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Bennett Forest Industries plans to move sawmill from Elk City

The community’s major employer will close its 60-year-old sawmill in a year and move operations to a new, more efficient and expanded facility in Grangeville.

Bennett Forest Industries officials said the change will make the company more effective in the competitive timber industry, but the decision means a loss of 75 jobs in the unincorporated town of just 400.

The Associated Press

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040902/NEWS02/409020326/1029/NEWS01

"It will be devastating," said Grace Altman, who runs the Elk City General Store with her husband, Larry. She said half the families in town get their paychecks from the mill, and 20 of the local school’s 33 students are from mill families.

But John Bennett, president of the company, said the new mill offers secure long-term employment.

"We met with our employees last week, told them of our plans and assured them that they would all get an opportunity to stay on our team," Bennett said Tuesday.

Grangeville Mayor Terry Vanderwall welcomed the investment in his community of 3,100, contending that Bennett would not be building a new plant unless it was optimistic about the future.

"We feel badly for Elk City, but they’ve always been fighters and they’ll hopefully survive," Vanderwall said.

The plan calls for the new mill in Grangeville to open in fall 2005 and the existing mill to be dismantled.

There was some question about whether workers would stay in Elk City and make the 50-mile drive each way to keep working at the mill.

Rae Ann Loomis, the head teacher at the school, said talk of the mill closing had been circulating for years and reflects what seems to be a gradual change in the community from its reliance on timber to a focus on outdoor recreation and a haven for retirees.

She also expected the impact of the closure to be more gradual since it will be difficult to sell homes if all the mill workers try to relocate at once.

But Loomis expects the loss of the mill to carry a price for the school that has three teachers now.

"I’m sure there will be a school here, but it might be a one-room school house," she said.

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