KDATW DEANH

of its Feb. 19-21 annual convention and the Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center for its companion trade show.

Kentucky Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association directors will meet Oct. 15 at the Hampton Inn in London.

KLBMDA will hold its annual convention and trade show together with the Ohio Lumbermen's Association Jan. 2627 at the Drawbridge Estate, Fort Mitchell, Ky.

Lumbermen's Association of Texas will hold yard foreman seminars Jan. 13 in Dallas and Jan. l4 in San Antonio.

Depot Settles Bias Suits

Home Depot has settled a class action lawsuit charging its Western Division with sex discrimination and reached agreements in principle to resolve three other gender bias suits.

All four suits allege that the company and its employment practices discriminate against women.

Depot will pay out $104 million, including $65 million for plaintiff class members in the first case, $22.5 million to their attorneys, and $17 million for other related internal costs, including implementing new employment programs and settling the other three suits.

Under terms of the first agreement, reached after court-ordered mediation, Depot will support or enhance certain company human resources programs, some of which it had already begun implementing, and voluntarily roll out the programs nationally.

The decision to implement the programs nationwide led to resolution of the remaining suits pending final negotiation.

News Briefs

( Continued from page I 6)

Klean-Strip maker W.M. Barr & Co., Memphis, Tn., is acquiring Armor All Home Care,Charleston, S.C., from the Clorox Co. ...

Premdor Entry Systems, Tampa, Fl., has acquired Johnson Door Products' facilities

A district court judge in North Carolina has denied a motion to certify a class action suit against Il Exterior Insulation & Finish Systems manufacturers

Pella Corp. filed a copyright infringement suit against KML Windows over Pella's Architect Series window and doors

New Web site: North American Building Material Distribution Association www.nbmda.org

CooperTbols' Campbell Chain div., Raleigh, N.C., was named Lowe's Hardware Division Supplier of the Year ...

Willamette Industies' structural wood panel mills in Dodson and Taylor, La., received APA safety awuuds, along with Intemational Paper, Nacogdoches, Tx.; Masonite Corp., Cordele, Ga., and G e o rg ia- P ac ific, Skippers and Emporia, Va.; Taylorsville, Louisville and Gloster, Ms.; Prosperity and Russellville, S.C.; Madison, Ga., and Talladega, Al.

For pressure-treated wood thafs kilndried after treatment, call Dean Lumber Go.

The gentle conditioning of our steam dry kilns yields exceptional products such as Dean Deck, Dricono fire retardant.treated wood, Outdooro wood, Wolmanized@ Effa'" lumber, and treated specialties.

Veteran Hardware Show Ends

Co-sponsors International Hardware Distributors Association and American Hardware Manufacturers Association are ending the 96-year-old Hardware Industry Convention.

Upon hearing IHDA would not participate in the March 1999 show set for San Diego, Ca., disgruntled AHMA pulled out of the March 1998 convention planned for Marco Island, Fl., saying it would be "a non-productive, lame-duck type" meeting.

Doors & Windows Keep Growing

Fueled by the expanding nonresidential and residential replacement markets, U.S. demand for doors and windows should rise 3.6Vo annually to $27 billion in the year 2001, predics the Freedonia Group.

Although an expected decline in new housing starts should keep demand growth behind 1992-96 rates, demand for vinyl and other plastic windows and doors will provide the strongest growth, rising 8.47o annually to $3.5 billion in 2001.

Sidinq Nails-

o No Staining o No Streaking

Hlghect quallty nalle cedar, tedwood and other flne wood materialr, o Slender shank and blunt diamond point

Diamond pattern head blends with wood texture. Small head diameter permits face nailing and blind nailing o Annular ring threads preclude nail head popping and cupping of siding boards. AlSl Grade 3O4 nickel/chromium alloy.

tibod Screws II II -I

r Self-counter sinking bugle and trim heads

Square drive recess eliminates driver bit cam-out Sharp point for quick penetration with minimal pressure r Self-tapping coarse threads. Coated with non-stick, dry lubricating film o Solid nickel/ chrome stainless steel for superior corrosion resistance .6 lengths: l" through 3"

Product innovations will stimulate demand in key sectors, especially for do'it-yourself projects, and encourage window and door replacement ahead of weardriven need. Millwork will continue to dominate demand, accounting for more than 5OVo of the total in 2001, with sustained growth also for vinyl and aluminum clad wood windows. But as the most expensive product type, millwork will lose market share to vinyl in new housing applications based on price and performance attributes.

Metal window and door demand will trail market averages, hindered by competition from vinyl in residential. Metal products, however, will increase in nonresidential due to their durability and lower average prices.

HWI To Merge With Our Own Hardware

Hardware Wholesalers, Inc., Fort Wayne, In., agreed to merge with fellow hardware and building material co-op Our Own Hardware, Burnsville. Mn.

Each company's board of directors met separately and approved the intention to merge. The combination is expected to be completed by the end of the year through a stock transfer with no cash involved.

Joining 3,500-member HWI with 900-store Our Own creates a new organization with over g2 billion annually in buying power.

Willamette Adding East Hq.

Willamette Industries is building an East Coast regional headquarters in Fort Mill, S.C.

The company currently has five manufacturing facilities and an administrative office in South Carolina, including a computer forms plant and regional building materials sales office in Rock Hill, a paper mill and MDF plant in Bennettsville, a paper converting plant in Tatum, and a plywood plant in Chester.

About 100 employees will be relo- cated to the new facility, which consolidates several offices.

A name has not yet been chosen for the new organization, which will be headquartered in Fort Wayne but likely will base some departments or a regional office in Minnesota. All stores will retain their current identities.

While it has members in all 50 states and 30 countries, HWI does not anticipate much overlap, since it has a relatively lighter presence where Our Own stores are most highly concentrated-in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska.

Hechinger Cuts Asking Price

Hechinger Co. agreed to a lower buyout price from Leonard Green & Partners LP after reporting a $40.6 million second quarter loss.

In June, the retailer accepted an offer of $3 a share, totalling about $127 million. The new pact amounts to about $100 million, or roughly $2.37 a share.