NEWS BR[EFS

Koppers Co, Inc. has entered the Canadian forest products industry via a merger with Swanson Lumber Co., Ltd., Edmonton, Canada, a large producer of dimensional spruce, mostly sold in the U.S. . . Southwest Forest Industries and Carolina Pacific Plywood are talking merger, about $15 million involved

American Wood, Prornotion Council has selected Sacramento, San Jose and San Diego as the Calif. cities to get major promotional campaigns World pro' duction and consumption of forest prod' ucts is W 2% over '66, estimates Ior '67 were $43.1 billion... The Chicago Board of Trade, the world's largest commodities future market, is studying the feasibility of a plywood lutures market ,

LMA is returning to Yosemite, April 27-29, for this year's convention...Montgom.ery Ward, is opening 3 experimental stores, probably in the mid-west, to test checkout counters. and other self-service features . , I. C. Penney, which opened its lst free standing bldg. mds. store in Houston, Tex., last fall, intro'd. home improvement depts. in ll more Stores in '68, Denver and Phoenix stores have these depts. .

The Oregon taycees are transporting a giant Doug fir log to their convention in Louisville, Ky, via White-Freightliner . Insect sex attractan s may be a potent new weapon in fighting insect pests in the NW., according to scientists at the Oregon Graduate Center

Presiilent Richard Nixon will be good for tlle housing industry according to forecaster Sanford Goodkin who reasons Nixon will control inflation which should produce more fund; lor housing...

January housing starts jumped 22% over December, the government reports

Chief of Police Herbert Roberson said over $100,000 a year is lost in Salinas, Calif., to shoplilters; only 50/o ard apprehended ...Waril and, Harringlon Lumber Co. plans to move about two miles east of its present Huntington Beach, Calif., location , Only one in four tenants living in garden apartments feel there is ailequate sound, control in their building, say Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. Southwest Forest Industries plans a $5 rnillinn plywood plant at Eagar, Ariz. .

Plant will use ponderosa pine, produce 72 million sq. ft. on a/8" basis annually. " Weyerhaeuser Co. rang up $I billion in sales for the first time in its 68 year his' tory...

Boise Cascade now has urban redeuelopnrcnt projects in six major cities Bohemia Lumber Co., CulP Crek, Ore', plans to move its headquarters to Eugene, iaid L. L. Stewart, pres... . Annual l. W. Copeland Yarils conttention drew yard managers from five western states, to Portland, Jan. 16'18 Anderson Lum' ber Co. has purchased property for new lumber yard in Twin Falls, Idaho. '

Copeland Lumber Co., Seattle, Wash., reopened, in neu) quarters after being burned out last year. a new plywood' sales group, Plywood Oregon, has opened in Beaverton, Joe Shopmeyer, Pres.. " W'est Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau plans 2nil general meeting for April 1011 ...

"Points" paid by the seller of a home to get the lending institution to make an FHA insured, m,ortgage to the buyer aren't deductible as interest, the IRS says. They can be treated as a selling expense, thoo to reduce the taxable amount realized on the sale . Euans Products Co. has two new divisions within its bldg. products group, the prefinishing div. and the forest products div.

G-P Wins Record Timber Sole

A record fi224.55 per thousand board some 5.3 million bf of Douglas {ir in a Siskiyou National Forest, according to Harold Simes.

This was an increase oI 4il9 percent of $51.15 per mbf.

feet (mbf) was bid for recent timber sale in the Powers District Ranger over the appraised price

The Douglas fir was included in the sale of some 9 million bi of green timber in the Flannigan Creek drainage nearby.

Georgia-Pacific Corp. was the successful bidder after nearly 6/2 hours of oral bidding by eight prospective purchasers.

Douglas fir was the principal species of the sale, that also included 2.8 million bf o{ Port Orford cedar and nearly I million bf of western hemlock and other species. G-P bid the appraised prices of $f37.50 per mbf for the cedar and $31.80 per mbf for western hemlock and other species.

The nc-t efiect of the lengthy bidding was to increase the total value of the sale from the appraised $687,814.70 to the bid price of $1.606.8114.70.

New G-P Mill ol Coos Bqy

Georgia-Pacific's Coos Bay, Ore., operations will be expanded by the construction of a $5 million particleboard plant in Bunker Hill, scheduled to start production next year.

It will have an annual capacity of 73 million sq. ft. on 3/+" basis. The plant is one of five new manufacturing facilities the company recently authorized.

Door Mfgrs. Predict 15% Rise

Fir and hemlock door producers are turning out 13,000 units a day, but they must boost output by I5/o to meet this year's increasing demand. Chief worry of the industry is finding enough shop quality lumber to keep pace wit} rising demand for solid wood doors.

This market view came out of the annual meetins of the Fir & Hemlock Door Assn,, held late in January in Portland, Ore., with the Nicolai Co. as host-

New president is Steve Michael, general manager, West Coast Door Co,, Tacoma, W'ash., who succeeded Stan Newell, o{ Nicolai. Others elected were: vp,, David Leland, door plant manager, Simpson Timber Co., McCleary, !(/ash., and secretary, Jim Martin, door sales manager, St, Regis Co,, Tacoma.

Throsher Merges Into Mqsonite

Masonite Corp. has purchased the Al Thrasher Lumber Co., Inc., for 80,000 shares of Masonite common stock, value approximately $5 million, plus 60,000 shares on a conting;ency basis.

Al Thrasher will become exec. vp. of the new division that will carry his name. Included in the transaction is the Thrasher Equipment Manufacturing Co., also in Calpella, Calif.

Thrasher currently produces about 80 million l'f. of redwood and fir and has recently become a major factor in pressure treated lumber.

This is the first venture into manufacturing for the Masonite Corp., which currently owns 400,000 acres of timberland.

Mqtt Hqzeltine on O. J. Simpson

The annual sports night meeting of Black Bart Hoo-Hoo Club lB1, Cloverdale, Calif., heard a wide ranging talk by Matt Hazeltine, linebacker for the San Francisco '49ers pro football team.

Commenting on number I draft choice O. J. Simpson, Hazeltine said he was glad to see him go to the AFL so that the '49ers won't have to play against him.