Mark’s Musings – Oct. 21, 2015

Mark Fortune

Our community was hit last week with the news that WestRock, which most of us still may refer to as Stone Container, will be closing at the end of November. Over 200 employees and their families will be affected. Not only is WestRock a healthy daily consumer of the city of Coshocton’s water supply, but the employees at the corrugated paper company are also a major contributor to the local United Way campaign, typically being the number one giver each year. These are caring, dedicated and giving people to our community. They did not deserve this. No one does.

The next few weeks and months will be challenging ones for our community. This impacts people’s lives in a huge way, with many of the employees being multi-generational workers at the plant. And while most of us have probably complained about the “smell” that emanates from the plant from time to time, I have often been told, “Young man, that’s the smell of money.” The young man reference, of course, is from a couple of decades ago. The money, of course, refers to wages and earnings. The plant has experienced various upgrades and improvements over the years that have reduced the smell.

It would be altogether unfair to blame anyone at the local level. Oh sure, it’s easy to point fingers and say, “We should have known this was coming.” No one saw it coming because when a corporation wants to keep things quiet, it keeps things quiet. This can really be chalked up to something pretty simple, greed. Because at the end of the day, that’s what it is. I always like to think that there are multiple options when things happen. Could someone local or in the region buy it? Is this even feasible or possible? I don’t know.

I tried over the weekend to think about a positive spin to this event on our community. Kraft is hiring and expanding as are several others. That’s good. If there is a positive angle, it will be seen in the next few weeks and months as our community rallies to support the families of those employed at the plant. Many of them have their own tough, gut wrenching decisions to make around the dining room table. Do they stay in Coshocton or seek work elsewhere? As this settles in on our community, let’s think about the families with kids in school, athletics, and band or perhaps in their senior year and about to head off to college or career.

What can we do as a community? We can show our support through listening with a caring ear and heart for starters. We all know that the people of Coshocton County are at their absolute best when the chips are down. In this particular case the best thing that we can do right now is to pray for the affected employees, their families and our community. And throwing in some prayers for those that made this decision might not hurt either.

The WestRock website is located at www.westrock.com.

Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion