Looking for Information

“We are presently investigating the following company. If you have had in the past any applications or have one currently please inform me ASAP. The principal, Daryl Scott Honowitz also uses another corporate structure, United Tech Holdings, Inc.”

Database Developers, Inc.
1451 W. Cypress Creek Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. 33309
954-765-3001

Regards,

Bernie Boettigheimer, CLP
President
Lease Police, Inc.
1400 Preston Rd. #400
Plano, TX 75093
www.LeasePolice.com
www.bernieb@leasepolice.com
214-549-3426
972-665-9915- Fax

((Please click on ad to learn more))
(Leasing News provides this ad “gratis” as a means
to help support the growth of Lease Police) 

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Classified Ads---Sales

(These ads are “free” to those seeking employment or looking
to improve their position)

Free Posting for those seeking employment in Leasing:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted-post.htm

All “free” categories “job wanted” ads:http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted.htm

Leasing News Complaint Bulletin Board
Newport Financial Partners, Newport Beach, California

This is the third complaint for Newport Financial Group, Newport Beach, California; the first was posted, and then removed as the advance rental was returned. A second complaint was made (1) and thus the policy changed as and thus was posted.

January 26, 2012 C&C Business Enterprise signed a lease with Newport Financial for thirty 16 feet new mobile storage containers and 30 sign sets included on all containers along with a check for $4,871.85 for advance payments and $845 service fees totaling $5,716.86 (2)

In February, they were sent new lease documents at a higher rate as well as requesting additional financial information. It then seems the deal was split into four, and there were questions about the purchase option, as the original was a $1.00:

March 20, from Mitchell Chalsen:

“Please confirm these rates you quoted to me are all $1 buy out leases.

# of Containers        Duration             Old Rate         New Rate

6                            60 mo              $632                 $621
7                            60 mo              $887                 $813
7                            60 mo              $887                 $783
10                          48 mo              $1222               $1194”
  

There was an issue regarding being located in a Qualified Empire Zone and the use and sales tax. As well as the payments were different, and additional advance rentals and lease contract documentation was requested.

April 25, they received a lease agreement from BSB Leasing for six containers for sixty months at $621.18 (3) and one from BlueBridge for 10 containers (personal information on form, so not included).

Since April 26, 2012 Leasing News has attempted to reach Newport Financial, the principals named, by various email and also by telephone. They did not return any calls.

Leasing News did reach Don Myerson of BSB Leasing, who responded:

“This situation is the first I have heard of any complaint about Newport Financial. I don’t remember seeing the complaint you wrote about in Leasing News in August nor have we received any direct complaints. When are aware of these types of complaints we do take them seriously. We have had numerous complaints over the years from lessees about brokers keeping advance payments, selling FMV purchase options as $1 purchase options, etc...

“When we are made aware we use whatever influence we might have with the broker to get the complaint resolved. In most cases we are successful in resolving the conflict or complaint. If we have a broker that continually is involved in unresolved complaints like keeping advance payments they aren’t entitled to we will and have cut them off.

“In the case of Newport I have not seen nor heard any details of the complaint. All I know is that BSB Leasing received an application from Newport Financial. We approved that application and we prepared documents for that transaction but they were not returned to us before the credit approval expired.”

Leasing News reach Brian Gallo, President, Blue Bridge Financial, who responded:

"I spoke with George Bojorkuez and Richard Nicholson from Newport Financial Partners, LLC. Basically they feel (and according to Newport have been advised by their counsel) that they are entitled to the advances but said they have every intention of reaching out to the Borrower to make a reasonable effort to resolve. I guess only the Borrower can tell us if this happens."

Mitchell Chalsen or Tony Corso have not heard from Newport Financial.

The complaint:

From Mitchell Chalsen:

"My business partner, Tony Corso, and I are business partners in C & C Business Enterprises Inc. dba MI-BOX Moving & Mobile Storage. Our company rents mobile storage containers in the NY/NJ/CT Metropolitan area. We just started our 3rd year in business.

“In January of this year, we decided to purchase 30 containers to add to our 155 containers already in service. These container purchases are critical to our growth strategy and will help to improve our cash flow situation as well as retain our exclusive rights to this protected territory. It also takes 6-8 weeks from order to delivery and we need to have them in time for our busy season which is starting now.

“We are logging a formal complaint with you in hopes that this will put pressure on Newport to return most if not all our deposit since we decided to terminate our relationship with them due to poor business practices and “bait and switch” tactics.

“In January of this year, Newport provided us a quote for funding 30 containers ($126,000), which came to $2,435.93 per month. To lock in the deal and process the order, Newport asked us to send them a REFUNDABLE deposit for $5,716.86 (1st/last mo payments plus doc/service fee), which we did. At that time, we also stopped searching for competitive pricing from other companies.

“It was then that the initial Newport rep, Richard Nicholson, handed us over to Rey Heredia. Rey then followed up by sending detailed contracts totaling $3,628/month – almost $1,200/month more than the original numbers provided to us by Richard. Obviously, we were not satisfied with these terms so Rey said he would try to improve the numbers and requested that we send more personal and company financial information to him. After some time, he provided contract terms somewhat better but still almost $1,000 higher than the original quote. This increase is significant especially for a start-up company with cash flow challenges. We explained all this to Rey and all he said was that we should accept these terms since we would find nothing better.

“We were now in March with no order placed. We then reached out to a trusted advisor who told us that reputable leasing companies do not ask for deposits and do not engage in such business practices. We hence started working with another leasing company to help us purchase these needed containers. When we told Newport that we were ending the relationship, they informed us that we would lose our entire deposit. So instead of launching a legal battle over the deposit, we told Newport that we would finance a subset of our containers (6 containers) with them even though the rate was still higher than the one originally provided to us. They accepted that option, however, they said we would lose most of our initial deposit.”

(1) Previous Newport Financial Bulletin Board Complaint
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Aug2011/8_03.htm#newport_bbc

(2) NFP Lease Docs 2012
http://leasingnews.org/PDF/NFPLeaseDocs2012.pdf

(3) BSB contract
http://leasingnews.org/PDF/BSB_lease.pdf

(Leasing News provides this ad as a trade for investigations
and background information provided by John Kenny)

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Classified Help Wanted Ads

“The ad worked great again and I am happy to announce we filled the position (and then some) with a fantastic new hire Tamara McCourt. Would you please take the posting out of rotation for us?

“Tamara’s response was a direct result of our Leasing News post. She is a great talent and a great cultural fit for us as well.”

Andrew Nere, CEO
Innovative Lease Services, Inc.®
ph 800.438.1470 x136
andrew@ilslease.com
web www.ilslease.com

Tamara McCourt, CCE, CLP

Former director of operations at Five Point Capital, Western Region Credit Manager, Pentech Finance, credit manager, Pinnacle Business Finance; past director on the NACM Business Credit Services Board, past president of the Credit and Financial Development Division of NACM, Tacoma.

Leasing News Help Wanted Ad Pricing

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http://www.crlease.com/

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America's Favorite Beers

Nope, it’s not “Bud.”

The beer brands with the greatest strength — a measure of familiarity, quality, purchase consideration, trust and the ability to generate buzz — are largely more expensive brews. Nine of the 10 are among the most expensive beers out of the country’s 20 best-selling beers.

The beers with the most powerful brands are just as varied as beer drinkers’ tastes. They differ greatly in style and originate from five different countries. They also have a range of founding dates, extending from 1759 to 1995. This illustrates that an established brand does not necessarily mean a strong brand.

The Harris Poll Equi Trend Ranking looked at sales at supermarkets, drugstores, gas/convenience stores and mass market retailers, but excluding Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) club stores, and liquor stores.

(Note: the top selling beers such as Bud Light, Budweiser, Miller Lite, and Coors Light, did not make the list, nor were regional microbreweries).

10.
Corona Extra
Dollar sales: $995,750,100
Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +8.81%
Case sales: 33,653,220
Avg. price per case: $29.59

9.
Heineken
Dollar sales: $592,768,800
Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +4.86%
Case sales: 19,681,860
Avg. price per case: $30.12

8.
Beck’s
Dollar sales: $73,672,420
Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +2.67%
Case sales: 2,656,15
Avg. price per case: $27.74

7.
Modelo Especial
Dollar sales: $355,914,800
Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +22.63%
Case sales: 13,948,820
Avg. price per case: $25.52

6.
Samuel Adams Lager
Dollar sales: $240,251,900
Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +6.02%
Case sales: 7,710,278
Avg. price per case: $31.16

5.
Guinness Extra Stout
Dollar sales: $93,183,030
Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +16.46%
Case sales: 2,617,600
Avg. price per case: $35.60

4.
Newcastle Brown Ale
Dollar sales: $84,891,020
Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +6.48%
Case sales: 2,673,008
Avg. price per case: $31.76

3.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Dollar sales: $146,656,300
Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +15.71%
Case sales: 4,513,378
Avg. price per case: $32.36

2.
Blue Moon
Dollar sales: $225,747,800
Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +26.46%
Case sales: 7,370,705
Avg. price per case: $30.63

1.
Yuengling Traditional Lager
Dollar sales: $206,266,200
Change in dollar sales from a year ago: +36.55%
Case sales: 9,465,673
Avg. price per case: $21.79
http://www.yuengling.com

Full Article:
http://247wallst.com/2012/05/06/americas-favorite-beers/

Cloud Server Concept Growing

More companies in Silicon Valley are turning toward Cloud for storage of data and communicating. The concept is not new, originally started by Sun Microsystems over 15 years ago, also employed by Oracle and others, basing all data in another site. The term now also includes multiple sites accessed over the internet rather than a dedicated line with better security features, a lot more storage, and any failure of a hard drive means nothing as the data is kept in tandem on several different sites, particularly if global use.

Many local IT personnel are not in favor of this, as they believe it may cost them employment. Actually, the opposite has become the truth as it has become important for smaller companies, especially with sales or dealers.

When most people think about vital restaurant equipment, they picture stoves, ovens, fryers, and pans. But with the Internet Age moving along at hyper speed, the computer server may soon become the most valuable piece of equipment in a restaurant’s inventory.

The development of point-of-sale technology that allows restaurants to capture reams of data on their customers’ spending habits has created storage needs that no amount of pantries or walk-in freezers can address. Many foodservice companies are also looking for easier ways to streamline systems and facilitate corporate communications and data sharing.

In light of this, more restaurant operators are paying close attention to cloud technology.

By now, most computer users have heard about the cloud, and most people who depend on the Internet for work and play have a general, if somewhat mystical, idea of what it is: an ethereal, boundless place where data lives in relative safety.

In fact, the cloud is a service that allows users to store data on remote computer servers and retrieve that data almost as fast as if it resided on their server at home or office. Cloud-based services also allow users to access software without installing it on their computers.

Behind all of the technological jargon surrounding cloud technology is a paradigm shift in how people and businesses use computers.

Newly Weds Foods, a purveyor of basic ingredients like batters and breadings, is one company that is already leveraging the cloud to streamline its operations. Based in Chicago, Newly Weds Foods has more than 2,000 employees around the world and, in the past, has struggled to get its far-flung workforce on the same page. But in early 2012, the company started using IBM’s SmartCloud for Social Businesses. The cloud-based platform facilitates collaboration between Newly Weds Foods employees, allowing them to quickly share information and ideas online and host e-meetings.

“It’s basically our own private Facebook,” says Bob Brindza, a computer analyst at Newly Weds Foods.

The IBM platform does feel a bit like Facebook in terms of user interface and how it allows users to share information.

Brindza says the platform is a big improvement over the way Newly Weds Foods employees used to share documents.

“Using e-mail was very cumbersome, particularly when we had a threshold of the size of files that we could send,” Brindza says. “There were times when we had to send multiple e-mails overseas to get someone the information they needed.”

The inefficiency of the old procedures was expensive. Using the IBM SmartCloud, Brindza says, Newly Weds Foods has cut travel and meeting costs by 10 percent, even taking into account the monthly cost per user, which is $4 at Newly Weds Foods.

“The really big cost savings is on travel, especially with gas prices going up,” Brindza says.

IBM is not the only company offering this kind of service. Newly Weds Foods was using WebEx’s collaboration solutions before it started using IBM’s SmartCloud. Free service Yammer is another private social network that facilitates coworker collaboration by way of the cloud.

Google+ and Dropbox also offer some of the same cloud-based services as IBM’s tool. Rebecca Buisan, director of the IBM SmartCloud, acknowledges that those free services are indeed competitors to IBM’s service, but says SmartCloud is better for businesses because it offers “enterprise-grade” privacy and protection.

Declining to give an exact figure, Buisan says “thousands” of businesses are already using SmartCloud. She says it’s one of IBM’s top four “plays in strategy” for the years ahead, adding that “2011 to 2015 is all cloud.”

This is the consensus across the tech industry, with the big guns, including Apple, all vying to become king of the cloud.

The cloud’s ability to also store enormous amounts of data should send restaurants scrambling to secure a provider. These services are being introduced at a time when operators are collecting data on customers at an accelerating pace.

“With advances in point-of-sale equipment and the amount of information that’s captured, you have to have a centralized repository … to consolidate, assimilate, and analyze all that information,” says Jason McEachern, vice president of technology at Wingstop.

Based in Richardson, Texas, Wingstop is in the middle of a three-year project to build its own cloud. McEachern says the 600-store chain is not worried about the security of managed cloud-services like IBM’s SmartCloud—“I haven’t seen a lot of breaches,” he says—but it is building its own cloud because of concerns about access to data.

“Software as a service is a great model because you’re locked in,” McEachern says. “Once you stop paying, you don’t have access. So that’s where I get concerned, when people say, ‘Let’s shift everything to the cloud.’

“If you do it internally, you don’t have the ongoing cost and you have a lot more control of your environment,” he says.

Jonathan Marek is senior vice president at Applied Predictive Technologies, which offers software that helps companies more accurately strategize for the future. He says that whether quick serves build their own cloud or subscribe to a third party, harnessing the technology for data collection can help them grow—so long as they don’t stray too far from their roots.

“All this big data, all of these analytics, it still doesn’t tell you how to make something that people really crave,” he says. “You still need the creativity in the kitchen to develop food that people really want to eat.”

Ritchie Bros’ roadmap for lessors
Written by Brian Rogerson

(Reprinted from Asset Financial with permission)

Last month (April) Ritchie Bros held an inaugural auction at its new Donington Park, UK site. The event attracted over 630 online and on-site bidders from a range of 50 countries – and effectively disposed of some 675 heavy plant equipment and commercial vehicles.

This auction, like so many similar events over recent months, has confirmed Ritchie Bros’ pole position as the world’s largest industrial auctioneer – operating from over 110 locations in 25 countries and 44 global auction sites.

Guylain Turgeon, Ritchie Bros’ managing director EMEA explained: “Our first auction at Donington Park demonstrated the UK market’s need for a high-end auction service that turns buying and selling plant equipment into an easy and efficient process. This first sale has been a big step forward for Ritchie Bros and we’re eager to keep moving.”

Ritchie Bros’ growth has been little short of phenomenal, demonstrating, as it does, the need for a complete re-think in the way end-of-lease used equipment returns to the market.

Unreserved

Beginning as a small family-run business in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada in 1958, Ritchie Bros started as a furniture auctioneer but soon progressed to conduct its first unreserved industrial auction in 1963, selling US$600,000 worth of equipment. It opened its first office outside Canada in 1969, and conducted its first US auction in 1970.

The late 1980s saw the company expand in Europe in 1987, Australia (1990), Asia (1994) Mexico (1995) the Middle East (1997) and Africa in 2003. The company went public in 1998 and, within a decade of doing so, registered annual gross auction proceeds exceeding US$3bn for the first time.

Nor has Ritchie Bros suffered disproportionately from the recession. 2011 was a successful year for the company in the face of an undoubtedly challenging used equipment supply environment. Peter Blake, Ritchie Bros’ CEO explained that 2011 was notable for achieving “the highest gross auction proceeds and auction revenues in the company’s history – and the successful launch of new services. He added: “Also by the ongoing tight supply of good quality late model used equipment, which resulted in a strong pricing environment and intense competition for this equipment. Our consignors reacted to this competition by increasing their preference for guarantee and purchase deals, contributing to an increase in our risk business to 36% of gross auction proceeds for 2011.”

Founding principles

So, when the traditional route for end-of-lease equipment has relied on a small number of increasingly consolidating re-marketing specialists, what is Ritchie Bros’ success attributable to?

Turgeon told Asset Finance International: “Our success relies upon the company’s founding principles. These are to treat customers fairly and maintain the highest standards of business ethics. In addition, every Ritchie Bros auction is completely unreserved – which means that there are no minimum bids and no reserve prices. Every item is sold to the highest bidder on auction day.”

At the same time bid-ins and buy backs are not allowed which means that only legitimate bidders are able to raise the bid price.

Although unreserved auctioning means that sellers sometimes take time to be convinced, the figures speak for themselves. At an auction held in February 2012 at its Orlando, Florida, US site (generating gross auction proceeds of US$203m) some US$47m worth of equipment was sold to online bidders. In the same month over 10,000 heavy equipment items and trucks were sold over six days at the same site. These items were all included in one multi-day auction in Orlando.

The highest bid placed on a piece of equipment at a Ritchie Bros auction was US$3.7m in 2006 for a Liebherr LR 1800, 800-ton crawler crane at an auction in California.

Even a mega-yacht

Although Turgeon stressed that most items auctioned fall within the Construction, Transportation or Agriculture sectors, in March 2010 the company experienced its highest bid – US$46m – for a 220-ft megayacht Apoise at an auction in Grand Cayman.

Turgeon is an industry-bred man. He grew up in a family that sold and rented construction equipment in Quebec, Canada. He recalls accompanying his father on plant and machinery inspections and developed a “feel” for equipment at a very early age. After graduating from college he joined Ritchie Bros in 1989 as a territory manager in Quebec

In 1994 he moved to Europe to assist with the company’s European expansion serving as the first Ritchie Bros territory manager in France – later promoted to regional manager in France. He went on to become divisional manager Europe in 1998 and vice president Europe in 2001. In 2005 Turgeon joined the executive council when he was promoted to senior vice president and managing director EMEA – his current position.

Residuals holding well

Heavy equipment residual values, he stressed, have held up quite well during the recession. “Mainly this is due to less assets coming to market during this period as buyers have preferred opting for smaller pieces of equipment. However, although supply has shrunk there is not much sign of demand picking up to pre-recession levels at present.

Turgeon’s message for leasing companies is clear. If lessors act together with Ritchie Bros on an “upstream” basis (prior to lease completions) then a full consultative process can commence which can maximize the re-marketing return of each asset. Full consultation on refurbishment options can also add value for lessors.

Looking ahead within his territory, Turgeon sees expansion opportunities in the Middle East (in addition to the current auction in Dubai) and “additional commercial expansion in Africa”.

Investment in technology has enabled the rapid expansion of Ritchie Bros’ global online bidding capability. “Although most people prefer to bid in person and will travel to the sites,” he said, “a growing number use Ritchie Bros’ simple and convenient online bidding service to bid in real time at auctions worldwide. In 2011 50% of bidders at the company’s industrial auctions bid over the internet – and purchased over US$1.1bn of equipment.”

With post-recessionary growth on the horizon, Ritchie Bros is very well placed to assist the leasing industry as it strives for previous growth levels.

To subscribe to AssetFinancial International:
http://www.assetfinanceinternational.com/register-now/registers

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Arvest Bank gets J.D. Power Award

Arvest Bank, Fort Smith, Arkansas, active in leasing with four Certified Lease Professionals among the staff headed by Kyle Gilliam, CLP, has won the J.D. Power and Association 2012 Retail Banking Satisfaction Study

This is the fourth year that Arvest has been recognized with a regional award. Arvest has been ranked highest in satisfaction with retail banking in the Southwest (2010, 2011, 2012), Southeast (2009) and South Central (2010, 2012) regions. The 2012 study was conducted with more than 51,000 banking consumers throughout eleven regions across the United States.

“We listen to what customers want and provide those things that matter most - convenient locations, long hours, innovative products, online services and local community support,” said Kevin Sabin, president and COO of Arvest. “These attributes combined with a friendly and customer-focused philosophy create the kind of banking experience that customers appreciate.”

“To receive a regional award for the fourth year is a tremendous honor for our bank and our associates,” he added. “This consistency in performance is a demonstration of the hard work and dedication of our associates to provide excellent service. We are truly thankful to our customers for this recognition and for trusting us to help them with their financial needs.”

The study, now in its seventh year, finds that overall retail banking customer satisfaction has improved by one index point in 2012 to an average of 753 (on a 1,000-point scale) from 2011. Customer satisfaction with the retail banking experience is measured in six factors: account activities; account information; facility; fees; problem resolution; and product offerings.

Satisfaction with fees has declined to 609, down significantly from 625 in 2011 and from 656 in 2010. Monthly maintenance fees have the most significant negative impact on fees satisfaction this year--more so than in the 2011 and 2010 studies--while fees assessed for ATMs and debit cards have less negative impacts on fees satisfaction.

"The negative reaction to fees reflects customers' irritation about paying for something they didn't have to pay for in the past," said Michael Beird, director of banking services at J.D. Power and Associates. "It also reflects a lack of their complete understanding about what they're getting for those fees. Customers understand why they're being charged for ATM and debit card use, but are not clear on what they're getting for monthly maintenance fees, which drives the bigger drop in satisfaction with those fees."

The study measures satisfaction among banks in 11 regions. Study results by region are:

English Black Lab
Fort Smith, Arkansas-- Adopt-a-Dog

Ellie
ID#: 12753215
Age: Young
Size: Medium (26-60 lbs)
Sex: Female

"I am already spayed and up to date with shots.

Contact This Shelter...
Shelter: Sebastian County Humane Society
Pet ID #: 12753215
Phone:(479) 783-4395
Let 'em know you saw "Ellie" on Adopt-a-Pet.com!
E-mail: bekahsells-schs@att.net
Fax: (479) 782-5441

Website: http://www.sebastiancountyhumanesociety.org
Address: 3800 Kelley Highway
Fort Smith, AR

Adopt-a-Pet by Leasing Co. State/City
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Adopt_Pet.htm

Adopt a Pet
http://www.adoptapet.com/ 

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Back Office Companies

(a) Barrett offers proactive lease management/administration of commercial/consumer vehicles and lease/finance portfolios, covering insurance, titles, registrations, sales/property taxes, tickets, collections, repossessions, vehicle transportation and dispositions. Since 1975. 

(b) Group 88 is a business partner of McCue Systems Inc, maker of LeasePak. With over 20 years supporting major firms in the leasing industry, Group 88 provides data conversions, system implementations, custom software development and outsourced system support. 

(c) JDR Solutions, LLC., based in Indianapolis, Indiana provides back office lease/loan administration services and hosting of related accounting and portfolio management software.

Under a preferred partnership arrangement with International Decision Systems (IDS), JDR Solutions offers its "Managed Service" solutions utilizing the robust capabilities od Infolease and related software applications. JDR will soon offer IDS's next generation software, Profinia, in a hosted environment.

For more information about JDR Solutions, visit www.jdrsol.com or call.

(d) We also offer specialized programs for banks which want to start their own leasing operations and for vendors who want to find financing or act as lessor for their customers. We also act as a broker for end users looking for commercial equipment financing.

Sincerely,
Sharon Litwin
Vice President
Phoenix Leasing Portfolio Services, Inc.
2401 Kerner Boulevard
San Rafael, CA. 94901
(800) 227-2626 ext. 4637
slitwin@phxa.com

(e) ECS Financial Services, Inc. is one of only a few CPA firms in the United States that specializes in providing portfolio management, accounting, tax and management advisory services to the equipment leasing industry.  ECS Financial provides lease management services including accounts receivable billing and collections, preparation of monthly lease income and residual schedules, book and tax depreciation tracking, as well as guidance and a variety of useful management reports to assist management in making sound financial decisions.  ECS Financial offers accounting and financial statement compilation, review and audit services, as well as multiple state sales tax preparation, federal and state income tax return preparation, and personal property tax preparation and tracking.  Our lease management team of accountants and tax specialists are experienced in providing quality professional service in the management of lease portfolios, and their efforts are enhanced by the state of the art, industry-specific software we utilize.

ECS Financial serves clients throughout the United States .

The name has changed, but the quality service remains the same!
_______________________
Nancy A. Geary, CPA, CLP
Partner
ECS Financial Services, Inc.
Certified Public Accountants and Portfolio Management Services
ngeary@ecsfinancial.com
847-291-1333 phone
847-291-1190 fax
www.ecsfinancial.com

(f) PFSC is the largest independent commercial lease and loan-servicing company is the U.S. and is headquartered in Portland , Oregon .  PFSC provides primary/master servicing, backup/successor servicing, and consulting for lease and loan portfolios.  It currently manages over $14.0 billion in assets.  More information can be found at www.pfsc.com.

(g) Advanced Property Tax Compliance provides "best in class" personal property tax compliance services at cost effective fees. Our staff has over 70 years of experience working with leased assets. We do complete compliance process and can tailor our service to each Lessor's unique needs. The billing files we create interface with all lease management and accounting software. We offer our clients full disclosure, more accessibility to information, and greater on-line functionality than any other service firm in the industry. Each client has a secure FTP site where they have access to everything we do for them in the compliance of personal property taxes. Our Web Portal allows our client’s customer service departments to get up-to-the-minute tax data for buyouts, terminations, or tax bill copies and detail tax reports to support collections.

Major Clients include; LaSalle System Leasing, Evans National Leasing, Wells Fargo Capital Finance, California First Leasing, Dakota Financial, Merrimak Capital, Pawnee Leasing, Highland Capital, Telerent Leasing, Main Street National Bank, Presidio Technology Capital, Matsco Financial Services, Siemens Diagnostics Finance, Altec Capital, Alabama Banker's Bank, Vision Financial, VenCore Solutions, and Volvo Financial Services.

For more information about Advanced Property Tax Compliance, visit www.avptc.com or call:

Gary A. DiLillo
President
Advanced Property Tax Compliance
5755 Granger Road, Suite 600
Independence, OH 44131
gary@avptc.com
Phone: (216) 658-5618
Fax: (216) 661-5594
Cell: (440) 724-0701

(i) Haws Consulting Group - "We have been in business since 1982 and provide property tax consulting and outsourcing services to a variety of different types of companies. We have a strong leasing background and have provided property tax management services to leasing companies for over 20 years." For more information please see our Brochure andCase Study.

(j) Broker Resource Solutions (BRS) offers document processing support services to the equipment lease broker community. Our clients are able to focus on their core business - selling and building their client list - while we handle all of the tedious details associated with putting together a perfect funding package.

Broker's who work with us have on-demand access to a highly experienced, qualified staff on an "as-needed" basis. Since we are happy to work either on a single transaction or under contract, our clients are freed from the high overhead associated with finding, hiring and training processing employees.

We work on our client’s behalf to coordinate with the lessee, vendor, insurance agent(s), funding source and any other parties necessary in order to develop and submit funding packages that are complete and fund quickly. Our extensive experience on the funding side of the business allows us to identify and resolve potential issues that can delay funding and result in lost deals. We invite you to explore our website at www.brsworks.com and contact us if you have any questions or would like more information on how to get started.

Vickie Rocco
Chief Executive Office
Broker Resource Solutions, LLC
Email: Vickie@brsworks.com
(913) 314-9038

(k) Madison Capital was created in 1997 as a result of the merger of two companies: Harbor Equipment Leasing which began in 1983, and Fox-Valley Vehicle Leasing which began in 1974. Madison Capital has over 60 years of combined experience in commercial vehicle and equipment financing. Madison is a direct funding source for most types of equipment and commercial vehicles. In addition, Madison offers loan portfolio servicing capabilities, concentrating on firms looking to outsource their billing and collection functions. For more information on Madison Capital please visitwww.madisoncapital.com

Madison Capital’s portfolio services include any or all of the following: 

Billing and Collections 
Insurance Tracking 
Tax Filings for loan/lease transactions serviced 
Customer Service and Support 
Credit Underwriting 
Vehicle Fleet Administration and Titling Services 

In today’s challenging business climate there are multiple benefits of outsourcing an equipment, vehicle, or receivable program. Some benefits include customer retention, revenue enhancement, and operating efficiencies. Madison Capital’s extensive lease/loan management expertise can create an effective portfolio management plan that improves your bottom line and allows you to focus on your core competency.

(l)GreatAmerica Portfolio 
Services Group LLC

We are a lease and loan outsourcing service provider specializing in backup, third party and successor servicing.  Our entrepreneurial approach to business has created a culture that puts high value on finding solutions that help our customers achieve greater success. We provide an exceptional operational platform that allows our Partners to outsource their servicing needs without relinquishing control of their customer.  An ideal Partner is a business that has identified a need for servicing and wants to reduce costs and operational barriers so they can concentrate on core strengths. Our experience, industry knowledge, capabilities, and “Helping You Get There” approach delivers value to our Partners and their customers.

Joe Andries
Vice-President & General Manager
GreatAmerica Portfolio Services Group 
Tel. 877-762-3808 or 507-929-5117 Fax 877-762-3809
jandries@greatamerica.com
http://www.greatamerica.com

(m) EquipmentEngine Financial Services Company

EquipmentEngine via its Lender Solutions Practice, is a Portfolio Services company founded in early 2010 to simplify the business of managing a nationwide commercial repossession and recovery effort. Since that time, EquipmentEngine has expanded its service offering to include Payment Processing, Billing, Collection, Accounting, Tax, Creditor Offensive Litigation Management, Equipment Appraisals, Inspections, Voluntary and Involuntary Repossession, Storage, and Remarketing.

EquipmentEngine leverages Six Sigma processes, 21st century technology, and over 200 storage facilities across the country to deliver cost effective and consistent equipment management services for our clients. EquipmentEngine is headquartered in Portsmouth, NH.

News Briefs----

Leaseurope Celebrates 40 Years of Service and Leadership
http://www.worldleasingnews.com/news/leaseurope-celebrates-40-years-of-service-and-leadership/

How Apple Sidesteps Billions in Taxes
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/business/apples-tax-strategy-aims-at-low-tax-states-and-nations.html?_r=1&ref=business

Abbott Labs pleads guilty, will pay $1.6B over drug claims
http://www.suntimes.com/business/12376591-420/abbott-labs-pleads-guilty-will-pay-16b-over-drug-claims.html

Dustin Hoffman 'saves London jogger' in cardiac arrest
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/dustin-hoffman-saves-london-jogger-in-cardiac-arrest

Jermaine Paul wins "the Voice" contest
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/story/2012-05-08/the-voice-winner/54846358/1

'Dancing With the Stars' sends two celebs packing
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2012/05/dancing-with-the-stars-sends-two-celebs-packing-/1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yt43bEkiXE&feature=player_embedded

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You May Have Missed---

When He Dined, the Stars Came Out
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/dining/craig-claiborne-set-the-standard-for-restaurant-reviews.html?ref=dining

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SparkPeople--Live Healthier and Longer

Use Shorter Workouts to Build Consistency
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=645

[headlines]
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Sports Briefs----

Hawks defeat Celtics to avoid playoff elimination
http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/hawks-defeat-celtics-to-1433981.html

Josh Hamilton hits four home runs against Orioles, becomes 16th player in history to reach record
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/josh-hamilton-hits-four-home-runs-against-orioles-022651734.html

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Baseball Poem

Hot Stove

by Two Finger Carney

Before television
People talked
And when the snows came
People talked near the hot stove

Smell the bread baking
And wonder if the Babe
Really did call that homer

Pull off your wet boots
Prop up your feet so your soles
Are toasting
And wonder how Cobb would do

Against Carl Hubbell
Or how your favorite team
Of the past
Might fare next spring

If they could be resurrected
Or coaxed out of that Iowa cornfield
Sip some hot cocoa with marshmallows
Invite the kids to join in

Was it better when the gloves were small
Or is that just nostalgia?
For your own youth?
Could Canseco have started

For the '27 Yankees
And should games in which
The first hit is yielded in the 10th
Count as a no-hitter?

Steer clear of religion and politics
And players' salaries
And the afternoon can go on
Until sundown

Was the best-pitched game
The double no-no by Vaughn and Toney
Or Walsh's 1-0 loss to Joss' perfecto / Or the iron man duel
between Burdette and Haddix?
And how come no one hits .400 any more?

The stoves are in junk yards or museums now, forever cool
But the questions live on
Talking baseball
Beats most things on TV
That is
When there's no game to watch

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California Nuts Briefs---

UC proposing to raise tuition again - 6% in fall
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/08/MN421OF6QV.DTL&tsp=1

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“Gimme that Wine”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJnQoi8DSE8 

Wine Spectator Unveils 2012 Edition of Napa Guide for iPad
http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/46755

New life for Healdsburg landmark
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120418/ARTICLES/204181028

Tracing the fruition of Oregon's wine industry
http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/05/tracing_the_fruition_of_oregon.html

Chef Charlie Trotter on why he's closing his restaurant
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/chef-charlie-trotter-why-hes-closing-his-restaurant

Free Mobile Wine Program
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2010/2_26.htm#mobile

Wine Prices by vintage
http://www.winezap.com
http://www.wine-searcher.com/

US/International Wine Events
http://www.localwineevents.com/

Winery Atlas
http://www.carterhouse.com/atlas/\

Leasing News Wine & Spirits Page
http://two.leasingnews.org/Recommendations/wnensprts.htm

    1607- The first Episcopal Church service in an English colony took place at Cape Henry, near Jamestown, Virginia, when the Reverend Robert Hunt celebrated the Eucharist. The event was reported as follows: “ We did hang an awning ( whish is an old saile) to three or four trees, to shadow us form the sunne, our walles were railes of wood, our seats unhewed trees till we cut plankes; our Pulpit a bar of wood nailed to two neighboring trees.”
    1754 - The first American newspaper political cartoon was published. The illustration in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette showed a snake cut into sections, each part representing an American colony; the caption read, "Join or die." 
    1773-An American creation, the first newspaper cartoon was “Join or Die,” designed by Benjamin Franklin and published in Philadelphia, PA, in his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. It was printed in the first column of the second page. It depicted a snake cut into segments representing South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and New England.http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may09.html
    1783-The Purple Heart, the first honor badge for enlisted men and noncommissioned officers, was awarded to Sergeants Daniel Bissell, William Brown, and Elijah Churchill of Connecticut regiments, for meritorious action in the Revolutionary War. They were entitled “to wear on facings over the left breast, the figure of a heart in purple cloth or silk, with narrow lace or binding.”
http://www.americal.org/awards/ph.htm 
http://www.purpleheart.org/
    1784 - A deadly hailstorm in South Carolina hit the town of Winnsborough. The hailstones, measuring as much as nine inches in circumference, killed several persons, and a great number of sheep, lambs and birds.
    1796-William Blount and William Cocke of Tennessee, elected by the Tennessee legislature, present their credentials to the US Senate. They were refused seats because Tennessee was not admitted until June 1, 1796. They were elected again on August 2, 1796, and took their seats on December 6, 1796. Blount was impeached for concocting a plain to aid the British, but the procedure did not pass the US Senate; however during the trial he was elected to the Tennessee Senate, and eventually and became Speaker of the Senate.
http://www.lexrex.com/bios/wblount.htm
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000570
Cocke assumed the role of US Senate in the next term until the legislature elected another person (in these days the state legislature elected US Senate representatives). He later moved to Mississippi, served under General Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812, and afterwards was appointed Indian Agent for the US. http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000572
    1800-birthday of John Brown, Abolitionist leader born at Torrington, CT, and hanged December 2, 1859, at Charles Town, WV. Leader of attack on Harpers Ferry, October 16, 1859, which was intended to give impetus to movement for escape and freedom for slaves. His aim was frustrated and in fact resulted in increased polarization and sectional animosity. The first civilian killed by John Brown's raiders at Harpers Ferry was a free Black man. History has made him the legendary martyr of the abolitionist movement; even Walt Whitman wrote a poem about Harpers Ferry. Unfortunately, the real facts are “He was a complete failure in business. He welched on his debts. He almost certainly was insane. And in 1856 he nearly plunged Kansas into civil war by ruthlessly murdering five helpless members of a mildly proslavery family, in the process “splitting open heads and chopping off arms and fingers.” Dixon Wecter, The Hero in American (1941)
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/jbrown/master.html 
http://www.johnbrown.org/
    1813-General William Henry Harrison turned back a siege of Fort Meigs by Shawnee military leader Tecumseh and British general Henry A. Proctor. Harrison was to become the ninth president of the United States, but for only a month, as he contacted pneumonia from a cold and died in office (the first president to die in office ).
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may09.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/wh9.html
    1830- Birthday of Lane Harriet, who acted as official hostess in the White House for her uncle-bachelor James Buchanan, 15th president of the United States, and became known as America’s first lady. It is rumored that Buchanan was the first “gay” president .She is known as the first modern first lady (using her position to advocate causes) including the arts and American Indian causes.
http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/buchanan_j.html
    1843-birthday of Belle Boyd, notorious Confederate spy who later became an actress and lecturer was born at Martinsburg, VA. Belle Boyd at 18 became a famed spy for the Confederacy during the Civil War, stealing weapons, secrets, and helping prisoners to escape. She was arrested several times, once deported to Canada. She authored a book about her exploits. Following the war she became an actor and lecturer, continuing in that profession until her death in 1900. She married three times, her last marriage to a man 15 years her junior. She once shot at a man who was calling on her daughter and refused to marry her. Author of the book, “ Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison,” she died June 11,1900 at Kilbourne ,WI.
http://www.civilwarhome.com/boydbio.htm
    1844(3)--Birthday of Belle Boyd at 18 became a famed spy for the Confederacy during the Civil War, stealing weapons, secrets, and helping prisoners to escape. She was arrested several times, once deported to Canada. She authored a book about her exploits. Following the war she became an actor and lecturer, continuing in that profession until her death in 1900. She married three times, her last marriage to a man 15 years her junior. he once shot at a man who was calling on her daughter and refused to marry her.
http://www.civilwarhome.com/boydbio.htm
http://www.civilwarhome.com/belleboyd.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/southernrebels/belle.html 
    1846-- Word reaches Washington that an American patrol had been ambushed by Mexican forces north of the Rio Grande. This leads four days later to the US Congress granting President James K. Polk’s request for a declaration of war. The Mexican-American War began with a dispute over the US government’s 1845 annexation of Texas, which had won independence from Mexico in 1836. Mexico believed that France and Britain would support it in a war against the US. In January of 1846, President James K. Polk, a strong advocate of westward expansion, ordered General Zachary Taylor to occupy disputed territory between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers. On 12 May 1846, Mexican troops attacked the forces of General Taylor, who went on to win the Battle of Palo Alto On 13 May 1846, Congress, yet unaware of that battle, approved a declaration of war, appropriating ten million dollars for the war effort and authorizing the president to call for 50'000 volunteers. On 02 February 1848, representatives from the US and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, formally ending the Mexican War, recognizing Texas as part of the United States, and extending the boundaries of the United States west to the Pacific Ocean.
    1862-Confederate forces at Norfolk, VA, evacuated the city in costly move, leaving valuable material for the Union army. Norfolk and Portsmouth were occupied on May 10, and the naval yard at Gosport, VA, was burned, in reality ended the Confederates ability to build metal ships and make major repairs to their navy.
http://www.civilwarhome.com/merrimacbirth.htm
http://www.civilwarhistory.com/navy/CSSNavy.htm
    1862-At Hilton Head, SC, General David Hunter, commander of the Department of the South, issued orders freeing slaves in South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. Not having congressional or presidential approval, the orders were countermanded by President Lincoln on May 19th, ordering Hunter to retract his proclamation as he still feared that this action would force slave-owners in Border States to join the Confederates. President Jefferson Davis and the he leaders of the Confederate Army were furious when they heard of Hunter's actions and orders were given that he was a "felon to be executed if captured” President Lincoln explained to the New York Tribune, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it."
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWhunter.htm
    1864 -- Union General John Sedgwick is shot and killed by a Confederate sharpshooter during fighting at Spotsylvania. His last words are: "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist--" 
http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/OfficersAndEnlistedMen/johnsedgwick.html
http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:General%20John%20Sedgwick:3003730638:isbn=
0891410309:page=compare?used=1
    1868-First known as Fullers Crossing, then Lakes Crossing, the name was officially changed to Reno (Nevada). It was named after General Jesse Reno, a Union officer of the Civil War. When the Comstock load was discovered in Virginia City, the nearest large city was Reno, thus it became popular and is still known today as “The Biggest Little City in the World.” Its six-week residency requirement for divorce became law on May 1, 1931, making it a popular city. At the time, it was the major “gambling city” in the United States, and prostitution was legal in several surrounding counties. It was the Las Vegas of its day, today primarily visited by people living in Northern California, although visited by tourists from around the world for not only gambling activity, but the surrounding “ghost towns” and surrounding old West towns such as Carson City, its capital, Virginia City, and other cities in the California gold country.’ 
http://www.cityofreno.com/.
    1894 - Portland, Oregon had its latest freeze when the temperature fell to 32 degrees. This is the only may freeze in Portland's history.
    1899-African American John A. Burr patents the rotary-blade lawn mower.
    1909- Alice Koller Leopold birthday. She wrote Connecticut's equal pay and minimum wage bills in 1949, her freshman year in the Connecticut Assembly. The next year she was elected the Connecticut's secretary of state. She then served as Director of the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1953- 61, and was the Assistant to the Secretary of Labor to aid and develop programs for women. She was a strong advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment. The mother of two, she had created her own toy company before entering public life.
    1910-pianist Bob Zurke born Detroit, MI, died February 16, 1944
http://www.parabrisas.com/d_zurkeb.html
    1914-President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation asking Americans to give a public expression of reverence to mothers through the celebration of Mother's Day. Carnations have come to represent the day following President William McKinley’s habit of always wearing a white carnation, his mother's favorite flower. This year, families in the United States and Canada will celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday, May 14, 2000.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may09.html
(The first Mother’s Day was observed in 1907 at the request of Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, PA, who asked her church to hold service in memory of all mothers on the anniversary of her mother’s death. The newspapers of the day reported this event and it continued the next year at other churches, now annually, the second Sunday in May. 
    1914- Hank Snow, one of the fathers of country music in Canada, was born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. He was heavily influenced by singer and yodeler Jimmie Rodgers, and began to perform in his style in the early 1930's. Snow made his radio debut about 1933 on CHNS in Halifax, and three years later made his first recording for Victor, the company with which he remained for four decades. He settled permanently in Nashville, Tennessee about 1950, and became a US citizen in 1958.Snow became a regular on the Grand Ole Opry in 1950, the same year he recorded "I'm Movin' On," which became one of the most successful singles of the first 50 years of recorded country music. His other hits include "Golden Rocket" and "I've Been Everywhere." Hank Snow was indicted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1976 and into the Juno Awards Hall of Fame in 1979. 
On this date in 1994, on his 80th birthday, Hank Snow received an honorary degree from St. Mary's University in Halifax. The presentation was made in Nashville, and he spoke to the graduates via videotape.
http://www.hanksnow.com/
    1916 - President Woodrow Wilson mobilizes the National Guard of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to patrol their borders with Mexico as Brigadier General John J. Pershing led an Army expedition into northern Mexico to try to capture or kill the bandit leader Pancho Villa and his group. In March, Villa and his men raided the town of Columbus, NM, killing a number of soldiers and civilians before slipping back across the border. Soon these Guardsmen would be joined by Guard units coming from all the states to a total 158,000 men. While their main mission was to secure the border the Army used this partial mobilization to train the Guard in large unit formations almost impossible to conduct in normal peacetime exercises for just a few days. This training paid great dividends when America committed its Guardsmen to combat in France after our entry in World War I.
    1918---TV Journalist Mike Wallace born Brookline, MA.
    1927 - A major tornado outbreak occurred from Texas to Michigan. There were 28 tornadoes rated f2 or greater. 9 separate tornadoes killed 5 or more people making this day one of the worst tornado days in U.S. History. Popular Bluff, Missouri was devastated by a tornado rated f4 on the fujita scale. 98 people were killed and 300 were injured. 31 business and residential blocks were destroyed in the city. Strong, Arkansas was leveled by another f4 tornado with 24 people killed.
    1928-birthday of Pancho Gonzales. Richard Alonzo “Pancho” Gonzales, tennis player born at Los Angeles, CA. A self-taught player, Gonzales won the 1948 US National Singles Championship and repeate4d in 1949. He turned pro and won the world’s championship from 1954 through 1962. Gonzales was an aggressive, temperamental player who rarely trained. Died at Las Vegas, NV, July 3, 1995. 
    1933 - A tornado, rated F4 on the Fujita Scale, moved through Monroe, Cumberland, and Russell Counties in Kentucky. 36 people were killed.
    1934-The nationwide labor upsurge of 1934 reached its peak in San Francisco on May 9, 1934, when leaders of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) called a strike of all West Coast dockworkers, demanding a wage scale, a “closed shop” (union membership as a requirement of employment), and union-administered hiring halls. A few days later seamen and teamsters joined the strike, effectively stopping all shipping from San Diego to Seattle. The Big Strike: A Journalist Describes the 1934 San Francisco Strike by Mike Quinn
    1939 –birthday of Ralph Boston (National Track & Field Hall of Famer, Olympic Hall of Famer: gold medalist: long jump [1960], silver [1964], bronze [1968]; broke world long jump record 5 times, the last at 27 feet, 5 inches [1965]) 
http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/bostonra.shtml
    1939 – Glenn Miller records "Stairway to the Stars" with Ray Eberle, one of the most popular singers in the 1940’s.. 
    1941-Billie Holiday records “ God Bless the Child” (Okey 6270)
    1942—Attorney General John Ashcroft born Chicago, Illinois.
    1944- Jimmie Davis, who was a successful country singer as early as the 1930's, became governor of Louisiana. Davis, the composer of the country standard "You Are My Sunshine," later resumed his music career.
http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/fame/davis.html
http://www.pbs.org/riverofsong/artists/e4-jimmie.html
http://www.etrecordshop.com/jdtribut.htm
    1945- Steve Katz birthday: vocalist, guitarist and harmonica player with such bands as the Blues Project, Blood, Sweat and Tears and American Flyer.
http://www.altx.com/katz/katzbio.html
http://www.rdrop.com/users/rickert/steve-solo.html
    1946---Birthday of Candice Bergen - U.S. actor and photographer.A whole generation, however, knows her as Murphy Brown. She was the daughter of famous actor and ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, who also was very popular on the radio as well as in movies. At 34 she married French filmmaker Louis Malle who died in 1995. They had one daughter Chloe (b. 1985). In 2000 she remarried.
    1949-Singer/pianist/composer Billy Joel was born in Long Island, New York. His hit single "Just the Way You Are," won two Grammy Awards in 1979, and has since become a standard. The album from which the song was taken, "The Stranger," is reported to have sold more than five-million copies. Joel's other hit singles include "My Life," "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", “ We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “Piano Man,” and "Uptown Girl."
http://www.billyjoel.com/
http://www.billyjoelmusic.com/
http://billyjoel.8k.com/
    1953—Top Hits
Pretend - Nat King Cole
Song from Moulin Rouge - The Percy Faith Orchestra
I Believe - Frankie Laine
Mexican Joe - Jim Reeves
    1954-Chet Baker Quartet first concert, Ann Arbor, MI. 
(Saw him play many times. He always sounded “flat,” but then I dated a girl he used to date, and enough said.)
http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/shop/shopmain.cfm?CatalogName=bakerchet
http://www.chetbaker.net/
    1958--Still angry that his employers refuse to back him in his defense of recent charges of inciting a riot at a Boston show, DJ Alan Freed quits New York radio station WINS, claiming they refused to "stand by my policies and principles." The same day, Freed debuts his new package tour in Hershey, PA, starring Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Danny and the Juniors, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Larry Williams, and the Chantels. 
    1959- 16-year-old Wayne Newton made his Las Vegas debut at the Freemont Hotel. That first booking, scheduled to last two weeks, stretched into three years. Newton went on to become king of the Vegas showrooms, earning close to $20- million a year. He has been seen live by over 12 million people, more than have seen either Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley in concert.
    1960-The U.S. Food and Drug Control approved the “birth control pill.” It was developed over a five year period by Gregory Pincus, a biochemist at Worchester Foundation for Experimental Biology, Shrewsbury, MA, and John Rock, a gynecologist at Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA> It used synthetic progesterone and estrogen to repress ovulation in women. The first clinical tests were performed in 1954. The project was initially commissioned and funded by birth-control pioneer Margaret Sanger and heiress Katherine Dexter McCormick.
    1961—Top Hits
Runaway - Del Shannon
Mother-In-Law - Ernie K-Doe
A Hundred Pounds of Clay - Gene McDaniels
Hello Walls - Faron Young
    1961-Perhaps still germane today, Speaking before the bigwigs of network TV at the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters, Newton Minow, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, exhorted those executives to sit through an entire day of their own programming. He suggested that they “will observe a vast wasteland.” Further, he urged them to try for “imagination in programming, not sterility; creativity, not imitation; experimentation, not conformity; excellence, not mediocrity.”
    1961-First baseman Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles became the fourth player to hit grand slams in consecutive innings. Genitle hit his homers in the first and second innings of a game against the Minnesota Twins and added a sacrifice fly as the Orioles won, 13-5.
    1964 – Great jazz trumpet player, and now singer, found his recording of "Hello Dolly!" on the "Billboard" music chart in the top spot for the first time in his 41-year music career. Later, ‘Satchmo’ was cast in the movie version of "Hello Dolly!”. When the song hit Number One, it pushed out the Beatles “She Loves You.” He had another top pop tune also sung by Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, but he is best remembered for “ Mack the Knife.”
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/riff/11/frame/h2.html
In the many old recordings, when Louis Armstrong played, you could always pick him out. He was the most influential jazz man of the 20th Century.
http://www.redhotjazz.com/louie.html 
http://www.louis-armstrong.com/
http://www.satchmo.com/louisarmstrong/props4pops.html
    1968-- In front of only 6,298 Oakland fans, Jim Catfish Hunter hurls the first American League perfect game in forty-six years as the A's defeat the usually heavy hitting Twins, 4-0.
    1969—Top Hits
Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In - The 5th Dimension
Hair - The Cowsills
Hawaii Five-O - The Ventures
Hungry Eyes - Merle Haggard
    1965 - Vladimir Horowitz played his first public concert in 12 years at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The audience applauded the piano virtuoso with a standing ovation that lasted for 30 minutes.
    1970-Blues Images "Ride Captain Ride" is released.
    1970-The Guess Who hit the top spot on Billboard's Hot 100 with "American Woman". The song was born by accident when guitarist Randy Bachman was playing a heavy riff on stage after he had broken a string and the band had taken a break. The other members joined in on the jam and Burton Cummings started singing the first thing that came into his head. A fan in the audience had it all on tape and presented it to the group after the show. It was quickly developed into a full song in the studio and ended up spending 3 weeks at the top of the US singles chart. 
    1974--Congress begins impeachment hearings of President Richard M. Nixon. 
    1974--- Bruce Springsteen gives the most important performance of his career, opening for Bonnie Raitt at her Boston Arena show. Playing his full two-hour set at Raitt's insistence, Bruce delivers a show so impressive that Rolling Stone's Jon Landau later wrote in Boston's The Real Paper, "I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time." Landau would later become Springsteen's manager and producer. 
    1977—Top Hits
Hotel California - Eagles
When I Need You - Leo Sayer
Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
Play, Guitar Play - Conway Twitty
    1977---- Patty Hearst let out of jail.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/classics4/hearst/
    1981 - The Dallas/Fort Worth area experienced its worst hailstorm of record as baseball to grapefruit size hail, accompanied by 100 mph winds, caused nearly 200 million dollars damage. Hail accumulated eight inches deep at Cedar Hill TX
    1984-The Chicago White Sox defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6, on a Harold Baines home run in the 25th inning. The game, the first 17 innings of which were played the day before, was the longest extra-inning game by time, 8 hours, 6 minutes. The teams then played their regularly scheduled game of nine innings, making a total of 34 innings in two days.
    1985—Top Hits
We are the World - USA for Africa
Crazy for You - Madonna
Don’t You Forget About Me - Simple Minds
There’s No Way – Alabama
    1987-Switch-hitter Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles became the first play in major league history to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in consecutive games
    1987 - Twenty-eight cities in the northwestern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. The record high of 95 degrees at Redding CA was their fifth in a row, and the record high of 102 degrees at Hanover WA was just one degree shy of their record for May.
    1988 - Thunderstorms in the Mississippi Valley spawned a total of 57 tornadoes, including 24 in Wisconsin, and a record 22 tornadoes in one day in Iowa. There were also more than 200 reports of large hail and damaging winds. Baseball size hail was reported at Terre Bonne Mo. At Rockford IL one person was temporarily trapped inside a portable toilet toppled by thunderstorm winds gusting to 80 mph. Fortunately, not a single person was killed in the "Mother's Day" tornado outbreak. (The National Weather Summary
    1989 - Twenty-one cities in the eastern U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date. Lows of 28 degrees at Asheville NC and 31 degrees at Greer SC were records for May.
    1992--Seventeen years after his first American chart entry, Bruce Springsteen makes his US TV debut when he appears on Saturday Night Live with host Tom Hanks.
    1992--- Final episode of "Golden Girls" airs on NBC-TV.
http://lifetimetv.com/shows/golden/
http://epguides.com/GoldenGirls/
http://www.beatricearthur.com/
    1994--Netscape changes the World Wide Web, opens it open for everyone to use easily. James Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics, Inc., announces he will start a new company called Mosaic Communications Corporation. (The company would later change its name to Netscape Communications.) Clark teamed up with Marc Andreessen and six other programmers to create Mosaic, one of the earliest Web browsers, at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois. When Netscape went public in December 1995, it broke records for the most successful opening day of stock trading in history. Unfortunately, the company later found itself in a fierce and expensive battle with Microsoft, which ultimately led to its sale to AOL in late 1998.
    1997-Peter Peterson presented his portfolio in Hanoi, becoming the first Ambassador to Vietnam after the end of the Vietnam War. Peterson, a former Air Force captain, had been held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for 6.5 years after his bomber was shot down near Hanoi in 1966. He was released in March, 1973. The United States had not maintained formal diplomatic relations with Vietnam since its previous ambassador, Graham Martin, left Saigon by helicopter in 1975 as the city fell to t North Vietnamese forces.
    1998 ----Cardinal Mark McGwire reaches the 400th career home run mark. Big Red's historic milestone comes in 4,727 at-bats (127 less at-bats than Babe Ruth) which is the least plate appearances ever needed to reach the mark.
    2005-- Carlos Beltran (.267, 38, 104) becomes the tenth $100 million player in major league history as the 27-year old native of Puerto Rico agrees to seven-year deal for $119 million with the Mets. The five-tool outfielder, who had his market value increase in the post season by helping the Astros come within a win of their first World Series appearance in franchise history, goes to New York after Houston refuses to include a no-trade clause in their very attractive monetary offer to keep him on the club.