Plywood company says cuts necessary to keep site operating

CUTHBERT - Layoffs at a plywood plant in Randolph County will cut deep, according to many residents in the area. <br> <br> Lee Johnson said she was shocked when employees of Columbia Forest Products Inc. were called into a mid-December meeting and told 100 employees were being laid off. She had worked in the finishing department for more than seven years. <br> <br> The company is paying the workers through Feb. 11. <br> <br> ``Thank goodness I had a second job,&#39;&#39; said Johnson, who stopped by Thursday to pick up one of her final checks. <br> <br> ``Really, I am going to have to find more work to take care of my five kids and my mother. Because I get two checks, we don&#39;t qualify for food stamps,&#39;&#39; she said. ``I&#39;m just praying I can find a good job.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The laid off workers represent 53.7 percent of the plant&#39;s work force in a county that had the 15th-highest unemployment rate in Georgia in December - 7.9 percent. It was also rural Randolph County&#39;s largest employer. <br> <br> Portland, Ore.-based Columbia announced plans in 2000 for $25 million in expansion and improvements to four of its 25 plants operating in the United States and Canada. <br> <br> Jan Lampe, Columbia&#39;s manager of marketing and communications, said those projects were initiated before the economy started its downturn. <br> <br> ``We kept the mill running three shifts and kept as many of our people as long as we could,&#39;&#39; Lampe said. She said the company is committed to Cuthbert, but ``the reality is that resources are finite and keeping the doors open is paramount.&#39;&#39;