Port of Douglas County Commissioner Jim Huffman said his stance on data centers is “pro-growth.” He supports House Bill 3147 and its companion Senate Bill 6789, which would waive sales taxes on equipment for new rural server farms.

He said the new data facilities in Douglas county will create new jobs, increase the property tax base, result in lower taxes and power costs for residents, and increase the stability of the Douglas County Public Utility District (PUD).

Wenatchee Business Journal: How do you as a Port of Douglas County commissioner view more potential data center construction as a result of the bills?

Jim Huffman: I see lots of positives in this type of growth. Those positives haven’t been touted to the public, but they should be. There’s a whole host of benefits that we derive from the local data centers that haven’t been discussed. Benefits for the power companies, their customers, tax payers, counties, the environment, and the local economy.

WBJ: How do data centers benefit the public utility districts specifically?

Huffman: Data centers can offer stable long-term income streams for the PUD. When less revenue is derived from volatile open market sales, and more from steady contracts, it supports improved bond ratings for the utility. Utilities live or die by their bond rating. They are a capital-intensive type of company and require large amounts of capital. The bond rating makes a big difference on what bond rates they pay. The more stable the revenue appears to the bank, the better the rate they can command.

WBJ: How does contracted power differ from power sold on the open market?

Huffman: Long-term contracts are an antidote to what the Chelan County PUD is experiencing with volatile power markets. When you sell under contract, that’s revenue you can rely on. When you sell on the open marketplace, that’s not a steady market. Prices can go up and down as can power availability.

Power sold on the open market can command a higher price than power sold locally, and if the utility wants to be self-serving, that’s fine. But withholding power from local businesses and local users hurts the macro economy. If the utility just wants to maximize revenue it doesn’t have to sell any of its power locally, but that’s not why we have local utility districts. Selling power only on the open market is short sighted in relation to the long term stability of the community. Would you rather have the jobs or the revenue from the sale?

Who power is sold to also affects a utility’s federal relicensing prospects. One of the things the applicant has to demonstrate is how much power they are selling locally. From the federal standpoint, there is a preference given to licensees that can show they are providing a public benefit. If the utility is just applying for the license for the purpose of marketing power, it’s not the same as providing a public benefit, so local power sales do carry some weight in that regard.

WBJ: How do you answer critics that say data companies drain too much power from our supply?

Huffman: Sabey Corp., developer of the Intergate Columbia Data Center campus in East Wenatchee, has agreed to pay what I call a ’share-the-benefits’ rate with the Douglas County PUD. What that means is Sabey is willing to pay a portion of their power bill to help supply additional sources for their load, so part of their money goes to buy power if the utility needs to conserve local power. That helps reduce the notion that Sabey is sucking up all of Douglas’s power, because in fact they are not. Sabey’s willingness to pay for more expensive power when needed helps the PUD have more power available that can be utilized for more customers.

WBJ: Is there any benefit to the consumer with that type of plan?

Huffman: Basically, more power customers means a bigger rate base to spread the cost of improvements over. Data centers and server farms have a higher consumption rate but also pay a higher bill. What they pay helps offset power costs for the smaller rate payers and helps protect them from higher costs. Since most of the improvement projects are financed, that ties back in with the lower bond rate, and again lessens costs for consumers.

Hydroelectric power is also considered a green power, and a lot of companies are willing to pay more for green power so they have a lower carbon footprint. That’s helpful to manufacturers who might want to relocate here. More benefits to manufacturers means more job creation for our area. Power bought on the open market isn’t necessarily from a green source. Those kilowatt hours aren’t colored.

WBJ: What kind of employment benefits do these facilities offer to the region?

Huffman: First, facilities like Sabey Corp.’s Intergate Columbia data center campus in East Wenatchee bring construction jobs that create sales tax revenue. Then, when the building is completed, the tenants bring in employees that live here, buy things, and have high-paying technical jobs. Those jobs support ’spin-off’ employment generated by providing equipment or services to the center as another benefit. Those are jobs that weren’t there before.

WBJ: What has been the consensus in the county about the Sabey project?

Huffman: Douglas county is certainly happy with Sabey. No doubt about it. The construction and sales tax revenues from the Sabey project kept Douglas county’s budget in the black during difficult times.

The addition of tenants cell phone giant T-Mobile and VMware –  a cloud computing company – also enlarged the county’s tax base which helps keep costs lower for residents. Now, if the county needs to add services, the cost is spread over a larger tax base. The data center tenants are paying their share of the cost, but their demand for services is very low.

WBJ: Besides low power rates, what else makes this area attractive to large server farm companies?

Huffman: We have a massive fiber infrastructure developed jointly by the PUDs that supplies astonishing bandwidth. A bandwidth speed test run recently in Quincy showed they had the fastest bandwidth in the world. The data centers are taking advantage of that and at the same time providing important revenue to help pay for that infrastructure.

We also have the most reliable power system in the world right here. Rock Island Dam, because it was the first one built on the Columbia River, has a capability called ‘black start.’ If the entire Northwest power system went down, it could all be put back together starting at Rock Island Dam.

WBJ: So, in your mind, what is the bottom line for the area if the bill passes?

Huffman: The port’s aim is job growth and economic growth. We need to provide opportunities for those that live here and those younger folks coming up, and we need to still pursue economic development.

And tenants such as VMware who are still growing and on the cutting edge of technology will be drawn here should the bill pass. It’s really a big deal to have them here. This is our opportunity to be on the cutting edge of what’s going on in the country. We need to take advantage of that.

Read more about possible new data centers here.

E.D. Hovee & Company LLC, an economic and development consulting firm in Vancouver, Wash., has finished its evaluation of Wenatchee’s operational model of tourism venues funded by the city’s hotel-motel tax, and found that whether or not the city changes its facility management model, the city would still end up losing money out of its general fund to fill tourism budget holes in 2010 and 2011.

The city of Wenatchee hired Hovee in late 2009 on a $47,500 contract to explore options for efficiencies in management of the Town Toyota Center, Wenatchee Convention Center, and Wenatchee Valley Visitors Bureau. The report suggested six different models – from status quo to a complete revamp – the report even contemplates the possible purchase of the West Coast Hotel by the city. None of these options though, will be easy to implement.

“Even the status quo is not likely to be pain free,” said report preparer Eric Hovee.

The city of Wenatchee is reconsidering the efficiency (or lack thereof) of its hotel-motel tax spending in an effort to shore up financial losses at institutions currently funded by the tax. For example, the Wenatchee Valley Visitors Bureau is running at a 5 percent budget deficit, the Wenatchee Convention Center is running $416,280 over budget (according to 2008 numbers), and the 17-month-old Town Toyota Center’s 2010 budget shows a $700,000 deficit.

Hovee analyzed six options, which he said all have advantages and disadvantages. The six options are as follows:

Option A: the Status Quo, which requires no changes to the existing agreements the city has with the Convention Center and the Town Toyota Center managed by the Greater Wenatchee Regional Events Center Public Facilities District (PFD). But when the bond anticipation notes for the TTC come due in December 2011, refinancing may require renegotiation of the PFD/city agreement.

Option B: Common Facility Management, which is used by Spokane and the Tri-Cities. In this model, a single entity manages more than one facility. This option may avoid an increased operating deficit, depending on which entity runs the facilities. However, Hovee cited concerns over dissimilar functions if the event center and convention center were both run by the hotel, and the possibility of increased operating deficit if the PFD assumed management of the convention center as well.

Option C: the Common Food Provider. This approach would bring food service under a common provider and would allow for greater coverage of scale, but the system may strain to handle peak events.

Option D: Revamped Visitor, Convention & Booking Functions, which would either bring the Wenatchee Convention & Visitors Bureau directly under city of Wenatchee management, or bring in a third party. If the city chose the first option, it would allow for greater accountability for funds, but the city of East Wenatchee’s financial participation may be lost. The benefits of a third party include more focused and efficient event and visitor targeting but may provide less accountability to the city.

Option E: City purchase of the Coast Hotel, which would allow the city to fully manage the hotel and the convention center as is the case in Vancouver, Wash. Hovee said the purchase would be “extremely complex and politically challenging with increased risk to the city.”

The last option, a hybrid, would combine elements of the above listed options and could achieve streamlining quickly but would also be “potentially cumbersome or politically challenging” as well, according to Hovee.

The report did not provide a side-by-side comparison of revenue for any of the models. Hovee said dollar-to-dollar comparisons would be finalized after the City Council has a chance to review the report and give direction about which options it would like to pursue.

The city will hold a public work session to discuss this report at 5:15 p.m. on March 18 in City Council chambers at 129 S. Chelan St.

An unnamed Fortune 100 company is scouting Washington State to locate a new 50,000 to 250,000 square foot Tier IV data center under the code name “Project Roosevelt.”

Pat Haley, Douglas County Port District director, received the initial request for information about the Wenatchee area in January. The same request for information was sent by the State Department of Commerce to all Authorized Development Organizations in the state. Haley found out just last week that Douglas County has made the location finalist list, though he’s never spoken directly to the company.

“That is pretty common procedure,” Haley said, “but the downside is that you can’t communicate with the prospect to learn about what they really want. It can be challenging to act through a middle man, but I’m confident that we have given them enough preliminary information to make a decision.”

The company’s main site criteria boiled down to three points:

1. The availability of inexpensive and reliable power
2. A minimal risk of seismic activity
3. Access to high-speed telecommunications (fiber optics)

“We meet all of those criteria and we have the lowest power rates in the country. Our two cent power is usually enough to get people’s attention. That usually stops the presses,” Haley said.

The company is asking for a minimum of seven megawatts of power to start with, ramping up to 30 megawatts over time.  How much power they want and when they want it is up for discussion though. Haley said the company has requested additional information from both the Douglas County Public Utility District and Sabey Corp.

Sabey Corp. has 80,000 vacant square feet available in the Intergate Columbia Data Center it built in 2008. That amount of space falls within the guidelines the company is requesting, Haley said, and the building can provide a seven megawatt load should the company decide to rent for a while. But it’s likely he won’t know whether the company is officially looking to rent or to build until an anticipated site visit takes place in the next couple of weeks.

Until then, the project remains top secret.

The Washington State Apple Blossom Festival has announced the event sponsors for this year’s festival. Keyes Fibre Corp. will again sponsor the Youth Parade on April 24, and Stemilt Growers will sponsor the Grand Parade to be held May 1. Wheatland Bank, the newest corporate sponsor of the group, is underwriting this year’s art print – a view of Saddlerock – by Bob Jamison. The 2010 Washington State Apple Blossom Festival will run from April 22 to May 2.

Darci Waterman, festival administrator, thanked the sponsors and said, “We understand that it is not always easy to keep up community contributions during these difficult economic times. Without their help, the continued success of the festival would not be possible.”

The 2010 Apple Blossom Festival event sponsors are:

Royal Corporate Events Sponsors ($6,000+)

Stemilt Growers – Grand Parade and Apple Pie Bake-Off. Stemilt Growers has been a sponsor since 2004.

Verizon Wireless – Entertainment in the Park.  Verizon Wireless has been a sponsor since 1997.

Washington Trust Bank – Royalty Selection Pageant. Washington Trust Bank has been a sponsor since 1996.

Weinstein Beverage – Pepsi-Cola Youth Day and Official Beverage. Weinstein Beverage has been the Youth Day sponsor since 1988.

Corporate Event Sponsors ($4,000-5,999)

ALCOA – Prime Parade Seating. Alcoa has been a sponsor since 1988.

Fred Meyer – Volunteer T-shirts. Fred Meyer has been a sponsor since 2000.

Keyes Fibre Corporation – Youth Parade. Keyes Fibre has been the Youth Parade sponsor since 1987.

Wenatchee Apple Shippers: Columbia Fruit, Dovex, Chelan Fresh, CMI, Northern, and Oneonta – Float. The companies have been sponsors since 1988.

Red Delicious Event Sponsors ($2,500 – $3,999)

Bank of America & Costco Wholesale – co-sponsoring the Art 4 Kidz program. Bank of America has been a sponsor since 1990 and Costco since 1997. Costco Wholesale also sponsors the Pie Eating Contest.

Cashmere Valley Bank – Cashmere Valley Bank has been a sponsor since 2007.

Frontier Management – Special Guests/Grand Marshal/All Service Club Luncheon Speaker. Frontier Management has been a sponsor since 2008.

Target – Special Guests of the Youth Parade. Target has been a sponsor since 1999.

Wal-Mart – Arts & Crafts Fair. Wal-Mart has been a sponsor since 1995.

Wheatland Bank – Limited Edition Art Print by artist Bob Jamison. Wheatland Bank has been a sponsor since 2009.

For a complete list of this year’s festival events, contact the festival office at (509) 662-3616 or visit www.appleblossom.org.

Mortenson Construction Company placed the final large steel beam in place on the new Central Washington Hospital (CWH) patient tower March 3, topping off $20 million worth of work so far on the project. Work began six months ago, and the company estimates it will take another 14 months to complete the job.

Greg Rosinski, project superintendent, said now that the steel is done, the next phases are completion of concrete, interior rough-in, exterior enclosure, and then interior finish. Lastly, the firm will landscape the site and pave the lot. The company is scheduled to finish the interior rough-in in September 2010 and the building in April 2011, in time for an open house in May. Right now the company is right on schedule, Rosinski said.

So far the company has installed 2,500 pieces of steel on site — the biggest ones weighing around 3,400 pounds each -  which amounts to a total of 1,000 tons of steel in the building. In addition, the work to date includes 3,500 cubic yards of concrete. To do the work, Mortenson first moved 14,000 cubic yards of dirt out of the way. Right now about 90 people work on site, but that will increase to as much 175 in the next couple months when interior work and enclosure begins, Rosinski said.

Gene Hodge, project manager with Mortenson, said the company has logged 100,000 man hours so far on the project with zero injuries. Each month, crews add another $4 million to $5 million worth of work to the site.

To pay for the $125 million tower project, the hospital issued $116.5 million in revenue bonds through the Washington Health Care Facilities Authority in August 2009. The terms of the bonds range from one year to 30 years. Approximately $100 million in bonds will be used to fund the project and $16.5 million will go to pay off existing bonds, said Steven Jacobs, the hospital’s chief financial officer. Additional funds required for the project will be funded by hospital reserves.

In addition, the Central Washington Hospital Foundation has raised $3.5 million so far through hospital doctors, employees, and the community. Abel Noah, foundation executive director, said his goal is actually $5 million. The foundation has agreed to add to the public funds with a $3 million match, making for a total of $8 million.

Noah estimates the total raised when the capital campaign ends around November 2010 will be between $8 million and $10 million. He said he doesn’t see a problem with obtaining the rest of the funds even in the rough economy.

“We made a decision to go ahead with this campaign even though the economy is slower, and support for this project has been overwhelming,” Noah said.

He said the foundation receives grants not just from Wenatchee but from donors on the west side too.

“Donations come from our entire service area,” Noah said.

The funds raised can be utilized anywhere within the time line of the project, Noah said. The total project includes a two-story parking tower, a new front lobby, interior moves of existing areas, and more in later phases. But for this day, the topping off ceremony signaled the beginning of the end of phase one. The occasion was marked by the construction company and iron workers with a pine tree.

“The tree on top of the beam upholds an ancient construction tradition meant to appease Mother Nature,” Rosinski said. “Since Mother Nature might not like man building a structure taller than her, the tree on top ensures that Mother Nature’s capabilities are always just above what man can create. You’ll see this done on every job site.”

Stress: mental, emotional, or other strain. (Compact Oxford English Dictionary, Third edition).

Stress in the workplace is directly related to our brain’s survival mechanism — our own self-talk — and in part, our wants and needs, said Bruce Darling, M.A. a certified mental health counselor with the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center (WVMC).

Darling spoke at the Wenatchee Downtown Association’s (WDA) third annual Gotta Have Heart event on Feb. 9 at the North Central Regional Library (NCRL) building at 16 N. Columbia St. in Wenatchee. The WDA partners with the WVMC for the annual event aimed at helping downtown business owners focus on creating good health.

Sarah Dempsey, executive director of the WDA, said the program is called “Gotta Have Heart” to try and tie in with Valentine’s Day, and to call awareness to heart disease. This year’s program focused on identifying the main causes of stress and how to handle work-related stress.

In the U.S. we are in a market driven economy and our political system supports that, Darling said. As former president Calvin Coolidge said, “the business of America is business.” Living the American dream is up to us, Darling added, and there exist few guarantees.

“If we succeed in the marketplace, we reap the rewards and get to put them in our pocket,” he said. “If we fail, we are largely on our own. The fear that we will fail is the breeding ground for emotional and mental stress.”

What we want most of work is money, he said. Money buys security, satisfaction, and our basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Money can also buy freedom because when we have a lot of money, we can choose not to work.

“Money also buys those things that we don’t really need, but we want,” he added. “Things like second homes, boats, a fancy car or a football team. But most of us have other wants in the workplace as well that can also lead to stress if we fear they won’t be satisfied. These things include respect, appreciation, recognition, admiration and fairness.”

Most of our focus is on supplying for our basic needs though, because in the back of our heads we know that if we don’t have those needs met, we are not going to survive.

“Those basic needs do cost money. That’s why we get stressed out at work,” Darling explained.

That, and the way our brains are naturally wired.

“Our brains remember everything we tell it,” he said. In the back of the brain is the part geared towards our survival. It’s supposed to keep us alive. It never sleeps.

“It does a really good job,” Darling said. “But how many of us have spent a sleepless night worrying about something that isn’t life or death, but our brain thinks it’s life or death? Most of us have, and that’s because of what we tell it.”

Deadlines, for example, are things we treat as though they are literally life or death, Darling explained, even though death will not likely occur. Yet our brain thinks so because of the language we use. He called language and other inputs into our brains the “software” and the brain itself the “hardware” of a computer-like system. To change the output of the system, he advises changing the input.

“When we come into the world as infants, the brain is pretty much a blank slate. A tabula rasa. Babies start to look around and see things, and that’s where the trouble begins. As kids we don’t have much choice as to what goes in there. But as adults we can retrain our brains to think rationally and optimistically,” Darling said.

A really important thing to think about is probability versus possibility. Almost everything we can imagine is possible, Darling said. The only relevant question then is the probability or likelihood that event will happen.

“Humans often really inflate probability,” he said.

For example, a lot of people come to him because they afraid to fly a plane or drive a car, etc.

“A lot more people are afraid to fly than drive, but driving a car is more dangerous statistically – the probability of getting injured is much higher,” he said.

What his clients often do is greatly inflate the probability that the plane is going down. It is possible the plane will crash, but in reality not probable, he said.

“Really be honest about probability in your thinking,” he said. “It will help you discern whether or not the event is disastrous enough to really warrant your attention.”

In addition to being more careful in our thinking, we can also explore other types of change. Making a change in our behavior is often easier than changing how we think, Darling said. For some, that might mean changing jobs within a company, moving to another state or switching companies.

Other behavioral changes include getting eight hours of sleep, exercising, eating sensibly, practicing mindfulness and rational amounts of faith and hope. All these things together, he said, can add up to a less stressed out work and life experience.

Additional resources Darling recommends:

Feeling Good by David Burns
Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman
Overcoming Worry and Fear by Paul Hauck
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom

About 30 people attended the workshop. Dempsey said the organization holds these events because while the WDA represents local businesses, behind those businesses are people.

“We want to make sure we are helping the people that work downtown too,” Dempsey said, “because a lot of employees that work downtown are part-time, and they might be starting out, and maybe they don’t have health insurance yet. So we started this partnership with the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center to help make employees and others aware of ways to keep themselves healthy.”

Upcoming events for the WDA include the downtown forum to be held in March or April. The forum includes a question-and-answer panel with the city of Wenatchee about upcoming projects such as the proposed Pybus Public Market at the former Morse Steel building at the foot of Orondo Street. The WDA will unveil the results of its downtown housing study to the public at that time.

Downtown will also support an Earth Day event on April 17 to take place in Centennial Park from 11a.m. to 2 p.m.. Hands-on demonstrations and activities will be available as well as live music.

The WDA is a non-profit, membership-based organization that seeks to promote and enrich the downtown experience.

Touchstone Appraisal LLC

Start date: January 1
Address: 10200 Titus Road, Leavenworth
Web site: touchstoneappraisal.com
Phone: 548-7867 / cell 670-9086

After 25 years at Pacific Appraisal Associates and winning a Leavenworth City Council seat in November, local appraiser Cheri Farivar decided it was time to hang her shingle a little closer to home.

Farivar left Pacific Appraisal Associates in Wenatchee at the end of 2009 and opened Touchstone Appraisal in her Leavenworth home on Jan. 1. She said now she’s as busy as ever, but has more time for meetings and keeping her finger on the pulse of the Bavarian town.

With support from her husband Farzan Farivar, she remodeled the home office into her own space, and spent around $10,000 to $12,000 to set up the business. Costs included a new computer and printer, licensing, errors and omission insurance, and new paint and office furniture.

Now, she has more time to spend doing the two things she’s most focused on: her four-year City Council term and, of course, appraisals. In her business she covers the whole Wenatchee valley, including Leavenworth, Plain, and Lake Wenatchee, Peshastin, Dryden, Cashmere, Entiat and Chelan.

In a time when much of the real estate and mortgage industry is changing rapidly, one might wonder if leaving a long-time employer to go out on one’s own is such a good idea. But Farivar said she isn’t really worried about it, for several reasons.

First, a lot of her steady customers have followed her to the new company, which ensures her enough work to keep busy.

Second, the way the appraisal business works today, Appraisal Management Companies order appraisals directly from certified appraisers. Since certification with them follows the individual appraiser, and not the company they work for, business will automatically follow her to the new location.

She will also continue offering courtroom appraisal testimony. Not many appraisers are willing to stand up in a courtroom and argue the validity of their  appraisal and be questioned by attorneys, Farivar said.

“An appraisal is an opinion of value,” she explained. “Very few people want to face cross examination over it.”

She is comfortable with it because she’s been doing it for years, she said.

Also still on her work roster is staying involved in her profession at the state and legislative level too, she said.

Farivar was appointed to the Washington Real Estate Appraiser Commission in 1998 by former Governor Gary Locke, and just finished her second term as chair. This year, Farivar and a team wrote a bill that’s just making it out of committee now, and may get on the floor in Olympia this year. The bill, House Bill 3040, would set up standards and regulations around AMCs and their operation in the state of Washington.

“It’s a consumer protection bill,” Farivar said.

In addition, Farivar teaches classes to other appraisers and Realtors in the state. During her spare time, she might eventually take on a trainee, she said.

Farivar worked as a real estate agent prior to becoming an appraiser. She started at Dennis Johnson’s Home and Gardens Real Estate in Wenatchee, and later owned the Leavenworth office for about five years before Johnson opened Pacific Appraisal in 1988. She followed Johnson into the new business, and has been at Pacific Appraisal ever since.

Johnson sold the business in 2006 to Kirk Dosser and Brian Vincent, but she remained with the company as an appraiser and manager of the residential appraisal department. Farivar said she absolutely loved the people at Pacific Appraisal, and the parting was more than amicable.

“They will go on strong without me,” she said.

]]> http://wbjtoday.com/blog/appraiser-farivar/4269/feed/ 0 http://wbjtoday.com/blog/2010-wennie-winners-awarded/4648/?source=rss http://wbjtoday.com/blog/2010-wennie-winners-awarded/4648/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:42:21 +0000 yvettedavis http://wbjtoday.com/?p=4648 The Wenatchee Business Journal

The Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Wennie award winners were announced March 4 at the annual banquet held at the Wenatchee Convention Center. The winners were Wenatchee Wild Hockey Club, Merrill Orthodontics and Wenatchee Valley Senior Activity Center. The senior center also won recognition for best decorated table.

The Wenatchee Wild Hockey Club won Chelan County Business of the Year. Team owner Bill Stewart accepted the award and thanked the community for welcoming the team to town. He noted that in the 22 months the team has been in operation it has given over $200,000 back to the community.

Merrill Orthodontics was chosen as Douglas County Business of the Year.

The Wenatchee Valley Senior Activity Center won the Nonprofit Business of the Year award and was also voted best decorated table. The runner up for the table award was accounting firm LeMaster Daniels for their Guns & Roses theme.

Sabey Corporation was the evening’s sponsor. The Wenatchee Valley Medical Center sponsored the entertainment.

Approximately 410 people attended the event. Larsen said he was happy with the turnout. He said it showed the local business community remains strong even when facing tougher economic times.

by Yvette Davis

Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort in Leavenworth will finish a year-long $1.75-million renovation in April that will add seating, upgraded guest rooms and expanded on-site spa services. The resort also added a family hospitality room and launched a new Web site. The changes coincide with a shift in the resort’s marketing strategy and new Amtrak train service to Leavenworth.

The remodel began in April 2009 at the Kingfisher Dining Lodge with the addition of a new demonstration-style kitchen with a wood stone hearth oven and a new La Cornue range. A new serpentine copper servery line splits the former single buffet into hot foods, salads, and desserts, allowing for less congestion at meal times. The lodge also now serves spirits in addition to wine and beer, and has added a free-standing wine bar. While the work didn’t add any square footage to the lodge, it did add 12 more seats. Executive chef Ken MacDonald’s focus is on serving local cuisine.

Nearby at the Grotto, a heated flagstone patio with a water feature added 35 more seats, and year-round comfort for guests willing to brave the cold. The heated stones shed the snow and a fire pit keeps guests warm, ensuring winter use.

The resort revamped its 58 guest rooms, replacing mattresses for the 162 beds and updating paint, artwork, linens and lighting.

Sleeping Lady has also formed a new partnership with Solstice Spa & Suites of Leavenworth to provide expanded spa services. With a small remodel to the sauna building located near the pool and fitness room, the resort now has double the capacity and can offer couple’s massage and spa treatments. The resort previously offered massage but has added facials and body treatments through this new arrangement. Reservations for services are available through Sleeping Lady’s front desk and start at $90 for a 60-minute massage and $95 for a 60-minute facial. Solstice Spa & Suites is owned by Julie Hamstreet and Tambra Zimmermann.

The last construction project is a new year-round family hospitality room called The Barn, which will be completed in April. The room will offer games, an indoor toddler play area and small stage (for budding thespians) and provide a respite from the summer heat.

Lori Vandenbrink, director of sales and marketing for Sleeping Lady, said the resort’s focus for many years has been geared towards attracting large business groups. About 70 percent of its business has come from that sector, Vandenbrink said, but in recent years the company has seen business groups cutting back on travel due to the economy. These days the retreat is re-focusing its marketing efforts toward leisure travelers and families, many of whom can now choose to travel here by train, thanks to the new Leavenworth Amtrak station that opened last fall. Sleeping Lady provides shuttle transportation for guests that take the train, and offers a “Ride the Rails Package” on the Web site for train travelers. Vandenbrink said the rail travel option works well the company’s mission of promoting eco-friendly travel options.

Harriet Bullitt, owner of Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort. Courtesy photo.

Lastly, the company created a new Web site that allows people to make overnight reservations online. Eventually, the resort will sell gift cards and make dining room reservations online as well, Vandenbrink said. But no other major changes were planned for the resort this year.

“We will take a year off now and enjoy the all the new features,” Vandenbrink said.

Harriet Bullitt purchased the 67-acre property in 1991 and redeveloped it into a mountain retreat. Prior to that, the site had been used as a base by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s, as a dude ranch and as a Camp for the Catholic Youth Organization. Bullitt opened Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort in 1995. A portion of Sleeping Lady’s profits benefit the Icicle Fund which supports the environment, arts and the history of the Wenatchee River watershed and neighboring landscapes.

Chapter 7

Might L. Petersen, P.O. Box 592, Chelan. Filed on Jan. 7.

Scott K. Emmons and Jocelyn D. Emmons, P.O. Box 644, Pashastin. Filed on Jan. 8.

Steven E. Anderson, 5505 8th St., S.E., East Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 8.

Elizabeth K. Schallhorn, 14910 Red Delicious St., Entiat. Filed on Jan. 8.

Eduardo Hernandez Trujillo and Rosa Elva Mendez Sanchez, 5612 Binder Road, Cashmere. Filed on Jan. 13.

Cameron D. Baine and Brinda J. Baine, 615 Palouse St., Wenatchee. Filed on Jan 13.

Norman B. Jack and Barbara M. Jack, 1194 East. Acala Ave., Casa Grande, Ariz. Filed on Jan. 14.

Lauri M. Bauer, 1712 N. Astor, East Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 14.

James Allen Hollman, 920 Jackson Place, East Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 15.

Jesse H. Crowder, P.O. Box 114, Rock Island. Filed on Jan. 15.

Vicki D. Rich, 2040 Valley View Blvd., East Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 15.

Darcie Frisch, 18505 Karl Road, Leavenworth. Filed on Jan. 18.

John J. Heinz and Serena R. Heinz, 1313 Bel Air Drive, East Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 18.

Michael A. Menley and Dionne D. Menley, 686 S. Larch Ave., East Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 20.

Joan C. Hart, P.O. Box 113, Manson. Filed on Jan. 20.

Timothy O’Connor and Anna M. O’Connor, 1250 Central Ave. # I7, Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 20.

Rosa Maria Ferrer, 1325 Maple St., Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 21.

James Caldwell and Diane R. Caldwell, 244 Lilly Lane, Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 22.

Coty Wade Meserve and Annette Marie Meserve, P.O. Box 183, Entiat. Filed on Jan. 23.

Jacqueline Alvarado, 815 N. Baker #B216, East Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 25.

Damon Ray Menger and Lackie Lynn Menger, 1425 1st St. S.E., East Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 28.

Cindy K. Caldwell, 952 N. Gale Ave., East Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 28.

Donald M. Molitor and Cheryl Molitor, 147 N. Kentucky, East Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 28.

Molly Ann Littrell, P.O. Box 1015, Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 29.

Cheryl Marie Hoyt, 1224 Gilcrest St., Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 29.

Doyle W. Smith and Robbin K. Smith, 21484 SR97, Orondo. Filed on Jan. 29.

Victoria Kaitlynn Llanas, P.O Box 408, Malaga. Filed on Jan. 29.

Blake D. Caldwell, 518 2nd St., Apt. B, Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 29.

Chapter 11

Calvin G. White and Janae B. White, P.O. Box 2659, Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 29.

Chapter 13

Kilo J. Leveque, 4530 131st Place, Marysville. Filed on Jan. 8.

Adrian Hernandez-Aviles and Vanessa Diane Hernandez, 314 Hilltop Place, Wenatchee. Filed on Jan. 11.

AAA Steam Clean, Drew Wilson, P.O. Box 3767, Wenatchee, WA 98807

Alsco, John Bartich, P.O. BOX 3084, Spokane, WA 99220

ATM Cash Services Inc., Luisa Licciardello, 30 Forest Creek Drive, Spencerport, NY 14559

Bethlehem Construction Inc., Michael Addleman, P.O. Box 505, Cashmere, WA 98815

Black Rock Asphalt & Concrete Coatings Inc., Brian Snyder, 2111 Ione St., Wenatchee, WA 98801

Coinstar Inc./DVD Express, Jason Tanzer, 515 W. 20th 7W, New York, NY 10011

Forsgren Associates Inc., Rick Noll, 112 Olds Station Road, Suite A, Wenatchee, WA 98801

Funtime, Brendan Wolff, 1670 San Miguel Drive, Walnut Creek, WA 94896

Karpet Korner Inc., Rex Gallaher, 201 S. Mission St., Suite 1, Wenatchee, WA 98801

Mi Gusto LLC, John Tobin/Steve Gustafson, 3927 School Street, Wenatchee, WA 98801

Power House Vending, Stephen Bennett, 60262 Crown Valley Pkwy, Suite B520, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

RAYELLEN LLC, Carrie Carpenter, 1845 Maple St. #14, Wenatchee, WA 98801

Schroeder Chiropractic, Jason Schroeder, 18 N. Worthen St., Suite 100, Wenatchee, WA 98801

Set In Stone Custom Masonry, Brian McNeill, P.O. Box 1032, Wenatchee, WA 98807

Soul Provisions, Susan Chitwood, 640 S. Mission St., Wenatchee, WA 98801

Town Chrysler Dodge, Thomas Barros, 722 N. Mission St., Wenatchee, WA 98801

Wall Tech Drywall LLC, Gregory Rovang, 507 Poplar Row, Wenatchee, WA 98801

Atlantic Roofing & Siding, Jose Ariel Lozano, 1271 S. Quincy Ave., East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Azteca Auto Glass, Rafael Gonzalez, 208-B N. Nevada Ave., East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Barrett Sheet Metal, Joseph Barrett, 435-A Rock Island Road, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Bayside Wireless LLC, David Shanks, 309 Valley Mall Pkwy, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Beauty By Lena, Lena Wilson, 610 Valley Mall Pkwy, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Bellagio Nail Salon (Formerly Lilly Nails), Quoc Pham, 511 Valley Mall Pkwy #BO1, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Cobiani Shoes, Marco Rimarez, 511 Valley Mall Pkwy, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Curb Design LLC, Gordon Boon/Mathew Boon, 2438 Highland View Drive, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

English Rapido, Maria Gion, 740 Golden View Place, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Essick Custom Construction, Don Essick, 1840 9th St. N.E., East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Hair Cuts by Terri, Terri Grow, 219 S. Houston St., East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Hot Dogz Canine Design, Ken Andis, 1610 Grant Road, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Howe Orthopedic Services, Larry Howe, 667 Grant Road, Suite 3, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

North Valley Mechanical Inc., Rodney Rumbolz, 440 Rock Island Road, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Ronald L. Sturtz EA, Ronald Sturtz, 868 Eastmont Ave., East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Signature Plumbing, Wayne Norval, 707 S. Kentucky Ave., East Wenatchee, WA 98802

The Bag Hag, Coellen Yeager, 605 15th St. N.E., East Wenatchee, WA 98802

The Hunter Law Firm PLLC, Robert Hunter, 645 Valley Mall Pkwy, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Therapy Works, Dena Halle, 667 Grant Road, Suite 3, East Wenatchee, WA 98802

Stemilt Growers has announced it will join forces with Dovex Fruit Company to become “the leading tree fruit growing, packing and marketing operation in the nation.”

“Stemilt has embarked on a strong pattern of growth over the past decade, and we are excited to continue this growth by bringing Dovex into our operations,” said West Mathison, Stemilt president in a statement. “By integrating the strengths of our two companies, we look to continue delivering premium fruits to the marketplace, while extending the programs and services we provide to our valued customers.”

Through the deal, Dovex Marketing and Packing will be combined into Stemilt’s operations, and the high-quality fruit that both companies are known for will be marketed under the Stemilt label.

Stemilt will gain approximately 175,000 bins of fruit storage and a state-of-the-art apple packing facility. The Dovex facility neighbors Stemilt’s primary packing and shipping facility, Olds Station. The close proximity of the two packing facilities is expected to drive continuity into Stemilt’s operations, Mathison said.

On the farming side, Dovex Orchards will become a grower for Stemilt, adding to the company’s growth in apples, pears, cherries, stone fruit and organics over the past decade. The combination with Dovex strengthens Stemilt’s leadership in Washington-grown conventional and organic apples and pears.

Stemilt already enjoys a strong leadership role in cherries, organic stone fruit and Wenatchee River Valley pears with its own manifest and through existing marketing partnerships with Douglas Fruit and Peshastin Hi-Up. In total, Stemilt will have an excess of 17,000 captive acres owned by itself and its marketing partners heading into the 2010 summer and fall harvests.

Both Stemilt and Dovex are family-run companies that started decades ago. Stemilt was founded in 1964 by the late Tom Mathison, while the De Nadai family established Dovex in 1982. The De Nadai family has developed fruit operations worldwide for three generations.

Strecker Paint Corporation, $5,561.29 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Feb. 9.

Emerald Point Ltd., $17,003.93 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on on Feb. 5.

Austin T. Moser, $24,210.20 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Feb. 4.

Sergio Hernandez, $59,206.88 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Feb. 4.

Buckshot Operations Inc. dba Frontline Real Estate, $69,888.51 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Feb. 2.

Valley Christian Center of Learning LLC, $8,092.95 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Feb. 2.

Edwards Fawson & Co. Inc. dba Therapuetic Touch, $120,315.43 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Feb. 2.

Kenneth G. Manson & Cheryl A. Durand, $22,424.67 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Feb. 2.

Vineyard Inc. dba Mission Street Bistro, $3,886 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Feb. 1.

David R. & Sharon S. Carlile, $15,942.79 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 28.

Audie J. Palmantier, $10,200.68 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 28.

Randall R. Johnston, $35,155.20 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 28.

Greg Emerson Duncan, $98,050.21 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 27.

Richard T. Hancock, $32,273.77 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 27.

Wenatchee Nail & Construction, $7,052.74 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 27.

Cirilo Sanchez, $34,043.56 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 27.

Peter Thomas, $249,368.04 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 27.

Fred & Joann Belanger, $9,101.00 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 25

Sharon A. Ventrello, $40,725.79 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 26.

Arthur D. Johnston & Rita D. Johnston, $43,658.08 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 20.

Barbara H. Cowan, $203,576.40 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 20.

David L. Long, $30,653.92 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 21.

Jim & Rhonda Martens, $280,055.11 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 22.

Greg Duncan & Cheryl Ann Duncan, $12,484.17 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Jan. 27.

A-2-Zen Motorsports, $4,116.23 in unpaid federal taxes. Filed on Feb. 4.

Seller: David R. Asplund
Buyer: Scott T. and Christy Hensrude
Description: One story block, remodeled 1987, covered entry, “Super Max.”
Address: 621 South Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee
Price: $350,000
Date: Jan. 25, 2010

Seller: Wenatchee Collision Center Inc.
Buyer: Scott T. and Christy Hensrude
Description: “Wenatchee Collision Center & Johns Quality Glass,” one-story block, machine room 280.
Address: 625 South Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee
Price: $283,000
Date: Jan. 19, 2010

Seller: Pioneer Water Unsers Association
Buyer: Boswel/Wiggins LLC
Description: Vacant land, parcel on canal, parking area, Four-Square Church.
Address: Easy Street, Monitor
Price: $80,000
Date: Feb. 1, 2010

Seller: William C. and Marcia C. Bond
Buyer: Price F. Gledhill and Catherine M. Bond
Description: “The Calendar Corner”, one story, wood frame, addition on back, commercial shops.
Address: 913 & 913 1/2 Front St., Leavenworth
Price: $675,000
Date: Jan. 20, 2010

Chelan County – Orchards, agriculture or vacant property

Seller: Beverly Pearson
Buyer: Nick A. Robbins
Description: 80 acres, vacant Land, agriculture-grazing.
Address: Squilchuck Road, Wenatchee
Price: $35,000
Date: Jan. 11, 2010

Seller: Allen Orchards Inc.
Buyer: Howard S. & Kay Bumgardner
Description: 3.42 acres, vacant Land, planted in pears, buyer owns adjoining parcel.
Address: SR 2, Peshastin St., Cashmere
Price: $87,500
Date: Jan. 29, 2010

Seller: Kludt-Waldron Orchards Inc.
Buyer: Jonathan D. Kludt
Description: 5.24 acres, one-story, four-unit labor housing, two-unit picker cabin. Maybe some orchard-in apples.
Address: 1490 Swartout Road, Manson
Price: $341,850
Date: Jan. 27, 2010

Douglas County – Commercial

Seller: Gerald R. Dennis, et al
Buyer: Mitchell Plaza LLC
Description: 19.83 acres, house has not been lived in for many years, also includes old garage. Parcel lies on both sides of Hwy 2 and has commercial potential.
Address: Hwy 2 and 97, Orondo
Price: $415,000
Date: Jan. 29, 2010

Douglas County – Orchards, agriculture or vacant property

Seller: J. Norman and Elsie L. Larsen
Buyer: Larry E. and Linda B. Glessner
Description: 79.4 acres, vacant land.
Address: Road D N.E., Mansfield
Price: $14,500
Date: Jan. 7, 2010

Seller: Jack A. and Ardis L. Shriner
Buyer: Scott and Susan A. Carter
Description: 67.4 acres, sale includes three house, two MHs, GP shed & outbuildings. 53.3 acres in apples – some newer varieties, 56.4 acres with irrigation.
Address: 8 Shriner Lane, Orondo
Price: $532,500
Date: Jan. 29, 2010

Central Washington Hospital Foundation has selected the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center (WVMC) as the 2010 Spirit of A.Z. Wells award recipient. The award will be presented at the 19th annual gala to be held Friday, Nov. 12 at the Wenatchee Convention Center.

Jack Evans, president and CEO of Central Washington Hospital (CWH) said this is the first time an organization rather than a couple or an individual has been named the recipient of this award.  Last year’s Spirit of A.Z. Wells award recipients were Si and Corina Bautista.  A list of previous award winners can be found on the hospital’s Web site here.

Abel Noah, CWH Foundation executive director, said the WVMC is a huge contributor to many worthy causes in our area. Last year the medical center committed $1 million to the foundation’s capital campaign to help build the hospital’s new five-story patient tower, he said.

Dr. David Weber, chairman and CEO of the WVMC, said the award highlighted the ongoing partnership between CWH and the medical center, two facilities that work together towards a common goal – to provide the highest quality health care for area residents now and into the future.

“We’re all very fortunate to live in an extraordinary Valley where the best interests and health care needs of our residents are of the utmost importance to our institutions,” Weber said.

Named after philanthropists and community leaders, Alfred A. and Emogene Wells, the “Spirit of A. Z. Wells” award was created in 1992 to pay tribute to those who selflessly share their gifts of time, talent, and treasure to better CWH and the community.

]]> http://wbjtoday.com/blog/hospital-foundation-selects-wvmc-az-wells-award/4550/feed/ 0 http://wbjtoday.com/blog/2010-cashmere-royalty-crowned/4588/?source=rss http://wbjtoday.com/blog/2010-cashmere-royalty-crowned/4588/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:54:20 +0000 yvettedavis http://wbjtoday.com/?p=4588 The Wenatchee Business Journal

The 2010 Cashmere Royalty were selected in a pageant event on Feb. 28. This year’s royalty are Queen Chelsea Stubbs, Princess Mayra Hurtado, and Princess Ariel Lynch. The event took place at the Cashmere Middle School. Judges for the event were Adele Lynch, Linda Haglund and Paul Atwood.

The competition drew a total of nine candidates, some of whom also won awards. Erin Smith was voted the congeniality award winner and Whitney Throgmorton won the pageant’s “outstanding academic” award. Princess Hurtado won the “outstanding speech” award and Queen Stubbs accepted the “outstanding talent” award for her modern dance routine. The remaining 2010 candidates were Stacy Alison, Jessica Guerrero, Diana Guzman, and Taylor Wood.

The 2009 Cashmere Royalty were Queen Celia Mejia, Princess Taylor Eicher, and Princess Anna Hargrove.

The Queen and two Princesses each receive a $1,000 scholarship provided by the Cashmere Rotary Club. They will spend the spring and summer touring parades around the northwest and Canada on the Cashmere community float.

The Wenatchee office of the Washington State Department of Revenue is hosting a free workshop for new and small business owners on Tuesday, March 16, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Douglas County Fire District, 377 Eastmont Ave., in East Wenatchee.

Participants will learn about Washington excise taxes, reporting classifications, deductions, tax incentives, sales tax collection, and record-keeping requirements. All receive a work book and helpful reference guide to Department of Revenue rules and regulations.

To register, visit the Department of Revenue Web site at www.dor.wa.gov or call (509) 663-9741. Space is limited. A complete schedule of workshops statewide and a short streaming video version of the workshop in English and Spanish are available on the Web site.

The Port of Chelan County has received the feasibility study on the proposed Pybus Public Market and is slated to make a decision on the purchase of the former Morse Steel property as early as May.

The port ordered the report from Greg Easton at Property Counselors in December to determine whether its proposed $2 million investment would realize any net revenue. Easton compared two different concepts for the 2.63 acre site — one with an anchor tenant for the building, and the other without, which showed the port can make money on the deal through either plan.

Those aren’t “pie in the sky” numbers either, said Bellingham developer Ted Mischaikov, who called the report “very conservative.” Mischaikov first proposed the public market concept to the port back in early 2009. Since then, the port has talked with the city of Wenatchee about its plans to further develop the entire waterfront area.

If the port and the city collaborate on the project, the city can take advantage of state Local Revitalization Fund (LRF) dollars to help pay for a share of the property’s development expenses. The LRF returns a portion of the new state sales tax revenue generated by the project to the city.

In the anchor tenant scenario, the port, city, or another managing entity would lease 5,000 square feet of space to an anchor tenant such as a restaurant or brew pub, as well as lease space to 20 additional vendors at 500 square feet per piece. The other scenario includes leasing to 25 separate tenants at 500 square feet per piece.

The initial cost for the anchor tenant project is approximately $5.1 million for the first year, including building improvements for the anchor tenant, assuming the city and port paid for the tenant improvements. If the port chose to go with the 100 percent vendors concept instead, the costs pencil out to $4.8 million to make the space ready. Projected costs for both scenarios also include upgrading infrastructure such as water, sewer, and electricity for the site as needed.

According to the report, the anchor tenant concept would generate a net operating income of $145,900 the first year, and provide an annual rate of return of 2.9 percent. By year four, income is expected to be at $221,408 and the rate of return approximately 4.4 percent. In the all-vendors concept, the first year’s net operating income would be $57,960 and the annual return rate 1.2 percent. By year four, the income is at $120,126 and the rate of return at 2.5 percent. The port would receive about 40 percent of that income for its share in the project.

Those numbers, even though very conservative, are pretty  good, Mischaikov said, who points to a solid return on investment for both the port and the city in both scenarios.

“The public market concept works well in a down economy and thrives in a recession,” he said. “This is very low-risk development.”

Though Mischaikov might not have any “skin in the game” in this particular market yet, he  plans to participate in the development of the city’s waterfront. He owns three different parcels in the area and has an option on one more that is adjacent to the Morse Steel property. He has proposed a luxury hotel, restaurant, and other tourist attractions for that area.

The city held a public planning charette for the public market on Feb. 25 that included an on-site tour followed by a meeting at the Wenatchee Convention Center where groups worked through options for site design, interior design and organizational structure.

Snohomish, Wash.-based Incident Catering Services has been awarded four U.S. Forest Service fire support contracts. As a result, the company will set up four Designated Dispatch Locations in the western U.S. to provide food, mobile showers and laundry services to firefighters working in remote locations. The four bases will be located in Durango, Colo., Klamath Falls, Ore., Twisp, Wash. and East Wenatchee, Wash.

Incident Catering Services began in 2003 and is a privately held company owned by Ray Keener. In 2005, ICS and its sister company, OK’S Cascade, supported 16 sites for nearly four months after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma ravaged the Gulf Coast.  Again in 2008 when Hurricanes Gustav and Ike struck, ICS and OK’S responded by providing 10 evacuee shelters, four base camps for first responders, shower equipment for six additional sites, and 60 comfort stations across the State of Louisiana to support the Louisiana Department of Social Services’ Disaster Food Stamp Program.

Forest fire events in recent years have included the Castle Rock Fire in Sun Valley, and the Zaca Two, Panther and Station fires in California.  In the past 35 years ICS and their interests have provided services on over 500 US Forest Service wildfires.

ICS is capable of preparing and serving thousands of meals daily. Its services are available for forest fire response, disaster response and military contracts. ICS also offers rental equipment.

The company has set up disaster response locations at 52 different sites nationwide in a single season and to date has served well over 11 million meals.

For more information on the company, or for employment opportunities, please visit the Web site incidentcateringservices.com

The Wenatchee Business Journal

The North Central Washington Economic Development District (NCW EDD) announced its picks for the top three economically significant projects currently planned for Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties. The ranking helps prospective projects get noticed and gain traction at the state and federal levels if grants and appropriations are available. For the first time in history, two different entities have tied for spot number three.

The top projects for 2009-2010 are:

1. Entiat waterfront redevelopment efforts

2. City of Wenatchee Pybus market

3. Chelan/Douglas Land Trust and Trust for Public Lands’ Wenatchee Foothills strategy (tie)

3. Twisp Public Development Authority (tie)

A total of 10 projects were submitted for committee evaluation. Each project was scored based on a variety of factors, including impact to the economy of North Central Washington, viability of job creation, demonstrated community support, and readiness to proceed with identified work.

“Each of these projects has enormous potential to grow and diversify the economy of their respective areas, as well as the regional economy. When prioritizing projects, the committee is always interested in job creation, and each project has the ability to grow new jobs, and enhance existing jobs while improving quality-of-life factors for North Central Washington,” explained Administrator Jennifer Korfiatis.

The NCW EDD allocates resources as needed to the top-ranked projects, including letters of support, dedicated staff time and financial support.

“Our goal is to help the projects in some way,” Korfiatis said. “We allocate staff resources to do some piece within the scope of work of the project.”

Sometimes that means overturning rocks by researching funding options and finding programs to fit the project’s needs, she said. Other times, just ranking the project is enough to give it the clout it needs in order to approach funding sources.

“It says that the project is regionally important, not just important to one city,” Korfiatis said. “That carries some weight.”

The North Central Washington Economic Development District is the federally designated economic development district covering Okanogan, Douglas, and Chelan counties and the Colville Confederate Tribes. It is responsible for regional economic development strategy and planning and collaborates with various private and public agencies to accomplish this goal.

The NCW EDD meets on the second Wednesday of each month at the Chelan Fire Station in Chelan, Washington from 8:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.  All meetings are open to the public. For more information contact Jennifer Korfiatis at (509) 682-6907.

“The state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council projected an additional $118 million drop in estimated state revenue, pushing the total state budget shortfall to $2.8 billion. The forecast, released last Friday, also indicates that Washington’s economy is recovering, but some sectors, including exports and software, are performing better than others, such as commercial real estate. ‘The great recession may be over but it has wrought havoc on the economy, which will take time to heal,’ said Arun Raha, the state’s chief economist.” -Association of Washington Business weekly update 2/15/10

There’s just no question – the state economy is pretty grim. There are a couple of ways we can look at this: one is to point fingers and blame others, but that certainly isn’t going to solve the problem. Another option is to learn all we can about Washington’s current and projected economic condition so we are in the best possible position to be part of the solution.

Toward that more constructive end, there’s an educational opportunity coming up in March that you won’t want to miss. Dr. Arun Raha, Washington state’s chief economist and executive director of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, will be sharing his insight on our state’s economy at the Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce Economic Indicators Seminar Thursday, March 18 at 7:30 a.m. at the Confluence Technology Center. The cost is just $15 for chamber members and $20 for non-members, which includes a catered breakfast. It’s a small price to pay for first-hand information from the man who has his finger on the pulse of Washington state’s economy.

Raha earned his master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics. In 1985 he moved to the United States to study economics at Washington State University, where he earned his Ph.D. Prior to taking over as Washington’s chief economist at the end of 2008, Raha’s professional career included teaching economics at Boise State University, forecasting general fund revenue for the Idaho Legislature, director of the Asia Service for Wharton Economic Forecasting Associates (now Global Insight Inc.), manager of economic analysis of Eaton Corporation, serving on the Ohio governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, and vice president for economic research and consulting for Swiss Re, the world’s largest insurer. He received the Wall Street Journal’s forecasting award in January 2005 and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s top overall forecast prize in 2007. He has also served on the Wall Street Journal’s Economic Forecasting Panel.

We are fortunate to have Dr. Raha at the helm in the current economic climate. Take advantage of this very unique opportunity to meet him and hear from him in person at the upcoming Economic Indicators Seminar. Call the Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce today at (509) 662-2116 to reserve your place.

Virtually everything we do today is done through the Internet. It’s a fast-paced, modern world out there and in order for any company to make a profit, an online presence is required. For a company to be competitive, they must have a Web site and interaction via cyberspace with clients.

However unrestricted access to the Internet on company time may require some monitoring. Giving employees free rein tends to lead to non-productive activities such as surfing social media Web sites, or even more personal issues like shopping or paying bills online. This is a concern for employers, and rightly so, that money and time are being wasted on activities that aren’t growing the business.

Simply telling employees that taking care of personal business at work is not allowed isn’t enough.  Most of the time employees will simply disregard this rule and surf when no one is looking. On an extreme scale, this can lead to serious consequences for the employer such as downloading illegal music or frequently visiting inappropriate Web sites. The only means of regulating this behavior is to control it by restricting the unlimited access the employees are accustomed to.

Content filtering provides the efficient solution to this problem. With filtering set into place, companies can then work with network administrators to control what employees are able to access and receive over the Internet.

Costs vary depending on the system the employer is requiring, but there is a variety of software and hardware options available to meet different needs.

Hardware solutions are a growing trend these days as we find more people becoming computer savvy. Hardware filtering provides increased security by preventing the user from breaking through the system and accessing what has been denied. It also makes more sense if employers are on a time budget, as installing one set of hardware for all computer networks is much more efficient than individual programs for every PC. Through these content-filtering investments, employers can then decide what is permissible content and what is not.

By eliminating access to certain sites, employees have few other choices left but to actually get to work. The main goal of content filtering is to increase employee productivity and general conduct overall. While grumbles and murmurs about the restricted access may ensue, it will quickly die down as employees settle and get back to work, which is the primary goal in the first place.

My apologies to the four or five folks who are following my entrepreneurial journey but as I promised from time to time I’ll take a crack at a timely issue that I think needs “putting it to”.

By the way to those few folks who actually might be reading and following my adventures please take note. If you want a specific issue covered let the good folks at the WBJ know and I’ll try to address the same. My adventures in garbology will have to wait until next month. This month I shall attempt “to put it to” the social network craze.

Social networks would seem to be hot one more time in 2010 and for the some of the same reasons as they were in the late ’90s. Eyeballs my friends, eyeballs are here again and the name of the game is ad sales potential. I have noted numerous recent articles saying that MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and on and on ad nauseum are garnering more traffic than most major search engines. Interesting.

Enter a plethora of no brand sites claiming to be THE next hot social network. There are social networks that sell stuff, social networks that exist only on the Net, social networks that sell nothing, are free, but garner many, many impressions that can or could at some point be sold to potential advertisers, networks to meet, to blog, to share weird stuff, whew!!!!. Oh by the way most all of these sites are usually powered by VC/investor dollars.

Now, not one article that touts the success of these sites mentions old timey stuff like NET PROFIT as a measure of success. Nope, eyeballs my friend, eyeballs, impressions and traffic that’s where it’s at. Why do I sense a rerun of the late ’90s here? Everyone is starting to drink the poisoned Kool-Aid one more time.

Look folks. Let’s go over this lest you forget. Commerce, or E-commerce for that matter, is the creation of a product or service that sells for a certain price and or fee. It is with that fee or price that the market in its wisdom or stupidity (both work), determines how much value this product or service has to consumers at large. A social network is nothing more or less than a grouping of individuals who share a common interest and who want to be recognized as a group, contribute to that group and in some way, via their participation, affect and/or change that group and or the information contained therein.

How then do these free sites with zip net profit become so valuable? The magic word is potential. Potential ad sales from the millions of impressions these upstart sites are generating.

Right now you are scratching some part of your body and mumbling, “What the hell is this guy talking about?” I will share the magic! Company A has a great social network idea but whoops, zip money. Venture capital firm No. 1 sees this and provides a chunk of change to do what? Yep, market the free service. Why? To gain a huge amount of impressions/visitors/users that will create stellar sales POTENTIAL in terms of ad sales.

Wait a minute where is Company A buying these impressions? From companies C through the alphabet who are funded by VCs No. 2 through infinity. Company A now bases it’s valuation on ad potential based on the inflated ad revenues delivered from other VC funded entities and round and round it goes until a year 2000 reappears and the greedy investor is caught with his or her pants down. Kind of like high stakes musical chairs where at some point all the chairs disappear!

You say with one voice, “Wait a minute. Google, Yahoo, etc. are publicly held and are making the ad revenue model work. Of course they are, but they are currently capturing more than 90 percent of all ad dollars spent on the Internet and those dollars, although increasing, are still miniscule when compared to all ad expenditures on other forms of media.

Certainly ClassMates.com was one of, if not the first highly successful social network. It was successful on two fronts. First, it most definitely delivered on the definition of a social network above, but equally important, it delivered on the traditional definition of a commercial transaction. It charged a fee for service rendered. Ad revenue was a part of the revenue equation but only a part.

For the zillionth time people, FREE is not commerce. Its phone sex looking for a hotel room to meet, touch and do the real thing. It’s an illusion of commerce dressed up in techie jargon that, for the most part, is meant to confuse and create value where there is none.

Now, many might say “You don’t get it Mike. You see we have to get the eyeballs for free and then we could charge for our service.” NOPE. Free will not, in 95 percent of the cases, convert to paying customers. “Well look at all our impressions they are worth real money!” Really, sell’em and prove it. And oh sell them to non-VC-funded entities.

Look, the inherent viral nature of a niche-based social network can be a winner but free is not in my vocabulary. I would be willing to bet there are many well-known VC-funded SN sites out there that are asking a lot of high paid consultants how in the hell do we make any money at this? My somewhat harsh answer is the old fashion way: CHARGE for the service or product. Hell, charge for something but charge you must and charge you will at some point!

Let’s spend a bit of time talking about social(???) networks as THE new means of interacting with other human beings. What communication? What social interaction? These online networks are a one-dimensional way to share the most trivial parts of your everyday life with other individuals who have nothing better to do than to participate in that sharing process.

I truly believe we are breeding an entire generation of communication invalids. Communication is far more than staring at a computer screen. It involves interacting on a face-to-face basis with another human being. Tone, body language, dress, smiles and frowns are just a few of the clues we need to REALLY COMMUNICATE!  Hey I should talk! I talk to thousands of folks a year online via my SBA/SCORE volunteer work and yet when I want to really communicate with any one of them, it’s the telephone or face to face that works the best. I think my prior comment on phone sex works here as well.

If this sounds like I’m anti Internet, I’m not! Hey, the Internet has been very good to me. However it has its place. Recently an old business associate noted that, like the travel and hospitality industry, the Internet was a major industry as well. WHAT!!! The Net facilitates major industries and most certainly provides an additional sales and promotional channel. A major industry it is not.

A new addition: Political comment of the month

A Republican strategist, who did not want to be identified, when asked if he’d listened to Sarah Palin’s recent speech to the Tea Party convention, said “yes and regrettably it reduced my IQ by six points.” Only six?

Next month, back to my adventures in risking as I learn the truth of the statement: “Blood is most assuredly thicker than water.” Hey folks Spring is just around the corner. Hope to meet a few of you at the 2010 Classy Chassis event in East Wenatchee April 30 to May 1. I’m the tall guy with little hair in the silver Z06 Corvette.

The Cashmere Chamber of Commerce’s Nominating Review Committee has selected Cashmere Cottage Yarn owned by Judith Jorgensen and Jan Evans as the 2009 Outstanding Business winner, and Evelyn Davis, a volunteer at the Cashmere Senior Center and the Cashmere Museum & Pioneer Village to receive the Outstanding 2009 Citizen award.

Both winners will be honored at the chamber’s Annual Recognition Dinner and Auction on Friday, March 12 from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Cashmere Riverside Center, 201 Riverside Drive.

Tickets for the buffet dinner and auction are $25 per person and are on sale now at the Chamber offices at 204 Cottage Avenue. The chamber is also selling table sponsorships at $300 a piece, which includes six dinner tickets. Around 125 to 140 people are expected to attend.

The event is the biggest annual fundraiser for the chamber, said Manager Sara Urdahl. Funds from the auction go towards chamber of commerce programs throughout the year.

Large and small donated items are sought for the auction. Past items have included getaways, furniture, goods and services, wine, artwork, and other small goods. People seeking to donate items should contact auction chair Jeremy Bonner of Cashmere Valley Bank, at (509) 782-5491.

The Cashmere Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit member association whose purpose is to promote and support new and existing businesses in the Cashmere community.

Fast facts about the Cashmere Chamber of Commerce annual awards

Criteria for the Business of the Year award

• Operates a business in the Cashmere area
• Paid member of the Cashmere Chamber of Commerce
• Actively involved in the Cashmere community, either in the current year or consistently over a number of years
• Demonstrated excellence in their field, which in turn contributes to the overall economic health of the community

Previous Business of the Year winners:

2006 Country Boy’s BBQ – Tom & Anitra Dew
2007 JASCO Small Business Development— John Bryant
2008 Crunch Pak, LLC

Criteria for Citizen of the Year

• Has made outstanding contributions to the Cashmere community
• Helps promote the local economic climate
• Active in service projects leading to civic improvement
• Donates time over & above expectations for the position or vocation in which the nominee earns a living

Previous Citizen of the Year winners:

2006 Steve Godfrey
2007 Greg Taylor
2008 Jim Geary

By Yvette Davis

Due to mild winter weather, Desert Canyon Golf Resort has announced its earliest opening yet. Barring a change in conditions, the golf course is slated to open Friday, March 5. To celebrate this early opening the resort will offer a Customer Appreciation Day event on Friday March 19, 2010 with free golf to the first 144 golfers who register. Players may register online at www.DesertCanyon.com or call 509-784-1111.

For online reservations booked for Friday, March 19th, there will be no charge for golf or cart as long as golfers show up with the number of players they book. Only one tee time is available per online reservation.

CJ’s Oasis Restaurant and Rattlers Sports Bar is scheduled to re-open Friday March 12.

The 17 year-old resort is an 18-hole championship golf course near Orondo, located midway between Wenatchee and Chelan on Hwy. 97. Pro Desert LLC, a division of Homestead Northwest, bought Desert Canyon Golf Resort for $3.7 million in Dec., 2007, from General Electric Credit Equities, Inc. who ran the resort after the original owners ran into financial trouble in 2005. After the purchase, Homestead upgraded several aspects of the resort, adding a new restaurant, Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled golf carts, and additional condominium units.

The company currently has 36  one, two, and four-bedroom condominium units for sale at Desert Canyon and also has residential developments at Anacortes, Oak Habor, Burlington, Bellingham and Blaine, Washington.

Homestead Northwest also owns and operates the Homestead Farms Golf Course in Lynden, Wash., and Sealinks Golf Course at Birch Bay, Wash. Like the Orondo course, those include residential developments too.

Coron Polley is the Desert Canyon Golf Resort manager.

The Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce has announced the nominees for the “Wennies,” the chamber’s annual business awards.  The awards will be presented at the chamber banquet on Thursday, March 4, at the Wenatchee Valley Convention Center.

The nominees for Chelan County Business of the Year are Cordell Neher & Company, PLLC, Wenatchee Wild Hockey Club and Systematech, Inc.

Nominees for Douglas County Business of the Year include Merrill Orthodontics, Apt Design and the Wenatchee Valley Mall.

In the Non-Profit Organization of the Year, seven different organizations were nominated. These include Senior Corps. of Retired Executives (SCORE), the Literacy Council of Chelan and Douglas Counties, Habitat for Humanity, Chelan Douglas United Way, the Wenatchee Valley Senior Activity Center, the Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee and Chelan Douglas Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).

The Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit membership-based organization whose mission is to strengthen the economic climate of the Wenatchee Valley. The WVCC has over 625 members, more than one hundred years of experience, and serves as the voice for business in the Wenatchee Valley.

For tickets or more information on the event, call the chamber at (509) 662-2116 or visit the Web site at http://www.wenatchee.org/.

Sound Publishing newspapers took home 16 awards, including top honors in several categories in the Suburban Newspapers of America (SNA) 2009 Editorial Contest. The awards were announced Feb. 12.

The SNA’s “most popular contest of the year” includes thousands of entries from member papers across North America, and “recognizes editorial excellence in six different circulation classes that separates dailies from non-dailies,” said Douglas Crist, editorial director for Sound Publishing.

Sound Publishing’s first place winners included, Enumclaw Courier-Herald for Best Sports Section, Federal Way Mirror for Best Editorial Page, Issaquah Reporter for Best Sports Writing, Mercer Island Reporter for Best News Photo, Renton Reporter for Best Breaking News Story and South Whidbey Record for Best Front Pages.

Third place winners included the Bellevue Reporter for Best Sports Photo and Best Sports Writing, Kent Reporter for Best Feature Photo, Marysville Globe for Best Sports Section, Mercer Island Reporter for Best Photojournalism, Redmond Reporter for Best Sports Writing and the Wenatchee Business Journal for Best Niche Product, Business Publication.

Several publications also received honorable mentions. They were: Covington/Maple Valley Reporter for Best Sports Photo, Marysville Globe for Best Front Page. and Mercer Island Reporter for Best Sports Writing.

Details on the awards can be found at www.suburban-news.org.

By Yvette Davis

Leilani Johnson and her mother Carmen Johnson started the new non-profit, Warm Souls, to help keep bedridden people warm, and to honor the memory of Leilani’s father, M. Dale Johnson.

Warm Souls  is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing for those who are bedridden and cannot walk and are experiencing problems with circulation in their legs, which causes them to be  cold. Through Warm Souls, the Johnsons take cash donations and use them to purchase new slipper socks and lap robes, which they deliver to local nursing homes and other care facilities.

Leilani Johnson said their goal is to grow the organization large enough to not only serve the local needs, but also ship them anywhere in the world.

The two came up with the idea together when Leilani Johnson wanted to do something in her father’s memory. Her father worked at the old Wells and Wade store, and used to take his old clothes and coats to the homeless that lived around there quite regularly. He came home one day and said “there’s a man outside who forgot his socks,” Leilani Johnson said. So he took his socks to the man. When her father later became ill, he always wanted slipper socks on his feet, she said.

“When daddy became ill, his feet and legs were so cold and he always wanted a warm lap robe over his legs, and the last thing my mom would do for him at night was to put slipper socks on his feet. It’s not a big thing but when people get older and they are in wheelchairs and can’t walk, their feet get cold,” Leilani Johnson said.

When her father passed away in May 2008, she remembered that story and saw a need she could fill.

The mother-daughter team started taking donations a year ago, and have an account set up at Cashmere Valley Bank under the name Warm Souls. With the funds they purchase new socks through eBay vendors, and new lap robes (soft micro-plush blankets) which they hand out to bedridden individuals who need them. They made their first delivery on Aug. 17, 2009.

On Jan. 27, 2010 they gave away over 250 pairs of socks and 42 lap robes. The two have donated to the Cashmere nursing home, Colonial Vista, Highline, and Our House the cancer care house. Leilani Johnson said they’d also like to reach more in-home care facilities here but haven’t been able to  because of a lack of funds. Eventually she would like to send them to hospice facilities too.

“Ideally, we would like to be making deliveries every two to three months, and eventually we’d like to ship them all over,” Leilani Johnson said.

The socks and blankets provided by the nursing homes are white, she said, but their  warmers have   bright colors, and Johnson said that helps brighten peoples’ day. A printed copy of the poem “Footprints” is also attached to every pair of socks and every lap robe that is donated.

“By warming their feet and legs, we also warm their hearts and souls,” Leilani Johnson explained. “When we take them to these people, some of them just sob.”

Leilani Johnson has worked at the Gellatly Insurance Agency as an commercial insurance agent for the past 25 years and is the contact person for the company.

For more information in Warm Souls, call (509) 663-1692 or e-mail to: leilani@gallatly.com. Donations may be dropped off at the Gellatly Agency at 22 N. Chelan Ave. in Wenatchee, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. or mailed to P.O. Box 37, Wenatchee, WA 98801.

Smith Custom Woodworking
Owners: Jared Smith, Rod Smith
Startup date: October 2009
Address: 1902 Hideaway Place, Wenatchee
Phone: 670-4634

For father-and-son business owners Jared and Rod Smith, making cabinets last is what their work is all about.

Both work in their new business, Smith Custom Woodworking part time – Jared Smith works a day job in agriculture and Rod Smith is retired – but they put in the extra hours needed to ensure their custom built cabinets and furniture will stand the test of time.

“These cabinets right here will outlast us,” Jared Smith said. “And probably even the buildings.”

An art chair designed and built by Jared Smith.

He’s talking about the kitchen, bathroom and utility room cabinets the duo installed for Ted McDaniel of Mountain Vista Homes in the spec home at 2103 Sage Grouse Drive in Wenatchee. They also installed two bench seats/storage areas in the living room. They started on project in early December and finished in late January.

They’ve done five or six projects since starting the business in October. The duo builds kitchen, bathroom, media cabinets, storage spaces, window seats, trim, and built-in bookcases and wine racks for local customers.

Since the Smiths already owned a lot of the tools and equipment themselves, startup costs were minimal (around $5,000) for licensing, insurance and bonds. Their main goal in starting the business, they said, was to provide more options to Wenatchee residents.

“There’s a few people here that do it, but we like to think we provide more of a custom product rather than what they have to offer,” Jared said.

People can go to big box stores and buy cabinets there as well, but the store may carry only one or two product lines, and the pieces are made to specific dimensions, they said. If the homeowner has a space that’s odd sized, it leaves room at the end, or forces the use of “fillers” in between cabinets to butt them together to give the appearance of a seamless surface. It also takes longer for the person hanging the cabinets to do the job.

A Federal Table replica hand made by Jared Smith.

“And if you want something extra, it costs a lot more,” Jared Smith said. “All the mass-produced cabinets are that way. We differ from a big box store in that we construct a piece to fit the space and aren’t tying to work a product that’s a certain size into that space.”

The cabinets they built for the Sage Grouse spec home consist of two double upper units, a microwave cabinet, and a corner cabinet. The edges of all the cabinet doors sit side by side with just enough room between them to swing them open, which is a more modern look than can be bought off the shelf, Jared said.

Bathroom vanity cabinets the Smiths installed in a local home.

They also use higher quality and often thicker materials in their work, which will stand up to more use, he added. They can use any type of product from solid wood to wood products like melamine.

Workmanship-wise, they use modern tools and technology to get the job done, but old-world sensibility to guide them. Instead of just gluing pieces together, they glue, insert, and screw them together, which creates stronger joints, Rod pointed out.

Rod Smith has 20 years experience making cabinets, Jared Smith has about seven, and makes furniture on the side, including some antique replicas and a couple of things he designed himself. (See photos).

From looking at the work, it’s obvious the Smiths have a love for what they do, and they said they’d like to connect with other local woodworking enthusiasts to start a knowledge sharing group. If people come together and share ideas, people can learn new ways of doing things that maybe they hadn’t considered before, which keeps the knowledge base here growing, Jared said.

“No two woodworkers will make a cabinet the same way. Everybody’s got a little different approach to it,” Rod Smith explained.

The Wenatchee Business Journal

Nine Cashmere juniors will vie for a spot on the Cashmere Royalty Court and one of three $1,000 scholarships. The selection pageant takes place at 4 p.m. on Feb. 28 at the Cashmere Middle School Auditorium. This year’s pageant hosts are Tina Owens and the reigning 2009 Cashmere Royalty, Queen Celia Mejia, Princess Taylor Eicher, and Princess Anna Hargrove. The nine candidates will be judged by a panel of three out of town judges on personal interviews, a composed speech, poise, talent, and performance during impromptu questions.

The nine 2010 Cashmere Royalty candidates are:

Stacy Alison, daughter of Michelle Allison
Jessica Guerrero, daughter of Silverio and Martha Guerrero
Diana Guzman, daughter of Jose and Eva Guzman
Mayra Hurtado, daughter of Vidal and Modesta Hurtado
Ariel Lynch, daughter of Karne and Chris Lynch
Erin Smith, daughter of Brad and Shawna Smith
Chelsea Stubbs, daughter of Amy and Willie Stubbs
Whitney Throgmorton, daughter of Rod and Lori Throgmorton
Taylor Wood, daughter of Tara and John Wood

The queen and princesses will receive a $1,000 scholarship provided by the Cashmere Rotary Club. Other awards include Outstanding Speaker, Talent, Academic Achievement and Congeniality.

Tickets are for sale at Doan’s Valley Pharmacy and at the door. Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 students and seniors, or $25 for a family of six.

Please contact Rebecca Hargrove at (509) 881-7750 for more information.

by Yvette Davis

WENATCHEE — From inflatable castles and bouncy balls to gladiator jousting and boxing, Jump Around Inflatable Games can deliver them all.

Owners Marc and Leanne Doney run the new business from their home in Wenatchee, and said for now, that’s just fine with them. Later, they hope to open a family fun center where everyone can enjoy the games year-round.

The Doneys moved here in October from Bridgeport. He has a background in law enforcement and is a former Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy. Before that, the couple lived in Olympia where he worked as a general contractor and she ran a sandwich shop four blocks from the state capital.

He also worked for an inflatable games company in Olympia for three years that had 30-40 employees and a warehouse full of 50-60 games that supplied games for 15-20 events a day on the weekends.

That company used to deliver games as far away as Spokane, he said, which got him thinking. He looked around, didn’t see any similar businesses in Wenatchee and decided he might have found a niche. He could save people money by providing the games locally and make life more fun for people on the east side of the mountains.

Doney said they did consider the slower economy before jumping in with both feet.

“We considered going back into construction or food service, but those are both highly competitive markets,” he said. “This seemed like a better niche for us.”
It also allows the couple to work together, and lets their two high school-aged children help out, too.

They spent $10,000 to buy nine games and get the business set up. The games themselves are pretty durable, he said, and should last 8 to 10 years.

The biggest startup hurdle they faced was finding liability insurance. Not every company writes it, they said, and the standards vary from state to state. Their current insurance company requires the games to be supervised by their employees, so one of them is always on site during an event. If the weather turns bad — rain or snow — they are on hand to shut down the games.

The inflatables are delivered on a trailer they also purchased, and can be set up indoors if the ceiling is high enough, and outdoors on any reasonably flat surface, except in mud. The client usually provides the power to run the fans that inflate the games, but he can also bring a generator if need be. The set up and tear down is a lot of work, Doney said, but it is fun to be around people having a good time. All ages enjoy the games from kids to adults, and the types of events he has done range from church and school events to weddings and even car dealerships promoting sales. He estimated the business will do about half commercial business and half private parties.

Right now he is keeping an eye out for a commercial space big enough and with a ceiling tall enough to allow him to create a year-round family fun center.

“There’s nothing like that here,” he said. And that’s another niche he may just be able to fill.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, more data centers could make their way to eastern Washington if the state legislature passes a bill waiving a 7.9 percent sales tax on computer equipment purchases and installation costs for new rurally located data centers before the current session closes on March 11.

House Bill 3147 was passed to the Rules Committee on Feb. 9 and up for consideration on March 3. Its companion bill, Senate Bill 6789 is also making the rounds. Both bills have until the end of the legislative session to pass, unless a special extended session is called.

Either bill would provide a 15-month tax exemption on sales and installation of new server equipment at new eligible data centers that begin construction between March 31, 2010 and July 1, 2011. Eligible data centers as defined by the bill include those located in rural counties that have at least 20,000 square feet dedicated to housing working servers. The equipment must be installed and put into use by April 2, 2018.

Because the tax exemption was not in place, work on new data centers stalled in Washington state in 2008 and 2009. If the bill passes, work may begin again on new centers in Quincy and East Wenatchee.

Jenny Rickel, president of the Greater Wenatchee Area Technology Alliance said the bill does not extend the tax cut to existing server farms nor does it mitigate property taxes.

“The bill isn’t asking for money or a handout. There’s no money coming out of the state’s budget today. This only applies to new data centers we would not otherwise have had,” Rickel said.

Server farms get chilly reception

In Nov. 2007, Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna issued a ruling that data centers were not eligible for the rural county sales and use tax deferral that the high-tech companies thought they could take advantage of when they moved here.

His ruling effectively brought construction on new server farms for companies like Microsoft and Yahoo to a stand still, and may also have cost the state additional business. Facebook, who had looked at  eastern Washington, found it more economically palatable to locate its new server farm in Prineville, Ore. instead, and broke ground on a new $188 million data center there in January. That money would have translated into new  revenue and new jobs for our area, say proponents. Opponents say the giant facilities use too much power and provide too few jobs.

Rickel said the main issues are power and jobs.

“The big push back that people give about this topic involves two things. One, too much power being consumed by the data centers, and two, they don’t create jobs after the construction is over,” Rickel said.

People are concerned that power is  a limited resource, Rickel said, however the two local Public Utility Districts  set the parameters and pricing on their power, and the data centers have to live within that range.

But most people don’t know that long term power contracts with data centers can benefit the power utilities as well, said Jim Huffman, Douglas County port commissioner. Long term stable income means a higher bond rating and lower financing costs when the utility needs to borrow cash for new equipment and to perform upgrades and improvements. Lower bond rates means lower costs for consumers too, he added.

The power company can also work out a deal wherein it retains control over the sources of power it supplies to the data facility, allowing it to mix outside and locally made power if needed. The Douglas County Public Utility District worked out such a deal with Sabey Corp., Huffman said.

Employment ripple effect?

The other issue opponents bring up is long-term job creation. Opponents say the data centers don’t create long-term jobs because after construction is over; they only employ 25 to 30 people, Rickel said.

The Washington State Rural Technology Development Coalition weighed in on that issue in a letter to the Senate Ways & Means Committee, stating that “data centers in rural areas of Washington State create high-paying, long-term family wage jobs which provide economic diversity and stability to rural communities in Washington State.”

For each full-time data center job created with an annual income of approximately $61,000, another 2.5 jobs are created locally, according to the coalition That’s a big boost, the coalition said, in an area like Quincy where the estimated median household income is 25 percent lower than the overall median income for the state.

East Wenatchee has a similar economic base to Quincy and could also benefit from those types of jobs, said Pat Haley, executive director of the Douglas County Port District. Sabey Corporation, a large nationwide data center developer, completed two buildings in East Wenatchee in 2008, one at 205,000 square feet and another at 188,000 square feet, which added approximately 60 permanent full-time jobs to the area.

Sabey’s Intergate Columbia campus in East Wenatchee currently houses  T-Mobile and VMware. The company has another 80,000 square feet ready to rent, and owns another 30 acres next door where it could build additional facilities if the bill passes.

Jim Kneeland, spokesman for Sabey Corp., said “while the bill has a long ways to go for final approval we are hopeful for its passage. If passed we think it will immediately provide needed jobs for skilled workers in Central Washington.”

Chinook Music
510 N.E. Second St.
East Wenatchee

This architectural rendering by MJ Neal Associates, Architects, shows what the new Chinook Music building will look like once completed.

A two-toned stucco exterior featuring the store’s “Chinook” logo, sets the stage for Steve Sturzl’s new 5,000-square-foot Chinook Music store at 510 N.E. Second St., East Wenatchee.

Rimmer and Roeter Construction Inc. of Cashmere started work on the project at the end of August and expect to be completed in mid-February.

Designed by MJ Neal Associates, Architects, to welcome and meet the customers’ music needs, the building also provides a high level of visibility and exposure compared to the previous location at 511 Grant Road, where it has been for 14 years.

The design takes advantage of energy efficiencies with the use of solar shading, while putting the merchandise on display from the street.

Four awnings cover the aluminum storefront windows facing Eastmont Street, with a 19-space parking lot on the new site.

The interior has five sound-proof studios, including the retail space used to display amplifiers and speakers. The building also includes a full-service repair shop.

The current economic malaise seems to have fostered a renewed interest in entrepreneurship. Some come at it by choice (lots of boomers out there looking for their dream). Others are laid off, downsized or just plain fired and have no other place to go.

Speaking of which, I have noticed more and more folks are notified of that life changing event by e-mail. What the hell is that! An event next to death on the stress scale and the SOB boss hasn’t got the balls to face you eyeball to eyeball! Sad indeed. More on that subject later. Over the next few articles I’ll share some of my experiences as I learned about life in the entrepreneurial trenches.

Hey, look at it this way. I took the chances, experienced the joy and pain. All you have to do is learn from my adventures.

Let’s skip the paper route, my father’s failed small business, the loss of everything my parents had, and a childhood that was shall we say challenging and move to the really good stuff. After working my way through college I secured my father’s dream for me: a college degree and a job with Boeing for a lifetime — if I wanted it — ah the sweet smell of security.

Well within a couple years I had won everything the Boeing finance department had to give in terms of performance awards including a plastic model of the B-1 bomber and a couple thousand bucks bonus. Living large!!

Hey, time to get hitched have a couple kids. Well the marriage came and kids magically did the same and before you could say the diaper pail is full, life became more complex and that security thing was doing less and less for my ego.

Speaking of diaper pails I must share one story about diaper pails that may hint at a quality that developed early and matured later in my entrepreneurial career. Julie and I were new parents and I was going to graduate school nights and looking for a job. The day of a big interview arrives, I put on my suit and go out to the car (a VW) and, low and behold, someone has swiped the seats. Now what?

Well, empty the diaper pail, turn it upside down and use it for a seat. It worked and I got the job. You get lemons, you make lemon aid. What that has to do with diaper pails I don’t know but I think you get the idea.

It was at this point as a result of taking a few semesters of night graduate school classes that the entrepreneurial bug began to get under my skin. On a cold, dark, wet Seattle night (what else is there in Seattle?) I announced to my wife and my father and mother that I was leaving the Boeing Company, that center of blissful security (NOT!!!), and taking a job as controller for a family owned apple packing plant in Pasco, Wash.

From airplanes to apples, at least they both started with the letter A. My wife Julie, who we will see many more times in my entrepreneurial morality play, said, “Well, we really do need a change. I’m sure we will do just fine.”

My dad in his usual understated approach to most all things, noted while waving a large carving knife (I told him at a family dinner — bad move.) I was f***ing out of my mind and wanted to know why I would subject his grandchild to life in the crime center of the universe, Pasco, Washington.

This was the beginning of the long-term use of the F-word on many family occasions mostly relating to my entrepreneurial choices.

I might add at this point that this was only the beginning of negative parental enforcement. It actually got to the point in my later years when people asked me what I did for a living I wanted to say, “Well I’m a goddamn entrepreneur. What’s it to you!” More of that later.

Turner Packing Company, a name that is forever burned into my memory as my first association with family business, drunk and drinking pilots, cheating on wife CEOs, and much, much more or less depending on how one looks at the situation. It was here that I was exposed to one of many great truths in family biz and in entrepreneurship in general.

Many, if not all of these family entities are run not for bottom line profitability but for the well being of the family members.

Why should a packing company own a number of “in the tank” bars around eastern Washington? Pretty damn obvious. Frank Turner liked the ladies, playing dice and drinking a lot so what better way to cover all three? Call it a business recreational investment.

Now I like to have a drink as much as anybody, but when you are flying to Seattle to meet bankers for funding and I see Frank Turner putting a case of beer and a fifth of bourbon on board a four-seat Cessna, it makes one’s mind wander to thoughts of life insurance and what your wife will do with same.

It was this flight that caused me to cancel my Turner airlines frequent flyer card. Frank was well into his cups as we approached a small airport on the outskirts of Seattle. Frank, beer in hand, had things well under control. The operations manager and I were in the back seats and were in the process of pledging our lives to Jesus if we survived when the plane took a violent turn to the left and went straight down.

As I thought of my kids and my wife and the recent career choice that was about to cause my death I remember Frank laughing his ass off as he shouted above the roar of the engine, “Bet you thought I was gonna hit that crazy SOB trying to take off!”

I drove a lot after that. When I needed to check numbers on the “recreational investments,” I drove — alone.

I did institute a break even-based production control system that positively affected the decline in bottom line and made the bankers, who incidentally had a hand in hiring me, happy indeed.

Julie and the kids survived snakes, black windows, desert heat and dust storms that make the dust storm scene in the movie “Hidalgo” look like a minor breeze. I think it was here that Julie and I first began to develop survival instincts that would save our lives in later years.

I was not ready to call myself an entrepreneur quite yet and still questioned my sanity nightly yet there was a daily rush that would at a later date develop into a full-blown habit —  risk vs. gain habit that many eading this article know is a hard one to break.

Frank Turner died of a liver disease, and the last time I heard his orchards were sold for high end housing developments.

Next month: Blood is thicker than water: especially in the garbage business

Michael V. Siemion has a degree in marketing from Seattle University and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from Boston College and the SBA. He was founder of the National Association of Internet professionals; turnaround CEO for Com Vista Consulting; founder, writer and on-camera talent for Beat the Odds Videos: Strategies for Small Business Success; marketing VP for the founding team of ClassMates.com. He recently finished a book manuscript entitled: Risking to Win: Strategies for a Successful Career in Entrepreneurship. He continues to be a confirmed Corvette nut, snowmobiler and avid fisherman and is currently semi-retired and living in Leavenworth. He can be reached at msiemion@charter.net.

That’s the amount of Work Opportunity Tax Credits that more than 4,300 employers in Washington can deduct from their 2009 federal income taxes.

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit provides an incentive for employers to hire people who need the most help finding work. These include the disabled, ex-felons, food-stamp recipients, people on welfare and recipients of Supplemental Security Income. And beginning in 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act added two more groups to the eligibility pool: unemployed veterans and youths aged 16 to 24 who were not in school, not working and lacked the skills to get a job.

Altogether, Washington employers will get tax credits for 13,100 eligible hires last year.

Employers can reduce their taxes by up to $2,400 for each new qualified adult hired, up to $1,200 for each youth hired for a summer job, $4,800 for each disabled veteran, and up to $9,000 over two years for each qualifying long-term welfare recipient who is hired.

The state Employment Security Department is responsible for processing employers’ applications for the tax credit. In 2009, the department approved more than 13,000 applications.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in applications since the program was expanded last year,” said Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee. “The tax credit encourages and rewards employers for taking a chance and putting disadvantaged people to work.”

Employers who are interested in earning the tax credit in 2010 should visit their local WorkSource office or call 800-669-9271, then submit an application to the Washington State Employment Security Department within 28 days after the new employee starts work. Employment Security works with other governmental agencies to certify the eligibility of hired workers.

Businesses certified for the credit must complete IRS Form 5884 when submitting their federal income taxes.

Owners: Carl and Lisa Keen

Startup date: Oct. 14, 2009

Phone: 509-784-5336

by Yvette Davis

ENTIAT — Keen Climate Change Heating & Air Conditioning owner Carl Keen said he and his wife, Lisa Keen, are comfortable working from home and not planning to change that any time soon.

Besides, Carl Keen said, all his work is done on site at the client’s location, so he doesn’t need a big office. And the lower he can keep his overhead, the lower he can keep prices.

“The customer only wants to know two things, how much and how long,” he said. “But when you’re all done you better have it up and running, and it had better be more comfortable for them than when you got there.”

Keen has 20 years of experience in the Valley working for other heating, ventilating and air conditioning companies. He started with a company in Spokane right out of college, and took care of the Verizon buildings, some school district buildings and bank buildings. He later wrote the utility computer code program for the science building on the Wenatchee Valley College campus in Wenatchee that reduced the cost of the utility bills by 57 percent. He worked on that system and in Omak from 1995-2003, and also taught some classes and did an on-the-job training for the students in the HVAC program at the college.

But after 20 years working for someone else he wanted to own his own business. It opened Oct. 14.

Lisa Keen got an inheritance and helped him financially. It cost $20,000 to set up the business, get his electrical license, hire an attorney to incorporate, hire an accountant, and get the design work done for the cards and the graphics on the truck, he said.

All those costs were paid up front, Keen said, which also helps keeps their prices low since they don’t have a business loan.

Lisa Keen also does the scheduling, bookkeeping, advertising and paperwork for the business as well as run her own in-home nursing business in Entiat.

Right now, it’s just the two of them in the business, but Carl Keen said he envisions growth down the road — more employees and two more trucks — partly because of the lagging economy.

“In the service field this is actually a great time to start a business because running out and buying new equipment has come to a screeching halt,” Keen said. “An average new system is around $6,000, but at the end of the day a furnace is just a box with a bunch of parts in it. You can rebuild it most of the time and that saves people money.”

Keen works on both commercial and residential units, whether boilers, gas-fired, radiant or electric heat, and does refrigeration work and programs controls. He does installation work as well and covers an area from Wenatchee to Plain and up the Highway 97 corridor to Okanogan and points beyond.

With 22 New York Times bestsellers to his credit, and 21 million copies of his books in print,
Brooks is one of the biggest-selling fantasy writers. He will address an estimated 250 attendees in May at the start of the annual Write on the River conference, a slate of 12 workshops taught by writing professionals from around the Pacific Northwest.

Tickets are included with registration, or they may be purchased separately at the door for $5.

Full conference package registration, which includes the speaker, Saturday and Sunday workshop is $125 before April 15 or $135 after that date.

Saturday conference only is $90 ($99 after April 15)

Sunday story workshop only is $45

For details see www.writeontheriver.org

A writer since the age of 10, Brooks published his first novel, “The Sword of Shannara,” in 1977. He has written 26 bestselling novels, movie adaptations of “Hook” and “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” and a memoir on his writing life titled “Sometimes the Magic Works.”

His Magic Kingdom of Landover series is under option at Universal Studios and his Shannara series is at Warner Brothers. His latest novel, “A Princess of Landover,” was published in August 2009.

Write on the River, a nonprofit organization, encourages NCW writers, and the May conference is at the core of its year-round work. New this year is a focus on youth. Student writers grades 9-12 can join author Randall Platt for an engaging two-hour morning session at the conference and attend the keynote by Terry Brooks — all for $40.

Other special conference features include personal agent appointments and a Sunday morning intensive writing workshop.  Editor Adrian Liang, associate publisher at becker&meyer, and agent Sally Harding from Cooke Literacy Agency will meet with aspiring authors, by appointment. Both will present workshops in their field.

Novelist, screenwriter and writing guru Larry Brooks will present Saturday, and offers a special half-day Sunday workshop “The Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling.” He has published six critically acclaimed thrillers, one of which was a USA Today bestseller and another named to Publishers Weekly’s “Best Books of 2004″ list after a starred review.

See details about other Saturday presenters and register at www.writeontheriver.org.

Write On The River also sponsors a writers’ competition, hosts a bi-annual reading and networking event, organizes writers’ critique groups, and publishes a newsletter highlighting regional literary events.

Link Transit has applied for a $5.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Livability Initiative Program to build a new bus transfer station and three-story parking garage at the Wenatchee Valley Mall in East Wenatchee.

The owner of the mall, Vintage Real Estate LLC, will commit another $12.1 million of its own money to the project, in preparation for a $28.1 million mall expansion, which can’t go forward without additional funds, said Brenton Watson, president and chief operating officer of the mall’s management company, Vintage Capital Group.

“The parking structure with the Link station on top is important for us to be able to expand the mall. The parking comes first,” Watson said. “If we are fortunate enough to win the grant, we will get to work right away. We would envision starting the project sometime in 2011, if the grant is awarded soon.”

If Link doesn’t get awarded the grant, then Vintage will partner with other agencies to get the job done, he said.

“We all think that this application will be received very well, but we have also discussed some other avenues, and do have back up plans if this doesn’t go through.”

Watson said Vintage will incur considerable costs to expand the mall an additional 100,000 to 150,000 square feet on top of its current 340,000 square feet, some of which will also occur through similar partnership-type ventures. Olive Garden is a co-development project, he said, where the tenant and Vintage both made a capital contribution to allow the expansion to take place. He did not share the particulars of the agreement, nor did he have an exact date for the restaurant’s opening.

He did say the company is “very excited about this opportunity” and has been pushing forward to gain new tenants even though the economy has been tougher in the last year for everybody. He was not at liberty to announce any new tenants at this time.

The proposed Link Transit station and parking garage project has already garnered support from the Port of Douglas County and city of East Wenatchee. Both entities have sent letters to the Department of Transportation detailing the need for the new transit facility.

According to a Jan. 18 letter issued by East Wenatchee Mayor Steve Lacy, Link Transit would construct a new 10-bay transit station that includes two electric bus charging stations plus a passenger terminal and 150 dedicated park-and-ride parking spaces with the money. The top floor of the three-story 1,000-space parking garage would have access from Baker Street, Lacy noted.

As he understood the plan, Link Transit would not own the transit station when completed, but would have a long-term lease with the Wenatchee Valley Mall to operate it, said Pat Haley, Port of Douglas County director at the Feb. 10 port meeting. The two entities would share an access easement.

The developer’s expansion plans also include room for new anchor tenants such as a theater and restaurant as well as the possible relocation of Sears to a stand-alone store and the addition of other new retail shops, Haley explained. But nothing is yet written in stone, he said.

“Everything is dependent upon a public/private proposal for the grant funds,” Haley said.

Further mall development necessitates a parking garage, he said, but for Link to construct a transfer station/garage without the grant money, and instead use a bond, the mall would need to guarantee the retail development to generate new taxes to pay for the bond. Right now, both Link Transit and the mall have to wait for the grant outcome before deciding how to move forward.

Both Haley and Lacy touted the value of the proposed location, saying the proximity to the George Sellar Bridge, and to one of the densest population areas in the Valley – the numerous multi-family residential units located behind the Wenatchee Valley Mall – make it the ideal site for this new station. As a bonus, it will also create 100 new jobs for the Valley.

Jeff Wilkens, executive director of the Wenatchee Valley Transportation Council also sent a letter of support. He called the grant “a fantastic opportunity” and said it may be the “critical piece that enables the broader mall up-sizing plans to move forward from a financing perspective.”

The grant monies are to be awarded this spring.

Los Angeles-based Vintage Capital Group, LLC, purchased the 340,000 square-foot mall in December 2007 for $32.5 million. The company at first retained property management firm Jones Lang LaSalle to manage the property, but took over management duties itself on Dec. 1, 2009.

Many companies with a focus and presence in the consumer technology industry flock to the International CES Expo in hopes of promotion and recognition of new, innovative and technologically advanced products.

The 2010 Expo was no exception.

Some of the top products rated by CNET that were introduced at the expo include:

1. Panasonic VT25

The most talked about emerging technology at the 2010 CES Expo was 3-D, and Panasonic had one of the top buzz-worthy products with this technology. The Panasonic VT25 TV is scheduled to ship this coming spring and will be one of the first 3-D-capable flat-panel HDTVs available in the U.S., packed full of compelling features including Skype, Netflix and YouTube compatibility. Although Sony, LG, Toshiba and Samsung all announced 3-D-compatible HDTVs, Panasonic won ‘Best in Show’ at this year’s CES Expo.

2. Intel Wireless Display Technology

It’s true the capability of connecting computers to LCD and plasma monitors has been possible for years, but Intel Wireless Display Technology, the winner of the 2010 ‘People’s Voice Award,’ allows this capability without the clunky boxes or wires previously required.

Intel’s technology is a platform where a WiDi-enabled laptop and one of Intel’s new Core-series CPUs is connected wirelessly to an adapter box that plugs into the HDMI port of any display.

Per CNET, Intel expects WiDi systems from several PC makers to be available in Best Buy stores by Jan. 17.

3. Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid

This technology is making notebooks much more portable with a detachable display. Although it’s still up for debate as to whether this technology will perform as well as promised, the Lenovo looks cool with the sleek idea of combining a notebook and tablet into one.

4. Boxee Box Home Theatre Software

An honoree at the CES awards, D-link’s Boxee Box media player system was created for streaming music and high-res pictures and videos with high-definition TV quality of 1,080 pixels.

5. LG Blu-ray Disc Player

Another product LG got a lot of buzz about at the 2010 CES was their Blu-ray player with full HD 1080p resolution and 1080p upscaling capability. In addition to HD picture quality, its built-in Ethernet port provides the ability to stream movies, TV shows and videos directly to your TV using Netflix, YouTube™ and CinemaNow without a computer.

6. Plastic Logic Que E-Reader

Plastic Logic unveiled its Que e-reader at the 2010 CES. The e-reader is said to be intuitive and easy-to-use with its full, touch screen and Wi-Fi capability; however, it comes in a bit pricey at around $649-$799 retail.

7. Eye-Fi Pro X2

For camera lovers, the Eye-Fi Pro X2 8GB memory card is a wireless memory card that automatically uploads your photos to your computer, even when it’s off. It only uploads new photos taken (or ones you select for it to upload), so it’s like having a memory card that’s limitless.

8. Tibet Mobil DTV

In the making, Tibet Mobil DTV for Blackberry and iPhones will bring the TV experience to the palm of your hand.

9. LG Magic Wand

Move over all push-button remote controls for the new LG Magic Wand. LG revealed the prototype for the new TV remote, named the ‘Magic Wand’ at the CES. It moves your cursor on the screen by simply waving the wand up and down and left to right.

10. Nexus One

Per CNET, Nexus One is “the smartphone with which Google hopes to fundamentally change the way people buy phones.” Nexus One is built with a focus on business users and enterprises and brings the Google experience to the palm of your hand.

Considering factors such as when products will hit the market, popularity and innovation, these are some of the top products rated Best of CES by CNET. Will you be one of the first with these new, innovative products?

Happy technology — happy shopping!

Michael Everson, owner and founder of Everson Enterprises Inc. in Wenatchee, has more than 12 years of experience in the tech industry. Everson Enterprises offers managed IT services, e-commerce, B2B platforms, database-backed applications and Internet-centric projects. The company specializes in small startup business solutions.  Everson can be reached at michael@eversoninc.com.

The program allows employers to cut their payroll costs by reducing the hours of their full-time employees, and the workers collect partial unemployment benefits to make up for some of the lost wages. The estimate of jobs saved last year through Shared Work comes from information on the employers’ original applications combined with their actual use of the program.

“Shared Work can make the difference for a company that is on the brink of closing,” said Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee.

“Shared Work helps us maintain our competitive advantage,” said Terry Schweyen, owner of ASAP Metal Fabricators in Yakima.  “It lets us keep our key people – a lot of trained people who have the skill sets we need – until things pick up.”

A record 2,800 businesses and some 51,000 employees were approved to participate in the program in 2009, up from 621 employers and 21,272 employees in 2008.

In any given week, anywhere from a third to two-thirds of employees approved to participate in the program are actually drawing Shared-Work benefits. The program is designed to be flexible, so employers can add or reduce work hours based on their workload needs.

“Flexibility is the key ingredient in this economy,” said Bill Baker, human resources director for EZ Loader Boat Trailers in Spokane. “We adjust our employees’ hours each week based on the amount of work coming through the door.”

Employment Security paid out $40 million in shared-work benefits to participants in 2009.  The department would have paid an estimated $54 million in additional benefits if the workers had been fully laid off and collected the state average of 17 weeks of benefits.

Both public- and private-sector employers are eligible to participate in the program, and employers of all sizes are accepted.

Shared-work benefits may be paid for up to 52 weeks, and as few as one employee can participate.  Only full-time, hourly workers who meet eligibility criteria are eligible for the program. The program will not subsidize seasonal employers, part-time employees, corporate officers or employees paid on a piece rate, mileage rate, job rate, salary or commission basis.

Information about the program is available online or by phone at 800-752-2500

Tveten Dental Care

222 N. Chelan Ave.

Wenatchee, Wash.

Brothers Jason and Brandon Tveten are bringing their two Wenatchee dental practices under one roof.

Currently, Jason Tveten’s practice is at 250 N. Chelan Ave., while Brandon Tveten’s practice is at 330 King St.

On Feb. 15, the two offices will reopen at 222 N. Chelan Ave., Wenatchee, in a 4,000-square-foot building that has been under construction since July 2009.

Tveten Dental Care patients will be able to enjoy a fireplace in the lobby.

G.L. White is the contractor on the building that features a northwest style, with cultured stone and a stamped concrete entry.

The sidewalk, stairs and drive access have radiant heat, eliminating the potential for a slippery walk from the 25-space parking lot into the office. The site work required extensive excavation to make room for the infrastructure beneath the building and bring the parking lot and building entrance almost level with the street.

The building's interior features exposed Douglas fir beams and a beaded tongue-and-groove ceiling.

The building’s interior has exposed Douglas fir beams and a beaded tongue-and-groove ceiling, with a fir mantle over the fireplace.

With nine treatment rooms, a sterilization room, lab, staff room, three bathrooms and doctors’ office, the new Tveten Dental Care offers plenty of space for the two dentists and 13 employees.

The Tvetens said they will be sharing space and the advantages of a comfortable environment and new technology provided by the new building, but their practices will remain separate. Patients will still see the Tveten they’re used to.

Past President Shane T. Reichert of Woods & Brangwin PLLC accepted the award on behalf of the CDYLD.

The award was largely due to the formation of the Greater Access and Assistance Program in the Wenatchee Valley which followed the model created by the Washington State Young Lawyers Division.

GAAP provides citizens of the Wenatchee Valley, who normally would not be able to afford legal representation, the opportunity to retain an attorney on a civil matter at a substantially reduced fee.

During Reichert’s term as president, the CDYLD formed a committee to spearhead GAAP. The committee included three attorneys — Bryan Maroney of Davis, Arneil Law Firm LLP, Shannon Moreau, a Superior Court law clerk; and Beth Wilcox of Woods & Brangwin PLLC, who is also the North Central District Trustee for the Washington State Bar Associate, Young Lawyers Divsion.

For information on retaining a GAAP attorney, call 1-888-201-1014.

The question is what can be done to handle the expected 25-percent increase in traffic in the next 20 years, and at what cost.

The WVTC started gathering public input in April 2009 with a series of meetings, looking at traffic flow not only on North Wenatchee Avenue, but including the Sunnyslope area.

Continuing that process, the WVTC is hosting more information-gathering meetings on the SR 285/North Wenatchee Avenue Transportation Master Plan this spring, with the first set for 5 to 8 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Confluence Technology Center, 285 Technology Center Way in Olds Station.

For information call WVTC Executive Director Jeff Wilkens at 663-9059. Information about the master plan also is available at www.wvtc.org.

Amrine empasizes litigation, business law,employment law and municipal law.

Prior to attending law school, Armine workd as a civil engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He is a licenses professional engineer in Washington state. He is also a member of the Washington State Bar Association and the Chelan-Douglas County Bar Association.

Amrine received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from teh University of Washington in 1996. He received is law degree, magna cum laude, from Gonzaga University in 2004, where he was a member of the Across Borders International Law Journal.

Ogden Murphy Wallace PLLC, which has offices in Seattle and Wenatchee, also added two members at the Seattle office — Jaime D. Allen, who works in the firm’s litigation department, Carrie A. Soli, who focuses on business and health care practice groups.

Garden for Food teaches people how to grow, produce and preserve their own fruits and vegetables.

The Feb. 20 program includes a presentation from S&W on irrigation; a presentation from Ken Lacy on seed starting; round table discussions on soils, composting and soil nutrients; common problems and solutions in the vegetable garden; and when and what to plant.

A schedule of classes for the coming seaosn also will be provided. Class topics include vegetable garden know how, composting, organic gardening, vegetables in containers, square foot gardening and preserving your harvest.

For information call Mary Ellen Gormley at 509-667-6540.

by Yvette Davis

WENATCHEE — When the dust settles in mid-March, North Meridian Title & Escrow will have twice as much space for its escrow department, its entire Wenatchee staff under one roof, and a brand new address.

North Meridian Title owner Jim Blair is combining and expanding his Wenatchee office.

Right now the company maintains two Wenatchee offices — one at 700 N. Mission St. and the other in the Jeffers, Danielson, Sonn & Aylward building in Olds Station. But when the work is done, the company will have just one office at 701 N. Chelan.

“Same building, different address,” said Mary Rose, the company’s vice president of administrative operations.

The offices are scheduled to be consolidated in the new space on March 15, Rose said.

The company opened the North Wenatchee branch in 2007 in response to anticipated commercial growth in the Olds Station area.

“It gave us a presence there,” Rose said.

At that time, the Mission Street office was crowded as well, and the company needed more room for its escrow department. The north end office was also convenient — customers and employees from the Leavenworth and Chelan branches could zip in and drop off documents without having to come all the way into town, Rose said. Then in 2008, changes in the real estate market put new commercial projects on hold, lessening the need for the office. And now with the expansion underway at the main branch, it made sense to consolidate.

Rose said the idea surfaced when Banner Bank — formerly NCW Community Bank — moved out of the building and into its new Fifth Street office in June 2009, and the title company’s landlord Craig Homchick approached them about sliding over.

North Meridian’s title department is already above the old bank space, so this move will put the escrow department right below it, plus give access to some additional basement area to store documents and access to a vault.

Homchick is gaining an additional 1,800 to 1,900 square feet in the move to expand his accounting business, Homchick Smith & Associates, as needed.

North Meridian Title & Escrow will have 3,900 square feet of the main floor, and 1,700 square feet in the basement. That will provide space to add the three employees from the North Wenatchee branch. The new building will house a total of eight employees in escrow and another nine in the title department.

The contractor working on the job is Dennis Bennett of Allied Pacific Builders Inc. Lenka Slapnicka of Forte Architects is doing the remodel design, and Scott Chandler of Chandler Business Interiors (CBI) is designing the new office spaces and adding the furniture.

Jake Lyons of Allied Pacific Builders works the table saw on the North Meridian Title remodel project which is expected to be complete March 15. YVETTE DAVIS/WBJ

Work began around Dec. 1 and is scheduled to be completed mid-March. The company will continue to offer title and escrow services, and the contract billing and collections service it started in September 2008 at the new location. The contract billing and collections service acts in place of the bank as a billing department for investors carrying a sales contract.

The company also completed a new Web site last year northmeridiantitle.com with help from Tony at Tone Dog Media in Cashmere. Through it, customers can order preliminary title reports and look up closing cost information.

People who work to combat fraud have a saying, “Scams never go away. They merely morph.”

Some scams listed you may already be familiar with because they are activities that continue to plague and victimize both businesses and customers. Other scams are on this list because regionally, they overrode any other industry with questionable complaint activity.

Following, in no particular order, is the BBB’s top 10 list of scams and rip-offs that took the most advantage of businesses and customers in our region in 2009:

1. Stimulus/government grant scams – Even before President Obama announced the stimulus plan in February 2009, scammers had already set up schemes for misleading consumers and small business owners into thinking they could get a piece of the pie. Offers for worthless advice on how to get government grants bombarded individuals as well as businesses online, over the phone, via mail and e-mail.

2. Robocalls – Owning a cell phone or having their phone number on the do-not-call list did not help put a stop to harassing automated telemarketing calls in 2009. The robocalls often claimed that their auto warranty was about to expire — which wasn’t true — or offered help in reducing their interest rate on their credit card. The prevalence of robocalls violating federal telemarketing laws prompted the FTC to increasingly restrict the practice in 2009.

3. Job seeker scams (on and off line) – Scams targeting job hunters vary and include attempts to gain access to personal information such as bank account or social security numbers and requirements to pay a fee in order to even be considered for the job. Another common scam was reported to BBB by job hunters who were told by a prospective employer that they had to check their credit report before being considered for a job. The job offer is actually a marketing ploy for online credit monitoring that costs the victim every month until they cancel.

4. Over-payment scams – Over-payment scams typically target small business owners, landlords or individuals with rooms to rent and sellers on classifieds or sites like Craigslist. Typically the scammer pretends to be a customer, possibly renter or interested buyer. The victim receives a check for more than the amount requested. The scammers then ask the victim to deposit the check and wire the extra amount elsewhere, such as to a shipping company. Ultimately, the check is fake and the victim is really wiring money back to the scammers.

5. Phishing e-mails/H1N1 spam – A perennial problem, especially for financial institutions such as banks and credit unions because their good name is being misused, phishing e-mails pop up in inboxes and can take various forms such as appearing to be from a business, a government agency or official or even a friend. Whatever the setup, the goal of any phishing e-mail is the same: to trick victims into divulging sensitive financial information or infect the victim’s computer with viruses and malware. Spam e-mails selling wares to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus were particularly rampant in 2009.

6. Small business loan/grant and supply scams — This one’s similar to the stimulus grant scam (#1 on this list), but not really. Looking for credit to keep your business afloat can be tough, and that is why you need to be careful of ‘no credit’ or ‘bad credit’ loan offers. What looks like quick and easy credit can often end up resulting in huge financial loss and possibly ID theft.

Other companies call and pretend to be a regular supplier looking to confirm your address in a directory or to ship office supplies.  Once bills arrive for unwanted advertising or overpriced supplies, aggressive “collection” agents call with threats of legal action.

If you receive an unsolicited phone call, e-mail, or letter from a lender, be suspicious. Avoid dealing with a person who guarantees a loan without checking your credit or reviewing your business plan. Also, beware of lenders who:

• cater to applicants with bad credit;
• pressure you to make a decision on the spot;
• request payment using a wire transfer service such as MoneyGram or Western Union.
• restrict the number of people in your company that can make purchase decisions and insist on a valid purchase order.

7. Company profile hijacking
This issue became more rampant and sophisticated in 2009, and affected more businesses than we have ever seen in one year’s time. What is company profile hijacking? It’s a mess of a situation where fraudsters either lift your Web site and or company profile information (letterhead, business cards, checks, etc.) and manipulate your official information using the “hijacked company” profile to order goods or services on credit which they then sell but never pay for, or to gain personal information from unsuspecting victims who think they are dealing directly with you. The mess of this situation is that the company then has to sort out the problems arising, including correcting its public record.

OF PARTICULAR NOTE: The misuse of the BBB logo on printed materials, fake Web sites, and/or in sales calls ran rampant this past year. For the first time, BBB saw highly questionable (aka unethical) groups lifting complete BBB profiles of A+ rated BBB Accredited Businesses to purport their scams, making it seem as though they were the company with the A+ rating. For a scenario example, go to Tip #3 here to see how ugly it can get

8. Credit card fraud
Every day businesses have to deal with sorting through what online orders are legitimate and which ones aren’t. What a bother! Scams not only hurt the pocket, but they also aim to waste others’ time and energy. The key to not letting this scam get to you is to train staff to know the red flags of a potential credit card scam.

How does it work? Law enforcement spoke with a small company in Florida that ships heavy industrial parts. Scammers in Africa placed an order for about $10,000 in merchandise using fraudulent credit card numbers. The order, made by e-mail only, was to be shipped from Florida to Washington state. The gist of the transaction was the scammers tried to get the company to pay several thousand dollars in shipping costs to the “shipper account” in Ghana, Africa.

Several things in the suspect’s communications indicated it was a scam. 1) The person placing the order used a g-mail address only; 2) the text of the message used poor English and punctuation; 3) when the suspect called, there was considerable background noise – which was most likely a voice-over Internet call.

9. Online payday loan offers — The state of our economy is a reason why this category has blossomed, and even went so far to reach a top 10 scam list this year. The other reason is because when you apply for an online loan, you don’t know exactly who you will end up dealing with. Many vague enticing ads appear online for payday loans. They tout being quick and easy as pie. But, it is too easy to not know where your personal info will land when you reply to one of these ads.
BBB, along with the FTC, advises people to consider other possibilities before deciding on a payday loan, especially one online:

If you need credit, shop carefully. Consider a small loan from your credit union or a small loan company, an advance on pay from your employer or a loan from a family member or friend.

Ask your creditors for more time to pay your bills. Find out what they will charge for that service – as a late charge, an additional finance charge or a higher interest rate.

If you need help working out a debt repayment plan with creditors or developing a budget, contact your local consumer credit counseling service. Nonprofit groups offer credit guidance to consumers for little or no cost.

Finally, contact your local Better Business Bureau for information on any lender.

10. Investment opportunities — We saw this happen to individuals as well as businesses in 2009. (Why businesses, too? The workplace, like churches and other social networking groups can be a “captive” audience for such pitches because the tone of the environment is one based on trust.)

Your friend or a family member may have invited you to attend a presentation involving an investment opportunity. The promoter convinces investors that they can be part owners of an exciting investment portfolio, provided that they enlist new recruits. The promoter may even offer promising commissions in cash and bullion.

In reality, this could be an illegal pyramid scheme. The new capital brought on by new investors is keeping this imaginary investment afloat. Get the facts. If you attend an information session, be sure to collect business cards and promotional materials. You should also ask the promoters questions.

• Who are the principals of the company?
• What are the average earnings of a “typical” participant – with half of the participants earning more than this amount and half of participants earning less?
• How much are the startup costs?

Gather as much information as possible, before agreeing to anything.

Zan Deery is the communications, lead investigator for the Better Business Bureau serving Eastern Washington, North Idaho and Montana. She can be reached at 800-356-1007 or by e-mail at zan@spokane.bbb.org

The annual Leadership Award will be given to state government managers, supervisors, directors and others who demonstrate at least one of the following attributes: visionary; commitment to service; significant contributions to the advancement of state government; personal integrity; and inspirational.

“State employees are hard workers, and it’s always worthwhile to highlight those who go above and beyond in their service to our great state,” said Secretary of State Sam Reed, whose office administers the Productivity Board.

Forms for the 2010 award are available at www.sos.wa.gov/productivityboard/. Nominations are due by 5 p.m. Friday, March 19, 2010.

Submit nomination forms to:
The Productivity Board
PO Box 40244, Olympia, WA 98504-0244
Fax: 360.704.7830   Phone: 360.704.5203
Email: innovate@sos.wa.gov

The prestigious award was presented at the recent Washington State Nursery & Landscape Association’s annual meeting in Centralia.

In making the presentation, Kathleen Pyle of the sponsoring Pacific Coast Nurseryman magazine, noted that the award “goes to a WSNLA member who has provided outstanding ‘above and beyond’ service to the nursery industry over many years.”

Van Well is immediate past president of the WSNLA, a current board member and past chairman of the Washington Apple Education Foundation, a Bluebird Cooperative board member and past board member of the Wenatchee Rotary.

He and his wife, Carmen have two children, Jack and Grace.

Van Well is a third generation member of the Van Well family which has operated a commercial fruit tree nursery continually in Wenatchee for the past 65 years.

The firm is run by his uncles Pete, Tom and Dick Van Well and cousins, Christina, Suzanne, Ric Van Well and Joe Adams. It produces and markets well over one million fruit trees annually to commercial orchardists nationwide.