Hey! A place where the Webb hotel would be welcome!

The Herald-Leader is reporting that Owensboro's largest hotel has closed. People are scrambling to find new places for their weddings, the Chamber of Commerce has asked its members to open their homes for displaced lodgers, and a softball tournament scheduled for later this year may have to find another location. One wedding had to be relocated with minimal notice, and the bride's family is NOT getting their $5.5K deposit back.

200 local jobs were lost, and the citizens are worried about the future for Owensboro tourism.

The 2008 Amateur Softball Association Girls' Class A 16-and-under Fast Pitch National Championship, scheduled to begin July 27, is "10 times larger than the others," said Karen Miller, executive director of the Owensboro-Daviess County Convention & Visitors Bureau. It needs 400 rooms, she said.

"We're working hard to keep as many people in town as we can," Miller said.

The tournament is expected to draw about 140 teams and 10,000 people from across the country.

"We're just praying that the ASA doesn't step in and move the tournament," Voyles said. "We have a 10-year history with them. But history means very little. It's what you can do today that counts."

THESE are the people who could use another hotel. Someone may reopen the Executive Inn, but a back-up is sorely needed. Consider it, Webbs... you'd be welcomed with open arms there.