The Stories Project: Oregon Livelihoods Traded Away

Mark Weiss Residence: White City, OR Occupation: Royal Oak Enterprises charcoal briquette plant Additional Notes: Mark worked at Royal Oak for 19 years before it closed in 2005 due to increased imports from China

Snapshots "It gave me a lot of stress. I was in that job for a long time, and it was a good job for the valley here. It turned my plans upside down. It affected me adversely, in that my security was taken away. " "China was infiltrating the market with less costly briquettes, due to them paying pennies for the man-hours and lesser restrictions on what they put into their products. " "People with families are losing their jobs because they're going out of the country. What are they going to do? They're losing their homes and the necessities for living. I know more people going to food banks and collecting unemployment. It's not a good thing."

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