A Strong Trildition

Ttruntr to our loyal customers and a strong tradition of service, Bean Lumber has grown into one of the largest independent manufacturers of southem pine.

Sin"" 1940, the major characteristic of Bean tradition has been solid growth in the lumber industry. Hard work, old style integrity and dedication to quality has enabled us to develop the manufacturing muscle to make sure the southern pine you buy scores a quality knockout with your customers.

Our two sawmills, three pressure treating cylinders, a deck acc€ssories shop and dry kilns for KDAT ensure the products you receive from Curt Bean Lumber Company are of the highest quality.

Serving 13 Western states

EDITOR-PUBLISHEF David Cutler (dcutler@ioc.net)

SENIOR EDITOR David Koenig (dkoenig@ioc.net)

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave DelVal (ddelval@ioc.net)

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Dwight Cunan, Gage McKinney, Earl Moore

CIRCULATION Heather Kelly

ABT DIRECTOR Martha Emery

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DAVID CUTLER editor-publisher dcutler@iG.net

Neighborhood DangerZones

Warehousemen have always known that the potential for injury or even death lurks in highly stacked piles of merchandise. Now the public is painfully aware. In recent years, as retail warehouses proliferated, serious injuries and fatalities increased markedly.

This summer, a Connecticut man was killed when a 2,000-lb. pallet of landscaping timbers collapsed on him; in November, a bundle of latticework at a Los Angeles store fell on a 79-yearold woman, breaking many of her bones, inflicting fatal injuries; in May, a 3-year-old girl was killed when a countertop fell off a forklift, shattered, and sent splinters flying into her body. All three events occured in Home Depots. These are not isolated incidents, nor is this problem anything new.

In 1985, a 70-year-old Briscow, Ok., woman was killed in one of Wal-Mart's Sam's Club stores when boxes of fabric softener landed on her. In 1992, a 3-year-old girl died after a falling door struck her at a San Diego, Ca., Home Depot. In 1994, a 46-year-old woman was killed when a 3,000-lb. pallet of ceramic tile in a HomeBase collapsed on her. In 1996, at a Sam's Club in Abilene, Tx., a child died after a wardrobe toppled onto her. In 1991 , a 2-year old-girl was killed when a 100-pound tv cabinet fell on her. In 1998, a Home Depot official testified that the company received 185 injury claims per week involving falling merchandise.

The warehouse retailers assert that they have instituted safety procedures and that, given the millions of customers in their stores annually, the number of accidents is minimal. Depot spokeswoman Carol Schumacher says, "People should be aware that they are in a working warehouse. You need to be aware of what's going on around you just like when you're driving a car."

We doubt public opinion will find that a satisfying response.

Africa/Asia Bubinga Shedua

Wastes from wood treated with most of these preservatives can be disposed of by ordinary trash collection. Workers handlinq wood treated with most of these products n6ed take no more precautions than they would handling untreated lumber, Most of the active ingredients in these preservatives are not listed on California's Prooosition 65. All of these products are arsenic and chromium free, and have received appropriate industry and regulatory approvals promulgating their use and indicating their effectiveness.

lf you are a fonrvard-thinking lumber dealer, utility or governmental agency and want to be on a winninq team, call the Pacific Wood Preserving tompanies at 661-833-0429.

The lsader In Uood Preseryatlon

Itihe

National I- Hardwood Lumber Association is seeking support in its battle against a host of legislation that holds detrimental consequences for everyone involved in the hardwood industry.

Of primary importance to the industry are bills involving "wood packing material," since 457o of all hardwood goes into the manufacture ofpallets. Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher (R-Ca.) and Robert Matsui (D-Ca.) recently introduced the "Landfill Reduction Act of 2000," a pro-plastic pallet bill under the guise of protecting the environment. NHLA had been successful in thwarting the introduction of such a bill twice in the previous six months.

NHLA is working with other industry groups to correct misinformation about the environmental effects of wood pallets.

The new bill would increase the expense deduction for costs related to "qualified reusable pallet and container property" from $20,000 (for taxable years beginning in 2000) to $500,000. This one-year expensing would replace the generally applicable sevenyear capitalization and depreciation applied to such equipment.

Qualified expenses include a broad range of costs associated with re-tooling for use of leased "reusables" (i.e., plastic rather than wood pallets), including harvesting, packing, clean- ing and maintenance. Reusables may include wood pallets as long as the pallets are used under an arrangement (lease) for repeated return of the property to initial purchasers.

"However," notes NHLA executive manager Paul Houghland, "it is clear that the ultimate intent of such a bill is to offer tax incentives for users to move toward plastic pallet and container systems and away from traditional wooden pallets."

NHLA is working with other interested industry groups to correct misinformation about the environmental effects of hardwood pallets.

Another recommendation, now facing a bureau of the Commerce Department overseeing rules that govern manufactured wooden products, would force all wood used for pallets and containers to be kiln dried or pressure treated. The danger NHLA sees is its chain of custody provision, which demands that such wood packing be marked or accompanied by a certificate for identification and verification.

On the transportation front, NHLA reveals that the U.S. Department of Transportation is moving ahead with its plan to revise the Hours of Service (HOS) rules for truck drivers, which will adversely affect the delivery of wood fiber from the forest to the mill. The scheduled hearings were held in June, concluding June 30 in Atlanta, Ga.

Although the vast majority of participants oppose the proposed changes to the HOS rules, federal DOT offi- cials did not give any indication that changes would be made to the proposed rules, according to Jo Ann White, director of safety management compliance for Frankie Arrants Trucking, Jamesville, N.C. As part of her testimony, White stressed that it would be impossible for log truckers to comply with the mandatory weekend provision because of the uncertainty of weekly wood delivery sched-. ules due to weather and market-related shutdowns.

The deadline to submit written comments has been extended to October 30, 2000. NHLA suggests statements incorporate the following points: o Under the proposed rules, the daily (Type 4) driver would be limited to 12 hours on duty each day (current rule permits l5 hours) and 60 hours on duty each week (current rule permits 70 hours per eight consecutive days), combined with a mandatory weekend provision (minimum of 32 hours offduty every seven days-no such requirement in current rules). o Finally, under the proposed rules, the partial exemption for agriculture no longer includes forest products. "Remember," stresses Houghland, "the most important comments to include are how the proposed HOS rules mav affect vour business."

Under the proposed rules, haulers of forest products would not be able to make up for "lost loads" later in the week due to the mandatory weekend requirement.

. States would no longer be able to issue variances to the federal requirements to help compensate for weatherrelated and other causes of inconsistent delivery schedules.