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For the good of the economy Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Salesman Greg Gardner signs for a $100 bonus handed out this week by the owners of several Rogue Valley auto dealerships. Dollar GMC Oldsmobile owner Dave Mills holds some of the dozens of $100 bills given to employees with the admonition to spend the money this weekend to help spur the economy. It was during another time of national crisis that Benjamin Franklin remarked: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." The owners of several car dealerships in Medford and Ashland demonstrated that spirit Friday when they handed out $100 bills to their employees with the admonition to spend it this weekend. "We basically wanted to give everybody $100 to help stimulate the local economy," said Dave Mills, one of the owners of Airport Chevrolet, Dollar Olds-GMC and Southern Oregon Subaru. "We heard other people have done this and the ownership of the three stores decided it was what we wanted to do." New York law firm partner Bernard Hyman made the news wires earlier this week when he passed out $100 bills to his 176 employees. Mills said there are 76 employees at Airport Chevrolet, 55 at Southern Oregon Subaru and 45 at Dollar Olds. Mills, Alan DeBoer and Duane Wallace own the Airport and Dollar dealerships; Mills, Deboer, Wallace and Greg Sorenson own the Subaru store. DeBoer, Wallace and Greg Glass operate Town & Country Chevrolet in Ashland, where another 42 employees were treated with portraits of Ben Franklin. Mill said the move caught employees off-guard. "They were surprised, and very happy," Mills said. "They all said they were going to go out to the mall, go to private businesses, wanted to take their spouses and family out to dinner or maybe get shoes for their kids." While the infusion of cash won't have massive results, it will no doubt spur more spending than a couple of hundred people probably planned. "I wish everybody would do it." Mills said. "It would help. It would spur the economy along and help give everybody a good attitude. It put a smile on my face too. It was a fun thing to do and I enjoyed doing it." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.