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John Thomson  

Here and there

We have heard horror stories for years from the Port Authorities in Vancouver and Seattle about products that some importers have tried to bring into these countries. These fake goods like purses, watches, machinery, clothing, DVD’s and music would be for sale to unknowing citizens. The list is long and diversified. It isn’t all about illegal drugs etc. There is a lot of money being made by importers with this black market goods trade. You have heard stories about the fake Colgate toothpaste that was made with antifreeze. Well this one tops the lit of odd things to import into a country to make money illegally. This product was found in the Seattle port.

Inspectors were checking on a recent shipment of “Tide” washing soap. I kid you not. This was boxed in the same format as the soap we buy in the grocery store. When you looked close you could see that the printed boxes were copies from a photo and the print was a little fuzzy, but it was the Made in USA label that tipped them off for sure and they investigated. There was a white powder in the box but they weren’t sure it was soap or what kind of chemicals were involved and the FBI took samples which are being tested.

There were 5,000 boxes of the so-called soap and the profit would have been about 400% for the importer. It’s frightening in a way because some of this stuff does get through and the shopping public seems to be only interested deals these days. seem interested in a good deals. I remember from a story I did last year on some vitamin or healing pills as they were called brought to Canada by an importer in Ontario and were being sold in ethnic grocery stores from under a counter or in the back room. Health Canada said these
Capsules were dangerous and had no approval numbers so who knows how that got here illegally.

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A Canadian real estate trust company is not backing down in its bid to acquire Seattle-based Fisher Communications. Fisher, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, owns 20 TV stations in 10 Western markets, including flagship KOMO (ABC) in Seattle and Fisher Plaza.

Huntingdon Real Estate Investment Trust of Vancouver offered the equivalent of $23.99 per share for Fisher: an 18% premium above Fisher’s Dec. 3 stock price. According to the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Huntingdon officials said they originally broached the buyout offer to Fisher CEO Colleen Brown and Fisher’s board in a December 6th letter. In a January 3rd letter to Brown and the board, Huntingdon officials said they were “astonished” that the board rejected Huntingdon’s offer just four days later.

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Apple growers in Nova Scotia are banking on a new variety to give the industry a bump not seen since the introduction of the Honey Crisp in the 1990s.

The Honey Crisp, a high-end, high priced-apple, helped save Nova Scotia's tree fruit industry in 1996 by promoting a unique apple that could be grown better in Nova Scotia than anywhere else. About 70 per cent of the crop is exported to U.S. markets.

The success of that fruit earned the Annapolis Valley a sought-after spot in the Next Big Thing, a club of professional apple growers that owns the rights to the SweeTango. The 45-member cooperative has growers from Nova Scotia to Washington State.

The SweeTango is a cross between a Honey Crisp and a Zestar and only a limited number of growers have the rights to it in North America. It was developed by the same apple breeders at the University of Minnesota who created the Honey Crisp.

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Sunshine Foundation of Canada – B.C. Interior Chapter is holding the 17th annual “Wendy’s DreamLift Day” on Wednesday, January 26, 2011 from 6:00 a.m. to closing. (Wendy’s will be open for the purchase of Wendy’s premium bean coffee and salads to go from 6:00 a.m. to 10 a.m.).

Local celebrities and dignitaries will be on hand along with members from the R.C.M.P., the B.C. Ambulance Services Personnel, and others to help fill your orders.

All the proceeds from the day’s sales in the dining room and drive thru, as well as staff, management and owner’s wages will be earmarked for the next B.C. Interior “DreamLift to Disneyland”. The nine participating Wendy’s include Kamloops (North Kamloops, Sahali, Valleyview), Salmon Arm, Vernon, Kelowna (Rutland & Hwy 97), West Kelowna and Penticton.

The Sunshine Foundation of Canada is a fully independent national charity working to make dreams come true for children, between the ages of three and 18, who are challenged by severe physical disabilities or life-threatening illnesses. The Foundation’s “DreamLift to Disney” program enables more than 80 special children to fly to Disneyland to enjoy a magical day of fun in the sun.

This year, in honour of the Orange County (California) Sheriff’s Department, who have helped with every DreamLift to Disneyland flight, Wendy’s of the BC Southern Interior is hosting 5 sheriff deputies for the 2011 Wendy’s DreamLift Day.

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Helpful Hints For Winter - with household items!

  • Keep your headlights clear with car wax! Just wipe ordinary car wax on your headlights. It contains special water repellents that will prevent that messy mixture from accumulating on your lights - lasts 6 weeks.

  • Squeak-proof your wipers with rubbing alcohol! Wipe the wipers with a cloth saturated with rubbing alcohol or ammonia. This one trick can make badly streaking & squeaking wipers change to near perfect silence & clarity.

  • Ice-proof your windows with vinegar! Frost on its way? Just fill a spray bottle with three parts vinegar to one part water & spritz it on all your windows at night. In the morning, they'll be clear of icy mess. Vinegar contains acetic acid, which raises the melting point of water---preventing water from freezing!

  • Prevent car doors from freezing shut with cooking spray! Spritz cooking oil on the rubber seals around car doors and rub it in with a paper towel. The cooking spray prevents water from melting into the rubber

  • Fog-proof your windshield with shaving cream! Spray some shaving cream on the inside of your windshield and wipe if off with paper towels. Shaving cream has many of the same ingredients found in commercial defoggers.

  • De-ice your lock in seconds with hand sanitizer! Just put some hand sanitizer gel on the key and the lock and the problem's solved!


  • More John Thomson articles

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    About the Author

    John Thomson is the Okanagan's pre-eminent business columnist writing his column, Rumours and Things, for over 24 years. Plugged in to the valley's who's who, John keeps his readers coming back for more with his straight talk and optimistic perspective on where we are headed next.

    When John is not writing his column, he runs a sixteen year old think tank called the Executive Roundtable and holds his popular "Thomson Presents" quarterly business speaker seminars.

    Have a comment, question, or tip for John? 

    E-mail John at
    [email protected]
    or send him a fax at 250-764-8255.

     



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    The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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