Kissing pigs and eating with dogs
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The man, William Tremmel, figured he could go over and used a nearby portable toilet that was intended for the construction workers doing repairs to the boardwalk. But apparently the construction workers weren’t too happy with Tremmel’s plan.
Fed up that people were constantly using their portable toilet, the workers blocked Tremmel inside for almost half an hour. This may sound funny to most of us, all except William Tremmel. He said the incident has caused him mental suffering and he has filed a lawsuit for $100,000.
And speaking of undesirable predicaments, some of you may have noticed the Standard is currently conducting a contest where one of our employees will have to kiss a pig in conjunction with our annual Pig Day celebration. For those who have yet to mark their calendars, our Pig Day is this Friday and we’ll be handing out free hot dogs and BBQ to anyone who wants to stop by our office.
As for the kiss the pig contest, I regret to inform you I am currently in the lead for this honor. That’s why I’m encouraging all Business Pulse readers of the county to unite. Stop by our office and place your vote for Melissa Stover to kiss the pig. She dreamed up this not-so-great idea. I say she should have to kiss that pig. It only costs $1 to vote and all money goes directly to a great cause – the animal shelter.
And since we’re on the topic of animals, I’ve got to mention something that would be extremely annoying, even more annoying than kissing a pig. Dog lovers in Hawaii are trying to push a law through that state’s legislature that would allow dogs to accompany their owners into restaurants and dine along with them.
Hawaii resident Rita Levergood, who is firmly in favor of dining with her dogs, said, “I hate to leave them at the house by themselves. I most definitely would like to bring them.”
Levergood has even won the support of Hawaii state Sen. Fred Hemmings, who wants to see state health rules relaxed to give restaurants the option of allowing dogs to eat there too.
Folks, I’m here to tell you that allowing dogs in restaurants is absolutely ridiculous. The things would bark and scratch and run all over the restaurant. You get three of four dogs together and forget about controlling them. They would be sniffing and growling and frolicking all over the restaurant.
About the only way you could hope to control the dogs would be to strategically release a few felines with mad cat disease.
The lowdown on Eckerd’s
When Eckerd’s bought City Drug some six months ago, I wanted to do big stories about the end of an era in downtown McMinnville. But neither City Drug or Eckerd’s cared anything about a story and the information they provided me about the sale was all of two paragraphs.
About the only interesting thing I learned was that Eckerd’s planned on leaving downtown McMinnville and building a store elsewhere in town. The timetable that was given was around a year.
It hasn’t been a year, but I’ve heard pretty reliable reports that Eckerd’s is considering building a store on the corner of Chancery and Locust streets. It would be in the spot currently occupied by Auto Pawn Store (best known as the building that was painted bright yellow for about three days before public outcry convinced the pawn store owners to re-paint the building off-white).
It’s far from a done deal, but Eckerd’s had a company in town about 10 days ago conducting core drillings on the site to ensure the land is stable enough to support a fairly large building. On top of that, I talked to a person who was at Auto Pawn Store when Eckerd’s officials came in and started pulling out blueprints. This tells me Eckerd’s is pretty well interested in the corner spot.
If Eckerd’s does in fact locate there, the blueprints call for one of those mega Eckerd stores complete with drive-thru window and all the trimmings. Keep in mind this is no done deal, but it appears a very real possibility.
Hubert Hillis Grocery has a new owner
The store that was a Depot Bottom mainstay and a classic piece of Warren County history now has a new owner. Hubert Hillis Grocery has been sold and word has it the plans are to keep it as the same quaint market and lunch counter that made it famous.
I understand Mike Crowe is the new owner and I’ll try to track him down in the coming weeks and find out about his exact plans and a possible opening date. For now, I thought I would pass along what limited information I have and that is the grocery has been sold.
My latest conversation with a Carrier official
The questions are still coming my way about Carrier so I made another call to spokesperson Nancy Lintner and fired some questions her way.
I told her the local union is still holding out hope the Carrier plant here can be saved and asked if keeping this plant open was even a remote possibility.
“We’ve announced our plans to close,” said Lintner. “And that is our intent.”
I asked her about possible reasons for closing our plant. I’ve heard all sorts of rumors about it closing because high absentee rates, because high workman’s compensation claims, and because some employees were making high salaries.
Lintner said the plant is closing for none of those reasons. She said Carrier has been following a new strategy over the last two years and that strategy is to have one plant make only one product.
“We’re into simplifying productivity into what we call focus factories,” said Lintner. “That becomes much more efficient for us and prevents duplication.”
I’m all for maximizing productivity, but it’s always hard to understand a company so driven by the bottom line it doesn’t care about putting 1,300 people out of work. Chris Crowder is one of the Carrier employees who says he will likely leave Warren County. I talked to Chris Friday and he said he is likely to head to Tyler, Texas.
Chris is interested in working for the Carrier plant there, but he’s also done his homework about the city. He has called the Chamber of Commerce and gotten an informational packet sent to him. Chris says there is also a Trane air conditioning plant in Tyler which employees around 2,000 and is currently hiring.
“This is the same thing that happened to me in Indiana,” said Chris, who worked for a company that built semi trailers until it filed for bankruptcy in September of 1996. “When that plant shut down, I moved here and I was lucky to hire on at Carrier in ’97.
“Now since the announcement, it’s like someone lined us all up and hit us on the head with a hammer. Everybody knows they are going to lose their job. It’s like somebody bombed the place. We’re all just waiting for D-day to arrive.”
Chris says one reason he’s uneasy is because he doesn’t know what type of severance package he’s going to receive. But Chris says he is at least fortunate to be in a little bit better financial shape than a number of his co-workers.
“I don’t have a $100,000 home and two vehicles to pay for,” said Chris. “I don’t have small children at home. But those are going to be tough things to deal with for a lot of people in this plant.”
Cumberland Plaza beginning to take shape
By now, most of us know the former Food Lion building was remodeled and there is now space for seven businesses to locate there. With the opening of Lowe’s inching closer, those stores are beginning to be leased.
China Wok and Holland’s Jewelry took two of the spaces right off the bat. About three weeks ago, we learned Myers Computers is leaving the big, yellow house and taking another spot. And just recently I discovered Neil Helton is going to open a State Farm insurance agency in another spot.
That’s four stores down, three to go. The big rumblings I’ve heard over the last couple weeks is that Movie Gallery is also considering leasing a spot there. I’ve tried to confirm that by calling the Movie Gallery district manager, but he hasn’t returned repeated phone calls. Making an educated guess based on past experiences, when repeated phone calls aren’t returned that usually means I’m right on the money.
Vanessa Dyer opens Vanessa’s Place
There’s a new barbershop in town and it’s owned by Vanessa Dyer. The shop is located in the back of Gracie’s Cage on S. High Street and is open Monday through Saturday.
“After working for a few different people, I felt I’ve built up the clientele to go out on my own,” said Vanessa.
Shop hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome. The phone number is 474-1617.