East Millinocket - Papermakers are heading back to work in East Millinocket.

Nearly 40 jobs are available at the mill.


It's not easy to play the waiting game.

" It has been 15 months waiting for a phone call," said Rick Cyr, Sr.

" You start to wonder, geez, is this ever gonna start again, when we were all out of work," added David Jamo.

When you get the good news, all of the waiting, is worth it.

" What a great feeling it is to get that call. Yes, I will come back to work." said Jamo, who is an engineer at the East Millinocket mill.

It's not just Jamo and Cyr who are back at work, there are 37 positions available, and only five have been filled.

" Our business has picked up and is solid right now with a good backing and we see quite a bit of growth potential," said Everett O'Neill, director of manufacturing at the mill.

Paper Machine #5 at the East Millinocket mill is going to be put to work once again.

" Oh I bet everybody is elated. Right to the max," said Lamont Ouellette, a mill employee.

Ouellette has worked at the mill for 40 years and remembers when there were six machines rolling out paper.

" What we call the old side over there, they had four machines, then the two over here and then we had the rebuild in 1989," explained Ouellette.

Now, there will be two machines making paper, numbers 5 and 6. It's good for the company and for the community.

" People can stay here that love the area, good people around here. A lot of good things happening in these three towns," said Cyr.

" It's quite a luxury just to be able to say , yes, I work in my hometown," added Jamo.

It's a luxury more people will now be able to take part in.

The goal is to have the machine in use by the end of the month.

Cate Street Capital owns the mills in East Millinocket and Millinocket and is also working toward starting a company called Thermogen in the Millinocket mill.

It will produce wood pellets that will be sold overseas to coal-burning power plants.

It's still in the beginning stages, but is expected to create 25 jobs to run the first machine that goes on-line.

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