The past week put us face-to-face with hundreds of the 2,195 professionals who had gathered to:

• compare products and services,
• learn more to earn more,
• make deals,
• network and
• have a great time in Tunica!

But what we will focus on in the next few minutes are some of the living and future Legends of Manufactured Housing that we had the honor to spend time with.

First A Dream = Jim Clayton! = founder,
Clayton Homes and Chairman of Clayton Bank

For quite some time, Mr. James ("Jim") Clayton has been on our radar to have what you will soon see-for-yourself is a great interview.

In our industry travels to:

• Chicago at the inaugural National Community Council's Fall Leadership Forum, at
• Las Vegas, at the Manufactured Housing Institute's Congress and Expo and at
• Other trade shows and industry events, Jim has been very gracious to share a few minutes with me, as we chatted about his experiences in our great industry.

We've both wanted to do an interview, and the Tunica Show gave us an opportunity to sit down for over an hour to talk with a living legend in our industry.

When you get about an hour of video and you want to do a great job with it, well, you take your time to get it right!

Some of you have enjoyed the videos we've done in association with our colleagues at ManufacturedHomes.com that featured Nathan Smith or Terry Decio, Wally Coomer and a number of other respected industry pros. The upcoming video with Jim Clayton will be a hard one to beat.

If all goes well, we will bring you in our May Featured Articles of MHProNews what we believe is going to be a historic conversation with the motivating, insightful, talented and clearly successful Jim Clayton!

As but one example of how gracious Jim is, he gave our future legend – Tamas Kovach (pronounced "Tah-Mash Co-Vatch" like a watch) – the opportunity to get this photo.

My personal thanks to:

• Jim Clayton,
• Kevin Kimzey, President at Clayton Bank, and Jim's trusted associate
• Tori Watson

for the time and each one's part in making this what will be a highly anticipated viewing and reading combo!

Please don't be surprised if once this video and interview with Jim Clayton goes live if sales of his fine, inspiring book, First a Dream, once more go up.

Other Future Legends, Videos, News and Insights

Mr. Chet Murphree with Deer Valley Homes sat down with us at one of their stunning model homes on display at Tunica!  We will be bringing you a video interview with Chet that will let you see why Deer Valley Homebuilders is on the move.

Don't be a bit surprised if Chet has a book of his own some day, because this is one of the thousands of classy guys and gals that make our industry the wonderful way that quality affordable living becomes reality for millions of Americans!

We plan to share A Cup of Coffee with…Chet Murphree of Deer Valley Homes when our new April issue goes live by the middle of this week.

Others who are in our near-term video interview mix include, but are not limited to:

• Dennis Hill, who was mistaken for Warren Buffett during the Show (that's another a great story… ;-)
• Dick Ernst, FinmarkUSA.com – a finance guru par excellence! Sharing his insights and wisdom, more must viewing for those following MH finance issues
• Maria Horton, Regional Manager with West Coast powerhouse Newport Pacific Capital, a delightful lady who shared her experiences on our MHC panel if experts
• Jamie Duggan, who has been one of the great interior design and staging pros that has helped our industry sell more homes! A very fine conversation, look for it soon!
• Rick Robinson, MHI's General Counsel and popular author,
• Along with a number of others, including guided video tours with Tunica Show Chairman, Keith Bennett of Kabco Homes and others!

Clarity and some important MH Industry Housekeeping

We've long carried MHI, MHARR and other association news here on MHProNews.  As with any other industry's good trade media or trade journals, Manufactured Housing has to have balanced news and commentary. Trade media must be much more than a pile of press releases cobbled together.

Passionate, dedicated people may from time to time get carried away. Our industry is no exception, so the people in our industry are no exception; that clearly applies to me too.

One of my friends in MHARR pointed out that the optics of some of my commentary on Danny Ghorbani may not look right, given that I'm a board member of the Supplier's Division of MHI.

Hmmm, okay, I get the point and ought to address it.

First, we have a long standing policy that ALL commentary here may or may not reflect the views of sponsors, our parent company (Lifestyle Factory Homes, LLC) or myself as the managing member/editor/publisher. Please see this link above about that policy, which is part of our home page drop down menu. Further, in no way did any of the articles state that I was writing as a board member of MHI.

But perhaps I should have emphasized those point for the article in question. My apologies for any confusion that may have caused anyone.

Going back to the articles in question that focused on the writings of two industry professionals.  After we did some serious commentary, analysis and critiques, it seemed to me that we needed next was a lighter touch on those important issues.

Reader's Digest has had their famous Laughter is the Best Medicine section.

Political humor dates back to the earliest days of publishing, and even to cave men! Some of those cave wall-drawings could have been a bit of a spoof of the tribal chief or one of the chief's assistants.

So my aim was to use some wit and still make a point or two about how to – or not to – address certain topics being advanced in this or that person's public writing. What was decidedly not my goal was to diminish any person in that effort, much less any organization. To the extent that I was unclear or missed those marks, let me hereby extend my regrets.

Beyond a mea culpa, perhaps an appropriate way of clearing this up is to poke a little fun at myself, using a similar style of images and hyperbole. People sometimes call me a 'cheer leader,' so let's start with that spoof image.

Or how about poking fun at our own promos for new and upcoming exclusive interviews and news?

None of us approaches or carries the badge that reads 'perfection' on this side of the eternal veil. That clearly includes my lack of perfection, as any reader – or my wife! – can tell you. ;-)

So while we reserve the right to use any and all appropriate literary and visual tools to address issues of MH Industry importance, let me be clear that our mission is we are in the MH Industry advancement business.

Nor should it be forgotten that we routinely offered those two and others the opportunity to comment on the record. Did they do the same for those that they were targeting?

We strive to be fair and balanced, which may explain why our readership continues to grow and has made us the run-away Number 1 source for news, tips and views in our industry.

Which takes us back to the spoof on me above! ;-)

Most Got It, some Did Not…

Most of our readers got it, and the most commonly used word in the aftermath of our spoof article was “hilarious,” along with 'well done,' etc.. Naturally, some didn't like it, and of course there was a range in between.

It seems to me that since the parties in question regarding that spoof are used to dishing-it-out to others in public, they ought to be ready to face the public music too, right?  We crossed no established lines or standards, as the relatively mild presidential political cartoons above prove.

But for those whom I inadvertently caught off guard or were offended, again, that was not the goal or my intent. My hope was to lighten the mood, while addressing the issues. 

“Tony, The Fire is Out”

Those points shared, sources at MHARR tell us that the “fire is out,”  that an internal commitment has been made by their salaried official and leadership NOT to attack MHI in the future (or threaten or attack us as a publisher…) directly or by inference.

Further, we are told there will be public agreement where possible between MHARR and MHI, and disagreements will not be made public or part of their official statements.

Time will tell, but if that holds up that's good news for everyone in our industry. Our point has been that their public attacks were not good for their members or for anyone else in our industry.

We all need to pull together on matters such as HR 1779 and S 1828, along with the emerging GSE reform bill. Let me wrap that up by saying that we've never attacked their organization, nor any other groups.  Hopefully all's well that ends well!  Unless there is a new similar issue, we are moving on.

Kudos To Share

On the other side of the fence, sources at MHI told us that there was 'plenty of credit to go around'  on the emerging Senate bill on GSE reform. That's a tacit tip of the hat to MHARR, states and other associations from other industries, all of whom deserve credit for making that GSE reform bill coming together in the Senate that could be good for other industries, ours and the home buying public.

NYTimes, Frank Rolfe and 'Mobile Home University' (MHU)

Our upcoming April issue will feature an interview with Frank Rolfe regarding the controversial New York Times article that has drawn so much national attention and industry commentary. Look for it in our Featured Articles module on our home page.

Our new issue will be live by mid-week. In the meantime, you can catch up on the Daily Business News, which is the first and still only Daily Business News source for all of factory built housing! My thanks to our sponsors, writers, team and all who make this pro-factory-built home resource possible. ##

(Image credits, First a Dream cover = Amazon.com. Happy face = loveletterdaily. Newsboy = wikicommons. First political cartoon, Doner/Political Grafiti. Second political cartoon, M-Wuerker/News-in-Feed. Male cheer leader = wikicommons. Jim Clayton and Tamas Kovach = ManufacturedHomes.com.)

L. A. 'Tony' Kovach
ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com | MHProNews.com |
Business and Public Marketing & Ads: B2B | B2C
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