by James Ronald Skains

Tony McManus and his wife Liz were head over heels into all the details of their daughter Casey's wedding the day they received the phone call from Clyde Todd of the Louisiana Logging Council of the LFA, informing the McManus' of Tony's selection as ``Logger of the Year'' for 2000.

``We were really blessed two days in a row,'' Liz McManus informed the congregation of the New Jerusalem Baptist Church of Winnfield, where Tony has been a very active Deacon for many years.

``The day before the wedding which went wonderful, Tony was named `Logger of the Year' for the whole state of Louisiana.''

The youthful looking logging contractor, all dressed in his tuxedo for the wedding, didn't really look old enough to be the father of the bride as he walked down the aisle with his daughter on the July 15th late Saturday evening event in Winnfield.

``It really doesn't seem possible that Casey is old enough to get married,'' said Jerry McManus, the grandfather of the bride and a contract log hauler for his son Tony. ``It only seems like yesterday that I was swinging Casey in a swing while teaching her the words of different songs.''

Jerry, the grandfather is not only a longtime log hauler but a guitar picker and singer. Tony, who is nearing 20 years as a logging contractor, is also a singer of note who often sings in churches with his wife Liz.

Tony, Liz and Casey have been mainstays in their church choir for years. Tony also headed up the selection committee that brought a 28 year Arkansas man in as the new pastor in 1999 to New Jerusalem Baptist Church. This move directed by Tony with the entire Deacon Board's support has spurred the recent growth of the Church under the pastorship of Brad Fairchild.

Casey, the bride on July 15, is in the professional singer category and is also a fledgling actress with leading roles in several productions in the last few years at Louisiana College.

Tony McManus' logging business would actually fit the definition for a ``family logging operation'' as not only is his Dad, Jerry, a contract hauler for his operation, but so is Tony's younger brother, Tracy. Tracy operates two trucks with a third truck as a spare. Another member of the Tony McManus logging truck team is brother-in-law Jimmie Taylor, who also hauls logs harvested by Tony McManus' woods crews.

Tony, who chose the logging woods right out of high school instead of heading to college, currently has two logging jobs with Plum Creek Timber Company which recently swelled in size with the acquisition of Georgia Pacific's Timber company. Tony was nominated for Logger of the Year by Vic Reitschel of the Joyce office of Plum Creek Timber Company.

One of the panel of judges for the Logger of Year, Dr. Clyde Vidrine of the School of Forestry at Louisiana Tech, had this to say about Tony's operation. ``Tony runs a very impressive operation. All of his operation is mechanized with his people inside cabs of the machines for their protection. Tony's coordination on the jobsite of his men and machinery is outstanding.''

Janet Tompkins of the LFA who is also editor and publisher of ``Forest & People'' magazine told the Journal ``When we started asking around about Tony, we found out right quick that Tony McManus was a leader among his peers. Other loggers looked to his leadership to help solve workman comp insurance problems and everyday logging problems including how to survive in poor market conditions.''

``We are in some tough times in the logging business,'' Tony McManus acknowledged to the Journal. ``It is a comparable situation to the crisis we faced with workman compensation insurance back in the early 1990's when we set up the Loggers Self-Insured Fund.'' ``Our haul rates have been cut drastically,'' Tony told the Journal. ``Survival in the logging business is a real question right now. Most of the equipment the Plum Creek `core loggers' have is old and will have to be replaced at some date in the near future.''

The Plum Creek Timber Company recently cut haul rates at the Joyce complex for their core Loggers by $1.00 per ton on wood and $1.50 per ton for logs. One Plum Creek core logger reportedly under the new haul rates will begin losing upwards of $10,000 per month while another reportedly will lose nearly a $1,000 per day.

``There is no real place in our logging operations that we can absorb this cut,'' Tony told the Journal. ``A lot of us were already operating at the break-even point before the haul rate cuts. It's not going to be fun trying to survive in the logging industry this year.''

After years of pinching pennies and honing his operation to maximum efficiency, Tony and his wife Liz were able to embark last winter on major renovation and addition to their longtime home on the westside of Winnfield.

The first eight months of the year 2000 will probably forever be etched in Tony McManus' mind as to both some of the best and the worst of times, being named Logger of the Year, major renovation of his home, a beautiful wedding for his oldest daughter, the springtime drought, and dramatic cut and haul log rate cuts.