World’s first tongue transplant a success
I’ve got to start this week’s column with news of the world’s first tongue transplant. I would have thought with people getting heart transplants, kidney transplants, and even lung transplants, that a tongue transplant would have been done long ago, but that’s not the case.
The first known tongue transplant just took place last week and the 14-hour procedure appears to have gone well. Although, like any other organ, there is still a chance the tongue could be rejected.
One team of doctors was in charge of cutting out the 42-year-old man’s tongue while a second team had the task of attaching the new tongue. Doctors say they will deem the procedure a success if the man can talk again, but they say he will likely never be able to taste with his new tongue.
The operation was performed in Austria, which is apparently one of the world leaders when it comes to transplants. In March, the first transplant of both hands and forearms was performed Austria.
As for other things odd, strange and curious, classic car lovers will probably wince at this next item. A dozen Cuban migrants were caught in the middle of the ocean trying to make their way to Miami last week. The boat they were using was made from a 1951 Chevy pickup.
U.S. Customs spotted the Chevy “driving” about 40 miles off the coast. A propeller was attached to the drive shaft of the green vintage truck and it was sailing along at about 8 mph. The truck/boat was kept afloat by empty 55-gallon drums.
Migrants have been found on rafts or small boats made out of refrigerators, bathtubs, surfboards and inner tubes — but the truck was believed to be a first. As a sad note to the Cubans, they were sent back to their country. Under a peculiar U.S. law, Cubans who reach U.S. shores are allowed to stay, while those caught at sea are returned.
And before I bring you this week’s Business Pulse, I feel it’s my obligation to report to you the death of Kuno, the legendary 77-pound catfish who gained worldwide fame by eating a dog.
Kuno gained his fame in 2001 when he sprang from a German lake to swallow a Dachshund puppy whole. Most local fisherman wanted to see how Kuno would taste slathered with tartar sauce, but he evaded repeated attempts to capture him. Kuno’s carcass washed ashore last week and several fishermen made a positive identification. It’s a sad time for the fishing world.
City Drug has sold to Eckerd’s
Last week the word on the street was that City Drug was in the process of selling to Eckerd’s. This week I can tell you that word is in fact true. City Drug will soon become Eckerd’s in a move that is expected to take place in the early part of August.
That’s pretty big business news if you ask me. I want to do big stories with plenty of pictures and talk to folks who have been doing business with City Drug their whole life. The only problem is that neither side is eager to announce the deal right now.
Eckerd officials tell me they are in the process of getting that information together and the good folks at City Drug tell me I need to talk to Eckerd’s. What that means is I don’t have many of the details right now.
What I can tell you is that there won’t be much of a change for maybe up to a year. It will be the same friendly City Drug people working from the same familiar City Drug location. But I do hear that there could very well be plans to relocate the store after that.
As always, I’ll bring you more information when I have more information.
A.O. Smith employees get a little more time
There’s just a tad bit of good news coming from A.O. Smith these days. That good news is the company is behind schedule in moving some of its production lines to Mexico. The bad news is the lines are still leaving and McMinnville’s plant will probably have a workforce of around 250 when the dust settles.
“Instead of the end of the year, it will probably be February ’04 before everything is moved,” said company spokesman Ed O’Conner. “When you put a plan together to move out a manufacturing line, there are sometimes some delays.”
Ed told me A.O. Smith’s local workforce would drop to right at 250 employees when the move is complete. That means it will be a lot closer to 400 people who are losing their jobs than the 300 which was initially announced.
Don Rigsby, the county’s director of economic development, has worked hard to try and convince A.O. Smith to move some laminate lines to McMinnville to replace some of the departing work. Depending on different scenarios, that could result in saving anywhere from 25 to 75 jobs.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem like a very likely occurrence.
“I understand the suggestions to keep jobs in McMinnville and I do respect the efforts of people trying to keep jobs in the community,” said O’Conner. “But there are no plans at this point to do any of that,” he said in response to moving some laminate lines here.
New Chinese restaurant interested in McMinnville
Most folks have probably noticed Northgate Shopping Center is getting bigger. On one end of the shopping center, the side with Hastings and Fred’s Pharmacy, construction is under way for two new stores.
People have noticed this construction and asked me what’s coming. The answer is that no lease has been signed and nothing is guaranteed yet. But shopping center owner Harold Martin did tell me an out-of-town Chinese restaurant has expressed considerable interest in the spot.
The main hang-up is that the addition is already fairly far along and it’s been designed to accommodate two separate stores. The Chinese restaurant wants to take both spaces. Harold wasn’t sure if restaurant owners would want to deal with the hassle of two water meters, two electrical meters, etc.
While I couldn’t get the name of the restaurant, Harold did tell me it was a fairly upscale restaurant. Plans are to seat about 100 people, and yes, plans also call for serving liquor by the drink.
So there we have it – the first restaurant to express an interest in locating in McMinnville thanks, in part, to liquor by the drink. We all heard for months and months how this town would be flooded with new restaurants once liquor arrived and I, for one, have been waiting to see the line.
Now my wait is over. It’s hardly a rush, but at least we now have one. So let the counting begin! For the next 10 years I will count all the restaurants which consider locating in McMinnville because of liquor by the drink.
Nah, that sounds like too much work. But I will tell you this Chinese restaurant is the first. Harold also said restaurant owners seem pretty determined to locate here, so if it doesn’t work out for them in Northgate Shopping Center, look for a new Chinese restaurant to pop up somewhere.
The question I have is does this town have enough Chinese food lovers to support three restaurants? I say the jury is still out on that one.
Walter A. Wood Co. moves out of town
Walter A. Wood Supply Company has closed its doors in Warren County and is in the process of moving to Smyrna. While it’s not a devastating loss in terms of employment — only four people worked there and three of them are transferring to the Smyrna store — I never like to see a business pack up and leave.
When businesses leave, their empty buildings stay behind and it doesn’t look good to have a bunch of empty buildings around the county.
Walter A. Wood specializes in tools, pipe fitting equipment and industrial supplies. The way the store sits way back off Highway 55 (in the Country Club Market area), I never thought it was open for retail business. I always figured it catered to contractors or was a wholesale business. Apparently, that’s what a lot of other folks thought too.
Store employees were packing up boxes and tidying up lose ends when I stopped by the Warren County store Friday afternoon. The store here had been open 11 years. Employees told me the general thinking is the store will do a much better business in Smyrna. The plans are to open that store in mid-August.
Walter A. Wood also hopes to keep its Warren County customers through salesman Danny Jenkins who will be servicing this area. The number for the Smyrna store is 866-244-5060.
That’s all folks
Let me know your business news by calling 473-2191. Or send me an e-mail at [email protected].