Employees at the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill kept calling Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers one day in March 2023. A mysterious meeting had been scheduled that afternoon. Did he know why?
Then, the mill’s security team contacted the Canton Police Department. They may want to station officers around town, security ominously suggested.
“At that point, we knew something was up,” said Smathers, who was then in his second term as mayor…