GEORGTA/ VIEWS

Goodroe

UILDING Material Merchants' Association members from Alabama and Georgia fought treacherous weather to attend the 1982 Expo, but the meeting at the Marriott Hotel, Atlanta, Ga., was deemed worth it.

Bill Bryan, newly elected pres.; Robert P. Campbell, Jr., retiring pres., and Dale Townsend, show chairman, opened the session by cutting a 2x4. Bryan, Callahan Builder Mart, Bainbridge, Ga., heads a board including Ed Hathcock, J.E. Hathcock Lumber Co., Dothan, Al., v.p.; Fred Thomas, Cordele Sash, Door & Lumber Co., Cordele, Ga., treas.; Campbell, Hollis Lumber & Supply, Newman, Ga., retiring pres. and chairman of the board.

Outgoing chairman of the board, Frank Harbin, and outgoing directors, Nick Herrington, Corkey Ellerbee, and executlve lloRE THAN $2oo million of lUlmortgage money has been furnished by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency to low and moderate income families in Tennessee.

Jack Nunn received plaques from Campbell.

Carl Tindell, Wheeler Manis and Townsend presented awards for outstanding booths. Among those recognized were Pat Giganda, Slaughter Bros.; Jerry Anglin and Mike O'Bryan, Thomas Lumber; Gary Sunden, Load Star/Harbin Homes; Neal Blun, John Mclntosh, Ray Hord.

Many prizes were awarded including a trip to London to Dwayne Nolan, Messer's Bargain Barn, and a trip to the Bahamas to Oscar lawhome, Townsend Builders Supply; $l(tr to Marcelle Lang, Lang Planing Mill Co.; Woodrow Clark, Hollis Lumber & Supply; Greg Rich, Daring Sdes; Corkey Ellerbee Jr., Hodges Building Supply; Joe Waid, Waid Hardware; James Vickers, Carson Lumber; Danny Hopson, R. Hopson, Broker, Inc.; Chris Brittain, Evans Supply. Robert Head, Builder Mart, Blairsville, Ga., received $5fi).

Grady Haynes, pres. of Haynes Brothers Supply Co., Murfreesboro, is chairman. He was appointed in 1975 by Governor Winfield Dunn to serve a 3 year term on the original board of directors for the agency. He has played a leadership role in organizing the agency and the development of its programs.

He has been an active member of the Tennessee Building Material Dealers Association as chairman of its legislative committee for 6 years, a director for 14 years, v.p., pres. and national director. As chairman of the 1975 special lien law study committee for the association, he wrote several amendments to the Tennessee Lien Law which were endorsed by l0 other state associations and passed by the State Legislature in 1975.

Haynes also has served as pres. of the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association in 1978. This group represents 15,fiD dealer members across the country. In addition, he has served as president of the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club in Murfreesboro and as chairman of the Middle Tennessee State University Foundation Board.

Another longtime, active dealer member of our association, Billy Hyman, pres. of Hyman Builders Sup-

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Lumbermen'c Assoclatlon of Texas

P.O. 8or 5545, Aurtln, Tr. 7t763

Topics

Executlve Vlce Precldent

flNn HUNDRED years is a long Ytime in the history of anything, but for two businesses in Texas it is a reality.

For a particular business in Athens, it represents the longest continual commercial venture within the confines of Henderson County. The Hawn Lumber Co. opened its doors in February, 1881, and is still going strong. This year marks the end of 100 years in the life of a business and a family who is looking forward to another century of continued growth and help to their communitY, state and nation.

Charles A. "C.A." Hawn, son of Charles F. Hawn, Sr., is v.p. and sec. and Ronny McElroy, son-in-law of the elder Hawn, is v.p. and treas. The three men form the present ownership of the business.

William Cameron & Co' Wholesale has been a partner in progress with the Lumbermen's Association of Texas for almost a century. The company joined as a charter member in 1886 after being founded in 1868 by William Cameron' It became one of the country's leading building materials retailers operating more than 100 lumber yards in the Southwest. The division known today as Cameron Wholesale was organized after the turn of the century and became an associate member of L.A.T. in 1908. ply, Inc., Memphis, Tn., has been a member of the City Council in Memphis for several years and an active member of the Tennessee Municipal League'

He also was a member of the last Constitutional Convention. He is well acquainted with the ShelbY CountY Legislative Delegation of 6 state senators and l8 state representatives as well as the Tennessee Congressional delegation. He is always active in behalf of legislative problems and matters in Congress which affect the building material industry.

Plans are advancing for the Tennessee Building Material Association convention at the Knoxville Hilton, Knoxville, Oct. 2l-23, in conjunction with the World's Fair.

Cameron Wholesale will commemorate 75 Years as a member with a nostalgic look down memory lane at this y€ar's convention, featuring reminders of years gone by at their booth and hospitality party. Glidden O'Connor, pres. of Certain-teed building materials distribution group which now owns Cameron, reports that the company is completing preparations for large scale participation.

One of the first Cameron officials to take an active part in L.A.T. affairs was William Waldo Cameron, son of the founder. The Cameron organization played a leading role in our 5fth Golden Jubilee convention held in their headquarters city, Waco, in 1936. George Zimmermen, Cameron exec. v.P. who later became pres., headed the association that year.

O'Connor states that "The friendly cooperation we have received over the years has contributed a great deal toward the success of the company." On our part, it's participation of firms like Cameron that has made the Texas show the best in the country year after year.

IIEAK ATTENDANCE at our reF cent convention was 400 Plus. Most said "the convention was the best in the past l0 years" and all events were well attended.

Officers elected were Dennis Stine, Sulphur, pres.; Trey LeBlanc, Baton Rouge, lst v.p.; Ed Breedlove, Natchitoches, 2nd v.p. and GarY LusbY, West Monroe, treas. Objectives have been set for the year by the executive committee. The main item will be to strengthen membership and improve grass root communications.

Tommy Hatfield, Harry Hutchinson, Lolly Derouen, Dorothy Hebert, Hubert Walker and Tina Landry were among those winning awards.

The Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans has been selected as the site for the 1983 annual meeting. Date will be sometime in late January. The annual summer conference is scheduled for June V1-27 at Seascape, Destin, Fl., with the Florida Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association. Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi associations will meet jointly in July, 1983, at the Grand Hotel, Point Clear, Al.

District meetings will be held in all six districts this month. The agenda will include a full explanation of how our association, the-national association and local associations are structured. Our accomplishments also will be highlighted with general discussion following each presentation.

Most member contacts indicate sluggish business conditions; however, a few say l98l was better than 1980 and 1982 sales are ahead of 1981. Remodeling and do-it-yourself are responsible for these reports. No one is "setting the world on fire" but reports do indicate slight improvement. The deep South has always been better, sales wise, than many of the other areas of the United States. Strict internal controls and aggressive sales efforts should be the order of the day.

by Oon l" Campbcll

WILLIAM executlve vlce precldent

Thompson

WBI:""'T"-f#:Jii#,i#LT: at Falmouth.

I believe the next three months will tell us what we can expect for business activity. If it starts up then our darkest fears will fade. However, if business continues to slide, with plants closing and unemployment increasing, we can expect pretty near anything.

Frankly, I think the economy is in a much better shape than the news media would have us believe. Of course, a lot of our major industries are suffering and badly, autos, housing being the worst of the lot. Close behind are the S&Ls but even these are not as bad off as the commentators would have us believe.

My honest opinion is that the biggest problem we have today is none ofthe obvious reasons given by the press but rather the lack ofconfidence. Ijust cannot help but believe that if we would ever get to the point where we could look to the future and know what actions were being taken to correct some of the major problems we have today, then things would start to look up. You know we talk so much gloom that we forget that: r 99 million Americans are working, nearly the most in our history. o Unemployment, though high, is still 290 below the post war peak of 1975. o The stock market, though shaky, hasn't crashed and I think it won't be too long until it will start up again.

. People are saving much more than they ever have before, they are cutting down their installment debt.

It's the psychology that is holding us down and once we can get around this I think we will be on the road to recovery. People are discouraged, they talk when they get together about whether we have a recession or a depression going on and neither helps the morale.

However, there are some good things like consumer prices falling 2590, commodity prices l49o below what they were earlier and spendable income is on the upswing. But if I were f<irced to give a reason for the gloom of today, I would have to say that high interest rates clearly are the main difficulty.

On the other hand, I do not think it is the only problem or the overwhelming one. I think the real culprit is the uncertainty as to where rates and the economy will be in 6 months or a year from now. Many people blame the Federal Reserve for this situation, but I have my serious doubts about this. One of the reasons is that the people are not accepting economic forecasts and are actuallylooking for more inflation so one thing I think is sure: the current level of interest rates is not as important as the uncertainty of what happens next.

We talk about interest rates going back to where they were prior to the present situation, but I do not think that situation will ever exist again. I do think that if the interest rates level offat a set rate, and not fluctuate, at somewhere between 12 and 1490, that we can all adjust our thinking to that level and business will resume a healthy activity again.

I do not think Mr. Reagan needs to defend deficits, rather he should turn them on Congress. There is no doubt that a deficit is evil but it is necessary only in the s€nse that Congress refuses to control its spending.

I hope the present conflict between the Administration and Congress over the '83 fiscal budget will not be a repetition of last year's fight, when the country was without a budget for months. Both seemingly are trying to stall the budget process as long as possible, each hoping to get its own way. The American people deserve better: the Administration and Congress owe it to them to reach a budget within the legal time table.

NAWLA Hedging Seminar

Thirty-five North American Wholesale Lumber Association members graduated from the most recent Chicago Mercantile Exchange hedging Seminar. They join the growing ranks of both wholesalers and producers who are learning more about the mysteries of hedging through these three day seminars, sponsored jointly by NAWLA and the "Merc.tt

Attendance at these seminars. in- cluding a visit to the floor of the Exchange, is provided at no charge to NAWLA Members. Air travel and hotel costs are paid by the Merc. The programs are designed to teach the techniques of hedging as a management tool. Michael Weinberg, Jr., past chairman of the CME, likens the use of hedging as an "insurance" technique wherein the hedger offsets his possible losses in the cash market by the balancing gains in his future trading. When he buys a cash lumber purchase, he sells an equivalent amount in the futures market. When he later sells the cash lumber, he "buys in" his contract in the futures, thus "lifting the hedge." He has had price protection during the ownership of the lumber, and when he sells his lumber contract, he Dasses on the risk to a speculator.

Distribution Firm Reorganizes

A major reorganization of Simpson Building Supply Co., the distribution arm and wholly owned subsidiary of Simpson Timber Co., has been announced by Bill Ruddick, general mgr.-distribution, Seattle, Wa.

Key elements include personnel reassignments, new positions, restructuring of wholesale and purchasing operations, reconciliation of distribution policies and the coordination and enlargement of the product line and geographic service areas. Maurice Goodrich continues as mgr., eastern distribution centers, including Louisville, Ky.

Outdoor Sales lmprovemenl

Outdoor power equipment sales are expected to pick up this summer and top l98l levels, according to officials at the Homelite Division of Textron Inc., Charlotte, N.C.

Chain saw and gas-powered string trimmer sales are especially predicted for growth. Lightweight generators and blower,/sprayers for home use also are expectd to be good sellers. The trend, according to a firm spokesman, is expected to head from the low-end products toward the medium to higher priced equipment.

ing clinics, demonstrations, and well-stocked literature racks.