Diggings: Column ‘open for business'

By Tim Trainor - 10/19/2008

Let's flip the switch and set that neon buzzing: this column is open for business.

Now, I'm going to go against the economic experts here, who are recommending people don't open anything these days except cans of Campbell's soup.

It has certainly been a wild two weeks. The stock market is going up-and-down faster than presidential poll numbers and financial companies are going belly-up faster than the cutthroats that made their way back into Silver Bow Creek.

I must say, it's kind of nice to not have any money. I've got one less thing to worry about.

Some local companies, however, received grants that give them one less thing to worry about, too. The capital infusions came courtesy of the Montana Board of Research and Commercialization Technology.

Water and Environmental Technologies, 480 E. Park St., Butte, a consulting and engineering firm, received $187,038 to research, develop and market a technology to reduce nutrients in individual septic systems.

It claims its product, SepticNet, can outperform existing systems approved by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality by 300 percent.

The state Department of Commerce said the product has high commercialization potential and is "essential to future residential development in Montana." Another Butte agency, the Center for Advanced Mineral and Metallurgical Processing at Montana Tech, received $105,000.

The grant will support the university's efforts to develop its high sodium coal reserves for use in clean coal applications.

Successful execution of this project may improve the marketability of southeastern Montana high sodium coal reserves and technology developed in the project could also be expanded into other sectors of the economy, a news release said.

If we can clean septic systems and coal, what can't we do?

Local firms change hands What two local businesses can't do next month is claim to be locally owned.

Lithia Motors, 3883 Harrison Ave., will open under new owners Nov. 1 after being purchased by Billings Nissan. Both companies confirmed the sale, but declined to give details.

A second Butte business changing its signage is Checker Auto Parts. The company will reopen next month as an O'Reilly franchise.

O'Reilly Auto Parts, a Missouri-based company, has more than 2,000 stores in 26 states.

That's 2,000 more than Joe the Unlicensed Plumber, who stole the show in last week's presidential debate, has.

But even Joe knows the best part of running your own business (column) means you get to decide when to close for the day, and now seems as good a time as any.

How to spend $700 billion Before signing off, here's a tidbit: Sure, we taxpayers bought stakes in some high-profile banks, but know what else we could have done with the $700 billion bailout money?

Well, we could pay for the entire Iraq War until now and have $140 billion leftover; we could give every person in the world $100; or we could have purchased 4,000 apple pies from McDonald's for every American.

Personally, I vote for the pie. I'm getting sick of soup.

Have a topic idea for Diggings? Just want to write? Reporter Tim Trainor can be reached via e-mail at tim.trainor@lee.net.