Sixteen employees of Idaho Timber of Montana in Whitefish lost their jobs last week as the company makes plans to permanently shut down its manufacturing plant.

The remaining 10 workers will lose their jobs within the next three months.

"Blindsided," said Joel Hewitt of how he felt when he heard the news. Hewitt is one of the 10 employees to keep his job for the next few months until the yard is cleared of lumber.

Idaho Timber of Montana, an affiliate of Idaho Timber, has operated in Whitefish since 1979. The facility sorted, trimmed, and cut No. 2 grade boards of one-inch thickness, usually from pine, cedar, and spruce. The company then supplied boards to stores such as Lowe's and Home Depot. Annual capacity was 40 million board feet.

"Through the years, Idaho Timber of Montana has faced many financial challenges and in each case, our people have risen to meet these challenges," the company said in a press release. "Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of our people, it has become necessary to close the Whitefish facility.

"As tough as these organizational changes have been, we believe that with this restructuring, Idaho Timber is now well-positioned to not only continue to service all the needs of our customers, but also meet the financial challenges ahead," a company spokesperson said.

"We remain grateful to both past and present employees that have contributed to Whitefish operation over the years and wish them well in their future endeavors."

Idaho Timber would not comment further.

Hewitt and nine other employees were called into the office to be told about the closure, while the 16 who lost their jobs kept working. Hewitt said they were then all provided lunch.

"The other poor bastards, they didn't know what was coming," Hewitt said. "They were joking around, laughing. They thought they just got a free meal."

The employees will receive one week severance pay plus any vacation they had left.

"They said this was a long time coming," Hewitt said. "The more you find out how long they held out without telling us, the angrier you get. Some guys just bought houses. There wasn't any management stepping in to take care of employees."

Hewitt said it's his understanding that all buildings on site will be razed except the main facility, which will be gutted. He speculates the Whitefish plant was chosen over other facilities in Idaho because of its property value.

Clarence Henriksen of Columbia Falls was a forklift driver at Idaho Timber for two and half years.

"No notice, no nothing. We couldn't save money, think about the future," he said. "[Friday] they just pulled us up in the lunchroom and said we don't work no more."

Henriksen is a single father of two daughters. He is worried he won't be able to find a job in six days, the amount of vacation time he had remaining.

"Today I went and started my unemployment job search," he said. "There's not many jobs in the county right now. I was hoping construction, but I looked at the Job Service boards and in the paper and it's looking pretty sad."

For LEVI RICHARDS, losing his job means a summer of camping and fishing. He said he will not actively search for a job.

"Get real, there's no jobs out there," Richards said. "I was like, this sucks, what do you do? I kind of knew it was going to happen, but I didn't think it would happen so soon."

Richards will live with family in the area and said that if a good job comes his way he'll take it.

Lance James was on vacation in Seattle when a co-worker called him with news of the layoff. James was picking up his 5-year-old daughter, Isabelle, for summer visitation.

"I wish we would have gotten more notice," James said. "I enjoyed my job and the people I worked with."

James now is juggling the job search with caring for his daughter, who will live with him until August.

"I pick up applications in the morning," he said. "In the afternoon we go to the park, ride bikes, fly kites, go to the beach. Right now I've got nothing but time."

Ideally, James would like to get back into the lumber business, but is grim about that prospect. He doesn't want to relocate.

"I don't care if it's working at a gas station or flipping burgers - any job will do."

Reporter K.J. Hascall may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at kjhascall@dailyinterlake.com