May 2022
GRAY, Georgia – Brad Comer, 54, had been a full-time mechanic with a couple of trucks for more than 20 years before he hauled his first load of pulpwood. He’d been around logging his entire life, growing up in Hancock County; even his dad was a lifelong logger. Comer says this part of rural midwest Georgia has always relied on the timber industry, which has provided jobs for the families that live here.
Inside This Issue
COVER: Wanted: “Outlaw” Brad Comer In Georgia
GRAY, Georgia – Brad Comer, 54, had been a full-time mechanic with a couple of trucks for more than 20 years before he hauled his first load of pulpwood. He’d been around logging his entire life, growing up in Hancock County; even his dad was a lifelong logger. Comer says this part of rural midwest Georgia has always relied on the timber industry, which has provided jobs for the families that live here.
Article by Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
SOUTHERN STUMPIN': Fighting Windmills
These days, windmills, like everything else in our ever-more-divided cultural landscape, have been politicized on both the left and the right. Like electric cars, windmills have become symbolic of “Green New Deal” energy/environmental policies, part of the liberal/progressive agenda aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions, replacing fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy and reversing climate change. Some folks think this is a good idea, even a vital one; others think it’s a fool’s errand, or worse, a scam. Depending on where you live and what you do for a living, your view of all this might blow one direction or the other.
Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
Always Something
SPOTSYLVANIA, Virginia – Phillip Brooks II is committed to his logging business. He is somewhat of a newcomer to the logging contracting business, but he’s no stranger to logging. Actually, he started out as a trucking contractor, hauling logs, with one truck in 2013. He launched his logging business in 2018.
Article by Tim Cox
Bright Side
PROVENCAL, Louisiana – Spend a little time with Randy Broadway and you’ll quickly find out how much he likes to joke around. At a logging site, he likes to keep things light-hearted, but he also is serious about his business because he knows it’s not just about him. That joyful attitude, dedication to doing good work and the will to help others through a giving spirit has culminated in Broadway and his company, R&B Logging, being selected Outstanding Louisiana Logger for 2021.
Article by Jeff Zeringue, Media Specialist, Louisiana Forestry Association
Tomorrow’s Timber
CALLAHAN, Florida – Every day, Adam Mizell and his crew at Mizell Development, Inc., plant the seeds for tomorrow’s timber harvest. After earning a forestry degree from Lake City Community College and building a business specializing in logging roads, Mizell found himself doing more and more site prep contracts. He discovered that he was drawn to the reforestation side of the timber industry.
Article by Steve Werblow
FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW: Lingering Too Long At The Road Kill
Road kill is nothing new, nor is it confined to the era of the automobile. King David saw some road kill in his day; he saw it in the lives of men, and how they traveled the path of life. He saw it in how they responded towards God, denying and rejecting his Lordship. Like road kill, they lay scattered across the landscape.
Article excerpted from Pines, Prayers, and Pelts, Bradley Antill, author.
INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP
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- Stihl Inc. Appoints Horan As President/CEO
- Pewag Purchases Wallingford’s Inc.
- Enviva Will Build Pellet Mill In Bond
- Rawls Was One Of Morbark’s Faces
- Weyco Purchases More Acreage In Carolinas
- Tennessee Honors Logger Of Year
- Auburn Forestry School Celebrates 75th Year
- Drax Officially Opens Demopolis Pellet Plant
- John Deere Expands Self-Repair Resources
- Collaboration Enhances Data-Based Intelligence
- National Equipment Dealers Join Barko Dealers Lineup
MACHINES-SUPPLIES-TECHNOLOGY
- ASTEC Drum Chipper
- Tigercat Track F-B
- Grapple Attachments
- Tigercat Yarder
- Komatsu Forwarder
- JD Mid-Sized Excavators
- Doosan Wheel Loaders
- Tigercat Dozer
TRUCKING SAFETY
- Log Trailer Visibility
Wanted: “Outlaw” Brad Comer In Georgia
Article by Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
GRAY, Georgia – Brad Comer, 54, had been a full-time mechanic with a couple of trucks for more than 20 years before he hauled his first load of pulpwood. He’d been around logging his entire life, growing up in Hancock County; even his dad was a lifelong logger. Comer says this part of rural midwest Georgia has always relied on the timber industry, which has provided jobs for the families that live here.
Nearly a decade ago, Georgia’s forestry industry was moving forward following a setback from 2008’s downturn in the housing market. The state’s timberland coverage had remained stable and Comer, who was already considering a career change, figured it was a good time to start a logging business. He established Outlaw Timber Harvesting LLC in 2013.
“I was 43 when I decided I wanted to be a logger,” he recalls. I’m sitting around drinking some beers with a friend of mine who had just bought a truck and said he wanted to haul wood with it. At the time I had never hauled wood before and told him, ‘I’m going to buy a trailer tomorrow and we’re going to be a couple of outlaws doing it’ and it stuck.”
Comer jokes that his attempt to change occupations only resulted in him having two careers at once, only now he doesn’t get paid for working on equipment. “I got tired of being a mechanic,” he laughs. “Went from getting paid to do it to doing it for free now.”
Brad Comer, center, says his young crew has been dependable
Outlaw Timber plans to reduce its weekly production and become more efficient with trucking.
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