Another mill closes

Georgia-based Avondale Mills announced yesterday it was shutting down operations across three Southern states. That's bad news for 4,000 employees who will lose their jobs.

State government officials from Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia now must roll up their sleeves to absorb the job losses. While the timing may be a bit of a shock, the news isn't unexpected. The South has been wrestling with mill closures for decades.

Tommy Muszall, a South Carolina resident whose small town was devastated by the announcement, sums it up:

"I think half of these buildings probably going to shut down. ... They ain't going to have anybody around here. ... People got to go somewhere else to find a job."