I changed the Soapstone Yahoo! Group Home Page cover art and description. The core of the description change is listed below.

Our current “cover art” is of a 1930 Lion Cubbook. Cub Scouts used to have the ranks of Bobcat (just a pin in the 1960's and it seems like it was just a joining rank), Wolf, Bear, Lion, and Webelos. In the United States from the beginning of the Cub Scouts Program until 1967 there was a Lion rank, but it was discontinued in 1967 in favor of an expanded Webelos Scout Program. As a matter of fact Webelos (or WeBeLoS) used to stand for “Wolf Bear Lion Scout” rather than the current “We'll Be Loyal Scouts”. This Lion Cubbook was given to Robert Patton by Henry Slack, the father of Troop 134 Eagle Scout John Slack, on the occasion of his son's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Also, Henry Slack is the son of the late Silver Beaver Recipient and Scoutmaster of Troop 462 at North Decatur Presbyterian Church from 1960 to 1976, Searcy Slack of the DeKalb District of the Atlanta Area Council, BSA.

Let me encourage you to view the image of this Scout Sunday program at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Soapstone/ soon.

In researching Searcy Slack on the ajc archives, I also found information on his son Henry Slack.

Henry Slack was/is a strong advocate for bicycling and was frequently quoted in articles about bicycling and Atlanta bike trails. At one time, he was the President of the Southern Bicycle League.

Following are two articles about Searcy Slack and the neon lighted sign trade in Atlanta.

Obituaries: Searcy Slack , 81, lighted Atlanta in neon

The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution - Wednesday, October 27, 1999

Author: Kay Powell; Staff

For more than 30 years, Searcy Slack, 81, of DeKalb County kept Atlanta's historic neon signs burning brightly.

Southern Neon Displays, owned by Mr. Slack until the late 1980s, was behind the classic Coca-Cola sign in Margaret Mitchell Square, Varsity drive-in signs and the Delta Air Lines time and temperature billboard.

"He was proud of the work," said his son, Bill Slack of LaFayette. At night, Mr. Slack would ride around Atlanta, checking out his company's signs to be sure they were burning properly.

The memorial service for Searcy Bradfield Slack Jr. is 2 p.m. today at North Decatur Presbyterian Church. Mr. Slack died of heart failure Saturday at DeKalb Medical Center. The body was donated to Emory University School of Medicine.

A 1939 Emory graduate with a degree in geology, Mr. Slack started as the bookkeeper at Southern Neon Displays in 1945 after serving in the Army during World War II. His father had part interest in the business, which was started in 1925, and Mr. Slack became its owner about 1954, said his wife, Arline.

Southern Neon Displays' most famous work was the round Coca-Cola sign [http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM4BTR_Coca_Colas_sign_at_Five_Points_Atlanta_GA] that hovered over the intersection of Forsyth and Peachtree streets from 1949 to 1981. That historic sign was removed to make way for a park. An accompanying 44-foot thermometer was removed in 1965.

In the late 1980s, he lost interest in the business because of complications from unions, local ordinances and federal regulations and eventually shut it down, said his wife.

He was a 60-year member of the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, serving as president in 1952. Mr. Slack was Scoutmaster of Troop 462 at North Decatur Presbyterian Church from 1960 to 1976, taking his Scouts camping or hiking every six weeks, regardless of the weather. The Atlanta Area Council of Boy Scouts presented him the Silver Beaver award in 1972. Survivors other than his wife and son include two other sons, Gordon Slack of Amarillo, Texas, and Henry Slack of Decatur; a daughter, Virginia Slack of Atlanta; two sisters, Julia Slack Hunter of Atlanta and Gene Slack Morse of Decatur; and seven grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to North Decatur Presbyterian Church, 611 Medlock Road, Decatur GA 30033.

Caption: Photo: Searcy Slack

Edition: Home; The Atlanta Constitution
Section: Local News
Page: B6
Index Terms: Obituary
Record Number: 29805482
Copyright 1999 The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution.

It's a Gas: Neon Is Making, An Illuminating Comeback

The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution - Tuesday, December 20, 1988

Author: YANDEL, GERRY, Gerry Yandel Staff Writer: STAFF

Neon has grown from small, inviting beer signs into sizable signboards promoting everything from ice cream and gasoline to homeowners' artistic savvy. The gas-filled lights are making a comeback after declining in popularity in the '50s and '60s. There are approximately 3,000 neon companies nationwide. Some companies in Atlanta are The Neon Company, Deco Neon, and Southern Neon Displays.

There's no escaping neon. It's everywhere.

No matter where you look throughout the city, your attention is arrested by blazing tangerines, eye-arresting fluorescent pinks, soothing royal blues, glimmering emerald greens and golden yellows.

Neon has grown from small, inviting beer signs into sizable signboards promoting everything from ice cream and gasoline to homeowners' artistic savvy.

"We've gone from four years ago doing $75,000 [a year] to $250,000," said Gregg Brenner, owner of The Neon Company, one of a dozen local outlets that supply and manufacture neon. "It's been picking up pretty steady."

The gas-filled lights are making a comeback after declining in popularity in the '50s and '60s. There are approximately 3,000 neon companies nationwide.

Although most applications for neon are commercial signboards, the light is turning up in homes as art decor as well as architectural additions on buildings all over the country. For instance, a service station on North Avenue broke from traditional gas station signboards with a soft blue neon silhouette of Atlanta's skyline.

"A lot of people like it because the skyline's right behind it," said Lyn Zingale, manager of Skyline Auto Service. "People like it because it's neat and there's not a lot of neon on service stations."

On the architecture front, Mr. Brenner is currently negotiating with a large developer to outline a 40-story building in neon, similar to that on the Interfirst Plaza building in Dallas.

"I'm getting more offers from people who want neon in their homes," said Jere Brookshire, an artist who works as a graphic designer. "Since I started working with neon . . . I've made more money off it this year than I have at my regular job."

"It offers more atmosphere and mood, and it's a focal point for a room," he said. "I think if it was more affordable, more people would want it."

Linda and Tod Chmar have used neon decoratively in their home.

"We needed a big, bold piece of art," said Mrs. Chmar as she showed off a four-piece neon sculpture she designed for her husband as a birthday present. Mrs. Chmar sketched her concept on an index card and took it to Mr. Brenner, who bent and filled the tubes. There is no crackling noise coming from the tubes hanging in the Chmars' bedroom, and the lights are cool to the touch. The only problem, it would appear, is visiting house guests: the $350 sculpture was originally five pieces until a friend stepped on one of the tubes.

The small one-and two-color neon sculptures in The Neon Company's showroom on North Avenue start at about $200. As they get more intricate, and more twists in the tubing are required, they get more expensive. Some commissioned works of neon have commanded seven-figure prices nationally.

The expense of neon sculptures is one of the reasons that Kimo Chamberlain, owner of Deco Neon, a manufacturing plant in the Atlanta artists community The Mill, eased his business away from small art sculptures to artistic commercial enterprises.

"I got sick of hearing people complaining about how expensive it was to make something that doesn't involve a lot of work," he said. "It's an elite glass."

One of Mr. Chamberlain's neon signs, the animated Scoops ice cream parlor sign at Pershing Point, won a national design award in 1984.

For all it's prismatic splendor and eye-catching allure, making neon is a fairly simple process.

There are only two gases used in making commercial neon lighting: neon, which burns red, and argon, which burns blue. Although some artists dabble in the other rare gases - krypton, xenon and halon - they require a lot of electricity to burn properly, which can make them economically unfeasible.

There are only a finite number of colors, according to Mr. Brenner, and they are achieved by dusting the inside of glass tubing with fluorescent and colored powders and tinting the glass. One of the more intriguing aspects of neon is that a powdered tube that is a bland yellow when turned off might become green or orange light when turned on.

"It doesn't have anything to do with mixing colors like with paint," said Mr. Brenner, a former high school science teacher who began dabbling in neon as a hobby 10 years ago.

Mr. Brenner and artist Scott Atkinson discuss designs with customers.

"You have to think about when you turn off the lights, does it still have an image," said Mr. Atkinson, a graduate of the University of Georgia art school. "You have to pick which lines make your image come across the best."

Once the design is agreed upon, Mr. Atkinson draws up actual-size patterns on paper for each tube that needs to be bent. The tubes, which are manufactured in 4-foot-long segments, are most easily assembled into the sculptures in 8-foot segments, Mr. Brenner said.

Glassblowers bend the tubes according to the drawings. While blowing gently into the tubes to keep the glass from collapsing, the "glass benders" heat, weld and twist them into the components of a neon fantasy.

"There are only about nine different bends, like notes on a piano," said Mr. Brenner, who also bends glass occasionally. "The rest is learning how to put them together."

The tubes are attached to a curious-looking contraption called a manifold, which is a series of valves and glass tubing connected to 1.25-liter bulbs of neon and argon, a vacuum pump and a high-voltage bombarder. After the air is sucked out of the neon tube by the pump, it is "bombarded" with pure electricity to purify the glass, which helps create a brighter, longer-lasting light. Then, the glass is allowed to cool before it is filled with gas.

As colorful as the lights are that he's erected during nearly 50 years as a sign maker, Searcy Slack remembers the big neon "spectaculars" that were Atlanta's landmarks when the city was younger and its buildings shorter.

Southern Neon Displays has been making signs since 1925 and perhaps its most famous was the round Coca-Cola sign that hovered over the intersection of Forsyth and Peachtree streets. That massive work of neon and incandescent light and porcelain on a steel scaffolding was 33 feet tall and required 1,300 feet of neon tubing.

That sign was actually one of the last to go up that could face the expressway, Mr. Slack said, because of the controversy surrounding an animated neon weather sign for a television station that was erected on a radio tower on Spring Hill.

"It was a series of tube overlays that could read `cold,' `fair,' `clear,' or whatever the weather was and alternate with the TV station's call letters," he said. "It used to be the most dangerous sign in Atlanta.

"Judge Herschel Cone called a meeting to do away with animated signs facing the expressway because of that sign," Mr. Slack continued. "Someone asked, `Judge, what do you have against animated signs?' And he said, `If you had to sit in traffic court in bad weather and hear over and over again how someone couldn't stop because they were looking at the sign, you'd be against them, too.' "

A municipal zoning code was passed in 1982 requiring any animated or illuminated sign within 300 feet of the highway to be reviewed by a zoning committee.

Mr. Slack fondly recalled some of the older neon "spectaculars" in Atlanta, including the oldest atop the Georgian Terrace Hotel, which is still there but inoperable, the art deco intricacy on the Plaza Theater on Ponce de Leon Avenue and the colorful tubes greeting Hartsfield International Airport passengers. Mr. Slack said that while neon is beautiful, it's also practical.

"It doesn't burn out," he said. "I know of some signs that have been out in weather for 40 years and are as bright today as they were when they went up."

Caption: Photo: neon sign at Scoops ice cream parlor Color photo: Gregg Brenner, owner of The Neon Company, works on a sign at his Dekalb Avenue workshop / Nick Arroyo

Edition: The Atlanta Constitution The Atlanta Journal
Section: FEATURES
Page: E/1
Index Terms: Business ; Advertising ; Design ; Industry ; Trends
Record Number: 881204912
Copyright 1988 The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution

Robert Patton

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