News stories at times can seem cold, sterile, and emotionless.

We read, for instance, of a plant like DPI closing in Alpena, and it registers that the plant employed more than 150 people, but then we jump deeper into the story to try and determine what caused the closure.

Lost in the story are the faces of the 150 people.

Take, for instance, these fictional faces, and the stories they might have told.

One story could have been a father of two boys and one girl who range in age from high school age to elementary. One boy shows signs of being a promising hockey forward. The daughter is in dance, specializing this year in tap, jazz, and lyrical. The other son is playing on a travel soccer team this year.

The father, after getting the news that he no longer had a job, immediately wondered about hockey and the expense of the sport. He thought of the three separate costumes his daughter needed for dance competition, and the cost of a motel and gas for the soccer tournament next weekend for his son.

Again, while fictional, the above scenario I’m sure can resonate with many.

Another face might have been that of a front office employee who had just the day before getting the news she no longer had a job put a down payment on air flight and resort reservations in Cancun. Even though the winter has been fairly mild by northern Michigan standards, she needed a vacation. Who wouldn’t enjoy a lounge chair on the beach and a cold tropical drink, after all?

As she made the reservations, she was asked whether she wanted to purchase insurance for the trip. Figuring the trip was just five weeks away, she declined. The next day, after getting the news she no longer had a job, she questioned her decision. Somehow, all the joy and anticipation had been sucked out of her.

And then there could be the face of some who worked at the plant who were hoping to retire from there soon. Thoughts of the future of their pensions was of immediate concern, as was who would help fill out all the paperwork associated with a retirement.

As readers, understand that those 150 people represent many of the families in your neighborhood. They are the people you go to church with on Sunday. Their husband is the mechanic where you take your car or their wife is the receptionist at the library.

The trickle-down effect from unemployment of this magnitude is extensive. It reaches from the forests of the region, where trees were being harvested for the plant, to the gas station owner where an employee used to stop twice a week after work to fill up his vehicle.

All those are the faces of DPI.

Today they are the faces of the unemployed.

I’m sure the community will be there for them. It always has in the past and there is no reason to believe this will be any different. Remember the Fletcher Paper situation decades ago?

Just do me this favor: Every time you read 150 in the future, think of a face.

Bill Speer retired in 2021 as the publisher and editor of The News. He can be reached at bspeer@thealpenanews.com.