Uprooted Lives Cash-Poor Christmas Laid-Off Louisiana-Pacific Workers Make The Best Of Hard Holiday Season

The days leading up to Christmas have been trying at times for the Berger family.

Scott Berger, breadwinner for the family of three, lost his sawyer job because Louisiana-Pacific shut down its Post Falls sawmill.

An opportunity to work for a week in November at an L-P mill in southwest Wyoming turned into a month, leaving his wife, Connie, alone to prepare for the holidays.

Diminishing incomes are forcing the Bergers and other unemployed millworkers to celebrate a minimalist Christmas.

The experience of losing job security, of being separated, of seeing their dreams slip further out of reach, “will make us look at Christmas a little more positively, instead of taking it for granted,” Scott Berger said.

The Bettis family is having a similar Christmas.

“We’ve had to be a lot more careful,” said Naomi Bettis, who lost her job as a log clerk. “The kids understand. They didn’t ask for anything expensive. …They’ll all be home and that’s what it’s all about.”

Her husband, mill shipping supervisor Ken Bettis, has tentative plans to expand his excavating business in Hayden Lake.

They could have relocated to Pilot Rock, Ore., but “we decided we’d rather stay here and try to make it,” Naomi Bettis said.

The Bergers also decided to stay put on their 12 acres near Chilco.

For the first time since the family moved to the heavily timbered property, Connie Berger went Christmas-tree hunting by herself this year.

She chopped down a 7-foot red fir and dragged it back to the family’s mobile home.

Knowing the coming year would be difficult financially, Connie shopped conservatively and resisted the urge to overindulge Nicholas, their 6-year-old son.

“We try to teach Nick that Christmas isn’t presents, but he’s still really into it,” she explained, as the blond boy brandished a wrapping-paper tube as a sword in their living room.

She even tried her hand at crafts, decorating boxes with paint, ribbons, flowers and chili peppers for relatives.

And when she found she was short of Christmas bulbs for the tree, instead of buying them, her mother loaned her a few extras.

“It was so important for me to have the Christmas tree up and lights on when he (Scott) came home,” she said.

Occasionally, the seasonal preparations were interrupted by thoughts of how much things had changed.

Their well-laid plans to build a home in the spring were delayed indefinitely. Connie Berger’s desire to be at home for her son conflicted with the sudden need for her to find full-time work.

When Scott Berger’s last paycheck arrived a few days ago, the realization hit home.

“This is it. There is no more,” she said with a sigh. “We’re going to have to readjust our life.”

The same goes for other millworkers, who have spun off in all directions since the last plank passed through the planer at 12:30 p.m. Dec. 14.

Some have found work at other L-P mills in Chilco, Sandpoint, Pilot Rock, and elsewhere. But if they can, they stay as close to home as possible.

Millwright Terry Lewis is commuting to L-P’s Sandpoint mill from his home at Fighting Creek. Lewis is grateful, even though the distant job makes for long days and hefty fuel bills.

“So far, we’ve been pretty lucky,” Lewis said. “Someone’s watching over us.”

John Eckhart, the supervisor of the Post Falls planer crew, found another management job in the wood products industry. Relieved, he bought the beer for his crew after they finished their last day of work at the mill.

“L-P offered me a job in Tacoma, but I didn’t want to pack up my family and move over to that rat race,” he said. “I was born in Post Falls and I wasn’t going to leave.”

Many laid-off workers are going to Job Service, filling out stacks of paperwork for job openings or retraining programs.

The helpful attitude of the state workers gave bureaucracy a human face for those anticipating a grim Christmas season. Millworker Leo Harris gushed about staff member Beverly Peterson.

“She went a little beyond what she had to do, just talking to you and giving you a little advice,” he said. “She’s so upbeat … an exceptional person.”

The Job Service was Scott Berger’s first stop after returning from Wyoming. Then he went to North Idaho College to sign up for a full load of classes next semester - he wants to be trained as a nurse.

The tuition and fees will be paid by the government while he collects unemployment under a federal program that pays to retrain displaced workers.

Berger had the option of moving his family to Wyoming, but family ties are strong here, where young Nick Berger has two sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Besides, Scott Berger was ready for an opportunity to break from the timber industry. The retraining option provided that break.

He’s also looking forward to spending more time with his son. His split shift at the mill gave him little opportunity to see his family during the week. His only big disappointment now is the delay of the new home they had planned.

“Man, we wanted a house so bad. Everything fell into place, our goals. To put it off really ticks me off,” Berger said.

At the same time, he said, it was better the shutdown came now rather than after he had taken out a mortgage.

“It’s going to be hard to live on the (low) wages the next couple of years, but nobody’s ever going to give me an opportunity like this,” Scott said. “This Christmas I’ll remember forever because it’s given me a new lease on everything.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo