KUSHIONEERS:
The Carpet Cushion Council had more than 60 members attend its recent meeting at the LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort in Naples, Fla. That’s a huge turnout considering the size of the group. The Green Label Plus Program of the Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI) was discussed and test results reported. Unable to attend the meeting in person, Werner Braun, CRI president, appeared via satellite and addressed the group and stressed the need for the CCC and CRI to continue to work together to solve mutual problems. Braun even took questions from the audience and after the last one he was back in Dalton in a nano-second. The satellite hook-up does the job—but no frequent flyer miles.

ELECTIONS: The Council also voted in a slate of officers for 2007. Larry Heppe of Leggett & Platt was re-elected president; Swanson Snow of NCFI Polyurethanes is the new vice president; Marc Vitale of Future Foam was elected secretary, and Ernest Schorsch of Scottdel is treasurer. CCC Executive director is G. William Haines and he said the group will meet again next year at the same time and in the same place.

FIRE: On Oct. 9, a fire at Penn Wood Products’ facility in East Berlin, Pa., damaged a portion of the original building, where the company started in 1942. No employees suffered injuries. The fire started in a dust collection system and consumed the front third of the building. “We did lose some older equipment,” said company president Newell E. Coxon Jr., “but fortunately not the most recently installed finishing lines. To keep product flowing, we are running three shifts...to make up for the temporary loss of manufacturing space.” He said that kilns, rough mill, moulders, warehouses, color lab and offices were not involved in the fire.

EERIE: One day after the Penn Wood fire, Oct. 10, flames broke out at the Anderson Hardwood Floors plant in Clinton, S.C. You might think there was a serial arsonist out there targeting just wood flooring manufacturers, but there’s just been a break in the case—the Anderson case. The Clinton Public Safety Department has arrested a suspect in the Anderson caper. He’s a 21-year-old local resident charged with second degree arson. Many witnesses have attested to his involvement and he is awaiting a bond hearing. The Laurens County Sheriff’s Department, the State Law Enforcement Division and the Public Safety Department have questioned the kid but couldn’t get him to admit he was in East Berlin, Pa., at the time of the Penn Wood fire.

MILES FOR TILES: Miles Distributing of South Bend, Ind., is going to give about 1,000 of its best customers a Ride to Remember—a trip to the 2007 Coverings in Chicago, which runs from April 17 to 20. One of the country’s leading ceramic tile distributors, Miles is leasing a caravan of buses to bring the lucky dealers to the McCormick Place Convention Center from all of its branches: Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Ind.; Grand Rapids, Mich, and Louisville, Ky., in addition to South Bend. Doug Miles, president, said four buses will leave from South Bend, three from Grand Rapids, and two each from Indianapolis, Louisville and Fort Wayne. All aboard.

TIME LINE: Not that the stock market is a gauge of the economy, but its impact on the financial community is immeasurable. The media made note last week (Oct. 19), on that date in 1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial average plunged 508 points—from 2,246 to 1,738. Exactly 19 years later, to the day, the Dow Jones Industrials closed above 12,000 for the first time in its history. It closed on Oct. 19 at 12,011.73.