"Cluote" vof .n. MOnth

"If we sell it, we should stock it. If we stock it, we should sell it."

- Bobby Crowley AssociatedTruss & Lumber Co. Sunnyvale, Tx.

Kerry L. Hinds, systems engineer, Home Depot, Atlanta, Ga., is engaged to wed Marcos D. Arias in October.

Andrew Fulton Hall, Lowe's, Columbia, S.C., married Denise Lynn llorton Feb.22,1997.

Emma Nems is now servicing the candy machine at Mungus-Fungus Forest Products, Climax, Nv., according to owners llugh Mungus and Freddy Fungus.

Checkers A King-Size Promotion

An anempt to bring back one retailer's old-time image has turned into a popular promotion.

Murrayville Hardware & General Store, Murrayville, Ga., hosted its second annual checkers toumament Feb. 38, attracting 38 playen from as far as Atlanta 45 minutcs away. The store awarded more than $1,200 in cash and prizes, including $500 for the winner. A local Checkers restaurant gave away T-shirts and free meals and even parked a Checker cab in front of the store during the week-long competition.

The event was front-page news in local newspapers and was featured in several regional and tourist publications. A local radio station also broadcast live from the store during the semi-finals.

"The game of checkers used to be a big thing around here, but it sort of died out in recent years," says Terry Dawson, who bought the store with his wife, Marie, 20 months ago. "The tournament helped bring back the checkers tradition, as well as the old-time hardware stue image."

To restore the old-time image, the Dawsons added new merchandise and fixturcs, including a permanent checkers board, mounted on a barrel, in front of a fireplace. About l0 regulars now stop by to play every Tueday and Friday.

Record Southern Pine Output

Despite a sharp decline in December, southertr pine lumber production skyrocketed last year to a modern-day record 15.25 billion bd. ft., according to the Southern Forest Products Association's prcliminary figuras.

Typically, the final count is higher, yet the totd dready surpasses 1994's 15.01 billion M. ft., previously the largest output since SP production reached 16.27 billion M. ft. in 1909, six years before SFPA was founded. The 15.3% drop of production from November to Decembcr's 97E,(XX) M. ft. broke a streak of 59 consecutive months exceeding I billion bd. ft.

...and that's just for starters: r auto-stak made it easy. They did the complete layout and design work o We used less than half the space of cantilever systems. o We can pick from all 5 levels without using our fork truck o No more scrap...everything is covered and protected o Cantilever rack would have eliminated our drive-thru and most of our customer parking o Our customers and employees are safer

Performance-Rated l-Joists On The Way

It's about to get much easier to use and specify wood l-joists.

In July, APA-The Engineered Wood Association will introduce a performance-based standard for Ijoists that hopefully will eliminate much of the confusion often associat- ed with using the product. Currently, builders and specifiers must sort through a mazo of manuals and manufacturer specs to select the right product for the right application. Once approved, the standard-APA EWS PRI40fwill allow builden to

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