CALENDAR

December

San Dlego Hoo-Hoo Club - Dec. 9, initiation, San Diego, Ca.

Portland Wholesale Lumber Assoclation - Dec. 10, annual Cbristrnas party, Red Lion Inn-Lloyd Center, Portland, Or.

North Cascade Hoo-Hoo Club - Dec. 14, Christmas party, Everett Golf Club, Everet! Wa.

Tacoma-Olympla Hoo-Hoo Club - Dec. 14, Christnas party & ladies night, Tacom4 Wa.

Spokane Hoo-Hoo Club - Dec. 16, meeting, Spokane, Wa,

Phoenlx Hoo-Hoo Club - Dec. 21, golf & dinner, Westem Skies Golf Resort Gilbert, Az.

JAI{UARY

TacomaOlympla Hm-Hoo Club - Jan. 4, sports nigbt, Tacoma, Wa.

Hardware Wholesalers Inc. - Jan.7-8, winter building products market Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Orlando, Fl.

Seattle Hoo-Hoo Club - Jan. 11, crab feed, initiation & past presidents'nite, Franco's, Union [:ke, Seat0e, Wa.

Coast to Coast - Jan. 11-14, merchandise meeting, Sands Expo Center, Las Vegas, Nv.

Ace Hardwsr.e - Jan. 13-14, lumber & building materials show, Orlando, Fl.

Cotter & Co. - Jan. 15-19, winter lumber market, Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas, Nv.

Roof Coatlngs Manufacturers Assoclatlon - Jan. 15-20, annual conference & expo, l,e Meridien at San Diego, Coronado, Ca.

Natlonal Housewares Manufacturers Assoclatlon - Jan. 1G19, intemational housewares show, McCormick Place, Chicago, Il.

Sacramento Hoo-Hoo Club - Jan. 17, initiation, The Tuesday Club, Sacramento, Ca.

Phoenlx Hoo-Hoo Club - Jan. 18, golf, Pavilion Lakes Golf Club. Scottsdale. Az.

North Cascade Hoo-Hoo Club - Jan. 19, beer & crab feed, Mt. Vernon Elks. Mt. Vernon, Wa.

Black Bart Hoo-Hoo Club - Jan. 19, Industry Night, Broiler Steak House, Ukiah, Ca.

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Sw€ed ClroDpe$ set you free trom tbe trqssle aDd cut tbe cost ol scrcD disposcl!

a Dromolicqlty cut the mon-hours €qwedto d:spe oltlse wnted mgteriols.

a Oickly chop virtuqlly ony kind of srop-wire, sllop. bonds, Fols, r-800-888-852

O Fedorm continuously shilt otter shilt. y{r alter y{r. with lN mointenqnce becqw they leture o minimum number oI moving pqrts, highest quolrty materiols qnd qn eflicienl operqtrng design thot hos been developed throwh @er 25 ymB ot disposdl engineilng qnd mqnulocturing.

Ask u b sfr3w lrar htr Sweed CtDppen ond Scrop CoreBion SysterrE con pqy tor therelvesby g'ivinglrcu more oper qting spoce. lncHsing ploduclivity qnd prodwg premium-priced rsyd- oble srop.

- Sureed Machinery, Inc. Tuming Umanogedb)e Scfip into Mdnqgedble Asets. PO. Box 228, Gold Hill. Oregon 97525

Humboldt Hoo-Hoo Club - Jan. 20, annual crab feed, Eureka Inn, Eureka, Ca.

Spokane Hoo-Hoo Club - Jan. 20, initiation & past presidents nigh! Spokane, Wa.

Inland Emplre Hoo-Hoo Club - Jan.21, initiatior/golf tournament, Indian Hills Golf Club, Riverside, Ca.

Shasta Cascade Hoo-Hoo Club - Jan.2l, initiation, Red Lion Inn, Redding, Ca.

Servlslar - Jan 23-26,lumber/rental convention, Mariott Rivercenter, San Antonio, Tx.

Natlonal Assoclatlon of Home Bullders - Jan. 25. annual convention & exposition, Las Vegas, Nv.

February

Callfornla Hardware Co. - Feb. 12-13, Sentry market, Pomona Fairgrounds, Pomona, Ca.

National Wood Wndow & Door Assoclation - Feb. 12-16, annual meeting, PCIA National Resort, Patn Beach, Fl.

Home Center Show's Bulldlng, Remodeling & Ilecor Products Expo - Feb. 13-15, Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Tx.

Materlal Handling, Storage & Dellvery Show - Feb. 13-15, show within BRD Expo, Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Tx.

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Ganadian Duty Decision Due This Month

December 16 is the deadline for announcing the size of the duty to be applied to softwood lumber imports from Canada.

A binational panel established under the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement will decide at that time if the ll.547o duty suggested in September by the U.S. Depar0nent of Commerce is satisfactory. This figure was offered after the panel asked Commerce to reconsider its decision for a 6.5Vo duty. The present 6.51Vo duty on Canadian softwood lumber will remain in effect until the December decision is announced.

The panel also is reviewing the International Trade Corrmission's October confimration of an earlier ruling that the U.S. industry is injured by softwood lumber from Canada. Asked by the panel to reconsider its original decision, ITC voted the same, four in favor and two against.

The Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, an organization of several industry associations and some of the largest softwood processors in the U.S., favors the Commerce Department decision that Canadian lunber receives public subsidies equivalent to ll.54Vo.

Wood Products Competitiveness Corporation, Bend, Or., a non-profit trade association for the secondary wood products industry, maintains secondary manufacturers will be adversely affected by any increase in duty. They have proposed that any processor increasing the invoice value of the wood above a certain level be exempt from import duties.

Orchard Buys So. Ca. BE's

Orchard Supply Hardware, San Jose, Ca., has acquired six former Builders Emporium units, with a deal for three more set io close in January. Six (Pasadena, South Pasadena, Burbank, Van Nuys, Hollywood and West Los Angeles, Ca) are in metropolitan Los Angeles, the bthers (Redding, Goleta [Santa Barbara] and Pismo Beach) in new single-store markets previously targeted by Orchard for entry. Seven of tle locations were among the eight highestvolume stores in the entire Builders Emporium chain.

Currently with 43 hardware stores in Northern and Central California, Orcbard plans to open 14 to 15 stores in 191X (including the nine BE unis).

Orchard purchased three of the stores (Hollywood, Van Nuys and Pismo Beach) and will lease the others. The deal for six of the stores closed in mid-November, with the acquisition of South Pasadena, Goleta and West L.A. in its final stages.

Orchard will remerchandise the stores and open them in mid-spring t994.

During the middle two weeks of November, a liquidating agent conducted equipment auctions at 76 former BE locations.

Fires Won't lgnite So. Ca. Market

Though devastating, the recent fires that raged through Southern Califomia are not expected to provide much relief to the ailing local lumber industry, at least in the short temr.

Rebuilding cannot begin for months, as homeowners await resolution of insurance claims, area cleanup and new building plans. And while 600 to 800 residences were desftoyed, housing starts in California this year averaged about 7,000 each month.

An estimated 23 separate fires in late October through early November burned over 200,000 acres, destroying approxinrately 1,000 structues. The blazes, many arson-caused, were fanned by hot, dry 60-miles-per-hour Santa Ana winds and fueled by dense, combustible vegetation.

Some homeowners complirined that federal wildlife officials have restricted earlier efforts to remove brush. since the vegetation might be habitat for two endangered species, the Stephens' kangaroo rat and the gnatcatcher.

Gov. Pete Wilson called for state building codes to be revised to keep homes' perimeters free of combustible landscaping and to outlaw wood roofs.

The wood roof ban debate is nothing new - the very first issue of The Merchant Magazine n 1922 included a feature story on California government's move towards such a ban. Yet some fear the ban could be extended to cover wood siding.

Code changes that restrict woodframe construction are unlikely since "fires were so hot that no building material could survive such exposure," said Western Wood Products Association Southern California field representative Scott Turner.

Forest Service Chief Named

The appointment of Jack Ward Thomas, 59, as U.S. Forest Service chief displeased most timber executives and many environmentalists.

In 1990 the27-yeu Forest Service biologist chaired the scientific panel that determined Northern sponed owls were headed for extinction because of mismanaged federal forests in the Pacific Northwest. He also headed tte Clinton Administration team that devised the much maligned plan to manage Pacific Northwest forests. Both environmentalists and forest industry representatives claim this plan, which cuts harvests to about a third of those 10 years ago, will not work.

Thomas is unqualified and favors preservationists, according to timber industry spokesmen. They add the choice as a political appointment breaks the long-standing tradition of using the Civil Service process to appoint a career employee as the Forest Service chief. Unlike previous appointees, Thomas has no experience in administering and managing forests across the nation.

Town Rallies To Save Penniless Lumberyard

Alpine Lumber, Alpine, Ca., is alive and on its way to hedth today because the residents of the small San Diego County community refused to let owner Jim Hays call it quits.

As the business floundered when he couldn't collect thousands of dollars owed by bankrupt contractors, Hays announced a liquidation sale and laid off employees.

After this happened in Septeinber, Pat Caster, a long tine resident and custotrrer, rallied the town's 12,000 inhabitants to raise a quarter of a million dollars in two w@ks, selling shares at $1,000 each. With the money deposited in a special account, they planned to rescue Alpine Lumber by fonning a limited partnership, the Alpine Community Investment Group, and buying 20Vo of the business. Everyone thought the store's foubles were almost over - until the Securities & Exchange Commission nixed the idea

Even thougb the proposal had been approved by the Small Business Administration, this last minute complication of federal requirements and the cost and time required to meet them made the parhership's implementation

"relatively unlikely," Hays explained.

However, the investors persisted, with several lawyers delving into the problem. Then miraculously, after intercession by the California Board of Corporations and Duncan Hunter, a San Diego area congressman, the decision was reversed, just hours before Hays was due to close Alpine Lumber's doors for the last time on Nov. 5.

Elated and deeply moved by the work of the community, Hays was surrounded by vendors on the following Monday, ordering fall and holiday merchandise to replenish his almost empty stor€. Calls were out for the ll employees who had been laid off to return and all signs of the liquidation sale were erased. After not advertising for 18 months and receiving no new merchandise for 70 days, Hays with the help of his suppliers was preparing for a huge late November and eady December promotional event to celebrate therebirth of AlpineLumber.

Owned by Hays since 1986, the landnmrk store is the town's only fullservice lumber yard. With a nursery, tools, hardware, paint and plumbing fixtures, it serves a wide area. Hays, who was an executive with the fompr

Handyman chain, is a town legend for solving problems and responding to anyone who needs help, even on holidays.

All Alpine merchants feel a little more secure now that Hays is able to stay in business. Many of them were afraid that people going out of town for lumber and hardware would find it convenient to do all their shopping in another town.

How Depot Got lts Name

Ever wonder how Home Depot got its name? Marjorie Buckley, one of the company's original investors, is responsible, according to Maria Saporta, an Atlanta, Ga, Constitution colufrrnisL

She credits Home Depot president and chairman of the board Arthur Blank witl this explanation: "Actually she (Marjorie) came up with the narne Home Depot. We were struggling to find a name for the company. She and her husband were traveling by train when they stopped at a train station and saw'depot.' That's when she thought - Home Depot. It was a nice name and we were able to get it secured and get a pat€nt. She's made me a rich person."

Remodel, Rebound

(Continued from page I I ) materials sales will lead the consumer market. With a projected average annual growth of 6.37o over the next five years, this segment will total $99.3 billion n 1997.

The recovery of the professional remodeler market for home improvement products is expected to accelerate on the strength of lower intefest rates that will stimulate greater housing market activity and associated fix-up work. Arerage growth of l%o willput the value of the professional martet at $45.8 billion in 1997 sales.

Lower mortgage rates and a larger stock of existing homes will raise existing home sales to new heights. Home improvement and repair work, both before and after sales, will provide a m4jor impetus to the home improvement market through 1995.

6o/o Single Unit Gain

(Continued from page 14) shown by the South Atlantig followed by South Central, the Northeast and the Midwest. Unfortunately, the West will still be hanpered by the disressed Southern California economy.

Slrong demographic support is present for the single family home market, so some of the deferred demand ftom the 1990-91 downturn and the incomplete recovery in 1992-93 should lead to modest growth in 1994. With inflation low, mortgage rat€s are expected to remain close to cunent levels at least through mid-1994.