Fabricland sales soar pending deal

PORTLAND Fabricland Inc., which is awaiting approval of a merger agreement with House of Fabrics, reported Thursday that sales were up 24 percent for the quarter ending March 31.

House of Fabrics has stores in the Palouse Empire Mall and the Moscow Mall at Moscow.

Fabricland, a specialty retailer of fabrics and sewing materials, said sales were $23.8 million for the three-month period, up from $19.2 million for the same quarter in 1990.

Tony J. Bosboom, Fabricland president, said he also expected earnings to increase but they will be reduced by various merger expenses. The merger agreement was signed March 30 and is subject to shareholder approval.

Precision Castparts to buy manufacturer

PORTLAND Precision Castparts Corp. said Thursday it has agreed to purchase Advanced Forming Technology Inc. of Longmont, Colo.

Edward H. Cooley, Precision Castparts chairman and chief executive officer, said the purchase would give the company manufacturing capability for metal injection molded parts, a new and growing technology.

Advanced Forming Technology produces molded parts for the military, business machines, electronics, medical instruments, guns and consumer products. Its Colorado plant employs about 100 people with annual sales of about $7 million.

Precision Castparts is one of the world's leading manufacturers of castings for aircraft gas turbine engines.

Regional residents pass State Bar Exam

Six residents from the Quad Cities region recently passed the Idaho State Bar Exam. Seventy-four of the 83 applicants who took the test in February passed and will be sworn in during separate ceremonies in the Idaho Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court at Boise April 18.

They are: John Baker Lothspeich of Grangeville, University of Idaho; Richard L. Baughman and Kimron R. Torgerson, both of Lewiston, both UI; and Justin Wesley Julian, Linda Ottinger Pike and Robert Bruce Pike, all of Moscow, all UI.

Other graduates of the UI law school who passed the bar exam are: Reagan Gale Davis, Linda R. Kawaguchi, and Dennis C. Weigt, all of Boise; James C. Aldrich of Soda Springs; Catherine Agnes Rayhill of California; David Gregory Killpack of Utah; and Jean Carol Coppers, David William Savage and Georgia Yuan, all of Washington.

Seattle bank sells Federal Home stock

SEATTLE Washington Mutual Savings Bank has sold $46 million in stock of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle.

Washington Mutual's chief financial officer Bill Longbrake said the pullout, which took effect in January, will have no direct impact on the bank's depositors or shareholders.

The withdrawal stemmed in part from concerns that removing assets from the home loan bank to pay for the savings and loan bailout may jeopardize future dividends on the stock that Washington Mutual was required to own as a condition of membership.

The home loan bank's first quarter stock dividend yielded 10.4 percent, but Washington Mutual worried that the rate would not be maintained, Longbrake said.

Washington Mutual said a subsidiary, Washington Mutual, A Federal Savings Bank, will remain a member of the federal bank, holding $24 million in stock. That membership is required because of the subsidiary's federal charter.

Washington Mutual's partial pullout will not cause any problems for the home loan bank because 12 commercial banks joined the institution last year, home loan bank spokeswoman Linda Pomarantz said.

ASARCO closes its Osburn silver mine

OSBURN, Idaho ASARCO Inc. has laid off 160 workers and shut down its Coeur silver mine near this Silver Valley mining town.

Mine manager John Howard said the giant New York metals company will reopen the mine when silver prices improve. An ounce of silver, which sold for $4.04 Thursday on the New York Commodities Exchange, was worth $5.18 this time last year. Once a decision to reopen is made, it will take three months to start production, Howard said.

''The mine has pretty much been mothballed,'' he said following Wednesday's shutdown. ''Equipment has been brought from underground for storage.''

ASARCO operates the mine for its partners, Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp., of Coeur d'Alene, and Callahan Mining Corp. of Phoenix, Ariz.

It is the fourth underground metals mine in Shoshone County to close or curtail operations since last November.

During the same period, about 800 jobs have been lost in a county struggling to overcome recessions in its primary industries hard-rock mining and timber. The county's unemployment rate is about 20 percent.