2009 Classifieds
June 2009 Classifieds
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Feature
Moore Than Ready by Connie Ness
In the early 1960s, the late R.W. Moore was a successful grading contractor and a dissatisfied customer of the company-owned and operated John Deere store here. The equipment, he liked; the company man running the store, not so much.
He told John Deere management that the company needed someone local who knew the people to run the store. Turned out he was describing himself, and in January 1962 R.W. Moore Equipment Co. Inc. was founded as the John Deere dealer for eastern North Carolina.
Nameless Texas Towns
EDITOR’S NOTE: This continues the serialization of the book, Nameless Towns: Texas Sawmill Communities, 1880-1942, by Thad Sitton and James H. Conrad (Copyright 1998). It is reprinted by permission of the University of Texas Press. For footnotes, bibliography, and index, please see the printed book. The series began with the March ’08 issue of SLT. Drawing on oral histories, company records, and other archival sources, the authors recreate life as lived in scores of bustling logging camps and sawmill towns that came and went in the east Texas pineywoods. Copies of the 260 page soft-bound book can be purchased from the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819; ph. 512-471-7233
Staying Nimble
Third generation logger Todd Overstreet recently recorded his best week ever in the midst of one of the worst down cycles the timber industry has encountered since the 1930s. “I reckon everything just went right,” says the 40-year-old owner of Overstreet Timber Co. (OTC). “The mills were taking and everything just came together to make it happen.”
It helps that Overstreet has specialized in diversity. Most of the time, he runs two crews but is nimble enough to break out a small third crew as needed. OTC’s equipment inventory enables the organization to work in forest types ranging from a pine plantation to a mature mixed natural stand to a cypress bottom.
Walking Tall by David Abbott
It goes without saying that loggers as a rule are a tough breed, but try this one on for size. Michael Conner, 33, is about like most Southern loggers, except for one critical exception: Conner can’t walk freely, and he hasn’t been able to for most of his adult life. Yet he’s in the woods all day every day, making his way on a walker from his pickup to his feller-buncher, and pulling himself into the cab with his arms alone. He has the cab modified so that he can drive without the use of his legs. Don’t call him disabled. He’s completely independent.
Since his injury 12 years ago, Conner has learned to adjust and function within this reality, and he makes it work. But there is now hope that he may not always have to. As this article was being written, Conner was in China undergoing experimental stem cell therapy that, he hopes, may dramatically improve his condition.
Industry News Roundup
Current Industry News
The deep recession and weather concerns are two primary reasons why new dates and a revised schedule are emerging for three live forestry expositions being planned respectively for Georgia, Arkansas and Mississippi in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Hatton-Brown Publishers had planned to reactivate Timber Expo Southeast in Baxley, Ga. in April of this year but postponed the show after the landowner involved decided against having his timber cut due to a depressed market. That show, forerunner to other similar live events in the South, has been reset for April 16-17, 2010 in Toombs County, Ga., near Vidalia. Its name has also been altered to Timber & Biomass Expo Southeast to reflect the growing importance of the developing wood biomass sector, which is poised to grow quickly in Georgia and surrounding states in coming months and years.
Safety Focus
Skidder Overturns On Steep Hill, Kills Operator
BACKGROUND: On a warm, dry, summer day in the Appalachians, a grapple skidder operator was traveling empty from the log deck to the area where a tracked cutter was operating. The topography was rolling hills with occasional steep slopes.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The 68-year-old operator had worked with this logging company for approximately four years but had been logging and operating forestry equipment for most of his life. He was considered fully trained, had no physical disabilities or previous accident history and he was wearing personal protective equipment.
Southern Stumpin’
Time Well Spent by Jim Mooney
Today, more than ever, loggers need to have the ear of their elected representatives, particularly those who congregate in Washington, DC. On May 8th the Virginia Loggers Assn. (VLA) stepped up by hosting freshman Congressman Tom Perriello, a Democrat, and his chief of staff, Lise Clavel, for a logging tour. The tour coincided with wood biomass legislation then entering the committee phase of deliberation.
Binky and Guke Tapscott, owners of Tapscott Brothers Logging, based in Scottsville, hosted the dignitaries on a pine plantation thinning site just outside of Charlottesville. They run a progressive business that transports timber across state lines and also own a logging equipment company.