Star At Md. Steel Mill Remains Lit One Last Season

BALTIMORE (AP) -- The "Star of Bethlehem" at the Sparrows Point steel mill is shining for one more holiday season.

The star was erected soon after Bethlehem Steel built the steel mill's blast furnace in 1978. It's been a December fixture ever since.

But the mill's last operator went bankrupt, and the new owners have put the property up for sale. The plant is being sold off in pieces.

Dave Polanowski, a former union leader who's spent 17 years at the steel mill, tells The Baltimore Sun that seeing the star lit puts "some peace in your heart."

The chief marketing officer for Hilco Trading, one of the owners, says keeping the star lit was the right thing to do to show respect for the community and the mill's history.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)