think," Art smiled. "Just giving Tru a thumbnail sketch."
"Bout sums it up, I guess," Bartinelli nodded. He came over and extended his hand. "Truman North, I presume."
"Tru, to my friends, and I let Art call me that, too."
Jack Bartinelli had a good, genuine laugh; not overdone, back of the throat, and it sounded like something he might do pretty often.
"Call me Jack," he grinned. "University of Maryland, class of '73, M.F.A. in…theatre, wasn't it?"
"They called it 'drama' back then," I nodded. "How did you…"
"Buddy of mine runs the alumni office," he replied. "I Googled you and then asked him to look you up. I'm class of '80."
"Go Terps," I smiled.
"I'm still dining out on the '01 basketball team," he laughed. "Artful over there was foolish enough to bet on Gonzaga."
"Not that bad a bet," I nodded.
"Sorry to interrupt," Art sighed, "but, a) the Zags are sort of a sore spot for me, even yet, and b) we've got work to do."
"Amen to both," I said.
Jack sat next to me and nodded at Lauren, who blushed furiously. Jack seemed not to notice.
"So Tru knows the basic outlines?" Jack asked. "The council members, the land use problems?"
"I know some members of the Colville Tribal Council are saying they never voted on the land use," I replied. "And I know it's you, Dr. and Mrs. Clayton Wright, and Pembroke Property Ventures, division of Pembroke & Hawkes, Ltd. I know the project involves x-amount of tribal lands and 12 square miles of federal forest land. I know P.P.V. is run by Roderick Hookes, formerly of Port Orchard, Washington. I did a little asking around about him and got nothing but positives. He used to be a vice president under my pal, JerryMeinhardt at Meinhardt Papers. I've read a good bit about P.P.V. and Pembrook & Hawkes, and seen a few pictures of Anthony Ahrend II who seems to be the English version of what we would call a 'good ol' boy,' and who is married to one of the top five hottest women I've ever seen."
"Aside from that," I added, "all I really know is that Pembroke & Hawkes is as sound as the pounds their paper is printed with, and that no project as big as this one, which usually involves clearing a lot of old-growth forest, would ever get off the ground in Washington without the big fix being in place somewhere. Amazingly, after talking to a pal with the Sierra Club, it appears that the enviro-dorks are all on board with this thing…which is, to put it mildly, highly irregular. So, if they're not biting your ass, and you're as straight as Art says, sounds like your speed bump is with your partners."
Jack looked as though he wanted to object but quickly subsided and finally gave a small nod.
"Well," he sighed, "much as I want to believe otherwise, that's about it. Something ain't right about this and I can't figure out what the hell it could be."
"I've asked Rod Hookes about the lack of publicity, which I took to mean that we were gonna try an end run on doing either environmental impact studies or a delay on the permit process, some of which we couldn't file on for at least a year, anyway. But he sent me a full package from P.P.V.'s New York attorneys and everything's there. T's crossed and I's dotted."
"So the feds are okay on clear-cutting?" I asked.
"We're not clear-cutting," Jack shrugged. "See, that's a lot of my confusion here. Our lease with the feds gives P.P.V. rights to all timber felled by natural causes, cut for firebreaks, removed for highway or forestry projects, or marked as partially or wholly diseased. That's almost unheard of for a paper company. They always want some topping rights, on second growth, anyway. Pembrooke & Hawkes, of course, is really small, by Weyerhaeuser or Meinhardt standards. They only produce currency and fine art stock. That's it. Their papers are obscenely expensive and—so I'm told—worth every penny. And the deal they cut with the Bushes still
"Bout sums it up, I guess," Bartinelli nodded. He came over and extended his hand. "Truman North, I presume."
"Tru, to my friends, and I let Art call me that, too."
Jack Bartinelli had a good, genuine laugh; not overdone, back of the throat, and it sounded like something he might do pretty often.
"Call me Jack," he grinned. "University of Maryland, class of '73, M.F.A. in…theatre, wasn't it?"
"They called it 'drama' back then," I nodded. "How did you…"
"Buddy of mine runs the alumni office," he replied. "I Googled you and then asked him to look you up. I'm class of '80."
"Go Terps," I smiled.
"I'm still dining out on the '01 basketball team," he laughed. "Artful over there was foolish enough to bet on Gonzaga."
"Not that bad a bet," I nodded.
"Sorry to interrupt," Art sighed, "but, a) the Zags are sort of a sore spot for me, even yet, and b) we've got work to do."
"Amen to both," I said.
Jack sat next to me and nodded at Lauren, who blushed furiously. Jack seemed not to notice.
"So Tru knows the basic outlines?" Jack asked. "The council members, the land use problems?"
"I know some members of the Colville Tribal Council are saying they never voted on the land use," I replied. "And I know it's you, Dr. and Mrs. Clayton Wright, and Pembroke Property Ventures, division of Pembroke & Hawkes, Ltd. I know the project involves x-amount of tribal lands and 12 square miles of federal forest land. I know P.P.V. is run by Roderick Hookes, formerly of Port Orchard, Washington. I did a little asking around about him and got nothing but positives. He used to be a vice president under my pal, JerryMeinhardt at Meinhardt Papers. I've read a good bit about P.P.V. and Pembrook & Hawkes, and seen a few pictures of Anthony Ahrend II who seems to be the English version of what we would call a 'good ol' boy,' and who is married to one of the top five hottest women I've ever seen."
"Aside from that," I added, "all I really know is that Pembroke & Hawkes is as sound as the pounds their paper is printed with, and that no project as big as this one, which usually involves clearing a lot of old-growth forest, would ever get off the ground in Washington without the big fix being in place somewhere. Amazingly, after talking to a pal with the Sierra Club, it appears that the enviro-dorks are all on board with this thing…which is, to put it mildly, highly irregular. So, if they're not biting your ass, and you're as straight as Art says, sounds like your speed bump is with your partners."
Jack looked as though he wanted to object but quickly subsided and finally gave a small nod.
"Well," he sighed, "much as I want to believe otherwise, that's about it. Something ain't right about this and I can't figure out what the hell it could be."
"I've asked Rod Hookes about the lack of publicity, which I took to mean that we were gonna try an end run on doing either environmental impact studies or a delay on the permit process, some of which we couldn't file on for at least a year, anyway. But he sent me a full package from P.P.V.'s New York attorneys and everything's there. T's crossed and I's dotted."
"So the feds are okay on clear-cutting?" I asked.
"We're not clear-cutting," Jack shrugged. "See, that's a lot of my confusion here. Our lease with the feds gives P.P.V. rights to all timber felled by natural causes, cut for firebreaks, removed for highway or forestry projects, or marked as partially or wholly diseased. That's almost unheard of for a paper company. They always want some topping rights, on second growth, anyway. Pembrooke & Hawkes, of course, is really small, by Weyerhaeuser or Meinhardt standards. They only produce currency and fine art stock. That's it. Their papers are obscenely expensive and—so I'm told—worth every penny. And the deal they cut with the Bushes still
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