Longview News-Journal from Longview, Texas • Page 21

SUNDAY JUNE 25, 2006 longview News-Journal 1) 4 1 BUSINESS DIGEST 38 LEISURE SB TV LISTINGS 6-eB 4 I3 BUSINESS BEAT Shopping center gets new tenants SECTION i "i I cHO) and the TRANSMITTED 'V Ti TTT TlTv TT TO rM hSi PHHFMl RATE Efl.eCWITY UiMT SEFLeCTIVITlT I I 4t I HAfNFAU. RATE LOCATION If 1 I 11 OOWJRMEAKVELOCrTYUVEl-lOCATKm I I I TUftSULEWCE LOCATIOK hJ it KVf Rt RFFLfCTMTY '4- 1 4 4 By JSM KARDiN Baskin's Department Store and Harbor Freight Tools will be tenants in the Royal Forest shopping center space that was occupied by Heilig-Meyers Furniture until the company filed for bankruptcy in 20)1. Walter Northcutt, president of Beer Wells Real Estate Services, which manages the property, said the store in the center at 2119 Gilmer Road is being partitioned for the businesses. He said Baskin's, which is new to Longview, will have about 13,000 square feet of space. Harbor Freight Tools, which is now in a smaller store in the shopping center, will have about 15,000 square feet of space.

A catalyst for the transaction, Northcutt said, is the shopping center's proximity to Wal-Mart Super-center, which is across Gilmer Road. Bryan Baskin, president of the Livingston based Baskin's Department Stores, said the store is scheduled to open in late September. He said Baskin's features work-wear, westermvear and weekend-wear for the entire family. Baskin's stores also have boots, shoes and gifts for men. women and children.

Baskin said his aunt and uncle, Don and Annita Baskin, started the business in 1972. The Longview store, which will be the 15th in the company, will have 10 to 15 employees and will be open Monday through Saturday. Harbor Freight officials were not available to provide information about their plannH move Burlington proceeds A $150,000 building permit has been issued to remodel space in the Marketplace shopping center at 103 W. Loop 201 for Burlington Coat Factory. The commercial space formerly was occupied by Mervyn's, which closed late List year.

Representatives of Burlington, based in Burlington, N.J., could not be reached for comment about specific plans. "Now Hiring" signs are posted on the building's doors. Burlington Coat Factory has more than a50 stores In 42 states. According to the company's Web site, Burlington Coat Factory offers a large selection of coats, clothing, shoes, suits and sportswear for the entire family. Other store items include linens, home decor fashions and a full line of baby merchandise.

Scrubs Such expands Scrubs Such II will open July 8 in Chaparral Plaza at 1301 Judson Road, in space formerly occupied by Flower Peddler Too. This will be the second store for Scrubs Such, which is owned by Gale McDridc and Jerry Camp. The other Scrubs Such is at 1128 McCann Road. Adam Muncy, ho will be the manager at Scrubs Such II, said the store will sell scrubs, emergency medical technician uniforms, lab coats, shoes and other medical attire. He said the store's focus will be on group sales to large medical practices and hospitals.

The store will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuclay through Friday and from 10 a.m. to -1 p.m. Kevin GreenNew-Journal Photos Afcove: CES-19's Kent Domingue looks up to the stations new dcppler radar antenna Friday, in eastern Cherokee County.

At top: A diagram explains how the radar works. I jr Doppler radar the latest step in area battle for meteorological supremacy i i I i ISAAC jtsaa; i.oA'jv'jWirfiw cyn BS-19 will debut a $100,000 investment Saturday that General Manager Phil Hur-ley says will take East CBS-19's Doc Deason demonstrates the new dcppler radar Friday as he shows a line cf thunderstorms moving across the screen in three-dimensional imagery. Placement is priceless for weather radars Inslda Television forecasters make weather into work. Pag 33 Intensity of the drive to capture and serve viewers showed itself in a jab KETK-56 News Director Neal Barton took at KTX, which has featured Stormy the Weather Dog since the terrier mix was rescued from an animal shelter last fall "If they are getting a new radar, I certainly hope that their weather dog can run it," Barton said. "I've got two cats and they're not very mechanical" KLTV Vies President and General Manager Brad Streit and Chief Meteorologist Mark Scirto avoided the barbs and instead touted their station's resources that come from being owned by Raycom, the nation's 1 1th -largest broadcast corn-pan v.

"The main thing is that we don't do this to say we have the biggest, baddest radar." Scirto said. "We do this because we care about the people we serve. (Doppler is) not to be a storm detection radar, but to detect DOPPLER, Page 2B Texas weather tracking to a new high. In the highly competitive world of television weather reporting, though, the less than two-year-old station's chief rivals are already showing skepticism. "Fury 19," the CBS station's new Doppler weather radar system, will allow KYTX's four meteorologists to pinpoint a storm in relation to cities, towns and landmarks within those areas, Hurley said.

That capability, along with the system's antenna location in the center of KYTX's 14 county market and its three-dimensional graphics capability, make it the best Doppler Radar service in the region, he said. Officials at NBC affiliate KETK-G6 and ABC affiliate KLTV-7 say they also have Doppler radar systems, as well as other software and strong weather forecasting personnel. The located at the station. "It sometimes created a hole within about a mile radius because it didn't always read the weather that was coming in there," he said. That hole is referred to as the cone of silence, a one- to two-mile area surrounding the tower in which the antenna cannot detect severe or tornadic weather conditions because the antenna points out not directly up.

Doppler radar determines whether atmospheric motion is See RADARS, Page 23 By JIMMY ISAAC jisMction5Yittrfle1w.com Antenna placement is an important priority for a comprehensive Doppler radar system, a broadcast consultant said. Bruce Whitaker, a former meteorologist with Austin ABC affiliate KXAN, is now a consultant with the Texas Association of Broadcasters. When KXAN bought a Doppler system in the mid-1090s, the antenna tower was placed next to the transmitter District clerks convention marks milestone effort for Longview Furniture store to relocate la Tabella will celebrate the anniversary of its second year in business in a new location. Owner Kim Holcomb said La TabeSla will open in its new store at 2311 Gilmer Road on Aug. 1.

The store has been at 1904 Judson Road since it opened two years ago. Holcomb said there's a possibility the store will open at its new site earlier, but she's shooting for 1 as the official opening date. The owner said her business sells unique, handmade, imported, real wood furniture that includes tables, armoires, end tables, coir. tables, benches, chairs, screens and artwork. The store is open from 10 a.m.

to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. By JO LEE FOGUSON Some 400 members of the County and District Clerks Association of Texas will descend on Longview today for state-level meetings that run through Thursday.

The business discussions of county and district clerks who are the gatekeepers of all sorts of court documents and other public records might not draw Longview's imagination, but the presence of the clerks and their families marks an important milestone in Longview's efforts to attract conventions. The annual convention is the largest that the city's convention and visitors bureau has brought to town since it took over convention sales duties in 2003, according to the city's tourism leaders. About 400 people are expected to attend the annual district and county clerks convention, with a maximum of about 3o0 people at one time, said Leska Scanio, convention sales manager for the city's convention bureau. That many attendees equates to about 1.000 room nights, she said, which is the total number of hotel rooms booked over the course of the event. Paul Anderson, who heads the city's See COWEXTION, Pape 23 test': 'News-Journal fw'o Gregg County District Clerk Barbara Duncan recruited her mother.

Barbara Richie, left, and daughter, Misty Hassell. right, to help prepare packets for visiting guests of the State District and County Clerks Association, which begins today and runs through Thursday..