Papers cover Bryan closure announcement
Papers are clamoring to report news that Sara Lee intends to shutter the historic Bryan Foods plant in West Point, which hit Northeast Mississippi like a brick to the face Monday and comes a little more than six months after the huge conglomerate announced plans to eliminate 400 jobs there. Total job losses will range between 1,000-1,200 jobs when the plant, operating since 1936, shuts down at the end of March.
The Daily Times Leader, West Point’s newspaper, reports the local job sevice office is bracing for the impact of waves of unemployed going on to the rolls.
Columbus’ Commercial Dispatch said Monday that West Point’s mayor, Scott Ross, a member of the state IHL Board, was in Washington on, of all things, a tour to promote job growth in the region when news broke.
The Clarion-Ledger has dispatched a business reporter to the area and follows up on reports the plant is being vigorously shopped around to potential buyers.
The Daily Journal in Tupelo has the money quote from a warm and fuzzy Sara Lee suit: “…the West Point plant doesn’t fit the company’s goals for ‘efficiency or long-term profitability expectations.’”