Cecil is a great guy. He seemed to always be fair to his employees. The
biggest reason for the demise of his company was our great workers
compensation system here in california. They were paying $24 per $100 of
payroll in comp insurance. He said his comp premiums went from $750K to
$1.2M over a years time. You have to sell a lot of lumber to come up
with that kind of money. Hopefully our new governor will make this a
priority or we will see this happen more often!

Terry


fred wrote:
> The Wetsel-Oviatt Lumber Company has sold all its
> land and assets to Sierra Pacific Industries.
>
> One of the last small lumber companies in California,
> Wetsel-Oviatt owned about 17,500 acres and a sawmill
> in El Dorado Hills. Owner Cecil Wetsel said he had to
> shut down operations due to increasingly stringent
> regulations and the high cost of business in California.
> October 15 will be the company's last day of operation.