By By Lee Weyhrich
Tentatively opening Jan. 25, B&T Texas-Style Bar-B-Que could be called a restaurant courtesy of Hurricane Ivan.
"Except for the treated lumber just about everything you see is courtesy of Ivan," said Byron Vaughan, the restaurant's owner. The building's supports are made out of logs from trees that fell over during the storm. The walls are covered with cedar paneling that was milled from cedar trees felled by Ivan and leftover pieces of cedar have been used to make trim work for the interior.
Even some of the oak to be used in the barbecue pit is compliments of this county's largest storm.
"I go hunting on my property nearly every day, and every time I see something else I can use in the future," Byron said.
"Byron doesn't throw anything away if he thinks he can use it," said Byron's wife Tricia as she explained that in a former life the office paneling was a picket fence.
Though Byron and Tricia were born and raised in this area they spent the last 20 years in Texas. "This is really kind of a homecoming. We left Texas to get away from the rat race," Tricia said. "My husband likes to cook so we decided to start a restaurant," she added.
This is the Vaughan's first experience with restaurant work. "Byron worked in the high-tech industry making sure systems were working in big factories," Tricia said. "I was the art director for the Texas association of realtors," she added.
Tricia quit that job for five or six years to raise her family and rejoined the workforce as a physical education teacher.
"This restaurant is just something we really wanted to do; we're just glad to be back home," said Tricia.