LoggersArrested For $1 Million Timber Theft

Seven men have been arrested on suspicion of stealing nearly $l million in timber that should have been delivered to Georgia-Pacific mills in northeast Florida, according to state law enforcement officials.

Floridians Roosevelt Jones. 62: Silas Alexander, 53; Benjamin Myles, 27; Hezekiah Myles, 33; Woodrow Myles, 42, and Ishmael Foster, 21, were charged with organized fraud, said officials. Additional arrests are expected.

Authorities said the men operated as a logging crew to cut, skid, load and deliver timber for G-P. The truck drivers reportedly bypassed a tagging security system by not entering loads into record books when leaving the woods with logs and diverting them to another yard, Koon's Timber & Lumber Co., High Springs, Fl. Koon's was administratively dissolved Oct. 4 for not filing a 2002 annual report.

Officials suspect the crew delivered about 970 loads to Koon's, usually between 3:20 and 5 a.m.

Tax forms show Koon's Timber paid over $850,000 to the seven men under arrest, plus an eighth suspect, from 1997 to 2002. Nearly a third of the total went to Woodrow Myles.

Records show the Myles brothers worked with Foster as the crew of Red Myles Logging under the direction of their father, Edward "Red" Myles.

When Red died in January 1998, Woodrow Myles became foreman. Alexander. Jones. Donald and Becknell were drivers for the firm.

Investigators first leamed of the plot in 2000, but "then 9-11came along and people who were working on this were sent to work on other thinss."

Car Plows Into Lumber Firm

Berry Street Lumber Co., Fort Worth. Tx.. became a drive-thru lumberyard recently when a car crashed into the side ofits retail store.

The accident occurred about 3 a.m. Jan.2l and caused extensive damage to the store's hardware department.

The driver told police that he lost control of the vehicle and struck the building. He and a passenger did not sustain major injuries, and no one was in the building.

Police say alcohol may have been a contributing factor.

BB Bandits Strike Lumberyard

Armed with BB guns, late-night vandals have been shooting out windows and causing thousands of dollars of additional damage to businesses in northwest Arkansas, including Ridout Lumber's store in Rogers.

Ridout employees returned to work Monday morning Jan. 20 to find their doors riddled with BB holes. Cliff Allen called the repairs time-consuming and costly. "You're talking about three doors at $300 to $350 per door," he said.

After collecting evidence at the scene, police said they hoped to make arrests soon.

Truman E. Phifer, 81, formerly with the Southern Forest Products Association, died from arterial sclerosis Jan. 5 in Searcy, Ar.

He joined the association in 1967 and helped develop SFPA's Forest Resource & Environment Proeram. He retired in 1985.

Silas Wright Barnes Jr., 80, former owner and manager of the old Crozet Lumber Co., Crozet, Va., died January 3.

An Army veteran, he was a past Lumber Manufacturers Association of Virginia officer and director.

William C. Houser, 79, retired salesman for Loven Lumber Co., Pineola. N.C.. died Jan. 9.

He was a native of Rutherford County, N.C., and an Army veteran.

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