Source: Tonya Maxwell, ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES, 3/25/17


The rumor in the timbering parts of the mountains began a few years back: The Chinese are buying up the lumber mills.
But those “Chinese” buyers in Western North Carolina are one charismatic man, Jimmy Lee, whose 11 mills include the old Stanley Furniture plant, once the largest employer in Graham County. Much of the lumber Lee processes there and at other facilities in both Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee is destined for Asian markets...

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