The shock lingers for Jay Huddleston as he recalls the April 13 layoff from Titan Tire’s Natchez plant.

This time it may be final, he said.

&uot;I’ve been on unemployment before; that was back in 1997 when Fidelity had to declare bankruptcy,&uot; said Huddleston, whose 10 years with the company began during the years after Fidelity took over the plant from Armstrong Tire & Rubber.

&uot;But back in 1997 we knew we’d be going back to work in a few months when Morry Taylor purchased the plant,&uot; he said.

This time seems different.

&uot;I’ve been really shocked by it,&uot; he said. &uot;I’m 31 and I have a degree in computer-aided drafting from Co-Lin. When I finished my degree, Mom and Dad encouraged me to go to Fidelity to apply for a job because they were hiring people then,&uot; he said.

&uot;They hired me right away. I thought maybe I’d just work there a while and then go off to a university to get a degree. I built up seniority at the plant, though, and became a tire builder and then a supervisor. I was able to use some of my college skills then.&uot;

Because his father, Jerry Huddleston, had worked for many years at the plant, starting back in the Armstrong days, Jay Huddleston was comfortable with his choice of work.

What’s more, as he moved up in the company, he felt secure in his job, too.

&uot;My dad had worked for the company for 34 years. He started with Armstrong and stayed with the company when it was Fidelity and then Titan. He was laid off before I was,&uot; Jay Huddleston said.

Things were looking good at the plant before December, he said. &uot;We had lots of people to train and, most important of all, we had the resources to train them. Then in the middle of January they began talking about scaling back, not just in Natchez but from the corporate level.&uot;

From that point, workers at the plant began to feel uneasy, he said.

&uot;We really tried to make this plant work. We worked 120 percent. Toward the end, as each week passed, we were cleaning up things we’d never cleaned before. It was strange.&uot;

Out of work but not out of hope, Huddleston takes a wait-and-see attitude toward the tire company. And he is not going to make too quick a decision about other work.

&uot;For now I’m going to wait and see; but no one knows the fate of IP, and the economy is not in good shape, it seems to me,&uot; Huddleston said.

With his drafting skills, he does occasional jobs for some area architects, but those jobs will not take the place of a full-time one like the one he recently lost, he said.

&uot;Christie, my wife, is in a new position as a paralegal with Walter Brown’s office. She likes her job,&uot; he said.

&uot;We’ve been married almost four years, and we were just starting to talk about starting a family. We’ll have to put that on hold now.&uot;

As homeowners and an active couple in community activities, they want to stay in Natchez, Huddleston said.

&uot;I’ve made pretty good money at this plant. We were living comfortably. I’m involved in my church, the Boy Scouts, the community band. It would be hard to move,&uot; he said.