Mar 06, 1996

AKB

Shailesh Tatu has been named an associate with AKB Engineers, Inc. he has been with AKB, where he oversees the civil department, for four years, and has also served as the City Utility Engineer for the City of Cape Coral, Florida. Tatu's current projects include the Olympic College Poulsbo Satellite Campus, the Yakima Work Release Facility, the City for Seattle Miler Community Center, and the City of Bellevue Coal Creek Trestle Trail.

Hedges & Roth

Robin Stice has joined Hedges & Roth Engineering to manage marketing and provide other special services, including research, reports and grant coordination. Stice recently served seven years as a King County water district commissioner.

Sandler

William Denny has been promoted to the level of associate with Norman Sandler Architects. He joined the firm three years ago and was previously with Peterson & Brickbauer. Cheryl Evanson was promoted to interior designer. She has been with Sandler for two years after working with Bellevue-based Sinclair Thimgan Design. She will be responsible for the development of the firm's computer network in addition to her project management responsibilities.

FFA

Fletcher Farr Ayotte has added four new members to the Portland staff. Michael Steffen, a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, has seven years of architectural experience and is currently working on urban design and multi-family projects. Ralph Hartmann has over 20 years of technical and managerial experience. His work currently includes projects for the U.S. Postal Service. Ruth Wu is an intern architect and recent graduate of the University of Oregon. Kerry Knauss, a graduate of Andrews University, is also an intern architect.

Karluk

Sonny Vinberg has been appointed a principal and owner at Karluk Design, Inc., Anchorage. He is Alaska's first Alaskan Native Registered Architect, and has worked in architectural offices in Seattle and Memphis, Tenn.

Mar 05, 1996

Northwest Cable Advertising

Julian Brown has been hired as a retail sales representative in Northwest Cable Advertising's new Bellevue office. Previously, he was a retail sales representative for the University Place Journal in Tacoma.

Physio-Control Corp.

Seattle-based Physio-Control Corp. has selected Hammerquist & Saffel of Seattle to handle its advertising and other future creative projects. Advertising will be directed at the trade, and will be placed in medical and business-to-business publications.

Emerald Downs

Robert Geller has been selected race caller at Emerald Downs. Geller, born in Birmingham, England, currently is the English voice for racing at Hong Kong's two premier tracks, Happy Valley and Sha Tin, and has held those positions since 1989. Geller grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and began commentating on Thoroughbred racing in 1984 at Wangaratta Turf Club in Victoria, Australia. Also, Geller provides commentary between races for intertrack television at Happy Valley and Sha Tin.

King County Chamber of Commerce

The Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce is now accepting applications for its sixth annual Southwest King County Business and Small Business of the Year recognition program. To be eligible for the Southwest King County 50 List, nominees must be private sector businesses, have at least three employees, have been in business at least two years, and must be members of the Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce.

Alexis Hotel

The Alexis Hotel, a Seattle facility, is one of five properties in the state of Washington to earn the Four-Star Award of the Mobil Travel Guide. The Alexis is also one of 22 properties in the state to receive the AAA Four Diamond Award for 1996.

Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc.

Jack Martin, vice president of human resources and administration for Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc. has been selected by Green River Community College in Auburn as chair of the Transportation Advisory Committee to the General Council Advisory Committee. The primary purpose of the committee is to provide ongoing evaluation and consultation about the curriculum to keep it current.

Olympic Hot Tub Company

Olympic Hot Tub Company, a spa and hot tub dealer with retail stores in Seattle, Fife and Everett, has earned the 1995 National Customer Service Award for Professional Excellence, a recognition presented by Pool and Spa News. In January, the company also won second place in the national Design Award Competition sponsored by Aqua magazine, a trade publication.

Ellis-Don

Bruce Schlaitzer recently joined Ellis-Don Construction Inc.'s Seattle Division as vice president. Schlaitzer's role includes project executive to the company's ongoing projects, large project development and project management. He holds an architectural degree from the University of Washington.

Westhill

Westhill, a Woodinville-based home builder, has announced Susan A. Tughan has joined the firm as office manager. Tughan is responsible for client services and business operations.

CES Inc.

Conceptual Estimating Services Inc. was recently founded by the principals of Eldred & Essex Construction -- Ed Essex and Michael McCurdy. The Bellingham-based company provides project owners with budgetary estimates, design input, estimates for bank loans and selection of building style/configuration best suited for a particular site.

N. Cascade Homes

Sam Kramer has been appointed manager of sales, marketing and product development for North Cascade Homes, a seller of modular Uniform Building Code homes built by Skagit Pacific Corp. of Sedro-Woolley. Kramer's work experience includes constructing single-and multifamily homes in addition to modular dwellings.

'Shift Gears' program features rerefined oil

During March and April, the "Shift Gears" program will offer free oil and oil changes to King County drivers in an effort to introduce them to rerefined oil. The King County program is being offered in conjunction with Unocal 76 and 35 automotive service shops. Unocal will provide the Unocal Firebird brand of rerefined oil, and participating shops will provide free labor for oil changes. The only costs to consumers will be for oil filters and any used oil disposal fees. Because motor oil can be rerefined over and over again, rerefined oil is a way to conserve petroleum resources. The rerefining process extracts water, dirt, fuels and other impurities from used motor oil. Those used oil additives are removed to leave a clean lubricating "base stock." Then the base stock is blended with new additives to create a motor oil that meets or exceeds industry standards set by the American Petroleum Institute. For the exact locations of shops providing the oil changes, call the King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials at (206) 296-4439.

Shoreline Management Act gets face-lift

OLYMPIA -- The Department of Ecology is amending procedural rules for the Washington State Shoreline Management Act. Two draft state rules are now available for public review: rules governing local and state procedures for adopting and amending shoreline master programs, and rules governing the shoreline permit process. These draft rules address procedural matters only. Some of the specific changes in the draft rules required by law include: simplifying the process for notifying the public about pending shoreline projects; reducing the permit appeal period from 30 to 21 days; no longer requiring local shoreline programs to be adopted as formal state rules; and eliminating an outdated appeal certification process. Public comments on the draft rules may be submitted through March 29. To review the draft rules, go to Ecology's home page. To receive a paper copy of the rules, call Pat Zabala by mid-March at (360) 407-7291.

New environmental law firm in Seattle

SEATTLE -- Lawyers from the Seattle office of Morrison & Foerster are forming Marten & Brown, a new environmental and litigation law firm in Seattle. Brad Marten and Rod Brown have been practicing law in the Pacific Northwest since 1982. In 1992 they helped found Morrison & Foerster's Seattle office, one of 14 Morrison & Foerster offices worldwide. Now, keeping the same location and most of the legal staff, Marten and Brown are establishing their own firm. The firm is starting with six lawyers, two legal assistants and five non-legal staff members. Its clients include Crowley Maritime, Safeway, the Port of Seattle, Mitsubishi Chemical and the J.R. Simplot Company.

Free composting workshops offered

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Solid Waste Utility is offering free composting workshops Saturday and Sunday and again on March 16. Four separate workshops will be offered each day addressing food waste composting, yard waste composting, grasscycling and gardening without toxic chemicals. Each workshop lasts about 30 minutes and is arranged so that participants can attend all four workshops in a single day. Residents who attend a food waste or yard waste workshop may purchase compost bins at greatly reduced costs. Food waste compost bins that retail for up to $100 will be available for $10. Yard waste compost bins will be available for $15. Here are the locations of the workshops: Saturday, Bagley Elementary School, 7821 Stone Ave. N.; Sunday, Eckstein Middle School, 3003 N.E. 75th St.; and March 16, Stevens Elementary School, 1242 18th Ave. E. Pre-registration is encouraged but not required. To register or find out the exact times of the workshops, call (206) 633-0224.

New engineer, hydrogeologist at Seattle firm

SEATTLE -- Ellen McKay is the new lead engineer and Victoria "Vicki" Martinez is the new project hydrogeologist at the Seattle area office of McCulley, Frick & Gilman, Inc. McCulley, Frick & Gilman is a full-service environmental and engineering consulting firm with offices in San Francisco, Boston, Austin, Wallace, Missoula and Boulder. McKay, the former owner and president of Focus Engineering, has 14 years experience in hazardous and solid waste engineering, project management, regulatory compliance, environmental permitting and expert testimony. Martinez earned a master of science degree from Washington State University. Formerly with Parametrix, Inc. and Boateng & Associates, she specializes in the characterization of groundwater flow systems, flow and contaminant transport modeling and monitoring system design.

Awards given for erosion control

VANCOUVER -- Two projects in British Columbia received awards for excellence in erosion control at last week's International Erosion Control Association (IECA) conference in Seattle. The Pipeline Division of Westcoast Energy in Vancouver earned the 1996 Environmental Achievement Grand Award, the IECA's most prestigious annual award. Westcoast received the award because of its project to control erosion and sedimentation during construction of a gas pipeline in an environmentally-sensitive area of northeastern British Columbia. The Brazion Pipeline Project, built from June through October 1995, involved construction in and around tributaries to Brazion Creek. Despite unseasonably high rainfall levels, siltation in the tributaries was considered negligible. The 1996 Environmental Leadership Award went to the District of North Vancouver for its role in adopting requirements of the Environmental Protection and Preservation Bylaw 6515 (EPPB), which protects water quality. North Vancouver became the first municipality in British Columbia to implement the EPPB.