A lumber company is closing its Clarke County sawmill and has sent home more than 100 workers.
Hankins Lumber Company manager, W.L. Brown, said that only about a dozen employees were now reporting for work. The layoffs began late last month. Brown did not give a specific date when the plant would close.
The manager said the sawmill is for sale and that another company, which he declined to identify, had made an offer several weeks ago.
Hankins Lumber is the latest economic setback for Clarke County. Burlington Incorporated closed its Stonewall textile plant earlier this year and left more than 800 people without jobs.
Clarke County has had Mississippi's highest unemployment rate in the state for much of the year. In October, the latest month reported, the county's jobless rate was 16.8 percent, highest in the state.
