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The INDEPENDENT, April 18, 2001
Local firm now provides comprehensive building maintenance
Finding the right people for
building maintenance can be a
complicated process. A li
censed CFC technician may be
needed for work on air condi
tioning; a licensed mainte
nance electrician may be need
ed for certain electrical repairs;
another person for some com
mercial remodeling, another for
the water system.
Precision Building Mainte
nance solves the problem.
Michael Botchie and Barney
Eastlick, with a combined 30
years of experience and sever
al certifications, can handle all
of those situations. Between
them, they have the certifica
tions and licenses for all com
mercial facility maintenance
needs, including welding and
the installation of overhead
doors, even conveyor systems.
“When anything goes wrong
inside your walls, we fix it,” said
Botchie.
Operations manager Marie
Botchie handles the inside
work for the Vernonia business
and will schedule service as
needed. The team also re
sponds with 24-hour service to
handle any emergency that
may arise.
Precision Building Mainten-
nance is registered with the
state Contractors Construction
Board and is licensed, bonded
and insured. They may be
reached at 503-708-6809.
Your voice is heard when you
speak from the ballot box.
Register to vote today.
The H ealth H abit
5O3-429-O5O1
Complete Co-Ed Gym Facility
The name on their truck tells the story: For precision building mainenance, Barney Eastlick
and Michael Botchie are the people to call.
Chamber hears presentation on fraud
“It’s your money...protect it!”
was the message Vernonia Po
lice Officer Jim Gaskins
brought to the Vernonia Cham
ber of Commerce at their April
meeting. Gaskins presented
the information on protection
from fraud at a presentation
sponsored by U.S. Bank.
There are steps businesses
can take to protect themselves
from bad checks and other
fraud, according to Gaskins.
He outlined several rules busi
nesses should establish and
follow, including requesting
photo identification, requiring
employees to write their names
on all checks they accept, nev
er accepting third party checks,
never cashing payroll checks,
accepting checks only for the
amount of purchase and never
come from taxpayers.
The actual number of bad
checks passed in Columbia
County is far in excess of this
simple example, according to
Gaskins. In Vernonia, staff is
not available to regularly inves
tigate bad checks, but they are
available to discuss the prob
lem with local businesses that
have questions about specific
incidences.
Store owners who fail to im
plement strict rules to prevent
accepting bad checks must ac
cept some responsibility, Gask
ins said. As an example, he
made a comparison of two
stores, just across the street
from each other: One had a
policy of always accepting
checks to avoid offending cus
tomers. Across the street, em
ployees were constantly re
minded to ask for and record
identification tor every check.
The first store had losses of ap
proximately
$25,000
per
month. At the second store,
losses due to bad checks were
almost nonexistent.
Gaskins distributed informa
tion about other frauds, includ
ing employee theft, credit card
fraud, identify theft and com
puter crimes. He concluded by
saying that fraud is usually dif
ficult to investigate and prose
cute, but just as a driver is re
sponsible for removing the
keys and locking the car, busi
ness owners are responsible
for protecting the assets of
their small businesses.
Wu field rep will meet the public
Ann Richardson, field repre
sentative for Congressman
David Wu, will hold community
office hours at the following lo
cations and times on Tuesday,
April 24 and Tuesday, May 22:
Vernonia City Hall, 1001
Bridge Street, Vernonia, 8:30
to 9:30 a.m.
Columbia Technology Cen
ter, 375 S. 18th, Armstrong
Room, St. Helens, 10:30 to
11:30 a.m.
Rainier City Hall, 106 West
“B” Street, Council Chambers,
Rainier, 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Clatskanie PUD, 423 N. Ne
halem, Meeting Room, Clats
kanie, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Although not required, to
schedule an appointment, call
the Portland office at 503-326-
2901 or 1-800-422-4003. For
special accommodations, con
tact Richardson at least 48
hours prior to the meeting.
accepting starter or counter
checks.
By being committed to main
taining clear, consistent check
cashing policies and constantly
encouraging employees to fol
low them, businesses can limit
the amount of loss they have
due to bad checks.
To illustrate the scope of the
problem, Gaskins said to as
sume that 1000 businesses
each accept 20 checks per
day. If only one percent o f,
these 20,000 checks are re
turned, there would be 200 bad
checks per day in Columbia
County or 73,000 bad checks
per year. According to Gaskins,
bad checks are not prosecuted
because of the enormous vol
ume of these crimes and the
number of judges, prosecutors,
defense attorneys and depu
ties necessary to prosecute
them. To prosecute these
crimes, testimony would also
be needed from all store em
ployees and bank personnel in
volved. Jails could be com
pletely full of bad check writers
and the millions of dollars to
pay for all of this would have to
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