byte&chew

Autumn leaves

This past week I took the liberty of asking a few questions of the people I met shopping or having a cup of coffee. These were not scientifically formulated questions, but every day questions you would ask your friends and neighbors. How's business? How do you think Berlin is doing? Is your job secure? What do you think about the old recovery boiler and stack? Do you think Laidlaw is a good deal for Berlin? What do you think is going to happen with downtown? Are you happy with Mayor and Council? These were run of the mill questions not to get numbers as much as to get the mood of the people. My conclusions? How I wish I knew how to get people to come out from their cozy living rooms and to council meetings and public hearings. The collective wisdom of the citizens is amazing, but their mood is somber and not optimistic. Generally speaking people are real concerned about everything that has to do with the economy. Many are afraid to lose their jobs and businesses and, many believe that we've seen the best America has to offer. Most are convinced that our standard of living is and will continue to go down. Quite a few are afraid of having to sell their homes and would sell them now but say the market is too bad for them to get the money back that they have invested in them. Only a few folks were unhappy with Mayor and Council and about half of those who were unhappy was because they didn't think Mayor and Council did enough to get rid of the boiler and stack. Of the 40 to 50 people I spoke to about a half dozen said that we need the jobs Laidlaw would bring and a few of them said they wished there was "something better to put there, but nothing else has been offered". I heard the usual complaints about the condition of the streets and the fact that it rains all the time. The majority of people can't understand why the City allows burned down buildings to remain in place. About half of the people said that downtown is "dead" and that the burnt out building downtown is a "black eye" for Berlin. Many people said that they see more and more ATV's on trailers over the weekend (from Mass) and that we should do something to attract more tourist that are in Gorham. It might have been that the rainy weather had gotten to most people, but most conversations ended on a sour note, that they didn't see "how in hell we're going to get of of this mess". Being a native of Berlin and knowing what happens to our collective mood when the leaves of autumn fall, I can only hope that something positive comes up before we go into the winter months.   How does this compare with how you think things are going?

Hard times?

As all of us face the realities of a changing economy, we struggle with difficult choices. These choices can be as gut wrenching as selling our homes, our camps, our boats or canceling our health insurance. More and more people are having to adjust their lifestyle to shrinking incomes and layoffs. While this pain is being felt at the working class level, governments continue to behave as if these were the good old days. We have several examples here in our own back yard that involve State Government. I'm sure that you're aware that the new state budget is reaching deeper into our pockets although there's less and less in our pockets, right?  Well, here's what I want you to consider. Take a look at what's being built on upper Main street in Berlin next to Woodlands CU, a new office building for HHS. I don't remember how many MILLION$ that's going to cost us, but it's the fact that they didn't need a new building that makes this a crime. That's right, at the moment HHS is downtown in what is probably the best office building in Berlin, but to a handful of never happy always complaining bureaucrats, their personal need for a "new place" trumped common sense and responsible government. The issues surrounding the present location were brought to the attention of all responsible parties, from the Commissioner to Senator Gallus, but apparently nobody had the courage to make the handful of complainers accountable for their lies and mischief.   We also have the question about the unsafe conditions at the State Prison. The State closes the Laconia facility and sends most of the inmates to an already packed house in Berlin. Keep in mind that the Berlin prison is built for 500 inmates, but I believe that there's somewhere around 800 right now. On top of that, must I remind you that they laid-off around 8 officers in Berlin, replaced by transfers from Laconia. The ugly picture is that we're building a new HHS facility we don't need to make a few bureaucrats happy (as if it will) while we have inmates sleeping in hallways in an over crowded and hostile prison! (Oh yeah, it will cost you an extra $30 to register your car next time)  Now convince me that we don't need some new faces and new policies at the State level.

A demonstration of leadership

After having a couple of conversations over coffee this morning with folks who attended last night's forum about the township of Success, I've come to the conclusion that our attitude about ourselves and the special quality of life we have here in the North Country may not be for sale after all. I was told that somewhere around 75 people showed up and that there was a very positive tone to the conversations that lasted for three hours! I have to ask, when was the last time that there was 75 people in a room that seem to agree on anything?  I'm going to take the liberty of making an assumption here, (yeah I know what the first 3 letters spell, but I'll risk it anyway) that these folks who debated the pros and cons of Success, if given the same opportunity to debate the Laidlaw Energy project would come to the same conclusion,that our future and our quality of life is not for sale. The concerns that brought these 75 people out last night about Success run parallel to our concerns about Laidlaw, it's just that the people who are brokering the sale of Success are doing a much better job of informing/educating us on the subject. It's my opinion that the issues surrounding the use of the land in Success and the issues surrounding the mill property are one and the same. The Laidlaw project on the mill property is as absurd as a missile range for the National Guard in Success!..Both ideas are nuts and are not in the best interest of Berlin or of it's residents. There's no question that our city government failed its citizens by not providing  a proper forum about the re-use of the mill property and the Laidlaw project. It's not that the residents got smart overnight and showed up for last night's forum, it's that the people handling the information about Success did their homework and  acted professionally. It's clearly a demonstration of leadership and the residents responding.

To be successful we need Success

Those of us interested in seeing Berlin prosper again may want to spend Wednesday night at the White Mountain Community College.  The special presentation is all about the township of Success and what may happen there. (Remember the National Guard Training Facility)  The first lesson in re-inventing Berlin may very well begin tonight (7/1/09) at 6pm

A New Shape

I just finished reading an article by Richard Florida in The Atlantic magazine by the title "How The Crash Will Reshape America". I'll quote the leading paragraph for the sake of accuracy; " The crash of 2008 continues to reverberate loudly nationwide-destroying jobs, bankrupting businesses, and displacing homeowners. But already, it has damaged some places much more severely than others. On one side of the crisis, America's economic landscape will look very different than it does today. What fate will the coming years hold for New York, Charlotte, Detroit, Las Vegas? Will the suburbs be ineffably changed? Which cities and regions can come back strong? And which will never come back at all"?  Another chapter in the article is titled "The last crisis of the factory towns" Again I feel I have to quote; "Sadly and unjustly, the places likely to suffer most from the crash-especially in the long run-are the ones least associated with high finances. While the crisis may have begun in New York, it will likely find its fullest bloom in the interior of the country-in older, manufacturing regions whose heydays are long past."  I would never admit to being a pessimist, and even today I see many opportunities for Berlin and the region. I quote this article to wake us up to the need to think of ourselves in new ways and to urge us to get off our backsides. When reading this article, it becomes obvious that the communities that will survive this crash and reshaping are those who can change their collective attitudes and focus. The article screams at places like Berlin and the North Country to wake up to the threat of becoming but a memory in history. (We have examples of local places once important, now diminished, places like Percy, Crystal, Stratford and Columbia, victims of other crashes) To the optimist like myself, this is all about the opportunity to re-invent ourselves and capture the best that life in the 21st century has to offer. We need to find the strength to push the pain of our losses with the closing of the mills out of our daily lives. We need to accept without regret that those "good old days" will not come back and that we need to create "new good days" and that they may not look anything like the old ones. We have entered a post industrial period and the collapse of the paper industry has caught us flat footed. It's time for us to roll-up our sleves as did our grandparents and carve-out a piece of the new economic pie from the many resources we're blessed with having in the North Country.

Moment of truth

As first reported on this blog last Thursday and then front page in The Berlin Daily Sun on Friday, Fraser Papers announced it was filing for bankruptcy in both the US and Canada under chapter 15. This morning Fraser also announced it was closing the Cascade Mill for at least a week due to lack of orders. Although many North Country residents have had a notion that Fraser Papers was in trouble, the announcement of bankruptcy gives us all pause since it has a familiar ring, that of another company, American Tissue, who went down this same road a few years ago. Going back in history and during another economic dark hour called the Great Depression, International Paper closed its doors in Berlin and it can be argued that that's when Berlin's economic decline began. After better than 100 years where the pulp and paper industry was the economic engine that drove the North Country economy, we are now facing the economic "moment of truth". Silly notions that things will bounce back as if by magic or that some Fortune 500 company will open a factory here employing hundreds are all myths we've heard for years and, you might as well believe in the tooth fairy. Those who believe that building biomass plants is the answer are also kidding themselves. You'd have to build 20 to 30 Laidlaw size biomass plants to come close to what the mills employed back in the 50's and 60's and we know that's not going to happen, building just one such plant is a long shot at best. So the million dollar question is NOW WHAT?  It's the question that some have been asking for a long time, but that most have ignored because the question was very troubling with no easy answer. However not addressing the issue did not make it go away, it made the problem grow in severity and urgency as our housing problem demonstrates. We are spending thousands today tearing down abandoned buildings because we failed to address the old failing economy and we did next to nothing in developing a new economy. Now with a failed paper industry and the manufacturing sector leaving for China and India on a daily basis where are our new job opportunities going to come from? It's a question that should be keeping us awake at night! Time waits for no one and events march on with or without our input or influence. Look around town and compare what you see with was here 20 to 30 years ago. Look at our neighborhoods and tell me that not dealing with reality was the best course of action. Look at the mill site and tell me that not dealing with that reality and using a hands off policy was the smart thing to do. Do we continue going down this blind path where we leave our future to chance or do we set a course with some clear goals and objectives?  If we like the way things have been going then lets keep doing the same thing, chances are we'll get more of the same.

Sign of the times

Fraser Papers Files For Creditor Protection
Company Developing Restructuring Plan

(All financial references are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted)

Toronto, ON (June 18, 2009) – Fraser Papers Inc. (“Fraser Papers” or the “Company”) (TSX:FPS) announced today that it, together with its subsidiaries, has initiated a court-supervised restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) (the “CCAA”) in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and that they will be seeking similar relief later today pursuant to Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Pursuant to CCAA Proceeding commenced today, PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. was appointed by the Court as Monitor to assist the Company through its restructuring process. The Company remains in control of its assets and business operations.

“The filing will provide Fraser Papers with a defined process and the necessary time to restructure its affairs in order to emerge with a sustainable and profitable specialty paper business,” said Peter Gordon, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer.

Fraser Papers has been working with employees, suppliers, customers and governments over many months in an effort to reduce costs, improve fibre access, and optimize operations in a challenging environment. The Company has determined that continued operating losses, weak demand and selling prices for pulp and lumber, impending debt repayments and significant pension funding obligations require Fraser Papers to seek this protection from creditors while it continues to pursue alternatives to restructure its operations.

“Unlike many restructurings, the court filing was not the result of excessive leverage,” said Mr. Gordon. “Our paper business remains profitable, particularly the specialty packaging and printing segments where there are opportunities to grow in a number of key segments. However, weak pulp and lumber markets have drained our limited resources, more than offsetting the progress in our paper business.”

In support of this process, CIT Business Credit Canada has agreed to continue to revolve the existing working capital facility and, in addition, Brookfield Asset Management has agreed to provide debtor in possession financing. Together these two facilities will provide up to $20 million to fund operations during the restructuring process.

The Company’s operating plans are unaffected by today’s announcement. The two paper mills in Madawaska, Maine and Gorham, New Hampshire will continue to operate without disruption, manufacturing specialty paper products for existing customers. The Company will proceed with developing a framework for a restructuring plan with the goal of making Fraser Papers more competitive and profitable.

* * * * * * * *

Fraser Papers is an integrated specialty paper company that produces a broad range of specialty packaging and printing papers. The Company has operations in New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire and Québec. Fraser Papers is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol: FPS. For more information, visit the Fraser Papers web site at www.fraserpapers.com.

The Laidlaw folly

With the Noble wind project receiving its preliminary approval from the Site Evaluation Committee, the Laidlaw Energy project is now facing its ultimate challenge, ie; that there's no capacity left on the transmission lines for the 60MW from Laidlaw out of Berlin. This is an issue that Mr. Bartoszek and friends have danced around for the past two years, it's one of the rabbits they said they would pull out of the hat along with their need to file with ISO New England/to be in the Queue.  I think that Laidlaw has been banking on the chance that the wind project would die in the planning process or that Mr. Bass could pull enough political strings along with his buddies at PSNH to have the State pickup the cost of the transmission line upgrade. What's also been added to the mix is the possibility that cheap Hydro Quebec power will bring somewhere between 1,000MW to 2,000MW to New England at a cost cheaper than anybody can produce it state-side. This scheme is so profitable for Hydro Quebec that they are prepared to pay for the cost of the new transmisson line. Some of the more astute investors in Laidlaw can see the handwriting on the wall and are cashing-in their chips while there's still around $0.0004 of value in the junk stock. I expect that the local Bartoszek clones will continue to support the Laidlaw project since their collective egos will not allow them to consider that they were duped and that they may have made a mistake. Not that I'm a blind supporter of casino gambling, but the proposal to bring a casino to Berlin with about 150 jobs and substantial tax payments sure puts into perspective the folly of Laidlaw and their project on the mill site.

June 18 event

A must attend event

BIOMASS ENERGY: THE BENEFITS FOR THE BUSINESS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

 

Thursday, June 18th at 6:30 p.m. at White Mountains Community College-Route 16-Berlin, NH

 

Free public information session hosted by Business Enterprise Development Corporation (BEDCO) and Plymouth State University's Center for Rural Partnerships

 

 

Refreshments will be served!

 

For more information contact Thad Guldbrandson, PSU Center for Rural Partnerships, at tcguldbrandsen@plymouth.edu and(603)535-3276

or Bill Andreas, Business Enterprise Development Corporation at (603) 752-3319