The June 1, 2009, announcement that GM would shutter the Mansfield-Ontario Metal Center within a year meant the loss of 1,200 jobs to north central Ohio. The News Journal followed the fates of a number of workers and their families for six months as they transitioned away from GM and on to what might come next. Teaming with NJ reporters, Ron Simon, Erik Shilling, Rob McCurdy, Lou Whitmire and Jon Spencer, I planned, developed and assigned story coverage and wrote the series intro. The front page pictured above features the third and fourth installments in our series, dated Aug. 23, 2009.
Veteran News Journal reporter and columnist Ron Simon's story, "Long-time die maker ready to retire" appeared in the first installment of our News Journal series GM Lives on July 19, 2009. Simon's reporting for the series included columns on the plant closure as well as the stories "Retirement sudden for Mansfield family," on Aug. 2, 2009, and "Couple retired just in time," from Sept. 20, 2009.
Award-winning reporter Erik Shilling's first feature for our GM Lives series, "Closure 'just a perfect storm,'" also ran in our Sunday, July 19, 2009, edition. Shilling also contributed to the project with the June 2, 2009 news story "GM writes off local plant" among his many contributions to covering the plant closure.
Other stories from the series included: Series intro, "Follow these GM workers through plant closure," by Teri Berg; "Mansfield man now has 2 jobs" by Rob McCurdy; "Buyout signed, hoping for best" and "GM casualty feels called to the church" by Jon Spencer; and "GM buyout used to buy driving school," "GM era ends" and "Displaced GM workers find new careers" by Lou Whitmire. Series photos by News Journal photo editor Dave Polcyn.
