Chippewa Herald-Telegram from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin • 3

THE CHIPPEWA HERALD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2006 NATION WORLD Home prices Home sales Sales of existing homes in millionsof units i Seasonally adusted annualized rate 8 million units 6.30 million By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON Annual existing home prices declined in August for the first time in more than a decade as sales fell for a fifth straight month. The yer '-over-year drop in median' sales prices represented a dramatic turnaround in fortunes for the once high-flying housing market, which last year was posting double-digit price gains. "Pop goes the housing bubble," said Joel Naroff chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. He predicted prices will tumble farther as home sellers struggle with a record glut of unsold homes. The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums dropped 0.5 percent last month to million a neighbor received but has slashed the price by $300,000 because he has attracted few interested buyers.

"1 am sitting here thinking maybe if I buy a car and park it out front with a bow on it, that will help," he said. The drop in existing home sales in August was not as steep as, expected and some said the recent declines in mortgage rates may help keep the housing market from falling off a cliff. Bolstered by the lowest mortgage rates in more than four decades, housing set sales records for both new and existing homes for five consecutive years through 2005. However, this year, analysts are forecasting that sales are likely to fall by 10 percent. The worry is if the decline could become so severe that it would mirror the bursting of the Stock market bubble in 2000.

gains on a year-over-year basis. The median price is the point where half the homes sell for more and half for less. David Lereah, chief economist for the Realtors, predicted price declines would continue for the rest of this year as sellers adjust asking prices downward in light of the inventory glut. This is the price correction we've been expecting," Lereah said. "With sales stabilizing, we should go back to positive price growth early next year." But some home sellers around the country, worried that cutting prices may not be enough, have been offering incentives to attract buyers, including in some cases new cars.

Dave Armon, who lives in the New York City suburb of Pelham Manor, said he started out asking $1.6 million for his six-bedroom Tudor-style home three months ago below the 1 .82 a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.30 million units. That was the fifth straight monthly decline and left sales 12.6 percent below the pace of a year The slowdown in sales meant that the inventory of unsold homes rose to a record 3.92 million units at the end of August. At last month's sales pace, it would take 7.5 months to clear out the backlog of unsold homes, the longest stretch since April 1993. The median price of a home sold last month fell to $225,000. That was down.

2.2 percent from July and down 1.7 percent from August 2005. That marked the first year-over-year drop in home prices since a 0. 1 percent fall in April 1995. Last year, when the five-year housing boom was reaching its peak, median" prices posted a string of double-digit r3 i'Tll ASQNDJ FMAMJ JA 2005 2006 SOURCE: National Association of Realtors AP ij NATION WORLD BRIEFS Suicide bombing in southern Afghanistan kills 18 LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan A suicide bomber struck outside the compound of a southern Afghan provincial governor on Tuesday, killing 1 8 people, including several Muslim pilgrims seeking paperwork to travel to Mecca, officials said. The attacker was stopped by Afghan soldiers at the compound's security gate, where he detonated his explosive vest, said Ghulam Muhiddin, spokesman for the Helmand provincial governor.

The bomber had been walking toward a vehicle of the private military contractors who provide security for the governor, said Squadron Leader Jason Chalk, a NATO spokesman. Nine Afghan soldiers and nine civilians were killed, said Rahmatullah Mohammdi, director of the hospital in Lashkar Gah. Seventeen people were wounded, he said. The governor, Mohammed Daoud Safi, Was inside the compound and was not injured in the attack. Army extends combat tour of a brigade in Iraq WASHINGTON The Army is stretched so thin by the war in Iraq that it is again extending the combat tours of thousands of soldiers beyond the promised 1 2 months the second such move since August.

Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division had been expecting to return to their home base in Germany in mid-January. Instead, they will stay an extra 46 days in Iraq, until late February, the Pentagon announced Monday. The soldiers are operating in western Anbar province, one of the most violent parts of Iraq. The Pentagon also announced that the 4th Brigade, 1 st Cavalry Division will deploy to Iraq 30 days earlier than scheduled, starting in late October. The announcement did not say why the speedup was deemed necessary, but three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said it is part of a plan to beef up forces in Baghdad, where U.S.

and Iraqi troops are struggling to contain insurgent and sectarian violence. The Associated Press DIANE L. WILSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Storm cleanup Tammy McCain hands off items to Dianna Kimmel as they sort through the kitchen cabinets of their aunt and uncle's house to find items for them to pack up after a tornado destroyed the home in Crosstown, Monday. BAKER: Developer takes on four downtown projects FROM PAGE 1 His shop will resemble a The Metropolitan Building planetarium, but will go MEDICINE FROM PAGE 1 One of the studies reviewed medical records of 1 1,532 diabetes patients. It found that those who didn't take their drugs hypoglycemics blood pressure drugs and statins had higher rates of hospitalization and death.

The link was not as pronounced as in the heart attack research, but was still significant. In two other studies, researchers found that cost prevents many Medicare beneficiaries from taking their pills and that doctors too often neglect to explain the basics about new drugs. In recordings of 1 85 patient visits, doctors failed to mention a new drug's side effects or how long to take the drug in about two-thirds of the visits. One entire conversation about a new prescription captured on audiotape went like this: Doctor: "If I'm writing antibiotics, are you allergic to penicillin?" Patient: "No. I'm not allergic to anything." Doctor: "Okey dokey." Study co-author Dr.

Derjung Tarn of the University of California, Los Angeles, said, "We need to find quick and easy ways to communicate in ways patients can easily understand and remember." The research suggests that patients and their doctors must work harder, said Dr. Patrick O'Connor of HealthPartners Research Foundation in Minneapolis, who wrote an editorial in the journal. "Patients need to ask, 'What are the most important medicines in my treatment, the ones that will help me live long enough to see my grandchildren grow O'Connor said. Doctors, he said, need to tell patients more about the drugs they prescribe and then follow up with them. "You think they know what a statin is from watching television, but they don't know that Lipitor is a statin or that Zocor is a statin," O'Connor said of doctors.

He also said that if a patient is taking six different pills, doctors should give advice about which ones to stop if the cost gets too high. Some patients assume they quit their pills if the doctor says their cholesterol looks good, said Dr. Kim Eagle of the University of Michigan. "Generally, these medications need to be continued to have their benefit," he said. beyond a place to look at images of the stars.

The ceiling will be rounded and will feature images of day and night. The images will coincide with the actual time of day and will have clouds that change before your eyes. Baker envisions opening up the night sky to an display filled with stars. He sees an opportunity to create thunderstorms that will be very authentic. Mornings at Destinations will be the place to be, he says.

"We're going to have sunrise ceremonies set to music on a fantastic seven-speaker system," Baker said. "There's something about sunrises, and we'll use them to set the morning mood." Baker has found through his research of Chippewa Falls what many knew years ago the Skogmo Cafe was once the place to be. Baker intends to bring the building back to its former glory, and will bring his other properties along for the ride. "It will be the place to be," Baker said. GASOLINE FROM PAGE 1 Election Day are registered Democrats, according to Gallup.

White House spokesman Tony Snow addressed the issue Monday, telling reporters that "the one thing I have been amused by is the attempt by some people to say that the president has been rigging gas prices, which would give him the kind of magisterial clout unknown to any other human being." "It also raises the question, if we're dropping gas prices now, why on earth did we raise them to $3.50 before?" Snow said. The excitement and suspicion among U.S. motorists follows a post-summer decline in gasoline prices that even veteran analysts and gas station owners concede has been steeper than usual. The retail price of gasoline has plunged by 50 cents, or 1 7 percent, over the past month to average $2.38 a gallon nationwide, according to Energy Department statistics. That is 42.5 cents lower than a year ago, when the energy industry was still reeling from the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which damaged petroleum platforms, pipelines and refineries across the Gulf Coast.

was already fully renovated with a healthy group of tenants. So Baker turned his attention to the renovation of his other properties. In March he gutted the Kelly Furniture Building and turned it into the spectacular new home of Just Kiss it Good Buy, an upscale consignment store that had out-, grown its home on Bridge Street. For the barbershop, Baker set his sights on recreating the best darn burger joint he had ever experienced while growing up in California. This summer Baker made a return trip to California and the hamburger restaurant.

He purchased the hamburger recipe and has been perfecting it through hamburger cook-outs on the grill at his West Hill home. By Christmas the barbershop will be home to the Bridge Street Station, a hamburger diner with a railroad and lumber motif that will capture the city's rich history, he said. But any sense of balance in Baker's life is knocked seriously off center with his plans for the Skogmo Cafd building. Baker's plans call for the building to be a place where his dreams and fantasies collide in an over-the-top brilliance. Baker's plan calls for a concept store called billed as a map store, but will feature a whole lot more, he said.

"I've always been a dreamer," Baker said. With "Destinations," Baker is pushing dreaming to the hilt. "What a release! It was so different from anything we had in California," he said. Baker was so moved by the area that in 2004 he decided he wanted to be a part of it. "It was during a trip in August 2004.

Something clicked," Baker said. He decided to sell his beautiful house in Sacramento and relocate to Chippewa Falls. "My friend said I was nuts," Baker said. Nuts? Maybe. Enthusiastic? Absolutely! By October Baker had returned to Chippewa Falls and bought a house on the West Hill.

He moved in early December of 2004. "I was retired and very far away from my natural environment," Baker said. "I clearly wanted to be here, but what was I going to do?" Baker will be the first to tell you he's not the type of man who sits around and takes it easy. For a year Baker carefully watched his new home and carefully drew the master plan for his dream. On Jan.

19, 2005, armed with a large trust left to him by his parents, Baker made his move. It was that day that Baker purchased the Metropolitan Building and the former Skogmo Cafe building on Bridge Street. Later on the same day Baker went around the corner to Central Street and purchased the former Kelly Furniture building, now the new home to Just Kiss it Good Buy. On March 31, Baker purchased his fourth downtown property the Gentleman's Quarter Barbershop. There was now a sense of balance in Baker's life.

"I felt like I had just achieved to parallel things," Baker said. "For me it was important to work with the buildings and to be involved in the community," he said. ATTENTION MEDICARE DIABETICS: Join us at the Diabetes Day and you can receive a new TALKING Prodigy Blood Glucose Monitor and be fitted for diabetic shoes at no cost to vou! Ptodicn ou on want t0 m'ss tn's FREE event and you will be in and out in less than an hour! Here is what vou will learn about: 1. ri Vourbiood A sugar is 80 Come HEAR your blood glucose reading! with the Prodigy! The Prodigy allows you to test in places other than the finger with much less pain! You can receive a new Prodigy meter to be Covered bv vour Medicare! Walk in extreme comfort and protect your feet with the Dr. Zen Diabetic Shoe or Tennis Shoe! You can be fitted for diabetic shoes at no cost; Learn how easy It Is to qualify for diabetic shoes and custom inserts to be covered by your Medicare! FREE Diabetic Socks wttb every shoe JACKAM NUMIIH TWO (R) 1tta-1 iO-iO-l4-jtt-tia0-Tl0 PLVBOVS IPO-Ill itoo-tioo-Tioo-ctMWMia nun Kara Falling Leaves un Muaio lour Wed Thar Sept 27 A 28 L.E, Phillips Senior Center 161 Bellinger Street Eaa Claire, WI Tuesday Sept.

26 Chippewa Falb Stalor Ceater 1000 East Grand Ave. Chippewa Falls, Wl 30 Monday Sept 25 Mcnomonle Senior Ctr. 1412 6th Street 1 Menomonie, WI St jbt u-s raAm.au MMMNON OANO (TCMS 1iOO-1i O0 JO TiOO-Tiia. o-iorix mmmimmumm avamoMa-a Ha no (a) iiiB-tao-aiia-7io-aiM OIIAMK (It ino-atia-vio RIOTOON m.Ma MOU.V Hoaaia amo rmaNoa (a 1lOO-a00 -MOMOOUMTt OMPMMS mvHtcwLa ro 1 io- 1 a-Tioo-iSO aMv 4 tw- a. MamaaTftnia-ai4a 10.

AccapTao a-il For ap. call 715-268-2464 or 715334-6016 iioo-aiia-aoo-TMs-ioioo i Love Always, 11. TALLAnaOA MOOT TH1 MIXA0 or iuchv Boaav PO-iai TiM-ado 1S. Twa HXIMTOMiaT fan SpoBMrcd by. 8ammH Medical Sapply A pwtixr company with the National Diabetai Education Program Medicare recipient! only, do HMO'i.

at jo 1lO 400-TiOO- 'JVRTISfSNAIiTlSANSxom I.