Business Journal-Portland articles from June 1995

Business Journal-Portland archives from June 1995

State to scrutinize school budgets. (Oregon)
June 30, 1995... More state cash spells more state controls After forking over a record $3.5 billion in state funds for local schools last session, Republican lawmakers say it's time the Legislature had a hand in how school districts spend the money. GOP...

Is modem maker Prometheus now bound for glory? (Prometheus Corp.'s plan to spur sales)
June 30, 1995... Jack Murphy is trying to reverse the path of Greek mythology and light a fire under Prometheus. Murphy has spent the last six months tackling a task handed down by corporate parent Sierra Semiconductor Corp. That called for Murphy to...

OHSU takes first flight out of government nest. (Oregon Health Sciences University's search for new capital)
June 30, 1995... Bond market likely source of funding for Pill Hill's plans Dr. Peter Kohler sounds like an anxious student when he talks about his hopes that Pill Hill will earn a top grade. But Oregon Health Sciences University's president is talking about...

Tough trade talk wins Clinton plaudits at economic conference.
June 30, 1995... Far from the jet black balloons held by angry dock workers and auto dealers, a number of Portlanders quietly expressed strong support for President Bill Clinton's tough talk on trade with Japan. And they did so even before the Japanese conceded...

Port plans bridge to ease Rivergate congestion. (Port of Portland)
June 30, 1995... Hoping to shield a highly lucrative new tenant from exasperating rail-car gridlock, the Port of Portland has secured nearly $3 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to build a new track connection and bridge linking the industrial...

Zupan's deals reflect turmoil in Vancouver grocery market. (sale of Food Pavilion and Food World stores in Vancouver, Washington)
June 30, 1995... The Zupan's grocery chain has sold its Food Pavilion store in Battle Ground, and Safeway Inc. wants to buy the company's Food World store in Vancouver. The Portland-based Zupan's willingness to sell and Safeway's interest in buying is a sign...

Prideaux leaves agency to team up with Swearingen. (Meridel Prideaux; Prideaux Sullivan Pattison Inc.; Tom Swearingen)
June 30, 1995... Clients will follow her to new Prideaux Swearingen Longtime Portland ad executive Meridel Prideaux has joined forces with Tom Swearingen, chief executive officer of Swearingen Inc., as president of the newly renamed Prideaux Swearingen Inc....

Networking specialist keeps Nike plugged in. (Sam Rollins of Nike Inc.)(Profile)
June 30, 1995... Nike has an image as the perfect confluence of athletics and salesmanship. What most people don't realize is that information technology is as important to the marketing juggernaut as shoe designs or hip slogans. "For a company like Nike,...

Web designers weave new cottage industry. (World Wide Web)(Small Business Enterprise)
June 30, 1995... As companies hustle to get on the Internet, small design firms crop up to serve them Hawthorne area bookseller David Morrison has a new front door. It's located on the Internet. Bibliophiles can now run their fingers through a catalog of...

Sharing the load. (Freightliner Corp.'s subcontrators)(Focus on Manufacturing)
June 30, 1995... Freightliner's subcontractors hop on for the ride of a lifetime - the chance to share in the company's drive to the top Tim Thomas is always looking for a few good companies to join in a wild ride. Thomas, vice president of purchasing for...

Dealing with the big boys: it's an awkward dance between large companies and their subcontractors.(Focus on Manufacturing)
June 30, 1995... Companies such as Enoch Manufacturing Co. and Columbia Plastics Inc. will never become household names. But for corporations that depend on their services, they are vital to getting products out the door. Job shops and suppliers make bits and...

Tube maker motors to major expansion. (Tube Specialties Co.)
June 23, 1995... Peek under the hood of a Freightliner truck or the back side of a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and you'll likely see Dick Weyhrich's handiwork. His 32-year-old Portland business, Tube Specialties Co. Inc., builds exhaust pipes, radiator tubes...

States opening L-P probes. (Florida and Washington to investigate Louisiana-Pacific Corp. for fraud)
June 23, 1995... Washington, Florida examine fraud charges In the latest round of legal jabs at timber giant Louisiana-Pacific Corp., the Florida and Washington attorneys general have launched their own investigations into alleged fraud by the Portland wood...

Health care bills get low priority in Salem. (Oregon)(includes related article)
June 23, 1995... Health care reforms spent most of their time in the waiting rooms this legislative session. Even among bills that were examined, many died in surgery. Oregon's Medicaid program escaped with minor cuts and bruises. The latest in a series of...

PUC, Energy Department shaken by legislative change. (Oregon Public Utility Commission)
June 23, 1995... With a couple of strokes of the governor's pen, the state's two key utility regulatory agencies are in an uproar. The Public Utility Commission and the Department of Energy - including the key Energy Facility Siting Council - have both lost...

Legacy, Blues aligning with physician groups. (Legacy Health System; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oregon)
June 23, 1995... Physician groups are in talks with Legacy Health System and the state's largest insurer about a new alliance that could mean a broad evolution in the local managed care market. Metropolitan Clinic, Mullikin Northwest and Cascade Physicians...

Hospital workers file charges against Kaiser with NLRB. (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.)
June 23, 1995... A coalition of union groups with members who work at Bess Kaiser Hospital and oppose the planned closure of that facility has filed a spate of unfair labor charges against Kaiser. The labor group also is planning a rally outside Kaiser's...

Oregon State Bar affirmative action program draws fire.
June 23, 1995... Survey respondents resent dues spent on diversity issues Trying to snow a new spirit of openness, the Oregon State Bar this year sent out an annual membership survey with a question that had never been asked before. On its surface, the...

Lowry's tax moves draw mixed reviews from business. (Washington Gov. Mike Lowry)
June 23, 1995... SEATTLE - When Gov. Mike Lowry finally signed Washington state's $17.6 billion budget June 16, business groups both booed and cheered. Lowry helped draft and pass the much-welcomed sales tax break for new machinery and equipment, but he...

OEDD director describes dance of recruitment. (Bill Scott, executive director of Oregon Economic Development Department)(Interview)
June 23, 1995... Oregon is enjoying a wave of industrial development. From Portland to Eugene, companies have been announcing new plants - largely in the booming semiconductor industry. Somewhere in the background of most all of those announcements is Bill...

A chamber with a different flavor. (Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Portland, OR)
June 23, 1995... After a year, Hispanic Chamber gains members develops joint programs Humberto Reyna and Richard Reiten have never met. Reyna heads the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Reiten the mainline Portland Chamber. Reyna's organization has...

PayLess trims administration. (Thrifty Payless Inc.)
June 16, 1995... Thrifty PayLess Inc. has cut 19 positions at its Wilsonville headquarters and it may be handing out more pink slips. Dana VanderZanden, a spokeswoman for the drugstore chain, said the move to trim administration in Wilsonville is part of an...

Blue Bell crunched as buyers back off; local snack food plant closes, idling250. (Blue Bell Snack Food Inc.)
June 16, 1995... The 66-year-old Blue Bell Snack Food Inc, factory has made its last bag of potato chips. Blue Bell closed its Portland plant June 11, sacking 250 employees at the company's Oregon and Washington operations. The corporate parents of the...

Court ruling ices paralegal firm. (People's Paralegal Service Inc.)
June 16, 1995... Pacing around her Beaverton office last Tuesday, paralegal Robin Smith began to complain about a failing copy machine, then remembered she really needn't bother. The 8-year-old business she started with a mere credit card and hard work is on...

Legislature tinkers with land-use laws. (Oregon Legislature)(includes related article)
June 16, 1995... But vaunted system endures session The sky didn't fall on Oregon's land-use system in the 1995 Legislature. Lawmakers chipped away at citizen involvement in land-use proceedings, but the state's vaunted land development rules weathered their...

Phillips fails in effort to win rental equipment tax break. (State Senator Paul Phillips)
June 16, 1995... Oregon rental equipment dealers lost their quest for a $1.1 million-a-year tax break from the 1995 Legislature, despite some artful maneuvering by Sen. Paul Phillips (R-Tigard). The tax break, which would have exempted dealers' equipment from...

Sass' glucose tracking device undergoes trials in France. (National Applied Science Inc. founder David Sass)
June 16, 1995... A glucose monitoring device created by National Applied Science Inc. in Portland has undergone promising trials on 60 diabetics in France. Local entrepreneur Dick Sass, founder of the 6-month-old National Applied Science, said the implantable...

Property tax break for utilities stalls, but issue not dead.
June 16, 1995... Phone, power giants seek break on 'intangible' assets Utility companies' bid to win a $12 million-a-year property tax break ran out of steam June 9 in the closing frenzy of the Oregon Legislature. But the debate won't end over whether...

Bankruptcy filings on the rise in Oregon.
June 16, 1995... After four years of healthy declines, the number of bankruptcies in Oregon has jumped by 8 percent. The overall increase is primarily because of a hike in personal bankruptcies, experts said, noting that business bankruptcies have dropped in...

Troubleshooting Inc.: too much post-training assistance led to creation of 800 Support.(Small Business Enterprise)(Company Profile)
June 16, 1995... Danton Mendell solved a problem at one business by creating another. The Long Island native was already successfully running a training company called Pacific Dataware. The Lake Oswego company specialized in computer operating systems,...

Consolidated Freightways Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
June 16, 1995... 3240 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, Calif. 94304 Consolidated Freightways Inc. is a diversified freight transportation company, with operations throughout the world. the company acquired Emery Air Freight Corp. in April 1989. It also operates...

Small ports top list for 240-job BHP steel plant. (Port of St. Helens; Port of Kalama; BHP Steel International Group)
June 9, 1995... The controversial $41,000 state economic development officials ponied up to send 69 business prospects to the Rose Bowl in January may be about to pay off in a $221 million steel plant for Columbia County. BHP Steel has narrowed its site...

Melvin Mark sketches new high-rise. (new commercial building planned in Portland, OR)
June 9, 1995... Greyhound block has proved a dog for two previous developers Melvin Mark Cos. will take a stab at developing a downtown Portland high-rise on the block where rival developer John Russell threw in the towel last year. Mark has formed a...

Lattice set for next market twist. (Lattice Semiconductor Corp.)
June 9, 1995... There was no need to coerce Lattice Semiconductor Corp.'s employees to attend this week's company meeting. Bonus checks of $2,345 going to 347 eligible employees from the production line on up were persuasion enough. As Lattice celebrates...

Portland area cashes in on chip sweepstakes. (Sumitomo Silix Silicon Inc. eyes Newburg, OR, as site of semiconductor plant)
June 9, 1995... Sumitomo revisits once-reluctant Newberg The on-again, off-again courtship between Japanese chip giant Sumitomo Sitix Corp. and the city of Newberg is back on - but with the understanding that there's another suitor waiting in the wings for...

SEH planning $710 million Orchards plant. (SEH America Inc. to build new semiconductor plant in Vancouver, WA)(Portland Area Cashes in on Chip Sweepstakes)
June 9, 1995... SEH America Inc. will build a $710 million semiconductor plant expansion in Vancouver, after winning a tax policy change from Washington lawmakers. The expansion, built in phases over several years, will more than double the current...

Database giant IHS buys Creative Multimedia. (Information Handling Services)
June 9, 1995... Swigging a pint of McTarnahan's, Corey Smith, the president and chief executive officer of Creative Multimedia, stopped for a moment the evening of June 7 to peruse his minions. Sprawled across picnic tables outside the Portland Brew Pub, they...

Kitzhaber veto revives local real estate transfer tax option. (Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber)(Legislature '95)
June 9, 1995... Portland civic leaders could seek a tax on property sales to fund city housing programs now that Gov. John Kitzhaber has vetoed a legislative moratorium on real estate transfer taxes. Kitzhaber spokesman Bob Applegate said June 7 the governor...

Property tax limit wanes in Legislature. (Oregon)(Legislature '95)
June 9, 1995... But proponents want to take measure directly to voters Oregon lawmakers apparently will go home before approving a new property tax limitation, but the issue promises to crop up again in a January special session. House support for a...

Attorney takes long journey to Alaskan roots. (Kurt Engelstad, Portland areafranchiser for Mail Boxes Etc.)
June 9, 1995... Kurt Engelstad was slow to discover the extent of his native Alaskan heritage. His father had never discussed the family's history in detail and Engelstad was a middle-aged Portland attorney before he knew the story of how his Norwegian...

In marketing dogfight, Alaska Air to highlight amenities. (Alaska Airlines Inc.)
June 9, 1995... SEATTLE - Alaska Airlines is back to selling service, comfort and quality - but forget the peanuts. Touting itself as the "last great airline," Alaska is cranking up a major new marketing campaign to position itself as the highest-quality...

Does small business thrive in the big city? (Portland, OR)(Small Business Enterprise)
June 9, 1995... [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] National study indicates that small towns aren't best for small business Small businesses thrive in small towns - or so conventional wisdom states. But a new study by the American City Business Journals Inc., the...

Federal budget-cutting poses threat to Hanford cleanup. (Hanford Nuclear Reservation)
June 9, 1995... Mounting threats to the federal budget for cleaning up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation have left watchdog groups wondering how much the Hartford orange can be squeezed before there's no juice left. The budget for the country's largest toxic...

Piecing together the energy puzzle. (upgrading the lighting fixtures and energy systems at Standard Insurance Center and Standard Plaza)(includes related article)(Focus on Construction & Energy)
June 9, 1995... Energy remodel at Standard towers balances concerns of landlords, tenants They only come out at night. They travel with the precision and thoroughness of a well-trained squadron, moving in groups like a swarm of nocturnal bees canvassing a...

Setting aside the set-asides. (affirmative action programs)(includes relatedarticle)(Focus on Construction & Energy)
June 9, 1995... GOP takes aim at affirmative action CHARLES DURHAM, a black businessman and owner of C. Durham Construction in Beaverton, once thought he was an extremely popular guy in the local construction industry. His mailbox was stuffed with inquiries...

Even in dark Northwest, 'daylighting' saves money. (using solar power to light buildings)(Focus on Construction & Energy)
June 9, 1995... A manufacturing engineer recently told me that he had a directive from corporate to reduce annual energy consumption by 5 percent a year. We were in a warehouse-sized building where his group was conducting a technology fair. "We plan to...

Restaurants Unlimited moves closer to public stock offering.
June 9, 1995... Seattle - Restaurants Unlimited Inc. is setting the table for a public offering, as it aims for faster growth following last year's $85 million management buyout. A year ago, the Seattle-based company indicated that a public stock offering...

Business, labor join to gut campaign law. (Oregon; campaign finance reforms)
June 2, 1995... Business lobbyists and GOP lawmakers have lined up surprising support from public employee unions in a bid to water down Oregon's voter-approved campaign finance reforms. The unlikely coalition wants to ditch much of last fall's Ballot...

Tiny bank finding big niche. (Northern Bank of Commerce)
June 2, 1995... Northern Bank builds relationship business After seven years banking with Oregon's pre-eminent financial institution, U.S. Bank, Sandy Rollins decided to call it quits. "The lack of service, the standing in line for an hour, the general...

Nursing homes, hospitals vie for shrinking revenue. (Oregon)
June 2, 1995... A statewide nursing home group is attacking Providence Medical Center's plan to add 20 specialty beds, saying it may decrease the number of patients steered into nursing homes. The battle pits nursing homes, which have been under economic...

L-P federal indictment likely June 12. (Louisiana-Pacific Corp.; 1995)
June 2, 1995... A federal grand jury in Denver will announce within two weeks whether it will hand down indictments of Louisiana-Pacific Corp. in connection with a 3-year-old investigation that the company falsified air pollution data from its plant near...

FEI jumps on high-tech IPO bandwagon. (FEI Co.)
June 2, 1995... A Hillsboro-based company that manufactures workstations used in the design and manufacture of semiconductor chips has completed a $25 million initial public offering. FEI Co. went public at $9.50 a share May 31. A total of 2,530,000 shares...

Grain companies rush to add Northwest storage capacity. (Archer Daniels Midland Co.; Cargill Inc.)
June 2, 1995... Recent expansions on the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers by two of the nation's largest agri-businesses are triggering speculation that a shift in the international grain market is imminent. With little fanfare, Decatur, Ill.-based...

U.S. Bank offers health care credit card. (United States National Bank of Oregon)
June 2, 1995... Anything from Fido's back surgery to your teen-ager's orthodontia work may be covered by a new health care credit card offered by U.S. Bank and the Mercer Island-based CareCard Northwest. The revolving credit line is intended to ease the...

Yamhill commissioner waffles, but Sumitomo looks elsewhere. (Yamhill County,Oregon; Commissioner Rob Johnstone; Sumitomo Sitix Corp.'s application for property tax abatement)
June 2, 1995... A wave of resentment from local business interests has a Yamhill County commissioner reconsidering his dissenting vote that last week derailed the courtship between Sumitomo Sitix Corp. and the city of Newberg. Sumitomo abruptly ended its...

Mayor grapples with growth issues. (Portland Mayor Vera Katz)(Interview)
June 2, 1995... The booming Portland metropolitan region has become the envy of the nation. Technology companies are shopping it suburbs for new plant sites, developers are vying to build posh new housing and retailers are scouring the region for any plot...

Bonita repackages growth. (Bonita Pioneer)
June 2, 1995... The Tigard company has grown through acquisition - without a lot of cash Bonita Pioneer, a local paper products manufacturer, makes something to hold or wrap just about everything. Even wood products king James River Corp. buys a sack made...

Banking on change. (technological innovations)(Focus on Banking & Finance)
June 2, 1995... Technology is turning the world of banking upside-down - and customers must keep up with the changes, or get tossed overboard Years ago, John Kresge helped repair automated teller machines at night to earn extra cash. One busy Christmas...

Willamette Industries Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
June 2, 1995... 3800 First Interstate Tower, Portland, Ore. 97201 Willamette Industries Inc. a diversified wood products company, has 90 manufacturing facilities in 18 states and employs approximately 12,000 people, 3,400 in Oregon. Willamette's operations...