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Neenah saddened, surprised at K-C closings

Posted at 10:26 PM, Jan 31, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-31 23:26:15-05

It's a small town that's home to a big company.
"Everybody knows somebody in town that works for K-C," Neenah resident Dave Tipler said.

For people in Neenah, those workers at Kimberly-Clark are often friends, even family. It's why a feeling of sadness spread across town Wednesday as news spread of major layoffs at K-C's local facility.  

"It's hard to watch them go away," Tipler said.

Tipler has never seen Neenah without Kimberly-Clark and its jobs, its paychecks. He says the community will feel the loss.

Residents in Neenah say the Kimberly-Clark closures won't just effect employees, but also restaurants and other businesses located throughout the area, who call those employees their customers.

"It's going to be a hard thing to go ahead and see what happens as far as the businesses around here, the customers we may lose, the impact that could have upon us," Randy's Auto Service Owner Randy Alessandrini said.

Alessandrini said the people who work at Kimberly-Clark are some of the people who go to his store, the same people who now face an uncertain future.

"It's going to be kind of sad to see that happen," Alessandrini said.