Journal's Newsmakers of the Year: BPI's Roth family

Either event by itself would be a top news story in any given year.

However, 2017 wasn't a typical year for Beef Products Inc. and co-founders Eldon and Regina Roth and their family. BPI's trial and eventual settlement of its $1.9 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC News was big news in June. Stories of the Roth family's financial generosity made headlines throughout the year.

Because of that litigation and philanthropic work, the Journal has named Eldon and Regina Roth and their family -- son, Nick, and daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Craig Letch -- the 2017 Newsmakers of the Year.

Eldon and Regina Roth entered the year ready to take on ABC and clear the reputation of their company and its most notable product, Lean Finely Textured Beef, a lean-meat product that is blended with ground beef to lower its fat content. The Roths were prepared to spend eight weeks in trial, making their case before a Union County jury that a 2012 series of stories by ABC and correspondent Jim Avila that repeatedly referred to LFTB as "pink slime" damaged BPI's reputation and led to a dramatic loss of sales, the closure of three plants and loss of more than 700 jobs.

When ABC approached the Roths three weeks into the trial with a settlement offer, not only was the dollar figure appealing, but so was the chance it presented for BPI to return its focus on food production rather than litigation.

"We got a lot of money. That was the deciding factor," Eldon Roth said. "It all comes down to can we make this settlement and get back to what we're doing?"

When it comes to their charitable work, the Roths said that grew with their company.

"We weren't very philanthropic before we moved here. We were busy starting a company and raising a family," Regina Roth said.

The Roths moved BPI's headquarters from Austin, Texas to Dakota Dunes in 1993.

As they become more involved in Siouxland and aware of its needs, Eldon and Regina determined that BPI could do more than just provide jobs. It could give back to a region that had supported it while it got off the ground and became successful.

"There were so many people that helped us over time that eventually it became our culture," Eldon Roth said.

That culture of giving was on full display in 2017.

In September, BPI sent truckloads of food and supplies to the Houston area, which was recovering from Hurricane Harvey. BPI employees and other local volunteers spent seven days in the region, serving 50,000 burgers and 30,000 tacos to hurricane victims and relief workers. The meals included buns, chips and bottled water donated by or bought from Siouxland companies. The beef came from a customer that uses LFTB from BPI.

In October, the city of Sioux City opened Pearl Street Park, a development helped by Regina Roth's donation of up to $500,000. Located downtown at 620 Pearl St., the park is across the street from LaunchPad Children's Museum and provides a green space downtown, something Roth said is much-needed.

"I think we need green space downtown," she said. "I'd like to see them all over town."

BPI donated $100,000 in November to the USS Sioux City Commissioning Committee. A total of $800,000 to $1 million is being raised for the ceremony and festivities surrounding the commissioning of the ship named for Sioux City. The celebration will take place in late spring at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. A portion of money raised will establish a legacy fund for educational expenses for USS Sioux City crew members and their families.

In late December, former BPI workers who were laid off when the company closed plants and reduced its work force in the wake of the 2012 ABC stories began to receive payments from a $10 million BPI fund.

When sales of LFTB dropped in 2012, BPI closed its plants in Waterloo, Iowa; Amarillo, Texas; and Garden City, Kansas, and cut back at its South Sioux City plant, giving pink slips to more than 700 workers. Eldon Roth said that closing those plants "was one of the most miserable days of our lives."

He had hoped to someday make it up to those workers.

"It started off as a fantasy," he said. "You wanted to do something for them."

Fantasy became reality when ABC and BPI settled the lawsuit. In October, using money from the settlement, BPI established the fund and began to take applications from former workers from all four plants. About 750 applied for relief.

BPI continues to recover as well, Eldon Roth said. The legal case may be settled, but ABC's stories left a mark on the company's reputation.

"My parents worked so hard to build this company, and we were shown as this disgusting little company," Jennifer Letch said.

Regina Roth said that though the trial concluded with a confidential settlement rather than a public jury verdict in their favor, BPI's point was made.

"We think we got out our message that ABC lied and they had to pay money," she said.

The fallout from the ABC stories and ongoing litigation challenged BPI to diversify its product line, not leaning so heavily on LFTB sales, which have yet to return to 2012 levels. In that sense, the lawsuit had a positive impact. BPI recently launched Dos Rios, a line of seasoned, precooked beef for use in tacos, nachos and other Mexican foods.

BPI again collects raw materials in its Garden City plant, but has not resumed processing there. BPI hopes to resume full operations in Garden City and Amarillo in the future. The Waterloo plant will remain closed.

"Ultimately, at the end of the day, the settlement was a good thing for us," Nick Roth said. "It gives us a good base to rebuild our company and re-establish our brands."

Most importantly, Regina Roth said, the settlement ended the case. There won't be years of appeals that likely would have followed a jury verdict. BPI can now focus only on producing lean beef products.

"We're glad it's behind us," she said.