When a dog is valued more than $2M
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Don?t forget, Business Pulse will always fight for what is right and continually push for good to triumph over evil. Here?s this week?s sign that the bad guys are still a long ways from winning ? and it comes in the form of a sign, or rather a billboard.
In one of the sleaziest messages I can recall, a group of attorneys in Chicago paid for a racy billboard that proclaimed ?Life?s short. Get a divorce.? Of course under the message was the phone number of the law office and a mostly naked man and woman were on either side of the message.
I guess this billboard takes the sacred institution of marriage and throws it in the garbage disposal. Fortunately, if we remember the message from our superheroes, good will triumph (occassionally at least) and that was the case in Chicago.
There was such an uproar, city workers stripped the billboard of its message in less than a week. Naturally the law office of Fetman and Garland was upset because the city didn?t go through the proper channels to remove the message. The city just did it.
Said Fetman, ?I feel violated,? which I?m sure is lawyers talk for ?There is a lawsuit coming against the city of Chicago.?
Despite its brief run, and awful message, Fetman and Garland said the billboard was great for business. They claim their number of phone calls from people seeking divorces increased dramatically.
The other peculiar story I wanted to mention today comes from the great city of Memphis. What makes Memphis unique is the old saying that goes, ?It?s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn?t want to live there.? Memphis takes that saying and gives it a new twist, ?It?s a city I don?t want to visit and I would never live there.?
Some of you may have heard about the $2 million estate left behind by Ron Callan Jr., which is being hotly contested in court. But the strange thing about this case is the family members aren?t concerned with the $2 million.
Instead, they want Callan?s dog, a 13-year-old golden retriever named Alex.
A four-way fight over the custody of Alex has grown so intense, the judge has appointed an attorney to represent the dog?s best interests. Callan?s father, Ron Callan Sr., even accused his former wife of trying to pay someone money to kidnap Alex, an allegation she fiercely denies.
Attorney Paul Royal, who is representing Alex (and yes that does sound weird) has made a recommendation to the court after extensive interviews with all parties involved. Royal believes Callan Jr.?s parents (who are no longer married) should share joint custody of Alex, while his fiancee and a former girlfriend who knew Alex as a puppy should be allowed visitation.
Said one attorney involved in the power struggle, ?This dog is more than a dog to these people.?
Morgan & Young has a new owner
Thomas Smith is a familiar face in the local auto parts business. He will still be a familiar face only at a new location.
After 19 years at Auto Zone, Thomas has ventured out on his own as he and his wife, Cindy, have purchased what was formerly Morgan & Young Auto Parts on Beersheba Street. The business is now called Napa of McMinnville.
?I tell people I used two banks and several pawn shops to make the deal go through,? joked Thomas, who only had good things to say about Auto Zone.
He said he felt the time was right to move on. ?I thought this was a good opportunity for the long term,? said Thomas. ?Not the short term, but the long term. We?re in the process of increasing the inventory tremendously. You have to have the parts on hand when people need them.?
Thomas said he?d been working on buying the business for months but kept the details top secret. He said former owners Steve Young and Steve Morgan didn?t even know who was trying to buy their business until the end.
?Working for Auto Zone I was trying to keep it quiet for obvious reasons,? said Thomas.
What I like is Thomas? no-nonsense attitude when it comes to auto parts. He knows his stuff as he is one of two ASE parts certified employees on staff. Jamie Bennett is the other. He also has quality employees like Shorty Cantrell with 43 years in the auto parts business and Wayne Keel.
With Napa of McMinnville, Thomas says he has the only locally owned and operated parts store in town. By the time he is done stocking the inventory, Thomas will have a full line of parts for every type of vehicle on the road from motorcycles to big rigs.
Thomas currently offers free battery testing and will have the equipment to offer free alternator and starter testing in the coming weeks. Plans are to totally redo the floor layout at the end of the month to have more merchandise on display.
To call Napa of McMinnville, the number is 473-8496.
New coating business relocates in town
There?s a new business in town called PolyRock Inc., that?s a little tricky to explain. But one thing that?s straightforward is company president Steve Hilton is looking to hire 10 employees right now and has hopes to keep growing.
The best way I can describe PolyRock is as a company that manufactures and installs anything you want when it comes to floor and counter coverings. The decorative coatings go over a regular concrete base or any type of surface to provide a much more elegant look.
?Our motto is if you can dream it, we can create it for you,? said Steve. ?From start to finish, we can design it and install it on site. By doing that it gives us the creative ability to design whatever the customer is looking for that will not be on anyone else?s job.?
Steve had the expertise and good fortune to build a wildly successful business in the Phoenix, Ariz., area. He started small and grew into a national distributor with around 30 employees.
Steve sold that business, moved to McMinnville, and is now starting at the beginning once again. The main difference is this time he has the experience of having installed over 2 million square feet of floor coating.
?If our coatings can stand up to the Arizona heat and climate, they can stand up to anything,? said Steve.
PolyRock offers residential and commercial coatings for interior and exterior surfaces, as well as countertops. Considering you can design your own coatings, the possibilities are endless.
Steve is excited about starting his first local job this week and getting the application process under way. PolyRock is located in a 6,000-square-foot building on Old Shelbyville Road that was formerly used for tool and die work. Steve has been in the building about six months.
?I?ve been real pleased with the quality of the local labor force,? said Steve. ?And I like what I see in this area. There are new houses being built, nice houses, and when you get more people that naturally creates more service jobs.?
If you would like more employment information, the number to call is 1-800-471-0070.
Bouldin & Lawson layoffs called temporary
Around 15 people were laid off last week at Bouldin & Lawson, but plant manager Larry Flatt tells me those layoffs are ?extremely temporary? and that one employee has already been called back for this week.
?This is not a permanent reduction,? said Larry. ?It?s something we?ve done the last few years because sales in the nursery industry are not strong in May, June and July. We?re looking at this as a three- to four-week adjustment and we?re looking forward to picking these people back up. We?re still as strong as we?ve ever been.?
Larry also indicated there could be a very promising announcement coming from Bouldin & Lawson in the near future. But shrewd businessman that he is, Larry didn?t want to jump the gun and give away any details until the deal is finalized.
It?s no secret that the success of Bouldin & Lawson is now greatly tied to the success of WastAway, which has experienced the usual growing pains of a new business. Of course WastAway?s success has been greatly impeded by the fact the upstart company was essentially kicked out of McMinnville city limits.
Byrd offers video production services
By now most of us have seen the memorial videos that are offered at area funeral homes such as High?s. And when it comes to the High?s videos, Fred Byrd is the man who makes every one.
It?s partly because of the positive feedback from those memorial videos that Fred has decided to start his own business called Flagship Video Productions. The business specializes in making keepsake DVD videos for just about any occasion, although Fred says he does not do weddings because of the time commitment. He?s a full-time undertaker at High?s.
?I?ve been interested in this all my life,? said Fred, who started his career in video as a kid tinkering around with 8mm silent film. ?Then computers came along and they because a great medium to edit videos and it?s gone from there. Now I?m capable of doing full special effects. I have all kinds of neat toys.?
No doubt the neatest of those toys is a Sony FX1 high-definition, three-chip professional camera. The camera gives Fred?s work the kind of quality that he says no one else in this area is capable of achieving.
?The quality is going to be as high as I can make it,? says Fred. ?The way I figure it, if you?re going to pay somebody money to do something for you, it should be better quality than you can do yourself.?
While the memorable DVDs are a large part of his business, Fred can make video tributes to show at any type of function from receptions to anniversaries to birthday parties.
Fred is a 1986 Warren County graduate who enlisted in the military after high school and proudly served his country in operation Desert Storm. He can be reached at 581-6490.
Consignment store opens on Chancery
Amy Holt has three children so she knows the value of finding affordable clothing. It?s with that in mind she has opened Amy?s Boutique located next to Shockley?s Carpet on Chancery Street.
?I used to shop at consignment stores and really enjoyed it,? said Amy, who opened her new business on Monday. ?The way kids grow out of clothes so fast, it?s the way to go.?
From infants to teens, Amy?s Boutique offers a full line of items including shirts, pants, shoes, hats, belts and socks. She has some items as low as 25 cents and everything is reasonably priced.
?Everyone who has come in has been satisfied with the price and the quality,? said Amy. ?If you don?t want to spend a lot on children?s clothes, this is a good place to shop.?
Amy is also accepting consignment items but she says she only wants quality merchandise. She doesn?t want clothing that is ripped or stained.
Amy?s Boutique is open Monday thru Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The phone number is 259-0216.
That?s all folks
Remember when you?re sitting at the lunch counter talking about business news to give me a call with all your latest information. The phone number is 473-2191.