The Columbian (Vancouver, WA) articles from July 2001

The Columbian (Vancouver, WA) archives from July 2001

Vancouver, Wash.-Based Food Distribution Company to Build New Facility.
July 31, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 31--BATTLE GROUND, Wash.--Ideal Food Products Co., a Vancouver food distribution business, plans to build a facility at 199th Street Commerce Center, southeast of Battle Ground. Ideal will be the second...

Average Income in Clark County, Wash., Stays Below National Figure.
July 31, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 31--By nearly every measure, the 1990s were a period of remarkable growth in Clark County. Population soared, retail sales doubled and high-tech industries emerged as the county developed a new economic...

The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash., Restaurants Column.
July 31, 2001... Byline: By Mike Rogoway Jul. 31--Taco Bell at 11620 E. Mill Plain Blvd. is moving - 50 feet east. And a beneficiary of the plan may be a nearby competitor. The existing Taco Bell building was constructed in 1983 and needs replacing,...

Vancouver, Wash.-Area Real Estate Brokerage Opposes Smart-Growth Planning.
July 31, 2001... Jul. 31--Eric Fuller has every reason to advocate more land development in Clark County. It's his business. Fuller & Associates is a commercial real estate brokerage firm negotiating leases and land sales here on behalf of property owners,...

Report Says Vancouver, Wash.-Area Real Estate Market Slow but Steady.
July 28, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 28--Despite a continuing drumbeat of bad news on the national economic front and layoffs at some local plants, a midterm real estate report out today suggests Clark County's economy may have slowed a bit but...

Orchards, Wash., Firm Makes Device that Interrupts Web Connections for Calls.
July 27, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 27--A born tinkerer, Shary Nassimi is powered by brainstorms. His Orchards company, International Electronics, manufactures more than 50 products he invented. There are car alarms and home alarms,...

The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash., Business Briefing Column.
July 26, 2001... Jul. 26--BOWFLEX MAKER READIES FOR THIRD STOCK SPLIT THIS YEAR: Direct Focus plans another stock split, the Vancouver company's third in the past year. The company's stockholders of record as of Aug. 2 will receive three shares for each...

Vancouver, Wash., Housing Center Received $277,000 in Donations in Fiscal Year.
July 26, 2001... Jul. 26--Vancouver's Community Housing Resource Center, which supports and advises new and low-income homeowners, received $277,000 in financial contributions during the fiscal year ending June 30. More than $190,500 came from private...

Work Begins on Vancouver, Wash., Housing Project.
July 26, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 26--Construction begins this week on Arbor Ridge, a housing project funded through the Vancouver Housing Authority to serve low-income seniors. The $10.1 million project will include two facilities at 9501...

Businesses Lease More Space in Woodland, Wash.
July 24, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 24--As part of an aggressive plan this year to bring more primary health care services to Clark County, Southwest Washington Medical Center has leased space in Woodland and will open a seven-days-a-week...

Washington State Wine Retailers Complain about Competition from State Stores.
July 24, 2001... Byline: Steven Gardner Jul. 24--Brent Heberlein, owner of Vancouver wine store The Grape & Bean, occasionally hears from his customers that local state franchise liquor stores beat his prices on some wines, and not by a little. ...

Proposed Salmon Creek, Wash., Hospital Dependent on Parking Issues.
July 23, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 23--Whether Legacy Health System gets to build its proposed $170 million hospital-medical office complex in Salmon Creek could hinge on traffic issues. Legacy's proposed medical complex - a six-story...

Tech Collapse Makes Times Tough, But Optimism Still Warranted.
July 23, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 23--A gloom hangs over California's Silicon Valley in the wake of the high-tech collapse. The Nasdaq is off 60 percent from last year's peak, and millions in venture capital investment went down the drain...

New Apartment Complex to Undergo Construction in Vancouver, Wash.
July 19, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 19--Construction is expected to begin after the first of the year on a 130-unit residential apartment project on open ground north of Wy'east Middle School. The $7.1 million project will include...

Former Store in Orchards, Wash., Considered for Lease by Companies.
July 19, 2001... Byline: Steven Gardner Jul. 19--A possible future tenant is considering buying or leasing the former HomeBase store in Orchards, but it's not Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse. A company official said Wednesday that Lowe's had looked...

Vancouver, Wash., Banking Company Reports Increase in Income.
July 18, 2001... Jul. 18--Riverview Bancorp Inc., Vancouver, Tuesday reported $757,000 in net income for the first quarter ending June 30, a 12 percent increase over the $678,000 reported for the same quarter a year ago. Total assets as of June 30 were...

Vancouver, Wash., Home Fitness Equipment Company Reports Income.
July 18, 2001... Jul. 18--Vancouver-based Direct Focus Inc. released its second-quarter results Tuesday, showing net income of $14.6 million during the period between April and June, up from $8.2 million in the same period in 2000. The company's...

Unemployment Rate Stays Steady during June in Clark County, Wash.
July 18, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 18--Clark County's June unemployment rate of 5.6 percent was unchanged from the month earlier, but up from 4.3 percent in June 2000, according to state figures released Tuesday. The five-county region of...

Clark County, Wash.-Based Bank Reports Record Earnings.
July 18, 2001... Jul. 18--Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE:WM) generated record earnings of $798.2 million for the second quarter, up sharply from second-quarter 2000 earnings of $490.8 million. Earnings-per-share basis for the quarter were a record 91 cents, up...

Walgreen Co. to Build Store in Vancouver, Wash.
July 18, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 18--Walgreen Co. is proposing to build a third store in Clark County, this one at 39th and Main streets in Vancouver. In documents filed last week with city of Vancouver planners, the national...

The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash., Business Briefing Column.
July 16, 2001... Jul. 16--GIDEON D. CARON, P.S., has opened an office on the sixth floor of Main Place in the offices of the Morse & Bratt law firm, 1111 Main St. in Vancouver. Caron, an attorney, specializes in civil litigation and personal injury...

Vancouver, Wash., Chamber, Economic Development Group to Share Office.
July 16, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 16--Sometime in September, Clark County's two largest business organizations will re-locate into one shared office at 1101 Broadway, former home of Vancouver Furniture. The 1,100-member Greater Vancouver...

Economic Slowdown Affects Clark County, Wash., Businesses in Second Quarter.
July 16, 2001... Jul. 16--The nationwide economic slowdown continued to be acutely felt in Clark County during this year's second quarter. Stores closed and manufacturers cut jobs, paring expenses to save money in lean times. Electricity prices remained...

South Carolina-Based Ceramic Capacitor Maker Posts Decline in Sales, Earnings.
July 16, 2001... Jul. 16--AVX Corp. reported Thursday that sales and earnings declined sharply in its most recent fiscal quarter, and the electronic components manufacturer said the current quarter will be slow, too. AVX employs about 500 in Vancouver,...

Report Says Single-Family Home Building Stays Strong in Vancouver, Wash., Area.
July 16, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 16--Single-family home construction in Clark County continued strong through June, according to a new report. From January to June, a total of 1,234 building permits have been issued by the county's...

Lodge's Expansion to Include Larger Meeting Room than Vancouver, Wash., Hotel.
July 16, 2001... Byline: Steven Gardner Jul. 16--If the Heathman Lodge expands as preliminary plans indicate, the Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay could lose one of its big marketing advantages. For years, the Quay on Vancouver's downtown...

Clark County, Wash., Retail Sales Growth Slows in First Quarter.
July 16, 2001... Byline: Steven Gardner Jul. 16--A stalled-out economy and an end to a car-buying frenzy triggered by state Initiative 695 resulted in slower Clark County retail sales growth in this year's first quarter. The county's retail sales...

Telecom Firm to Consolidate Vancouver, Wash., Operations.
July 16, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 16--Time Warner Telecom will consolidate some of its Vancouver operations into a new building at Columbia Tech Center in east Vancouver. The company will close two current Vancouver offices, and about 120...

Menlo Park, Calif.-Based Egghead.com Asks for Nasdaq Hearing.
July 16, 2001... Jul. 16--Egghead.com has asked Nasdaq for a hearing to appeal the Internet retailer's delisting from the Nasdaq National Market. Nasdaq notified Egghead that it has failed to maintain the minimum $1 share price requirement for listing on...

The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash., Business Notebook Column.
July 14, 2001... Byline: Steven Gardner Jul. 14--The U.S. Small Business Administration says 85 percent of new businesses are out of business within five years. But that fact doesn't tell the whole story. Our assumptions about a business closure may...

Vancouver, Wash., Businessman Dies at Age 80.
July 12, 2001... Byline: Steven Gardner Jul. 12--Longtime Vancouver resident, businessman and philanthropist Clinton E. John, who for 54 years oversaw construction and development projects throughout the Northwest, died Sunday in Vancouver. He was 80....

Engineers in Vancouver, Wash., Division of Hewlett-Packard Discuss Work.
July 12, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 12--Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Vancouver engineers spend a lot of time staring at faces. It's how they tell if the inkjet printers they design are producing images that look right: vivid, alive, colorful. ...

Vancouver, Wash., Insurance Leader Dies at Age 75.
July 12, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 12--Don Biggs, a Vancouver businessman who built the largest independent insurance company in Southwest Washington, has died at 75. Biggs, who had suffered for years from Parkinson's disease, died Saturday...

Clark County, Wash., Plastics Company Files for Bankruptcy.
July 12, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 12--Another Clark County plastics company has gone by the wayside. C-Tech Plastics closed June 27, according to Paul Gardner, C-Tech's former general manager. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy...

Vancouver, Wash., Radio Station Eliminates Some Local News Coverage.
July 12, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 12--In a move to expand its radio audience and reduce operating costs, Vancouver's KVAN-1550 AM has all but dropped its Clark County news coverage. For nearly two years, the station had been offering six...

Vancouver, Wash., Retail Plaza Continues to Expand.
July 12, 2001... Byline: Steven Gardner Jul. 12--Expansion continues at Salmon Creek Plaza shopping center at 12909 N.E. Highway 99 with stores continuing to open there at least until November. Construction is under way on a new Jack-in-the-Box...

Vancouver, Wash., Economy Relies Heavily on Semiconductor Manufacturing.
July 12, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 12--It's one of the biggest parts of Clark County's economy, and perhaps the least understood. "It's just basically sand and electricity and a whole lot of technology," explains Timothy McLaren, an...

Vancouver, Wash., Area Boasts Plethora of High-Tech Companies.
July 12, 2001... Jul. 12--Why grow crystals? How is a microchip made? What's an inkjet? How does e-mail get from here to there? Clark County companies have the answers to all those questions - in fact, they are the answer. "All of the stuff is made...

Sales Continue to Fall for High-Tech Chip Industry.
July 10, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 10--The news out of the chip sector continues to be bad, suggesting that an industry recovery still may be months away. On Monday, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., which owns the WaferTech chip...

Camas, Wash, Bed-Breakfast Facility Becomes Popular Lodging, Wedding Spot.
July 10, 2001... Byline: Brett Oppegaard Jul. 10--CAMAS, Wash.--Jack and Christine Foyt planned Fairgate Inn as a grand project. But they didn't realize how much it would resemble one of the nation's most recognizable buildings until construction nearly...

The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash., Business People Column.
July 9, 2001... Jul. 9--Southwest Washington Health District has hired Shareefah Abdullah as its first communications specialist. Abdullah, most recently a media relations manager for the American Heart Association in Portland, will handle internal and...

Vancouver, Wash., Women's Clothing Store Sells Designer Items at Discount.
July 9, 2001... Byline: Steven Gardner Jul. 9--A downtown Vancouver women's clothing store is out to end the same-dress faux pas. From the Hip opened this spring at 108 E. Evergreen Blvd., selling designer clothes at prices substantially lower than...

Vancouver, Wash.-Based Lifestyles LLC Opens Upscale Senior Housing Projects.
July 9, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 9--Gary Rood, founder and CEO of Lifestyles LLC in Vancouver, uses an independent data research firm to decide when and where he'll put the company's next senior housing facility. "We look at population...

The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash., Marketplace Column.
July 9, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 9--The Portland and Seattle industrial real estate markets rank in the nation's top 10 for investment potential over the next two years. Seattle ranked No. 1 in the industrial category with Portland No. 6...

The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash., Mike Rogoway Column.
July 9, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 9--Pacifier Online founder Doug Palin stepped down last month after 14 years at the helm of Clark County's biggest local Internet service provider. Pacifier started in Palin's kitchen in 1987 as a dial-up...

Gas Prices in Vancouver, Wash., Area Drop Slightly.
July 6, 2001... Jul. 6--Regular unleaded gas prices dropped a cent this week, but remained 8 cents higher than the national average, according to data released Thursday by AAA Oregon-Idaho in Portland. The average price of regular unleaded gasoline in...

Landmark Vancouver, Wash., Restaurant Serves Its Last Supper.
July 6, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 6--Sixty-eight years ago, Dutch immigrant Jacob Propstra installed a lunch counter in his Vancouver creamery and gave birth to a city landmark. For seven decades The Holland Restaurant was a Vancouver...

Vancouver, Wash., Restaurant Workers, Patrons to Miss `Family' Feeling.
July 6, 2001... Byline: Mhari Doyle Jul. 6--Hope Huber knew it when her customers were trying to put one over on her. Crowded around a booth at The Holland, they'd try to order a plateful of hash browns and a few strips of bacon--food their wives...

Clark County, Wash., Public Transportation Agency Hires New Director.
July 6, 2001... Jul. 6--CLARK COUNTY, Wash.--Dale Miller, a transportation and land-use planner for Clark County since 1991, has been hired as C-Tran's director of development and technology. Miller, who starts his new job July 16, had recent duties that...

Vancouver, Wash.-Based Company Mulls Buying Bodybuilding Supplement Maker.
July 3, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 3--Direct Focus has an option to buy Champion Nutrition, a California company that became prominent in 1998 by supplying bodybuilding supplements to home run king Mark McGwire. Vancouver-based Direct Focus...

Vancouver, Wash.-Based Electric Lightwave Moves to Nasdaq SmallCap.
July 3, 2001... Jul. 3--Electric Lightwave Inc. plans to begin trading on the Nasdaq SmallCap exchange instead of Nasdaq's national market. ELI, a financially strapped Vancouver telecommunications company, said it hasn't been able to maintain the minimum...

Construction of New Office Building in Vancouver, Wash., to Begin Soon.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 2--Construction is set to begin within 30 days on a $2 million two-story office building at the soon-to-be busy intersection of Southeast 34th Street and 192nd Avenue. The project is being developed by...

Qwest Celebrates One Year as Local Phone Provider in Washington State.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 2--Saturday marks one year since Qwest Communications International acquired U S West, a deal that made Qwest the local phone company in most of Washington and nearly all Clark County. U S West was notorious...

Vancouver, Wash., Real Estate Market Begins to Tighten Again.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 2--Two economies have evolved in Clark County this spring. One economy reflects the national and regional slowdown with meager job growth, layoffs in manufacturing, rising unemployment, retail sales...

Stocks of Companies in Vancouver, Wash., Area Rebound Slightly.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Mike Rogoway Jul. 2--After a dismal showing last year and poor returns in the first part of this year, stocks began rebounding in the second quarter of 2001. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 6 percent in the second three...

Vancouver, Wash., Officials Refuse Public Hearing for Proposed Wal-Mart.
July 2, 2001... Byline: Steven Gardner Jul. 2--Vancouver city officials say there won't be a public hearing on Wal-Mart's proposed expansion at its Mill Plain Boulevard-Interstate 205 store. The retail giant is exploring a 75,000-square-foot...

The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash., Business Briefing Column.
July 1, 2001... Jul. 1--LOCAL -- Hopper & Dennis has changed its name to Hopper Dennis Jellison PLLC, to reflect the names of the organization's principals, Brian Hopper, P.E., Thomas Dennis, P.E., and Gregory Jellison, P.E. Hopper Dennis Jellison is a...

The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash., Marketplace Column.
July 1, 2001... Byline: Julia Anderson Jul. 1--Washington state's exports to Asia increased 9 percent last year, the state Office of Trade and Economic Development reports. That represents $6.8 billion worth of business, not including airplane...