otion news

Florida Building Material

Association installed Ken Kuester, Lumber Unlimited, Jacksonville, as its new chairman during its annual convention and buying show Sept. 15-19 in Orlando. (Photos appear on next two pages.)

He succeeds Jack Monroe. Jr., J.M. Lumber, Inc., Port St. Lucie.

Tom Crowe, Allstar Building Materials Ltd.. Ormond Beach, is now chairman elect-treasurer: Allen Osteen. East Coast Lumber & Supply Co., Fort Pierce, lst vice chairman; Greg Bell, DBS Design Center, Fort Myers, secretary; Dale Dahlin, Booker & Co., Tampa, vice chairman, and Sam Dunn, Dunn Corp., Daytona Beach, national dealer director.

Tim Callum, Gator Door East, Inc., St. Augustine; Pat Loftus, Gator Lumber Doit Center, Sebastian, and Cora Gilbert, Fort Myers Lumber Co./Cape Lumber, Fort Myers, are regional directors; Rick Hunter, Furman Lumber, Inc., Orlando, is associate director; Joe Shetler, Cox Lumber Co., St. Petersburg, and Bob Machaby, Hughes Supply, Inc., Orlando, members-at-large; Barry Dixon, True House, Inc., Jacksonville, truss division chairman, and Richard Ungerbuehler, Federal Millwork Corp., Fort Lauderdale, millwork division chairman.

The next Florida Building & Design Show will be held Nov. 5-6, 1999, at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center.

Mississippi Building Material

Dealers Association has rescheduled its annual convention and trade show to Feb. 25-27 at the Grand Casino Convention Center, Tunica County, due to facility booking problems.

Mid-America Lumbermens Association has formed a membership committee to promote member recruitment and retention. lst v.p. Pat Thorne, Pat Thorne Lumber Co., Chillicothe, Mo., and associate member Bill Yeager, Bildcrete/ Westem Bag Products, Harisonville, Mo., are co-chairs.

Committee members are: Ron Caldwell, Caldwell Lumber Co., Wynne, Ar.; Jerry Henry, Mill Creek Lumber & Supply, Tulsa, Ok.; Jean Stadel, Osage Building Materials, Osage City, Ks., and Brad Isdell, Town & Country Building Supply, Higginsville, Mo.

Members are invited to tour the association's new offices in Kansas City, Mo., during a Nov. 19 open house.

MLA is also promoting a Certified

Building Material Specialist Program, the only national accreditation program of its kind in the industry. Administered by the Lumber & Building Material Dealers Foundation, Rensselaer, N.Y., the program's requirements include 100 credit hours of technical, sales and customer service coursework; 50 credit hours of industry-affiliated activities (such as MLA's annual Building Products Expo, industryrelated college courses, state and local association meetings, community service, manufacturer and distributor schools, and other approved courses), and technical product training by completing either a customer correspondence course or multimedia CD-Rom training.

Virginia Building Material Association unveiled its new Web site (www.vbma.org) during its recent summer conference. It is overseen by a Web Advisory Board appointed by association president Jack Williams.

Louisiana Building Material Dealers Associationts annual convention and buying show is set for Jan. 14-17 in Baton Rouge. A new feature is "Cut the Cards with the LBMDA," offering dealer, supplier and associate members 104 possible chances at $100 per chance with a 50Vo payoff. In this reverse drawing, the last name in the hat wins.

Kentucky Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association executive director Gene Mueller was presented the National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association Chair's Award by outgoing NLBMDA leader LarrY McFadden during the group's recent annual convention in Palm Springs. Also during the event, KLBMDA past president Gerry Boland, Boland-Maloney Lumber Co., Louisville, was elected NLBMDA vice chairman. CarolinasTennessee Building Material Association member James B. Epperson, Jr., Epperson Lumber Sales, Inc,, Statesville, N.C., was named 2nd vice president.

Lumbermen's Association of Texas has launched a new membership campaign. Members bringing in three new recruits will receive their choice of an LAT briefcase or portfolio.

The convention committee voted unanimously to have Bill Lee, Lee Resources, as keynote speaker and seminar presenter during its 1999 annual convention. It also intends to begin rotating the convention site between San Antonio, Dallas and Austin.

LAT's Young Lumbermen's Committee plans to introduce a mentoring program.

Oklahoma Lumbermen's Association will hold a Christmas party and board meeting Dec. 12 in Guthrie, Ok.

Lucky Trucker Wins

A Trailer

Fikes Truck Line, Hope, Ar., gave away a $20,000 trailer in a drawing held recently at its annual company picnic.

Over 900 owner-operators and family attended the event near Hot Springs, Ar.

The company's fleet includes 370 trucks.