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NAWLA Annual Meeting

A full roster of educational programs, activities and the like will be held during North American Wholesale Lumber Association's l08th annual meeting April 29-May 2 at the La Costa Resort and Spa, Carlsbad, Ca.

An 8:30 a.m. board meeting starts things off Saturday, April 29, the day's sole event.

Sunday's events include a business breakfast, brunch, silent auction, golf tournament, and a Manufacturers Council advisory committee meeting.

The general session and keynote address begins at l:fi) p.m., including presentation of the Mulrooney Award. Jim Livermore, NAWLA chairman, will moderate an educational program panel discussion afterwards, followed by a welcoming party.

Monday begins with a 5K run/walk, followed by a spouse tour of the Birch Aquarium and lunch at nearby Azul Restaurant. Concurrently, wholesalers and suppliers can rub elbows during an informal contact session, and then participate in a mixed doubles tennis tournament prior to happy hour.

The concluding day, Tuesday, May 2, has two meetings, a men's golf tournament, a beauty and makeup demonstration, plus the Chairman's reception and banquet.

Among the educational programs are J. Michael Marks' "Catching the E-Commerce Wave." a dissertation on Web-based e-commerce practices; Bruce Anderson's "Wood Is GoodThe Pro-Wood Initiative," and Robert Glowinski presenting "New Market Opportunities in Commercial Construction," a symposium on international building codes.

Lowe's Giving Stock Options

Lowe's Cos., North Wilkesboro, N.C., wants to establish an employee stock options plan to recruit and retain workers.

The proposal, which is awaiting Securities and Exchange Commission approval, allows eligible employees to purchase Lowe's shares from biweekly payroll deductions, ranging from l7o to2l%o.

Under the plan, full-time employees can exercise their stock options twice a year.

Sears & AOL Form Alliance

Sears and America Online have agreed to market each other's products and services.

As the retailer's preferred service provider, AOL will issue a new cobranded software edition with special offers and links to sears.com, which sells tools, appliances, lawn and garden equipment and other products.

In turn, Sears will promote AOL's products and services in its stores and in its media advertising, the latter, providing special offers to the service provider's subscribers.

The firms will create online home improvement content that will enable consumers to communicate with Sears' customer service in real time.

Cal Cascade Upgrades

A new, fully computerized pressure treating system has been added at California Cascade's Fontana, Ca., facility.

The Sacramento, Ca.-based firm also added a new pressure treating cylinder, doubling capacity, as well as adding 100,000 sq. ft. ofnew covered storage at Fontana.

Fontana, Ca., office and mill 13041 Union Avenue, Fontana, CA92337. Fax 909-681-3566

Sal Segura. Jerry Pugmire . Bill Buchner (909) 681-4707 www.anfi nson.com E-mail: sales @ anfinson.com Redlands. Ca.. ollice Nelson Sembach . (9091792-9509

Anderson Lumber Agrees To Sale

Growing closer to becoming "a national player," Carolina Holdings, Raleigh, N.C., the nation's largest pro dealer, agreed to purchase I lO-year-old, family-owned Anderson Lumber, Ogden, Ut.

Anderson, the largest independent pro dealer in the Intermountain region, operates a distribution center, seven truss plants and 34 yards, mostly in Utah and ldaho, with one each in Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

Anderson's Ogden headquarters are expected to serve as Carolina Holdings' western regional hub, headed by Anderson's longtime president and ceo, James C. Beardall.

Carolina Holdings operates more than 150 outlets in 15 states-of which only two are in the West, California, home to 24Tetry Cos. locations, and Colorado, site of six Denpak and Kroonenberg Lumber yards.

The acquisiton, anticipated to close by May l, would boost the company's annual sales to more than $2.5 billion.

With record 1999 sales of $400 million, Anderson quadrupled sales and quintupled earnings during the decade.

Hit The Road, Jack!

Federal officials have proposed rules that will close some existing forest roads and make it tougher to build new ones.

Reporledly, over 380,000 miles of roads wind through national forest lands, mostly in California and the West. Of these, only 2OVo can be maintained, according to the U.S. Forest Service, which said the majority of the roads are crumbled and causing environmental damage.

While the Clinton Administration issued a moratorium last year on building roads on 50 million acres of roadless national forest land, a final decision on how much land will remain roadless is expected later this year.

The new regulations emphasize maintenance and reconstruction of existing roads rather than new ones, said Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, much to the delight of environmentalists.

Loggers, on the other hand, claim the proposals are helping to run them off federal land.

Atlanta is 1999's Permit Champ

To quote the old Frank Sinatra song, 1999 was a "very good year" for building permits, particularly in Atlanta, Ga., according to U.S. Housing Markets. The l0 metropolitan areas with the most singlefamily home construction permits last year were: i

Proper Phone Etiquette

Ever wondered if you or your staff are communicating effectively with your customers on the phone?

The following guidelines from Wells Fargo Bank can help make any customer call a success:

(l) Answer the phone by the third ring, greet the caller and offer your firm's name plus your own.

(2) Give the caller your undivided attention by listening carefully before asking them how you can help.

(3) When placing a caller on hold, be sure to explain why you need to do so, give an estimated time and ask for permission. Make sure they agree to wait too!

(4) Limit the number of people a caller must speak to by training your staff to answer any question-from a product inquiry to order status.

(5) If the caller requests to speak with someone who is unavailable, ask how you can help. If you must take a message, estimate when the message will be returned.

(6) When concluding the call, repeat any actions you are going to take for the caller and ask if you can help in any other way. If not, thank the caller, and let him or her hang up first.