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Capital Adding Spokane DC

Capital Lumber Co., Phoenix, Az., is opening a new distribution facility this month in Spokane Valley, Wa.

The 6-acre yard with fully enclosed warehouse will service eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana. It will inventory various specialty products, cedar, redwood, spruce, pine, fir, primed spruce, plywood, fiber cement siding, particleboard, hardwood decking, treated wood, timbers, engineered wood, and composite lumber.

The DC, Capital's twelfth, is headed by Carlos Ripley, with sales personnel Doug LaCelle, Aaron Linerud and Gary Bottler, and marketing specialist Wayne Brock.

Stock Arsonist Pleads Guilty

The man who alledgedly set Stock Building Supply, West Jordan, Ut., on fire pleaded guilty Oct. 1 to charges of destruction of property by fire (see July, p.30).

Justus A. Ireland, 23, admitted to starting the June 14 fire by placing a lighted flare under a pallet loaded with cardboard and wood, and another on the seat of a delivery truck.

He spray painted the initials "ELF" throughout the site, claiming responsibility on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front.

Ireland is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 2O and could face five to 20 years in prison.

Mill Buys Reman Operation

Hambleton Lumber Co., Washougal, Wa., has acquired Washington Forest Products' Washougal remanufacturing facility.

Hambleton bought the operation and its 10.25-acre site for $1.6 million and intends to operate the business as Hambleton Lumber Sales. The site includes 2,000 sq. ft. of offices, a 45,000-sq. ft. manufacturing building, 7,600 sq. ft. of dry kilns, and 8,000 sq. ft. of storage.

Larry Phelan, Hambleton Lumber controller. said the new operation "allows Hambleton Lumber Co. into markets that we previously didn't have, and provides increased production capacity."

Washington Forest Products' former employees are now working for Hambleton.

Hambleton Lumber Co. will continue to sell its own products, servicing companies in Washington and

Oregon, and the former Washington Forest Products operation will provide manufacturing services to lumber companies.

Phelan said the company's goal is for the new operation to service retail distributors and wholesalers from Canada to California and Arizona.

Manager Charged With Theft

The manager of 84 Lumber Co., Auburn, Ca., reportedly has been arrested and charged with grand theft and obtaining property through false pretenses.

Eric Michael King, 43, was arrested in late October on suspicion of making false reports to vendors about incoming merchandise, then pocketing over $150,000 in bonuses when the items were sold.

According to Sheriff's Detective Jim Hudson, King had been fraudulently reporting to vendors since January 2003 that some merchandise delivered to the store was either damaged. incomplete or missing. causing the vendors to credit the store. The products were then sold at their regular prices, boosting profits and earning King bonuses.