The World from Coos Bay, Oregon • 5

Saturday, August 16, 2003 THE WORLD, Coos Bay, Ore. A5 Local News 1 fit i 1 I i Hi ffrif sir A Company is showing profit domestically and overseas World File Photo In September 2001, Weyerhaeuser Company celebrated 40 years of operation at the North Spit pulp mill with an open house, inviting the public to see the operation. As tours moved through the plant, they passed by the large press machine used to process the wet pulp and make the cardboard product made from recycled paper. Above left, rolls of cardboard paper wait in a warehouse to be loaded onto rail cars for shipping at the North Bend mill during the 2001 open house. After 42 years of operation, corporate officials Informed the plant's 158 workers on Friday that the mill would be closed permanently.

66 This pretty well kills the Urban Renewal Agency on the North Spit. Allan Rumbaugh, general manager Oregon International Port of Coos Bay Seyerance package includes placement on preferential hiring list at other Weyco mills Closure from Page A1 Since 1999, demand for Weyerhaeuser's cardboard boxes has dropped 7 percent. McDermott placed equal blame on the economy and the shift in where goods are produced. "Now, not only are the Chinese making the ski jacket, but they're making the box that it goes in," he said. China isn't importing its paper, it's building its own paper mills so it.

won't have to rely on imports. But Weyerhaeuser is there, too. In 1996, the company formed a joint venture to pursue packaging markets in Asia. By 1998, its paper plant in Shanghai was in business and the company was making promotional packaging for retail companies. One year later, Weyerhaeuser opened a box plant in Mexico and one in Wuhan, China.

99 In addition to the North Bend containerboard mill, Weyerhaeuser closed its Junction City lumber mill Friday. That mill's 128 employees produced laminated veneer. With the final closure notice Friday, Weyerhaeuser said its severance package will return North Bend workers laid off two months ago to the payroll starting Monday and continuing through Oct. 13. Employees also will: boxes.

The workers rolled out 275,000 tons of paper a year, according to mill manager John Yerke. The payroll totaled $10 million. While the company declined to tally its current economic impact on the surrounding communities, in 1998 CORP laid off three employees two months ago when Weyerhaeuser traffic stopped. "We will make our operation fit the rail traffic that's on the line," Lovelady said. For CORP it's not all bad news.

A small mill further north on the Coos Bay line soon will begin using raiicars ana Weyerhaeuser reported it spent $7.5 mu- In 2002, Weyerhaeuser reported $18-5--, Hon 'for-goodsi and aid fReedsport-based American Bridge plans to billion jn sales with protjtsjotaljngjl taxfcUlec jH-iwughl utsV' Vbiring. aft Steeibeamsjfrem Cpos and million. Two weeks ago, the Company 1 and Kotos, declricaf mmnoneiits.lven'iiimi Eueene. receive three months of health insurance coverage after Oct. 13; have the ability to be placed on a preferential hiring list at mills in Springfield, Cosmopolis, and Longview, if the employees have worked for the company for five years; have help from a firm in trying to locate new jobs; and have access for themselves and family members to counselors.

tying local mayors, police chiefs and business owners. Press releases went out from corporate headquarters. Within the hour, they were done. As the former Weyerhaeuser workers climbed into their pickup trucks and cars and headed out of the parking lot, there was one biting reminder of why they were there. It was impossible not to see the rectangular gray building, not to stare over a weedy, vacant lot and just across the bay at the foot of the railbridge at Weyerhaeuser's now-defunct container-board mill.

reported second quarter profitsat $k57 rail-, The min hiredetract 11 hasHo rJlanhol-- lion. Ironically, when it comes to the com pipefitters and electricians. ed almost all of the $120,000 in the agency's budget. But Rumbaugh added that really is insignificant compared to the impact to the community and families of losing 158 high-paying jobs. Weyerhaeuser started calling employees Thursday morning, inviting them to the meeting at the Ramada Inn in North Bend.

Friday, they arrived in jeans and jogging shorts. Some wore slacks and ball caps. While company officials met privately with workers, family members waited in the lobby. Simultaneously, a public relations spokesman was on a cell phone noti- open its mill. In fact, McDermott said, the company likely will sell and move some equipment to other mills.

The mill eventually will be dismantled, as it did with the mills on the North Bend waterfront in recent years. That reality will impact money available for infrastructure for potential industrial development. "This pretty well kills the Urban Renewal Agency on the North Spit," said Allan Rumbaugh, general manager of the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay. Taxes on Weyerhaeuser's mill generat- pany's overall containerboard operations, second-quarter earnings jumped 35 percent to $108 million. Domestically when it comes to considering profits and high production, North Bend might have won out, but there were other factors working against the mill.

It's smaller. It's older. It's geographically disadvantaged. The mill was a 100-percent recycling plant, pulping cardboard to create the wavy center layer in the walls of cardboard What started as possibly a temporary closure and ended in shut-down has affected businesses small and large. "It's going to have a huge impact on the Coos Bay line," said Dan Lovelady, the general manager of Central Oregon Pacific Railroad.

Weyerhaeuser accounted for one-third of CORP's traffic, 315 railcar loads per month. Logs are still coming in and wood chips are going out from the Georgia-Pacific mill in Coos Bay. Raiicars are traveling to the plywood mill in Coquille, but Obituaries Republicans split over Service Notice amOUIlt Of tax Increase The moderates' proposal would raise personal income taxes by $413 million, including by reducing personal exemptions and slowing a voter-passed increase in the federal income tax deduction. Obituaries are paid announcements. Information is provided by mortuaries and family members.

Contact mortuaries for information. Yvonne Hurst Sept 5, 1926 -Aug. 14, 2003 A private family service will be held at a later date for Yvonne Myrtle Hurst, 76, of Coos Bay. She was born Sept. 5, 1926, to Adna and Mable (McNair) Holycross, in Reedsport.

She died Aug. 14,2003, Donald Sanborn 81, of Greenacres, died May 29, 2003, in Coos Bay. A memorial service and scattering of ashes will be held at 1 1 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Bandon Lighthouse.

A luncheon will follow at the family home in Greenacres. Death Notices Barbara Helen Hall 62, of Bandon, died Aug. 15, 2003, in Bandon. Arrangements are pending with Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 2674216. John town 94, of Coos Bay, died Aug.

15, 2003, in Coos Bay. Arrangements are pending with Coos Bay Chapel, 267-3131. Budget from Page A1 hope to forge an agreement with Democrats to get the 36 House votes and 18 votes in the Senate that are required to raise revenue. The GOP runs the House on a 35-25 count, with the Republican caucus split on boosting taxes to balance the budget. The Senate has 15-15 partisan tie.

House Speaker Karen Minnis, R-Wood Village, says she won't try to block moderates' efforts to pass a package but made clear she strongly opposes the amount of tax increases it contains. "The will to tax the income of Oregonians is beyond belief," she said in an interview Thursday. restore electrical service to businesses and homes following storms and accidents. In his younger years, Jack was a member of several local service clubs, including the 2030 Club, Kiwanis and Elks. After his retirement in 1974, he enjoyed golf at Coos Country Club.

His quick sense of humor, outgoing personality, good singing voice and extensive knowledge of the land and people of Coos County brought him many acquaintances and friends over the years. He loved the outdoors and for many years, was an avid hunter and fisherman. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Jon and Lee Littlefield and two grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Catharine in 1990. The family suggests memorial contributions to the Marshfield High School Scholarship Fund, 10th and Ingersoll, Coos Bay, Ore.

97420; or the Coos Bay Public Library Foundation, 525 Anderson Coos Bay, Ore. 97420. Arrangements are under the direction of Coos Bay Chapel, 1 yf ,1 Outdoors Find out where the best fishing can be found on the South Coast. See Page B8 Saturday. Tlie EWorld Jack Littlefield April 14, 1912 -Aug.

14, 2003 A private family gathering in memory of John W. "Jack" Littlefield, 91, of Coos Bay, will be held later this month. He was bom April 14, 1912, in Bandon. He died Aug. 14, 2003, in North Bend.

Jack and Catharine, his wife of 48 years, lived most of their lives in Coos County. He attended schools in Bandon until he interrupted his education to support his family during the early years of the Depression. He later moved to Coos Bay and in 1932, graduated from Marshfield High School. In World War II, he joined the U.S. Navy Seabees and served in the Aleutian Islands, where he helped build military facilities, and in California, where he ran a troop recreation center and entertained as a singer.

After the war, Jack returned to Coos Bay and worked for 37 years with Mountain States Power Company and its successors, Pacific Power and Light Company and PacifiCorp, in various aspects of field work. He often helped in Coos Bay. She was married to George William Hurst, who died in 1994. She enjoyed Wednesday night bingo at the Senior Citizen Center The Bay Area's Only Locally Owned Operated Full Service Funeral Home. Yvonne Hurst Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary Catch the action! Call 269-1222 to subscribe.

TIie World in Loos cay, where she was among friends and family. She enjoyed camping with her family and spending time with all her children, grandchildren and HI 4th Elrod, Coos Bay 267-4216 John ft Tanya Nelson Funeral Directors Owners yivvtCe Grove FUNERAL SERVICE BAY AREA -7 She is survived by her brother, Darrell Holycross of Coquille; sisters, Glenda Caughell of Coos Bay and Geraldine Kreutzer of Langlois; granddaughters, Danielle Hyatt of Reno, and Kriss Reed of Coos Bay; grandsons, Tim Pullman of Reno and William Miller of Coos Bay; great-grandson, William George Miller of Coos Bay; and great-granddaughter, Alexis Marie Hyatt of Reno. She was preceded in death by her husband, George William Hurst; a brother, Norman Holycross; and daughters, Barbara Pullman and Sandra Miller. Arrangements are under the direction of Nelson's Bay Area Mortuary, 267-4216. 9pw located in Coos 'Bay and Coquille to Setter serve families living on the South Coast of Oregon.

'We are locally emmed and operated zrith the reputation of gentle compassion and the soft touch of home. 1 685 Anderson Ave. Coos Bay, OR 97420 North Bend, OR 97459 i 267-31 31 I 756 0440 I Cremation Starting At $645.00 gN The only Crematory T)ignity I in Coos BayNorth Bend 269-2851 396-3158 mvrtIegroveaol.com Myrtle Grove Funeral Service Bay Area, 2645 Woodland Coos Bay (Located two blocks from Bay Area Hospital at Thompson and Woodland) m- 4 At 1 "I 1 "I ill Myrtle urove fxinerai service, anuo ninn reen oqume.