Staff reports
Tifton-based Prince Automotive Group has increased its share of Albany’s new vehicle sales market by acquiring Edwards Motors of Albany.
The deal, which enables Prince to sell Buicks and Cadillacs in addition to Chevrolets, becomes official today. On Tuesday, Prince Chevrolet of Albany – which acquired Wallace Chevrolet last year — began stocking its sales facility at 1001 S. Slappey Blvd. with new Buicks and Cadillacs.
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By Kevin Hogencamp
Last fall, downtown restaurateurs Sarah Edmonds and B.J. Fletcher never imagined they’d be launching new businesses; they were plenty busy with their multiple ventures.
Nor could they have fathomed just how excited they are about the economic revival of downtown Albany.
My, what a difference a few months make.
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By Kevin Hogencamp
Hooters Being Evicted (UPDATED)
Hooters’ landlord has served eviction papers on the Albany restaurant for its failure to pay rent.
Property owner Joe Watkins says he hopes the business at 2817 Old Dawson Road remains open, but that he exhausted every opportunity work with Hooters before serving the business with a seven-day dispossessory notice.
“They’ve lied to me and now they have written a bad check are avoiding my phone calls,” Watkins said.
On Wednesday, Watkins had a huge banner erected on the Hooters storefront offering the building for sale or lease.
The restaurant’s manager, Chris Gilbert, referred questions to the company’s corporate headquarters in Claremont, N.C., but he said, “We’re not being evicted yet. We’re open through the weekend.”
Indeed, the restaurant is promoting a big Super Bowl party on Sunday.
Eddie Baldwin, the corporate officer responsible for the Albany location, did not return The Albany Journal’s telephone calls. In response to the Journal’s telephone messages, a man who identified himself as a spokesman for Albany Wings LLC provided this statement to the Journal:
“The lease has come up for renewal and both sides are obviously not in agreement on where that lease should be … and it is in the attorneys’ hands now. Obviously, as you can tell with the Harley dealership going out of business right here, it’s kind of telling you what we are dealing with. It’s an unfortunate situation.”
The spokesman refused to identify himself or answer any questions.
Watkins said Hooters’ lease 10-year lease expired Jan. 31, but there are no lease negotiations under way.
“They owe for December and January … ,” he said. “It’s us trying to collect money they owe.”
By Kevin Hogencamp
Lajuana Woods faces numerous court liens, is three months behind on a federal $100,000 loan, and has lost money every day of 2011 because her business has been closed since Dec. 30
But Woods says she is optimistic that after renovations are complete, perhaps by Super Bowl Sunday in early February, that L’ Jua’s restaurant and lounge on Radium Springs Road will transform into a primary destination for music lovers and fun seekers.
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Hospital Board
John Temp Phillips, III – Chairman
John Culbreath, E.D.D. – Vice Chairman
Bernard Scoggins, M.D.
Jyotir K. Mehta, M.D.
Hasan Rizvi, M.D.
Gordon F. Stanley
Clay Banks
Mary Helen Dykes
Mark Lane
Karen Iler
Kimberly S. Fields
Steven Belk
Joel Wernick
Health System
Lemuel Griffin – Chairman
Lamar H. Moree, M.D. – Vice Chairman
Anthony O. Parker, Ph.D.
Laurence T. Crimmins, M.D.
James Woods, M.D.
William M. George, Jr., M.D.
Will Sims
Tom Law
Wilhelmina Hall
Bruce Melton
Joel Wernick
Board Member Emeritus
Anna Louise McCormack
Willie D. Hampton
Health Ventures
Bruce Melton – Chairman
Kerry Loudermilk – Vice Chairman
Joel Wernick
Hospital Authority
Ralph Rosenberg – Chairman
Charles Lingle, DVM
John S. Inman, Jr., M.D.
Jyotir K. Mehta, M.D.
Wilhelmina Hall
Lamar Reese
Rev. H.B. Johnson
Rev. Eugene G. Sherman
Phoebe Foundation
Henrietta Singletary – Chairman
Michael J. Wetherbee – 1st Vice Chairman
Selena Wingfield – 2nd Vice Chairman
John S. Inman, Jr., M.D – 3rd Vice Chairman
Glenn Kirbo - Secretary/Treasurer
Opal Cannon
Eley C. Frazer, III
James Griffin, Jr.
Larry Hockman
Jeannette Hoopes
Emily Jean McAfee
W. Gregory McCormack
Lawrence B. Willson
Ben Benford
Rick Doherty
Steve Wollinsky
Andy Christo
Bucky Leach
Maria Wood
Crisp Gatewood
Chap Enfinger
Phoebe Worth
Don Monk – Chairman
John Cochran – Vice Chairman
Natu Patel, M.D.
Larry D. Daugherty, D.M.D.
Mary King Givens
Shirley Ann Thomas
Irene Hall
Joel Wernick
Phoebe Sumter
Connie Blanchard, Ph.D.
Michael Shane Busman, M.D.
Lara Pennington Gill
Brad Lafevers
Robbie S. Latimore, Ed.D.
Kerry Loudermilk
Frederick McLaughlin, Ed.D.
Frank Middleton III, M.D.
Joel Wernick
Phoebe buys Palmyra
By Kevin Hogencamp
It might be the local equivalent of Coke buying Pepsi. Or the Yankees acquiring the Red Sox. Or maybe — considering the power, influence and financial wherewithal of Phoebe Putney Health Systems – Tuesday’s astonishing announcement that Phoebe Putney Health Systems is acquiring Palmyra Medical Center may be more like Wal-Mart absorbing a competitor.
However it shapes up in the ranks of corporate takeovers, the deal that was conceived in late August and then gained tons of steam in the last three weeks before being approved and announced Tuesday stunned citizens throughout Albany and southwest Georgia on Tuesday.
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By Kevin Hogencamp
Though much smaller than some of its failed predecessors, another Albany manufacturing company is shutting its doors after contributing millions of dollars annually to the area’s economy for decades.
American Standard Brands has begun laying off some of its 31 employees at its Fiat bathroom accessory plant at 1950 Maple St. in east Albany. Longtime plant manager Peggy Roberts said she already has lost her job, but refused further comment. The plant makes shower floors, mop service basins and wheelchair receptors. It generates $10 to $20 million in annual revenue, and has employed as many as 35 people.
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DALLAS DAVIDSON ALSO IS NAMED IN A LAWSUIT FILED BY A TEXAS MAN WHO SAYS THE TWO ALBANY-AREA COUNTRY STARS STOLE THE PREMISE OF THE SONG ‘RAIN IS A GOOD THING’ FROM HIM
By Kevin Hogencamp
Rain makes corn. Corn makes whiskey. And, says a Texas deputy sheriff who moonlights as a singer-songwriter, Leesburg’s Luke Bryan and Albany’s Dallas Davidson are copyright thieves.
In a federal lawsuit filed this month, J.D. Monson of Flower Mound, says that that the premise or “hook” for the recent No. 1 country song “Rain is a Good Thing” penned by Bryan and Davidson was illegally taken from a song Monson wrote in 1999.
Davidson told The Albany Journal on Tuesday that the lawsuit has no merit and that he and Bryan will vigorously defend themselves against Monson.
“It’s sickening. Luke and I have never heard of this singer, we’ve never heard his song, and we never even heard of his song until Friday,” upon learning of the lawsuit, said Davidson, who along with Bryan now lives in Nashville, Tenn., where have achieved stardom for their songwriting and singing talents, respectively.
Monson is seeking $150,000, the statutory limit for copyright infringement awards in the United States.
“We are very disappointed that somebody would make groundless accusations and we intend to defend ourselves and our copyrighted work,” Davidson said. “It’s something we’re taking very seriously.”
“Rain is a Good Thing”, a single from Bryan’s 2009 album “Doin’ My Thing,” is among country music’s most successful songs of 2010. Monson says he wrote “Rain Makes Corn,” which he says is his “signature song,” in 1999. Both songs have the line, “rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey.” Otherwise, the lyrics and music are quite different.
In the song co-authored by Bryan and Davidson, the line “rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey” is followed by “whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky.” In Monson’s song, “rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey” is followed by “whiskey makes me feel fine.”
“Rain makes corn and corn makes whiskey is a common phrase we’ve heard most of our lives,” Davidson said. “It’s just so disappointing to have to deal with this. We are basically shocked about it. Our song, our lyrics are something we created based on phrases we heard growing up in Albany, in an agricultural community.
“Everybody down there in Albany knows that Luke and I wouldn’t do something like this. It’s a common phrase kind of like saying, ‘I don’t know him from Adam’s housecat.’ And I don’t know this guy (Monson) from Adam’s housecat.
Monson says in the lawsuit that Bryan and Davidson infringed upon the copyright of Monson’s work by registering “Rain is a Good Thing” as copyrighted material, and that the two copied and profited from Monson’s work.
“Defendants clearly used Monson’s song entitled ‘Rain Makes Corn” as a model, template and inspiration for their song ‘Rain is a Good Thing,’” the lawsuit states. “At no time did defendants retain or acquire a license, or otherwise secure Monson’s permission to use Monson’s copyrighted work. Since Bryan’s ‘Rain is a Good Thing’ was released, Monson has received numerous communications either (a) congratulating him for his number one hit or (b) telling him that someone had stolen his song.”
Also in the lawsuit, Monson says that Bryan and Davidson have had “a reasonable opportunity to have been exposed to Monson’s song” because “in this age of social networking and YouTube, virtually every person in this country and outside this country has had access to Monson’s copyrighted work – ‘Rain Makes Corn’ – since year 2001.”
Further, “defendants have traveled to and/or performed in many of the cities and have had access to the same media outlets,” the lawsuit states.
Also named in Monson’s suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Austin, Texas, are Capitol Records LLC, Bug Music LLC, and Bryan’s and Davidson’s companies, Row Crop LLC and Georgia Boys Music LLC.
Asked why he thinks the lawsuit was filed, Davidson replied, “I don’t know what his motives are. It’s just unfortunate.”
In a recent television interview aired before the lawsuit was filed, Davidson told the story of learning the phrase “rain makes corn; corn makes whiskey” from Leesburg farmer Stan Cannon.
“He was the first person I remember hearing saying it,” Davidson said of Cannon. “We lived a half mile from his farm and every time it would cloud up, we’d say that we can’t go fishing or hunting and he’d say, ‘Alright boys, rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey.”
Bryan said in a recent interview that as the son of a farmer, “we were always looking up at the sky, checking if it was raining.”
“That always kind of set the tone for the mood in my household, whether we had raining coming in or not,” he said. “If it had rained, we knew the crops would be good and it was going to be a good day or a good week around the Bryan household … Dallas and I used to have the saying, ‘Rain makes corn, and corn makes whiskey,’ and it was just something we always said.”
Longtime close friends, Davidson and Bryan are scheduled to play at the State Theatre in Albany on Nov. 24 for the fourth annual homecoming Turkey Jam concert.
“We probably ought to open the show with, ‘Rain is a Good Thing,’” Davidson said. “But seriously, what we’re facing with this (lawsuit) is a serious thing. It’s not a joking matter.”
Monson performs mostly in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He has performed abroad, opened for country superstar George Strait, and had an appearance on the television show “My Fair Wedding” in May. He says that “Rain Makes Corn” has been posted on the internet since 2001.
Bryan won the 2010 Academy of Country Music Awards Top New Solo Vocalist and Top New Artist. “Rain is a Good Thing” is Bryan’s first No. 2 hit; “Doin’ My Thing” also produced the No. 2 country hit, “Do I”.
Like Bryan, Davidson’s career also has exploded since his move to Nashville. Trace Adkins recorded Davidson’s “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”, taking the song to No. 2 on the country charts in early 2006. Davidson co-wrote the Brad Paisley-Keith Urban duet “Start a Band,” which reached No. 1 in early 2009 and earned Davidson an award from BMI. He also co-wrote Billy Currington‘s “That’s How Country Boys Roll,” which went to No. 1 this year, among other popular songs by Brooks & Dunn, Joe Nichols, Blake Shelton and Josh Turner.
By Kevin Hogencamp
Bill Farnsworth’s quest to make it big in the Albany business scene is officially over.
Meanwhile, a new business – Ellianos Coffee Co. – is slated to under way in early November.
Employees at Beef O’Brady’s near Darton College on Gillionville Road have been notified that the debt-ridden restaurant owned by Farnsworth will shut its doors permanently on Sunday. Indeed, Farnsworth – whose previous business ventures included the Lee County Beef O’Brady’s, South Georgia Speedway and some Subway restaurants – has taken a job out of state.
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The Georgia Board of Funeral Services has accepted a voluntary surrender of licensure fromNance and Sons Mortuary in Cordele. Meanwhile, at its September meeting, the board approved the following orders to accept fine money for inspection violations:
The Georgia Board of Funeral Services will hold its next meeting Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. at the Professional Licensing Boards Division office in Macon.
The Albany Journal is currently seeking profession...
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