National Clothesline

Everything is bigger in Texas and the Southwest Drycleaners Association’s “Big Show 2004” will be no exception.

The event, planned for March 4-7, promises a little bit of everything for those who make the trip to the George R. Brown Convention Center, located at 1001 Avenida De Las Americas in Houston, TX.

Before getting down to business, SDA will host its annual golf tournament at the Hermann Park Golf Course on Thursday, March 4. Registration will begin at noon, followed by a shotgun start at 1 p.m. The tournament will follow a Florida Scramble format. The cost is $60 per person, which includes green fees, cart, a box lunch and prizes.

On Friday, SDA has scheduled an attendee/spouse hospitality breakfast at 9 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

The association will also hold a General Membership and Awards meeting at 1 p.m. at the hotel. Jim Cripe, chairman of the board for IF and owner of Valet Cleaners in Temple, TX, will be the featured guest speaker.

At 2:30 p.m., an educational seminar on “State Funds” will be conducted. At the same time, a tour of Houston will examine the city’s historic sites for three hours. Cost to participate in the tour is $35 per person.

Friday’s activities will conclude with a welcome reception at 6:30 p.m. featuring the music of “3 of a Kind.”

On Saturday morning, March 6, SDA will present its Past President’s Breakfast at 7 a.m. Afterward, the association will blast off the day’s educational seminars with one by astronaut John Blaha, who has logged more than 7,000 hours of flying in 34 different types of aircraft and was the commander on two different space missions. He will discuss “Major Observations of a 17-Year NASA Career.”

The exhibit hall will open its doors promptly at 9:30 a.m. and be accessible until 5:30 p.m. It will open up again on Sunday at 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

On Saturday evening, SDA will present a social gathering at 6:30 p.m., followed by an evening of “SDA Celebration” featuring eating, dancing and the music of Kelly McGuire.

Sunday will kick off at 8 a.m. with a seminar on “There’s a Monster at My Counter” by IFI Garment Analyst Chris Allsbrooks. She will examine how to deal with nasty customers so that counter personnel can turn negative customer service situations into positive ones.

At 9 a.m., another seminar on “Families in Business” will be conducted by “Margery Loeb, an expert on the subject. She will outline the complexities of family businesses, focussing on the passing down of values, not just assets.

A complete registration package is available for the “Big Show 2004” at a price of $125 per person. Individual packages for each event are also available.

To make reservations at the Hyatt Regency Houston hotel, which will serve as the convention’s headquarters, call (713) 654-1234.

For more information, call SDA at (210) 826-4684 or visit www.sda-dryclean.com.

A fire at a Houston drycleaning plant last month had investigators wondering if an arsonist had targeted the business. And it left others wondering if divine intervention was at work there, too.

By the time firefighters arrived at the scene of the early morning blaze at Up to Date Cleaners, the building was fully involved. One firefighter was injured battling the blaze. Also due to the fire, dozens of others were left without gear. So, too, were many police officers.

A look at the pile of debris at the burned-out shop revealed many burned uniforms.

“A lot of officers use this location because it is centrally located to the downtown area,” Sgt. Larry Crowsen explained to a local television station. “So there were a lot of police uniforms in there.”

“It’s going to be a disservice to everyone in the community,” said Antwyne Johnson with the Houston Fire Department.

Fire and police officials were on hand not only to try to recover their uniforms and gear, but also to investigate. The fire seemed to be of suspicious origin; possibly the cleaners was a target because of the large number of police uniforms there.

One of the reasons there were so many officers’ uniforms inside the cleaners was the post Super Bowl rush to get back up to speed.

But when Father Brendan Pelfrey from Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church came to comfort the owners, who are members of his congregation, he was in for a surprise. His vestments, hanging alone on a rack, were the sole survivor of the conflagration. The plastic bag melted and was stuck to the hanger. But the cloth was pristine.

“In the church things are sanctified, made holy,” said Father Pelfrey. “This ought to be a sort of sign to us. It’s all hand embroidered.” Protected, he said, by another hand.