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Tuesday, December 2, 2003
A(.(,ll!
THE BATTALII
Christmas tree farmers hope for clear
cold weather for the 2003 holiday seaso
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) —All farmers watch the weather, but for
Christmas tree farmers the weather vigil is intensified because their
selling season is squeezed between Thanksgiving and December 25.
“We just have this small window of opportunity,” said Debra
Marolt, a teacher and owner with her husband, Mike, of the 5-acre
Pine Mountain Tree Farm in Corinth. “If the weather is bad and
people get ready to put up their trees, they’ll pull into Marvin’s or
Lowe’s or Wal-Mart and just throw one in the trunk.”
The good news for tree farmers who sell direct to consumers is
that the economy has strengthened in recent months.
Unemployment is down in Mississippi and nationally, and retail
industry analysts say shoppers are more in the mood to spend money
this year than last.
“I think the economy is better and I think people will come out
and buy,” said Mike Marolt, who hopes to sell 3(X) to 350 of his
Leyland cypress, Carolina Sapphire and Scotch pine trees this holi
day season, about the same as last year.
More good news for tree fanners: Industry overcrowding com
bined with competition from chain stores selling both real and arti
ficial trees has thinned the ranks of fanners, giving those still stand
ing some growing room. In Mississippi and Louisiana, the number
of tree growers declined from a peak of about 600 in the mid-1980s
to about 80 today.
“Our business is getting better because so many people are find
ing it’s hard work,” said Ben Moseley, owner with his wife, Jane, of
two 45-acre tree farms in Florence where more than 3,(XX) trees are
tagged for sale this season. “Our main competition is Wal-Man.”
NATH)
THE BA
More critical to tree farmers than competition fromWal-Mai
chain stores sold 21 percent of all Christmas trees lastyear-is:
fact that, increasingly, people choose fake trees over the realtli
In 1990, of the 70 million trees sold, about half were realfe|
By 2002, 70 percent of the 79.53 million trees sold were
,k l ohIiiil’ 11 > the National ('hristmas Tree Association.
"They’re making them nicer now, and they even have them:
orated,” said Al Acosta, who says the popularity of art
Christmas trees is hurting business at his 30-acre Child':
Christmas Tree Forest in Carriere in Pearl River County.
But Christmas tree farms are increasingly Americans'top di
as the place to buy a tree. In 2(X)2, 35 percent of real trees
bought at tree farms, compared to 19 percent in 1996.
free fanners increase their chances of making a sale byoffr
things that stores can’t.
At the Marolt farm in northeast Mississippi, the five aciK:
shared w ith horses, geese and ducks, a fish-stocked pond andaf
of turkeys that frequently wander over from a neighbor’s land
Acosta’s tree farm in south Mississippi besides9,000acte
varieties of pine and cedar — has jt pumpkin patch, fish p:
hayrides and free Faster Leg hunts for the children of those who'
a Christmas tree.
“We say we’re selling memories,” said Moseley, whosece
Mississippi property offers sleigh rides and farm tours and has a,
shop and petting zoo.
"The kids on the tours, they say they didn’t know trees a
They thought you got them at Wal-Mart." he said.
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
King remains hospitalized Monday
KING
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Stephen King
remained hospitalized Monday, but his spokesman
said the best-selling author’s condition was improv
ing and that he’d been taken off of oxygen in his
recovery from a bout with pneumonia.
Warren Silver, King’s Bangor attorney, said he
expects a “long process in tenns of getting him on
his feet and back to what he was before this all
happened.”
King was hospitalized with pneumonia Nov. 23
and underwent surgery two days later to remove fluid and scar tis
sue from one of his lungs.
“It’s a slow healing process and he’s in some degree of pain from
the thoracotomy,” Silver said. “It’s hard for him to get comfortable."
The 56-year-old writer was diagnosed with pneumonia before a
recent trip to New York City to receive the National Book
Foundation’s 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to
American Letters, presented Nov. 19 for lifetime achievement.
His condition worsened when he returned home to Bangor.
Doctors at Eastern Maine Medical Center diagnosed him with pleu
ral effusion, an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the membrane
surrounding the lung.
Silver has said there appears to be a connection between the
pneumonia and a June 1999 accident in which King was struck by
a van and nearly killed while taking a walk near his summer home
in Lovell. The writer suffered a broken leg and hip, a punctured
lung, broken ribs and other injuries.
King, whose books include “Carrie,” “The Shining” and “The
Stand,” is expected to make a full recovery and “is coming along,”
Silver said.
Meg Ryan’s role as Sally has not yet been cast, but Todd
expected an American actress to take the part.
Best known for playing the tormented Dylan McKay on lie
series “Beverly Hills, 90210,” Ferry appeared on Broadways?:,
seasons ago in a revival of “The Rocky Honor Show. ” In a
the West End, he follows his former co-star, Jason Priestley
“Friends” star Matthew Perry , who’ve braved the London stage-!
mixed reviews.
Tod said he wasn’t put off by the prospect of bad notices: “Ifye
got a great project and a great performer, then it doesn't reallytta
The stage version of “When Harry Met Sally...,’’ adapted by M
Kahan from Nora Lphron’s screenplay, is the latest in a long littetd
movies to have spawned stage musicals and. more recently,
“The Graduate," a British theater version of the Mike Nicholsi
had a lengthy run on the West End and a much shorter engager::
Broadway. The hit movie “Billy Elliot” is being developed:
London stage musical to open late next year.
Oh
First Lc
Chopm
Inv
Lynch to christen new cruise ship
Harry Met Sally" to hit London stage
LONDON (AP) — “When Harry Met Sally.” is coming to
London’s West End as a stage show, starring Luke Perry in the role
Billy Crystal made famous in the 1989 film.
The play is scheduled to open Feb. 20 at the Theatre Royal
Haymarket, producer James Tod said Monday. Preview performanc
es begin Feb. 10. Plans are for a limited run of 16 weeks.
MIAMI (AP) — Former Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch
will christen Carnival Cruise Lines' newest ship at
Feb. 27 ceremonies in Jacksonville, the Miami-based
line announced Monday.
Lynch will break a traditional bottle of champagne
against the Carnival Miracle before it begins its three-
day inaugural cruise from the Port of Jacksonville.
She'll be named the ship’s “godmother.”
“We are privileged that Miss Lynch, who repre
sents thousands of courageous American men and
women serving in our armed forces, has accepted ouri
godmother,” said Carnival President and CEO Bob Dickinson.
The former supply clerk from West Virginia suffered brokenb#
and other injuries when her 507th Maintenance Company*
ambushed in Nasiriyah, Iraq, on March 23.
Her April 1 rescue from a hospital made her an instantcekb
ty, although she has disputed some of the more dramaticem
of her capture, including reports that she engaged inafirefi?)
with Iraqi soldiers.
Carnival will make an undisclosed contribution to theJeS
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