Waiting in a Tense Town

Situated on the southern shore of beautiful Lake Winnebago, the Wisconsin city of Fond du Lac (pop. 34,400) appears to be a pleasant haven far removed from the poverty and pain of the nation's recession-struck cities. Peopled mainly by second-and third-generation descendants of German immigrants, the city prides itself on being the home of the thrifty, the hard working and the tidy. Houses are neatly painted, lawns well kept, streets clean. Main Street is currently being resurfaced, and the perky detour sign reads: PARDON OUR PROGRESS.

Appearances deceive. The translation of the town's French name seems to have a hidden significance: bottom of the lake. Beneath the well-groomed composure, Fond du Lac is a scared city. Its unemployment rate has already risen above the national average of 7.8% to 10.5%. Because three of the town's main industries--outboard motors, auto parts and home-building materials--have been among the hardest hit by the current recession, the rate continues to rise. Mercury Marine, the nation's second largest outboard-engine maker (after Outboard Marine of Waukegan, Ill.), has fired or furloughed 1,150 of some 2,600 workers at its local plant. Cutbacks have also taken place at Wells Manufacturing Corp., a maker of auto-ignition parts, Sterling Custom Homes Corp., a producer of prefab dwellings, and Combination Door Co., which turns out components for houses. Ray Wittkop, 59, had been with Mercury Marine for 40 years. He says dejectedly: "They called me in at 11 o'clock one day and said that they were retiring me. There hadn't been any inkling. I felt like a whipped dog."

The decline of the economy is already leaving scars on the lives of many residents. For-sale signs have been posted in front of houses all over town. As a consequence, real estate prices are declining. Even so, there consequence, real estate prices are declining. Even so, there are no buyers, which contributes to a vicious economic cycle. Because the unemployed cannot sell their houses, most of them must limit their job hunting to a radius of 30 or 40 miles from Fond du Lac.

Since many people are spending less, the town's economy is slowing down. Shops have laid off 600 employees, reducing the retail work force to 6,000. "We aren't selling much jewelry right now," admits Sue Emmanuel, the manager of the Fox Jewelry Store. "But we are doing lots of repair work." The manager of a big department store chain explains that the unemployed browse and sometimes buy because "it people them feel better to buy something, if only a $2.98 blouse."

Inasmuch as one in every ten inhabitants is unemployed, the most frequently visited spot in town is the Wisconsin job service office. Each day hundreds of unemployed stop by to look at the boards where job offerings are posted. Just about the only items on the board last week were two Marine recruiting signs. board last week were two Marine recruiting signs.

A rise in family and personal behavior problems is alarming the city's mental-health officials. They blame this on the stress resulting from unemployment. According to the city's mental-health center, there have been noticeable increases in the incidence of child abuse and wife beating, drug addiction and psychological problems, notably depression. Declares Social Worker Jacki Gross: "Many of the unemployed are barely holding themselves together."

To help people cope with unemployment, the city's mental-health workers have set up regular group sessions at the job center. The come-on sign for the sessions reads: EXCHANGE IDEAS ON DEALING WITH TENSION AND SURVIVING. So far, dozens of people have attended one or more sessions. At present the groups meet once a week for about an hour. "We help them identify the kinds of stress they are facing," explains Psychiatric Social Worker Larry Reynolds. "Instead of dwelling on how awful it is to be unemployed, we talk about how the participants can develop and relabel their strengths into marketable skills." One example: an unemployed accountant, who saw his business dry up as a consequence of the recession, has begun to explore the possibilities of becoming a business consultant.

At the sessions, the unemployed learn to give themselves social-readjustment tests that determine how vulnerable they are to dangerous levels of stress. Unemployed workers prone to depression are told to keep up their friendships with people who still have jobs. They also are encouraged to hold block parties and to cultivate relationships with neighbors who are undergoing the same stresses.

The most serious strain afflicting Fond du Lac is that of uncertainty. Rumors abound concerning when and whether Marine Mercury and the other plants will begin recalling workers. Marine Mercury, the city's biggest employer, will reopen this week after a two-week enforced "vacation." But plant executives concede that there may be more layoffs later.

The short-range prospects are very dark. In September and October, the federal and state unemployment compensation and extended benefits that bring an average laid-off industrial worker about $150 a week will run out for many of the unemployed. Says Don Bastion, vice president of the First Federal Savings and Loan: "After school starts, real distress could come quite suddenly."

Without an unexpected upswing in the economy, most of Fond du Lac's unemployed will be compelled in the fall to turn for help to the city's welfare system. One of these days I am going to find people standing in a line that stretches down the block," says Mary Reinhold, the city welfare director. But Fond du Lac has a welfare budget of only $60,000, which would be exhausted in only one day if it tried to pick up state and federal compensation at the present level of joblessness. Sighs City Manager Myron Medin: "I don't know where the money will come from." Nor does anyone else.

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