NEWS BR[EFS

Calilornin Door Co., L.A., founded more than 80 years ago, has been Pur' chased by T. M. Cobb Co., which plans no immediate changes in its operation; Art Parkins remains as mgr. ' The Ameri' ean Wood, Council is closing their Phoenix o$ce June 30 the fed,s ate gathering information for a possible national changeover to the metric system

Robert Pease, president of the lVlortgage Bankers lssn., looks for another l/, point drop in the prime rate in the next 4'5 months. despite sagging markets, Borse Cascaile is going ahead with substantial expenditures for environmental improve' ment /see this montVs ed,itorial, WCe 4).

Prod,uction problerns are smoothing at Southwest Forest Industries' new $6 mil' lion Flagstafio Ariz., particleboard plant Chicago has increased positinn limits in plywood futures from 100 to 300 con' tracts DiGiorgio Corp. has acquired the common stock of R. F. Nikkel Lumber Co. Ior $5 million, they already owned the preferred stock

America's economy has reached bottom and will begin n clirnb upward stated Arm' strong Cork Co.'s chief economist , .46/o of jobbers surveyed by the National Sash & Door Jobbers Assn. believe their sales will fircrease in '70; so do 58/o of the rnanufacturers mobile home shipments uere up 29.5% over 1968; '69 total was 412,690...

Pickering Lumber Corp. has begun run' ning their nilty steam train on six mile excursions from Standard, Calif. ,8 ol 22 big cities in the West will have nr.oie housing slorls this year, 14 will not, says the National Assn. of Home Builders.. ' U.S. Dept. of Commerce remains hopeful, on the basis of permits granted, for in' creasing housing starts. ..

Dillingham Corp. is seriously consider' ittg entering the m'obil,e and' mod,ular home business the annual rate of in' crease in construction worker settlements the first quarter of '70 was a large'L2t/z% two big western builders ate using steel lraming in their new models, Pearl' Mack Companies of Denver and LYon Homes in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Four Snr Buililing Supply Co. recently opened a 78,000 sq. ft. store in San Loren' zo, Calif.; Murray Gelleri is the president of A-Star ...Pay'n Pah Stores has opened a new 50,000 sq. ft. operation in Portlnnil, their 27th store Wickes opens a lum' ber yard in Utrecht, HoIIand, June 17...

Two of the HUD sites chosen to build Operation Breakthrough housing prototypes are in Washington State: Seattle and suburban King County. the mobiJe hnme inilustry built 67/o of all one family homes selling for less than $25,000 last year Formica has raised, prices average of about 5/o on several of plumbingproducts...

Arthur A. Pozzi Co. has added 2 acres to its Orangeo Calif., operation, built 2 new stor@ge sft.eds and is adding new sales people DiGiorgio Corp., San Fra,ncis' co, has purchased Guaranteed, Prod,uets, .lnc., an El Monte, Calif., producer of aluminum doors, windows and screens for an und,isclnsed, amount

Size of the lumber contract for future trading in Chicago has been raised to 90,' 000 bf. from 40,000 bf.. the U.S. im' ported nearly 6 times as much lumber in ;69 as it exported; nearly all came in from Canada..

Bank ol America's president and chief exec. officer. A. W. Clausen, says it's "quite clear." that Nixon administration efiorts to control inflatinn are succeeiling; beyond 1970, he said, "the economy is generally uplifting and optimistic"-..-.-S1 irra Pacific Ind,ustries has acquired -51lo of Coach-Mate, Inc., a Redding, Calif., firm that manufactures uinyl-oaerla'y moul'dings .

Owens-Parks Lumber, Los Angeles, is discontinuing their retail business afler lutfiIling their contractor committmentsl iroi" th" balance of the inventory will be disposed of is still undecided; new presi' dent Tom Melin is running the change' over of O-P into its yet'to-be'decided trype of operation...

A TWO PART SERIES

Profits in the low- income Sfory dt s Glqnce

Housing Market

E)ELUCTANT to turn over the low-in- l\ "o-" single-family house market to mobile home manufacturers, lumber and building material dealers are seeking Section 235 funds from the Federal Housing Administration for low- and moderate-income house projects, using pre-approved house plans made available in a National Lumber and Building Material Dealers fusociation package program.

NLBMDA package plans let dealers compete with mobile homes in low income housing market . . Sec. 235 funds available.

Since its announcement in early 1969, the Low-Income House Program of NLB'

MDA has been well received by dealers oriented to this market. In fact, by March lst of this yea4 465 dealers had purchased plans and materials offered through the association's program. Plans are sold in package form, containing at least three dif' ferent desigas, at the price of $49.95 per package. Included in the package are lists, glossy elevations, floor plans and sample hand-out sheets, with additional designs and related materials available for $15.

The United States Gypsum Co. and National Plan Service assisted NLBMDA in developing the program, designed to en' courage dealer involvement in low'income home building by utilizing mortgage financing provisions contained in Section 235 of the 1968 Housing Act. Heretofore, dealers found little incentive in this mark' et because of inadequate funding instru. ments.

Immediately after this act went into effect, the dealer industry began to take a close look at the section providing private builders the opportunity of building single-family houses which can be purchased by lower-income families who receive federal support in the form of interest payments on their mortgages.

The concept of federally-assisted housing has received strong endorsement from the Nixon administration and Congress, resulting in substantially increased funds allocated for existing programs. For Section 235 alone, $90 million has been appropriated for fiscal 1970 (ending June 30), thus supporting construction of 98,600 units. This compares with $70 million allocated the previous year. Although not yet appropriated, fiscal 1971 authorization, at the proposed amount of $140 million, would sustain 148,500 new units.

Bel.Air Exponds Sqles Effort

Bel-Air Door Co. has hired C. Dennis Giles as their full time rep. for the San Francisco, San Jose and northern California areas. He is based in Burlingame.

The company is continuing its policy of selling through distributors and Giles is promoting the firm's full line.

Norlhwest Plqnt Tour

Pers,rnnel from Palmer G. Lewis Co., Inc., Itucific Northwest and Alaska building material distributors, took an inspection tour of the Welsh Panel Co. manufacturing plant in Longview, Wash., recently.

Thirty-five PGL'ers from Seattle, Auburn, Lacey, Bremerton, Kenmore, Spokane, and Wenatchee branches viewed manufacturing of the new embossed paneling.

See r

Honored At Grove

THE "Merry Month of May" was inr ausurated in fine stvle bv Humboldt I{oo-HJ Club f63 *h"tt th"y entertained that gallant gentleman Ben Springer, Seer of the House of Ancients, and the current Snark of the Universe, Wade Cory, and his Supreme Nine, at a concat followed by crab feedinterspersed with generous libationsat the Elks Club in Eureka. Calif.

Story st s Glqnce

Seerningly ageless Ben Springer honored for club work . . complete re-districting of club areas . John Kelley presides at Humboldt club blast.

About fourteen kittens were initiated, and ceremonial verbiage was kept to a minimum, From a certain rosy glow that surrounded the Supreme Nine breakfast Saturday morning there was evidence of a suc. cessful evening.

The best part of" the weekend, besides the weather, which was gorgeous, was engineered by Hoo-Hoo vp. Larry Owen.

A large group of dignitaries was transported to the newly acquired Hoo-Hoo Grove in Prairie Creek State Park. There at high noon a plaque commemorating the Seers of the House of Ancients was dedicated. Current Seer Ben Springer had his picture taken umpteen times with greater and lesser lights, and accepted in his inimitable manner the plaudits of the crowd.

The ceremonies over, the group repaired to the Palm Cafe in Orick, where a sumptuous repast, supplemented by beverages from the Lumberjack Bar, awaited. Con-

Firms to Shqre Focilities

A consolidation of lumber distributing operations by E. J. Stanton & Son, Inc. and Lane Lumber Co. has been announced by Roy Stanton and Lane Lumber's Vincl Besinque. The companies themselves are not merging.

The sharing of distributing facilities is expected to take place about July I when Lane Lumber moves into their new facilities in the City of Industry, Calif.

The move will allow the two firms to ofier better than ever service to their hardwood lumber customers.

sensus was -'6fssl food and drink north of San Francisco."

Saturday night was relatively quiet. The group left for home Sunday morning.

MR. H00-H00 himself, Ben Springer, beside monument honoring his years of ddvotlon to the lumbermen's fraternity. lt is at the entrance to the group's redwood meilnorial grove, Prairie Creek, Calif.