BANGOR, Maine (AP) — The nation's slumping housing market and competition from imports are blamed for the shutdown of two Aroostook County sawmills and a loss of 145 jobs.
Fraser Papers said 72 workers are being displaced for up to four months because of the closure of its sawmill in Ashland. Some of the remaining 200-plus employees will be transferred to Fraser's other mills in the region.
In Nashville Plantation, J.D. Irving Forest Products is closing its Pinkham Sawmill, which had been operating about three days a week. Officials said the shutdown begins Thursday and will continue for an indefinite period.
The two mills, located a few miles apart on the sparsely populated Route 11 corridor, are major employers that draw workers from the 100-mile stretch between Patten to Fort Kent.
Among those hard hit by the closings are mill workers Ron and Wanda Campbell of Washburn, who are in their 30s and have one child. Wanda Campbell is losing her job of eight months at Fraser's sawmill at Masardis, which remains open, because a worker from the targeted Ashland mill has seniority and will take her job. Ron Campbell also may get bumped from his job.
''This affects everything,'' Wanda Campbell said. ''We are still thinking (about) what we will do. Everything is costing more food, fuel, the possible loss of health insurance. It will be an even tougher winter than we were facing (already).''
The couple recognize that they are unlikely to find a job in the region that pays the wages they were earning at the sawmill.
''Moving south may be an option,'' Campbell said. ''It's hard on everyone.'' Artemus Coffin, a 64-year-old worker who has put in 33 years at the Pinkham Mill, hasn't been in the job market since 1975 and wonders if the mill will reopen once it's closed. He also was worried about how he and his wife would face the future without health insurance.
''This will be a very tough winter for many of us,'' he said. ''I don't know how we, and others like us, will make it.''
Ashland Town Manager Jim Gardner said the two closures would have a trickle-down impact on the community, hurting retail businesses and loggers.
''This hurts all the way around,'' he said. ''If I wasn't such an optimistic person, it would be even sadder. We have to stay positive.''