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No longer king

Steve Sterling is dressed in cotton, surrounded by workers baling cotton, and is practically breathing cotton as white puffs float around the gin like snow.
Sterling, general manager for Cotton Producers Co-op in Tuscumbia, finally had enough work to give his workers a half-day's shift recently.
What used to be the height of the cotton ginning season - when gins remained open 24 hours and cranked out tons of processed cotton for market - has become a wait-and-see game for local cotton gins hopeful for just a solid day's work.
Inside the steel-sided warehouse, machines march field-…