Waco Dodge is mad, and it wants the world to know it.

From 3 until 6 p.m. on Tuesday, it invites the public to join it for the Waco Dodge Tea Party.

The 39-year-old dealership at 1220 N. Valley Mills Drive was one of 789 nationwide that financially troubled Chrysler has decided to close by withdrawing its franchise.

Chrysler has received $4 billion in federal loans and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while negotiating a deal to sell a majority of its assets to Fiat.

Waco Dodge general manager Holly Dunham said she wants the public to protest the loss of its local Dodge dealership and “the intervention of big government in private business.”

Chrysler not only chose to pull Waco Dodge’s franchise, it eliminated the automaker’s affiliation with Marstaller Motors, which sells Jeep products, and with Jeff Hunter Toyota, which sells Chrysler vehicles.

This means that after June 9, no dealership in McLennan County will sell Chrysler products.

Dunham said anyone with questions about the event or needing suggestions for sign slogans may send her an e-mail message at wacododge@gmail.com.

Bakery on Franklin

Downtown Waco is getting a kolache shop called Gerik’s Ole Czech Bakery & Deli at Sixth Street and Franklin Avenue — the former home of the Olive Branch restaurant.

“We hope to open within a couple of weeks, no later than mid-June,” said Bryan Anderson, who will own the place with wife Jeanne.

They will serve an array of kolaches, pastries and sandwiches. They also will sell something called a skunk egg, which is a mixture of chicken, cheese, onion, jalapeno and bacon that is battered like chicken-fried steak and then deep fried.

That egg is what the Andersons are best known for at their Gerik’s bakery and restaurant in West, where they also own The Pizza House.

Robinson Sonic moves

Robinson’s Sonic Drive-In has moved, but not far.

It has relocated to 647 N. Robinson Drive, next to Shipley Do-Nuts. It closed its former location on Robinson Drive.

The restaurant features 26 drive-in-stalls, two walk-up ordering stations and a drive-through window.

Hard jobs to fill

Manpower, the national employment company, has come up with its annual list of the 10 hardest jobs to fill in America.

The list: engineers, nurses, skilled/manual trades, teachers, sales representatives, technicians, drivers, IT staffers, laborers and machinists/machine operators.

Each of the 10 job categories on the 2009 list has appeared on the Hardest Jobs to Fill list in the past, Manpower reports.

“Our workforce needs to be more open to retraining and upskilling for jobs that are in demand. And, our government, business leaders and educational facilities need to take action to ensure students are being enticed to enter these fields,” said Melanie Holmes, vice president, world of work solutions for Manpower North America.

Minute Maid project

A $30 million project that began last year at Waco’s Minute Maid plant is nearly complete, meaning a hot-fill production line will begin churning out products sometime in June.

This is the 15th new line Minute Maid has added since it occupied the building at Hewitt and Imperial drives in 1995. Each new line gives the plant more production capacity.

Once completed, the line will produce products in the Like Fuze, PowerAde and Vitamin Water brands.

Industrial Rigging Service of Central Texas, located in Hewitt, is serving as general contractor for the project.

Minute Maid employs about 300 at its Waco facility.

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

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