MOUNTAIN $[AIE$

By KENT MOXEY executive vice president

L \ EWS around the region.

Ralph H. Stringham of Salt Lake City recently died at the age of 75. He and his son, Henry, established the Stringham estaDllsneo Jtnngnam Lumber Co. in 1947. He was a very successful and respected lumber dealer. Henry is continuing the business

Welcome new dealer member Ed Sittner, Jr. of Plaza Lumber and Hardware, Durango - Ed raises and runs his own pack of hunting dogs .... Several top

Colorado Nevada Utah Wyoming New Mexico

fficers of the NLBMDA were in Denver recently for long range planning and convention committee meetings; our president, Bud Diehl, hosted a welcoming reception for them on behalf of the association; several Denver dealers attended.

Welcome new associate member, Hutchison-Western of Denver. Buck Hutchison, president ... McCoy Co., lift truck div., of Denver is an associate member, Dick Busby, sales manager. Their phone number was inadvertently omitted from the new directory - it is 287-2537 .. . Odds & Ends Lumber Co. should be added to the directory5801 Federal, Denver8022l - Phone4338846 - Jack Marklein, manager; Joe

Bateman, assistant manager. This company is now owned by Cashway Home Improvement Center of El Paso, Texas.

S.B. Sandy Haile, presidentof Sterling Lumber & Investment Co., had a heart attack recently. Word is he is doing o.k.

Dean Rowsell bought the Shepherd Building Center in Montpelier - it is now Rowsell's True Value - new P.O. Box No. 189 The Workbench in Denver has gone out of business Rockwool Industries of Pueblo announced appointment of William J. Hagg, general manager; Louis Gomez, sales representative lor Colorado div.; and Stan Matthews, v.p. of market and industry relations. Marion E. Drew is Chief Operations Officer.

Brooks-Scanlon of Denver has a new general manager, Bob Kruse Foster Lumber Co. bought the Cashway Lumber Mart in Boulder, now called Pearl Street Building Center, John Tibbles, mgr. .. .. Bloedorn Lumber Co. bousht the Edwards Lumber Co. in l{orlan[- now called Worland Builders Mart, Bill Allen, manager.

Midge and Roy Stilson!

By ROSS KINCAID executive director

f OLlOwlNG a September l7 heart I attack, Arny Kirkebo spent l8 days in the Vancouver Memorial Hospital but has now recovered sufficiently to be able to return to his home in Olympia on October 4.

Fortunately, Roger Baron and Mrs. Kirkebo were with Arny returning from a convention committee meeting when the attack occured, and within-a very short time he was in the nearby Vancouver, Wa., hospital.

While it will be some time before he can return to WBMA duties, the doctors are confident that Arnv will recover completely and with nb lasting bad effects.

In the meantime, the executive committee has returned yours truly to the office as executive director.

The last week of September was a high point in the comparatively young business life of Thomas Building Center in Sequim, Wa.

In April, 1972, Mr. and Mrs. Vern Thomas and son, Randy, purchased Fiander's Building Supply and since have been renovating and adding display and storage on a continuous basis.

The week-long open house celebrating the completion brought out an unexpected number of customers; every parking space around the building and across the stre€t was filled. Coneratulations to Frances, Vern, Randi and their crew: Don McReynolds, -Terry Carpenter, Andy Haapala, Dave Bryant,

The Employee Benefit Security Act signed into law by President Ford is a verv comorehensive law coverine all private einployee retirement bJnefit plans. Its purpose is (l) to establish minimum standards of fiduciary conduct for trustees, administrators and others dealing with retirement plans, to provide for their enforcement through civil and criminal sanctions to require adequate public disclosure of the plan's administrative and financial affairs, and (2) to improve the equitable character and soundness of private pension plans by requiring them to: (a) vest the accrued benefits of employees with significant periods of service with an employer, (b) meet minimum standards of funding and (c) guarantee the adequacy of the plan's assets against the risk of plan termination prior to completion of the normal funding cycle by insuring the unfunded portion of the benefits promised.

The Western Building Material Pension Trust, with its consultants' assistance, will carefully review the group plans provided through the trust to determine what, if any, changes are needed to comply with this new law.