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New Jore owner talks of whether firm will remain

By the AP – 05/12/02

RONAN (AP) — Frank Tiegs came to western Montana’s Mission Valley from Pasco, Wash., over the winter to talk spuds with a
seed potato farmer and left this spring owning the area’s largest private employer, the troubled Jore Corp.

The issue now is what Tiegs plans to do with the tool-making company, a storied business success until it began Chapter 11
bankruptcy reorganization a year ago.
“Right now, our intention is to make the plant work here,” Tiegs said Friday during a visit to the plant, which has about 275
employees but once employed about 600 workers.

It produces drill bits and power-tool accessories.
Since surfacing this spring during Jore’s meanderings through U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the Washington-Oregon businessman
has been a bit of an enigma — refusing media interviews and generally avoiding questions about his plans.

That changed, somewhat, on Friday when Tiegs agreed to talk with the Missoulian newspaper about plans for his latest
acquisition of a business on the skids financially.
Western Mortgage and Realty Co. of Pasco bought Jore in April for $32.9 million. Western Mortgage consists of numerous
agriculture, food processing, mortgage banking, real estate and manufacturing concerns. It was formed in 1991 by Tiegs and
Tim Tippett, vice president and secretary.

Tiegs, 44, began building business interests with a large farm operation founded in 1975 and known as Greenridge Farms. He
also is chief executive and majority stockholder of Oregon Potato and sole owner of Baker Produce in Kennewick, Wash.

He has grown and fresh-packed potatoes in the Columbia Basin for more than 25 years and once supplied spuds to
companies he now owns. He knows something about asparagus and apples, too.
But it’s turning around troubled companies, including a custom cargo all-terrain vehicle business in Mississippi, that piqued
his interest in Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation.

He told the Missoulian he came here Friday to hand-deliver a check for more than $940,000 to Lake County tax officials to
pay the company’s back and current taxes through November.

Shortly after Tiegs bought Jore, his New Jore Corp. asked the county to accept $750,000 as a full settlement. Tiegs said that
was a more-than-fair tax bill for a business he believes has been unfairly assessed. Immediately, school district officials relying
on and already budgeting the full amount, recommended Tiegs be made to pay every dime.
He did: $940,001.75.

“I’m not trying to cheat anybody here,” said Tiegs. “I never said we wouldn’t pay the taxes.”
Gerald McConnell, Jore president, said the company previously was assessed at about $90 million and taxed on that value.

The real value is far less, Tiegs maintains. Jore has now asked the state to step in and reassess the company’s value, a
process expected to begin in the coming week.

Tiegs’ new undertaking also is looking for help in getting a $20 million loan at 3 percent over 15 years to reduce long-term
debt borrowed at higher rates.
“We don’t need the money today or tomorrow,” Tiegs said. “What we’re talking about here is the future.”

The future is a big concern on all fronts.
Although he’s a newcomer to Montana manufacturing and the state’s efforts to draw manufacturing businesses, Tiegs said he’s
not sure that Montana is serious about competing with other states who are aggressively seeking New Jore Corp., if it
relocates.

“If Montana doesn’t want to be a manufacturing state, then we’ll have to consider that,” he said. “If they don’t want us, we’ll go
to a state that definitely does.”

Tiegs stressed that he’s not looking for a reason to leave town. But he’s a businessman, with interests around the country, and
said he has no problem asking Montana what it will do to keep the plant.

“Everybody in this business is looking for advantages,” he said. “If other manufacturers are taking advantage of other programs
and I’m not, I lose. I’m not in business to lose.

“States are trying to get businesses to relocate,” he said. “They’re offering tax-free status for five years. They’re offering
no-interest loans. Why wouldn’t I take one? I’d be stupid not to ask. And I’m not stupid.”

Tiegs said he has bought “a number” of distressed companies, but he doesn’t talk about which ones or where they’re located.
Tiegs, a native of Boise, Idaho, said he tries to keep a low profile and doesn’t like interviews. However, he was irritated by
media reports that he wouldn’t respond to queries about plans for his new company and he agreed to talk with the Missoulian
to set the record straight.

Tiegs said he wants to keep Jore in Montana, but he’ll listen to other offers. If Montana makes staying put attractive, he’ll stay.

Even if the state doesn’t come up with a $20 million loan, Jore may stay. “We’ve got a responsibility to the people who work
here,” he said.
Whatever the decision, he said it won’t be overly delayed and it won’t involve moving the business out of the country.

“There is going to be a market for American-made products and that’s what we’re going to make,” he said.

http://www.helenair.com/montana/9Z3.html

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