Claxton dealership closing, local mayor reacts

Dan Womack had his hopes up just a little on Tuesday. He was hoping for an extension of the "execution date" as he terms it. Several hundred Chrysler dealers across the country had gone to court, asking the bankruptcy judge to extend the June 9 deadline for losing their franchises. When word came that an extension on selling inventory had been granted until June 15, Womack assumed that meant he might be able to stay in business awhile longer. But by late Tuesday, he realized that was not the case.

This morning, he finally received an email from Chrysler saying the franchise is "no more." The email offered instructioins on how to dispose of his inventory. Womack showed me around his empty parking lot. Less than two months ago, he had 100 or more cars. Today, it's nine, four used and five new. He's hoping that Chrysler will take back the new cars but says it's not for free. He'll end up paying Chrysler about 15,000 to take back the five cars. "They're helping me some, but not that much," he tells me.

Womack says he has no choice but to close the business. He says it may be a few days or few weeks at this point. "We're doing paperwork and trying to get rid of inventory like all the tools," he says. "I hate to leave, there are a lot of nice people here."

Less than a month ago, the dealership employed 12 people. "But a few have already left," Womack says. "We have eight employees left as of today."

Those eight will soon be looking for new jobs in a community of just 2,500 people. Claxton Mayor Luther Royal says the situation is "kind of devastating to us." Royal says "the dealership not only provided jobs but a lot of sales tax money every month, money that with all the other budget cuts, is going to be sorely missed."

Royal says it seems obvious Chrysler didn't consider the impact to communities when it made decisions on which dealership franchises to cut. "I don't know how or if we can ever make up the money we're going to lose when they close down," he says. More tonight on News 3 at six.