SBA picks two state firms for regional awards

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Mar 22, 2002

Two Oklahoma company's are regional winners of the Small Business Administration's 2002 Small Business Awards.

The SBA Region VI winners are Jerry Beagley, Beagley Braiding Co., Calera, Small Business Exporter of the Year, and Chief Gregory E. Pyle, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Durant, Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year. Beagley was nominated by Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma in Durant and Pyle was nominated by the Durant Area Chamber of Commerce.

Other state winners included:

* Kenneth K. Klein, president/CEO Kleinco Construction Services, Tulsa, Small Business Person of the Year. Klein was nominated by Littlefield Inc. of Tulsa.

* John C. Johnson, president Bluestem Resources Group, Tulsa, Financial Services Advocate of the Year. Johnson was nominated by Bluestem Resources Group of Tulsa.

* Tod and Leslie Hardin, Discoversoft Development, Oklahoma City, Home-based Business Advocate of the Year. They were nominated by the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Oklahoma.

* Margaret Blankenship, marketing manager for Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma, Durant, Small Business Journalist of the Year. Blankenship was nominated by Rural Enterprises.

* Susan V. Bramsch, president, Sterling Integrated Communications, Tulsa, Women in Business Advocate of the Year. She was nominated Sterling Integrated Communications.

The National Small Business Person of the Year will be announced during Small Business Week ceremonies in Washington, D.C. The state awards presentation and luncheon is scheduled May 15 at the Omniplex.

Whirlpool adds jobs in Tulsa

Whirlpool on Thursday announced plans to close a Canadian plant and transfer production to plants in Tulsa and Oxford, Miss.

The Tulsa facility, which has 1,500 employees, would gain about 200 jobs by 2004, according to Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool. Free-standing electric and gas ranges are manufactured in Tulsa. The Oxford Plant, which has 500 employees, will gain about 150 jobs. Whirlpool makes built-in gas and electric cooking products in Oxford. Whirlpool's Montmagny plant in Quebec, Canada, will be closed in 2004 as a part of a restructuring initiative. The Montmagny facility produces gas and electric ranges and currently has 500 employees.

"We are announcing this decision two years in advance as part of our commitment to make the transition as smooth as possible," said Al Holaday, vice president, North American Manufacturing Operations.

Aid requested for utilities

In letter sent to U.S. Sen. Don Nickles, Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners Bob Anthony, Ed Apple and Denise Bode asked Thursday that federal funds be provided to bail out investor-owned utilities after January's ice storm.

Without relief, the three commissioners warned that Oklahomans could face significant rate hikes.

Declaring the Jan. 30 ice storm an event of "unprecedented magnitude and destructiveness" that "devastated" northwestern Oklahoma, the commissioners noted that the ice storm left thousands without power and that President George W. Bush declared 45 of the state's 77 counties disaster areas.

Bush's declaration cleared the way for Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to be provided to restore the electrical grids of public power and cooperative power utilities.

However, the commissioners noted that investor-owned utilities were not eligible to receive FEMA assistance to cover the "enormous costs of rebuilding the transmission and distribution systems."

"Consequently, in the absence of some form of federal assistance, it is anticipated that the investor-owned utilities may pursue state rate increases to recoup their emergency response and reconstruction costs in their entirety," the letter stated. "By illustration, one investor-owned utility is facing damages of almost $140 million dollars, which if passed into its rates would have a material impact on electric consumers."

The commissioners noted that the federal bailout of investor- owned utilities would not be unprecedented, citing federal reaction "to a very similar ice storm that besieged the northeast states in January of 1998." Following that storm, Congress authorized FEMA to extend funds to investor-owned utilities to help defray the cost of responding to the emergency and the expense of rebuilding infrastructure.

"In that regard, we would urge your serious and expeditious consideration of similar relief for Oklahoma," the letter stated. "We believe that given the extraordinary nature of this event and its impact on Oklahoma, it is appropriate to fashion a legislative response that provides investor-owned utilities timely assistance that equitably parallels the kind of relief already being provided to their public and cooperative utility counterparts."

The letter noted that Oklahoma's municipal and cooperative utilities are primarily distribution service providers and would qualify for FEMA disaster assistance for rebuilding their distribution systems.

The letter urged Congress, "at a minimum," to authorize FEMA to extend financial assistance to help cover the investor-owned utilities' costs for their emergency response and the restoration of their distribution systems. "Such relief would directly benefit Oklahoma's citizens by sparing them the potential impact of increased electric rates and charges," it concluded.