Business Journal-Portland articles from March 1997

Business Journal-Portland archives from March 1997

Merger cost-cutting will spur competition; customer defections offer rivals opening.
March 28, 1997... There's a specter hanging over U.S. Bancorp as it awaits a buy-out by First Bank System Inc. - the specter of Wells Fargo. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo represents U.S. Bank's most relentless competitor in Oregon, and the model for how not...

Camera World changes hands; founder J.D. Shin sells to investment group.
March 28, 1997... Camera World, the gleaming photographer's mecca built by Portland businessman J.D. Shin, has been snapped up by a group of private investors. New owners have taken over Camera Word Co., a $50 million-a-year retailer that operates the Camera...

Deal spices up wood pellet business. (West Oregon Wood Product)
March 28, 1997... An Oregon maker of wood pellets hopes to sauce up its business with a deal starting next month to distribute samples of its barbecue smoking pellets nationwide with Lea and Perrin's popular Worcestershire sauce. "We're excited as hell to see...

Care Oregon seeks to double Medicaid work as nonprofit.
March 28, 1997... Medicaid contractor Care Oregon is shedding its government skin to become an independent nonprofit so it can go after a broader base of low-income clientele. Care Oregon wants to its current 26,500 within three years by snaring pockets of...

Local homebuilders reach downstate.
March 28, 1997... Quest to build affordable housing sends developers farther outside region Long active in the Portland market, housing developer Homer G. Williams has recently turned to other areas of rite state. Inspired partly by a scarcity of usable...

McCormick & Schmick's adds D.C., California sites. (McCormick & Schmick Management Group)
March 28, 1997... The operators of Jake's Famous Crawfish Restaurant and other upscale restaurants have added two new locations to their empire. McCormick & Schmick Management Group has leased buildings in a Washington, D.C., suburb and in the Los Angeles...

Yogurt maker signs distribution deal. (International Yogurt Co.)
March 28, 1997... International Yogurt Co., a Portland-based maker of frozen desserts, has landed a sweet deal with food service giant Sysco Corp. The frozen yogurt, ice cream and sorbet manufacturer said it has started supplying Sysco Corp. with 4-ounce...

A kindler, gentler DEQ. (Langdon Marsh, director of Oregon. Dept. of Environmental Quality)(Interview)
March 28, 1997... State's top environmental officer seeks to use more carrots and fewer sticks The environmental regulation business has changed dramatically since the spotted owl crisis. In Oregon, regulators now speak of pollution prevention and cooperating...

Oregon Chai brews growth plan.(Small Business Savvy)(Company Profile)
March 28, 1997... Portland company focuses on developing distribution channels to meet demand It's not coffee and it's not tea but something in between. Chai, the new craze among specialty drink connoisseurs, has carved out a niche for itself in the battle of...

Retirees migrate to coast, spawn business activity.(Oregon Coast for Business & Pleasure)
March 28, 1997... Catering to the over-50 set proves profitable for many LINCOLN CITY - The dawning age of silver-haired boomers has left some marketing pros as edgy as terriers at a rat hole. But gears shifted long ago from Generation X to Generation Gray...

Tourism wave: a tale of two cities. (Newport, OR)(Oregon Coast for Business & Pleasure)
March 28, 1997... Newport Keiko's arrival brings robust, year-round tourist trade to Central Coast NEWPORT - Brutal winter storms, devastating spring floods and catastrophic road closures were enough to stop marl service in south coastal regions last year,...

Coastal entrepreneurs hook niches, reel in bucks.(Oregon Coast for Business & Pleasure)
March 28, 1997... Business owners going beyond kite shops, taffy emporiums Oregon's spectacular beautiful surf is a magnet for camera buffs, artists and soul-searchers. For a growing number of people, however, the powerful elegance of an ocean wave is more...

Will others raise U.S. Bank ante? (acquisition of U.S. Bancorp by First Bank System)(includes related article on U.S. Bancorp Tower)
March 21, 1997... Friendly merger could turn into a bidding war U.S. Bancorp CEO Gerry Cameron insisted Thursday that the bank won't consider any suitors besides Minneapolis-based First Bank System Inc., but analysts said the friendly buyout could turn into a...

Treasury seeks control of state venture fund. (Oregon Growth Account)
March 21, 1997... State Treasurer Jim Hill wants to seize control of a state venture capital fund from the Oregon Investment Council to ensure the money is invested on in-state startup companies and affordable housing. At Hill's behest, House Bill 2011 was...

GST brings in telecom veterans to handle growth. (GST Telecommunications Inc. recruits three new senior executives)
March 21, 1997... GST Telecommunications Inc. has added three telecom heavy hitters to senior management to cope with the company's exponential growth. Joseph Basile from Cable & Wireless Inc. will serve as GST's new president. Daniel Trampush, a partner with...

AAA no longer hitching a ride with Speed's Towing service. (AAA Oregon/Idaho)
March 21, 1997... Speed's Towing's 37-year relationship with AAA Oregon/Idaho has skidded into a ditch. The Portland towing company has rescued its last AAA motorist. Speed's was given 10 days notice on March 3 that its contract with AAA Oregon/Idaho was...

AOI seeks changes in family-leave law. (Associated Oregon Industries)
March 21, 1997... Associated Oregon Industries is leading a drive to align the state's family medical leave provisions more closely with federal laws, a move opponents say flies in the face of family values. Senate Bill 706 would allow businesses to curb...

Facing revenue slump, Marketing One aligns with insurer. (United Life and Annuity Insurance)
March 21, 1997... Local exec Patsis to serve as CEO of both companies Aiming to recover from a sharp drop in sales, Portland-based Marketing One has closely aligned itself with a sister insurance company. Parent company Penn Corp. last month placed...

'Johnny Appleseed' plans Hillsboro community bank. (banking consultant Ernie Garfield)
March 21, 1997... Arizona consultant helped launch Clackamas bank The Arizona bank consultant who helped spawn Town Center Bank in Clackamas is drumming up support for another locally owned bank in the Silicon Forest. Ernie Garfield, a Johnny Appleseed of...

Booming Cascade Microtech may probe IPO market in '98.
March 21, 1997... Beaverton test equipment maker now employs 185 Wireless phones and high-speed computer chips have fueled growth for a Beaverton maker of chip industry test equipment, and could trigger a public stock offering in 1998. Cascade Microtech...

Battle between banks, credit unions heat up in Salem.
March 21, 1997... Bill would tax credit unions the same as banks Tom Sargent saw the writing on the wall in 1985, when Tektronix announced a painful 2,000-employee layoff. Sargent, then president of Tektronix Employees Credit Union, sensed that the credit...

Real estate agencies bring mortgage brokers inside.
March 21, 1997... Portland residential real estate companies are lining up to affiliate with lenders to offer homebuyers mortgage loans right in their real estate offices. "It's one of the revolutions that's occurred in our industry," said Kurt Dalbey,...

Thanks a latte. (Jim Roberts, chief executive officer of Coffee People Inc.)
March 21, 1997... Poet-turned-perker Jim Roberts had a bumpy business ride before brewing up Coffee People's success For Jim Roberts, coffee is an amazing answer. Roberts, chief executive officer and founder of the 24-store Coffee People chain, owes a lot...

In baby quest, science becomes common tool. (assisted reproductive technology)(includes related articles on human cloning, Oregon infertility support group and on adopting children)(Focus on Health Care)
March 21, 1997... With success rates up, more couples turn to technology Dr. Robert Matteri is in the business of making miracles happen. Each year, the Portland-based physician and surgeon is responsible for helping dozens of babies come into the world who...

Health care costs rose a bit in '96.(Focus on Health Care)
March 21, 1997... But companies should prepare for a painful 4 percent increase this year For the third year in a row, health care costs in the United States have inched upward only slightly, according to a study recently published by Foster Higgins, a New...

Portable workplace adds to work-related stresses. (includes related article on symptoms of burnout)(Focus on Health Care)
March 21, 1997... Home computers, e-mail prompt more work worries at home You can feel it starting up again. You're at work, toiling away on your umpteenth deadline project of the week, and it happens: the tightness in your shoulders, the clenched teeth,...

Flying down to Rio. (Gene Borstel, president of Global Marketing)(Company Profile)
March 21, 1997... Gene Borstel builds consulting business from his experience in Brazil International trade isn't magic, but it can be difficult, especially for smaller companies. For many small- and mid-size companies, finding someone with time and effort...

Telephone deregulation still on hold. (Oregon)
March 21, 1997... Deregulation of local phone service is shaping up as a battle royale in Oregon. US West and GTE Northwest came to the Oregon Legislature with a regulation reform bill that was panned by consumer and business groups alike. A key dispute is the...

Higher education responsive to business needs. (Oregon)
March 21, 1997... Internships, research support the state's traditional and emerging industries Oregon's public colleges and universities are working diligently and creatively to meet the needs of the state's business, engineering, and high-technology...

Local real estate scene foretells national trends. (Portland, OR)
March 14, 1997... Trammell Crow Co. recently added a half-million square feet to the area's industrial parks, symbolizing the mood of Portland's real estate market: strong and ahead of the national curve. From Albany and Austin to Washington and Wichita, a...

Internet startup team boasts heavy hitters; ex-Sequent, Intel execs launch Webridge.
March 14, 1997... A Portland Internet startup wants to offer an off-the-shelf software package to companies that need to allow outside access to their computer systems. Webridge Inc. is a privately backed group of Internet entrepreneurs with impressive...

Legislators eye tax help for small firms; new limits on personal property tax possible.
March 14, 1997... Tens of thousands of small-business owners would be spared the hassle and cost of personal property taxes, under a compromise being batted around by Oregon lawmakers. Late last week, the House Revenue Committee dropped the idea of...

Proposed airport fee hikes aggravate aviation companies.
March 14, 1997... The Port of Portland's plans to stop the flow of red ink at regional airports has caught flak from general aviation companies. By July, Port officials say, aviation companies may pay a new fee for landing rights and spend more money on fuel...

Mental health agency picks Vancouver site. (Columbia River Mental Health Services)
March 14, 1997... Columbia River Mental Health Services has secured Clark County's largest chunk of available office space for a future mental health campus. The nonprofit agency has leased the 49,000-square-foot building that currently houses the U.S. Forest...

9-1-1 plan sets off ambulance firms' alarms.
March 14, 1997... A proposal to have 9-1-1 dispatchers in Multnomah County divvy up non-emergency 9-1-1 calls among ambulance providers has some competitors seeing red. The proposal that some ambulance and 9-1-1 officials are discussing would give emergency...

Telecommunications bill draws widespread reproach; bill tilted toward incumbent providers, critics say.
March 14, 1997... A US West and GTE proposal to overhaul the state's telecommunications law was trashed this week by regulators, competitors and consumer groups. After critics ganged up against the bill for being anti-competitive and anti-consumer, state Rep....

Contractor Laughlin-Wilt grows with local tech scene; company's revenues jump 340 percent in two years.
March 14, 1997... The increase in contract manufacturing coupled with the Northwest's robust electronics industry helped Beaverton-based Laughlin-Wilt Group Inc. boost its 1996 sales 110 percent to $30.2 million. "We've worked hard to build the business...

From crash to cash: Henry Ashforth keeps adding to the real estate empire he used ingenuity to help build.
March 14, 1997... A year after moving here from Connecticut, Henry Ashforth III has seen quite a bit of the Northwest, courtesy of his 10-year-old son's ice hockey schedule. "Portland needs more hockey rinks," moans Ashforth, scion of a Yankee family that has...

Has Portland lost its clout in the legislature? (Portland, Oregon)(Focus on Legislature '97)
March 14, 1997... Republican State Rep. Lynn Snodgrass is as close as Portlanders get to the political nerve center of the 1997 Oregon Legislature. The first-term House Majority Leader hails from Damascus, a rural Clackamas County community on the fringe of...

AOI's man in Salem. (Associated Oregon Industries CEO Richard Butrick)(Focus on Legislature '97)(Interview)
March 14, 1997... Richard Butrick stands up for businesses large and small at the state capitol Some of the most powerful voices in Salem are not those of elected officials, but well-organized lobbies. And when the Republicans are in power, there is no more...

MBA contest spawns baby-bag maker; Suzanne and Steve Abbot build McKenzie Kids from their experience in UO business school.
March 14, 1997... Some things you do yourself. And some things you don't. At least if you are starting your own company. That's what Suzanne Abbot and her husband, Steve, learned in 1995 when they launched McKenzie Kids, a Portland company that makes rugged...

Tektronix Inc. (Proxy Report excerpts)(Company Profile)
March 14, 1997... NYSE: TEK P.O. Box 1000, 26600 S.W. Parkway, Wilsonville, Ore. 97070 Tektronix Inc: broke records for sales and orders in fiscal 1996. Net sales increased 18 percent, international sales rose 21 percent and sales to U.S. customers were up...

Federal Reserve rumblings? Don't lose interest.(Editorial)
March 14, 1997... The threat of higher interest rates used to send the Oregon economy into a nervous twitch. In the late 1970s, when 70,000 men and women worked in nearly 300 sawmills statewide, every tick of the rates up or down translated into boom or bust for...

If you give a business a fish.... (business skills' improvement)
March 14, 1997... Teaching skills to fledgling firms is more important than merely handing out contracts Two years ago, a local consortium of 10 public agencies commissioned a study of their construction-related contracts to determine if discriminatory...

Marsee gets more dough. (Marsee Baking)
March 7, 1997... Bakery's expansion plan rises from $1.2 million cash infusion Led by a new chief executive and armed with $1.2 million in new financing, Marsee Baking is launching an expansion that will double its retail locations within 18 months. The...

Epson launches an inkjet volley across HP's bow. (Epson Portland Inc.)
March 7, 1997... The latest shots in the worldwide color printer war were fired this week across the Columbia River, and the weapons were ink jets. Epson Portland Inc. to the south and Hewlett-Packard Co. to the north in Vancouver each released new, locally...

Taking wing? (AIRPortland Inc.)
March 7, 1997... Group seeks $27 million to get AIRPortland Inc. off the ground Portland may have a new transcontinental airline poised for takeoff, if a group of local business people can raise the $27 million it takes to get airborne. AIRPortland Inc....

Personal-property tax break plan divides business lobby.
March 7, 1997... High-tech, airline and railroad companies could reap millions from a proposed rewrite of the tax limits in Ballot Measure 47, but it might come at the expense of landlords and other businesses. House Revenue Committee chairman Tom Brian said...

Developers plan mixed-use 'town center' in Hillsboro. (Oregon)
March 7, 1997... Trammell Crow Residential, Standard Insurance Co. and the Melvin Mark Companies plan to develop a town center in Hillsboro that would have nearly 1,500 apartments, an 18-acre retail district and 800,000 square feet of office space. The...

Manufacturing employment on the rise. (Oregon)
March 7, 1997... Job growth at high-tech firms such as RadiSys Corp. and Wacker Siltronic Corp. nudged up Oregon's overall manufacturing-employment in 1996. But layoffs in the wood products industry stymied expansion in manufacturing, and held growth to 1.9...

Freight forwarder offering high-tech warehouse services. (Circle International Inc.)
March 7, 1997... A San Francisco-based customs agent and freight forwarder has expanded its Portland operation to provided warehousing for technology companies. The plan is a corporate first for Circle International Inc., a $650-million-a-year company with...

Ending recycling program brings Thriftway jeers, pickets.
March 7, 1997... Thriftway Stores Inc. has learned it is much easier to start a recycling program than end one. After collecting more than 5 million pounds of plastics, Thriftway has decided to discontinue a program that allowed anyone to drop off...

Mouse-Todo union may lead to Mexican grill offspring. (Macheezmo Mouse Restaurants Inc.; Todo Inc.)
March 7, 1997... Tiger Warren sees room in market for new concept William "Tiger" Warren, the founder of Macheezmo Mouse Restaurants Inc., has a new restaurant concept simmering with his merger plans. Portland-based Macheezmo Mouse, a publicly held...

To Russia, with love. (pediatric nurse and businesswoman Phyllis Vander Veer)
March 7, 1997... Pediatric nurse and business woman turns her attention to neglected children overseas When most people travel, they take a few photos, send postcards, enjoy new surroundings for a week or two and then go back to their daily grind. Phyllis...

Home economics. (home-based businesses)
March 7, 1997... Home-based business owners get tips from the pros at Mt. Hood Community College Home-based businesses and the Internet seem like a marriage made in heaven. You can rock the baby, stir the soup and plug away at your PC at the kitchen table....

Local ATM company reaches for the stars. (automated teller machine; Card Capture Services Inc.)
March 7, 1997... Card Capture Services satisfies demand for on-site cash machines For Jeff Jetton and Steve Wright, hitching their wagon to a rising star has paid off handsomely. Lassoing their fortunes to the skyrocketing automatic teller machine...

West Coast banks post healthy earnings.
March 7, 1997... U.S. Bancorp, BankAmerica exceed expectations by cutting costs, buying back shares Bank earnings are starting to look a lot like the Energizer bunny: They just keep growing and growing. Six years into a bull run, most major banks doing...

Merix Corp. (proxy report excerpts) (Company Profile)
March 7, 1997... NASDAQ: MERX 1521 Poplar Lane, P.O. Box 3000, Forest Grove, Ore. 97116 Merix Corp. manufactures interconnect solutions for manufacturers in the communications, computer, industrial and medical instrumentation markets. Formerly the Circuit...

Don't get stung by independent contractor laws.
March 7, 1997... Make sure your company meets tests for validity of 'free-lance' relationships On Oct. 3, 1996, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that employees who had been mistakenly characterized as independent contractors may be...

Different approaches to health plan expansion.
March 7, 1997... Every legislative session there are myths and misunderstandings regarding the various positions that we as legislative leaders take on critical issues. One of the myths currently circulating is my position on funding the Oregon Health Plan....