A reliable altemative to traditional pressure-treated lumben

Wolmanized" Natural SelectrM Wood by Cox has been produced for applications where special environmental concerns or restrictions exist, and offers consumers a choice in preserved wood. It is no more corrosive than untreated wood and requires no special hardware. It carries the same lifetime limited warranty as conventional Wolmanized'i wood and is the most effective and successful alternative to traditional treated wood. And like other products from Cox Wood Preserving, Natural Select wood is available re-dried after treatment for greater dimensional stability, lighter weight, and a cleaner surface.

For more information about Natural Select by Cox and our stocking dealer program, please contact:

CZiE' Wood Preseruing

aOO-476-44O1 . Fax: 803-534-6128

Email: coxwood@coxwood.com

Website: www.coxwood.com

Written September 11 , 2OO1

I first wrote a column for this space several weeks ago, and it now seems very inappropriate in light of the tragic and unbelievable events of today. Selling advertising space or selling lumber in the scope of things seems relatively unimportant.

It is 3:30 p.m., everyone has left, and today, having spent our time around a television set and radio, has been surreal and like a dream-a bad dream. We have watched potentially thousands of parents, brothers, sisters and friends being callously and cowardly killed in an act of un-paralleled terrorism, which has brought our country to a standstill. The scene was like a horror movie, but unfortunately only too real. Today, war was declared on us all.

Born British, I grew up in London right after the war, and my earliest memories are of bombed out houses and streets, and then in later years living through the car and building bombings in the Irish struggle. In recent years I have lived and worked in New York City, and visited the World Trade Center, a city within a city, on many occasions for meetings. Never could I have dreamt or imagined the scope of the destruction and bloody carnage as witnessed today. Each act that transpired one after the other was simply beyond comprehension and belief. We reached the lowest depths of human nature and compassion, where human life meant nothing and had no value.

Today the death toll and the economic fallout are not known, but to the families of the innocent people who could not go home tonight, to the many who watched their colleagues murdered, to the many heroes who rushed to the scene to help or aid colleagues to get out of the building, to the families of pilots and crew who undoubtedly wrestled for the controls, today's events cannot be anything less than excruciatingly painful in a way my words cannot convey. This is a pain that hurts us all and we share together. I know for myself I am not sure how to deal with it, but I am angry, very angryl

The world has suddenly become a different place, but the resiliency of our people will not be defeated. We should and will never forget this day, but it is up to all of us to make sure these terrorists do not win, by getting back to business as usual as quickly as possible, albeit with a saddened and heavy heart. Today we have witnessed how some parts of the world live each and every day. Treasure our faith, our families, our lives, our jobs and our ability to breathe fresh air and run our lives with the freedoms we enjoy as a nation. Unfortunately, after today many can no longer do that. My heart goes. oirt to them and their families. Cod bless America.

- Alan Oakes, Publisher

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