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Vol. 47, No. 4

(Founded in 1972—Our 547th Consecutive Issue)

F E AT U R E S

April 2018 A Hatton-Brown Publication

Phone: 334-834-1170 Fax: 334-834-4525

www.southernloggintimes.com

Nick Frost/F&F Trucking & Timber True Calling Found

Brian Smith Logging Two Generations Together

Co-Publisher Co-Publisher Chief Operating Officer Executive Editor Editor-in-Chief Western Editor Managing Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor Art Director Ad Production Coordinator Circulation Director Marketing/Media

David H. Ramsey David (DK) Knight Dianne C. Sullivan David (DK) Knight Rich Donnell Dan Shell David Abbott Jessica Johnson Jay Donnell Cindy Segrest Patti Campbell Rhonda Thomas Jordan Anderson

ADVERTISING CONTACTS DISPLAY SALES Eastern U.S. Kathy Sternenberg Tel: 251-928-4962 • Fax: 334-834-4525 219 Royal Lane Fairhope, AL 36532 E-mail: ksternenberg@bellsouth.net Midwest USA, Eastern Canada John Simmons Tel: 905-666-0258 • Fax: 905-666-0778 32 Foster Cres. Whitby, Ontario, Canada L1R 1W1 E-mail: jsimmons@idirect.com

Where Are They Now? The Lasiter Brothers

out front:

Comparing their partnership to a marriage, David Cox, left, and Tommy Barnes, right, have made their business work for three decades, and they’re still going strong. Story begins on Page 8. (Jessica Johnson photo)

Jeff Powell Trucking Continues To Upgrade

D E PA RT M E N T S Southern Stumpin’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Bulletin Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Industry News Roundup. . . . . . . . . 44 ForesTree Equipment Trader. . . . . 55 Coming Events/Ad Index. . . . . . . . . 62

Western Canada, Western USA Tim Shaddick Tel: 604-910-1826 • Fax: 604-264-1367 4056 West 10th Ave. Vancouver, BC V6L 1Z1 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca Kevin Cook Tel: 604-619-1777 E-mail: lordkevincook@gmail.com International Murray Brett Tel: +34 96 640 4165 +34 96 640 4048 58 Aldea de las Cuevas • Buzon 60 03759 Benidoleig (Alicante), Spain E-mail: murray.brett@abasol.net CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

Bridget DeVane

Tel: 1-800-669-5613 • Tel 334-699-7837 Email: bdevane7@hotmail.com

Southern Loggin’ Times (ISSN 0744-2106) is published monthly by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc., 225 Hanrick St., Montgomery, AL 36104. Subscription Information—SLT is sent free to logging, pulpwood and chipping contractors and their supervisors; managers and supervisors of corporate-owned harvesting operations; wood suppliers; timber buyers; wood procurement and land management officials; industrial forestry purchasing agents; wholesale and retail forest equipment representatives and forest/logging association personnel in the U.S. South. See form elsewhere in this issue. All non-qualified U.S. subscriptions are $65 annually; $75 in Canada; $120 (Airmail) in all other countries (U.S. funds). Single copies, $5 each; special issues, $20 (U.S. funds). Subscription Inquiries— TOLL-FREE 800-669-5613; Fax 888-611-4525. Go to www.southernloggintimes.com and click on the subscribe button to subscribe/renew via the web. All advertisements for Southern Loggin’ Times magazine are accepted and published by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. with the understanding that the advertiser and/or advertising agency are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser and/or advertising agency will defend, indemnify and hold Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. harmless from and against any loss, expenses, or other liability resulting from any claims or lawsuits for libel violations or right of privacy or publicity, plagiarism, copyright or trademark infringement and any other claims or lawsuits that may arise out of publication of such advertisement. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. neither endorses nor makes any representation or guarantee as to the quality of goods and services advertised in Southern Loggin’ Times. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. reserves the right to reject any advertisement which it deems inappropriate. Copyright ® 2018. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Ala. and at additional mailing offices. Printed In USA.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Southern Loggin’ Times, P.O. Box 2419, Montgomery, AL 36102-2419 Member Verified Audit Circulation

Other Hatton-Brown publications: ★ Timber Processing ★ Timber Harvesting ★Panel World ★ Power Equipment Trade ★ Wood Bioenergy

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SOUTHERN STUMPIN’ By David Abbott • Managing Editor • Ph. 334-834-1170 • Fax: 334-834-4525 • E-mail: david@hattonbrown.com

Let There Be (Bright) Light W

hen Newberry, SC native Trey Willingham arrived at the South Carolina Timber Producers Assn.’s 19th annual meeting, held February 9-11 in Myrtle Beach, SC, he didn’t know what to expect. He and his wife Casey were there to publicly debut the product Trey has developed: FlexFlare, an LED light designed for mounting on the end of log loads. They took 50 lights. All of them sold within 40 minutes, he reports. “I was embarrassed because I didn’t have anything to give away, just a table of stuff to sell,” Trey says. He was amazed by the attention FlexFlare received. “My wife and I were blown away. Everybody made me feel welcome. One guy Below, Trey Willingham and his wife Casey displayed their tried to hire me as a salesman! I told him I work for FlexFlare lights (above) at the South Carolina Timber Producers Assn. meeting in February. my dad and I’m not going anywhere.” Willingham, 36, started working with his dad, Bobby Willingham, when he was 12. The senior Willingham owns Davenport & Willingham, Inc., a truck repair shop in Newberry that has grown from two bays when it opened in 1989 to a 16-bay shop today. Six years ago, Davenport & Willingham added a parts store, under the name Truck Parts & Service, Inc. That, Trey says, was what he always wanted to do. In his day job, he serves as general manager there. FlexFlare is a side venture, but one for which he has great passion. As far as the salesmanship that earned him a job offer in Myrtle Beach, he says, “It’s not hard to sell something when you love what you do and when you’re the guy who came up with it, who put all the sweat equity unto coming up with a solution to a problem. Of course you take pride in it.” farming machinery, or a golf cart. Today, the Trey has been working on FlexFlare for more FlexFlare is a road flare attached to a heavy duty than two years. It all started early one September metal bracket which allows the flare to be hung by morning in 2015. He was up answering a call out, a a tree spike or magnetic disk with an integrated 24-hour service provided by Truck Parts & Service, stud.” when he saw a bicycle with an LED light affixed to After spending a lot of time and money on trial the seat. In an essay titled “From Napkin To Highand error development—20 different prototypes, way,” his wife Casey writes, “The tiny but brilliant each successive version molded with feedback light sparked an idea in Trey’s mind that would from customers—Trey had just about decided to cause many sleepless nights, renderings and disgive up. “I was almost to the point of saying to cussions. His idea: a log light less cumbersome and heck with it, I but took some time off and put more visible than others on the market; a recharge- something together for the Myrtle Beach show,” he able, simple application, says. “It was the first with a big impact.” showing, and the success Trey first drew up and kind words gave me designs for his idea on a the boost I needed.” napkin with a crayon Since then, FlexFlare (hence the title of has taken off. At Myrtle Casey’s article). In that Beach he was invited to article, she continues, the Carolina Loggers “This was the kick start Assn.’s annual meeting At the Carolina Loggers Assn. meeting in Wilmington, NC, February 23-25 in Wilmto FlexFlare, a flexible flare application that can from left to right: Crad Jaynes, President/ CEO, South Car- ington, NC. Interest olina Timber Producers Assn.; Jack Swanner, Executive be used as a safety cau- Director, North Carolina Assn. of Professional Loggers; there was also high, and tion light on anything Trey Willingham, founder/CEO, FlexFlare; and Bobby Good- the lights sold out very from log trucks, to con- son of North Carolina’s All Terrain Logging and featured quickly again. His preson Discovery Channel’s “Swamp Loggers” show struction equipment, to ence there brought 6

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another invitation, this time to a truck driver appreciation event in New Bern, NC on April 24. Trey is now preparing to travel the country, taking FlexFlare to other shows. The product has changed a lot since he first conceived the idea. “The key thing was making it small but bright and rechargeable, without compromising durability,” he explains. “Most things that are rechargeable have a plug-in on the light, and in the woods that would mean exposure to dirt, debris, water, and other contaminants.” Even since Myrtle Beach, he has designed a new bracket that uses magnets. Also, with the model he took to Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, the light was made in China, though the brackets are made in Wisconsin. Since then he has developed a relationship with Aervoe Industries, a company based on the West Coast, to make the lights. “They’re working with me and put my name on the light, and now it is all made in the U.S.,” Willingham says. “I am proud of that.” Learn more at Flexflareusa.com or contact Trey Willingham by phone at 803-944-0232 or by email at trey@tps-sc.com.

A Golden Anniversary On February 27th, we here at Hatton-Brown Publishers did something most of us aren’t used to: we got dressed up and went to the Montgomery Country Club (to be frank, many of us don’t quite fit in at a country club). But, this was to mark a special occasion: our co-publishers, David DK Knight and Dave Ramsey, both came to work here within two weeks of each other in early 1968—50 years ago. DK was a young newspaper reporter who would soon learn all about the wood products industry, while Dave came down to Alabama from Canada to be an advertising salesman. Eventually, the two would evolve from co-workers into business partners. Their boss, company founder Hartwell Hatton, made them co-owners with Charlie Cline in 1971; In ’81, they bought Cline out, and they have captained the ship together ever since. Hatton-Brown had been publishing forest products industry trade journals since the late ’40s. It was 1972 when DK and Dave, among others, brought a new publication into being, a newspaperstyle tabloid periodical originally called “Loggin’ Times.” You’re reading that magazine’s 547th consecutive issue. As just one example of the impact these men have had in their half-century career here, I spoke recently with prominent Virginia logger C.K. Greene. He told me this story: “I read my first Southern Loggin’ Times when I was 13 years of age. I was at my buddy’s house, and his dad worked for Canal Wood. By his Lazy Boy ➤ 35

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Over Three Decades ■ South Carolina’s Ideal Logging finds the ideal way to do business for over 30 years.

Barnes and Cox do a good job managing the "circus" of multiple crews.

By Jessica Johnson EDGEMOOR, SC ★ aving already been together the length of a good marriage (with no sign of divorce in sight) business partners Tommy Barnes and David Cox have seen a lot in 30 years. Their company, Ideal Logging, Inc., has tried a little of nearly everything, including inwoods chipping, but have found their ideal way to log with three crews, four skidders, three loaders and one Chambers Delimbinator. The company runs its own trucks and procures its own wood. But it’s not just the coordination of crews that makes them successful, it’s also a little bit in how Cox and Barnes manage the daily chaos that comes with this many bodies and that much steel. Barnes likens some of those days—especially when the crews move tracts—to the old Barnum and Bailey circus. It’s a circus that works though. Across the three crews, average

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Maintaining a mix of Tigercat and Deere machines, they've determined, is beneficial.

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Ideal’s owners and office based staff, from left, David Cox, Parker Cox, Justin Barnes and Tommy Barnes

The predominately clear-cut crew, from left, Juan Velasco, Charles Bell, Little David Cox and Eric Sanders

A thinning crew, from left, Loui Vega, Emmett Jones, Justin Barnes, Matt Seegars and James Hinson

The other thinning crew, from left, Jamie Barnes, Larry King, Will Cox and Carlos Carrillo

weekly production tips 150 plus loads per week. “Sometimes we’ve hit 200,” Barnes adds with a proud smile. “Our limitations right now are quotas and trucks.” While Ideal has 10 company trucks, and makes use of two contract truckers, trucking continues to be a hurdle for them to overcome.

headaches. Justin Barnes, Tommy’s son and Ideal’s general foreman, notes that the truck drivers break more springs and equalizers going into the paper mill than in the woods. “Our roads might be a little

Mill Woes However, Barnes and Cox say it’s the consuming mills that make things extremely difficult. Barnes points to lack of mill upgrades and proper maintenance as a particular point of frustration. “We’ve had to reinvest or get out, and they just keep running the same old junk,” he says. This particular part of South Carolina is competitive, with many mills in a 50-mile radius from Ideal’s home base in Edgemoor. Barnes reiterates, “We lose a lot of time due to the mills’ inability to keep their equipment running. We’ve put the pencil to the paper and gotten sick over how much money and production we lose because they can’t keep their stuff going.” The Barnes family has been hauling for a particular mill since they opened in 1958 during the height of the shortwood days. Now, Barnes’ drivers are lucky to get unloaded in less than four hours there. Paying drivers by the load gets expensive, fast, the partners believe. In order to retain drivers, and make sure they earn a fair wage, Ideal pays an hourly wage after the first hour of waiting at the mill. “That’s dead out of our pocket,” Barnes

explains. “We can’t charge demurrage, but we ought to.” Wait times related to equipment downtime are not the only struggle Ideal finds with certain mills. The road conditions also cause

SLT SNAPSHOT Ideal Logging, Inc. Edgemoor, SC Email: ideallogging@truvista.net Founded: 1988 Owner: Tommy Barnes and David Cox No. Crews: 3 Employees: 24 Equipment: 3 feller-bunchers, 4 skidders, 3 loaders, 1 motorgrader, 1 Delimbinator and 2 dozers Trucks/Trailers: 10 trucks, 10 trailers Production: 150-200 loads per week Average Haul Distance: no more than 75 miles Tidbit: Tommy Barnes calls this piece of vintage iron his sweetheart. Among all the less than threeyear-old iron, this 1986 John Deere 670A motorgrader is his favorite piece to run. “She gets the job done,” he says.

muddy, but they are never in bad shape,” he says.

Over The Road As general foreman for all three crews, Justin floats between coordinating major repairs and assisting with whatever else is needed. He also is the company’s safety coordinator. Each in-woods crew has a monthly safety meeting, and as many as possible are CPR certified and up on the latest in First Aid training. As the company continues to battle what Tommy calls the “racket” that is trucking insurance, Justin is in charge of all truck driver training and making certain that Ideal’s trucks are among the safest on the roads. Justin is aided in this endeavor by Tommy’s involvement in Team Safe Trucking (TST), an initiative to standardize log truck driver education in an effort to make the roads safer and drive insurance rates down. TST has released the first training module and Justin is currently working on setting up a time for all the drivers to participate in it. “Hopefully it will mean a little break insurance-wise,” he says. Tommy adds, “Once a year we use the Smith System to teach defensive driving. You can never have enough training with these guys.” Following a spell of wrecks a few years ago, Ideal’s insurance rates with Forestry Mutual (where Tommy sits on the Board of Directors) got so high the company had to change to BITCO. Justin says that the company lived a good life with no accidents for over 20 years before a rash of bad luck hit a few years ago: an Amtrak train hit one of their trucks at an

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The crews together send out about 150 loads most weeks.

The company plans to add dash cams to its trucks.

unmarked crossing and then a car crossed the center line and hit a log truck head on. Because of the experience with accidents, Justin has spent a significant amount of time researching cameras. The trucks already roll with GPS units on them. Justin aims to find a camera that will have GPS functionality and Cloud-based storage—something he feels would greatly help Ideal protect itself, no accidental erasing or spending weekends in the office with a bunch of SD camera cards. He explains, “I want the 15 seconds before the

up, Justin has found most aren’t exactly in his price range. He’s confident he’ll find the right provider eventually. Most drivers take the Mack trucks home. Tommy admits he doesn’t love the idea, but it’s convenient. He says that for the most part drivers are good about turning in the required pre-trip reports. “Every now and then a new driver will say there’s something not going exactly right with the truck, but it could make it for the day. We don’t play that game, no—hell no,” Tommy says. “Trucks don’t move until

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moment of impact, the hard stop, to automatically go to the Cloud.“ Additionally, Justin wants both forward facing and rear facing cameras. He believes facing the drivers is critical. “You need to know what the driver was doing five seconds before impact. Was he looking at his phone? Was he reaching to light a cigarette? If you get in an accident, the last 10 seconds are pretty blurry trying to recall exactly what happened because your adrenaline is pumping. The camera won’t lie,” he states. And while several companies make this type of camera set-

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tires, brakes and lights, whatever wasn’t quite right is looked at.” While Cox and Barnes now mainly spend their time in the office coordinating their specific circus, Barnes will still get into a log truck. “My goal is to pull 25 loads of wood a month,” he explains. “I do that, it offsets some payments.” The Macks pull one of 10 plantation trailers, all hot loaded once arriving in the woods. Newer trucks run Bridgestone tires, while older trucks and trailers run a variety of brands, whatever is the best deal at the time. Each crew is assigned dedicated

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trucks. Drivers are responsible for assisting the loader man with trimming and tie down.

In Woods Typically, the crews are on an average tract size of between 50-70 acres, purchased by Parker Cox, David’s younger son. Mostly they work pine plantations managed by TIMOs, within a 75-mile radius of the office in Edgemoor. Tommy says the crews stop at the state line, though anything in South Carolina is fair game. This year has been somewhat of a fluke, the partners say, as Ideal has found itself on some big blocks for thinning, sizable tracts of 800 acres. The big blocks aren’t the only thing that’s been unusual. Earlier this year, Ideal had a big clear-cut in the sand, and sent all three crews to work it at the same time. “With everyone down there it kind of looked like Sherman going through Atlanta,” Tommy jokes. Since Parker predominately buys pine plantation timber, the crew outfitted with the Chambers Delimbinator sticks solely to thinning. The other two are flexible, but usually the crew with two skidders clear-cuts, while the other three-man crew thins.

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Lions, Tigers, Bears! Ideal Logging, Inc. foreman Matt (Muff) Seegars, shown here, has worked with the crew for close to 15 years, and he was a classmate of Justin Barnes. The Seegars family has always been close to the Barneses. Muff’s father Tim Seegars was a contract log truck driver for Ideal Logging on and off for 12 years—when he wasn’t busy attending to his real passion: exotic animal training and education. Muff says that when he was growing up, while other kids had cats, he had a jaguar. Seegars’ animals, which included bears, tigers, jaguars, meerkats, owls, alligators and snakes, appeared in many commercials, movies and TV shows, including Johnny Carson and other late night talk shows. Muff remembers one commercial with golfer Davis Love III, shot in nearby Augusta, Ga., as a particular highlight. Seegars’ alligators and snapping turtles are also featured at Alligator Adventure in Myrtle Beach, SC. Of all the things Seegars’ animals did, Muff says the most important (and what made him most proud of his father) was the educational lectures Tim conducted for schoolchildren. Sadly Tim Seegars died in a barn fire on March 25, 2018. SLT sends its condolences. Working in this manner, Ideal averages 45-50 loads per day of sawtimber, pulpwood and chip-n-saw. The lion’s share of pulpwood hauls to Resolute Forest Products in Catawba, SC. Boise Cascade in Chester takes chip-n-saw and sawtimber. The rest

of the pulpwood goes to International Paper in Santuck and Eastover. C. M. Tucker Lumber Co. in Pageland takes sawtimber. Tommy and Justin both agree that the Chambers Delimbinator is the key to getting production numbers.

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Aside from some aged bulldozers and the Chambers, all of Ideal’s iron is less than three years old. The full lineup includes a 2018 Tigercat 720 feller-buncher, ’16 John Deere 643L buncher, ’15 John Deere 643K buncher, ’18 Tigercat 234 loader, ’16 and ’15 John Deere 437D loaders, ’18 Tigercat 620E dual arch grapple skidder, ’17 Tigercat 620 with efficient high speed drive skidder and ’16 and ’15 John Deere 648L skidders. Skidders run Firestone tires. The veteran crew, with many fathers working alongside sons, runs machines until they quit. Tommy notes that Cox’s older son David, Jr. (whom everyone calls Little David), put almost 19,000 hours on a Tigercat 234 loader before it was upgraded. “We bought it only two weeks ago, and it’s already squeaking,” Tommy laughs, noting how hard the crews push to get production. Ideal leans on Flint Equipment Co. and Tidewater Equipment for John Deere and Tigercat support, respectively. For a while, the former FRA National Outstanding Logger of the Year ran Tigercat exclusively. Then they added a Deere piece to the mix here and there. The crew now uses both brands to avoid having too many eggs in one basket. Cox says, “The

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salesman makes the first sale, then the service makes the rest of them.” Justin agrees with Cox that having multiple pieces with the two brands works in Ideal’s favor. “We keep everyone honest by not letting one man have it all,” he explains. “We get all we can out of a machine before we trade it; 18,000 hours on a machine is the norm. As things become less mechanical and more electronic they aren’t going to last forever. You run them less and less. We can change a hose, but you can hardly work on anything now without hooking a laptop to it.”

used for maintaining log trailers. CarQuest in Chester keeps the shop shelves stocked with parts and filters. David handles all tire work he can, leaning on All World Tire in Chester for skidder tire work and Jim Whitehead Tire in Columbia, SC for the truck tire work. Since all of Ideal’s equipment, and most of its trucks, are tier 4f, DEF is bought in bulk from Dilmar Oil in Columbia, SC along with motor oils. Tommy was skeptical of the new engines but reports that while Mack has given some trouble, he hasn’t

noticed any with the in-woods equipment. Diesel is delivered from Darby Oil in Chester. Ideal keeps tanks of 4,000 gal. each of on-road and offroad at the shop and split among service trucks. In addition to tire work, and asneeded wrench turning, David is responsible for all office related paperwork, including payroll and tickets. Parker and Tommy split the timber procurement paperwork, since Parker says sometimes Tommy is his biggest buying competition. Of course, Tommy answers with, “Well,

you aren’t fast enough on occasion.” While many on the crew are actually related, the ones who aren’t still feel like family anyway, foreman Matt (Muff) Seegars says. He and Justin went to school together along with another on the crew, Emmett Jones. “After 30-something years,” David says, “I spend more time with him [Tommy] than I do my wife— especially in the older days when we went to the woods every day.” “We’ve got some good guys,” Tommy says. Justin agrees, saying, “Couldn’t do this without them.” SLT

At The Shop With the new equipment still under warranty, Tidewater and Flint perform maintenance. Quality Truck & Trailer in Johnsonville helps Ideal recondition trucks, and handles maintenance on any outof-warranty trucks that Ideal can’t handle for itself; otherwise, the Mack dealership performs the preventative maintenance on new trucks. Justin coordinates major maintenance with the individual crew foremen: his brother Jamie, Matt Seegars and (Little) David Cox. He says mainly the crews handle their own maintenance—everything they can themselves in the woods, they do in order to get back running as quickly as possible. “Depends on what’s broken,” Justin laughs. Oil changes are done every 3,000 hours. The crews try to pull maintenance during the week. If they do work on Saturdays it is to haul wood. Justin says that on the occasion the crew works a Saturday, it’s just a half-day. But in order to help everyone, the crew will be paid for the full day. Typically, the machines will be greased in pieces while getting fuel, which Justin says equates to every other day. When the machine needs fuel the operator will also grease; when the fuel cuts off they go back to work. Greasing is picked up during the next day’s fuel stop where it was left off. Justin says this helps eliminate downtime. And because everything on the service truck is air powered, the safety concern of having things wired near the diesel is gone. Tommy says they used to use Red Moly grease but had switched to a less expensive product. He explains that saving pennies didn’t pay off in this instance: “Now we’re back to using a better quality grease. We could buy three of the cheapos for one drum of the other, but it wasn’t doing the job.” David, Justin and Tommy are the main mechanics when needed, and a welding machine is kept at the shop in Edgemoor, mainly Southern Loggin’ Times

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Good Choice ■ Nick Frost tried other careers, but in the end the logging life is the only one for him.

By David Abbott MONTICELLO, Ark. ick Frost, 35, started working in the woods 10 ★ years ago when he took a job for his uncle, Joe Frost. Prior, he had worked in other industries. Despite having grown up around logging—his father, Jimmy Frost, Joe’s brother, was a logger, now retired—it wasn’t Nick’s immediate choice of career path. “All my family logged,” he recalls. “I did auto body work for a few years and I worked construction, welding pipe fittings at power plants and paper mills.” He was on such a power plant job, working in Auburn, Ala., when he decided it was time for a change. “I had been gone 11 months. My daughter was growing up and I was gone all the time. So I decided to come home and work for Joe to be closer to family.” After that, there was no turning back. “It got in my blood,” he explains. “My daddy always told me, ‘Boy, if you ever get in the

“Joe gave me the opportunity to start my own logging company, and he and Lynn helped me with financing,” Nick says. “If it wasn’t for him and Lynn I wouldn’t be where I’m at.” The appreciation is mutual, with Joe concurring, “I wouldn’t be where I am in the last year if he hadn’t been there to help.” Nick subcontracts under Joe, and the two crews generally work on different parts of the same tracts. “He helps me and I help him,” Nick says. “If I have a man out, he will get on the cutter or loader on my job, and I do the same for him. We send trucks to each other when one of us needs help, to try to keep the trucks rolling.”

Nick Frost, left, with his uncle, Joe

woods, you’ll never get out of it. It gets in you. That is where I think I will be from now on.” Five years ago, Nick started his own company, F&F Trucking & Timber, LLC, which continued hauling for Joe’s outfit, C&L Wood Co., Inc., also based in Monticello. When Joe suffered a heart attack in

October 2016 and had to take some time off to recuperate, it was Nick on whom he leaned to keep C&L going in his absence. “Nick really stepped up to the plate,” Joe says. “You can’t ask for a better kid.” After Joe got back to work, he and his wife Lynn helped Nick add a logging crew to his trucking concern.

Equipment In addition to helping with financing, Joe and Lynn also sold their nephew some of C&L’s equipment. That includes a 2015 Tigercat 620E skidder, ’16 Tigercat 720G feller-buncher, and two ’06 Prentice 384 loaders with CSI delimbers. He also keeps a ’13 Cat

One loader delimbs while the other keeps trucks moving.

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SLT SNAPSHOT F&F Trucking & Timber, LLC Monticello, Ark. Email: frostn78@yahoo.com Founded: 2013 Owner: Nick Frost No. Crews: 1 Employees: 4 in the woods, 2 truck drivers Equipment: 1 skidder, 1 cutter, 2 loaders with delimbers Trucks/Trailers: 2 trucks, 2 trailers Production: 50 loads a week Average Haul Distance: 50 miles Tidbit: Nick works closely with his uncle, Joe Frost, who helped him get his logging crew started about a year ago (he had already been running his trucking business for a few years). A cover story on Joe was featured in the January 2018 issue of Southern Loggin’ Times. 563 cutter as a spare, the original cutter he bought from Joe last year before recently replacing it with the 620 Tigercat. The spare only has 5,000 hours on it. On the trucking side, F&F currently runs a 2012 Peterbilt 389 and a ’99 Freightliner. The Peterbilt has a Paccar engine and the Freightliner has a Cat, both 500HP, and both trucks use Eaton transmissions. The trucks pull a ’15 Pitts plantation trailer and a ‘17 Big John trailer. Frost is in the process of buying a third truck and trailer. He’s opting for another Big John this time. “I’ve been really satisfied with the Big John,” he says, though adding that the Pitts has also been a very good trailer. Frost has around $800,000 invested in trucks and equipment. He plans to expand with a second small crew soon, perhaps in the next year or so. Though he hasn’t bought any equipment from a dealer, several of the Tigercat pieces he bought from

Frost turns to Tigercat dealer MidSouth Forestry Equipment for any warranty work.

Nick just bought this cutter from his uncle Joe earlier this year.

Nick's twin sons, Bryan and Karder, already plan to fill in his boots when they're older.

Joe are still under warranty from MidSouth Forestry Equipment’s Warren branch, which handles all warranty work for those machines. Frost says he and his crew handle as much of the repairs and maintenance as they can on their own, making use of Joe’s shop when needed. For any repair jobs beyond the scope of their abilities, he turns to some local mechanics for help, including Harrelson Equipment in Warren and his good friend Jodi Jester at J&H Garage & Express Lube in Warren. “He helps with some of the truck maintenance—oil changes, grease jobs and tires. He also comes out to the field and does the skidder tires.” Frost buys tires from MD Tire Corp. in Pine Bluff,

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The crew: Alfredo Tinico, Nick Frost, Jerry Frost, Julio Dominguez

Truck drivers Aaron Hall, left, and Orlando Davis

running Firestones on woods equipment and Roadlux on trucks and trailers.

done on trucks and equipment. F&F Trucking performs mostly first and second thinnings and hauls primarily pine pulpwood. Major pulp markets include Highland Pellets and Evergreen Packaging, both in Pine Bluff, and, sometimes, Georgia-Pacific’s OSB plant in Fordyce, though few loads have gone there lately. Most chip-n-saw goes to West Fraser in Leola (6 in.

Production The crew averages 50 loads a week. In fact, Frost says, they try not to let a week end without getting at least 50 loads hauled. It depends on weather and mills, but

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he avoids making the crew work Saturdays as much possible, though it’s sometimes necessary. “If you can’t make it in five days, six won’t get you there,” he believes. “I like to spend time with my family on the weekends, and I want my men to be able to do that also.” Still, even though they may not be working in the woods, a few hours on a Saturday is a good time to get some work

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tops), while Victory Lumber in Camden takes smaller chip-n-saw (4 in. tops) and the Anthony Timberlands mills in Malvern and Bearden (Bearden Lumber Co.) take the larger chip-n-saw (8 in. tops). From most tracts, haul distance is somewhere between 40 and 50 miles. “When we can haul to Fordyce, it might be only 10 miles from most places we work,” Frost

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adds. Wait times are hit and miss, he says, and the same goes for quotas. “We thought all the rain we’ve had would help, but there have still been a lot of long waits.” Most of the time, he says, a truck will wait 30-45 minutes to be unloaded, but it’s sometimes longer. On average, it takes about three hours from the time a truck leaves the woods for it to get to the mill and back to the ramp for another load. Fortunately, he adds, “We can hit Highway 79 and run straight up there to Pine Bluff, and it

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is a good road to haul on.”

Personnel Jerry Frost, Nick’s cousin, has been driving the skidder on the F&F crew since Nick started up the logging side. Julio Dominguez dedicates the loader he operates to delimbing and sorting, freeing up the other loader, manned by Alfredo Tinico, to focus on loading trucks. Jesus Tinico, Alfredo’s brother, runs the cutter part time. Nick splits his

time between loading trucks and running the cutter when Jesus is gone. Truck drivers are Orlando Davis and Aaron Hall. “They’re good, productive hands,” Frost says. “They get up early and work late.” The biggest problem for loggers in his area, Frost believes, is trucking. “I am fortunate to have two good truck drivers, and I hope to find a third when I get this other truck ready. But that is the biggest obstacle to doing that. Finding and keeping truck drivers is hard.”

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Good drivers are scarce, and insurance restrictions thin their ranks further. “You can’t have one with a bad record because you can’t afford the insurance for them,” he says. “That is the toughest thing about logging, I feel like, is the trucking end of it.” Contract truckers are an alternative, but often an unreliable one, he says. “You can hire contract trucks, but you don’t know if they will be there the next day or not. They will quit you over 25 cents a ton.” Frost uses contractors occasionally, but most of the time, between his trucks and Joe’s, they can get all the loads out using only their own drivers. The crew holds a safety meeting once a week by the tailgate. They keep first aid kits in pickup trucks. Insurance Exchange, Inc. in Monticello covers all trucking, workers’ comp, liability and equipment insurance for the crew. Jackie Pace is Frost’s agent. Nick is engaged to Lacey Pruitt, who handles all paperwork and payroll for him. “She is a big help to me on that end, because there’s no way I could do it all,” he admits. “It is enough to keep up with the woods end of it.” He has a daughter, Kaylin, 15, and twin sons, Bryan and Karder, 6. Kaylin has lost interest in going to the woods with her dad in recent years, but the boys are already in love with the logging business. “They would go every day if I’d let them,” Nick says. “They are eaten up with logging. I have a plantation around my house of nine-year-old pine, and they both have machetes and they like to chop trees all day when they are not in school. It’s already in their blood.” The only thing to figure out now, he says, is which twin will run which machine. “Karder wants the loader and Bryan says he is going be a cutter man.” Overall, it seems Frost has few serious complaints and no real regrets about his vocation. “I just enjoy being in the woods,” he explains of his choice. “You can make a living at it, but you have to work hard and have the drive; nothing is handed to you.” He continues, “I want a good future for my kids. Whether they go to college is up to them, but I want to leave it where they can take over one day if that’s what they choose.” At this point, at least, the six-year-olds already have their minds made up on that choice. “One of them says he is going to quit school in the 4th grade and come to work for daddy,” Frost laughs. “I told him no, he has to finish school first. SLT Then we’ll see.”

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Looking Up ■ Young logger Brian Smith follows in the footsteps of his father and grandfather before him.

By David Abbott BROOKHAVEN, Miss. rian Smith, 33, is the owner of the aptly named Brian Smith Logging, Inc. A third gen★ eration logger, Smith spent his summers as a teen working part time for his dad, Curtis. After graduating from Lloyd Star High School in Brookhaven in 2003, he attended Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson. Upon earning a two-year degree in diesel mechanics in 2005, he came onboard full-time at his dad’s logging company, which was then called Paul C. Smith and Sons, Inc. (his full name is Paul Curtis Smith). Brian’s older brother Mike was the other son referenced in the company name. Both sons continued working with their father until 2013. Curtis wasn’t actually ready to retire then, but he did want to take a step back and pass the headaches on to the next generation. His sons split the company into two crews, forming their own separate operations: Brian Smith Logging and Mike Smith Logging.

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Today, Curtis works on Brian’s crew, running one of the cutters. He has been in the woods since 1968, so this is his 50th year. “There is nothing like it,” the elder Smith, now 73, says. “It has been a good life.” He’s still going strong, his son reports, and enjoying good health—very much in defiance of the odds. In fact, he wasn’t even supposed to still be here, let alone still working. In April 2003, a month before Brian graduated high school and two years before he joined the family business full time, Curtis had an accident with a log truck, causing a rupture of his aorta, the largest artery in the human body. This is a rare and extremely dangerous injury. Doctors at the time said he’d never survive, according to Brian; only 0.09% with this injury do, the family was told then. When Curtis did survive, doctors next predicted he’d be paralyzed for the rest of his life. That didn’t happen either; he just went back to work and kept running the company for another decade before handing it off to Brian and Mike. Now, 15 years after the accident, he gets around the woods just fine with only

Brian Smith, left, still works with his dad Curtis, right.

a little help from a cane. “He got out of the hospital the day of my graduation,” Smith recalls. “That was amazing, I was so proud of that. He was able to make it, in a wheelchair but he was there.” Smith and Curtis also co-own the affiliated trucking outfit, P&C Trucking, which handles hauling for Brian Smith Logging. It is set up with Curtis as President and Brian as Vice President. The letters stand for Paul and Curtis, named for Curtis and his father Paul, Sr., Brian’s grandfather, who started the company. P&C was

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already an established name, so when they split up Paul C. Smith and Sons, Inc., Brian and Curtis opted to keep P&C rather than folding it into the new company.

Equipment Brian Smith Logging has two loaders, a 2014 Prentice 2384C and a ’16 Cat 559C; two cutters, a ’13 Prentice 2670C and a ’15 Cat 573C; and two 620 Tigercats skidders, ’17 and ’15 models, plus a spare John Deere 648H skidder and a Cat D6K dozer.

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Smith runs two 620 Tigercat skidders, bought from B&G Equipment in Magnolia.

P&C Trucking runs eight trucks (two Kenworths and six Western Stars) and eight trailers (three Nations pole trailers and five 4-bolsters, three Pitts and two McLendons). The Western Star trucks have Detroit 485HP engines, while the Kenworths use Cummins 485HP engines. Smith buys his Western Stars from McComb Diesel in Magnolia and Empire Truck Sales in Brookhaven, and the Kenworths from Truckworx Kenworth of Jackson. Puckett Machinery in Brookhaven supplies his Caterpillar machines; salesmen Lane Sasser and Sean Doyle, Smith says, take good care of him. He gets his Tigercat iron from salesman Bill Nunnery at B&G Equipment of Magnolia. Operators change oil and filters in the field every 250 hours. They grease every machine once a week, except the cutters, which get grease twice a week. Trucks are serviced at 15,000 miles. For big repairs, Brian goes back to the dealers or to local shops. Dunaway Equipment Co. and Dean Weeks Repair & Welding, both in Brookhaven, get a lot of business from him. Brian has equipment enough for two crews, and does operate as such on seldom occasions, when market conditions warrant or sometimes while working a private tract. At least 75% of the time, he figures, the operation functions as a unified twoloader job.

things on the rare occasions when neither Brian nor Curtis can be on site. Another long-time employee is skidder driver Clayton Callender, who has been with the company close to 40 years. Callender is Brian’s uncle. Lonnie Mackabee mans the other loader, while Roger Byrd drives the other skidder and Andrew Collins serves as saw hand (trim work only). Curtis and Brian each operate a feller-buncher. Brian also runs the dozer to build and maintain roads. Truck drivers are Tony Mullens, Wayne Sykes, Toby Williamson, Moncherik Hooks, Orlando Byrd, Jerry Keeton and Daniel Fauver. Fauver also fills in on a skidder or loader when needed. Smith also has two full-time contract truckers, Travis Seale and Jermaine Hunter. Smith is happy to report that he hasn’t had much turnover either in the woods or on the trucking side. “A few come and go, but we have sever-

SLT SNAPSHOT Brian Smith Logging, Inc. Brookhaven, Miss. Email: paulcsmithandsons@yahoo.com Founded: 2013 Owner: Brian Smith No. Crews: 1 Employees: 7 in the woods, 8 truck drivers Equipment: 2 loaders, 2 cutters, 2 skidders, dozer Average Haul Distance: 60 Tidbit: Brian Smith works with his father, Curtis, who suffered an injury in 2003 that, according to doctors, should have killed or at least crippled him. Instead, he continued to run his own company for another 10 years before selling it to his two sons, Brian and Mike. Today Curtis still runs a cutter for Brian, who started Brian Smith Logging from his half of Curtis’ company.

Crew Lyle Brumfield started driving a truck for Curtis Smith in July 1997, and stayed on with Brian when the original company split. He switched from truck driver to loader operator in July 2016. Brumfield serves as a kind of informal foreman, overseeing

Though he has enough equipment to split into two crews, Smith usually opts to run it all together as one.

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The crew is equipped to tackle much of the routine R&M on site.

Smith works mostly on Weyerhaeuser pine tracts.

al who have been here a long time.” He admits, though, that it is a struggle to find good employees, especially good drivers. The requirement for drivers to already have three years’ experience before they can be insured irks the young logger. “I look at some of the young drivers like Daniel here; he barely had three years and the insurance accepted him, and he’s doing a really good job,” Smith says. “We could teach young drivers, but they get no chance. It’s a struggle to keep trucking alive because enough quality drivers are just not out there.”

Safety Brian Smith Logging works primarily on Weyerhaeuser land, and Weyerhaeuser allows chain saws only for topping, and not on anything over waist high. It can be a problem, Smith says. “We work a lot of rough terrain, and to get to some of it on hill sides, we have to winch the cutter down with the dozer. It would be easier to let a saw hand saw it down, and it costs more to do the hill assist over chain saw felling, and it’s way more time consuming, but it is safer. It keeps a man off the ground.” A track cutter could do it too, he says, but they don’t have enough of that terrain to make the purchase of one cost effective, especially since the rubber tire buncher does reach most of it. The logger conducts pre-employment and random drug testing, both for truck drivers and woods crew. Smith holds a monthly safety meeting, the administration of which

Left to right: Curtis Smith, Daniel Fauver, Lonnie Mackabee, Roger Byrd, Brian Smith (on step), Lyle Brumfield, Andrew Collins; not pictured, Clayton Callender

he hires out to Southern Safety Solutions, LLC, based in Taylorsville. That company’s owner, Don Chennault, has a 40+ year career as a firefighter and fire chief, and since 2013 has offered his services as a logging safety engineer and consultant. Besides conducting the monthly meetings, Chennault helps Smith keep in compliance and up to date on all the required paperwork and certifications, including HAZMAT, first aid and CPR training. He also ensures Smith’s safety plan is in order. The written plan, kept in a service truck, lays out policies and expectations for truck drivers and crew members, emergency contact numbers, direc-

The operation sends out upwards of 100 loads weekly.

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tions to each job site and from the site to the nearest hospital. It also includes contact information for family members of each crew member in case of emergency. Smith gets his insurance coverage through agent Mike Smith of Insurance And Risk Managers in Brookhaven. BITCO writes the policy.

Operations The crew hauls between 100-120 loads on most weeks, usually in five days; they work Saturdays maybe a third of the time. They have had to miss some work days due to wet conditions in recent months, Smith

admits. They do mostly second thinning or final harvests, and 85% of it on pine tracts. At least 80% of that is on Weyerhaeuser land, Smith says; the remainder of tracts he buys himself. The crew hauls pulpwood to Georgia-Pacific in Monticello, International Paper in Vicksburg and Drax Biomass (Amite Bioenergy) or Hood Industries in Gloster. Hardwood goes to GP in Brookhaven (Bogue Chitto) and Roxie. Weyerhaeuser in Magnolia takes pine logs, and Rex Lumber in Brookhaven takes pine logs and chip-n-saw. Smith sends small chipn-saw to Hood Industries in Silver Creek (the former Joe N. Miles &

Smith checks and refills a tire before sending a load out.

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Sons mill) and Weyerhaeuser in Holden, La. Poles go to Baldwin Pole Mississippi, LLC, and Carpenter’s Pole and Piling, both in Wiggins.

Home Life

A skidder moves one loader to a different loading ramp.

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Smith and his wife Anna have three sons: Dawson, 7, Sawyer, 5, and Truitt, 2 in April. Anna does all the bookwork for the logging company, while his mother, Sylvia, does the bookwork for the trucking company. Outside of work, the family spends its time either fishing or playing sports. They have a fishing camp on the Mississippi River and spend a lot of time catfishing with a trotline. The kids play baseball and football. “We are always either on the river or at a ballfield when we aren’t logging,” Smith says. They also attend New Salem Church of Christ in Brookhaven. Smith serves on the board of the Mississippi Loggers Assn. He attends monthly district meetings and board meetings several times a year. Cecil Johnson recently stepped down as executive director, and the board elected David Livingston to step into the position (see news item on page 46). Along with the Mississippi Forestry Assn., the MLA represents the interests of the industry and lobbies state legislators on behalf of the logging community. “David handles that day-to-day work, and we vote if he has questions,” Smith says. Beyond that, MLA does a big annual fundraiser for the Blare E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson. “We take a lot of pride in that, we take that serious,” he says. The southwestern district raised $41 thousand for the hospital last year. Smith has a positive outlook on

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the state of the industry in his area, but with some reservations. “There is plenty of timber to cut, but we don’t have the mills to take the amount of wood that the state of Mississippi has,” he says. “We could produce a lot but we are on quotas.” He continues, “It concerns me that machine prices are really high compared to the stump-to-truck rates we get. It just seems like it is always a struggle, and there is never a break. You just got to get it to make a living in this industry. It’s tough. But overall the market is pretty good. We are able SLT to make a living.”

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The two loaders are set up on separate parts of the tract to maximize skid trail efficiency.

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Trey Gowdy On ‘Military Bias’

Wood Wonder

The following response is credited to Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Congressman, who was asked by a TV reporter about the Department of Defense’s ban on transgenders in the U.S. armed forces. “Nobody has a ‘right’ to serve in the military. Nobody. What makes people think the military is an equal opportunity employer? Very far from it. “The military uses prejudice regularly and consistently to deny citizens from joining for being too old or too young, too fat or too skinny, too tall or too short. Citizens are denied for having flat feet, or for missing or additional fingers. “Poor eyesight will disqualify you, as well as bad teeth. Malnourished? Drug addiction? Bad back? Criminal history? Low IQ? Anxiety? Phobias? Hearing damage? Six arms? Hear voices in your head? Self-identification as a unicorn? Need a special access ramp for your wheelchair? “Can’t run the required course in the required time? Can’t do the required number of push-ups? Not really a ‘morning person’ and refuse to get out of bed before noon? All can be reasons for denial. “The military has one job: war. Anything else is a distraction and a liability. Did someone just scream ‘that isn’t fair’? War is very unfair, there are no exceptions made for being special or challenged or socially wonderful. “You change yourself to meet military standards. It’s not the other way around! “I say again: You don’t change the military; you must change yourself. The military doesn’t need to accommodate anyone with special issues. The military needs to win wars. “If any of your personal issues are a liability that detract from readiness or lethality…then thank you for applying and good luck in future endeavors. “Who’s next in line?”

The Black Bra Phenomenon A Chinese man went to a Jewish man to buy black bras, size 38 DD. The Jew, known for his skills as a businessman, said that black bras were rare and that he was finding it very difficult to buy them from his suppliers; therefore he had to charge $50 each for them. The Chinese man bought 25. He returned a few days later and this time placed an order for 50 more size 38 DD bras. The Jew told him that they had become even harder to get and now he needed to charge the Chinese man $60 each. The Chinese man returned a month later and bought the Jew’s remaining stock of 50 black bras, and this time for $75 each. The Jew was somewhat puzzled by the large demand for black size 38 bras and asked the Chinese guy, “Please tell me what do you do with all these black bras?” The Chinese man answered: “I cut them in half and sell them as skull caps to Jews for $200 each.”

A plane is on its way to Atlanta when a blond woman in economy class gets up and moves to the first class section and takes a seat. A flight attendant watches her do this and asks to see her ticket. She then tells the blond that she paid for economy class and that she will have to sit in that section. The passenger replies, “I’m blond, I’m beautiful, I’m going to Atlanta and I’m staying right here.” The attendant goes into the cockpit and tells the co-pilot about the situation. The co-pilot tries to explain the rules to her, only to get the same response: “I’m blond, I’m beautiful, I’m going to Atlanta and I’m staying right here.” Returning to the cockpit, the co-pilot tells the pilot that he probably should have police waiting when they land to arrest this woman who won’t listen to reason. “You say she is blond?” the pilot asks. “I’ll handle this. I’m ●

Life After Death? “Do you believe in life after death?” the boss asked one of his new employees. “Yes sir,” the employee replied. “Well, I guess I now believe it too,” the boss went on. “After you took yesterday off to go to your grandmother’s funeral, she stopped in to see you.”

Palm Sunday Disappointment It was Palm Sunday, but because he had a sore throat, five-year-old Johnny stayed home from church with a sitter. When the family returned home they were carrying several palm branches. Johnny asked what they were for. “People held them over Jesus as he walked by,” his mother answered. “Wouldn’t you know it,” the boy fumed. “The one Sunday I don’t go, He shows up.”

Little Johnny, Again Little Johnny asked his grandmother how old she was. Her reply: “39 and holding.” Johnny thought for a moment, then asked, “How old would you be if you let go?”

Family Support? The prospective father-in-law asked, “Young man, can you support a family?” The surprised groom-to-be replied, “Well, no. I was just planning to support your daughter. The rest of you will have to fend for yourselves.”

New Experience A little girl in church for the first time watched as the ushers passed around offering plates. When they came near her pew she shouted: “Don’t pay for me daddy. I’m under five.”

Daddy’s Promised Trick

A Plane Bound For Atlanta

married to a blond; I even speak blond.” He walks up to the lady, bends over and whispers in her ear. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she says immediately, and gets up and returns to her seat in economy. Puzzled, the attendant and co-pilot ask him what he said to make her move without any fuss. “I told her that first class isn’t going to Atlanta,” he said with a grin.

“I sure am glad to see you,” the little boy said to his grandmother on his mother’s side. “Now maybe daddy will do the trick he has been promising us.” “What trick is that,” she asked. “Last week I heard him tell mommy that he would climb the wall if you came to visit,” he answered.

Water Pistols Remembered When the young father’s four-year-old son opened a birthday gift from his grandmother, he discovered a water pistol. He squealed with delight and headed for the nearest sink. The father was not pleased. He turned to his mother and asked, “I’m surprised at you. Don’t you remember how we used to drive you crazy with water pistols?” Smiling sweetly, she replied, “Yes, I believe I do.”

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 25 Years Later, Lasiter Brothers Remain Involved With The Industry They Love By Dan Shell

ooking back 25 years to the August 1993 issue, Southern Loggin’ Times featured Lasiter Logging of Olla, La. Operated by Charles Lasiter and his wife Nelda, the three-crew operation included their two sons Shane, 23, and John Mark, 18. At the time, the company had a strong relationship with Riverwood International, with one crew working exclusively with Riverwood, another about 75% of its time with Riverwood and a third crew that operated primarily on tracts that Lasiter had purchased. The elder Lasiter, then 45, was the son of a logger himself and had been working on his own as a contractor since the age of 21. In the 1993 article, he noted that he had quit buying stumpage for his third crew and instead had switched to buying timberland in the late 1980s, a decision that was working well, he said. Back in 1993 was still a time of transition in the Southern logging woods, as more loggers became fully mechanized and the old-school allday timber fallers were fading away—although there were still more than a few sawhands on the job. Back then, Lasiter was relying on manual felling for two of his three crews: one was in generally larger timber, and the other was doing a lot of work along the Ouachita River hills that required hand-

Brothers Shane, left, and John Mark were just starting out at age 23 and 18, respectively, when Southern Loggin’ Times visited 25 years ago.

Father Charles Lasiter, son of a logger and brother of a logger, ran his company 44 years before he died in 2015.

falling due to steep terrain. The other crew operated with a HydroAx 611 sawhead, though the machine was shared with the other two crews as needed—especially in the summer, Lasiter said. Giving manual cutters a helping hand during the summer heat when possible was just part of Lasiter’s approach to treating employees well, the article noted. At the time, Lasiter employed 18 across the three crews, including eight truck drivers. He noted that many of them were second-generation loggers whose families had been in the business, and loved the line of work. In the article, Lasiter said he spent time on all three crews, “But I have employees I don’t have to

watch,” he said, adding that such reliable and experienced employees needed to be treated well with a steady and stable income. Shane was working with one of the crews when the article was published, and John Mark, who was just about to start his senior year of high school, was helping out during summer vacations.

Changes A few years after the article ran, John Mark went off on his own, eventually moving to Monticello, Ark. and operating Lasiter Timber Harvesting there. Like any other logging company, the venture had its ups and downs, at one point trying two cut-to-length

Today John Mark operates three Lasiter Timber Harvesting crews out of Monticello, Ark. Son Lucas, right, 18, operates the same skidder, middle, that was featured in the 1993 article.

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machines operated by John Mark and his wife, Mary, back in 2009. Today, John Mark Lasiter is operating three crews from Monticello that work in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana, also buying some of his own timber. He runs 11 trucks that float among the crews. John Mark’s son, Lucas, also works for the company. Lasiter notes that the crews work with a variety of markets in the region, including Hunt’s Plywood, PBS at Winnfield and Graphics Packaging at West Monroe. He’s also been excited to see the pellet mills in the region start up in the past decade or so, providing new markets. Drax is a major customer in Louisiana. John Mark has sought to diversify the company a bit, doing more road work, but also moving into site clearing and bid construction work. Though he went out on his own years ago, John Mark says he still thinks about his father every day in the woods. Aside from great memories working with his dad, he also has a tangible reminder: he’s still running one of the Cat 518s and a Prentice loader that appeared in the August 1993 SLT article. In 2015, Charles Lasiter passed away at age 67 from complications with a blood clot. He had logged on his own 44 years, did some cattle farming and also owned timberland. His father Howard was a logger, and brother Tim of Tullos, La., continues to operate his own timber harvesting company, T&T Logging (featured in SLT sister publication Timber Harvesting in April 2009). After his father died, son Shane ran his own small logging company for a while, but since has embarked on a major career change: he’s now a NASCAR driver. Not a race driv-

Sharon and Shane Lasiter Shane is now an owner-operator log hauler, working with a flexible schedule.

Not many loggers make it from the piney woods to NASCAR, but Shane pursued his goal.

er, but a thrill ride driver with the NASCAR Racing Experience based in Charlotte. Spurred on in part by his father’s death, Shane said he and his wife Sharon had conversations afterward about life being too short not to try doing what you really wanted and to make the most of the time you have. “I’ve always loved racing, and been around dirt cars and motorcy-

6 ➤ recliner I saw this stack of magazines and right on top was Southern Loggin’ Times. I saw a skidder on the cover and I wanted to see more, so I opened it up and saw all these big logs and loaders. At the bottom of the page it said DK Knight. I flipped a few pages to a story about another family, and at the bottom it said DK Knight. I said to myself, this guy is lucky to get to see all these people. So every chance I got to go to my friend’s house, I read them. Later I got a free subscription for myself; I said I was a procurement forester, and I didn’t even know how to spell it. I was 14. Reading that was what got me interested in forestry; I am a forester by trade, and that is where the water started parting for me. I met DK finally a few years ago at the MidAtlantic Logging Expo. I knew who he was when I saw him, because I had been reading his articles for 35 years. So I tapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘You don’t know it but you influenced me and it shaped my career. And today I own my company and employ all these people, and it all started because I read your articles when I was just a kid.’” The work Dave and DK have done here has

cles all my life,” he says. “After dad passed away I decided it was something I wanted to pursue.” Shane phased out his small logging crew and now works as an owner-operator log trucker, working with a local logging contractor who allows a flexible schedule when Shane and Sharon need to travel to different race tracks. After quite a bit of training,

Shane says he’s been driving solo and giving thrill rides for the past six months. He was literally between rides at Texas Motor Speedway in mid March when he was interviewed for this update article. He had been in the car all day, giving rides to race-crazed fans who pay for as many laps as their wallets will allow. He was looking forward to races coming up at Talladega and St. Louis—and a big trip to the Vegas race in May. “Sharon and I just pack up and go, and we’re having a great time,” Shane says. He adds that he’s both lucky and blessed to be able to work out business arrangements that allow him to stay involved in the logging industry while also getting paid to drive at big-time race tracks doing what he loves. It’s a long way from 1993 to 2018, lots of twists and turns in the roads, lots of loads cut and hauled, and it’s impressive that the same young brothers who were just starting out under their dad’s wing a quarter-century ago remain actively involved in SLT the industry they love.

DK and Dave, 2018

DK, left, and Dave, right, in 1981 with Dianne Sullivan, then Hatton-Brown’s general manager

affected many as it did Greene, not just those who read their publications but those of us who work here for them putting those publications together. The event at the country club was a (more or less) surprise party, put on by the employees here to honor the two guys who sign all our paychecks. Their impact on our lives goes

beyond our bank accounts, beyond providing a great place to work. They’ve been our mentors and even our friends. After 50 years, they’re still on the job just about every day. I think I speak for most who know them in expressing my appreciation for them and my hope that they conSLT tinue on for many years to come.

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Running Wide Open ■ Jeff Powell Trucking continues to invest in new logging equipment. By Jay Donnell WRIGHTSVILLE, Ga. hen 8-yearold Jeff Powell started going to the ★ woods with his father, John, he obviously had no idea he’d be carrying on the family tradition 48 years later. Powell worked with “Big John” for much of his early adult life and in 1993 he established his own logging company, Jeff Powell Trucking (JPT). Back in the early ’90s Powell was running one large crew with three skidders, three loaders, two tracked cutters and 10 trucks. He eventually split it into three crews. He has since downsized to just one smaller crew and four trucks, but his company continues to do a quality job in the Peach State. There have been some significant developments for JPT over the

Milton Costley, David Irwin, Marshall Powell, Jeff Powell, and Clifford Claxton

past few months including the hiring of a new employee and the purchase of a 2018 Tigercat 822D tracked feller-buncher that should arrive in late spring or early summer, according to Powell. The combination of high horsepower and efficient hydraulic circuits will provide JPT with quick, responsive control for high performance and

productivity, which is certainly needed since the company is cutting about 80% hardwood. Powell purchased the machine from Tidewater Equipment out of Hazlehurst and hopes it will increase productivity once they’re able to start working with it. He also hopes his newly hired employee, Dustin Lorde, will be a solid

addition to JPT. Lorde can run just about every machine in the woods, according to Powell.

Operations JPT works on mostly private land in a lot of swampy areas and Powell mainly cuts sawlogs for Battle Lumber in Wadley, Ga. He buys

JPT can produce anywhere from 50-70 loads per week.

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SLT SNAPSHOT Jeff Powell Trucking Wrightsville, GA Founded: 1993 Owner: Jeff Powell No. Crews: 1 Employees: 9 Equipment: 2 cutters, 2 skidders, 1 loaders, 4 trucks Average Haul Distance: 50 miles Tidbit: Jeff Powell is an avid deep-sea fisherman. very little timber himself. Battle Lumber is one of the largest hardwood sawmill operations in North America. JPT also hauls hardwood pulpwood to Rayonier in Collins and a small amount of pine sawlogs to Howard Lumber in Statesboro. JPT must follow strict guidelines put in place by Battle Lumber. They do all of the BMP work that’s necessary when they’re moving on to a new location and water bars are installed whenever necessary. The 24-year-old company produces from 50-70 loads each week. “We’ve been running pretty wide open recently,” Powell explains.

Powell has ordered a new 822D tracked cutter, which will be added to the existing lineup later this spring or summer.

“People always ask me how many loads I get a week and I tell them that I have gotten eight and I have gotten 120. We don’t try to go out there and get 70-80 loads a week, but if it happens it happens.” JPT’s employees are at it by 7 a.m. and usually stop around 5:30 p.m. each day. They don’t work in the woods on Saturdays, but do perform maintenance on trucks. These guys don’t watch the clock though.

They know what has to be done each day and they always have a plan in place. One of the key things about Powell’s business is that it has very little turnover. Powell’s son, Marshall, has been the crew foreman and operated a loader for a decade. Clifford Claxton has been with the business for eight years and runs the tracked buncher. David Irwin runs the skidder and Milton Costley runs the

The bogie skidder allows JPT to get into the rough terrain.

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loader. Those two gentlemen have been with JPT for a combined 60 years. Teresa Bray has handled JPT’s books and paperwork since the business started. As mentioned earlier, Dustin Lorde joined the team a couple months ago and can run any machine they need him to. Marshall Powell believes the lack of turnover has been a big key to the company’s success. “Everybody knows what to do and everybody

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A 2016 Cat 559C loader gets the job done for JPT.

knows their job,” he says. “You don’t have to talk about it; everything runs smoothly.” All new hires must take a drug test and all employees, including truck drivers, are subject to random testing. Each employee is granted time off for major holidays and sickness.

Iron Lineup The new 2018 Tigercat 822D tracked feller-buncher will arrive soon enough with its compact, minimal tail swing, but for now JPT’s lineup consists of a 2017 Tigercat 635 six-wheeled, electronic controlled hydrostatic drive bogie skidder, a 2014 Tigercat 822C tracked feller-buncher, John Deere 2054 shovel-swing machine, John Deere dozers, 2015 Cat 525C skidder, 2016 Cat 559C loader and a Cat 320D forestry excavator. (JPT hasn’t needed to use a chain saw on the job in over a decade.) The company’s main equipment dealers are Yancey Bros. in Washington, Tidewater in Hazlehurst and Flint Equipment in Macon. Powell says the the bogie skidder has allowed operator Irwin to get into some areas he wouldn’t normally be able to get into with a traditional skidder. Tigercat promotes the machine as its highest capacity skidder and one that is geared for lowland logging. Powell noticed the benefits almost immediately. “We’ve found out that it uses about the same amount of fuel as a regular skidder and it will pull almost twice the wood, plus it will go more places than a regular skidder can,” he explains. “It will pull a half a load of wood if you need it to.” Oil changing and greasing on the bogie skidder is basically the same as a normal skidder. The only difference is the oil has to be changed in the bogie planetary and it holds more oil than a regular skidder. If JPT is in a really swampy area and the machine is constantly getting wet it will get greased each day because the water will wash most of the grease away. As far as regular equipment maintenance goes, JPT follows standard practices. Oil is changed every 300 hours and machines are greased twice a week. Powell notes that training tracked buncher operators can be extremely difficult, especially with the kind of operation he’s running. Not only do these operators have to learn how the machine works, they have to learn how to run it in a wet area. The learning curve can take as long as nine months to a year. JPT runs four trucks including two 2016 Peterbilts, one 2013 40

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Peterbilt and a 2008 Kenworth. Each truck pulls a Pitts trailer. The company uses contract trucks a little, but most of the time they can get by without them. The 2016 Peterbilts are equipped with GPS systems. Powell has thought about putting dash cams on his trucks, but has not pulled the trigger on those just yet. Truck drivers are Allen Johnson, Julius Brown, Lee Marshall and D.C. Webb. Johnson and Brown have been with the business for more than 20 years while Webb has been with the busi-

ness for eight. Marshall was hired only a few months ago. The farthest drivers have to haul is about 150 miles, but their usual haul is only 50 miles. DOT manages to give Powell a few headaches. “They’re aggravating and it’s usually just ‘nitpicky’ stuff that doesn’t amount to much,” he says. “You see a lot of older trucks on the road, but they just want to pick on us for something.” Powell also notes that truck insurance rates continue to go up. “Somebody can buy $25,000 worth

of liability on a car and then they’ll hit a $150,000 truck,” he says. “If it’s their fault you’re not going to get anything out of them.”

Big Picture Powell has more than $2 million invested in JPT. He believes that his after tax business profit for the past year was on par with his investment. “If it wasn’t we would shut the operation down,” he jokes. While JPT may not be the size it once was, it still runs an efficient

Powell likes the direction of his company.

and quality operation. Tigercat, Caterpillar and John Deere dealers rave about the job they do. “Most of my stuff is paid for except for a couple pieces,” Powell explains. “I try to stay in a good financial position.” He’s not looking to expand the business anytime soon as he knows the headaches involved in running multiple crews, but he will leave that decision up to Marshall, who is expected to take over the business in a few years. Marshall is already the crew foreman and directs the trucks so he has gained a lot of experience that will be invaluable when he eventually takes over. Powell notes that the biggest change he’s seen in the industry is trucking insurance. Prices continue to skyrocket making it nearly impossible to hire a new driver unless his record is impeccable. The biggest “non change” he’s seen has been the prices for pine logs. While he would like to see logging rates improve, he does note that Battle Lumber keeps him in quality timber. Powell’s advice to all young loggers is simple. “Get some money in the bank before you start buying a new truck or buying your wife or girlfriend a new car,” he says. “Maybe you have the capability of hauling 75 loads per week, but what’s going to happen when you can only take 20 to the mill?” While Powell continues to oversee JPT he also has his hand in another venture, a seafood business. Parker Fish Co. is based in Wrightsville where Powell has a freezer that can hold a very large amount of product. Most of it comes from the East Coast and Powell’s company sells it throughout the Southeast. When Powell isn’t overseeing his logging company and seafood operation you can find him deep sea fishing. He fishes for dolphin, tuna and wahoo. Whether his crew is logging near a swamp or he’s fishing off the coastline, it’s safe to say Powell likes to stay SLT near the water. 42

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INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP

As We See It: Working Together—Are We? Danny Dructor If you have been following the legislative efforts of the American Loggers Council, you know we have been working to get state legal weight tolerances allowed on Dructor

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Interstate highways for way too long now. After all, the project began in 1997 and here we are 21 years later with the same result: nothing. Last year the Forest Resources Assn. (FRA) came on board and for the

past 12 months both organizations have worked on the issue, seeking support on the Hill in Washington. We have both heard the same story: the railroads don’t support this. There are two ways to get things done in DC. One way is to throw money at an issue and the other is to

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form relationships with those who represent you. We prefer the second path for two main reasons: 1) we don’t have funding to throw at issues, and 2) when you create relationships, there is a true understanding of the issue and we are not simply attempting to buy influence. At a recent TEAM Safe Trucking (TST) meeting in South Carolina, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of individuals who represent insurance carriers who insure log trucks. I pleaded with them to get on board with us to help us get this legislation passed. If there is one thing I know for certain, their lobbying power in Washington is just as powerful, if not more so, than that of the railroads. What came out of that discussion was a real eye-opener for me, and one that I feel we should all think about when asking for another group’s help. I was told the reason the insurance lobby was still hesitant in supporting our proposal was because we still haven’t proven that we can clean up our act on the highways, and allowing log trucks to roll 70-75 miles per hour on interstates was a real concern to them. Because all of this took place under the context of a TST meeting, and because we were discussing driver training for both new and veteran log haulers, it dawned on me that what they are concerned about is correct. Until we can voluntarily show that we are willing to make the effort to create a safer environment for our drivers and the motoring public, we will be hard pressed to gain support for this issue outside our industry. Regarding TST, its first driver training module is in place and you can go to www.teamsafetrucking.org to not only register for the training, but also print out certificates of completion once you have completed the course. There is a module for drivers and a module for owner-operators. The best part is there is no charge for the course, though a donation would certainly be helpful and assist TST in keeping things current and being able to develop future courses and printable materials. We have always taken great pride in the fact that we do not go to Washington, DC looking for a handout. Our issues are generally fashioned around the concept of “just allow us to do our jobs” without further burdensome regulation. What we haven’t thought about is the repercussions that our proposals might have on other industry allies. If we can’t volun-

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tarily improve safety and decrease incident rates with current drivers and freight system, how can we expect others to work with us to support legislation that could end up costing them? Let’s all really begin to work together. Volunteering a little bit of time to educate and train ourselves to create a safer environment just might get us what we need: the ability to haul state legal weights on safer interstates. We will remain committed to this effort. Dructor is Executive Vice President for the American Loggers Council. ALC is a 501 (c)(6) not for profit trade organization representing professional timber harvesters in 32 states. Visit www.amloggers.com or phone 409-625-0206.

B&G Equipment’s Bates Memorialized March 14 Memorial services for W.J. Bates, a former logger who became a successful logging equipment businessman, were held March 15 in Philadelphia, W.J. Bates Miss. Bates, 83, died March 12 from injuries sustained in a tractor accident on his property. According to his family, operating equipment was one of his favorite things to do. A native of Neshoba County, Bates and partner Donald Grantham, Jr. cofounded B&G Wood Products more

than 40 years ago and in 1976 cofounded B&G Equipment, Inc., which over time grew into a major logging equipment sales and service organization in Mississippi and Alabama. Bates bought out Grantham in 2005 and in recent years had stepped back as his children, grandchildren and in-laws assumed day-to-day business responsibilities. A major dealer for Tigercat and other companies, B&G operates four stores in Mississippi and one in Alabama, which it opened just a few years ago. Highly respected for his ethics and credibility and by customers, employees and members of his community, Bates was very active in Bethsaida Baptist Church where he had served

as deacon, teacher and on various committees. He was a former board member of the Mississippi Forestry Assn. A quiet person, Bates was also known for his generosity, which he tended to shield from the public, and for his wisdom, which he openly shared with so many, old and young, across several decades. Survivors include one son, three daughters, eight grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. Bates’ wife of 63 years, Carolyn, died earlier in March. The family requests that any memorials be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, or a charity of the donor’s choice.

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Livingston Named Exec Director Of MLA As of February 12, David Livingston is officially on the job as the new executive director of the Mississippi Loggers Assn. He steps into the position for former executive director Cecil Johnson, who stepped down late last year after heading the MLA since 2007. “Cecil has done an excellent job all these years and if somebody doesn’t

step in to keep it going, we’re going to get left behind because there are so many changes coming now from every angle,” Livingston says. When he heard that the position would be opening, Livingston decided to apply for it. He interviewed with members of the MLA board of directors and learned that he had the job during Johnson’s farewell celebration on January 20. Livingston, a forestry graduate of Jones Junior College in Ellisville,

Miss., has 28 years of experience in the timber industry. This includes running his own company, Forest Technologies, Inc. (FTI), since 2003. FTI buys and sells timber and fields one logging crew. Livingston plans to keep FTI going, but stresses that MLA is his top priority. “I committed to them, and if I commit to somebody I take care of them before I take care of myself.” Livingston has also served on the Timber Harvesting Committee of the

Mississippi Forestry Assn. and as President of the Lincoln County Forestry Assn. Among the new executive director’s major goals is an improved public image for loggers. “A lot of people think we are a bunch of cussing, uneducated people who have holes in our shoes with our clothes covered in grease and oil like they see on some of the TV shows," Livingston laments. "People think the only reason we are loggers is because we can’t do anything else, when in fact logging is no different than any other profession.” He plans to focus also on trying to get insurance rates reduced and working with the DOT to help loggers improve their trucking situation. At home, Livingston shares his passion for forestry and logging with his wife, Laura, and their four children: Allison, William, Nathan and Jake.

Four New Sawmills Planned In The South Southern pine lumber sawmills will soon be spreading like kudzu, with four companies recently making announcements that they’re building new ones. l Rex Lumber Co. plans to invest $110 million to build a sawmill with a minimum 240MMBF annual production capacity near Troy, Ala. Site work at the new Pike County sawmill was scheduled to start in March. Pike County was chosen over sites considered in several other Southern states. The new mill will provide 110 jobs. “Our fourth-generation family owned business is looking forward to a long and prosperous future in

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Pike County and the great state of Alabama,” says Caroline McRae Dauzat, one of the Rex owners. l Hunt Forest Products, based in Rushton, La., and Tolko Industries of Canada will partner and build a $115 million sawmill in Urania, La. The venture will operate as LaSalle Lumber Company LLC and will be managed and operated by Hunt on a daily basis. Construction is expected to start in April. The facility will employ 60

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when operations begin in January 2019 and 110 at full capacity. It is estimated the mill will require 850,000 tons of wood annually to produce 200MMBF of lumber annually, according to the company. The facility will be located on 125 acres of the old 285-acre Louisiana-Pacific sawmill site. Drax Biomass now occupies the other 160 acres of that site, and the new sawmill is planning to supply residuals and wood fiber to Drax for

use in manufacturing wood pellets. “We are excited to be bring a hightech sawmill, and the skilled jobs it will provide, to central Louisiana, and to provide a local outlet for the massive inventory of southern yellow pine that exists in this region,” says James Hunt, co-owner and vice chairman of the Board of Directors of Hunt Forest Products. Louisiana Dept. of Economic Development will be using the state’s LEP FastStart workforce develop-

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mental program in coordination with Central Louisiana Technical Community College to build and train the local skilled workforce the new mill will need. Tolko Industries, Ltd., a 60-yearold family-owned Canadian forestry industry company, will own a 50% share in the mill. “This is our first venture into the United States,” notes Brad Thorlakson, Tolko president and CEO. “We are thrilled to be in Louisiana with Hunt Forest Products, a familyowned company like ours, and one that has played a vital, reliable role in this state’s forestry industry for more than a century.” Hunt also said that Entergy Louisiana will support the new facility as an economic development partner, supplying clean, reliable and low-cost electricity, adding yet another competitive advantage. l Georgia-Pacific announced it will build a sawmill at Warrenton, Ga. on property adjacent its existing lumber mill. Construction of the $135 million, 340,000 sq. ft. plant is scheduled to begin this summer. GP expects the facility to produce 350MMBF annually. As previously announced, GP is also constructing a sawmill in Talladega, Ala. that GP says will begin production this summer. The Talladega and Warrenton sawmills are two of several that GP reports it is planning to build. Startup of the Warrenton mill is expected in spring 2019. GP’s existing lumber plant in Warren County will continue full operations until the new facility is completed. After startup of the new plant, GeorgiaPacific estimates hiring an additional 30 to 40 employees, bringing its workforce in Warren County to

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approximately 150. “We have enough property next to our existing mill in Warren County to build a larger facility equipped with the latest in lumber manufacturing technology,” says Fritz Mason, vice

president and general manager, Georgia-Pacific Lumber. “We have a great team at Warrenton and building a new state-of-the-art facility on this site will make it competitive for years to come. The team has earned it.”

The new facility will be capable of over three times the output of the current facility, which has been operating since the early 1970s. Once in production, the new facility will receive approximately 185

truckloads of pine logs a day. “This new facility at Warrenton is the second of several we have in our current plan,” Mason says. “The demand for lumber continues to improve as the housing market recovers, so we continue to evaluate similar investments in several states across the country to serve our customers’ needs for lumber.” l Canfor Corp. announced its plan to build a sawmill in Washington, Ga. with an investment of $120 million, with a production capacity of 275MMBF annually. The mill will be located near the company’s glulam facility in Washington. The new mill will be able to draw on a skilled employee base. Construction will commence in the second quarter of 2018, with the official startup projected for the third quarter of 2019.

Jones Lumber Purchases Natchez Mill From R&R Jones Lumber Co., Columbia, Miss. has purchased the Rives and Reynolds Lumber hardwood sawmill division in Natchez, Miss. and the equity of Monticello Tie &

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Timber in Natchez. This acquisition will allow Jones Lumber to expand its offerings by adding grade lumber to its production capabilities and open up sales to the international market. Jones Lumber has multiple locations throughout Mississippi that are focused on building hardwood mats. “Wherever we go, it is our mission to enhance the lives of our employees and the communities they live in and we are excited to continue that charge in Natchez,” says Erik Toth, CEO of Jones Lumber.

Rives & Reynolds was founded in 1971 and has operated hardwood sawmills in Natchez and Louisville, Miss. For 17 years the Natchez mill has sold primarily kiln-dried and airdried lumber both domestically and internationally. MT&T, purchased in 2006, operates a small-log tie and timber sawmill that sells railroad ties and timber to treating facilities and rough green lumber to domestic manufacturers. The R&R mill in Louisville will continue its operations under the Reynolds family.

Sites Going Fast For Mid-South Show As of late March, more than 50 exhibitors had reserved space for the Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show (MSFES) in Starkville, Miss., the nation’s longest running live demo event and the South’s premier venue of its type. The live-static show begins Friday, September 21 and concludes the next day.

In addition to featuring the latest in harvesting equipment and transportation products and technology, MSFES incorporates continuing education sessions for loggers and foresters, Log-A-Load for Kids fund raising efforts, loader and skidder contests, a biennial tie-in meeting of the Mississippi Loggers Assn., and on-site cooking by certain vendors on Saturday. Established in the early ‘80s, the show drew record exhibitor (92) and attendee (7,000) participation in 2016. Exhibitors who booked space early this year and the brands they represent include Forestry Suppliers, Rotobec, Ledkins Insurance Agency, Fecon, Chambers Delimbinator, GCR Tires & Service, Firestone, Maxi-Load Scale Systems, Mississippi 811, Hawkins & Rawlinson, BITCO Companies, Wood’s Trailers & Repair, Timber Life, LandMark Spatial Solutions, Caterpillar Forest Products, Prentice, Thompson Machinery, Puckett Machinery, Burroughs Diesel, OSHA, Tri-State Truck Center, Mack, International, Volvo, B&G Equipment, Tigercat Industries, Morbark, Bandit Industries, Hatton-Brown Publishers, MSU Extension Service, FAE USA, Stribling Equipment, John Deere, Peterson, Truckers’ Supply Co., Southern Insurance Agency, Mississippi Loggers Assn., MLA Log-A-Load for Kids, MLA Insurance Services, Risk Management Partners, Mississippi Forestry Assn., Kinder Morgan, Woodmizer, HUB Internaitonal Gulf South, American Loggers Council, 4Country Electric Power Assn., Peterbilt of McComb, Nation’s Welding Service, Viking Trailers, Vulcan On-Board Scales, Smith’s South Central Sales Co., Titan International, Goodyear, ArborGen, Tannehill Industries, LandMAX Timber Co., and Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers/Iron Planet.

Rex Lumber Names Jaye Procurement Manager Rex Lumber Co. named Alan Jaye as procurement manager for the company’s recently announced sawmill to be built near Troy, Ala. Jaye’s 35-year career as a registered forester reflects broad technical knowledge and extensive business experience in all areas of professional forestry, including wood and fiber procurement, land management, resource sustainability, and environmental certification. A Monroeville native, Jaye holds a bachelor’s degree in forest management from Auburn University. 52

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LOGGING LIFE AT HOME Keep Making Plans, And Stick To Them By Deborah Smith

“M

ama, you need to make a plan, and stick with the plan,” TL, our logging son, said to encourage me. These words sum up the most important lesson that I have learned

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from watching my husband work for almost 40 years in the logging industry. I am a creative, 50-something, home-schooling mama. Distraction is my enemy. Forgetting my plans frustrates me, which leads to more mistakes. God knows just where to put us.

He put me, a creative dreamer, with an intelligent timber harvesting businessman so I can learn the lesson of perseverance. I am not writing to be all about me. This month’s article is an attempt to pay something forward to someone out there who might have just had a really bad, terrible day, and this magazine you’re holding is the first thing you’ve dealt

APRIL 2018 ● Southern Loggin’ Times

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with all day that hasn’t broken. Stay with me. It seems long ago and far away, but it was really 28 years ago, in our hometown. It’s a true story. I loaded up our toddler and not yet toddler daughters into their car seats, perched up high in the former Smith Brothers’ Logging tool truck that was then our family vehicle. Me and the girls headed to the town on that very rainy day. (I loved to drive that truck, a ’76 Ford stick shift 4x4.) And “rainy” was one of the reasons the girls and I were headed to town. We were going to the bank. Travis asked me that morning if I could go ask Mr. Blankenship if Smith Brothers’ could take out a 90-day note. They needed money to pay the monthly bills. Travis and Keith were in an area a good piece from the mill, truck drivers were hard to find, equipment was breaking down. They were tempted to pack in it, to fold up the business and go home. I remember that meeting. But they decided to stick it out another year. Mr. Blankenship sat at his desk across from me and the girls. Noel stood beside me, Marigrace was in my lap. I explained what Travis and Keith needed. I don’t remember all the conversation, but I do remember this: Mr. Blankenship stood up and looked me in the face and said: “Those boys are going to be just fine. The day will come when times won’t be like this. They are going to make it; I know they will.” He was as calm and as sure as if he was telling me his name and what time it was. The confidence in his voice surprised and comforted us. It sure didn’t look good for Smith Brothers’ that day, but Mr. Blankenship’s words rang true. To this day, when Travis looks back on that time, he counts it as the lowest time in the Smith Brothers’ company years. When we drive through the area where they were logging, we still remember the hard, hard days. We remember Mr. Blankenship, and we are thankful. Travis and Keith kept making plans. They kept sticking to the plan. They wouldn’t quit. So, if you see a young logger out there busting his tail and his knuckles and hitting hard times, encourage him. Let him know you think he’s going to make it. And if that hard hitting, down-on-hard times logger is you, we’ve been there. It’s not easy, but don’t give up. Don’t be afraid to diversify or make changes or ask for help. Keep your head up, and keep making plans, SLT and stick with the plan.

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Hose, Fittings & Crimpers Helping Loggers Save Money For Over 20 Years 8309

Contact: Chris Alligood 1-252-531-8812 email: chrisa.cavalierhose@gmail.com

FOR SALE

2014 CAT 559C loader with CSI 264 delimber, 5576 hrs., hyd leg trailer, very nice....$128,000

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2012 Deere 643K Feller Buncher STK# LT646029; 4481 hrs $69,000

2015 Deere 843L Feller Buncher STK# LT670667; 5056 hrs $155,000

2015 Deere 437D Knuckleboom Loader STK# LT273375; 6984 hrs $135,000

2013 Deere 437D Knuckleboom Loader STK# LU239287; 8807 hrs $118,000

2012 Chambers Delimbinator CD1 STK# LUD10329; 5587 hrs $50,000

2015 Deere 748L Skidder STK# LT667903; 5191 hrs $166,000

2015 Deere 948L Skidder STK# LT668850; 3337 hrs $190,000

2016 Deere 648L Skidder STK# LT674101; 4014 hrs $168,000

2013 Deere 648H Skidder STK# LT652654; 8091 hrs $155,000

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FOR SALE

Call 912-687-6887

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2003 Tigercat 726 B Cutter 2000 Tigercat Track 245 Loader w/ highrise cab & tag along delimber 2006 Prentice 384 Loader CTR delimber PACKAGE DEAL $130,000

RECONDITIONED DELIMBINATORS!! In addition to new machines, CHAMBERS DELIMBINATOR, INC. now has factory reconditioned DeLimbinators. These units have been inspected, repaired, and updated as needed. Call us and we will help you select a DeLimbinator for your need.

WE ALSO BUY USED DELIMBINATORS Call: 662-285-2777 day, 662-285-6832 eves Email: info@chambersdelimbinator.com

FINAN C AVAILA ING BLE

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Office : 903-238-8700 • Jason Bruner: 903-452-5290 Bill Bruner: 903-235-2805 H REDUCED PRICES H

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2008 John Deere 648H Skidder – 9,300 hours, Good 30.5 x 32 tires Cab with air, Winch, Ready to work! .................................Reduced to $64,500

2013 Prentice 2670C Mulcher – NEW FAE 200/U-225 mulching head, NEW high pressure pump and hoses, Cat 7.1 engine, Cab with air, Good 28L tires, Ready to work! 0 hours since the conversion from a Feller Buncher. Monthy Rental available!... $185,000

FELLER BUNCHERS

2012 Prentice 2670C Mulcher – NEW FAE 200/U-225 mulching head, NEW high pressure pump and hoses, Cat 7.1 engine, Cab with air, Good 28L tires, Ready to work! 0 hours since the conversion from a Feller Buncher. Monthly rental available! ... $175,000

2011 Cat 563 Feller Buncher – 7,400 hours, SC-57 Saw Head, 28L tires, Cab with air, Ready to work! .................$69,500

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2012 Cat 563C Mulcher – NEW FAE 200/U225 mulching head, NEW high pressure pump and hoses, Cat 7.1 engine, Cab with air, Good 28L tires, Ready to work! 0 hours since the conversion from a feller buncher. Monthly rental available! ................................ $175,000 2015 Cat 553C Mulcher – NEW FAE 200/U225 mulching head, NEW high pressure pump and hoses, Cat 6.6 TIER 3 engine, Cab with air, Good 28L tires, Ready to work! 400 hours since the conversion from a Feller Buncher. Monthy rental available! ................... $175,000

2014 Cat 553C Mulcher - NEW FAE 200/U225 mulching head, NEW high pressure pump and hoses, CAT 6.6 TIER 3 engine ,Cab with air, Good 30.5 x 32 LGP tires, ready to work! 400 hours since the conversion from a Feller Buncher. Monthly rental available!... $169,000

LOADERS

2011 John Deere 437D Log Loader – Trailer mounted with Riley delimber, 3,000 hours on engine rebuild, Rebuilt hydraulic pump, Cab with air, Ready to work! ....................................................... $59,500

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Cat 518 & Cat 518C skidders in TX, LA area Call Kent 936-699-4700 r_kentjones@yahoo.com

2005 JD 748GIII

2 year old engine, 1 year old transmission, new pins and busings .................... $60,000

Tigercat 720C 28L tires, JD engine, 18 felling head ..................... $29,500

We now have Babac single ring chains in stock 28L x 26 3/4" ring chains........................... $2,550 3.5 x 32 3/4" ring chains............................ $2,875 35.5 x 32 3/4" ring chains.......................... $3,100 67 x 34 5/8" ring chains............................. $2,000 FREE FREIGHT when 2 pair bought together

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KEVIN MONTGOMERY 256-366-1425

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FOR SALE

Contact Sarah Twin Creek Inc. 803-531-4438

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CSI 264 on a tag-along trailer, good shape and works good 2004 Tigercat 860 Track Cutter, 18000 hrs., new complete undercarriage, new complete final drive, lots of parts replaced new in the last several thousand hours or less including swing bearing, saw disc and saw motor.................Asking $85,000

Call 252-862-6379

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FOR SALE 2016 Caterpillar HF201B sawhead. Full rotation wrist. Approximately 400 hours. Like new $60,000 obo Parting out: Tigercat 720B w/5400 head, 240B, 635 and 845B. Deere 437D, 648G, 748G, and 843. Prentice 310E, Cat 522B, Timberking 360, and Timberjack 735.

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A D L I N K ●

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ADVERTISER American Logger’s Council American Truck Parts Bandit Industries Big John Trailers BITCO Insurance Carter Enterprises Caterpillar Dealer Promotion Continental Biomass Industries D & B Truck & Equipment Sales John Deere Forestry Delfab Doggett Machinery Service East Coast Sawmill Expo Eastern Surplus Employer’s Underwriters Equipment & Parts Flint Equipment Forest Chain Forest Pro Forestry First Forestry Mutual Insurance G & W Equipment Harrell Ag Products Hawkins & Rawlinson Industrial Cleaning Equipment Interstate Tire Service Ironmart John Woodie Enterprises Kaufman Trailers Mike Ledkins Insurance Agency LMI-Tennessee Log Max Magnolia Trailers Maxi-Load Scale Systems Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show Moore Logging Supply Morbark Peterson Pacific Pitts Trailers Prolenc Manufacturing Puckett Machinery Quadco Equipment Quality Equipment & Parts River Ridge Equipment Rollison Logging Equipment Southern Loggers Cooperative Stribling Equipment Team Safe Trucking Thompson Tractor/Yancey Brothers Tidewater Equipment Tigercat Industries Timberblade Timberland Tire Brokers Tire Chains Required TraxPlus Trelan Manufacturing Trelan Southeast Vermeer Manufacturing W & W Truck & Tractor Waratah Forestry Attachments

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PG. NO.

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50 48 3 5 48 48 25 16 43 17 28 58 54 12 46 59 51 46 7 55 63 46 60 44 42 58 57 19,20,21 11 36 49 52 53 13 47 45 32-33 18 64 26 58 45 60 10 45 50 56 50 27 61 1 37 56 40 12 41 29 26 31 36 2

409.625.0206 888.383.8884 800.952.0178 800.771.4140 800.475.4477 205.351.1461 919.550.1201 603.382.0556 270.659.9433 800.503.3373 906.428.9570 225.368.2224 804.737.5625 855.332.0500 256.341.0600 903.238.8700 404.859.5790 800.288.0887 434.286.4157 803.708.0624 800.849.7788 800.284.9032 888.822.1173 910.231.4043 864.947.9208 888.561.1115 704.878.2941 866.497.7803 800.766.8349 800.467.0944 360.699.7300 800.738.2123 877.265.1486 662.325.2191 888.754.5613 800.831.0042 800.269.6520 800.321.8073 877.563.8899 601.969.6000 800.668.3340 386.754.6186 855.325.6465 270.628.5427 318.445.0750 800.682.6409 910.733.3300 800.547.0760 912.638.7726 519.753.2000 519.532.3283 912.283.1060 334.770.2715 800.323.3708 601.635.5543 877.487.3526 877.875.9616 641.628.3141 800.845.6648 770.692.0380

COMING EVENTS April

August

10-12—Kentucky Forest Industries Association annual meeting, Brown Hotel, Louisville, Ky. Call 502-6953979; visit kfia.org.

23-26—Virginia Loggers Assn. annual meeting, Colonial Williamsburg Lodge, Williamsburg, Va. Call 804-677-4290; visit valoggers.org.

16-18—Forest Resources Assn. annual meeting, Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, La. Call 202-2963937; visit forestresources.org.

24-25—Arkansas Timber Producers Assn. annual meeting, Embassy Suites, Hot Springs, Ark. Call 501224-2232; visit arkloggers.com.

May

September

2-4—Virginia Forestry Assn. Summit, Richmond, Va. Call 804-2788733; visit vaforestry.org.

9-11—Alabama Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Perdido Beach Resort, Orange Beach, Ala. Call 334-265-8733; visit alaforestry.org.

18-19—Expo Richmond 2018, Richmond Raceway Complex, Richmond, Va. Call 804-737-5625; visit exporichmond.com.

July 16-18—Georgia Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Westin Resort & Spa, Hilton Head, SC. Call 912-635-6400; visit gfagrow.org. 20-22—Missouri Forest Products Assn./Missouri Loggers Council annual meeting, Old Kinderhook, Camdenton, Mo. Call 816-6305500; visit moforest.org. 29-31—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Summer Conference, The Homestead, Hot Springs, Fla. Call 336-885-8315; visit appalachianwood.org.

ADLINK is a free service for advertisers and readers. The publisher assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

21-22—Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show, Starkville, Miss. Call 800-669-5613; visit midsouth forestry.org. 28-30—Florida Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Omni Amelia Island, Amelia Island, Fla. Call 850222-5646; visit floridaforest.org.

October 2-4—Arkansas Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Hot Springs Convention Center, Hot Springs, Ark. Call 501374-2441; visit arkforests.org. 10-12—North Carolina Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Sheraton Hotel, Raleigh, NC. Call 800-2317723; visit ncforestry.org. 11-13—American Loggers Council annual meeting, Shilo Inn, Seaside, Ore. Call 409-625-0206. visit amloggers.com. Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.

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