Business Pulse: Maybe it’s best to just take the Breathalyzer
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As you can probably tell, I’m excited about the arrival of summer. And despite what anybody says about the official first day of summer, my official first day is when the city pool opens.
There are few thing better than watching kids play gleefully in the water. The obvious exceptions would be: eating an ice cream cone, winning the lottery, making a trip to Lake Winnie, watching the Titans play, frolicking on the beach. OK, so there are many things better than watching kids play in the water, but you get my point.
Nowadays, it’s important to dress appropriately when attending public pools. The old days of tossing on a Speedo aren’t as socially acceptable as they once were — especially if you’ve put on a few pounds.
Personally, I’ve long been in favor of establishing a sort of pool police to enforce certain bathing suit rules. The most prominent of those rules would be a correlation between the square inches of skin and the square inches of bathing suit. However, I admit enforcing such a formula would be troublesome.
But let’s not spend all day talking about bathing suits because I’ve searched the globe looking for odd, strange and curious news and have this rather disturbing story to report. It involves a DUI suspect who was pulled over by police in Ontario, Canada.
The suspect had apparently been consuming large quantities of alcohol when he was taken into police custody and hauled down to headquarters. It was while he was waiting in a room to take a Breathalyzer test at the police station that the man lost his ability to reason.
He wanted to mask the smell of alcohol on his breath, yet he didn’t have any mints, any gum, or any way to alter the test. So he did the unthinkable. (It’s at this point I have to warn sensitive readers to hide their eyes from the newspaper.)
The man ate ? well he kind of stuck ? OK he put a handful of his own feces in his mouth. I know, it’s disgusting. And I’m not sure if you can say feces in the newspaper.
To add insult to injury, officers still made him take the Breathalyzer test (as if his behavior wasn’t proof of his lack of sobriety) and he registered twice the legal limit for impairment. I can’t imagine his court-ordered punishment, provided he is found guilty, would be as bad as what he did at the police station.
The moral of this story is this: For all you kids out there who watch beer commercials that glamorize drinking with good times and pretty girls, remember the guy at police headquarters in Ontario, Canada. You won’t ever see him in a beer commercial.
As for big-time business news, I’m still waiting to announce Target has plans to locate in McMinnville. It could be a long wait. Until that time, I’ll bring you the business news I do have.
Carrier questions by far the most prevalent
There’s no doubt the most frequent questions I receive revolve around the Carrier building and potential buyers. Rumors are bound to fly considering director of economic development Don Rigsby has given several plant tours, and folks are all too eager to gossip.
If a couple guys in suits walk by examining things closely, it doesn’t take long before the building has been sold. But buying a 1-million-square foot facility isn’t that easy – especially when there’s no concrete date when the current tenant is going to leave.
“We have not made a deal with anybody,” said Tom Robinson, who owns the Carrier building with Joe Primm. “If the building had sold, I think Joe and I would know something about it. There have been a lot of tours, but rumors the building has sold are not true.”
As Tom has said before, the main sticking point is not knowing exactly when Carrier will be gone. And problems with moving a line to another location hasn’t served to clear the water.
The good news about the line relocation problem is that a 300-person layoff scheduled for June has been postponed. There are currently around 820 Carrier employees.
As for the frequent tours, Don Rigsby confirmed that he has shown several people around, but he said a number of those tours have been given to officials with TVA and the state department of economic development. They obviously are not potential buyers.
“We have had a couple prospects who are waiting for Carrier to be gone before they get serious,” said Don. “But we’ve been getting a lot of lookers because it’s a good building in a good location.”
There are several other factors the building has working in its favor: 1) it comes with 260 acres; 2) it’s next to the industrial park; 3) it has railroad access; 4) the county has a capable, and available, labor force.
As I’ve said before, the Carrier building is not going to be like Powermatic. It won’t sit empty for too long. But like Don pointed out, Carrier will need to be gone first.
Edward Jones adds another investment counselor
Are you thinking about your financial future? The folks at Edward Jones are. And they’re thinking about it so much, Dave Wideman has added investment representative John Simmons to help handle some of his business.
John has worked with Edward Jones since mid-March and says he takes a rather conservative approach to investing.
“I prefer not to call people and say you just lost 20 percent,” John said. “I’d rather call and say you only gained 4 percent.”
John says there are four basic investment timeframes:
As your life changes, and your financial situation changes, it’s appropriate to have an investment portfolio to fulfill your retirement dreams.
“Every person is different,” said John. “You need to make sure their investment portfolio fills their needs. The whole idea is to keep people perfectly balanced between insurance and investments.”
If you want to talk to the friendly folks at Edward Jones, they are located on Main Street in the next area that’s soon to be under construction. The phone number is 473-9615. Edward Jones has served individual investors since 1871.
New groomer can have your dog looking great
If your dog has been yearning for a new hair style, then Kay Hobbs is the person to call. As the newest member of The Grooming Shop, she brings over 25 years experience to the table.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 16 and grooming dogs on the back porch on the picnic table,” said Kay. “There wasn’t anybody else who groomed dogs in the area so when people found out what I was doing, they asked me if I could groom their dog.”
Kay, who is originally from Franklin County, has lived in Pennsylvania, New York and Texas. She says she’s worked for some of the top dog handlers in the Northeast.
“I’ve done just about everything when it comes to dogs. I’ve shown, been a breeder and groomed,” said Kay, who can groom all types of dogs in all shapes and sizes. She even has the scars to prove it. “Every scar I have is from a small dog,” she said.
Kay says she even grooms cats – yes cats. So how does she do it without having her skin ripped to shreds? “You have to be quick,” said Kay.
The number at The Grooming Shop is 474-DOGS.
Out-of-town buyer looking for local land
Warren County property owner Clinton Keel sent me a letter he received that he thought might be of interest to Business Pulse readers. It’s a letter he received from Gary Dybdahl, a land buyer with an Irvine, Calif., address.
The letter says, in part:
“While looking through county records, I noticed you own property in Warren County. Raw land is an interesting thing. If you use it and get to enjoy it, it’s great. On the other hand, if you don’t, it can sometimes feel like an alligator when you get those tax bills every year.
“There are definitely pros and cons and if you are using and enjoying your property, then you should probably throw this letter away. On the other hand, if you’re tired of throwing your money out the window, then we should probably talk.
“I buy land fast and for cash! I don’t play games. We agree on a fair price, a cash price. We sign a simple agreement and we can usually close in 30 days.”
I’m not really sure what this West Coast land buyer would want with Warren County property. But if he wants to bring in a Target, it couldn’t be a bad thing.
That’s all folks
It’s summer time and the best I can figure is people are out working on their tan, not opening new businesses. As always, I’m eager to hear your business news and your gossip. Give me a call at 473-2191 and tell me what’s happening in Warren County.