Best files its reorganization Chapter 11 plan
Best Products Co., Inc., has filed a proposed plan of reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code. Best filed for protection under Chapter 11 on Jan. 4, 1991.
Chief Executive Officer Stewart M. Kasen said the plan is the work of many people and reflects the partnership formed between the company, its suppliers and the financial community.
Under terms of the plan, the company will distribute approximately $70 million in cash and issue 31.7 million shares of new common stock to its creditors.
When the plan is approved, the company will have eliminated all long-term debt except $132 million in long-term debt to be held by secured creditors and $100 million of capitalized leases.
Best Products, which has a store in North Lewiston, operates 159 showrooms and 15 Best Jewelry locations in 22 states. The company also operates a nationwide mail-order service.
Lewiston travel agency hires agents, names office manager
Because of an increase in sales over the last year, Randy Beck, owner of Beck Travel in Lewiston, recently added four travel agents to his staff and promoted Martha Ames Pierce to office manager.
Pierce, a 1974 graduate of the University of Idaho, taught school in Australia and Boise until 1988 when she started work in the travel industry. Travels in New Zealand and Australia added to her expertise. She began working with Beck travel in 1991 and specializes in business travel. She will continue to handle travel arrangements for all her clients, she said.
Mary Hoffman was born and raised in the Valley and has worked in the travel industry for 19 years. Corporate and senior travel are her specialty.
Marcia Grothe joins Beck Travel with 18 years of experience. She lived in Mexico City and Australia and specializes in those areas.
Paula French works in all travel areas, but specializes in planning hunting trips with outfitters and guides. She has five years of experience and is currently working on trips for this season.
Hunting and fishing packages will also be handled by Monique Drinkall, who has been in the travel industry for four years.
With the addition of these four new agents, Beck Travel, a full service travel agency, now has ten full-time travel agents.
Radisson Hotel Corp. president to give Oct. 13 lecture at WSU
PULLMAN John A. Norlander, president of Radisson Hotel Corp., will present the annual fall Burtenshaw Distinguished Lecture Oct. 13 for Washington State University's Hotel and Restaurant Administration.
His public address is titled ''Radisson's Blueprint for the Year 2000.''
Norlander was named president of Radisson in 1984, after serving nine years as the company's executive vice president of operations. During the 1990s, he is spearheading several of Radisson's key international projects, including the Radisson Hotel in Moscow, the first and only American-managed hotel in Russia, and the company's first entry into the cruise industry with the SSC Radisson Diamond cruise ship.
Norlander has pioneered and overseen several industry-leading management concepts.
Key Bank/Pomeroy employees join in cleanup of Pataha Creek
POMEROY Employees of Key Bank of Washington's Pomeroy office participated in a cleanup of Pataha Creek near the city park Saturday.
Rod Kimble, manager of the Pomeroy office, said last week four employees and their family members were scheduled to remove trash from the creek as part of Key Bank's statewide effort to promote clean water.
Key Bank's Washington Waters Fund has sponsored a cleanup day every year since 1988 in the Puget Sound area. This year, about 4,000 volunteers were expected to clean beaches and shorelines in a program that has been expanded to include eastern Washington.
Don Poe to relate tour of Russia at paving conference
MOSCOW Don Poe of Poe Asphalt Paving at Clarkston will give a presentation titled ''A Tour of Russia'' at the 1993 Idaho Asphalt Conference Oct. 28 at the University Inn-Best Western in Moscow.
Other topics to be covered include glass in highway construction, full-depth reclamation, quality assurance, tire rubber, blade patching, and communication.
The $40 conference fee includes a luncheon. More information is available from Conference Services at the University of Idaho.
West One names Mitchell Orchards branch manager
Kim Mitchell has been promoted to manage the Orchards branch of West One Bank, 1900 19th Ave., Lewiston. She replaces Linda Miller who transferred to another position with the company.
In addition to the personnel change, on Sept. 11 West One's Orchards branch became the first bank in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley to offer full-service Saturday banking. Its lobby is now open to bank customers from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Drive-in Saturday service has been available for some time.
Mitchell previously worked as assistant vice president and loan officer at the West One office in Moscow. At Lewiston, she is the Orchards branch manager and assistant vice president.
Mitchell has 15 years of experience with West One and has a degree from North Idaho College at Coeur d'Alene. She is past president of the Moscow Kiwanis and of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
West One Bank, Idaho, is a subsidiary of West One Bancorp.
Staff and wire reports
WORKSHOPS
Estates, wealth transfer are topics
D.A. Davidson & Co. of Lewiston is hosting a free public seminar on planning for estate management and wealth transfer from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Lewis-Clark State College.
Topics include investing and tax planning; preserving the principal of an estate; the role of the money manager; and managing and tranferring of an estate to a family.
The program will be presented by Wayne Schultz, CPA, Presnell Gage; Lewiston lawyers Kerry Wagner and Randall Blake; Robert B. Bragg, CPA; and Eugene P. Lewis, president and CEO, Financial Aims Corporation.
For more information, contact D.A. Davidson & Co.
PERSONNEL
Moscow Columbia Paint store has a new manager
Kolby Krieger, the operations assistant at Columbia Paint & Coatings in Lewiston, has been named store manager of the Moscow Columbia Paint store at 524 West Third St.
Effective Nov. 1, he will replace Cory Triplett, who is transferring to a Columbia Paint outlet in the Seattle metropolitan area.
The Moscow store employs three.
Kolby will be relocating from Lewiston to the Palouse.
