Coleman Oil Co. purchased Busch Distributing Inc., based in Pullman, and Sunset Marts this month.
The deal included the marketing and distribution assets of Busch Distributing, four bulk fuel plants, transportation fleet and Chevron lubricants business as well as six Sunset Mart convenience stores, according to a joint news release from the two businesses.
Coleman Oil also acquired 24 commercial fueling network cardlock and CFNnet sites. They are a mix of service stations and unstaffed fueling stations where customers pay with credit or debit cards, often in business-to-business transactions.
Coleman Oil now has more than 90 CFNnet sites, 12 company-operated convenience stores, a lubricants division, 14 bulk fuel storage and delivery facilities, biodiesel and renewable fuel sales and a rail logistics operation in north central and northern Idaho, Washington, western Montana and parts of Oregon.
Busch Distributors was founded in 1963 by Tom Busch. His son Steve Busch, grew the business and added Sunset Marts. His son, Eric Busch, was president of the business starting in 2003, expanding into retail gasoline dealer sales and petroleum equipment services.
Coleman Oil was founded by Bob Coleman Sr. in 1953. His son, Bob Coleman Jr., began working at his father’s business in 1980 and acquired it in 1995. Ian Coleman, the grandson of Bob Coleman Sr., joined the business in 2015 and is its president.
Lewiston airport provides free transportation for Palouse passengers
The Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport has started a free shuttle service to and from the Palouse for ticketed passengers on flights arriving or departing from the transportation hub.
Reservations are available at bit.ly/3H1Rtp8 and are required at least one day in advance.
The shuttle stops at the Intermodal Transit Center at 1006 Railroad St., Moscow; the Wallace Center at 1080 W. Sixth St., Moscow; and the Washington State University Fine Arts Parking Garage at Grimes Way and NE Stadium Way in Pullman.
The service was started partly because Lewiston airport officials learned that 70 percent of the students at the University of Idaho and WSU didn’t own vehicles, said Lewiston Airport Authority Board Chairman Gary Peters at a recent board meeting.
It’s been very popular among parents of students who attend those two schools because it gives them more options, said Laurie Wilson, a board member.
Lewiston has flights to Salt Lake City on Delta and to Denver on United. The Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport has service to Seattle and Boise operated by Horizon Air as Alaska Airlines.
“They are all so excited because they have all been stuck up against a wall, not being able to get their son or daughter home,” she said.
Moscow real estate agency under new ownership
MOSCOW — The ownership of Team Idaho Real Estate has transferred from Debbie Spurgeon to Deann Billing, who has 13 years of real estate experience.
Billing joined Team Idaho Real Estate in 2008 and moved up the ranks, becoming a broker and trainer, according to a news release about the transition.
Spurgeon will continue to mentor, work with buyers and sellers as well as own and separately manage Team Idaho Property Management.
At the same time, the business has changed its name to United Country Real Estate Team Idaho to reflect its affiliation with United Country Real Estate, a network of conventional and auction real estate professionals, according to the news release.
United Country Real Estate supports more than 500 offices and 6,000 real estate professionals on four continents.
United Country Real Estate Team Idaho has all of the same agents, Billing said in the news release.
“We are hoping to grow our team, add more office locations and even add auction services to our current operation,” she said.
Eastern Washington funeral homes have new name
Bruning Funeral Home in Colfax, Kimball Funeral Home in Pullman and Hubbard-Rogg Funeral Home in Dayton are being renamed Corbeill Funeral Homes & Crematory.
All three businesses are owned by the husband and wife team of Craig and Nikki Corbeill, who acquired Hubbard-Rogg Funeral Home in July.
That addition prompted the change, which started in October and will be complete Saturday, said Craig Corbeill, who has lived on the Palouse since 1995 when he took a job at Short’s Funeral Chapel in Moscow as a mortician.
Six years later, the Corbeills purchased Bruning Funeral Home and then expanded in 2006 by acquiring Kimball Funeral Home, where they opened a crematory in 2008, he said.
“What’s important for me was people realize that our faces aren’t changing and our staff isn’t changing,” Corbeill said. “It’s just the names over the doors.”
Corbeill began his career in Kellogg, where he was raised, getting his first exposure to the industry when he owned and operated an ambulance service.
In that role, he sometimes interacted with area morticians and eventually decided to get his associates degree in funeral service education from Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore.
Soon after completing that program, he was hired as a mortician at Shoshone Funeral Service in Kellogg before moving to Moscow.
“I’ve always had an interest in helping people and this was a unique way to do that,” he said.
Port of Clarkston Commission to have new face
Dayna Weatherly-Wilson will join the Port of Clarkston Commission on Saturday, filling a seat held by Marvin for 24 years.
Jackson is retiring from the commission after choosing not to seek his seat in the most recent election.
A registered nurse, Weatherly-Wilson, 46, ran unopposed for the six-year term in November and started attending commission meetings in late summer to prepare.
Weatherly-Wilson telecommutes to a job doing data analysis for Proliance Surgeons in the Seattle area. Her role is to look for strategies that improve patient care while reducing costs.
“It’s nice to live in a smaller community,” she said. “It felt much safer here.”
On the commission, she would like to explore ways to diversify the retail sector, which is hurting in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley from the losses of stores like Macy’s, Weatherly-Wilson said.
She’s also interested in pursuing developments similar to those she’s seen other places, such as one where a former warehouse had been converted into a complex of small restaurants and tasting rooms, using former loading docks as outside seating, she said.
“I like innovation,” Weatherly-Wilson said.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars being raised to ease Idaho’s housing issues
Not-for-profit groups working on the housing shortage in north central Idaho will be among the recipients of the 11th annual Avenues for Hope fundraiser.
Contributors have until Friday to give at avenuesforhope.org, according to a news release from Benjamin Cushman, communications coordinator for Idaho Housing and Finance.
The foundation of Idaho Housing and Finance organizes the campaign.
“Access to affordable housing is one of our greatest challenges right now,” said Gerald M. Hunter, president of Idaho Housing and Finance, in the news release. “Idaho’s network of housing support and shelter organizations struggle to address the needs of many less-advantaged residents all across the state, especially during the winter months.”
The effort will benefit 92 Idaho organizations, including Alternatives to Violence on the Palouse, Family Promise of the Lewis Clark Valley, Family Promise of the Palouse, LC Valley Adult Resource Center, L-C Valley Habitat for Humanity, LC Valley Youth Resource Center, Moscow Affordable Housing Trust, Palouse Habitat for Humanity, Sojourners’ Alliance, the Salvation Army of Lewiston and Union Gospel Mission.
A total of $300,000 of matching gifts and challenge prizes is being provided by groups and businesses, including Idaho Housing and Finance, Micron Foundation, Zions Bank, BlueCross of Idaho, Regence BlueShield of Idaho, Wells Fargo, Idaho Central Credit Union, Stifel, Washington Trust Bank, P1FCU, TitleOne and U.S. Bank.
Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.
