CHILLICOTHE, Ohio—Judy Sowers is the matriarch of a family that has seen generations work at “the Mead,” which is what the paper mill in Chillicothe is known as by many locals.
On May 8, Sowers gathered around a kitchen table with two of her daughters, her brother, and her son-in-law in a house across the street from the mill and its red-and-white striped tower.
Their conversation was on a topic that is on the minds of residents, business owners, and local officials in this community of 21,895 in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio.
Pixelle Specialty Solutions—and its parent, private equity firm H.I.G. Capital—announced on April 15 that it would be shutting down its paper mill in Chillicothe….