was then Cannon Mills and spent $200 million to modernize the company and make it profitable. He promised in 1985 he wouldn't sell Cannon if workers rejected unionization, and they did. A few months later, he sold out to Eden-based Fieldcrest Mills.

As part of the sale, he closed Cannon's pension plan, pocketing about $39 million in excess cash, and moved the rest of the fund's assets into insurance annuities. When the insurance company collapsed, workers suffered a 30% cut in benefits while a buyer was sought. In 1990, Murdock paid $1 million to settle a lawsuit over the pension fund. He...