Major Ga. auto dealer to close branches on Friday: report

"Mr. Big Volume" Bill Heard dealership in Columbus. (Courtesy Mike Haskey/Ledger-Enquirer)

Columbus-based Bill Heard Enterprises Inc. will shut down its 13 auto dealerships on Friday, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports.

Heard, once one of the largest Chevy dealers in the country, is also trying to unload its flagship operation in Columbus, according to the report.

The state of Georgia filed a $50 million deceptive advertising lawsuit against Bill Heard Enterprises Inc. in July of last year. The case was one of many complaints against the company, according to the Governors Office of Consumer Affairs.

Heard has dealerships throughout the southeast and Nevada, and closed a dealership in Arizona earlier this year.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about Georgia business.

Nat'l Infantry Museum gets more funding

American flags dot the site of a planned memorial to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, July 2008. The National Infantry Museum is visible in the background. (Dave Bender)

The National Infantry Museum in Columbus in western Georgia, set to open next year today got some added financial firepower aimed towards that goal.

Carl Gregory, who owns a local Chrysler dealership is donating $250,000 to the project. Gregory says it’s a show of support for American troops.

Retired major general Jerry White directs the NIF, who are building and will operate the new museum:

“We’ve raised 82 million dollars… but we’re going to have to raise a total of a 100 million to cover all the costs.”

The federal government is funding 27 million dollars towards the center, with the state adding in another five million.

A crane hoists a Bradley Fighting Vehicle into place at the museum, June, 2007. (Dave Bender)

The presentation of the check was held before a World War II Chrysler M-3 tank, one of 25,000 the automaker built for the army during that period:

“In fact, General Patton, when he went to north Africa at the beginning of World War II, departed from Fort Benning and he deployed in an M-3 tank made by the Chrysler corporation.”

The 200 acre center is taking shape alongside Fort Benning, the home of the infantry, paratroopers, and the Army Rangers, among other ground and mechanized units.

The 185,000 square-foot museum replaces an older facility, which was closed earlier this year.

But, White says, the battle for adequate funding isn’t over yet:

“The fundraising is at a critical place, now, and we need all the help we can get to complete the project so we can honor soldiers for what they have done for us.”

The new museum is set to open in 2009. It will include a 3-D IMAX Theatre and interactive displays of the Army infantry’s history, a seven-acre parade field, and a memorial walk of honor.

Ceremonial infantry soldier's shovel with Army Airborne infantry patch, and construction helmet at the 173rd Brigade memorial groundbreaking, July, 2008. The National Infantry Museum is visible in the background. (Dave Bender)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of events at the National Infantry Museum and Fort Benning.

More details about the museum are available here.