SLTdec20pgs_cs.qxp_SLTtemplate 11/30/20 12:08 PM Page 6
SOUTHERN STUMPIN’ By David Abbott • Managing Editor • Ph. 334-834-1170 • Fax: 334-834-4525 • E-mail: david@hattonbrown.com
End Quotes 2020 very December issue, for the end of the year, I like to look back at the previous 12 months and put together some of my favorite quotes from articles we have run throughout that year. I’ll give this year’s first end quote to myself:
E
“We finally decided to go to contract trucking and let someone else handle that headache and only work on logging. Then we started getting some Saturdays off!”—Mark Carpenter, Peachland, NC, p. 16, March issue
“Fact is, in the absence of future-predicting 20/20 vision looking forward, our view of the year 2020 is only just forming. So far, though… things don’t look great. Buckle up, folks. It looks like it might be a bumpy year.”—David Abbott, Calera, Ala., p. 6, February issue
“I want the timber company to make money, if they are as broke as I am they can’t buy good wood and I want good wood. So they have to make some money. If they aren’t making money, they will go out of business and none of us will have a job. But, they can’t starve us to death in the process. It’s got to be a give and take. That’s one of the things I like about Edwards. They don’t starve us.”—also Mark Carpenter, p. 18, March issue
I wrote that in early-mid January, a couple of months before coronavirus shutdowns started, and probably before I even heard about what was then going on in Wuhan province, China that would soon affect the whole world. It’s been a year, that’s for sure, but we’re still here. And even though the election looks like it maybe didn’t go the way I expect most of us had hoped, we are still here; life and logging go on and there’s always next year, next election, and the next load. ‘Nuff Said! Now on with the quotes: “He’d rather farm than eat. He loved cows and said it was like money in the bank. I said that money keeps getting out the fence. I said we could plant pine trees out there and make more money, and they don’t get out whether the fence is up or down.”—Vance Wright, Blackridge, Va., speaking of his father and company founder Charles Wright, p. 8, January issue “I wish I had a crystal ball, but mine is broken.”—Crad Jaynes, President, South Carolina Timber Producers Assn., p.6, February issue “We don’t see anything good on the horizon. We’re just trying to stay afloat till next year.”— Hardy Rhodes, Monticello, Ark., not knowing yet how right he would turn out to be about 2020, p. 6, February issue “This is the land of the free because of the brave. My hat’s off to those guys and anything I can do to help them, I am all for it. Because they did what they did, we can do what we do today. We can be free to serve God, even though our religious freedom is being attacked, because of God and the U.S. military. That is how I look at it. I don’t get into politics, but I believe in what’s right and wrong. I support President Trump. Even though I didn’t like Obama when he was in office, I prayed for him every day. The Bible tells me to pray for my leaders and that is my duty to my country.”—Tommy Cunningham, Spurger, Tex., p. 12, February issue 6
l
“Every day, they are at the job. They are reliable, they are loyal, they stick with you. A misconception is that people think they work cheap; we pay them the same as anyone.”—Joey Teer, Lufkin, Tex., speaking of their Hispanic employees, p. 24, March issue “We pay extra to make sure everybody is where they need to be. I’d rather pay more and have the right quality. I’ve seen people try to do it without quality hands, and that is usually what takes a good operation down.”—Matt Raulston, Clarksville, Tex., p. 12, April issue “I always try stuff that other folks are hesitant to try, and I get picked on a lot for it. I have things that didn’t work out like I wanted. I’m human; I breathe and I make mistakes. But other things have worked out and been helpful.”—Josh Spring, Bogue Chitto, Miss., p. 18, April issue “It’s just not good right now. Between the storms and the virus, lumber and logging have been hit hard.”—Jim McKinney, Warren, Ark., p.8, May issue “We’ll make it if this virus situation will straighten up. We just have to bear down and hope it doesn’t last forever.”—Whit Magnum, Magee, Miss., p. 22, May issue “In logging, it’s up and down with no middle ground. You work day and night or hardly at all. Everyone got excited about the tariff negotiations and then the virus halted things. China isn’t receiving anything or exporting right now.”—Bill Robinson, Parsons, W. Va., p. 8, June issue “When I was growing up, a man who had 500 acres would need five tractors of different types. Now he can have 5,000 acres and work it needing only one tractor.”—Roy Zenor of Texas Timberjack, Lufkin, Tex., comparing logging to farming, p. 18, June issue
“All people are people!”—Logan Abbott, Calera, Ala., p. 6, July issue “The way I look at it, if you can stay small and keep older equipment up, you can make a living through hard times. I feel like if you’re independent you don’t have anyone’s thumb on you.”—Bucky McGee, Heavener, Okla., p. 8, July issue “I’ve learned now if I have any trouble I need only to get out of the way and let the Lord fight my battles.”—John “Punch” Haney, Broomtown, Ala., p. 8, August issue “I don’t want to get too ahead of myself. I have seen things go sour in the logging business. I say tackle one then go after another.”—Shane Lusk, Altamont, Tenn., p. 15, August issue “You have to crawl before you can walk. If you’re going to spend everything that you make for payments, why not just have a daily job? You aren’t going to get anything in life for free. It’s just a lot of work.”—Jerry Johnson, Watson, Okla., p. 20, August issue “You have to work for what you want. I always wanted everything, so I keep on working.”—John Channell, Huttonsville, W. Va., p. 26, September issue “I learned long ago in logging: don’t get upset about nothing. It’s life, deal with it and go on.”— Steve McMillan, Bristol, Fla., p. 34, September issue “Logging has changed over the years, so much. You have to change with it to keep up with the times.”—Gene Givens, Sparkman, Ark., p. 8, October issue “We came home from the desert on the last day of July and on August 1, Iraq invaded Kuwait. I said wait a minute, I’m a student! They said no you’re not, you’re a Marine. Pack your bags and let’s go. You find out pretty quick you can’t get any nastier. But it was a wonderful lifestyle, believe it or not; I enjoyed the hell out of it.”—Captain Kirk Sanders, Pinson, Ala., reflecting on his time in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 as a member of the Marine Corps Reserves, p. 12, November issue “Loggers go out to the woods and do their thing, but we’ve been on the chopping block for so long, and because we’ve not been at the table, we’ve been eaten alive at the table.”—Toni McManus McAllister, Winnfield, La., pp.19-20, December issue
Happy Holidays from SLT
DECEMBER 2020 l Southern Loggin’ Times
CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!
