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Whatever lingering effect Mrs. Harrison’s conservative
business philosophy may have had on the decisionmaking process,
it appears that her responsibility for and influence over the
actual decisions of the board were sharply limited in practice.
Mrs. Harrison acknowledged that, shortly after her sons joined
the business, they became the “supervisors of the company”, and
she and Mr. Harrison became primarily responsible for paying
bills, keeping track of collections, and keeping the books. She
further acknowledged that major decisions requiring board
approval (such as approval of trash hauling contracts or truck or
other equipment purchases) had been “pretty well thought out” by
her sons so that, with the exception of one proposed purchase of
trucks in the mid-1960s, she never dissented. Even when she
initially had doubts concerning a proposal of one of her sons,
her sons were able to win her over to their position. Myron
testified that, in connection with the guaranteed loans, Mrs.
Harrison attended meetings with the Bank of America that were
held “after most of the decisions were made, for the final
decision”.
The overall picture that emerges is of a company run during
the audit years (and for many prior years) by Mrs. Harrison’s
sons, each of whom was responsible for managing a key operational
function (Myron, finance; James, general operations and
contracts; Ralph, equipment purchasing, maintenance, and
refurbishment) and for the development of all major business
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