Roger "White Cloud" Larsen

Roger "White Cloud" Larsen, Appleton, 66, went to be with his savior on Tuesday Dec. 22, 2009, after a valiant, courageous battle of 12 years with prostate cancer. His loving, caretaking wife, Shirley and his children were at his side in his home which he was so proud of. Roger was born in New London on January 16, 1943, to the late Dr. O. Henry and Ruby (Miller) Larsen. After Dr. Larsen died, Ruby married Ralph Wright. Roger graduated from Appleton West High School in 1961. On April 24, 1965, Roger was united in marriage to Shirley Powell. He was employed in the food business for 10 years. Roger was then employed at Appleton Papers for 45 years, retiring in 2002. Roger enjoyed many cruises with Shirley, card playing and joining his friends at the round table of mall walkers.

Roger is survived by his wife of 44 years, Shirley; children, Brian (friend Brenda Zierer), Appleton; Yvette (friend Neil Jenkins) Verhagen, Appleton; and Renee (Steve) Nelson, Winchester; and four grandchildren, Kerri Campshure, Ashley, Branden and Tyler Seidl. He is further survived by Lauri Campsure; brothers, Jeff (Sue), San Diego; and James (friend Donna), Neenah; brother and sister-in-law, Dr. Thomas and Rosalie (Powell) Hennes; nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents and step father, Roger was preceded in death by his father and mother-in-law, Herb and Marie Powell; half brother Lou Larsen; and half sister, Ethel Wright.

Visitation will be held at ST. MARY PARISH (312 S. State St. Appleton) Monday, Dec. 28, 2009, from 9 a.m. until Mass at 11 a.m. Committal Highland Memorial. In lieu of flowers, a memorial will be established. For on-line condolences, please visit www.oconnellfuneralservices.com. Roger's family would to extend a special thank you to Katie, Mary, Ron, Linda and the rest of the Hospice Team and everyone at Cherry Meadows.

George Marohn News from Bill Stemmermann

FYI: George Marohn News from Bill Stemmermann

Just received this message from DWM and thought you might be interested if you hadn’t heard. I believe George would have been 86, or near there.

“Ken Nissen just called to tell me that George Marohn passed away last Thursday. Jean, George's wife, called him today with the news. Reportedly, George had been bedridden and in failing health for a number of months. I tried to find his obit in the San Pedro and Long Beach newspapers without success.”

Appleton completes sale of C&H Packaging

APPLETON — Appleton has completed the sale of C&H Packaging to InterFlex Group of Wilkesboro, N.C. The terms of the sale were not disclosed. Appleton announced its intentions to sell C&H Packaging in July. The company acquired its wholly owned subsidiary in April 2003.

C&H employs about 80 people at its Merrill facility.The company prints and converts flexible plastic packaging materials the food processing, household and industrial products industries.

Appleton's chief executive officer, Mark Richards, said Appleton intends to focus its performance packaging operations on film production.

The company's film producing facilities include American Plastics in Rhinelander in northern Wisconsin, Milton in southern Wisconsin, and New England Extrusion in Turners Falls, Mass.

In its third-quarter report, Appleton said performance packaging sales had sagged 10 percent to $26.6 million compared with the same period in 2008.

At that time, Richards said the strategy throughout the recession was to stay "intensely focused" on the fundamentals of its business.

Appleton produces carbonless, thermal, security and performance packaging products, and employs about 1,300 people in the Fox Cities.

It has other manufacturing operations in Ohio and Pennsylvania and employs about 2,200 corporatewide.

It is 100 percent employee owned.

Papermaker Appleton has protections from financial ruin in lawsuit over Fox River cleanup

APPLETON — APPLETON — Papermaker Appleton has protections to spare the company from financial ruin despite a judge's ruling in a massive lawsuit over cleanup of the Fox River, a company spokesman said Friday.

"We feel the future of the company is secure," said Bill Van Den Brandt, manager, corporate communications for the firm (formerly known as Appleton Papers). "We're disappointed with the decision and are considering our options for appeal."

In a sweeping decision Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Griesbach threw out the suit in which Appleton was seeking to spread the estimated $1 billion cost of cleaning PCB contamination to more than 20 other parties. A trial had been scheduled to begin Jan. 4 in Milwaukee. The secondary parties included paper mill owners, municipal wastewater treatment plants and municipalities.

When employees bought the firm in 2001 from former owner Arjo Wiggins Appleton, of London, the paper firm entered into indemnification agreements — secure legal protections — that capped its liability for the cleanup of the river at $25 million, Van Den Brandt said. Appleton fulfilled its financial obligation by paying $25 million last year, he said.

"We have appropriate indemnification and insurance coverage and we're still comfortable with that," he said.

Appleton employs about 1,300 at its Fox Cities facilities.

The company was indemnified for the first $75 million of Fox River liabilities and for amounts in excess of $100 million, Van Den Brandt said.

He said the federal court's decision does not change the status of the six remaining principal parties responsible for dumping PCBs into the river.

"What the decision does is prevent Appleton and NCR from recovering money from entities named in that lawsuit," Van Den Brandt said.

Appleton Papers and NCR produced a carbonless paper beginning in the 1950s that used polychlorinated biphenyls, a chemical later found to be toxic and taken off the market.

Scott Hansen of Milwaukee, one of the defense attorneys affiliated with the Reinhart, Boerner Van Deuren law firm, said the judge's decision settles many issues but far from all in the complex litigation.

"This decision goes a long way toward resolving the issues of the lawsuit," he said. "It does not resolve every issue in the lawsuit. It suggests that at the end of the day NCR and Appleton parties are apt to end up bearing the large majority of the cleanup costs."

But Van Den Brandt took issue with the contention that Appleton and NCR will be saddled with the lion's share of the cleanup tab, which has been estimated at $1 billion between Appleton and Green Bay.

"That's just speculation we'd be held for the majority of the cost," he said.

Appleton's former parent company, Arjo Wiggins Appleton, took out an insurance policy designed to provide up to $250 million worth of coverage for liabilities associated with clearing PCBs from the river, including costs associated with extensive dredging activities the past few years.

AWA paid $88.2 million through 2008 in connection with the liabilities. As of Jan. 3 this year, the total indemnification receivable from AWA was $152 million of which $37.7 is recorded in other current assets on Appleton's books, Van Den Brandt said. A total of $114.3 million is recorded as an environmental indemnification receivable.

Federal judge in Green Bay today threw out a lawsuit filed by papermakers Appleton and NCR Corp.

A federal judge in Green Bay today threw out a lawsuit filed by papermakers Appleton and NCR Corp. to diffuse the estimated $1 billion cost of cleaning up PCB contamination in the Fox River.

It is a sweeping action that cancels a scheduled Jan. 4 trial in the case and seemingly leaves the two companies entirely responsible for the federally ordered river cleanup.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge William Griesbach wrote that the defendants — including other paper mill operators and wastewater treatment plant operators — were “completely faultless or nearly so” in the PCB contamination that occurred during the 1950s and 60s.

The more than 20 defendants in the case included the cities of Green Bay and Appleton, as well as Brown County and other taxpayer-supported entities.

Papermaker Appleton and NCR filed the suit in January 2008 seeking unspecified contributions from all the defendants for a river cleanup that began this summer and is expected to continue several years. Originally projected to cost about $400 million, the cleanup more recently has been estimated at $1 billion to $1.5 billion.

NCR attorney Kathleen Roach declined to comment on today’s ruling but said that a statement might be issued later.

The Neenah-Menasha Sewerage Commission was one of the parties facing millions of dollars in potential liability under the lawsuit.

“The cities of Neenah and Menasha are extremely happy with this result,” Neenah City Atty. James Godlewski said. “It is not necessarily the end of the line because the plaintiffs can appeal the decision, but it certainly vindicates our position.”

federal judge in Green Bay today threw out a lawsuit filed by papermakers Appleton and NCR Corp.

Appleton replies to Thilmany lawsuit

The company Appleton cited insufficient quality and volume of paper as reasons for its termination of a contract with Thilmany of Kaukauna.

In its answer to a lawsuit filed Nov. 2 by Thilmany, Appleton said it terminated the 2008 salescontract because of "Thilmany's prolonged and continuing failure to provide the volume or quality of thermal base stock Thilmany had promised."

Thilmany alleged it sustained more than $20 million in damages due to a breach of a contract by Appleton.

The companies have requested a jury trial. The case was reassigned to Outagamie County Branch 6 Judge Dee Dyer.

Appleton used base stock from Thilmany to make thermal paper, a product used for point-of-sale receipts and other applications.

In the counterclaim filed last week, Appleton alleges that the base stock had manufacturing defects such as thin spots and holes in the paper that was put through the coating process at its West Carrollton, Ohio, mill. In addition, there were cracks or tears in the edges of the paper that caused breaks and subsequently costly downtime on its coating equipment.

It further claims that from May through July 2009, Thilmany repeatedly failed to make timely deliveryof the base stock Appleton had ordered resulting in a shortfall of more than 2,800 tons.

Also alleged in the suit is that on a cumulative basis, the Thilmany base stock generated web breaks and downtime on Appleton's off-machine coater in West Carrollton at a rate three times the rate of the base stock produced internally at the Ohio mill.

Since May 2009, Appleton has shut down the West Carrollton coating operation between six and eight days each month because of the shortages of usable external base stock supply from Thilmany.

A copy of the original contract is sealed in the file.

Appleton said in an attempt to mitigate damage from Thilmany's alleged breach, Appleton obtained an offer from a competitor that was lower than Thilmany's in the contract.

Bill Van Den Brandt, Appleton's manager, corporate communications, declined comment on his firm's answer because the case is in active litigation.

Thilmany, through its Milwaukee legal counsel, issued the following statement: "Thilmany is a manufacturer of quality paper products. Thilmany had a very satisfactory history of providing paper to Appleton until Appleton found a lower priced competitor to buy from. Upon finding a lower-priced competitor, Appleton's complaints began. The alleged defects Appleton cites were not caused by Thilmany."