Published May 2003

Business Briefs

WorkFirst program graduates first class
The Smokey Point/Quilceda Village WorkFirst program, part of the Customized Job Skills Training program offered through Everett Community College, graduated its first class in April.

The 15 graduates of the program were groomed for Quilceda Village employment through a partnership with the Tulalip Tribes, who estimate they will eventually have 10,000 jobs available at the village and other tribal locations, EvCC said. The graduates were trained to take on a variety of jobs in fields such as office management, customer service, word and data processing, banking and finance, reception and hotel service.

A $122,000 state grant paid for the classes, enabling EvCC to offer the welfare-to-work job training in north Snohomish County for the first time, removing geographic and logistic barriers for its students. Another group of 16 students is receiving similar training.

The tribes’ participation filled a grant requirement by representing private industry, the first time a tribe has held that distinction in the state.

Snohomish Coffee Roasters
places first at Seattle competition
Snohomish Coffee Roasters from the Java Inn in Snohomish recently won two first-place awards at the 2003 McCormick & Schmick’s Cup.

The local company took home the trophy for Best Cup and also won for Best Irish Coffee in the Seattle contest for small coffee-roasting businesses.

Snohomish County has been well-represented in the contest, as Everett-based Silver Cup Coffee had previously won three times in four years.

SonoSite unveils newest
ultrasound product
In April, Bothell-based SonoSite Inc. unveiled the Titan, a 7-1/2-pound portable ultrasound machine that includes a larger, sharper monitor and more capabilities than the company’s smaller models.

Instead of making its third-generation product the smallest, SonoSite focused on delivering the features that ultrasound technicians and doctors said they most want, said Kevin Goodwin, chief executive officer.

Dan Walton, SonoSite’s general manager of sales and marketing, said the Titan took four years to develop. A big part of the process was getting feedback from thousands of ultrasound users to help guide the product design.

While it’s more suited than the smaller models to be used as a stationary unit in a doctor’s office, the Titan still is small enough to be hand-carried, Walton said.

SonoSite sees radiology, surgery, obstetrics and emergency room uses for the Titan, which will sell for an average of $35,000 to $45,000.

Mill Creek gallery wins
picture-framing honors
Finishing Touches Gallery, a Mill Creek business specializing in custom picture framing, art and original glass art, placed second and was awarded “Popular Choice” in the picture-framing competition at the 2003 Evergreen Picture Framers Guild banquet held recently.

The winning entry can be viewed at the gallery, 15704 Mill Creek Blvd.

Eden Bioscience markets to rose growers
Bothell-based Eden Bioscience has quietly begun selling its flagship product, Messenger, specifically for use on rose bushes.

The product, which boosts plant growth and wards off disease in fruit and vegetable crops, can be bought online at the Web sites for the American Rose Society and Eden. The home-and-garden version of Messenger also is available at selected stores, said Brad Powell, Eden’s chief financial officer.

In the past, Eden had been focusing its marketing efforts on farmers and farm supply stores. But Messenger’s sales have been uneven since it hit the market. After seeing sales reach $2 million in 2000, Eden weathered through disappointing results in 2001, including a fourth quarter with no sales. Last year, it reported sales of $1.9 million.

Powell said the garden version of Messenger, which comes in powder form, is made to be effective when mixed with tap water. A package containing three doses retails for just under $15 on Eden’s Web site, www.edenbioscience.com.

Litho Craft honored
for management performance
Lynnwood-based Litho Craft Inc. recently received a Merit Award for management excellence in the National Association for Printing Leadership’s 2002 Management Plus Awards Program.

Sponsored by the association, American Printer magazine, Compass Capital Partners, and MAN Roland, the awards are based on a company’s management performance as compared to professional and industry standards.

In winning the award, Litho Craft Inc. was cited for its consistency in producing quality printing, its superior financial record and its emphasis on employee participation in management.

The company, one of the oldest and largest independently owned sheet-fed printers in Puget Sound, specializes in four-, five- and six-color printing for businesses and the design community.

Intimate EntiTeas names
exclusive supplier
Intimate EntiTeas, a creator and distributor of aromatherapy bath teas, has selected Blue Heron Lavender of Bow, Wash., as its sole provider of lavender buds and bouquets.

“Blue Heron Lavender is unlike any others we evaluated,” said Leslee Duval, Intimate EntiTeas managing partner. “Its color and clarity of fragrance, combined with Blue Heron’s careful growing and harvesting procedures, provide the ideal quality for the Intimate EntiTeas bath blends.”

Based near Mill Creek, Intimate EntiTeas offers 14 blends of fragrant and relaxing bath teas, including Rainy Day, Mountain Huckleberry and Blueberry-Oatmeal, as well as special occasion gifts and spa packages that include a CD of original music.

Quinton Cardiology Systems
teams with imaging firm
Quinton Cardiology Systems Inc. recently said that it will jointly market its cardiac testing equipment with Digirad Corp., which makes nuclear imaging devices. Quinton said doctors can use the Bothell company’s stress-testing systems together with Digirad’s digital gamma camera, which can provide images of the heart.

Intermec introduces rugged tablet PC
Intermec Technologies Corp. has announced that it will begin selling a tablet personal computer designed for use in industrial and outdoor jobs.

The more rugged tablet PC, dubbed the CT60, can even perform in freezing temperatures and pouring rain, the Everett-based company said.

Intermec has begun taking orders for the CT60, with the first ones scheduled to be shipped this summer.

The 4.5-pound tablet PCs use touch screens and handwriting-recognition technology to allow users to write and draw with a stylus directly onto the screen. The CT60 also can recognize speech.

Like the tablet PCs introduced for office use last fall, the rugged model runs Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system. That makes it compatible with other Intermec devices that use Windows.

While most of Intermec’s other devices are manufactured in-house, the CT60 is actually made by WalkAbout Computers of Florida.

Everett office building sold
for nearly $8 million
The Bellevue-based development firm that owns Dagmar’s Marina has purchased an Everett office building for nearly $8 million.

Sato Corp. bought the 47,000-square-foot building that houses the state Department of Social and Health Services Everett field office at 5415 Evergreen Way.

The seller of the 11-year-old building and its surrounding property was M&M Associates of Seattle, according to the Snohomish County Assessor’s Office.

According to Sato, the state agency has a long-term lease on the building, and the new owner plans no changes in the property’s use.

Dean Johnson of CB Richard Ellis, who represented Sato in the sale, said the Evergreen Way building fits in well with the company’s portfolio of Puget Sound area properties. Sato owns many buildings in Seattle and Olympia that host state offices, he added.

The sale ranks among Snohomish County’s largest commercial property deals in recent months. In March, two office buildings at Lynnwood’s Quadrant I-5 Center sold at auction for $17.5 million. At the beginning of the year, Cypress Semiconductor bought its new building at the Opus Northpointe Corporate Campus for $11 million.

Billy Casper Golf to manage
Everett courses
The city of Everett Parks and Recreation Department has signed Billy Casper Golf to manage its two golf courses, according to a news release from the company.

Under the terms of the multi-year contract, Billy Casper Golf will provide turnkey-management services at Legion Memorial and Walter E. Hall golf courses, including marketing and public relations, staffing and training, clubhouse operations, golf instruction, special events, financial management, food and beverage, and merchandising.

It’s the Virginia-based company’s second engagement in the Pacific Northwest, the first in January when Billy Casper Golf was named operator of Tri-Mountain Golf Course in Ridgefield, Wash. The company’s prior business concentration has been in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest and Hawaii.

Striking mechanics are back on the job
Striking union mechanics at two Dwayne Lane auto dealerships in Everett returned to work in early April after approving a new contract.

About two dozen members of the International Association of Machinists Local 130 walked out on March 26 after rejecting a proposed one-year contract, which would have given them a 1.5-percent pay raise.

The strikers won the support of the Snohomish County Labor Council, and members of the Machinists union at Boeing joined them on the picket lines.

While terms of the new contract were not disclosed, representatives of both sides said they were pleased to have reached an agreement.

NorthWest Plus honored
for charity fund-raising efforts
The Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals recently recognized NorthWest Plus Credit Union for its 2002 donations through the Credit Unions for Kids program. The Everett-based credit union raised the most per member and the most in their asset category of $50 million to $100 million for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

“Raising money for the children is close to all employees and members’ hearts at our credit union,” said CEO Doug Bennett. “We take pride in what we do, and it shows through this recognition.”

The credit union currently is raising funds for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, selling See’s candy bars and plastic piggy banks at its six branch locations.

Frontier Bank employees
volunteer for ‘Day of Giving’
To celebrate Frontier Bank’s 25th anniversary, more than 300 employees from the bank’s 31 offices will take part in a “Day of Giving” on May 3, serving as volunteers for 21 community projects throughout eight counties.

“Each office identified a need in their own community and made contact with the organization of their choice, whether it was a social service or government agency, or simply a community project that needed assistance,” said Barbara McCarthy, senior vice president of marketing. “Staff members were asked if they wished to volunteer, and we found nearly 100 percent participation from each office that selected a project.”

Snohomish County beneficiaries include Housing Hope in Everett, the Volunteers of America Food Bank in Everett, Edmonds Memorial Cemetery, Lake Stevens Elim Lutheran Church, the Marysville Food Bank, Providence Hospice Camp Erin, Snohomish city parks and Stanwood Senior Center.

Little Red Schoolhouse
wins $10,000 grant
Little Red Schoolhouse Inc., a Snohomish County nonprofit organization that runs the Children’s Village child-care program, has been awarded almost $10,000 in grant money from the For All Kids Foundation.

Little Red Schoolhouse plans to use the grant money as a subsidy for at-risk children enrolled in the south Everett Children’s Village.

“The majority of these children are from low-income families and at-risk for failure to do well in school without appropriate and specialized services,” Little Red Schoolhouse officials said in a prepared statement.

The Children’s Village expects to serve 41 children in the coming year.

Spring, summer events calendar available
The Snohomish County Tourism Bureau’s 2003 calendar of events for spring and summer is now available. Featuring fairs, festivals, performing and visual arts, music, museums, markets and other attractions, the free calendar is being stocked at local chambers of commerce, visitor information centers and public libraries. It also is online at www.snohomish.org. For more information, call 425-348-5802.

EvCC, World Affairs Council
form partnership
Everett Community College and the World Affairs Council recently formed a partnership to provide a forum for discussion and debate about contemporary world issues.

The partnership calls for the WAC to provide the college with internationally known speakers throughout the year, tours of the United States for international guests, teacher training on world issues and student world affairs opportunities. The college and community will provide logistical support for public programs, publicity and media relations, internship opportunities, and develop programs that reflect the interests of the Everett area.

EvCC has formed a World Affairs Council-Everett Advisory Board to guide the program composed of college representatives and members of the community, including Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel; Herald Publisher Allen Funk; Van Dinh-Kuno, executive director of the Snohomish County Refugee Forum; Peter Newland, Hill Street Investments; Buzz Rodland, president of Rodland Toyota; Everett School District Superintendent Carol Whitehead; Cascade Bank President Carol Nelson; Marysville School Superintendent Linda Whitehead; Carl Wollebeck, director of marine marketing for the Port of Everett; Cheryl Van Winkle, vice president of Stadium Flowers; and Lanie McMullin, executive administrator for the city of Everett.

New businesses, locations
n BBQ and More has opened at 526 N. West Ave. in Arlington. The restaurant serves a variety of barbecue dishes, sandwiches and deserts. It is open for lunch and dinner, Monday through Saturday. The owner is John Locantore.

n Kennelly Keys Music is moving one block west to a new Lynnwood location. It will open May 1 at 4918 196th St. SW.

n Little Lambs Childcare and Preschool has opened for business at 1601 10th St. in Marysville. The business, operated by Nancy Barnes, is open from 5:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. and caters to kids from 6 weeks to 12 years old.

n Home Furniture, formerly known as the Oak Barn, is moving into the former United Furniture Warehouse space at 133 128th St. SW in south Everett. Store Manager Sue Taylor said the 30,000-square-foot building will provide more room than Home Furniture’s location on Lynnwood’s 196th Street SW. The extra room will be helpful, she added, because Home Furniture is adding mattress galleries to its three stores in the Puget Sound area. Store officials hope to open in the new location by May 3.

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