Teen exhibits business savvy

KAMAS — It might seem these days that free enterprise is staggering. Unemployment is in double digits. People are begging for work. Lines at the soup kitchen are spilling out the door. The government is running some businesses and bailing out others.

But then I rounded the corner and ran head-on into good old American capitalism, alive, well and thriving.

I became aware of Cody Angell's business by way of his subtle yet effective advertising campaign.

The word "Firewood" was spray painted on a sign leaning against a faded wood trailer parked in a vacant lot on the road that leads to the Uintas.

Below that was "Self Serve."

Below that was "$2.00 Per Bundle."

And below all that was "Thanks."

The trailer was loaded with bundles of campfire-ready firewood, very similar to the bundles selling at the 7-Eleven around the corner for $5.99.

We were on our way for a camping trip at Moosehorn Lake. We needed firewood.

I screeched to a halt, got out and grabbed three bundles.

There was a little slot where you could put your payment. I folded up a five and a one and stuffed it in.

Cody had left his phone number on the sign if you needed help — in case the trailer was out of firewood, I suppose, or you couldn't figure out how to cram your debit card into that little slot.

I called the number a couple of days later.

I wanted to know who the brains was behind this outfit.

It turns out Cody is a 17-year-old high school senior, at South Summit High School, who plays defensive tackle on the football team, competes in the heavyweight division for the wrestling team (fifth in state last year), and at the start of the summer was out of work.

So he's the one who thought up this low-overhead firewood enterprise?

"Um, actually that was my mom who thought of it," Cody said. "I was looking for a job and I couldn't find one, so she said you could sell wood and I said all right."

The rest was surprisingly easy, he said. He bought a firewood permit from the Forest Service, took the family pickup truck up the road to where the Forest Service was clearing trees, bought a cord of wood for $9.50, took a chain saw to it so it would fit in the truck, brought it back home and got to work splitting it with an ax.

"Splitting wood's a pretty good workout," said Cody, which is particularly useful in his case because when he isn't thinking about football, he's thinking about wrestling.