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WILMINGTON — Gov. Ted Strickland on Tuesday, Nov. 11, pledged continuing support for a community rocked by the pending closure of its largest employer.

"It is our collective intent" to assist Wilmington in acquiring the soon-to-be closed airpark operated by DHL, Strickland said during a meeting Tuesday morning with Wilmington and Clinton County officials at Wilmington City Hall. "We will pursue this intensely and immediately with a formal request" to the company.

Strickland was in Wilmington on Tuesday to help dedicate a new veterans memorial.

Deutsche Post World Net, the German parent company of DHL, said Monday it will eliminate DHL package deliveries between U.S. cities after Jan. 30. The move will result in DHL closing its ground freight operations, as well as its air cargo hub here.

The airpark employs between 7,400 and 7,800 people, Mayor David Raizk said.

Strickland also said the antitrust action the state has been pursuing is largely moot following DHL's decision to exit the freight hauling business altogether in the U.S. But the state is pursuing a $3.8 million Department of Labor grant to help pay for new job training for dislocated workers, Strickland said.

"Our hearts go out to the community and the families," Strickland said. "We recognize this is going to cause great hardship."

But "this community is strong and resilient," Strickland said. "It's a community with great pride, and salt of the earth people. We will get through this, and we will do it together."

The state will likely have to seek federal loans to help pay for unemployment compensation as a result of the DHL closure and other mass layoffs across the state, Strickland said.