The Little \lhrehouse infrx<as!

With Willamette building products to go.

Right smack dab in the middle of Dallas and Fort \7orthdeep in the heart of Grand Prairie, at 1200 West N. Carrier Pky., to be exacty,'s'yg got the biggest little warehouse in Gxas. And we're just waiting to fill your orders for top quality sheathing as well as studs.

\7e do all the warehousing for youso all you have to do is give us a call and give us your specs. Thenwhether it's a few units or a truckload - we'll have the goods on our dock ready and waitrng for your prompt pick-up.

So when you're ready to save time and money - you're ready for the biggest little warehouse in Gxas! Phone us today at318.255-6258.

Willamette Industries. Inc.

Lumber and Plywood Sales DivisionPO. Drawer.l100 Ruston, Louisiana 71270

DAVID CUTLER publisher

Chicken Little need not aPPIY rtrHE bad news is that interest rates and I mortgage rates are rising, causing lumber and other wood product prices to nose dive. The good news is that most people are not hitting the panic button. While there is almost universal disappointment, apprehension and concern, most of our sources are taking a calm, measured approach to this latest assault on nerves and finances. As one wholesaler put it, "It's the nature of our business, we'll just have to manage a way to cope. We've done it before, we'll do it again."

Right on! Fluctuations are a normal part of the business. While the last three years gave heavy new meaning to the words peaks and valleys, it was only the severity of them that was abnormal.

No one is minimizing the current wreckage from rising rates. Grim scenarios for the future of the short lived housing recovery are being voiced. But many smack of overreaction. The news is not all bad, not by a longshot. Some of the best observers see the higher rates as strictly temporary, the result of only modest tightening by the Federal Reserve Board of the nation's money supply. Many hiehly regarded experts see interest rates declining in the fourth quarter of 1983 and/or the first quarter of 1984.

An oft notd support of this theory is the onset of an election year, a sure bet to see the current administration using all its power to hype business. It is comforting that many research houses do not see the government crowding out business from borrowing the funds needed to maintain a strong economic recovery.

It appears at this point, from the best evidence available, that the run up in interest rates is temporary. Given that, the calm determination shown so far by industry members to "find a way to cope," seems professional indeed.

As President Harry Truman said, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

September,1983

Hurricane Alicia Damage

Thc true grit 1'or rvhich 'fexas is justly known was in arnple evidencc as peoplc in the Gull' Coasr and Houston areas strugglcd to recover lrom the violent u,inds ancl healy rainstorms of Hurricane Alicia. Damagc estimates are in erccss of $ I billion for a large arca of the state arrd tlrc lurnber and horne center ntarkets took their share of the losses.

A weck afler the hurricane struck Augusl l8th, accurate darnage estilnates were not al'ailablc 1'ront Galvest on as telephclnc and other conrmunication lines werc still out. Eye u'itnesses said danrage *as "cver1,uhcre, cveryone sulfered."

Gull Lumber Co., u'hich operalcs a mill and retail faciliry, rvas believed heavily darnaged, according to unconf irrned reports.

In Houston damage ranged bctween minor and hear'1 Tri [-umbcr, a retailcr, had an entire lumber shecl picked up, turned arouncl , then turned over by thc 98 rnile-per-hour winds. Other rcrailers reporting losses includcd Henckcl Lunrber in Hitchcock, 'h., rvlricli had darnage dcscribed as e\tcnsire; Sloan

I-urriber, Santa Fc, (Alta Lorla) losr part o1 its roof ancl inventorl', thouglr t\\'o ne\\ alunrinunt buildings neiir thc nrain location cscaped unscatlted; Sarn Bassett Lumbcr, Houston, Itacl rclol's blow'n aual'; Blalock-\lcCall

LLrnrber C'o., Houston, had roofs ripped totally ol'l'sontc shecls, resrrlting in ertensir,e dantage to lurnber and buildin-e ntaterials stored insiclc. The Soutli Houston l-urtrbcr Co. lvas describcd as "hard hit," though accurate darnage estimales \\'erc not availablc for any firms as t his i sstre ctt' Ru i I d i rt g I) rutcl u c I.s D i gcs t \\'clrt to prcss.

Boisc Cascacle spctkesnren saicl cver\'one ol thcir 14 units in the (ircatcr Houston area sLrl'ferccl sontc damagc. Three units lost their roofs; sign losses and darnagccl inventorv \\'as contmon. \\'orst hit uas tlieir facilitl' on thc Katy Frecway, *hich conrplctcll-'lost the roof o1'l'its sclling runit and partially off its paint sale s area. Thc Boise Cascadc units, like virt Lralll all othcrs in thc industry, werc opcrating the ncrt clal', ctl'ten u illr no tclcphone serr ice or electricit1'and sonrctinres, in thc * orcls ol'one survilor, "w'e ncre practically opcrating out ot a cigar bor, but \\'e \\'ere

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