An Inside Job?

I'd take this trailer with a grain of salt:

Clemson's Herman McGee - by Wild Bill

From 1 Bowater

"If Clemson athletes of the 20th century were asked the question, "Who was the most respected administrator you met during your Clemson career?" chances are Herman McGee's name would be the most popular answer.

McGee served Clemson as a head trainer, equipment manager and assistant trainer between 1934-80 and the 46-year run as a full-time employee is a record among all Clemson administrators or coaches.

McGee served most of his career in the Clemson Athletic training center where he probably taped more ankles than anyone in history. It was his wise and caring demeanor that drew Clemson athletes to seek his advice for 46 years. Starting with the 1939 Cotton Bowl, McGee traveled with the Clemson football team to its first 10 bowl games, and he also made four trips to the College World Series with the Tiger baseball team.

In 1976, just four years prior to his death, he was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame. He was the first African American inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame."

"What I did know about Herman McGee until I moved here was what I learned from my dad.  My dad loved Herman like a father.  On those occasions when we would visit with Herman in the late 1960s and early 1970s, my dad would almost always say as we were leaving, "I would have never survived here had it not been for him.  He saved my life on more than one occasion."  It was only until a few years ago as I watched the movie Rudy that I had some sense of what Herman had done for my dad and so many young men who felt isolated, homesick and in way over their heads.  Herman had been a friend, a father and a cheerleader to my dad during the worst of times, just like the Notre Dame stadium maintenance man had been for Rudy."

Herman McGee worked for Clemson for 46 years as a Head Trainer and Equipment Manager.  Herman, an African American, was born in the town of Clemson in 1918, He served in the US Army for 4.5 years prior going to work for Clemson's Athletic Department.

Herman, like so many of my Clemson brothers, was my mentor and he always took care of his boys.  I will share two of my memories of Herman.

Clemson was playing the University of Georgia.  UGA is only 70 miles from Clemson so we rode chartered buses.  When we pulled into Athens, Herman was first off the bus.  Representatives from UGA met our bus.  Herman came to attention, straightened his fedora hat, and announced in a clear, proud voice.  "Tell them Clemson is Here!"   

One of our starting tailbacks wife had a baby boy.  When I went to the equipment window for practice that afternoon, Herman was there.  Herman said " This morning I announced the birth of Jackie's baby boy to the World.  I said "Herman how was that?"  Herman responded "At sun up I took my shot gun and three shells into the front yard.  The first shot I fired was for the Mama.  The second shot was for the Daddy. The third shot was  for the baby boy!  You know if a baby is properly announced, he will be healthy, grow strong and be proud!" 

Herman was a very good man who loved his boys. God rest my friend.  I know you smile when the Tigers take the field!  Yes, When I was down and out with my knee injury, Herman helped save my life!

Wild Bill 

Pictures From The Trash - Another Retirement in 1986

From 1 Bowater

M.Rowe, R. Stewart, B. Belair, J. Forrest

Pictures From The Trash - Rough Group At Meeting

From 1 Bowater

B. Prater, J. Vining, J. Wilkerson, G. Flanders,  Dr. Edwards Deming, M. Rowe, A. Humphrey, R. Rozee.

This Sounds Like a J. Frank Invention

Fred and Wild Bill - How Small Things Can Get Big Real Quick!

See below for a true [per Fred] story about a little green snake.

Our home in Loveland, Ohio had a 20 ft X 42 ft in-ground gunite swimming pool.  Our lot was 1.8 acres and the pool house/filter system was in the woods below the pool.  For two summers a little green snake, who I named George, lived under the pool house.  George and I would scare the hell out of each other about once per week.  Example.  I would start to adjust a filter valve only to find George curled up 2 inches from my hand. George would 'sun himself' on the concrete slab for the filter.  Honestly, he would be sound asleep.  I would yell "Hey George" and the poor snake would wake up and run for cover! 

I think George died of old age or was dinner for a family of six Cooper Hawks who moved into the woods behind our house each summer.  Each hawk seemed to have his own tree and they would all sit and watch the humans.   Vanderlei Madruga, head of IP's Brazilian Operations, came to Loveland to review the Technology Division after International Paper acquired Champion. I had worked with Vanderlei when we were both Champion and invited he and his wife for dinner at our home.  To make a long story short, Marilynn and I ended up hosting a formal 'white cloth' steak dinner on the deck around our pool for 16 Brazilians. The hawks were fascinated and watched the set-up and execution of the entire event.       

Wild Bill              See Fred's true story below!

From: fmiller
Sent: 8/22/2010 7:22:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: PROOF THAT GREEN SNAKES ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN RATTLESNAKES

PROOF THAT GREEN SNAKES ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN RATTLESNAKES

i know this story’s true, because my mother’s cousin’s wife told it to me.  So the next time you see a “harmless” little garden snake, think twice. . . . . . . . . . . .
A couple in Austin,Texas had lots of potted plants. Fearing an early cold spell, the wife was bringing them indoors for protection.  It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants.  When it warmed up a little, the snake slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa.
Well she let out a loud scream causing her husband, who was taking a shower, to run naked out into the living room to see what was the matter.   She told him a snake was under the sofa.  He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it.  About that time, the family dog came to check out the ruckus and cold nosed the man on the behind.  He thought the snake had bitten him and fainted dead away. Thinking he’d had a heart attack, the wife called 911.  The ambulance attendants arrived and rushed in, loaded him on the stretcher and started carrying him outside.  Just then the snake came out from under the sofa and one of the EMTs saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher.  That’s when the man broke his leg and why he is in the hospital, leaving his hysterical wife alone at home to cope with the snake in the house!!
So she called on a neighbor man for assistance.  Well, he volunteered to capture the snake.  Arming himself with a rolled-up newspaper he began to poke under the couch.  Soon he decided it was gone and told the lady everything was OK.  Much relieved, she sank down on the sofa to rest after her ordeal.  Her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around.  Of course, she screamed and fainted, and snake crawled back under the couch.  The frustrated neighbor tried with all his might to revive her using CPR.
Meanwhile, the neighbor’s wife was just returning from the grocery store.  Carrying her bags in, she glanced over next door and spied her husband on the sofa “kissing” her friend.  She ran over in a fury and whacked him up side the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp open.  All the commotion woke the woman from her faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so naturally she assumed the snake had bitten him.  She went to the kitchen, brought back a bottle of whiskey and began pouring it down the man’s throat.
By now, the police are on the scene.  They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken brawl was occurring.  They were about to arrest them all, but the two women explained how it all happened over the little green snake.  The cops called the ambulance again, which took away the bleeding neighbor and his sobbing wife.  Once again, the little snake crawled out from under the sofa.  One of the cops drew his gun and fired at it.  He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table beside the sofa.  The table fell over, a lamp shattered and as the bulb broke, it started a fire on the drapes.  The other policeman tried to beat out the flames and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog, which jumped up and raced out into the street.  An oncoming car swerved to avoid the dog and smashed into the parked police car, catching it on fire.
Meanwhile, the entire house was blazing.  Neighbors called the fire department and the fire truck, to make haste, started raising its ladder as they were halfway down the street.  The ladder tore out the overhead wires and put out the electricity and phones in a ten-square city block area.
Time passed by.  Both men were eventually discharged from the hospital, the house rebuilt, the police had a new car, and all was right in the little neighborhood again.
Until about a year later, the man saw on the weather channel that there was approaching a late spring cold snap.  Being concerned about the potted plants, he asked his wife if she thought they should bring in their plants for the night.  She promptly got up off their new sofa, got his gun and shot him!!!!!  So you see, a little green snake is more dangerous than a rattlesnake, or I’m not a natural redhead!!!   

Happy To Be An American - submitted by Wild Bill

Pictures From The Trash - Part 6, Another Retirement Photo

From 1 Bowater

S. Furr, H. Mills, C. Hornsby, S. Wooster, R. Ackerman, M. Perry, B. Nichols, M. Grantham

It's Wild Bill!

Things Learned Growing Up In The South - Passed on by Wild Bill

Things I Have Learned in the South:


A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.


There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 of them live in the South.


There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 of them live in the South, plus a couple no ones seen before.


If it grows, itll stick ya. If it crawls, it'll bite cha.


Onced and Twiced are words.


It is not a shopping cart, it is a buggy!


Jaw-P? means Did yall go to the bathroom?


People actually grow and eat okra.


Fixinto is one word. It means Im fixing to do that.


There is no such thing as lunch. There is only dinner and then there is supper.


Iced tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar.


Backwards and forwards means I know everything about you.


The word jeet is actually a phrase meaning Did you eat?


You dont have to wear a watch, because it doesn't matter  what time it is, you work until you're done or it's too dark to see.


You dont PUSH buttons, you MASH em.


No, Jew? is a common response to the question, Did you bring any beer?


You measure distance in minutes.


You switch from heat to A/C in the same day.


All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect, or animal.


You carry jumper cables in your car - for your OWN car.


You only own five spices: salt, pepper, Tonys, Tabasco and ketchup.


The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local high school sports and motor sports, and gossip.


You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.


You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit a bit warm.


You know what a hizzy fit is.


Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite pastime known as goin Wal-Martin' or off to Wally World.


You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chicken stew weather. (OH YEA!!!)


Fried catfish is the other white meat.


We don't need no dang Driver's Ed. If our mama says we can drive, we can drive dag-nabbit.


You understand these jokes and forward them to your Southern friends and those who just wish they were from here!!!

Pictures From The Trash - Part 5, Gene "Doc" Morris Retires in 1985

From 1 Bowater

Pictured left to right: B. Hagner, E. Walker, D. Richardson, Gene Morris, E. Mobley, B. Nichols, C. Hornsby.
Take a look at Gene's retirement gift (TV on desk). Boy has technology changed!

How Did They Get That Way?

Paper Mills are famous for "poor" names and sayings - in some cases, a public relations nightmare. Where you have areas with names such as; Death House; Headbox; Breast Roll; Hell's Half Acre (I believe Will Bill is responsible for that one). Not to mention nick names; Pork chop; Tiny; Stinky; Shine; Pee Wee; Snap; Bat Man; Topper; High Plains Drifter. 

Wild Bill passes on the information below:

Most most good old Southern People also grew up hearing the same phrases.  I will add some that I heard from my grandparents, parents, and in-laws.

1. "He sure is Big Ikie today" - That snob is really showing off his big new Cadillac car he just purchased and hopes we will all be impressed - NOT 
2. "She is ugly as a mud fence" - A description stated by my Mother-in-Law Stora Lee, of a really homely old lady standing in front of the line. 
3.  "It's cold enough to freeze a brass ass monkey" - My Grandmother Ada Grayson one cold morning. 

 

OK People, it's your turn to add to the list! See Alvin's (D.A. Humphrey) list below.  This should be fun.  Oh yes, you Yankees can also contribute. 

 

Wild Bill

SOME OF YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THIS --(FOR  THE REST OF YOU, IT WILL BE A LEARNING SITUATION)

A LICK AND A PROMISE

  

'I'll just give this a lick and a promise,' my mother said as she quickly mopped up a spill on the floor without moving any of the furniture. 

'What is that supposed to mean?' I asked as in my young mind I envisioned someone licking the floor with his or her tongue. 

'It means that I'm in a hurry and I'm busy canning tomatoes so I am going to just give it a lick with the mop and promise to come back and do the job right later.' 

'A lick and a promise' was just one of the many old phrases that our mothers, grandmothers, and others used that they probably heard from the generations before them. With the passing of time, many old phrases become obsolete or even disappear.  This is unfortunate because some of them are very appropriate and humorous. Here is a list of some of those memorable old phrases:  

1. A bone to pick (someone wants to discuss a disagreement) 
2. An axe to grind (Someone who has a hidden motive. This phrase is said to have originated from Benjamin Franklin  who told a story about a devious man who asked how a grinding wheel worked. He ended up walking away with his axe sharpened free of charge.)   
3. One bad apple spoils the whole barrel (One corrupt person can cause all the others to go bad if you don't remove the bad one) 
4. At sea (Lost or not understanding something) 
5. Bad egg (Someone who was not a good person) 
6. Barking at a knot (Meaning that your efforts were as useless as a dog barking at a knot) 
7. Barking up the wrong tree (Talking about something that was completely the wrong issue with the wrong person)
8. Bee in your bonnet (To have an idea that won't let loose) 
9. Been through the mill (Had a rough time of it) 
10. Between hay and grass (Not a child or an adult) 
11. Blinky (Between sweet and sour as in milk) 
12. Calaboose (a jail) 
13. Catawampus (Something that sits crooked such as a piece of furniture sitting at an angle) 
14. Dicker (To barter or trade) 
15. Feather in your cap (To accomplish a goal. This came from years ago when warriors might receive a feather they would put in their cap for defeating an enemy)  
16. Hold your horses  (Be patient!)  
17. Hoosegow (A jail) 
18. I reckon (I suppose) 
19. Jawing/Jawboning (Talking or arguing) 
20. Kit and caboodle (The whole thing)  
21. Madder than a wet hen (Really angry) 
22. Needs taken down a notch or two (Like notches in a belt; usually a young person who thinks too highly of himself and needs a lesson) 
23. No spring chicken  (Not young anymore) 
24. Persnickety  (Overly particular or snobbish) 
25. Pert-near  (Short for pretty near) 
26. Pretty is as pretty does  (Your actions are more important than your looks) 
27. Ret up  (Clean the house) 
28. Scalawag  (A rascal or unprincipled person) 
29. Scarce as hen's teeth  (Something difficult to obtain) 
30. Skedaddle  (Get out of here quickly) 
31. Sparking  (Courting) 
32. Straight from the horse's mouth  (Privileged information from the one concerned) 
33. Stringing around, gallivanting around, or piddling  (Not doing anything of value) 
34. Sunday go to meetin' dress  (The best dress you had) 
35. We wash up real fine  (Is another goodie) 
36. Tie the Knot  (To get married) 
37. Too many irons in the fire  (To be involved in too many things)        
38. Tuckered out  (Tired and all worn out) 
39. Under the weather  (Not feeling well. This term came from going below deck on ships due to sea sickness thus you go below or under the weather) 
40. Wearing your 'best bib and tucker'  (Being all dressed up) 
41. You ain't the only duck in the pond  (It's not all about you) 

Shipping - 1954, JF

The shipping dock was within sight of the main gate.  I walked with the supervisor, to where the railroad tracks ended, and onto the dock.  The person I was to work with, John, was asked to help me with what I needed to know.  He was a slight man who probably didn’t weigh 135 pounds.  I was a whopping 145 pounds. Does the description “wiry” ring a bell?  He had on a “Duke” T- shirt and dungarees and looked to be in his early 30’s.  The job was simple; fork lift trucks would bring jumbo rolls of Kraft paper and place them in the boxcars.  They weighed tons.   We were to place wooden triangular-shaped blocks called chocks beneath the last two rolls, near the door, to stabilize them for their journey.  The chocks were to be nailed to the floor of the boxcars.  There would be four chocks per car and two nails per chock.

John handed me a hammer and said, “You know we had a college boy last week that couldn’t drive the nails.”  I said something like: he musta been a weakling.  I had spent a lot of time last year in High School helping to put in a new gym floor.  There was plenty of nailing.  I was in pretty good shape.  John smiled and handed me a bucket of nails as the first car was pushed into place.  The nails were huge.  In fact, I now believe they were at least 60-penny (D) nails…6 inches long or more.  I recently looked it up on the internet.  I had never seen or heard of that sized nail.  The expression, “bigger than a ten-penny nail” is used to mean very large.  They are not half grown compared to the nails in that bucket.

The dock board was placed between the dock and the car.  John and I entered the car and each put a chock under the first roll which was lying on its side.  John began hammering on his first nail so I followed suit.  After the first couple of hits, the nail was though the chock; I was encouraged.  The next few hits didn’t bring any progress so I increased the force.  The nail went…”ping”…and it flew out from the chock and hit the wall.  I quickly picked it up and began again.  Maybe I was nailing on a piece of steel or something.  Was the floor of the car made of Ironwood?   I “powered” the nail into the wooden floor about an inch; it bent almost in half.  John had long since finished his two nails.  He said, “Let me show you.”  He squatted down and with three or four hits each - finished.  The next car, I managed to get one nail in while he got three.  He didn’t seem to mind and never said anything.  It remained that way the rest of the night, one to three.  My arm was dead.  It was one of the longest nights of my young life.  My arm was much worse the next day.

I have often since thought of “college boys.”  Funny I never won the coin flip for that job again.

Pictures From The Trash - Part 4, The Duds

From 1 Bowater

Don't know why this picture was labeled The Duds. Left to right; M. Rowe; A. Humphrey; S. Naman; T. Low; D. Hunt; J. Wilkerson; B. Prater; J. Frank

Pictures From The Trash - Part 3 - Retirement Parties Were Grand!

It used to be a big deal when someone retired from the company after many years of service. Below are pictures from 1982 - Marvin Perry's retirement.

From 1 Bowater Pi

Pictured Left to right; M. Plaza; Marvin Perry; D. Nichols

From 1 Bowater

Pictured left to right; C. Hornsby; M. Plaza; Marvin Perry; B. Nichols

From 1 Bowater

Front row, left to right; A. Mielkie; D. Richardson; B. Hagner.
Back row, left to right; C. Hornsby; M. Hinson; Marvin Perry; E. Blackmon; B. Nichols; M. Plaza

There were many stories about Marvin. One I remember goes back to the "Good Ole Days" - before we knew all there was to safety. Marvin was picked (probably because he was the smallest) to descend into a pipe to see if a back wash valve was leaking. They tied a rope around his waist, and told him to pull if he got into trouble. Well, Marvin was out of sight, and the group on top thought they felt a pull on the rope - although Marvin didn't actually pull the rope - and they literally pulled Marvin back though the pipe. Needless to say, he gave the pipe a good cleaning by the looks of his clothes.

Paper Mill Pictures From The Trash - Part 2

From 1 Bowater

Start-up of the Pulp Dryer at Catawba. The Flakt air float dryer was the first of its type in North American and the 5th installed in the world. The dryer still operates today and is the oldest Flakt air float dryer still in service. The pulp appears to be either very low brite semi-bleach or unbleached.

From 1 Bowater

A picture of the Pulp Dryer wet end operator.

From 1 Bowater

An overhead picture of the Pulp Dryer wet end showing two presses and a steam pre-dryer. A third press was added some years later and the pre-dryer was removed about 10 years ago.

Paper Mill Pictures From The Trash - Part 1

This will start a series of pictures that were pulled from the trash. They were taken during a time when paper mills were proud of their achievements and employees.

From 1 Bowater

These folks are planting pine trees with a hoedad. The forestry folks used to say, "They were people with a love for the land" - but I suspect they were people who couldn't do anything else.

From 1 Bowater

This is a picture of wood being loaded on to a log truck.

From 1 Bowater

This is a picture of a pine seed orchard. Pollination was controlled and seeds were harvested.

The Screen Room, by JF

I was sitting in the extra board waiting room while a tune ran through my head … “The Tennessee Waltz”.  It was New Years Eve 1953.  The last several years  I had always attended a dance at the Legion hut on this night, but not  tonight.  Now I was sitting here, meeting the 4-12 shift at the “pulp mill”, trying to get work.  A friend of my father’s, Mr Crawford, walked in and told me to “come on.”  Years later, my father married Mr. Crawford’s widow after my mother died.  Well, it is a small town and getting smaller.

We walked to the back side of the mill and I followed him into “the screen room”.  He showed me what I was to do and took off.  I don’t think I ever saw him again, certainly not that night.

The screen room was located in a two-floor building near the woodyard.  The building smelled of pine, a very pleasant odor, and was warm with high humidity. The purpose was to separate good usable chips for the process although I had no idea that night what was going on.  There were conveyer belts going every which way and in the process there were pine chips and sawdust flying off the belts and landing on the floor, usually in piles.  My job was to shovel up the chips and sawdust and put them back on the belts.  It was an easy job and only lasted about a half an hour every hour.  The rest of the time was mine so to speak.  The noise was not too bad and best of all, I earned another $9.50 per shift (8 hours).

I figured out about the screens; there were several of them, each about as big as a small car.  The chips from somewhere were fed at the top of a vibrating screen that was on an angle of about 30 degrees.  The chips that fell through the top screen went onto another screen that had small openings where the good chips went on a different belt than did the too small chips.   Years later I found out that the too large chips were chipped again and sent back to the screens; the good chips were sent to the digesters and the too small chips and sawdust were burned to make steam…try writing that.  One thing I would say now is don’t get caught in a moving belt…it would be sundown!

Since I never saw another person in the screen room all night, I spent about half a shift looking out of a small window on the side of the building which overlooked a wet road and the side of a building housing a paper machine.  I thought of the song again: “I was waltzing with my darlin’ to the Tennessee Waltz, when an old friend I happened to see. I introduced him to my loved one and while they were waltzing, my friend stole my sweetheart from me.”  In those days, you could understand the words in a song and many sweethearts were lost.  Patty Page sang the song, published in 1950, and many others by her were enjoyed in the 50’s. “I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz.  Now I know just how much I have lost.”

I wouldn’t be waltzing that night, I thought.

JF

A Story About Two Managers

The paper industry has always had a "spotty" record when it comes to safety. I don't really know why, but I suspect it is probably no different than most. You'll be going along with good safety performance and then hit a period of time with a lot of injuries. This is how two different managers handled it.

Manager One. After a rash of injuries, this manager called in an consultant and all the department heads for a long day meeting. They went through the causes of injuries and ways management could change to improve workforce performance.

Manager Two. Again after a rash of injuries, this manager called in all the department heads and announced that every mill supervisor would work 12 hour days, and give round the clock coverage for the next ten days. He reported that he would be checking on their progress from his vacation and if there were any injuries during that time, the long hours would continue until their was improvement (The Ole Sea Gull Management Style).

So, which one was better? Well, if you practice MBO (management by objectives), they both saw a reduction in injuries reported and got the results desired by the manager. Which brings to mind whether they were using the correct measurement to gage success?