March 28, 2006

Oregon Garden's Plan to Grow

Oregon Garden has come up with an interesting plan to get the Silverton attraction back on track.
In the five years its been operating it's lost more than $8 million dollars. Low attendance to blame. It's now in recievership...but not for long.
It looks likes the garden could be on its way to becoming a first class attraction for the state.
Moonstone Hotels out of California is spending $8 to $10 million dollars into building a boutique hotel on eleven acres that look over the gardens.
The company plans to break ground this summer and have the spa-resort up and running a year later.
It's really interesting how Moonstone became involved. An employee at the company's
Cottage Gove resort told Dirk Winter, Moonstone's owner about the financial problems the garden was having. He's a gardner and was interested to see how his company could play a role in saving it. It really does prove that one person can make a difference.
The money the hotel makes will go to payback the creditors. It really does seem like a win win...for the City of Silverton, Marion Country and of course the garden.
If you haven't been to visit this garden spot. Make a point...around June when the place is in full bloom.
Moonstone takes over operation of the garden on April 1st.

Posted by Joe Smith | 05:15 PM

March 13, 2006

It's Your Money. Go for It!

Do you have a payroll check you've never cashed, or a rebate check sitting in a kitchen drawer that's expired? Not to worry. You could have some money coming to you from the state.
The Oregon Division of State Lands is charged with finding the rightful owners to more than $215 Million dollars in unclaimed property.
It happens every year. Maybe your pay is direct deposited, but you changed jobs and your last pay was sent to you by check. You may have forgetten all about it. Maybe you have a relative who died and you didn't know they had a safe deposit box.
The contents could be worth big bucks.
If the material isn't claimed after two years, it goes on the auction block. The proceeds are kept by the state forever until someone claims them.
To get you started, all you have to do is check out the Division of State Lands website
www. oregonstatelands.us. Click on the Unclaimed Property section.
You'll have to fill out a questionaire, get it notorized and send it in to the state.
According to the folks I talked with today, they are pretty efficienct. They'll get back to you in about 45 days one way or the other.
They also have a specialist that actually tries to find YOU. Andrea Downing has a program that searches public records. If she finds a match she'll give you a call. Her biggest score was finding $100 thousand dollars for one person.
All the money collected is put to good use. It's invested and the money earned goes to pay for the Unclaimed Property program and the Oregon Common School Fund.
Last year 43 million dollars went to public schools here.
Check out the website...you've got nothing to loose...and everything to gain.
After all It's your money.

Posted by Joe Smith | 05:49 PM

February 20, 2006

Heirloom Preservation

Who knew saving things from the past could be so involved. Today I met up with Jenny Cobb. She has a love for family history. So much so, she started her own business "Heriloom Preservation".
I met up with her at Corrine Gilroy's home in Battle Ground. What a trip. This women has so many interesting things...many from the Civil War. Perhaps one of the most unusual things is a ring that opens up. It was used by soliders duing the war to transport secret messages from one area to another.
Another cool thing is one of a kind Teapot Christmas ornaments. They've been in the family since her day owned a general store in Washougal many, many years ago.
Corrine is trying to get all of her treasures in order. She wants to have things in order for her children and grandchildren. She is 82 years young...I think she'll be around for a long time.
If you'd like to get more information about "Heirloom Preservation" here's the link
www. heirloompreservation. com
Enjoy.

Posted by Joe Smith | 05:29 PM

February 13, 2006

The Telephone Trap

Here's the links that I referred to on air for how to avoid the "telephone trap," they are from the Web site called gethuman.com:


Cheat sheat for many companies' phone systems


Tips for how to reach a live person on the phone

Posted by Joe Smith | 06:34 PM

February 08, 2006

Some time you just can't win.

I planned a piece today on some of the companies that are involved with this years
Torino Olympics. Nike and Addias are the heavy hitters. We included them along with a Beaverton company that is the official supplier of bread for the Olympic Team while they are training in Colorado. I wanted to also include a company that has produce a web site for Olympic bad boy Bode Miller. The PR gal from Media Cabin first told me "no problem." Then she called back and said the Opus, the company that created the website ,couldn't talk about Bode...she offered some double speak about the controversy Bode created when he was on "60 Minutes". But, she said they could only talk about the creative aspect of producing the web site. I said that's fine. Then she called back later and told me they wouldn't talk at all for fear of jeopardize Bode's future at the Olympics. However, they would be happy to talk AFTER the Olympics. After the games no one cares. It seems to me if a company hires a PR rep to get them some press, they best be ready when they get the call.
It makes no sense to send out a press release if you don't want some publicity.
I've vented and now I feel better.

Posted by Joe Smith | 04:52 PM

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