By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

PHILLIPSBURG -- The loss of jobs at one of the largest employers in Phillipsburg is cause for concern for the community's residents, and uncertainty about what lies ahead.

But at least one resident, who declined to give his name, suggested the fallout from the loss of 67 jobs during the past two weeks at Brooke Corp. in Phillipsburg should have only minimal effect on the community.

Not so with the economic calamity taking hold in the nation, he said.

"I'm glad I'm an old man," he said. "I don't have that much time left on this earth. The kids, we don't know what it's going to be like for them."

For young children today, he said, the situation is "very scary."

The bulk of those laid off at Brooke Corp. were terminated by the company Tuesday; 122 workers remain at the facility. The losses are a result of a crumbling financial situation facing the company, which offers financial services and insurance.

Its stock prices, for example, have collapsed, and on Thursday fell to 16 cents a share. Stock for Brooke Capital Corp., an affiliate, climbed Thursday, reaching 80 cents a share.

For some Phillipsburg residents, the job losses at Brooke are enough to cause concern.

"It's going to be hard," said Sandy Jennings, owner of An Angel's Paradise in downtown Phillipsburg, population 2,400.

Jennings said she was surprised at the layoffs but said rumors had been circulating for some time.

"Oh, you know, there's talk," she said. "You never know what to believe until it happens."

Although she said she didn't specifically know anyone who had been laid off, she said she knows a lot of people who work there.

Now, she said, it's a matter of waiting to see how the layoffs affect businesses in Phillipsburg.

"I guess it all depends on the people that are my clients," she said. "If they were the main income for the household or if they were the second income."

As the owner of a hair, nail and tanning salon, Jennings is concerned it's a business people won't see as a necessity -- "if they don't need it this week, then I'll go buy groceries."

"It can't be good," said Steve Schmidt, a retired educator who was filling his car with gasoline at the Rangeland Cooperative service station in Phillipsburg. "They employ a lot of people.

"The economy right now is scary," he added.

Schmidt had heard job losses might happen at Brooke, and he said he was aware of difficulties in the company.

"I haven't heard the number," he said, "but any is too many."

Schmidt said he still remembers the economic difficulties the community faced when a refinery at the north edge of town closed in 1981. He was in the school system at the time.

"We lost enrollment like crazy," he said of the school system.

The problems, he said, aren't just in job losses at Brooke.

There's also problems in the farm economy.

Wheat had hovered at $12 a bushel, he said.

"Now, there's a five in front of it," he said of prices that have tumbled to $5 a bushel.

"Everybody is holding their breath to see what happens," Schmidt said.