Barnhart Crane and Rigging opens Shreveport branch office

Barnhart Crane and Rigging Co., a leading provider of heavy rigging and transportation solutions, has opened a branch office in Shreveport.

Dub Medaries, Shreveport, is the branch manager of the new office. Medaries is a career crane and rigging professional with nearly 30 years' experience working in the industry, including 21 years in the Shreveport area.

Barnhart's new office will provide crane service, rigging, transport and logistics service and specialty work, such as setting medical equipment, according to Medaries. Barnhart will maintain a fleet of hydraulic cranes of up to 110-ton capacity, with access to equipment from other regional offices.

Service area for the office includes south central Louisiana, east Texas and southern Arkansas. Other Barnhart offices in the region include West Monroe and Little Rock, Ark.

Barnhart continues to add full service branches to expand services to its existing customer base and expand to new regions to allow clients the opportunity for seamless service throughout the region.

Twenty-one construction supervisors improve skills through AGC STP course

Twenty-one individuals from five metro New Orleans area construction contracting firms have recently completed an intensive course to improve construction jobsite supervisory skills.

Sponsored by members of the Louisiana AGC - New Orleans District, the Supervisory Training Program (STP) course covered Project Management.

The Project Management class was held Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The class, led by Instructor Stephen Spohrer, vice president of SJB Group's Construction Services Division, was conducted at the AGC-New Orleans office.

All participants were presented a certificate of completion for the STP course during a graduation program at the AGC office.

STP Project Management participants and their sponsoring employers are as follows: Jim Breland, Barriere Construction Co. LLC, New Orleans; Brian E. Andre, John Bordelon, Chad Brignac, Brett Caillouet, Louis J. Daigle, Jr., Nicholas Fleming, Richard Martindale, Daryl Reno, and Lance Schilling, Boh Bros. Construction Co. LLC, New Orleans; John Boyd, Glenn E. Dobson, Craig Fontenot, Steve Huffman, Kirk Laborde, Jack Levy, J. T. Livaccari, Kenneth Matar and Tim Thornton, all Brice Building Company Inc., Metairie; Kelly Commander, Command Construction, LLC, Metairie; and Randy Robert, Gootee Construction Inc., Metairie.

A 10-part, AGC of America copyrighted series, the Supervisory Training Program is designed to improve jobsite management skills and improve productivity of construction supervisory personnel.

Eskew + Dumez + Ripple wins national honor award from AIA

For the second year in a row, Eskew + Dumez + Ripple has been selected to receive an American Institute of Architects Honor Award, this year in interiors, for its design of the Kate and Laurance Eustis Chapel at Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans.

The award was presented at AIA's national convention in May in San Diego, Calif. Eskew + Dumez + Ripple received the national award, only 11 of which were presented in interiors, from 600 total submissions in three categories.

The Kate and Laurance Eustis Chapel has also won top honors in local, state and regional AIA competitions, as well as a national 2002 Design Award from Faith and Form Magazine and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture.

The chapel was designed to meet the spiritual needs of patients, families and staff using themes of healing and reconciliation to engage visitors with the spiritual.

BancorpSouth acquires Wright & Percy Insurance

BancorpSouth Inc. recently announced that the company has reached an agreement to acquire certain assets of WMS LLC of Baton Rouge, which operates under the name of Wright & Percy Insurance of Baton Rouge.

Wright & Percy was founded in 1882 and currently has 130 employees in four offices in Baton Rouge, its headquarters, Alexandria, Lake Charles and Shreveport.

WMS LLC President and CEO Markham McKnight said, "Wright & Percy will maintain its separate identity as an insurance agency after the acquisition and will operate as a division of BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc., a subsidiary of BancorpSouth Bank."

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"This is not only the right move for our agency, it's the right move for our customers," McKnight said. "This alliance, as well as our future growth across the state and region, will bring us unparalleled leverage in the insurance marketplace. This makes us stronger than ever."

BancorpSouth Chairman and CEO Aubrey Patterson said, "This acquisition, which we expect to close within the next month, will help diversify BancorpSouth's revenue stream through additional fee income.

"We have been actively looking to expand our insurance services throughout the company's six-state market area and are pleased that Wright & Percy will join our successful insurance subsidiary," Patterson said.

In 1999, BancorpSouth acquired Stewart Sneed Hewes Inc. of Gulfport, Miss., which ranks among the top 100 insurance agencies in the nation. In 2000, BancorpSouth acquired Pittman Insurance Agency and the Kilgore, Seay and Turner Agency, each of which was a large independent agency based in Jackson, Miss.

WMS LLC Chief Operating Officer Tom Sandahl said, "Our acquisition by BancorpSouth will give us the resources to continue to build this organization, affording us increased opportunities to expand and serve even more customers in our Louisiana market."