News of Honda’s official announcement Wednesday that its newest plant will be located in Decatur County met with favorable reaction among Rush County civic leaders.

“It will have an economic impact on Decatur and Rush counties as well as surrounding counties. It’s going to be a tremendous boost,” Tom Barnes, Rush County commissioner, said. “It will definitely effect Rush County.”

Since his son was involved in the land acquisition procedure, the local government official and businessman knew about the purchasing of land for the project.

“There was an extreme amount of work involved,” he said.

The benefits of the new industry won’t stop at the county line, according to Barnes.

“This is not limited by county lines,” he said. “The greatest potential is spin off jobs. I truly believe it will effect quite a few people.”

He noted the potential for growth in real estate values and retail sales and also foresaw an impact on the school corporations and hospitals.

Greg Griffin, executive director of the Rush County Economic and Community Development Corporation, also forecast benefits for the area.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for Decatur County but also for the whole southeastern Indiana region,” he said. “Rush County being so close to this facility, we have an opportunity here to attract additional suppliers and vendors that will be supplying Honda motor company.”

“We need to position ourselves to take advantage of the significant potential investment in this area,” he said.

Paul Barada, president and founder of Barada Associates and nationally-recognized authority on pre-employment screening, predicted a favorable effect for Rush County.

“From the standpoint of the economic impact on Rush County this is a once-in-a-century opportunity we can’t allow to pass us by. That’s more than a lifetime,” he added. He gave as an example the area of housing.

“We should be talking to home builders now about housing developments south of Rushville,” he noted. “Also we need to position ourselves to attract companies that will provide goods and services to Honda.”

“If they are going to hire more than 1,500 people, they can’t all come

from Decatur County,” he continued, explaining that county has a low