Oct. 31--After 65 years in Owensboro, the General Electric Co., which once employed more than 6,600 Daviess Countians, plans to close the doors on its last remaining local plant "no earlier than" Halloween 2010.

Matt Conkrite, communications leader for the company's industrial business, said Friday that 109 employees will lose their jobs with the closing of the GE Motors Plant at 3301 Old Hartford Road.

If there's any good news, he said, it's that 50 percent of them are eligible for full GE pensions, and the company is giving a one-year notice.

Brent Clary, president of United Steelworkers Local 783, said that after 26 workers were laid off Oct. 23, only 64 union workers remain at the plant.

The average age is between 47 and 50, he said, and the average worker still at the plant has been there 24 years.

"It's a shame," he said. "It's one thing if it's caused by the economy, but I hate to see the work go to Mexico."

"We have a plant in Monterey, Mexico," Conkrite said. "It's able to take on some of the work from Owensboro. But that's not the reason the Owensboro plant is closing."

There is still a chance that the plant could stay open, he said.

Both union and nonunion employees will have 60 days to propose cost savings that could keep the plant open, Conkrite said.

A final decision will be made after those suggestions are studied, he said.

Nick Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., said he'll be working with the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development to try to find incentives that could save the plant.

"We've been working with them on several issues out there," he said. "They've been struggling to find customers."

The plant builds electric motors for industry.

State Sen. David Boswell, a Sorgho Democrat, said GE officials told him that the closing was caused by "the overall economy and a lack of demand for their products."

Boswell said: "It's a great disappointment. GE has been part of this community for a long time. I guess it's just a sign of the times. Hopefully, we can turn this around soon."

Clary said the motors plant was always one of the last local industries to be hit by a recession and one of the last to recover.

"The plant is still in lag time," he said.

GE bought the former Ken-Rad radio tube plant on Ninth Street -- now home to MPD Inc. -- for $5.5 million in January 1945.

By 1966, the company had increased the number of jobs to 6,600.

By 1956, the radio tube business was outgrowing its Ninth Street buildings and GE began building a new factory on New Hartford Road.