Trade Talk: Hospice to open Heirlooms shop

Giving away -- and buying -- the finer things in life will soon be a way to fund Hospice of the Red River Valley.

Hospice is creating Heirlooms, a store that will sell high-quality donated furniture, home furnishings, jewelry and brand-name clothing.

The store will be at Southparke Center, 1617 32nd Ave. S., Fargo, in the strip mall shared by Breadsmith, Moxi Java and Mike's Southside Auto Service.

The store is being fitted up now and will open by the end of summer. Profits will be used to fund Hospice programs, said Mary Lou Dahms, director of marketing and public relations.

Hospice provides a wide range of services to patients and families dealing with terminal illnesses such as cancer, heart, lung and kidney diseases, Alzheimer's disease, etc.

The fund-raising venture has been a year in planning, Dahms said. It is patterned after a store in Grand Junction, Colo.

"We see it as filling a niche in Fargo," Dahms said.

All donations are tax deductible.

The store will have two paid managers, but needs about 50 volunteers for sorting, pricing and selling items.

Dahms said donors should call to have a Hospice volunteer visit and look at the merchandise because not all items are accepted. Donors or volunteers can call Dahms at (701) 356-1505, or Marge Nelson at (701) 232-4330. Or, e-mail heirlooms@hrrv.org .

Eye on the weather

Cass County Electric Cooperative is making residents in and around North Dakota's Ransom County safer by helping to provide fast weather warnings and emergency alerts from the National Weather Service.

CCEC partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to buy and mount a weather radio transmitter for the co-op's tower two miles west of Fort Ransom.

USDA will supply $79,912 to buy the equipment and CCEC will provide nearly $75,000 of in-kind contributions as tower space and power.

The NWS office in Grand Forks, N.D., will operate and maintain the transmitter.

To get the broadcasts, area residents must buy weather-alert radios from electronics stores or CCEC's Fargo office.

Munching on the river

The Lewis & Clark Riverboat has added a Sunday evening cruise featuring free buffalo sloppy joes as it starts its 13th year on the Missouri River in Bismarck.

"Sunday evening is kind of 'family night' on the boat, so we thought we'd do something a little special for them," said Capt. Chuck Gerhart.

Excursions run 2:30 and 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The Saturday 6 p.m. cruise is a dinner cruise. There's also an 8:30 sunset cruise Tuesday through Saturday, and a dinner pizza cruise Mondays at 6 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for children and $15 for adults and can be purchased at the Lewis & Clark Gift Shop. Reservations can be made by calling (701) 255-4233.

Stock tender ends

Fargo-based RDO Equipment Co. (NYSE: RDO) has completed a $6.01 cash tender offer through its subsidiaries for all outstanding shares of its class A common stock.

Ronald D. Offutt is RDO Equipment's chairman and CEO.

Based on a preliminary count, 3,882,442 shares of RDO Equipment had been tendered. The tendered shares, together with the shares now held by RDO Tender, constitute 95.7 percent of outstanding class A shares.

RDO Tender will next be merged into RDO Equipment. Once the merger is done, RDO Equipment will be a wholly owned subsidiary of RDO Holdings.

Buying spree goes on

Community First Bankshares has cracked open the corporate wallet again.

The Fargo-based corporation, through Community First Insurance Inc., has bought Larry Levitt Insurance Inc., of Rock Springs, Wyo.

It is the firm's 15th insurance purchase since 2000, said Mark Anderson, Community First's president and CEO.

Forty-nine of the firms 136 markets now offer insurance products, Anderson said.

Community First has offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Networking time

A Business After Hours networking event will be held Thursday at the Fargodome.

The Chamber of Commerce of Fargo Moorhead event is being sponsored by SDN Communications. It will run 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

SDN Communications provides high-speed voice, data, video and Internet services for businesses and government agencies. SDN is based in Sioux Falls, S.D. It is made up of 27 South Dakota independent telephone companies and partners with networks in other states to provide communication on a national scale.

Reservations are $15 per person for the Chamber-members-only event.

To register, call (701) 233-1100, or go online at www.thechamber.net .

A safe place to work

The Marvin Windows and Doors manufacturing plant in Grafton, N.D., has received a federal award for excellence in workplace safety.

The plant has received the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Voluntary Protection Program Merit Award.

The Grafton plant is the first in North Dakota to receive the award. The Marvin Windows plants in Warroad, Minn., and Ripley, Tenn., have also received the honor.

"Marvin Windows and Doors has set an outstanding example for safety in the state of North Dakota," said Gov. John Hoeven.

The Grafton plant opened in 1998. It employs about 500 people who make wood and clad wood windows.

Medica moves in

Medica is now offering its Medicare supplemental health insurance plan to Medicare-eligible residents in 12 eastern North Dakota counties.

Medica, based in Minnetonka, Minn., is selling Medica Prime Solution in Barnes, Cass, Dickey, Grand Forks, Griggs, LaMoure, Ransom, Richland, Sargent, Steele, Stustsman and Traill counties.

More than 35,000 Medicare-eligible North Dakotans live in those counties, which include the cities of Fargo, Grand Forks and Jamestown.

Medica Prime Solution is a plan designed to cover costs Medicare doesn't cover.

For more information, call (800) 906-5432 Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or Fridays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Or go to the Web at: www.medica.com and click on the Center for Healthy Aging link, and follow through Product Information to Medica Prime Solution.

Readers can reach Helmut Schmidt at (701) 241-5583 or Gerry Gilmour at (701) 241-5560