onqls

Harold Maxwell was elected chairman. c.e.o. and pres. of Temple-Inland Forest Products, a subsidiary of Temple-Inland, Inc., Diboll, Tx.

Tim Roop, ex-84 Lumber Co., has joined Pelican Cos., Inc. as mgr. of the Kingsport, Tn., Builderway.

Steve Bell, formerly with Georgia-Pacific, is new to sales at Capital Lumber, Lubbock, Tx.

Bill Simpkins is now sales mgr. at Burgin Lumber, Cuthbert, Ga., replacing Jack Schaberg, who is now with Schultz, Snyder & Steele Lumber Co., Lansing, Mi.

Danny Danner has been promoted to general mgr. for the Memphis, Tn., Customer Service Center for Weyerhaeuser's Building Materials Distribution Business.

Brad Winkler is the new mgr. at T.H. Rogers Lumber Co., Sentinel, Ok. Eddie Evans transferred to the Purcell. Ok., yard.

Robert C.L. MacDonald, formerly v.p. of sales and marketing, has been appointed pres. and ceo of VeluxAmerica, Greenwood, S.C.

Jeffrey Cohen is the new group pres.direct marketing businesses at Home Depot, Atlanta, Ga. Sean Gallagher is store mgr. of the new location in Rockwall, Tx., and Scott Zimmerman is mgr. of the new Marathon, Fl., store.

Walter Muratori has been named vice chairman and c.e.o. of Cameron Ashley Building Products, Dallas, Tx. He remains pres. of the company and of the Cameron division. J. Andrew Kerner is now c.f.o., succeeding F. Dixon McElwee, who has resigned.

Paul Couch is now mgr. of 84 Lumber Co., Morehead, Ky.

Jim Cormell has been appointed Southeast regional sales mgr. at United States Ceramic Tile Co.

Michael J. Schafer, formerly plant accountant, Celotex Corp,, Elizabethtown, Ky., has been named plant controller of the Jacksonville, Fl., gypsum plant.

Rick Hagel, Burns, Morris & Stewart Lumber Products, Nacogdoches, Tx., has been elected v.p. of the Wood Moulding & Millwork Producers Association.

Steve Lovett will head the new fiber resources and products division at the American Forest & Paper Association. John Heissenbuttel has been promoted to v.p. of forestry and wood products.

Mark S. Schwartz is the new pres. and c.e.o, at Hechinger Co.

Jonathan Martin, Roy O. Martin Lumber Co., Alexandria, [,a., has been elected second v.p. of the Hardwood Manufacturers Association. Barry Cook, Coastal Lumber Co., Weldon, N.C.; Parnell Lewis, Anderson-Tully Co., Memphis, Tn., and Steve SanFratello, Georgia-Pacific Corp., Atlanta, Ga., were elected to the executive committee. Clay Stewart, Stewart Lumber, Morristown, Tn., is immediate past pres. Jon Gudmundsson, Northland Corp., LaGrange, Ky., and Ed Kessler, Bunn Hardwoods, Inc., Bunn, N.C., were elected to the board of directors.

Mark V. Childers is the new general mgr. of Champion International Corp.'s domestic Forest Products Business, succeeding Richard L. Porterfield, now gen. mgr of the Uncoated Papers Business.

Mike Knigge, Furman Lumber Co., Houston, Tx., is engaged to marry Dani Jeanes. Louisiana-Pacific distribution center, Conroe, Tx., in July, followed by a Hawaiian honeymoon.

Tony Goodman, C.B. Goodman & Sons

Lumber, Hickory, Ky., was elected pres. of the Kentucky Forest Industries Association, Frankfort, KY. Mitch Crews. Woodstock Mills, Scottsville, was elected v.P.; Dean Carter, Morehead, secretary/treasurer; new directors: Ray White, Harold White Lumber, Morehead; John Foley, Pine Mountain Lumber, Whitesburg, and Rick Goodin, Lebanon Oak Flooring, Lebanon. Bobby Bartley, Homer Bartley Lumber, Glasgow, and Jim Baker, Chaney Lumber, [,ondon, were re-elected for second terms.

Maurice R. Ademe, ex-Do It Best, is now international sales mgr. for TruServ.

Jack Sipola has been promoted to v.p.sales & dealer development at Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc., Houston, Tx. Roger Arras was Promoted to v.p.-customer suPport.

Grant Argo, DGA Vinyl Siding, Lithia Springs, Ga.; Greg Smith, Smith Construction, Knoxville, Tn.; Leo Adams. Adams Construction, Lizella, Ga.; Bruce Roydes, Bruce's VinYl, Gainesville, Ga.; Carl Hauk, Custom Vinyl Exteriors, LovejoY, Ga', and Robert Shagan, RBS & Associates, Knoxville, are among the 25 members on Style-Mark's new Builder & Remodeler Advisory Council.

Katherine Handran is Indiana Lumbermens Insurance's new loss control representative serving Texas.

Catherine Kelly McHugh, public relations mgr., Home Depot, Atlanta, Ga., is engaged to marry Robert KellY Hays this month.

Bill Tilghman, Furman Lumber Co., Dallas, Tx., wed llolly Fisher April 25 in Las Vegas, Nv.

Dot Com has been appointed manager of computer operations at Mungus-Fungus Forest Products, Climax, Nv., according to owners Hugh Mungus and Freddy Fungus. She will oversee the company's new Web site at www.mungfunglumb.com.

Tool Sales Push $12 Billion

Demand for power and hand tools should increase 57o annually to $11.9 billion in 2002, forecasts the Freedonia Group.

Low-cost imports from Taiwan and China will continue to take market share away from U.S.-made products in most sectors. Despite the widening trade gap, U.S. producers will still find good export opportunities for certain products, such as electric and gaspowered tools.

Demand for power tools will lead advances, spurred by the introduction of more powerful cordless tools targeting consumers and Pros. Among power tools, hydraulic and Powder- actuated tools will enjoy the strongest gains, followed by electric types.

Serious d-i-yers will purchase more expensive, powerful tools to complete increasingly sophisticated projects. And, based on theif higher technology requirements and greater amenability to innovation, power products are more insulated from pricing competition than are hand tools.

Hand tool demand will trail market averages largely due to product durability and lower prices. The largest increases will be in the professional market, since the increasing sophistication of many professional tasks will result in more specialized and multifunctional hand tools. Although hand service tools will dominate sales, edge tools will lead sales growth.

Pro users should continue to comprise over two-thirds of the market due to their use of a greater variety of more expensive tools. Above average growth in the industrial sector will offset the decline in housing starts and a deceleration in non-residential outlays.

Consumer tool demand will rise slightly faster than the professional sector, based in geat part on the popularity of d-i-y activities and trade-up by consumers to more powerful, feature-laden power tools.

Elder Begins Rebuilding

Elder Forest Products, Inc., Sulphur, La., has begun rebuilding its Crowley, La., wholesale distribution and milling facility destroyed by fire last October.

Elder is restoring approximately 35,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space and custom milling facility with all new equipment.

In the meantime, the company continues its traditional distribution business in 35,000 sq. ft. of leased warehouse space, as well as operating its Kenfor direct mill shipment department at Sulphur and Vermilion

Lumber sales department at Lafayette, La.

The fire caused more than $1 mil-. lion in lost inventory and damage to the facility, which Elder purchased in 1992 and operated as the H.B. Thomas Division in recognition of its former owner/founder.

Record Southern Pine Harvest

Southern pine lumber production reached a modern day record 16.11 billion bd. ft. in 1997, falling less than l%o short of 1909's all-time record 16.27 billion bd. ft., according to the Southern Forest Products Association.

Last year's tally was 5.6Vo higher than 1996's 15.26 billion bd. ft. and marked the llth straight year over 12 billion bd. ft.

Preliminary figures for January 1998 are 1.18 billion, 5.9Vo ahead of December 1997. but 1l.l7o behind January 1997.

Depot Shareholder Resolution

Attempting to minimize the potential for future liabilities, a group of major shareholders are petitioning Home Depot to adhere to a higher level of accountability regarding

worKorce diversity.

Motivated by the company's recent $104 million settlement of a class action sex discrimination suit, a group of more than a dozen institutional investors collectively holding $35 million in Home Depot stock is sponsoring a shareholder resolution.

Their proposal requests that Depot disclose t[e previous five years' worth of demographic data submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and prepare a report for investors on its programs designed to increase diversity at all levels of the corporation.

Customer Pelted By Shower

A woman has filed suit against Lowe's, Elizabethtown, Ky., alleging an employee dropped a bathroom stall on her-twice.

According to the lawsuit, Claire Bonifield was shopping at the store in March 1997 when she was hit by a shower unit a clerk was unloading from a storage area. While trying to free her, he reportedly again dropped the stall.

She claims the first collison permanently injured the side of her head and neck, while the second affected her head, shoulder and spine.

Distributors Less Confident

Wholesaler-distributors' confidence in current business conditions decreased on a short-term and longterm basis, according to a new Arthur Andersen LLP survey.

Current Quarter Index (July-Sept. 1997) fell from 122.7 to 119.6. The Year Ahead Index (forecasting July 1997-June 1998) slipped from 107.6 to 106.2.

The index operates on a base of 100, recorded in second quarter 1991.