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The Weavers: Eight Volvos, two accidents and a tree

The Weaver family of New Castle in Henry County has owned eight Volvos since 1994.

Their vehicles have been in three mishaps over the years and the occupants have always walked away.

“The Weaver family should be on a survival TV show,” Volvo declares in a press release.

The son’s Volvo went off a road and down a steep slope one rainy night while he was delivering pizzas. The car was pulled out, it restarted and he went on his way, Volvo says.

Another family member’s Volvo was totaled in a freeway accident and a huge tree fell on patriarch Richard Weaver’s car, but it was drivable.

“We would like to thank Volvo for helping to protect our lives,” Weaver says.

That’s good, but we have questions.

Why are Volvos so accident-prone? If highway conditions don’t get ‘em, the trees might.

Did the pizzas in the son’s Volvo survive the accident and were they hot when they got to customers?

And when was the last time someone in a Volvo delivered a pizza to your door?

We have issues.

Does Volvo have answers?

 

 

 

Sign has “blue” side, “red” side — but not for UK or U of L

Americans have freedom of speech — and William “Chip” Wood believes in using it.

Wood owns about 50 TireDiscounters stores in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

About twice a week, he sends faxes to his managers to tell them what messages to put on the double-sided signs in front of his stores, including two in Lexington.

New messages went up Thursday.

“Free Tire Inflation Democrats Only” is on one side of the sign. “Free Tire Inflation Republicans Only” is on the other.

The messages are based on the ongoing debate by presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain about how much gasoline could be saved if we all kept our tires properly inflated.

By early Thursday afternoon, there had been only one call.

“What about Ron Paul?” the caller asked, referring to the independent Republican candidate for president.

To get Paul up there would require a three-sided sign, Wood said. His stores don’t have those.

“We are just trying to have a little fun,” he said. “People like it a lot. We do get comments. We get complaints, too. I have to be honest about that.”

Edgy, topical ideas attract attention and that’s been one of Wood’s goals for the 30 years he has been writing the messages.

Another goal is symbolized by his signs. “You have got to look at the other side of the issue,” he said.

It might change your whole view of the world.

 

You can compromise by ordering thin crust

You have to wonder if Mad Mushroom Pizza has given full thought to the meaning of “fast” when you see the Mad Mushroom delivery car zipping around town.

The Mad Mushroom order number — 252-FAST — is on the sign on the roof of the car.

Sure “fast” means quick or speedy — as in get-it-to-you-while-it’s-hot — but it also means “to abstain from all or certain foods” or “to eat very little or nothing.”

We bet the second meaning is not the one they want you to think of when the Mad Mushroom delivery-mobile goes whizzing by.

 

 

 

“Wait a minute, isn’t that …?

Commerce Lexington members were in Washington, D.C., recently for briefings on urban issues by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Lots of brochures and other materials were handed out.

On the front of one brochure was a photo of a familiar place: A row of colorfully painted buildings in downtown Danville.

“Don’t know where or how the Chamber picked this picture,” wrote Phil Osborne of Preston-Osborne Marketing Communications and Research, “but it’s nice to know that the representation of Main Street America is right down the road.”

Danville is now the symbol of great downtowns everywhere.

The photo was taken by Clay Jackson of The Advocate-Messenger newspaper after The Heart of Danville Main Street Program won the National Main Street Award in 2001, said Julie Wagner, the group’s executive director.

“The National Trust for Historic Preservation has used the picture a lot, and I’m sure they (the Chamber) got it from them,” Wagner said. “It really speaks about downtown revitalization and … what we do here.”

 

Counting down to laughter and World Equestrian Games

Pearse Lyons is an Irishman.

“The Irish are the laziest men in the world,” he told the Kentucky Chamber’s Economic Summit and Annual Meeting on Tuesday.

(You could almost hear someone say, “How lazy are they?”)

“We always marry pregnant women,” he said, without missing a beat.

There was a twitter of laughter that quickly became a roar as the audience got the joke.

Timing is everything.

While Lyons was speaking, his company, Alltech, was marking time in a different way.

The Nicholasville biotech firm that is sponsoring the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games was delivering 49 countdown clocks in Lexington, Harrodsburg and Louisville that are similar to the large ones in downtown Lexington. They all count down to Sept. 25, 2010, when the equestrian games begin at the Kentucky Horse Park — 784 days as of Friday.

Some of the 41 places with the new clocks are Ramsey’s Diners and Applebee’s Park in Lexington, the Old Owl Tavern in Harrodsburg, and Liquor Barns in Louisville and Lexington.

After the Ryder Cup competition in September, more clocks will be distributed, said Alltech spokesman Billy Frey.

“It’s our way of getting the word out about the games and doing a little marketing, too.”

Big Ass Fans comes to the aid of N.Y. church

The sacred and secular collided in Flatbush, N.Y., last week, and both came away winners.

 

 Our Lady of Refuge Church got a 24-foot fan to cool its sanctuary and Lexington’s Big Ass Fan Co. got national publicity from its “wicked name,” said the New York Daily News.

 

 “Oh my gosh!” church administrator Judy Agard told the Daily News. “We might have to change the name (on the fan). It’s a church!”

 

 Our Lady of Refuge is about 100 years old and has no air conditioning, said Big Ass spokeswoman Shannon White. So the congregation chipped in to buy the $7,500 fan.

 

 Normally, installation costs $4,000 and takes two people to install, but the Flatbush church had structural and electrical problems that boosted the cost to $25,000.

 

 Seven people had to work 75 feet above the floor to get the job done.

 

 There are Big Ass Fans in about 50 churches, White said, but this was “unlike any installation we have ever done before.”

 

 Something else was different, too. Big Ass held a fund-raiser to help pay for the installation.

 

 Lexington employees who donated $10 got to work in shorts on Friday. The $890 was matched by Big Ass President

Carey Smith to bring the total to $1,780.

 

 Smith also was invited to appear on Fox Business Network to discuss his company and his entrepreneurial ideas.

 

 What’s that passage in the Bible? “The Lord works in mysterious ways?”

Need some motivation? How about a BMW?

Affiliated Computer Services is dangling a pretty nice carrot in front of its local sales staff.

The first sales rep to find a business ACS can buy that will yield at least $5 million in annual revenue will get a 2008 BMW 328i sedan that’s worth more than $35,000.

The car is painted white, but it’s also “green,” said spokesman Chris Gilligan. It gets 28 miles to the gallon.

So if you’ve got an idea for an acquisition, call someone in sales at ACS and make a deal.

Remember, half a Beemer is better than no Beemer at all!

Garage owner trades in his wrench, becomes a “consultant”

Lowell and Betty Nigoff had thought about retiring, but their thinking turned serious when they were introduced to Lexington residents Rob and Suzanne Morris through a mutual friend.

“After getting to know this younger couple, we decided we would entrust Lowell’s to them,” the Nigoffs said in an email to their friends and customers.

They have sold Lowell’s Bluegrass Automotive, which they have owned nearly 30 years, to the Morrises. The new name is Lowell’s Independent Automotive Inc.

Lowell’s was frequently ranked the best automotive shop in Lexington in local polls and the place is almost legendary for its customer service.

Loaner cars were nearly always available and bicycles were added recently. They also would buy customers breakfast or coffee at the restaurant around the corner while their cars were being repaired.

“Rob and Suzanne want to keep Lowell’s running smoothly as in the past and plan to keep everything the same; only the ownership has changed,” Lowell Nigoff said in his email. “You will continue to see the same familiar faces of all our employees you have depended on in the past.”

Customers have got plenty of time to tell the Nigoffs how much they will be missed.

“Betty and I will remain as consultants for the next year to make sure Lowell’s Independent Automotive continues the level of quality service we have provided since 1979,” he wrote.

 

Auto club finds greener pastures in Hamburg

AAA Blue Grass/Kentucky is on the move.

The auto club plans to relocate its headquarters to a new building in Hamburg that should be ready early next year, says spokesman Christopher Oakford.

The club is currently based downtown in a building it owns at 155 North Martin Luther King Boulevard.

With the additional space, AAA also plans to expand its call center and add as many as 50 new jobs, Oakford says.

Other details of the move are incomplete, but AAA isn’t abandoning its downtown members, Oakford says. It will keep an office there after its headquarters are shifted to the east Lexington suburbs.

Downtowners will still be able to get their travel books, tickets and maps near where they work.