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By Erik Sine
Man pleads not guilty to illegally constructing sign on CUB site wall
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/man-pleads-not-guilty-to-illegally-constructing-sign-on-cub-site-wall-20150420-1morp5.html
The owner of sign installation business has pleaded not guilty to a charge that he illegally constructed an advertising hoarding that was attached to a brick wall that collapsed and killed three pedestrians in Carlton.
Teenage siblings Alexander and Bridget Jones and Frenchwoman Marie-Faith Fiawoo, 33, died on March 27, 2013, when a 20-metre section of the wall and wooden hoarding fell in high winds.
Construction giant Grocon was later fined $250,000 after pleading guilty to failing to ensure a safe workplace at the vacant Carlton and United Breweries site in Swanston Street.
In Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday, Jonathon Westmoreland, 30, from Wandin North, pleaded not guilty to a charge of doing building work without a permit over several days in October, 2011.
Prosecutor Paul Holdenson QC told the court that Mr Westmoreland's business traded as Paramount Signs and was not a corporate entity.
Mr Holdenson, with Andrew Woods for the Victorian Building Authority, said in his opening to a planned six-day hearing that the accused and three workers constructed the plywood hoarding attached to the brick wall.
He said Grocon owned the site and Mr Westmoreland built the hoarding pursuant to a contract with the company.
A court previously heard that he had been subcontracted by Aussie Signs.
Defence barrister Peter Haag told magistrate Carolene Gwynn that his client was not legally empowered to apply for a building permit.
Before the case began, Ms Gwynn noted that the hearing was booked in for six days and asked If it was correct that all attempts at resolving the matter had been "exhausted".
Mr Holdenson said that they had.
The first prosecution witnesses called had worked with Mr Westmoreland on constructing and attaching the plywood hoarding to the brick wall.
Paul Livesay, a mechanic, agreed with Mr Holdenson that the accused was the "boss" and also had worked on the job.
Mr Livesay said he had signed a "job safety analysis" before work began with a Grocon employee but he did not know if a building permit had been issued for work on the site.
Signwriter Daniel McMahon said he had done a "bit of everything" on the job and had attended a "tool box meeting" with the Grocon representative but he also could not recall a building permit being issued.
Ashley Taylor, a stone mason who is still employed by Paramount Signs, said he was told by Mr Westmoreland "what to do" and had not seen a building permit or heard anyone discuss one.
Guissepe Genco, the City of Melbourne's building surveyor, told the court the masonry brick wall ran for about 70 metres and the hoarding for about 20 metres of that length.
Mr Genco said about 20 metres of the wall collapsed and between 1.8 and two metres of the plywood hoarding had fallen.
He told Mr Holdenson that checks of council records had not found a building permit having been applied for or issued for the site in October, 2011.
In an unsworn statement by Mr Westmoreland in April, 2013, that was read in court by Mr Holdenson, he admitted he did not obtain any planning or building permits for the work because he did not deem it his responsibility.
He said he had been "totally distraught" since learning of the deaths and that he had "questioned myself every day since". He said in the statement that if there had been "any issue with the integrity of the wall I would have voiced my concerns".
Cameron Davey, a compliance officer with the Victorian Building Authority, said in evidence that Mr Westmoreland told him in an interview in December, 2013 that he had no formal building qualifications but had been a carpentry apprentice for two years.
In the interview, Mr Westmoreland said the company Aussie Signs subcontracted the work to his brother's company who then engaged Mr Westmoreland.
The hearing continues.
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By Erik Sine
Vic sign company to be tried on fatal wall
A Melbourne sign company will face trial over the fatal collapse of a wall on Swanston Street in the CBD which killed three people.
A magistrate has committed a Melbourne sign company to stand trial over the fatal collapse of a brick wall, but denied a request to have the matter heard in the Victorian Supreme Court.
Aussie Signs Pty Ltd will be tried on two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in relation to the collapse at the Swanston Street site that killed three people last year.
Defence barrister Nick Pappas told the court he was "gobsmacked" when prosecutors asked that the case against Aussie Signs be heard in the Supreme Court.
Prosecutor Greg Lyon had two days earlier made an application to have a charge against co-accused Grocon Victoria Street Pty Ltd, an entity of building giant Grocon, heard in the Magistrates Court where the penalties are lower than if it were to be heard in the Victorian County Court.
Grocon Victoria Street pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to ensure a safe workplace after the application was granted, and two charges each against two other Grocon entities were dropped.
Dr Lyon, who prosecuted the case against Grocon Victoria Street on behalf of the Victorian WorkCover Authority, told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday he had been instructed by the Director of Public Prosecutions to ask for the Aussie Signs trial to be committed to the Supreme Court.
Aussie Signs Pty Ltd was contracted by site controller Grocon Victoria Street to attach advertising hoarding to the wall which the prosecution says increased the risk it would collapse, but did not cause it.
Magistrate Charles Rozencwajg asked how the prosecution could call for the Aussie Signs matter to be heard in the Supreme Court when it had been willing to have the Grocon matter resolved in the Magistrates Court.
Dr Lyon said the DPP felt the case was of sufficient importance to be heard in the Supreme Court.
Teenage siblings Alexander and Bridget Jones, of Melbourne, and Frenchwoman Marie-Faith Fiawoo, 33, were killed when a 15-metre-long section of brick wall fell onto Swanston Street in the CBD in March last year.
Mr Pappas formally entered pleas of not guilty to the two charges against Aussie Signs and opposed the submission for the matter to go to the higher court.
Aussie Signs Pty Ltd will appear in the County Court on Monday for a directions hearing.
A plea hearing will be held on Thursday for Grocon Victoria Street in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
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By Erik Sine
Electrician fixing neon sign electrocuted
MANILA, Philippines — A jolt of electricity killed early Sunday a man fixing a neon sign in Quezon City.
Bryan Abdon, an electrician, of Lucena City, was replacing a busted light in the signage of a restaurant along Timog Avenue in Barangay (village) Sacred Heart, when he was electrocuted.
Abdon was declared dead on arrival by attending doctors of the East Avenue Medical Center.
Police Officer 2 Louie Serbito, of the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU), said that accident happened at around 2:30 a.m.
Serbito said that before the accident, Abdon had crawled inside the tube-shaped neon sign of the restaurant to replace a burned-out light.
The electrician was still working on the neon sign when his co-worker James Kevin Silvallana saw a pair of pliers fall from the signage.
According to the case investigator, Silvallana looked up to ask about the pliers but instead saw Abdon shaking violently. Silvallana immediately turned off the electricity and sought the help of barangay peace and security officers (BSPOs) and other restaurant employees.
The BPSOs took time to remove the body of the electrician from the signage before taking him to the nearest hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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By Erik Sine
Carbon monoxide suspected in death of Jamestown sign magnate
By: WDAZ TV, Forum News Service
JAMESTOWN -– An accidental carbon monoxide poisoning killed Harold Newman, the founder of the sign company here that bears his name, police say.
The 80-year-old accidentally left his car running in his Jamestown home’s attached garage before he went to bed Feb. 19, said Sgt. Thomas Nagel, a Jamestown police detective. He was found the next day in his bed, having apparently succumbed to the carbon monoxide that built up as he slept, Nagel said.
“We could still smell the gas fumes,” Nagel said.
Police were responding to a call made after Newman failed to show up for a dentist appointment earlier in the day, Nagel said.
Officers determined that Newman accidentally left the car running before going into his home the night before. The door from the garage to the home was closed, and Newman left no note or anything else to indicate the act was deliberate, Nagel said.
“In our carbon monoxide readings, it was quite high when we were there,” he said.
Some family members had arrived at the home by the time police arrived, he said. Newman lived in the home alone, Nagel said.
Newman appeared to have been in good health, but may have been suffering some memory lapses at the time, given his age, Nagel said.
“It’s sad,” he said. “He was a very good man. He was a very good part of the community.”
“Very sad,” his daughter, Kari Newman Ness, said Friday. “As people get older, these things happen.”
Newman’s body was taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Bismarck, which found the preliminary cause of death to be an accident, police said. Nagel said the final results of the medical examiner’s autopsy are expected to take another six weeks or so.
Newman Ness in 2008 became CEO of Newman Signs, the company her father started nearly 60 years ago in his mother-in-law’s garage. It’s since grown into one of the largest sign companies in the U.S., making billboards, traffic signs and banners, among other products.
A longtime community booster in Jamestown, Harold Newman’s name also graces Newman Outdoor Field, home to the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and the North Dakota State University baseball team.
“It’s been a month and we’re still missing him,” Newman Ness said.
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Back in the late 90's, before i ended up buying the family business, my parents talked to several different business brokers. it took nearly almost two years to find one that was trustworthy. One just wanted to sell us a book about the history of the business, another couldn't get any interested buyers, some just want to put your business up on a website, etc. I eventually bought the family business (still not sure if that was a good idea or not) and we worked out our own terms. Plus there was no brokers commission. One of my realtor customers is also a business broker and we're supposed to get together. With COVID on the wane, I hope to meet him farily soon. Maybe one of your customers is a broker as well as a realtor. I suggest that you reach out to SCORE and get some free help. SCORE is part of the SBA and it's all free and the people are eager to help you. Eventually I am going to have to sell and have been doing monthly zoom meetings to go over that subject, plus lots of other "stuff". I'm now 63 (and wish I had contacted SCORE thirty years ago) and figure I can afford to retire in another 35-40 years. :) Go to the SBA website and search for what you want and they'll match you with someone. I'm in the local chamber of commerce and another business owner told me that it took him 3-4 years to make one of businesses "bankable" because most buyers don't have the cash to buy you outight. They will have to go to a bank for a loan so all your books, inventory, etc. will have to be set up so a banker can understand your business and approve the loan. I'm supposed to catch up with that guy and get more details but we never seem to be at the same meetings. Again, SCORE will have people who can give you better information than "some sign-guy on the internet". What I can say that I've been upgrading equipment, having things serviced professionally, keep the trucks on regular maintenence schedules, etc. When I bought the business, most everything was old and run down but I was used to it and knew what needed to be replaced right away and what could stay. No one will want a business where a lot of equipment is close to the end of it's useful life. "New and Shiny" sells better than "old and dusty" even if the old stuff is better than the new. Best of luck! -
By Miller Signs · Posted
What's the best way to sell my 51 year old commercal sign business? millersignsinc.com Tanks, Rob -
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Hey Brian, I tried to get to the art room to ask our Flexi techs. But, it was a busy morning. I know in Corel Draw if you have the text converted to curves. You can look in object properties at path and it will show the path length. Which is the distance around the letter plus inserts. -
Thanks Rocco. I was able to find suppliers that would ship to us. But, we would be on our own for set up and training on the new machines. We are going to send our fabricator to a couple of shops that have purchased from our prospective supplier and check out the equipment before we buy. Thank you for taking the time to reply!
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