MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 16, 2020
When Kerri Arsenault graduated from high school in 1985, her plan was to leave the town of Mexico, and Maine, to see the world. But some 30 years later, she discovered there was a lot to learn about living in the shadow of the Rumford paper mill. She began to explore the possible health risks and the economic seesaw that holds lives in the balance. She found enough questions worth asking that she’s made Rumford and Mexico the basis of her first book, “Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains,” which goes on sale Sept. 1. Possible links between cancer and the Rumford mill have earned the area the nickname “Cancer Valley.”