EDITORIAL: Navistar gives Fort Wayne déjÀ vu

That odd sense of déjÀ vu you are feeling, Fort Wayne, is not a trick of the mind. We’ve been here before.

Twenty-eight years ago, in fact. The city’s biggest employer, International Harvester, was playing Fort Wayne against Springfield, Ohio, to get the best deal to consolidate its truck plant. The Springfield plant was modern, the Fort Wayne plant, old. We were hopeful, but we knew how it would probably turn out. Just about this time in 1983, the last truck rolled off the Fort Wayne line.

The company is called Navistar now, and once again, it is on the verge of leaving Fort Wayne. Once again, the company’s decision to consolidate apparently won’t include Fort Wayne, the city that has served the company well for 83 years.