b'A REGION COMING TOGETHERWhen we looked at the employees who worked at the shipyard, Mayor Summey says, they were about 50 percent Charleston County residents, about 35 percent Dorchester and about 15 percent Berkeley. And at that time if you looked at the population makeup of the three counties, they were about the same. We felt equal impact of those jobs going away, and realized we need to start working together. I will never forget when I hosted the first BEST committee I got up and said, I can remember when we had Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties coming together for a meeting, we had to have a weapons check at the door. With new awareness that regardless of where a new business located, it would economically and equally benefit all three counties, from jobs to quality of life, we had to quit viewing each other as competitors and learn to like, respect and trust each other.It was two years before the last group of people left the base. In that time, Summey explains, tri-county leadership learned to be honest with each other, letting each other know if they had a company coming in looking for a location. Normally, as chairman of county government at that time or mayor of North Charleston, my job would be to sell them on our location, but like the others, I developed an attitude that said I believe my location is the best location for you, but if you do not agree, what can I do to help you look at one of the other locations thats being considered outside my area?40 CHAMBER RETROSPECTIVE250 YEARS'