PBRS@DVAI"S

Pete Niebling, previously an executive with the North American Wholesale Lumber Association for 22 years, has retired from Tumac Lumber Co., Portland, Or. He started with Placerville Lumber Co., Placerville, Ca., in June 1945.

Hal Fay has been appointed cargo lumber buyer for Dixieline Lumber, Columbia City, Or. Derek Cowling, purchasing/inventory mgr. at the National City, Ca., office, continues to purchase panel products, rail and T&T.

Dennis Ebel, formerly with Triff Lumber, has joined Teton West Lumber, Missoula. Mt.

Jeff Birren has been named v.p. of Pacific Northwest merchandising for Home Depot, Fullerton, Ca. Terry Hopper succeeds him as No. Ca. regional v.p.

Mike Mackin is working in sales at Warm Springs Forest Products, Warm Springs, Or.

Brent Crosby has retired from Pacific Coast Building Products, Newark, Ca., after 40 years in the industry. An active Hoo-Hoo officer and past international pres., he previously had worked for Kaiser Fir-Tex. St. Helens. Or., which was acquired by Domtar Gypsum.

Tim Semons, Wayne Kirks, and Kathy Bazzoli, ex-Red River Lumber, have formed Russian River Lawn and Garden Products, Healdsburg, Ca., a division of Martin Forest Products.

Don Davis is the new sales mgr. at Oregon-McKenzie Lumber Products Co., Eugene, Or.

Kevin Joyce, formerly of J.H. Baxter, is a regional sales mgr. for Midwestern Wholesalers, Inc., setting up a West Coast office. He is temporarily working out of San Mateo, Ca.

Bill Weaver is now v.p.-sales & mktg. at Cascade Cabinet Corp., Woodinville, Wa., reports Lee Zuker, pres. & ceo.

Rod Kautz, ex-South Bay Forest Products, has joined Capital Lumber Co., Chino. Ca.

Beth llaynes is now office mgr. at Redhill Forest Products, Hayden Lake, Id.

Victor Robles is the new gen. mgr. at Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber, Deming, N.M., replacing Ken Brunson, who has retired after 38 years with the firm. Alex Chavez is now gen. mgt., Grants, N.M.; Bob Dykstra, gen. mgr., Silver City, N.M.; Tom Tarango, gen. mgr., Alamogordo, N.M.; Fred Padilla, satellite mgr., Casa Grande, Az.; Dean Alexander, store operations mgr., Casa Grande; William Stricker, yard operations mgr., Casa Grande; Louis Scott, store operations mgr., Yuma, Az.; Mike Beatty and Bob Jacques, zone mgrs., Az. district office, and Ray Barger, credit mgr., Consolidated Roofing & Supply, Phoenix, Az. David Williams is now satellite mgr., Consolidated Roofing, Gilbert, Az., and brother Steve Williams succeeds their father, Ed Williams. who has retired after 42 years as gen. mgr. of Consolidated Roofing, Phoenix

Bruce Ellis, owner, Roswell Lumber Doit Center, Roswell, N.M., and Gary Weiss, owner, GW Hardware, Woodburn, Or., were named to HWI's board.

Kenn Walters, field rep/market development specialist, APA-The Engineered Wood Association. has retired after 39 years serving So. Ca. and So. Nv.

Bob Hansen has joined OSB sales at MFP of Oregon, Lake Oswego, Or.

Rob Cohen has been named metropolitan account rep at the Astrup Co., Hayward, Ca., replacing Brian Holian, who has been promoted to account rep. Jim Brundage is an account rep at the Seattle, Wa., office, serving western Wa., Or., westem Id. and Mt.

Brenda Bryan, mktg. mgr., Payless Cashways, Inc., has been elected pres. of the Home Improvement Research Institute. Jeff Kroll, Armstrong World Industries, is v.p.; Dave Francis, Toro Co., sec., and Fred Miller, Thompson-Minwax Co., treas.

Douglas Holt, mktg. mgr., K Ply, Inc., Renton, Wa., is back from a sales trip to Tampa and Orlando, Fl.

David Casella, Casella Transportation, Petaluma, Ca., married Amy Roberts

Dec. 9 at the Hans Fahden Winery in Calistoga, Ca. The couple honeymooned in Mexico.

Cary Waters has joined the plumbing department at Mungus-Fungus Forest Products, Climax, Nv., report owners Hugh Mungus and Freddy Fungus.

Treater Sues To Restrict Borates In Hawaii

Conrad Wood Preserving Co., North Bend, Or., has filed suit against the director of the Honolulu, Hi., building department to prevent structural use of wood treated with TtuBon-Dor.

Conrad alleges that Randall Fujiki's June 27 approval of TIU-Bon (sold in Hawaii as Ht-Bon) is invalid because he did not follow the Hawaii Administrative Procedure Act, requiring a public hearing be held after at least 30 days' notice.

Seeking an injunction in federal court until a public hearing, Conrad maintains that the chemical does not provide adequate protection from termite damage and has not been aP- proved by the American Wood Preservers' Association for treatment of Douglas fir, the species primarily used for construction in Hawaii.

Ht-Bon licensee PAC-Chem Limited Liability corp. responds that the suit is without merit and Conrad's claims are not based on actual results in the field.

HI-Bon treated lumber is distributed in Hawaii through Honolulu Wood Treating, Midpac Lumber Co., HPM and Hilo Wood Treating, all of which offer a standard $5.000, 20year guarantee underwritten by manu- facturer US Borax. US Borax says that, after five years of use in Hawaii in constructing more than 3,000 homes and hundreds of other jobs, only four claims - all minorhave been made regarding remodeling jobs and no claims made against the written warranty.

PAC-Chem theorizes that "Conrad has not been able to get a foothold in the local market with their more expensive Chemonite treatment and is attempting to use the federal court system to eliminate competition."

FOR DOMEST]C SALES CALL:

Jerry Long. Michael Parrella. Lynn Bethurum, Janet Parrella, Pete Ulloa, Bruce Keith. Matt Petersen, Jim Lawson.

FOR INTERNATIONAL SALES CALL: Nestor Pimentel. Abel Flores.

Window & Door Demand Up

Rebounding nonresidential construction and strong demand in residential aftermarkets will drive U.S. demand for windows and doors to increase 4.7Vo annually through the year 2000, to reach $26 billion, according to a new Freedonia Group study.

Residential aftermarkets will be buoyed by repairs, maintenance and renovations to an aging housing stock, although single family housing starts are expected to decline.

Additional growth is forecast to result from the development of more energy efficient window and door products, as well as innovations in product durability, ease of installation and performance.

Vinyl/plastic windows and doors will post the strongest gains, primarily due to pricing and ease of maintenance advantages over alternative materials. Vinyl window and door products will also benefit from increasing thermal efficiency regulations, restricting aluminum products, and tightening timber supplies, limiting wood.

Despite the trend toward plastics, wood millwork will comprise over

56Vo of aggregate window and door demand through the year 2000. The segment will benefit from a strong end-user preference for wood and from the growing popularity of clad wood windows and doors.

Demand for metal windows and doors will benefit from a recovery in nonresidential construction activity. Gains will be moderate, however, largely due to the material's poor insulating properties, which will benefit vinyl and, to a lesser extent, wood windows and doors.

Tax Reform Can Kill Housing

Although the economy is in relatively good shape with no recession in sight, experts were quick to sound a warning about tax reform's impact on the housing market.

"There would be a lot of pain in getting from here to a flat tax that eliminates the mortgage interest deduction," David Berson, chief economist at Fannie Mae, said at the National Association of Home Builders' recent Construction Forecast Conference.

Even if interest rates fell two per-