Business Journal-Portland articles from June 2000

Business Journal-Portland archives from June 2000

Wins one for the wetlands.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... After winning a citizen lawsuit involving wetlands in the Port of Portland's Rivergate Industrial District, North Portland resident Mikey Jones figures it's one down and one to go. The port announced a tentative agreement of a lawsuit filed...

Portland: A good place to have a heart attack.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... A nationally recognized study on heart programs named three Oregon hospitals and a Vancouver one among its top 100 hospitals for treating cardiovascular disease. The study, conducted by health care consultants HCIA-Sachs, found that Rogue...

Snowboards like none other stir Avia founder.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... So what's Avia founder Jerry Stubblefield been up to lately? In a prototypical case of a guy who retired but couldn't stay away from work, Stubblefield has reemerged as a co-founder of snowboard engineering firm Inca Mountain Sports....

Trailworks.com hopes to have a leg up on web competitors.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... A Portland start-up that runs a web site for outdoors enthusiasts has hired a trio of executives from Nike Inc. and adidas International to lead its charge into the online wilderness. TrailWorks.com, the brain child of current Stanford...

Grand Ronde Tribe sinking dollars into Pearl loft project.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... This spring, the. Grand Ronde Tribe became a key investor in a $37 million mixed-use loft project sprouting out of the Pearl District. In teaming with Portland developer John Carroll, the tribe is bolstering its activity in an enterprise...

Council mulls Goose Hollow area plan.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Despite the Portland City Council's recent vote approving a Civic Stadium neighborhood and traffic management plan, questions remain over parking and traffic. But, a report by neighborhood and business representatives offers suggestions...

Insider Trading.(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... The buying and selling of stock shares by area executives Brian Cook President Direct Focus Inc. Shares sold between 12/8/99 and 3/15/00: 32,400 Avg. share price: $26.22 Share value: $849,400 Brian Cook ...

Telemachus Mentor is the model for this project.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... What's the definition no, the derivation, of the word "mentor",? Sure, you could look it up. But. I have to work my way into this column somehow, so I'm gonna do the heavy lifting for you. Mentor was a trusted friend to Odysseus, the...

Red Chip upgrades two April market reviews.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The Red Chip Review, the Portland-based small-cap market research division of RedChip.com, issued corrections to two rating changes that were announced on April 24. The first correction affected rating for Gottschalks Inc. (NYSE: GOT). Red Chip...

GemStone Systems Inc.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Fujitsu Siemens Computers of Munich, Germany, and GemStone Systems Inc. of Beaverton inked a long-term strategic partnership that will include mutual technology transfer and joint comprehensive sales and marketing programs. The GemStone/J...

Mentor Graphics Corp.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Mentor Graphics Corp., the Wilsonville maker of PCB system design solutions, acquired Germany-based Descon Informationssysteme GmbH, a privately held provider of product data management solutions for electronic system design. Descon will become...

MyHealthBank.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... MyHealthBank, a Portland provider of a health benefit service that lets employees, choose insurance and health care packages, said it is putting together a veteran management team by luring talent from other companies. MyHealthBank was founded...

Agritope Inc.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Agritope Inc. of Portland was awarded a Phase I grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture under its Small Business Innovation Research Program. The grant will provide $70,000 over a six-month period to fund research involving the use of...

Oregon Business Association.
June 2, 2000... Oregon's newest political lobbying organization, Oregon Business Association, has formed with 64 members and hopes to reach 200 late this year. The new organization's birth stemmed from dissatisfaction by a group of business owners with the...

Electro Scientific Industries Inc.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Portland-based Electro Scientific Industries Inc. said that Nanya Technology Corp. placed a $7 million, multiple-unit order for ESI's Model 9350 memory yield improvement systems. The systems will ship to Nanya's facility in Taoyuan, Taiwan,...

CORRECTIONS.
June 2, 2000... * A cutline of a photograph running above a story on the Portland Public Schools Foundation in the May 26 edition, mistakenly identified the participants. From left to right, the correct cutline should read John Pihas, Kevin Mulligan, David...

Courts begin process of disassembling GST.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... GST Telecommunications Inc. wants bankruptcy court approval for its planned sale to Time Warner Telecom by June 22, but first it must persuade the court and its creditors that the proposed sales process is fair. The Vancouver-based telecom...

Healtheon/WebMD's local office is thriving.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Almost two years ago when Sapient Health Network was gobbled first by WebMD, and merged nine months later with Santa Clara, Calif-based Healtheon Corp., some thought the patient-centered web site would disappear. Far from fading to...

Insurance that creates the standard.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... When Standard Insurance Co. went public in April 1999, investors gave it one mission: Grow Standard apparently accepted the mission. Buoyed by strong stock performance in recent months and nicely boosted earnings-per-share numbers, the...

E-health suffers stock plunge, but will overcome.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Online health companies aren't the only ones feeling unpopular on Wall Street. Every internet company, from Microsoft to Cisco, is seeing its stock hammered, said David Steele, a health care analyst with Gomez Advisors of Lincoln, Mass....

Oregon Steel allowed to sue.(United Steel Workers of America)(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... In the latest round of the bitter dispute between Oregon Steel Mills and the United Steel Workers of America, the Portland-based company now has a green light to proceed with a lawsuit against the union. Last week, a Colorado district...

Investment group increases its metals holdings.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... The Portland investment group that last year bought a specialty metals company in Albany has acquired a Vancouver, Wash., distributor of specialized stainless steel. Metals industry veteran Mike DeBonny and local securities expert Larry...

House committee snubs ergonomics proposal.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The House Appropriations Committee struck a blow against OSHA's proposed ergonomics standard by eliminating funding for enforcing the regulations from the agency's budget. Ergonomics opponent Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., calls the move a...

DOCTORS THWARTED.(collective bargaining legislation delayed)(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Legislation to give doctors collective bargaining rights was pulled from the House floor on the eve of Congress' week-long Memorial Day recess. The American Medical Association calls the delay "an outrageous subversion of the American...

CODE OF ETHICS ADOPTED.(by the Internet Healthcare Coalition)(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The Internet Healthcare Coalition unveiled a code of ethics for the web's 15,000-plus health care sites. The code calls for sites to provide accurate, up-to-date information and disclose any sponsorship relationships. It also requires...

CONTRACT GOAL FOR WOMEN SET.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... President Clinton ordered government agencies to designate a senior acquisition official to promote contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses. Last year female entrepreneurs won only 2.5 percent of all federal...

IRS TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Small businesses spend an average of $7 in compliance costs for every $1 in federal income tax they owe, according to the National Federation of Independent Business. This ratio may fall slightly after the Internal Revenue Service ramps up...

Stephen Babson.(chairman of Stoel Rives)
June 2, 2000... PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Stephen Babson Organization: Stoel Rives LLP Title: Chairman What we do: Make things happen for clients. Stoel Rives is Oregon's largest headquarters law firm with over 330 lawyers in Portland,...

1 + 1 = 1 tough little bank.(PremierWest Bancorp)
June 2, 2000... PremierWest Bank is a new challenger in Southern Oregon Like Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," Southern Oregon bankers may soon be peering over their shoulders at a relentless pursuer and asking...

When Rocket exploded, her 'chute failed to open.(Jen Lane, editor of Bar Fly)(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Bar Fly editor Jen Lane is feeling used and abused by Willamette Week's management team. But W.W. says it ain't so. The company hired her to be the editor of The Rocket, the Portland music tabloid it planned to buy and launch this month. To...

Wells Fargo opens its first commercial financial unit.(in Oregon)(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Wells Fargo Business Credit, a commercial finance unit of Wells Fargo & Co., has opened its first office in Portland at downtown's Wells Fargo Center. The organization will provide lending of $500,000 or more to companies that are either too...

PIONEER BANK GETS CEO.(Berniel Maughan)(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Oregon Trail Financial Corp., the parent of Baker City's Pioneer Bank, named Northwest banking veteran Berniel Maughan as its president and chief executive officer. Maughan recently served as president and state manager for U.S. Bank in...

WASHINGTON CONSOLIDATION.(InterWest Bancorp combines units)(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... InterWest Bancorp, with $2.8 billion in assets, plans to combine its three thrifts in central and western Washington into a single unit, and convert to a commercial bank. Based in Oak Harbor, Wash., InterWest owns InterWest Bank, Pacific...

KEY FILLS RETAIL POST.(Key Bank hires John Nolting)(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Key Bank has named John Nolting as its Oregon District Retail Leader. Nolting will be responsible for retail sales and services across Oregon and Southwest Washington. Nolting previously led retail sales for Key Bank in the Portland...

CEO ENDS CAREER.(Klamath First Bancorp Inc. CEO Gerry Brown)
June 2, 2000... Gerry Brown said he will resign as president and chief executive officer of Klamath First Bancorp Inc. and subsidiary Klamath First Federal effective Dec. 1. Brown's 42-year career with the thrift included virtually all positions from...

TRM OBTAINS FINANCING.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Portland's TRM Corp. said it completed two financings that will enable the company to continue placing automated teller machines in retail locations both domestically and internationally. The company obtained a $30 million line of credit...

VALIDATING MODELS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Top officers and directors of banks need to regularly validate the computer-based financial models on which they increasingly rely, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said. Models based on complex formulas guide decision makers...

Schwabe's environmental law team adds top player.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt has added a major player to its environmental law practice with the hiring of Martha Pagel, the former director of Oregon's Water Resources Department. Pagel will practice, no surprise here, regional water and...

STEPHENS JOINS BARRAN LIEBMAN.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Barran Liebman has selected Chrissa Stephens for the marketing job left vacant by Aaron Douglas. Stephens started on Thursday and said she's looking forward to working for a boutique law firm with a focus on employment law. Stephens comes...

DANDY DOZEN FOR PERKINS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... A pair of Portland law firms have added to their partner ranks in recent weeks. Perkins Coie named 12 new partners in its four offices and two of those partners are here in Portland. David Matheson is one of the new Portland partners....

VERDICT: YOU'RE IN.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Keith Tichenor of the firm Tichenor & Dziuba has been inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers. The college was created in 1950 to recognize excellence in trial lawyers. Its purpose is to improve the standards of trial practice, the...

GREEK SPEAK AT LEWIS & CLARK.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... The 227 members of The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College's class of 2000 graduated with a bit of Greek flavor last week. R. Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to Greece, addressed the grads. "Our law school has a...

Scribe says 'Unico Tower' is rolling off his tongue.
June 2, 2000... Editor 's note: The role of Brian Back this week will be played by general assignment reporter Andy Giegerich. All right. A real estate column, eh? Man, I could really make this Back guy's life miserable. More miserable, anyway. Hopefully,...

Top 25 microbreweries.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Top 25 microbreweries Ranked by twelve month total barrelage Phone Rank Company ...

Top 25 Oregon wineries.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Top 25 Oregon wineries Ranked by total gallons of wine produced Rank last Rank year Company Phone 1 2 Willamette Valley Vineyards ...

Flowerbud springs into prosperous growing season.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... After operating for little more than a year, Lake Oswego's Flowerbud.com has a milestone in sight: Profitability. Co-founder Alice Hayes isn't making promises, but she fancies that the online flower retailer will break even by late summer....

Tommy's flower child.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Anthony Vuky barely knew real flowers from plastic ones, but that didn't stop the young Portlander from buying one of the area's best-known florist shops, Flowers Tommy Luke. In the 14 months since then, Vuky's made some changes. He closed...

32 years of business brings delight and wisdom to one.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... After 54 years--32 of which I spent working in marketing and advertising--self-assessment and evaluation are beginning to get easier. Ironically, personal growth seems to gather speed with age. At least, that's how it's worked for me. ...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... ADVERTISING Fred Eckrosh joined JohnsonSheen as media planning director. ARCHITECTURE LRS Architects Inc. named T. Paul Frank Jr. principal. MCM Architects named Douglas Benson principal. CONSULTING Grant Thornton LLP...

NW Natural puts investors first.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... At times, it seems the individual investor is all but forgotten by today's single-minded public companies. Some investors are seen as nothing more than a source of lucre for rapacious company executives who want to ride in the fast lane. ...

Powell has paid his union dues.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... I have a suggestion for the unionized employees at Powell's City of Books: Disband. Kick out the union. Call off the war you've declared against Mike Powell. The union has turned one of the city's finest assets and a nationally recognized...

OPINION.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Asian factories aren't doing favors for anybody but Nike To the editor: RE: A letter to the editor written by Peregrin President Sam Bosch that printed in the May 19 edition, titled "Nike does Asian workers a favor": How...

Winners & Losers.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... KVO Public Relations If you're gonna sell-out, you may as well go with the best. KVO decided it needed a partner to take its business in new directions and settled on Fleishman-Hillard, the biggest PR shop in the country. It's the kind of...

SLAPSHOTS.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... **** Those brusin' Hansons The Hanson Brothers may have been the most electrifying supporting movie characters of the 1970s. Anyone who's seen the movie "Slap Shot" instantly memorizes their quirks and catch phrases: "Eddie Shor,...

Union courts Wells loan officers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... Spurred by disputes over sick leave and overtime pay, home-equity loan officers for Wells Fargo Bank in Hillsboro are seeking union representation. Up to 175 employees at Wells Fargo's Barnhart Consumer Lending Center would be covered if...

Awash in HMO red ink, Providence retrenches.(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... Multimillion dollar financial losses from its Medicare HMO have prompted Providence Health Plan to drop its senior coverage in eight counties ranging from the North Coast to Southern Oregon. The pull-out, effective Dec. 31 if approved by...

An old favorite revs up sales for 'cycle dealer.
June 9, 2000... Steve Salta didn't think too hard last year when he was given the chance to retail the Indian brand of motorcycle. Once among the most popular nameplates in the country, Indian still possessed a nostalgic appeal to motorcycle cognoscenti,...

Our idyllic strawberry fields may soon be just a memory.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... Strawberry fields forever? Not in Oregon, it seems. For at least six years now, the strawberry fields in our berry-rich state have dwindled rapidly, from 6,000 acres to about 3,500, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture. ...

Vesta splits its deck and deals a fraud-free hand of cards.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... In early 1999, Doug Fieldhouse realized it was only a matter of time before his old business would be crushed by the competition. So he got into a new business. His old company Carrier Services Inc., put together phone-card programs for...

Actors' union strikes, targets nonunion hires.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... Striking union actors, who are seeking fair pay on the internet and TV from advertising agencies, say they'll continue to picket outside Portland's Wieden & Kennedy and other agencies and production studios who don't support their contract...

The Numbers Game.(Oregon traffic accidents)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... The Numbers Game OREGON TRAFFIC FACTS Summary of motor vehicle traffic crashes Contributing All Fatal Injured Circumstance crashes crashes...

Insider Trading.(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... Insider Trading The buying and selling of stock shares by area executive Tuck Edwards Director TriQuint Semiconductor Shares to sell: ...

Southpark management finally finds right recipe.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... You know what they say about the restaurant business: The only thing that's worse than a failed restaurant is a successful one. The seemingly illogical sentiment speaks to the mercurial and unpredictable nature of making food for people...

Red Chip flips again as OGI falters short of altar.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... * Equities research firm RedChip.com Inc. of Portland announced it will be acquired by publicly traded FreeRealTime.com Inc. of Irvine, Calif., in a stock transaction valued at $20 million. FreeRealTime.com, a source of real-time stock quotes,...

The Oregon Graduate Institute.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... The Oregon Graduate Institute won't join forces with Oregon State University after all. OGI's board voted Monday to end discussions that would have produced a tech and engineering alliance with OSU. Scott Gibson, chair of OGI's board, said OGI...

American Resources and Development Co.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... American Resources and Development Co. (OTC Bulletin Board: ADCO), Portland, signed of a letter of intent to merge with Royal Avalon S.A. De C.V, a Mexico-based apparel manufacturer. Under terms of the deal, the newly merged entity will be...

Columbia River Bank.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Columbia River Bank of The Dalles has a new affiliation with LaSalle St. Securities LLC, through Trustime Inc., in Pendleton. The alliance is designed to provide brokerage services and financial planning to customers in the Pendleton and...

AVI BioPharma Inc.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... AVI BioPharma Inc. (Nasdaq:AVII) (Nasdaq:AVIIW, AVIIZ) of Portland presented data demonstrating that AVI's NEUGENE antisense drug significantly slowed progression of polycystic kidney disease. Results of the study done in collaboration with the...

Metro One Telecommunications Inc.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Metro One Telecommunications Inc. (Nasdaq:MTON), a Portland-based provider of enhanced telecom services, signed an agreement to continue providing Enhanced Directory Assistance and other services to subscribers of Pacific Bell Wireless and...

Integrated Measurement Systems.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... The Integrated Measurement Systems (Nasdaq:IMSC) Virtual Test Division of Beaverton, and Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A), announced that Agilent has purchased IMS' complete design-to-production virtual test toolset for each of Agilent's...

Adventist Medical Center.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Adventist Medical Center has a new computed tomography scanner from GE Medical Systems, one of the first hospitals in Portland to get the state-of-the-art equipment. The Lightspeed spiral scanner allows doctors to simultaneously capture...

Concentrex Inc.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Concentrex Inc. (Nasdaq: CCTX), Portland, and IHS Financial Products, an IHS Group company, are collaborating to allow clients to go on the internet for regulatory information. Concentrex's 5,000 financial institution customers will gain access...

YoCream International Inc.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... YoCream International Inc. (Nasdaq: YOCM), a Portland manufacturer and wholesale of frozen desserts and smoothies, reported that sales for the quarter ended April 30 were $3.7 million, a 2.4 percent increase compared to the same period a year...

iSKY.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... iSKY, a Bend provider of customer and employee retention and related products and services, opened a new customer care facility in Bend on June 7. The new facility consists of more than 42,000 square feet of space on two levels and houses...

PCC president happy to retire as a winner.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... In discussing his impending retirement, Portland Community College President Dan Moriarty blissfully recalls the 1992 bond measure that delivered $62 million worth of training centers and other facilities. By the time Moriarty leaves his...

Japanese electric giant buys Huntair division.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Yaskawa Electric Corp., a Japanese robotics and automation manufacturer with plants in Japan, Europe and the United States, has acquired a division of Tigard-based Huntair, which makes and supplies air-filter systems and other "clean-air"...

Tech start-up heads for San Jose.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Templex Technology Inc. is packing up and leaving Eugene for San Jose, Calif., as it tries to find the technical and managerial expertise it needs to compete in the optical technology business. Although the 12-employee company is small, it...

AEA's Oregon Council loses its first director.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... After leading the Oregon Council of the American Electronics Association for 12 years, Kyle Ritchey-Noll is turning her focus elsewhere. Ritchey-Noll, who has been the executive director since the local council's formation, is taking a...

Local PR shop lands Wilson account.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Media Cabin is now home to one of the world's largest sporting goods companies. Wilson Team Sports, a division of Wilson Sporting Goods, hired the upstart Portland agency to handle its public relations, advertising and promotion for its...

AT&T gets heated over Time in GST asset dispute.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... AT&T isn't coming right out and saying it wants to bid on GST Telecommunications Inc., but it's clear the New York-based telecommunications giant wants a closer look at GST's assets. AT&T was one of several companies that filed objections...

Dawson nabs PSU dean job.
June 9, 2000... As is often the case, Portland State University, which ran a national search for its business administration school dean, ended up hiring a local favorite. Scott Dawson, who has been filling the position on an interim basis since August...

Mary Wilcox.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Mary Wilcox Organization: I'm involved in community service, after practicing law at Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt for 10 years (1980-1990), and becoming a partner there in 1987. Title: I am presently a...

The little port that could.(Port of Vancouver)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... Profitable Port of Vancouver poised to fulfill its promise Operating in the shadow of the much larger Port of Portland, the Port of Vancouver can't compete in size or in most service areas with its neighbor to the south. But it has managed...

Men's Wearhouse to open women's shops nationwide.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 9, 2000... Retailers of women's apparel, both locally and nationally, will soon face a new, yet exceptionally experienced competitor. The Men's Wearhouse Inc. bought its first women's shop on May 29 in Atlanta, said George Zimmer, CEO and public face...