By JAMES RONALD SKAINS
Journal Correspondent

Members of the Piney Woods Legislative delegation listened to Piney Woods loggers' concerns for action in the upcoming Louisiana Legislature at a meeting in Winnfield on February 23.

Legislators led by State Senator Mike Smith of Winnfield, State Representative Jim Fannin of Weston in Jackson parish, and Representative Tommy Wright of Jena, met with a group of about 30 loggers and interested citizens at the Louisiana Loggers Association office on Hwy 84 West in Winnfield. Representative Taylor Townsend of Natchitoches was unable to attend due to last minute difficulties.

Agenda for the meeting included:
1. Status of the Voluntary Log Truck Inspection Program.
2. 5% Weight Tolerance Legislation.
3. Recent Tickets from DOTD and State Police on axle weights.
4. Road Use Permits on Police Jury roads.
5. 3 axle trailers and a 100,000 pound weight limit for loggers.
6. Where does the Fuel Motor Tax Go.
7. Economic Development Tax Credits/Incentives/Rural Economic Development for Loggers.
8. Communication between the industry (mills and timber companies) and loggers.

Senator Smith, on the Voluntary Log Truck Inspection program, said "The original bill that I filed in the Legislature last year to set up this program was defeated; however, we were able to tack the bill authorizing the program an an Amendment to a bill the House leadership really wanted to pass. Unfortunately, this is the way things are in Baton Rouge."

Smith, a Winnfield native, is starting his third term in the Louisiana Senate. "Any bill that our group of Legislators introduces is immediately opposed by the Metro delegations. So we have to do a lot negotiating to get anything we want passed. It shouldn't be that way but it is."

Representative Jim Fannin of Weston, who is starting his first full term in office echoed the Senator's words, "Its just a fact that this is the way things are in Baton Rouge. We have to concentrate on just a few items each session to get anything passed for people in our District."

The issue of "over axle weight" fines centered around tickets recently received by Bradley McDowell of Jena and Mark Harris who has operations in both Olla and St. Francisville as B&S Timber. McDowell explained that the axle overweight ticket on one of his trucks was given when his truck was stopped by enforcement officers.

"We were hauling out of the woods to the mill first thinning material on a double bunk trailer. I know that it very difficult to load a double bunk where all the axle will weigh-out correctly. However, I don't think the truck was axled-out correctly," McDowell said. "Anyway, I was fined $1,500 for this so-called infraction. My gross revenue from that load of wood was $400. It will take me four loads just to gross enough money to pay the ticket. I don't see anything fair about that kind of system."

Representative Tommy Wright offered a suggestion, "Maybe we could enact legislation that would put a cap on axle weight tickets of maybe $100 if the whole load was within the gross weight limit for the truck and trailer."

Mark Harris of B&S Timber explained his over-axle weight ticket to the Piney Woods Journal. "We have a bark operation at the Tembec Paper-Mill near St. Francisville. Before a truck can leave the mill, it is weighed on the paper-mill scales and if it is over-weight, it can't leave the mill until the over-weight is taken off the truck. The truck that got the ticket went across a set of scales near Lafayette, and was ticketed because one axle had only a hundred pounds of weight on it and the other axle had 37,000 pounds," Harris stated. "That is impossible, not just improbable. We didn't own the truck but the owner got a $1,500 ticket and we got a $1,500 ticket because we loaded the truck and it was hauling our material. Can you imagine, $3,000 in fines for one so-called infraction?"

"The DOTD and Louisiana State Police look at in-state trucks as `rolling dollars trees' just waiting to be stopped and plucked," Harris pointed out. "The trucks from Mexico that come through our state are never stopped no matter how raggedly they are. Something has to change. The Louisiana truckers don't have the money to continue to pay these outrageous fines and stay in business."

One of the loggers in attendance asked the Legislators where the Louisiana fuel tax went and what about the rumor that the fuel tax will be increased.

"Basically it goes into a black hole in the budget in Baton Rouge," said Rep. Fannin, who now serves on the House Transportation Committee. "We don't know exactly where it actually goes and what it is used for. The whole DOTD needs to be reorganized from top to bottom."

"I've just made a tour of the state with the House Transportation Committee, and nowhere did we find any support for raising the motor fuel tax," Rep. Fannin pointed out. "As I said, we don't know exactly how this fuel tax money is used, but I intend to find out. It should be used exclusively to improve our roads, not pay salaries for a DOTD Department that is not functioning properly."

Travis Taylor, longtime Winn Parish logger, expressed his concern over the increasing difficulty of obtaining permits to haul over Police Jury roads. "It seems that some of the Juries don't realize that if it wasn't for the loggers, the severance tax on timber would not be coming in for them. I'm real concerned that because all the parishes are so strapped for money and can't maintain their road system, that the loggers maybe faced with some serious problems pertaining to using parish roads to get our logs to the mills," Taylor said. "I certainly don't have any solution for this situation, but I am concerned that it could become a major problem for log haulers."

Senator Smith responded to Taylor's statements. "I don't know the answers to that situation either but I do know that most of the Police Juries in the Piney Woods are strapped for money and are having a hard time maintaining their road systems."

James Greer, owner of D&J Tire company which has several stores in the Piney Woods area brought up the topic of economic development help for loggers. "There seems to be financial help for every other type of business and industry in the state but none for the loggers. Why is that?"

The consensus of the three Legislators present was that "there are some employment tax credits and incentives available for logging contractors but for the most part they don't apply for them or are not aware that some limited financial help is available."

Greer countered by asking, "Isn't there some way that you guys could arrange for some of the people with the State Economic Development group meet with this loggers and at least explain to them what economic help is available. These loggers are hurting really bad financially. They've lost their markets in this global economy and it is an ever increasing struggle just to stay in business."

The consensus of the meeting at its termination was that the Legislators are going to look closely at every available avenue to get some help and relief coming to the Piney Woods Loggers before they became an extinct species.

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