In November we got the news that many of the company’s creditors were threatening to force J&L into involuntary bankruptcy and liquidation (chapter 7); the town of Springfield sued for back taxes. The company hired a “management crisis” firm to handle the legalities of a bankruptcy. According to a UE union newsletter, Ted Call (then the executive vice president), showed up at a scheduled meeting on November 4th with two new people,  Gary Travis and Robert Yanker. These people were put in charge of reorganizing the company under chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would allow the company to survive.

At this same time, Sullivan Industries in Claremont (also owned by Donald Hoodes) was on the rocks. The Cheshire, Connecticut branch was in the same boat, unpaid taxes, lack of insurance, etc.

While on my “off week” sometime in November of 1986, I was contacted and told that my presence was no longer needed at work. This seemed to be the end of the line for us who had hung on hoping for a miracle. At this point I lost track of any and all details of the company and their problems. All of us that “got the boot” ended up with moneys owed us; unreimbursed health insurance bills, as well as lost vacation pay for those who still had some on the books. My total concentration turned to finding another job. This was difficult given the state of the economy, but more so because I would be searching during the Holiday Season (few companies hire then). I took several job interviews, including one at Sylvania in Hillsboro, N.H. (light bulbs). I couldn’t imagine that commute, there really is no easy way to get there. Another company named Gloenco in Newport, N.H. (packaging / shrink wrapping) gave me a shock when the pay was discussed. I quickly discovered that I would come nowhere near the pay I had been receiving at J&L. But in the end, after being unemployed thru January of 1987, I got a call from John Jensen, a former J&L V.P., who had started up a new optical comparator company with Bob Jones, another former J&L V.P.. It was located in town, and they had taken the name Vermont Precision Products (VPP). Pay would be $10 per hour to start, quite a drop from my previous job. But that was the way it was, take it or leave it. There were several former J&L workers there, so I signed on. It was to be my first real involvement with a comparator.

My initial duties included some engineering, and our early days saw us located in the  Vermont Rebuild building at the end of Pearl Street. We had a couple of drafting boards upstairs, but it wouldn’t be long before we moved to a refurbished area next door (where Trout River Brewing is now).