2 beef plant figures plead on attempts to influence

The Clarion-Ledger, 8/14/8

Two Georgia businessmen have pleaded guilty in federal court in Oxford of trying to influence a public official over the failed Mississippi beef plant.

The beef plant in Oakland cost taxpayers $55 million.

Nixon Cawood, president and chief operating officer of Smyrna, Ga.-based The Facility Group, pleaded guilty to providing a $25,000 campaign contribution to the re-election campaign of then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove in 2003 in order to try to gain good will.

Cawood’s plea came two days after Robert Moultrie, chairman and chief executive of The Facility Group, pleaded guilty in the case.