I am NOT saying Parnell is crooked but with names likes him as dealers, no one at the state level will go after them and keep a job. As PCP said, I view the timber business in my area as having the same kind of integrity as college football. But the problem begins and ends at the mill and it dang sure isn't them shift workers doing their job.

What a dealer does is eliminate the need for a consultant. Here we no longer can sell lump sum or at least it's rare. A cruise is rare. Usually, the dealer gives a $/per ton of wood for each category. That's it. That's it, take it or leave it. A landowner can contact as many dealers as he wants. Remember, dealers don't all get the same price at the mill. The dealers will mark property lines, different quality trees, etc. The landowner can and should get a performance bond. That's money held by the landowner and returned to the dealer at the end when all commitments are met, ie roads repaired.

One increasing problem I'm seeing that is pure theft by deception are with some dealers (,companies) going out of business. That's when a dealer knows he's going out and when. The last week or two he doesn't pay the landowner. Then BAM! He's out of business, or should I say the company is out of business, and there's no way for the landowner to collect. Reckon where all those load payments go???

And after all this, like college football, I'm still very pro timber business especially so for the landowner.