KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video - 90+ People Lose Jobs at Hawthorne's Army Depot
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The Economic Development Authority of Mineral County confirms that 91 people were laid off at the Hawthorne Army Depot Thursday.
22 workers more took early retirements.
The Day & Zimmerman Hawthorne Corp. has operated and maintained the facility since January 2000.
The current contract to run the base ends at the end of this year. Last September, the Army was supposed to pick a company to award a new contract to, but they didn't. Instead they gave the current contract a six month extension.
County officials say the layoffs will be hard on the community 130 miles southeast of Reno.
About 4,500 people live in Hawthorne. "It's scary. We're all kind of crossing our fingers and hoping everything will be all right. But we'll survive it, the whole town will," says Debbie Bennett, owner of Maggie's Restaurant.
The base stores obsolete weapons in 7 million square feet of storage within nearly 3,000 bunkers across the desert.
Army Colonel Cliff Cichowlaz is not sure if the Army intends to keep dismantling the weapons stored in the buildings on the base or spend that money elsewhere. "Sometimes it's cheaper to go ahead and store it for awhile than it is to demil it...if they go into purely maintanence mode, we're dead."
The depot was on the base closure list in 2005, but stayed open after Congress and former President Bush approved it.
Sen. John Ensign released this statement concerning the layoffs: "With only a few days left until Christmas, this is obviously not the news that anyone would want to receive. Upon notification of the Hawthorne Army Depot (HWAD) layoffs, I have contacted both the Army and HWAD to see if we can assist in any way. Our hope is that a large majority of these employees can be rehired in the very near future. "
About two dozen of the workers live on base; they have 30 days to vacate.
(The Associated Press also contributed to this report.)
