Laid-off sawmill workers fear life after Weyerhaeuser

The last log has been processed at Weyerhaeuser’s large-log sawmill here along the Chehalis River.

The mill, which dates back to 1925, will continue to operate a small-log facility with about 140 employees. But 83 people lost their jobs in this coastal Washington community this week.

"I think today is going to be pretty bad," said Lynn Aue, a 52-year-old single mother of two, before she was laid off Thursday. "Monday was the first day where it really hit me that this is real … People have just been kind of stunned, like we’re the walking dead."

Aue said there is life after Weyerhaeuser, but it is going to be different. "A lot of people are dreading the last log going through that big mill."

Weyerhaeuser announced the shutdown in October as part of a series of mill closures around the United States and Canada.

The company’s Cosmopolis pulp mill is scheduled to close some time in 2006, displacing 245 workers. Gov. Christine Gregoire, legislators and local leaders are trying to find a buyer.

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