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WHERE TO NOW?

Article Excerpt
Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard

Sam Bennett, a laid-off Hynix worker, has many mouths to feed. He lives on 90 wooded acres in Oakland, north of Roseburg, with his wife, Debbie, two of his four children, his 8-year-old grandson, 25 sheep, five goats, four llamas and other assorted four-legged creatures.

So he quickly lined up other work after learning last month that Hynix would close its west Eugene computer-chip plant by the end of September.

With his first sale to a neighbor last week, Bennett launched a new career as an H erbalife independent distributor, selling nutritional, health care and body care products from his home.

For now, he's covering the monthly bills with pay he continues to receive from Hynix through Sept. 30. Then he could tap his 10 weeks of severance pay. Before the layoff news, he and Debbie began the process to refinance their home.

"It was good timing because it will help us out overall with our bills," Bennett said.

He hopes to build up his business and eventually earn $72,000 a year - enough to match his salary and benefits at Hynix.

"If I work at it, the potential's there to get financially stable enough that I don't have to worry about getting laid off," said Bennett, who received a pink slip from Hewlett-Packard in Corvallis before joining Hynix six years ago.

Bennett is among 978 former Hynix workers who are coming up with new plans for their lives after enjoying years of steady hours, and healthy paychecks and benefits, at Hynix.

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