State’s error stunned town in positive way

To say Red Bay Mayor Mike Shewbart was caught off guard when we called him Friday regarding the rumors of Tiffin Motorhomes closing its facility in his town is selling it short just a bit.

“Oh no. I haven’t heard anything about that,” Shewbart said in a phone interview. “Let me call them (Tiffin) right now and get to the bottom of this.”

From there, we called up Tiffin Motorhomes ourselves, and representatives with the company were also completely unaware of any closings or layoffs in Red Bay.

The representatives told us the rumors were “not true” and were working to get clarity on the situation.

For the next few hours, we tried and eventually were successful in getting in touch with Tiffin’s parent company, THOR Industries, whose public relations representative worked rather quickly to dispel the incorrect information floating around. Ultimately, a representative for THOR was able to tell us the rumors were due to an error on the state of Alabama’s part after Workforce Alabama’s website incorrectly listed the Red Bay plant as “closing.”

The state also erroneously duplicated the closing of Tiffin’s Winfield plants claiming there would be two closures – and twice the number of employees let go – when it was actually just the one closure.

While the rumors were being debunked, workers, Red Bay residents and the entire town were left wondering if their largest employer was preparing to pick up and leave town, which would have left the city as a shell of itself.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. In fact, the development ended up being very positive for Red Bay. The closing of THOR Industries’ Winfield operations will result in 30 to 40 new jobs at Tiffin Motorhomes as a new production line is opened at the Red Bay plant.

Beginning May 13, Tiffin Motorhomes will start building Class C motorhomes – meaning recreational vehicles built on a truck or van with overcab sleeping or storage areas.

Tiffin will continue to operate its Class A and Class B lines.

In the end, Shewbart was relieved to learn there was no truth to the early morning scare. And his constituents certainly joined him in celebrating the news Tiffin Motorhomes would be expanding its operations. The new production line will be a great economic boost for the second half of the current fiscal year.

“We appreciate all they’re doing to help our city,” Shewbart said of Tiffin Motorhomes. “We wish them and all the new employees the best moving forward.”

Courtside accolades

Red Bay’s residents had another reason to celebrate this past week as the boys basketball team won its Class 2A Northwest Regional tournament semifinal game 61-59 over Tanner.

The Tigers were one of two Franklin teams to advance to the finals in their classification. Also winning their semifinal game was the Belgreen girls, who beat Sulligent 31-20 in the Class 2A semifinals.

Both teams played in the Class 2A regional championship games on Monday against the Cold Springs boys and girls teams.

Sadly, the Russellville girls team lost their semifinal game against Guntersville. But Coach Jermaine Groce believes the Golden Tigers’ season was so successful, it could become a springboard for greater things next year.

“Girls basketball at Russellville has come a long way,” said Groce after the loss. “This season, to me, is a breakthrough point for us.”

We hope he’s right.