Disabled Army veteran opens own business
By ERIC LONG - elong@sungazette.comArticle Photos
Mark Beegle’s dream — opening his own business — became a reality late last year in the form of the Pennsylvania Blue Stone Mining Co. Earlier this month, dignitaries and other officials joined him in a ribbon-cutting ceremony here.
But getting there was the struggle of a lifetime.
During his nine years of Army service, Beegle was part of Operation Desert Storm and developed a severe case of asthma. He also developed acid reflux disease, compounding his disability. Complications from surgery intended to correct the latter resulted in the partial collapse of his abdominal wall, and now he must have an annual procedure to stretch his esophagus.
A Sullivan County native, Beegle said he returned to the Dushore area and later worked for Adelphia Corp. as a computer analyst until that company downsized in 2006. He drove two hours, each way, to work and was away from his family for up to 12 hours per day, he explained.
But he had always wanted to own his own business.
“I had noticed while cutting firewood that when my saw hit the ground, I’d see the blue dust coming up,” he said.
That blue dust was particles of Pennsylvania bluestone, more commonly known as flagstone. It turned out to be a potentially lucrative rock. A little research later, he decided he would manually, with hammer and chisel, mine the stone out of what was his own backyard.
“I’d had enough of corporate life and I wanted to work for myself,” Beegle said.
“I did research on how they (mined) the flagstone in the old days and I did it that way for a while. The big thing about this is, I am self-employed and I can set my own hours.”
In June of last year, he contacted the Small Business Development Center at Wilkes University and Edward Kowalczyk began assisting him.
“I was only asking for $50,000, just enough to cover the equipment I needed, but I was turned away by three banks from September though October,” he said.
He later found someone had stolen his identity and damaged his credit. Beegle turned to the Veterans Corp. for help and was aided by James Mingey, president of NEOF Technologies.
Beegle later was able to secure financing with help from PNC bank, through the PENN CAP program. He has equipment to mine the flagstone out of his property and can fill orders more efficiently now, he said.
“We have about seven-tenths of an acre opened up in the quarry and we have about 3.95 acres total,” he said.
“I’m told this should be good for about 20 years.”
A big part of the reward, he said, is the family time he now has.
“When my dad passed away in 2002, I realized I needed more family time,” Beegle said.
“Now, I can walk out my back door and I’m right here at work.”
The flagstone being quarried there is packed onto pallets and sent to wholesale and retail outlets, from large orders that head to city destinations to small homeowners who want to decorate a patio, or construction companies.
