Parties agree McClurg did all for project

Tiger Truck Executive Michael S. Ward said he was "shocked" to hear that JEDCO Director Tom McClurg had tendered his resignation last week.

Ward praised McClurg at the Tiger Truck initial announcement March 12 and said his opinion has not changed since that time.

"(McClurg) is good at what he does," Ward said. "He knows what needs to be done to make things work. He's a bigger loss to the city than us, by far."

Ward said he could tell McClurg was "stressed" over the recent problems with the Tiger Truck deal.

"If they let Tom McClurg go, well, then the town deserves what it gets," Ward said. "From all the guys that we worked with, Tom McClurg was, by far, the best to work with.

"There will be other companies that will come around if we don't but there won't be anymore Tom McClurgs," Ward said.

Mike Bruce, owner of the property, also praised the work of McClurg during the process.

"Tom McClurg worked his tail off for this deal," Bruce said. "He worked day and night for this. He toured their plant in Dallas. And now, it looks like they are making him to be the bad egg in this and that is not the case at all."

- Jimmy Galvan