December Denton Business Chronicle 2016

DENTON December 2016

Business

CHRONICLE

www.dentonbusinesschronicle.com

The Ins-N-Outs of 2016

Photos by Barron Ludlum

In-N-Out Burger is under construction at Rayzor Ranch Town Center.

Denton’s top business stories all about hello, goodbye

By Jenna Duncan | Staff Writer enton’s business scene continued to evolve in 2016 with notable closures and openings further diversifying the local economy and changing the business landscape.

Some major projects started in 2016, such as the Buc-ee’s travel center and WinCo distribution center, won’t be completed until 2017.

Others finally got on the ground, like Rayzor Ranch Town Center starting to host businesses on West University Drive after years of planning. Here’s a recap of some of the biggest business news of the past year.

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Saying farewell to longtime businesses

Owner Michael Zampino closed El Guapo’s on son Peter’s 16th birthday to spend more time with his family. He ran the business for 12 years.

El Guapo’s, Popo & Lupe Hair Styling Center and Davis Purity Bakery closed their doors for good in 2016, with Weldon’s Saddle Shop & Western Wear to follow next month.

Popo & Lupe’s closed in March, after 47 years in business. While Emilio “Popo” Gonzalez stopped cutting hair in 2003, Lupe saw her last clients March 25.

The business meant more than a haircut or style to the Hispanic community in Denton. Popo frequently helped translate Spanish to English

Firehouse Subs and Kung Fu Tea are moving in next to Great Clips, Sleep Number and Chipotle at Rayzor Ranch Town Center. for the city and jail, and brought the first Spanish Mass to Denton in their parking lot. Popo still ministers to inmates at the Denton County Jail, and both are still active at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church even though Popo has retired as a deacon.

They helped work with the city and community to set up a day labor site across the street from their salon and home, said Rudy Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Denton chapter of the League of United Latin Amer-

ican Citizens.

Day laborers looking for odd jobs — mostly Hispanic men — gather at the pavilion at the corner of Collins Street and Fort Worth Drive, waiting for employers to stop and pick them up.

Davis Purity Bakery closed its doors in late July, when longtime owner Don Davis decided to retire and shut down the 63-year-old business.

2016 | CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Trump’s signals mixed on infrastructure

By Joan Lowy | AP

By Jenna Duncan | Staff Writer The candy shops in Denton now reach beyond the of the Square and mall: Du Pop In Popcorn & Candy Co. is now open. The shop at 2430 S. Interstate 35E features candy and 60 flavors of homemade popcorn. It replaced O’Philly Cheesesteak

Heaven, which closed in the fall.

A new doggie day care facility is open in Highland Village: Dogtopia at 1830 Justin Road. Currently you can drop off your pup if you sign up for the founders package — two weeks of day care. Its grand opening DUNCAN | CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

WASHINGTON — It’s not at all clear that President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to spend massively on infrastructure are going to unfold as he promised.

Trump made rebuilding the nation’s aging roads, bridges and airports very much part of his job-creation strategy in the presidential race. But lately lobbyists have begun to fear that there won’t be an infrastructure proposal at all, or at least not the grand plan they’d been led to expect.

From the day he entered the presidential race to the moment he declared victory, Trump pledged an infrastructure renewal. He cited decaying bridges, potholed roads and airports like New York’s LaGuardia that he said reminded him of the third world.

Trump or his campaign also mentioned schools, hospitals, pipelines, water treatment plants and the electrical grid as part of a job-creation strategy

Seth Wenig/AP file photo

Construction on the new Tappan Zee Bridge rises above the current bridge, as seen Nov. 2 from Tarrytown, N.Y. that would make the U.S. “second to none.” It was a rare area in which House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats hoped for common ground with the president-elect. The

possibility of a major infrastructure spending plan is one of several factors that have fueled the recent run-up in TRUMP | CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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Enterprising Voices

Marketing in December can be tricky spirit of the season, so to speak.

Something simpler would be much more effective, something like: “50% off gifts for loved ones.” And then actually living up to that promise: making the sale not about selling product or consumerism but about giving a gift to someone you love. Working that into the store itself, the decorations, having your employees bring it up. Making it a thing.

How to promote your business without ruining the holidays arketing is a nuanced science, and never more so than during the holidays.

Black Friday is a recurring phenomenon for a reason: People love to shop and retailers need to finally start turning a profit for the year.

But I think it’s more than that. It’s the semi-official opening of the Christmas season here in the good ol’ USA. We aren’t just excited for great deals — we’re excited that the holidays are here.

And while we all sort of know this somewhere in the back of our brain, many of us still have a sort of visceral reaction to brands blatantly appropriating an event to sell us a product or a service. It doesn’t matter what kind of business it is or what the event is that they’re trying to use to make a sale — we just kind of don’t like it.

And it can go wrong — fast. Just look at the mattress store in San Antonio that based a sale on Sept. 11. You can watch the video, if you can stomach it. It’s beyond tasteless — it’s someone blatantly trying to profit off one of the greatest tragedies in our country’s history: https://youtu.be/2ZmM-2gj5Gc. That is an extreme example, but it holds a lesson: Businesses that try to use a yearly event or trending topic to promote themselves often fall flat on their face.

That mattress store shut down indefinitely, by the way.

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This lesson applies to the holidays, too Now, the holidays are not Sept. 11, but they’re still very much something we think of as sacred and untouchable —

Heather STEELE | COMMENTARY

Your business has values, you’re allowed to show ’em

a day and time that’s meant for family and friends, religious observance or spiritual reflection or even just a break from the constant influx of marketing we see every day.

We don’t like seeing them used to profit, and they can be incredibly controversial. Just ask Starbucks — their “holiday cups” sparked anger on social media last year, and this year it’s gotten worse.

And yet, as a business, the holidays are a once-in-a-year opportunity to get feet in the door, eyes on the website and sell more than you’ve sold all year. To finally get in the black.

People are looking for presents — for others and themselves. Many will soon have bonuses lining their pockets (or just savings accounts to blow), all in the spirit of the holiday season.

And a very vocal portion of this group is ready to be offended by just about any marketing you do during the season.

So, how do you get around it? How do you do what’s right for your business (making a profit) while still respecting the spirit of the holidays?

Just because the holiday season can be a difficult subject to tackle in the modern area doesn’t mean you should stay away from it completely.

On the contrary — it can be done, if done intelligently, and for many businesses it should be done.

You’re allowed to say, as a business, “We have a set of values and beliefs that inform what we do. During the holiday season, we celebrate those things, and we hope our customers do too.”

And if your customers don’t share that with you, perhaps they’re not the right fit for you.

No business can really afford to miss out on the holiday season, certainly not in retail, but really anywhere. It’s a time when people are spending money, and it’s right for a business to do its best to turn a profit for the year.

You just have to do it with taste and class, to uphold what you believe in while still respecting the beliefs of others.

And that, I think, is the spirit of the season.

Know your audience Co-opting Christmas probably isn’t the best way to go

Justin Tallis/Getty Images

Shoppers carry shopping bags along Oxford Street on Saturday in central London. about this, and though plenty of people will love the ad, you risk turning off some important customers.

If you know your audience, know your customer base and have a clear idea of their likes and dislikes, it may be appropriate to go over the top with the holiday theme.

If you have a strong Christian customer base and it aligns with the core values of your business, featuring

Biz on the Wire

Christmas prominently in a marketing or advertising campaign may be exactly the right move for your business.

For other businesses, keeping a generic “happy holidays” theme may be appropriate for their customer base. It all depends on your brand, your values and the people you serve and their values.

Be subtle In either case, subtlety is

key. An ad covered in Santa Clauses boldly declaring that “Santa shops here, and so do his reindeer! Come into our store to find some real Christmas cheer! Get the presents that make or break your holiday!” is very much using a tank where a feather would have been more effective.

It’s sloppy, but more importantly, it’s missing the point of this particular holiday — the

Calendar of Events APIs and IPAs, hosted by TechMill, meets every other Tuesday at Harvest House, 331 E. Hickory St., for a techcentered hangout.

Denton County Young Professionals host meetings every Wednesday, except for the first of the month, at Loco Cafe, 603 N. Locust St.

Tuesday, Jan. 3, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 17, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 31, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 11, 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 25, 7:15 a.m.

Argyle Planning and Zoning Commission meets the first Tuesday of the month at 308 Denton St.

Denton County Young Professionals hosts a mixer at a new business each month.

January’s mixer will be at Komodo Loco.

Tuesday, Jan. 3, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 5, 5:30 p.m.

Denton Black Chamber of Commerce meets the second Tuesday of the month at the Denton Housing Authority, 1225 Wilson St. Tuesday, Jan. 10, 6 p.m.

John Bazemore/AP file photo

Ram pickups sit on the lot at Landmark Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram on Jan. 5, 2015, in Morrow, Ga. The U.S. auto safety agency has opened an investigation into complaints that another 1 million Fiat Chrysler vehicles can roll away after being shifted into park.

Auto roundup: Smart fires reported

By The Associated Press DETROIT — U.S. safety regulators are reviewing eight complaints that the engine in the tiny Smart Fortwo can catch fire.

The investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers about 43,000 of the two-seat cars from the 2008 and 2009 model years.

The agency says in documents posted Tuesday that in six cases owners saw smoke, the check engine light, or heard an unusual noise before seeing flames. The other two fires weren’t observed until the cars were stopped. All eight owners told the agency that flames rapidly engulfed the cars. No injuries have been reported.

In one of the complaints, the Texas owner of a 2008 Fortwo told NHTSA that he heard a loud pop from the rear engine compartment while driving on the Dallas North Tollway on Oct. 12. The owner pulled over to check the

noise and saw flames coming from the engine.

“Had I not pulled off to the shoulder when I did, my story would not be coming directly from me but from my obituary,” the owner wrote. “MercedesBenz has been notified of this death trap, yet have not chosen to recall or check into the issue.”

Owners who complain to NHTSA are not identified in the agency’s database.

NHTSA says it will investigate the cause of the fires and how often they happen. A recall is possible although none has been issued.

Messages were left Tuesday with Mercedes-Benz, which makes the Smart Fortwo.

Feds probe Chrysler rollaway issue DETROIT — The U.S. auto safety agency has opened an investigation into complaints that another 1 million Fiat Chrysler vehicles can roll away after the owners shift transmissions into park, a problem similar to the one being blamed in the death of

HEATHER STEELE is the founder of Blue Steele Solutions. She can be reached at heather@bluesteelesolutions. com.

Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin.

The investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers Fiat Chrysler’s top-selling vehicle, the Ram 1500 pickup, from the 2013 to 2016 model years, as well as the 2014-16 Dodge Durango. The rollaway complaints are similar those that prompted the recall of 1.1 million Jeep Grand Cherokees and other vehicles this year, although those vehicles have different shifters.

Yelchin, 27, known for playing Chekov in the film series, died in June after his 2015 Grand Cherokee pinned him against a mailbox pillar and security fence at his home in Los Angeles. His Jeep was among the vehicles recalled in April because of complaints from drivers who had trouble telling if they put the consolemounted shift levers in park after stopping.

The government says Rams and Durangos have dial-like rotary knob shifters that are linked electronically to the transmission.

Denton Chamber of Commerce hosts its Smart Business 101 series regularly for members at the chamber office, 414 W. Parkway St. The event is free for members and $15 for nonmembers.

Tuesday, Jan. 24, 11:45 a.m.

Denton Chamber of Commerce hosts a monthly business networking lunch at Hilton Garden Inn Denton, 3110 Colorado Blvd. Admission is free, and lunch can be purchased from the venue for $13.

Friday, Jan. 13, 11:45 a.m.

Denton Hispanic Chamber of Commerce holds lead generator luncheons the second Tuesday of the month. It is held at Sidewalk Cafe, 2900 Wind River Lane, and admission is $5 for members and $10 for guests.

Tuesday, Jan. 10, 11:30 a.m.

The Denton League of United Latin American Citizens No. 4366 meets the third Saturday of the month at the Denton Senior Center, 509 N. Bell Ave. Saturday, Jan. 21, 9:30 a.m.

Electronics recycling takes place at The Cupboard Natural Foods and Cafe, 200 W. Congress St., the second Saturday of each month. Drop off computer-related electronics for recycling. Visit www.computercrusher.com for a list of acceptable items and more information.

Lake Cities Chamber of Commerce holds weekly coffee meetings at rotating businesses on Wednesdays.

Locations will be listed at www.lakecitieschamber.com/ chamber-events.

Wednesday, Jan. 4, 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 11, 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 7:15 a.m.

Little D Open Coffee Club, hosted by TechMill, meets every other Tuesday at West Oak Coffee Bar, 114 W. Oak St., to discuss technology and startups.

Tuesday, Jan. 10, 8 a.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 24, 8 a.m.

NodeSchool Denton, hosted by TechMill, meets every other Saturday at Aura Coffee Shop, 1306 Hickory St. Saturday, Jan. 14, 2 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 28, 2 p.m.

Sanger Chamber of Commerce holds a networking luncheon the fourth Wednesday of every month.

RSVP at http://sangertexas.com. This month’s luncheon will be held at the Sanger Chamber of Commerce, 300 Bolivar St. Wednesday, Jan. 25, noon

Saturday, Jan. 14, 8 a.m.

Who to contact Scott K. Parks Managing Editor 940-566-6879 | sparks@dentonrc.com Jenna Duncan Business Editor 940-566-6889 | jduncan@dentonrc.com Sandra Hammond Advertising Director 940-566-6820 | shammond@dentonrc.com Shawn Reneau Retail Advertising 940-566-6843 | sreneau@dentonrc.com

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Enterprising Voices

Car accidents a key source of liability for businesses his past year, injuries and deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents rose for the first time in over a decade.

When discussing this issue with local State Farm agent Matt Portz, he told me that State Farm processes 42,000 auto accident claims per day.

The recent rise in accidents related to deaths and injuries likely is due to lower gas prices (more cars on the road) and an increase in distracted driving (cellphone use).

In their day-to-day operations, businesses are exposed to risks that could lead to lawsuits. However, the risk of litigation arising from auto accidents often is overlooked.

No matter the type of business you operate, when your employees are driving their cars in the course and scope of their employment, you as their employer can be responsible for injuries resulting from their negligence. This is called vicarious liability.

Employers who do not carry workers’ compensation insurance can be liable for their employees’ injuries if those injuries are the result of the employer’s negligence.

Let’s imagine a worst-case scenario. You need to get a product to a client by 5 p.m.

At 4:45 p.m., you finally have it ready. The customer is across town. It usually takes 20 minutes to get there. You tell your employee the product has to get there by 5 p.m., and you hand your employee the keys to your car.

Trying to follow your instructions, the employee runs a red light and has an accident that causes significant injuries to your employee and the driver of the car he hit. Both your employee and the other driver are hospitalized for a

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Sam BURKE | COMMENTARY

few days and miss several weeks of work.

Without the proper protections in place, an accident like this could hurt or bankrupt many small businesses that could be liable for the injuries to both parties.

In this scenario, what are the right protections? Generally, the answer is not a good lawyer but the right insurance products. First, if they carry workers’ compensation insurance, employers are not liable to their employees for injuries those employees suffer in the workplace or in the course and scope of their employment.

In the above scenario, it is possible the employer who told the employee he needed to get across town in 15 minutes when the employer knew the trip would take 20 minutes could be found to have negligently instructed the employee. If the employer carries no workers’ compensation insurance, the employee’s own negligence in running the red light could be ignored and the employer held responsible for 100 percent of the damages, if it were determined the employer was negligent in instructing the employee to rush across town.

Generally, workers’ compensation insurance provides payments to injured employees that covers medical ex-

DRC file photo

This two-vehicle accident occurred near the intersection of Industrial and Sycamore streets.

Businesses’ risk of litigation arising from auto accidents often is overlooked. penses, lost earnings and lost earning capacity. If an employer has workers’ compensation insurance, the employee is barred, in almost all circumstances, from suing their employer for work-related injuries.

There are drawbacks to workers’ compensation insurance. It can be costly, and not all health care providers accept workers’ compensation insurance. However, the cost is low for many businesses and the reduction in potential liability can be well worth the cost. Merely being involved in a lawsuit can cost small businesses tens of thousands of dollars, and those legal expenses are rarely in the budget or business plan.

As for the injuries to the driver of the car your employee hit, it is important that you have auto insurance covering your business. This can be

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purchased in conjunction with commercial general liability coverage or separately.

It is important to know that commercial general liability coverage likely will not cover claims that your employee or a third party would make in the event of an auto accident. You need to have separate auto coverage to protect against third-party claims.

Also, because your business could be liable for accidents in the course and scope of your and your employees’ work, the limits of coverage need to be sufficient to protect not only you individually but the business.

For most small businesses, combined coverage (auto coverage and excess coverage, often called umbrella coverage) of $1 million will be sufficient. If your business has a value exceeding $1 million,

TO O PROTECT YOU UR

consider additional excess coverage.

Often, people assume this amount of coverage will be cost-prohibitive. However, usually the cost to increase property damage and injury limits on auto policies is a few dollars a month. In other words, the cost to most businesses is negligible.

In addition to making sure your insurance has sufficient limits, you need to make sure you have the proper type of policy language. In our example, the employee borrowed your car. In this scenario, you will need to have had permissive use coverage.

Permissive use just means that the insurance applies to persons driving your car with your permission. Some policies, especially policies marketed at the lowest costs, will not include permissive use coverage. This can have signif-

icant unintended consequences if you allow employees to operate your car for workrelated purposes.

It is also recommended for businesses to obtain policy riders for non-owned and hired auto coverage. This ensures that if the employee in our scenario had been in his own car (which might not be a covered auto identified on the business’s policy) or a rental car, the business’s auto policy would still provide coverage.

Another area of coverage that is often overlooked is uninsured and/or underinsured motorist coverage. Texas has very low legal limits for auto liability coverage. $25,000 in coverage is all that is required. This amount of coverage will not be sufficient in the event of any significant injury.

Uninsured/underinsured coverage applies when the responsible party has no insurance or insufficient coverage to pay for the damages and injuries caused by the responsible third party.

For example, in our earlier scenario, if we reverse the cause of the accident and your employee had been hit by a driver running a red light, and that driver had no insurance, the business’s uninsured motorist coverage would be available to pay for your employee’s injuries and damages and property damage to your company vehicle.

Another important consideration related to auto insurance is the timing and types of settlements that occur. In the case of any claim on an auto liability policy, the insurance company responsible for paying the claim will expect to make only one payment, and BURKE | CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

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Enterprising Voices

Dollar-cost averaging Retreat, business summit packs plenty of power on tap for Denton chamber “We know from experience that eventually the market catches up with value.”

— Benjamin Graham, 1955 ast year, the year-end letter we send to our partners had three main themes.

First, we reiterated that our strategy had not changed since its inception. We were focused on investing in bargains that would protect our partners from the risks of higher inflation and rising interest rates over the long run.

While value-investing bargains were then being shunned by the market in lieu of high-flying momentum stocks, we held true to this course given value-investing strategies are the only proven path to long-term investing success.

Second, we introduced a framework of operational, financial and macro catalysts that we believed would help unlock the value within the portfolio during 2016 and beyond. Some of these catalysts had already occurred in late 2015 and early 2016, but the market had not given us credit for those catalysts having played out.

For other companies in the portfolio, some catalysts had yet to unfold, as the companies were in the process of executing on our recommendations. Even so, there were clear, positive pivot points in the companies’ prospects that underpinned the massive upside we saw in the intrinsic value estimates we shared with you.

Finally, we encouraged our partners to exploit the bargains we were seeing. The price/value gap had just stretched too far. Wonderful companies became absurdly undervalued. We hoped each partner would continue to dollar-cost average into the bargains we owned, not knowing exactly when the values would regain favor, but understanding the combination of value and catalysts simply made it inevitable that the market eventually would catch up. Those who exploited the bargains along the way have definitely been rewarded.

Let’s explore this dollarcost averaging theme a bit

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Jonathon FITE | COMMENTARY

further.

Suppose you just got a bonus, or your business is throwing off lots of excess cash, and now you have $6,000 to invest. Instead of investing the entire amount all at once, you decide to use dollar-cost averaging and spread the investment out over several months by investing $1,000 a month for the next six months. This averages the price over the period, so some months you may buy fewer shares, each at a higher price, and some months you may buy more shares, each at a lower price.

If the market is lower this month, you may lose money on the shares you bought last month, but this month you receive more shares, which, in the future, will help offset any losses. With dollar-cost averaging, you are able to take advantage of any low during these six months, guaranteeing you to invest at the very bottom because when it comes you are simply doing what you do every month.

Once the market begins to appreciate the value you own, which it is likely to do in the long term, you’ll be ahead.

The best part is that you didn’t have to predict what the market was going to do each month. It was just automatic.

If you tried to forecast the bottom, you could miss it altogether and risk putting your entire $6,000 in at a bad time.

Peter Lynch, the famous Magellan Fund manager, said, “Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections or trying to anticipate corrections than has been lost in the corrections themselves.”

Market corrections often cause investors to abandon their investment plan, moving out of stocks with the intention of moving back in when things seem better —

often to disastrous results.

A study by the Davis Advisors group evaluated 20-year market returns of investors who remained invested over the entire period (1994-2013) versus those who missed just the best 10, 30, 60 or 90 days.

The patient investor who remained invested during the entire 20-year period received the highest average annualized return of 9.2 percent per year.

The investor who missed the best 10 days had their returns cut in half. If you had missed the 30 best days, your returns were flat over this period. Amazingly, had you missed the best 60 or 90 days, your returns would have been negative for the period.

The best approach to not getting scared out of future gains and exploiting declines along the way is to steadily dollar-cost average in over time.

But what about the postelection rally?

Yes, markets have rallied since the election, but we expect plenty of volatility to remain with Donald Trump in office. We have seen how a tweet from the president-elect can create market waves.

As policies get implemented or others delayed, we will be sure to exploit the shortterm fluctuations in the market that result. In addition, given Trump’s policy proposals to cut taxes and spend heavily, our themes of rising inflation expectations and higher interest rates look like they will continue to permeate for years to come.

A value-laden portfolio should help you be positioned for this reality, and as new opportunities come your way or existing holdings pull back, new dollar-cost average contributions can be put to work.

Have a merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and wealthy new year.

JONATHON FITE is a managing partner of KMF Investments, a Texas-based hedge fund. Jonathon is a lecturer with the College of Business at the University of North Texas. This column is provided for general interest only and should not be construed as a solicitation or as personal investment advice.

Comments may be sent to email@KMFInvestments. com.

n preparation for our new program year, which will begin April 1, the Denton Chamber of Commerce board recently signed off on priority topics for our planning retreat agenda. The retreat is scheduled for Jan. 27 at Hilton Garden Inn Denton.

The new program year coincides with the next fiveyear cycle for our strategic plan. We’re especially excited about what we hope will be a signature event, the Thrive Denton Business Summit.

The summit will feature three major components with three corresponding tracks, a keynote address, a business expo and a closing reception.

We hope to provide existing businesses, aspiring businesses and working professionals with the tools and support to retain a talented workforce, start new businesses and expand existing business in Denton.

The keynote address will be delivered by Ray Perryman, a Texas-based econo-

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Chuck CARPENTER | COMMENTARY

mist who has specialized in analysis and research for more than 30 years.

The Thrive Denton Business Summit will held Friday, May 19, at the University Union on the University of North Texas campus.

Another program priority is our Denton Means Business 5K, scheduled for Saturday, April 8, at Apogee Stadium.

A pilot version of the event proved popular not only for runners but supporting sponsors. Thanks to Hank Dickenson and the UNT athletic department, we were able to share net proceeds with the Mayor’s

Summer Youth Jobs Program.

Municipal elections will be held May 6, so we’ll be identifying pertinent subjects to include in our candidate questionnaire. We post responses from all participating candidates on the chamber website prior to the start of early voting.

We’ll be implementing a standing priority initiative Feb. 28 and March 1 when we help coordinate Denton County Days in Austin. This event has been held in conjunction with every regular session of the Texas Legislature since 1987. Nearly 200 North Texas business leaders and local government officials registered to participate in 2015.

Call the chamber office at 940-382-9693 for more details on any of these events and projects.

CHUCK CARPENTER is president of the Denton Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached at dcoc@ dentonchamber.org.

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Enterprising Voices

Small businesses get into spirit of giving iving — to family or to those less fortunate than we are — is something we think a lot about during the holiday season. Often, we have certain causes that we are more likely to give to, that are near and dear to our hearts.

Businesses are no different.

Years ago it was common to see only larger businesses doing this, but now it’s more common for businesses of all sizes to practice philanthropy.

In fact, many small businesses practice corporate philanthropy for purely altruistic reasons, or incorporate these activities into their overall business strategies as part of their social responsibility.

Small business owners give to various causes, and the targets of their giving vary widely.

Yet, just like larger corporations, they are active philanthropists throughout the year and not just during the holidays. Almost all small businesses practice some kind of philanthropy in their local communities, making this activity a very important one for the communities they serve.

The definition of corporate philanthropy, as described by academics Kym Madden, Wendy Scaife and Kathryn Crissman in 2006, is “the voluntary business giving of money, time or in-kind goods, without any direct commercial benefit, to one or more organizations whose core purpose is to benefit the community’s welfare.”

Knowing more about the nature and frequency of small-business giving is valuable both to the organizations that support small business, such as chambers of com-

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Margaret YOUNG | COMMENTARY

merce and economic development organizations, and to the communities themselves.

This kind of information can be useful to cities as they work to engage all businesses and individuals to improve their communities.

In my previous research, I found that the nature of the giving varied among small businesses. Factors such as the demographics of the owner, the nature of the gift and the reasons behind the giving all affect philanthropic activities and the likelihood that a small business will engage in corporate philanthropy.

Demographic factors of the business owner impact small business philanthropy. For example, older, more educated small business owners tend to give more for tax incentives, while younger owners are more likely to give because they feel a need to act socially responsible. I also found that the length of business ownership affected the likelihood of giving — the longer a business operated, the more likely it was to engage in philanthropic behaviors.

The nature of the giving activity itself also varies from small business to small business. Some owners prefer giving cash. Most cash dona-

DRC file photo

Kenny Kim, left, and Ginna Kim Kaplan of A.J. Donuts accept an award from Rennea Howard for their service to the Salvation Army, on May 3 at Apogee Stadium. Almost all small businesses practice some kind of philanthropy in their community. tions are fairly small, below $2,500 per giving occasion.

Sometimes, especially for an owner’s most important causes, a small business can donate amounts up to tens of thousands of dollars.

Other business owners we surveyed like to give in-kind gifts, donating their goods to a worthy cause. A small grocery or signage company may want to donate those goods rather than cash. Others prefer to donate their services to a cause or help someone in need in the community. The owner of a small cleaning business may decide to donate his time to clean a house for someone in need.

Most small business owners I talked to practice corporate philanthropy because they believe in a specific cause, they

want to be involved in the community or because they want to make a difference.

Although business owners can and do give to individuals in their communities, they are more likely to give to specific causes that align with their own business values, such as health, the environment, the arts, education or religion.

Small businesses are likely to donate to different causes several times each year, although there does not seem to be any particular time of year when they give. Small businesses are just as inclined as individuals to give during the holiday season, and they practice corporate philanthropy throughout the year. So, the time of year when they give is likely to coincide with the time of year when their causes are

active.

This holiday season, it’s good to remember that in addition to being the economic engines of our communities, small businesses are our good neighbors.

Even if you don’t hear about it, they are just as likely as you or me to be giving to someone in

need, or to some great cause, right here in Denton!

MARGARET YOUNG is the director of Texas Woman’s University’s School of Management and can be reached at myoung13@twu. edu.

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Biz on the Wire Food trend affecting maker of Cheerios MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Profit at General Mills slumped 9 percent during its most recent quarter, and the food company lowered its outlook for the year as it tries to win back customers.

Shares fell more than 3 percent Tuesday.

Like other big food companies, General Mills has been hurt as more Americans stay away from processed foods.

The company has been tinkering with its recipes, adding more protein to Yoplait yogurt and using antibiotic-free chicken in Progresso soups.

But yogurt and soup sales still fell in the second quarter.

General Mills, which also makes Cheerios cereal and Betty Crocker cake mix, now expects organic net sales to fall between 3 percent and 4 percent for the year. It previously expected organic net sales to be flat or down as much as 2 percent. Organic net sales exclude the impact of currency fluctuations, acquisitions or divestitures.

The company said changes to its cereals have helped sales, including adding more cocoa to Cocoa Puffs and more cinnamon to Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It plans to launch Very Berry Cheerios next month, the classic cereal with the addition of real strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.

The Minneapolis company reported net income of $481.8 million, or 80 cents per share, in its second quarter. That’s down from $529.5 million, or 87 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue fell 7 percent to $4.11 billion in the period, shy of Wall Street expectations.

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Cover Story

Barron Ludlum/DRC file photo

Kippie Wilkinson and father Weldon Burgoon run Weldon’s Saddle Shop & Western Wear on East Hickory Street. Burgoon is retiring at the end of the year, and Weldon’s is scheduled to close Jan. 14.

2016 | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

He said local competition, as well as his bad knee, were the main reasons he decided to close the shop, originally located on Hickory Street and finally at 520 Locust St. He said one of the bakery’s biggest sellers was always doughnuts — “We used to sell 200 to 300 dozen doughnuts a day” — but now he sees doughnut shops on every corner.

After hosting celebrities such as Blake Shelton and former Gov. Rick Perry, El Guapo’s Mexican restaurant unexpectedly closed in July.

Owner Michael Zampino closed the store on his son’s 16th birthday to make more time with his family. He had run the business for 12 years.

The entire family stayed involved with events inside and outside the restaurant, and in 2015 won the Family of the Year award from the Denton Noon Kiwanis Club.

The business boomed the most in 2007 and 2008, and at that time, Zampino passed on buying the property because the deal included two small buildings on the opposite side of the parking lot.

Although the business wasn’t failing financially, it also wasn’t at its peak, partially because of an influx of restaurants to the area, he said.

Town Center now open It started with Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers. Police directed traffic for a week after the popular chicken spot was the first business to open at Rayzor Ranch Town Center in April.

Soon after, Chili’s opened, followed by the sprawling WinCo Foods grocery store, and now the development is well on its way with several openings scheduled for 2017.

The Town Center project had been planned for years as the upscale counterpart to Rayzor Ranch Marketplace across the street, and took years to get construction going. Two of the initial businesses that said they would join the development, Dillard’s and Cinemark Movie Bistro, withdrew from the project.

Now, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, WinCo Foods, Chili’s, Great Clips, Sleep Number and Chipotle are all open in the space.

Here’s what’s under construction at Town Center: In-N-Out Burger, Firehouse Subs, Kung Fu Tea, Denton Convention Center & Embassy Suites Hotel, and Envy Nail Spa. Additionally, Rooms to Go has put in an application to build a 40,000-square-foot

Barron Ludlum

Workers build a drive-through lane at In-N-Out Burger at Razor Ranch Town Center.

DRC file photo

Lupe Gonzalez bids clients and friends Wanda Arrington, left, and Marilyn Williams, right, farewell March 25 at Popo & Lupe Hair Styling Center. store on the property. An unnamed movie theater also has filed preliminary applications with the city.

Music venue closures While maybe not the most noteworthy closures, when the basement venue at J&J’s Pizza and Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios closed within months of each other, the music community felt like it was hit hard.

Both venues served as valuable playing spaces for

up-and-coming musicians and hosted national touring acts as well.

Rubber Gloves closed first, after owner Josh Baish realized the cost of his divorce settlement. With the little amount of money the venue made, it wasn’t sustainable.

He still owns the building, but there’s still no word for what comes next at the venue.

J&J’s Old Dirty Basement closed the following month, after the building owners said

they were going to renovate the space to house a new business not associated with J&J’s Pizza.

The basement, which holds 49 people, was a music space for more than 15 years. Its closure followed Rubber Gloves in June and Hailey’s Club last year.

JENNA DUNCAN can be reached at 940-566-6889 and via Twitter at @JennaFDuncan.

Jeff Woo/DRC file photo

Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios closed in June.

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Enterprising Voices

Holiday season often do-or-die for small retailers ’T

is the season to be jolly, not broke. Many small retailers earn 25 percent or more of total annual revenues during the Christmas shopping season. Stagnant holiday sales can be the beginning of a slow-death spiral in the coming year.

Small, locally owned retailers typically don’t have the sales volume and financial resources to compete with the huge discounts offered by big national chains. Small retailers’ profit margins tend to be thinner than the big players, giving them less wiggle room on discounts.

The Small Business Administration compiled the following six hurdles that small retailers face during the shopping season, and ways to avoid them in the future.

■ Lack of inventory control. Inventory control is

Yolanda OLIVAREZ | COMMENTARY

crucial for all small retailers, especially during the busy holiday selling months. It is important to remember that inventory equals profits, and knowing how much product to order, when to order it and what items to order can be the difference between having cash in the bank or aging inventory on the shelves.

■ Hiring the wrong employees for critical positions. There is a cost to hiring

the wrong people for key positions. Small firms tend to have less layers of management between the owner and the employees; therefore, new hires must be able to perform with less direct supervision and be motivated to get the job done right the first time.

Avoid this issue by writing a detailed job description, and immediately instilling a sense of extreme customer service in each and every new employee.

■ Undercapitalization will kill the holiday spirit.

Cash flow is the life blood of all small businesses. Cash flow allows a business to make payroll, pay suppliers and keep its doors open. Business owners should immediately increase cash flow by collecting accounts receivables in a timely manner; don’t keep cash tied up in unnecessary inventory; and eliminate un-

profitable account relationships.

■ Not embracing online sales and social media. U.S. Census Bureau data show that more than $1.2 billion in ecommerce sales were made during the first three quarters of 2016 — a 15.7 percent increase over the same period last year. By the end of 2017, it is estimated that more than 60 percent of all U.S. retail sales will involve the web. To stay competitive, small retailers must develop an online retail presence. Leverage Twitter and Facebook to promote one-day sales or plug special product lines and high-inventory merchandise. Use Facebook advertising to establish more of an emotional connection with shoppers.

■ Not delaying the employee office party and social events. It is sales crunch

time from Black Friday until New Year’s Day. Office parties can cause distractions at a time when a business needs to be especially productive. Too much food and drink can not only cause a nasty hangover but sidetrack employee focus.

Consider moving the company party to after New Year’s Day and call it the annual thankyou event.

Tip: Involve the entire community in this thank-you party.

■ Innovation and creativity lost. Historically, locally owned small retailers beat their big-box and online competitors by providing outstanding individualized customer service. Internet sales events have pushed large retailers to flood the market with loss leader pricing on a wide array of holiday products. Small retailers must take

the offensive by selling creative and innovative products that cannot be found at the local mall or online. Create a unique customer experience that will get shoppers to travel outside of their comfort zone and discover that out-of-theordinary shopping district with 10 trendy stores, not 100 chain stores.

For more information on ways the SBA can assist your small business this holiday season, visit www.sba.gov.

YOLANDA GARCIA OLIVAREZ serves as the Small Business Administration’s South Central Region administrator and is based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

She oversees the agency’s programs and services in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Biz on the Wire

Report: DEA records show state flooded with painkillers CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Drug wholesalers shipped 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to West Virginia in just six years, a period when 1,728 people fatally overdosed on these two painkillers, according to an investigation by the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

That amounts to 433 of the frequently abused opioid pills for every man, woman and child in the state of 1.84 million people.

The Gazette-Mail obtained previously confidential records sent by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to the office of West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. They disclose the number of pills sold to every pharmacy and drug shipments to all 55 counties in West Virginia between 2007 and 2012.

Four of these counties — Wyoming, McDowell, Boone and Mingo — lead the nation in fatal overdoses caused by pain pills, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The records — which leading drug wholesalers had fought in court to keep secret — show the wholesalers shipped ever-higher doses of the pills — a telltale sign of growing addictions — even as the death toll climbed, the newspaper reported Sunday.

“These numbers will shake even the most cynical observer,” former Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne, a retired pharmacist who finished his term this month, told the newspaper. “Distributors have fed their greed on human frailties and to criminal effect.

There is no excuse and should be no forgiveness.”

McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen Drug Co. together control about 85 percent of the U.S. drug distribution market by revenue and provided more pills to West Virginia than other wholesalers.

As hydrocodone and oxycodone overdose deaths increased 67 percent in West Virginia between 2007 and 2012, their chief executives were paid millions and their companies made billions.

McKesson became America’s fifth-largest corporation, with the nation’s highest-paid CEO in 2012, according to Forbes.

The drug distributors say they're just middlemen in a highly regulated industry and that pills would never get in the hands of addicts and dealers if not for unscrupulous doctors who write illegal prescriptions, and pharmacists who turn a blind eye.

“The two roles that interface directly with the patient — the doctors who write the prescriptions and the pharmacists who fill them — are in a better position to identify and prevent the abuse and diversion of potentially addictive controlled sub-

Toby Talbot/AP file photo

Hydrocodone pills are pictured at a pharmacy Feb. 19, 2013, in Montpelier, Vt. Drug wholesalers shipped 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to West Virginia in just six years, according to an investigation by the Charleston Gazette-Mail. stance,” McKesson general counsel John Saia wrote in a letter released by the company, the newspaper reported.

But the doctors and pharmacists weren’t slowing the influx, and the pills being shipped became much more potent, DEA records show.

“It starts with the doctor writing, the pharmacist filling and the wholesaler distributing. They’re all three in bed together,” said Sam Suppa, a retired Charleston pharmacist who spent 60 years working at retail pharmacies in West Virginia. “The distributors knew what was going on.

They just didn’t care.”

The largest shipments often went to independent drugstores in small towns. The Tug Valley Pharmacy in Mingo County,

which had fewer than 24,000 people in 2010, ordered more than 3 million hydrocodone pills in 2009, while franchisees of Rite Aid and Wal-Mart ordered only several thousand each year, the newspaper reported.

Morrisey is a Republican who represented Cardinal Health and lobbied for wholesalers in Washington, D.C., before winning the attorney general’s race with strong backing from drug companies.

He recused himself from the state’s lawsuit against more than a dozen wholesalers after taking office in 2013. In January, Morrisey’s office sued McKesson separately. Nine smaller wholesalers have settled for more than $7.5 million. Cases against the big

three remain pending.

DEA agent Kyle Wright warned Morrisey aides in January 2015 that the wholesalers were shipping both opioids in more potent, commonly abused dosages, according to emails Morrisey released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Gazette-Mail.

A spokesman for AmerisourceBergen suggested health experts and law enforcement would be better able to comment on whether there’s a link between pain pill volumes and overdose deaths.

“All parties including pharmacies, doctors, hospitals, manufacturers, patients and state officials share the responsibility to fight opioid abuse,” said Ellen Barry, a

spokeswoman for Cardinal Health.

Cardinal told The Associated Press on Monday that it now has “rigorous control processes in place to address the constantly changing tactics” of people trying to divert drugs.

The newspaper interviewed the family of Mary Kathryn Mullins, who was prescribed OxyContin for pain in her back after a car crash near her home in Boone County.

“They wrote her the pain pills, and she just got hooked,” said her mother, Kay Mullins.

“She’d get 90 or 120 pills and finish them off in a week.”

As her addiction worsened, she went to dozens of doctors, visiting pain clinics that churned out illegal prescriptions by the hundreds and

pharmacies that dispensed doses by the millions. She kept most for herself but sold some to others, Kay Mullins said.

Last December, she got a new prescription for OxyContin and an anti-anxiety medication. Two days later, she stopped breathing. Her brother Nick Mullins, a Madison police officer, responded to the 911 call. He tried chest compressions, but he could not revive his sister.

Meanwhile, the GazetteMail reported Monday, rules to report suspicious orders for controlled substances in West Virginia to the state Board of Pharmacy were disregarded.

And the board, in turn, failed to enforce the same regulations, even as it approved spotless inspection reviews to small-town pharmacies ordering more pills than could possibly be taken by people who really needed medicine to manage pain.

Only after Morrisey’s predecessor as attorney general sued wholesalers in 2012 did those companies begin filing the reports. The newspaper said it found more than 7,000 reports in two boxes at the board’s office. The regulations don’t say what to do with them, so the board didn’t investigate, contact wholesalers or pharmacies, or share them with law enforcement, the newspaper reported.

“It’s not been an item that’s ever been enforced by the board,” said David Potters, the pharmacy board’s executive director.

Drug companies have racked up huge fines for failing to report suspicious orders in other states, but they refused to comment about their reports to West Virginia’s board.

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Area Chamber Roundup Aubrey 380 Area Chamber of Commerce 2016 brought significant growth to the Aubrey 380 Area Chamber of Commerce, mirroring the explosive growth of businesses and residents in the area.

We added 32 new members to the chamber, which is a 17 percent increase. Come check us out and join the fun.

Be a part of the rapidly growing Aubrey 380 Area Chamber of Commerce.

Our monthly networking luncheons are held the third Wednesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. at Prairie House Restaurant in Cross Roads, and are open to the public.

For questions or information, contact us at 940-365-9781, www.aubreycoc.org or www.facebook.com/aubreycoc.

Recent ribbon-cuttings included Chick-fil-A, Turquoise Cactus Boutique, American Stat Care and Cross Roads Smiles Dentistry.

On behalf of the board of directors and the members of

the Aubrey 380 Area Chamber of Commerce, have a very merry Christmas and a happy, successful new year.

Lake Cities Chamber of Commerce The Lake Cities Chamber of Commerce had an amazing 2016.

Not only have we seen an increase of 37 new members, we have seen an increase in our monthly luncheon attendance and our weekly coffees.

The luncheons are a great place to meet other business people and learn more about what is going on in the Lake Cities area.

Our information technology systems were all integrated and upgraded. We are loving our new office at Corinth City Hall. Stop by and see us at 3300 Corinth Parkway, Suite 240.

We had many ribboncuttings for new businesses, the Corinth Parkway reopening and the completion of Swisher Road/FM2181.

The Lake Cities Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting for the grand reopening of Albertsons in Corinth.

Biz on the Wire Walgreens to sell 865 stores to please feds

By Tom Murphy | AP Walgreens and Rite Aid will sell 865 stores to rival retailer Fred’s for $950 million, potentially removing the final roadblock thwarting a tie-up between the nation’s largest and third-largest drugstore chains.

Wall Street certainly saw it that way, sending shares of all three companies higher in early trading Tuesday.

Walgreens is working to close its $9.4 billion purchase of Rite Aid early next year. It said Tuesday that it’s selling the Rite Aid stores in response to concerns raised by federal antitrust regulators. The deal still needs to be approved by the Federal Trade Commission.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., based in Deerfield, Illinois, announced in October 2015 that it planned to buy Rite Aid in a deal that would result in about 12,000 U.S. locations. That’s several thousand more than the nearest competitor, CVS Health Corp.

The combination is expected to give Walgreens beefed-up negotiating muscle with drugmakers and other suppliers and to help enlarge its presence in the Northeast and in Southern California. But the nation’s largest drugstore chain also knew it would have to drop some stores to ease regulatory worry about competition.

Fred’s runs 647 general merchandise discount stores clustered mainly in the Southeast, and it operates 371 fullservice pharmacy departments within its stores. It also runs three specialty pharmacies.

Walgreens says its purchase agreement requires Fred’s to buy additional stores if the FTC requires the divestiture of more than 865.

Cross Roads Smiles Dentistry Once again, our Adopt a Teacher program was a huge success — thanks to our members and community leaders.

We also saw an increase in hosts for our after-hours mixers.

The momentum continues to grow and we are excited to

be a part of the Lake Cities area. Please visit us at our Wednesday morning coffees or one of our monthly luncheons, held the third Tuesday of each month. Visit www. lakecitieschamber.com for locations and more information.

The Lake Cities Chamber of Commerce held a mixer and ribbon-cutting at Master Shine Wash & Detail.

Turquoise Cactus Boutique in Krugerville

Pilot Point Chamber of Commerce The Pilot Point Chamber of Commerce is growing and expanding.

We are set to break ground on a new chamber of commerce building on our historic square in January. The Economic Development Center and Main Street office will be housed in the same building with a tourism center.

The chamber is moving and joining Economic Development Center director Amanda Davenport and Main Street director Lanette Cox. We plan to bring our ideas, energy and excitement about Pilot Point together in order to create a dynamic place to make dreams a reality.

We have added monthly

payment installments and a new level of membership, along with free advertising using social media and other technology starting in January.

Michele Walling, former advertising manager of the Pilot Point Post-Signal, has taken over the role of executive director of the Pilot Point Chamber of Commerce.

She has 20 years of experience in marketing and sales and is a troubleshooter. She graduated from the University of North Texas in 2009.

We have so much exciting and innovative expansion happening that anyone interested should call Michele at 940-686-3853.

We plan to grow together — stronger together in 2017!

ADVERTISEMENT

Divorce, Visitation and the Holidays: A Few Tips Charla Bradshaw, KoonsFuller Family Law Throughout the 23 years I’ve been practicing family law, I’ve learned from some of the top mental health professionals in the country on how to help guide families through family law cases.

This is especially helpful when it comes to the hot-button topic of divorce, visitation and the holidays. Whether the issues stem from divorce, paternity, modification, or third party cases (such as grandparent cases), a lot has been written about this topic…some practical, some impractical. My hope is that this article gives parents, grandparents and extended family some of the more practical tips I’ve learned. Hopefully, it will help make the holidays more enjoyable and comfortable for both the adults and the children.

who have been through family court litigation to be bitter, and the holidays can be fertile ground for that bitterness to grow. Family members often state negative things or nonverbally emote hostility towards other family members in the child’s presence during the holidays. A child will take his or her cues from family members; therefore, if a family member displays such disrespect or anger towards an opposing family member in front of the child, the child may feel a need to mimic that behavior and choose sides. In that vein, it’s encouraged, at the least, to say something positive about the other family before the child leaves to be with that family.

Coordination is Key

Family Traditions are Important

In an effort to make the holidays more

The golden rule is that families must be willing to accept how important it is for children to participate in family holidays and traditions.

Therefore, it is in the best interest of the child to agree to a family court order that provides a visitation schedule to these events. Think of it this way: if some or all family members cannot agree on a holiday visitation schedule for the child, they are not considering the decision in the child’s best interest.

successful and stress-free for the child, it is a good idea to coordinate and plan the holidays in advance, informing the child of the plans ahead of time. The “unknown” is as stressful to children as it is for adults. It is much better for a child to have enough time to deal with their feelings and ask questions before the events, rather than being taken by surprise. The more details a child is given–who they will see, where they will go, how long they will be there–the better.

This does not mean that every old tradition must be upheld, in fact, some simply may not be possible after family law litigation. Likewise, it doesn’t mean new traditions can’t be created. New ways to celebrate, new food to prepare, and new activities all create excitement for

future holidays and children should be involved in their creation. By creating and adding new traditions, the child will have new things to look forward to in the future, and it will help them move forward from the past.

The Gift of Attention A gift all family members can give a child at the holidays is to give them their undivided, nonjudgmental attention when the child needs it. What I mean by this is to let the child voice feelings, whether of joy or sadness, and listen without judgment. Let’s face it: during the holidays, stress runs high for adults. For children, who’ve yet to fully learn how to deal with it, stress can be especially tough to manage.

The adult should accept the reality of where the child is at the moment. Sometimes that means just being there and listening, helping the child cope through the situation.

Try to not let the holidays become painful for you and your children…the result can lead to disdain and contempt, instead of joy and giving in years to come. Observe family traditions, keep bitterness in check, coordinate and pay attention. Lastly, from myself, and all of us at KoonsFuller, Happy Holidays!

Beware of Bitterness It is not unusual for families (From left to right) Brook Stuntebeck, Sean Abeyta, Charla H. Bradshaw, James Logue, and Sarah Darnell

Denton 320 West Eagle Drive Suite 200 Denton, Texas 76201 (940) 442-6677

Dallas 1717 McKinney Avenue Suite 1500 Dallas, Texas 75202 (214) 871-2727

Southlake 181 Grand Ave Suite 225 Southlake, Texas 76092 (817) 481-2710

Plano 5700 West Plano Parkway Suite 2200 Plano, Texas 75093 (972) 769-2727

Houston 109 North Post Oak Lane Suite 425 Houston, Texas 77024 (713) 828-5090

KoonsFuller Family Law has experienced attorneys who have the knowledge and resources to serve clients in matters including divorce litigation; property division of any size and complexity; marital agreements both before (prenuptial) and after marriage (postnuptial); asset tracing, valuation and division; child custody, visitation with children, child support and paternity; grandparent and third party rights to children, such as aunts and uncles; and trial and appellate work, as well as litigation alternatives such as mediation, arbitration and collaborative law, across Texas, and in certain cases, the nation.

ABOUT KOONSFULLER KoonsFuller Family Law is the largest Southwest-based family law firm with five Texas locations – Dallas, Southlake, Plano, Denton and Houston.

For more information, visit www.koonsfuller.com

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Unemployment Update National numbers

By Christopher S. Rugaber | AP WASHINGTON — Employers stepped up their hiring in nine U.S. states last month and cut jobs in two amid modest improvement in the nation's labor market.

The Labor Department said Friday unemployment rates fell sharply in 18 states and were little changed in 32 states.

Florida reported the largest job gain in November, adding 29,600 jobs, followed by Indiana, which gained 13,100 jobs, and South Carolina (12,500).

The largest drops in unemployment rates last month occurred in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Missouri, which saw declines of 0.4 percent.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate fell to a nine-year low of 4.6 percent last month, as employers added 178,000 jobs. But much of the drop occurred because more Americans stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.

The government only considers people unemployed if they are actively hunting for jobs. While the U.S. has added 15.4 million jobs since hiring bottomed out in February 2010, a big reason the jobless rate has fallen has been because the number of people working or looking for work has fallen.

Business Spotlight

Gambling industry eyes Trump policies Betting backers hope having casino mogul in White House pays off; daily fantasy sports games among major issues

By Wayne Parry | AP ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Donald Trump will be the first U.S. president to have ever owned a casino, and the gambling industry is wondering how he will handle three major issues: internet gambling, sports betting and daily fantasy sports.

The industry has sent its wish list to the president-elect.

The American Gaming Association told The Associated Press it has asked Trump for fewer regulations, approval of sports betting, a crackdown on illegal gambling, tax reform and immigration policies that don’t dry up the flow of overseas gamblers — and workers — to U.S. casinos.

“President Trump, his administration and Congress will unquestionably implement policies that will directly impact our industry for years to come,” Whitaker Askew, the association’s vice president, told the AP. Kirk Blalock, a lobbyist who worked for President George W. Bush’s administration, said Trump “comes to the table with a good, solid understanding of how the industry works and what the challenges are.”

Just three states — New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware — allow internet gambling, and well-financed opponents, backed by billionaire casino magnate and Trump supporter Sheldon Adelson, want to ban it nationwide.

Trump and his daughter Ivanka formed a company in New Jersey to explore the possibility of offering internet gambling in New Jersey before the state legalized it in 2013, but never applied for a license to do it.

In a brief interview in September, Trump told the AP he had not settled on a position regarding online gambling.

“I have a lot of friends on both sides of this issue,” he said.

His transition team did not respond to several recent requests for comment. The gaming association does not take a position on internet gambling.

Sports betting is currently legal in four states: Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Mon-

Wayne Parry/AP file photo

A plaque bearing the likeness of Donald Trump is seen at the entrance to the Trump Taj Mahal Casino resort Nov. 3, 2014, in Atlantic City, N.J. President-elect Trump once owned three Atlantic City casinos but cut most ties with the city by 2009. tana.

And dozens of states are grappling with whether daily fantasy sports, in which players put up money to compete with each other to assemble teams of athletes who accrue points based on their realworld performances, constitutes a game of skill that does not need to be regulated, or gambling, which does.

In a November 2015 interview with Fox Sports 1, Trump indicated he would not oppose sports betting or daily fantasy sports.

“I’m OK with it because it’s happening anyway,” he said.

Trump owned three casinos in Atlantic City, as well as one in Indiana for a time. Two of his former Atlantic City casinos, Trump Plaza and the Trump Taj Mahal, have closed.

The third, Trump Marina, was sold to Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who now runs it as the Golden Nugget.

Steve Norton, an Indiana casino consultant who worked

with Trump in the 1980s, predicted he will ultimately oppose nationwide approval of internet gambling, due in part to Adelson’s opposition, but said he does not think Trump would move to strip it from states that already offer it.

“Sports betting, on the other hand, is a multibilliondollar industry, mostly illegal,” Norton said. “I believe the positives of oversight, taxing and ensuring fair odds outweigh any negatives, and hopefully Mr. Trump will support individual states rights and help overturn” a federal ban.

Norton predicted daily fantasy sports will be “a nonissue” for Trump, who would leave it to states to regulate or not.

The association’s letter asks Trump to make sure Yucca Mountain in Nevada is not reconsidered as a repository for the nation’s nuclear waste because it is just 90 miles from Las Vegas.

Jae S. Lee/DMN

A WinStar World Casino and Resort sign stands Nov. 28, 2015, in Thackerville, Okla.

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Business Spotlight TRUMP | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

stock prices.

But did he mean it?

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to tamp down expectations last week, telling reporters he wants to avoid “a $1 trillion stimulus.”

And Reince Priebus, who will be Trump’s chief of staff, said in a radio interview that the new administration will focus in its first nine months with other issues like health care and rewriting tax laws. He sidestepped questions about the infrastructure plan.

In a post-election interview with The New York Times, Trump himself seemed to back away, saying infrastructure won’t be a “core” part of the first few years of his administration.

But he said there will still be “a very large-scale infrastructure bill.”

He acknowledged that he didn’t realize during the campaign that New Deal-style proposals to put people to work building infrastructure might conflict with his party’s smallgovernment philosophy.

“That’s not a very Republican thing — I didn’t even know that, frankly,” he said.

Since the election, Trump has backed away — or at least suggested flexibility — on a range of issues that energized his supporters during the campaign, including his promises to prosecute Hillary Clinton, pull out of the Paris climate change accord and reinstitute waterboarding for detainees.

Trump transition officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Everybody is putting together their Christmas lists for what they want to see in an infrastructure bill.”

— Kevin Gluba, executive director of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure

Mel Evans/AP file photo

A worker lifts materials as construction continues on a new roadway deck of the Bayonne Bridge on Nov. 15 in Bayonne, N.J. be encouraged to bring home profits that they have parked overseas to avoid taxes, in ex-

change for a lower tax rate. But private investors are typically interested only in projects that cre-

ate revenue, such as tolls, so that they can recoup their investments.

What states and communities need most is more direct spending, rather than tax cred-

its, to help pay for upkeep and replacement of existing roads, bridges and transit systems, said Bud Wright, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. “Those aren’t necessarily projects that lend themselves to generating revenue,” he said.

It’s also possible tax credits would provide a windfall to investors in existing projects while failing to generate new ones.

Some lawmakers from both parties are urging the creation of a federal “infrastructure bank” to make low-cost loans to projects.

“Everybody is putting together their Christmas lists for what they want to see in an infrastructure bill,” said Kevin Gluba, executive director of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure. “The biggest question: Who is going to pay for it? Many of the ideas floating around are far too pricey to make into law.”

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The mixed signals on infrastructure have lobbyists and lawmakers puzzled.

“We’re worried,” said Brian Turmail, a spokesman for the Associated General Contractors of America, which represents more than 26,000 construction companies and 10,500 service providers and suppliers.

“Are we hearing signs that people just don’t know what the plan is?” he asked. “Or signs that people don’t want any kind of plan? We don’t know the answer.”

Lobbyists have responded by flooding the Trump transition team with briefing memos, lining up meetings and privately pitching their proposals to what they hope will be a more receptive Congress.

Trade associations are urging their local members to seek out their senators and House members while they’re home for the holidays. The contractors association held a news conference in front of a bridge construction project in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association has given members form letters to send their lawmakers, while quietly floating a plan for new transportation fees to provide reliable sources of additional income for the federal Highway Trust Fund.

Leaders of the U.S. Conference of Mayors emphasized their support for an infrastructure program in a recent meeting with Trump and urged him to protect the municipal bond tax exemption, one of the primary ways localities raise money for projects.

The Airports Council International-North America is lobbying to raise the limit on fees airports charge airline passengers. The money goes to renovate or expand terminals and increase the number of gates.

Trump’s campaign pitch for infrastructure improvements included few details. A paper circulated after the election recommends using $137 billion in federal tax credits to generate $1 trillion in private-sector infrastructure investment over a decade. To offset the cost of the credits, U.S. corporations would

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Vital Statistics MIXED BEVERAGE TAX The following mixed beverage tax information was issued by the state comptroller’s office for November. The list includes the name of the business, address and reported tax.

380 Bar and Grill, 26781 E. U.S. Highway 380, Little Elm, $2,701.10 940s Kitchen & Cocktails, 219 W. Oak St., Denton, $2,142.39 American Legion Post No. 550, 905 Foundation Drive, Pilot Point, $1,229.38 Andy's Bar And Grill, 122 N. Locust St., Denton, $6,699.59 Angelina's Mexican Restaurant, 1400 N. Corinth St., Suite 111, Corinth, $1,101.81 Applebee's Neighborhood Grill, 707 S. Interstate 35E, Denton $2,800.93 Applebee's Neighborhood Grill, 2672 FM423, Little Elm, $1,867.02 Aramark Educational Services, 303 Administration Drive, Denton, $189.47 Ashton Gardens, 2001 Ashton Gardens Lane, Corinth, $1,624.34 Azul Mexican Kitchen, 2831 W. Eldorado Parkway, Little Elm, $746.71 Azul Mexican Kitchen, 2831 W. Eldorado Parkway, Little Elm, $1,002.78 B.P.O.E. Denton No. 2446, 228 E. Oak St., Denton, $782.89 Barley & Board, 100 W. Oak St., Suite 160, Denton, $6,374.04 Best Western Area Crown Chase, 2450 Brinker Road, Denton, $286.69 Bj's Restaurant & Brewery, 3250 S. Interstate 35E, Denton $4,343.87 Black-Eyed Pea, 2420 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $0 Bone Daddys House Of Smoke, 3258 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $2,319.20 Bono's Chop House & Saloon, 2025 N. U.S. Highway 287, Decatur, $2,322.28 Boomerjack Wings No. 8, 407 W. University Drive, Denton, $1,329.81 Brunswick Zone – Denton, 2200 San Jacinto Blvd., Denton, $1,019.20 Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, 1400 S. Loop 288, Suite 110, Denton, $3,167.02 Buff's Grill, 400 S. U.S. Highway 377, Pilot Point, $386.25

Cabana Beverages Inc., 2330 W. University Drive, Denton, $201.26 Casa Torres Mexican Restaurant, 2708 S. FM51, Decatur, $1,248.21 Caskey's Bar And Grill, 1206 W. Hickory St., Denton, $889.42 Chili's Grill & Bar, 600 S. U.S. Highway 287, Decatur, $2,824.78 Chili's Grill & Bar No. 1562, 2825 W. University Drive, Denton, $2,731.52 Chili's Grill& Bar, 2406 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $1,818.71 Chilitos Private Club Inc., 619-623 S. Denton Drive, Lake Dallas, $297.14 Chiloso Mexican Bistro, 2215 S. Loop 288, Suite 312, Denton, $103.31 Chipotle Mexican Grill, 1224 W. Hickory St., Denton, $29.41 Chuy's Denton, 3300 Wind River Lane, Denton, $4,362.90 Cool Bean's, 1210 W. Hickory St., Denton, $4,428.83 Courtyard By Marriott, 2800 Colorado Blvd., Denton, $277.71 Crossroads Bar, 1803 N. Elm St., Denton, $1,075.88 Dani Rae's Gulf Coast Kitchen, 2303 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $930.36 Dan's Silverleaf, 103 Industrial St., Denton, $2,439.06 Denton Country Club, 1213 Country Club Road, Argyle, $2,316.19 Drunken Donkey Bar & Grill, 3350 Unicorn Lake Blvd., Denton, $5,670.88 Dusty's Bar & Grill & Marina D, 119 S. Elm St., Denton, $3,775.31 Earl's 377 Pizza, 427 S. U.S. Highway 377, Argyle, $2,367.91 East Side Denton Oak Street, 117 E. Oak St., Denton, $15,751.90 El Fenix-Denton Texas, 2229 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $694.52 El Guapo's, 419 S. Elm St., Denton, $0 End Zone Little Elm Inc., 2833 Eldorado Parkway, Suite 301, Little Elm, $2,366.57

End Zone Little Elm Inc., 2833 Eldorado Parkway, Suite 301, Little Elm, $2,764.75 Ernesto's Mexican Restaurant, 10279 E. FM455, Suite 1, Pilot Point, $2,125.77 Frilly's, 1803 S. U.S. Highway 287, Decatur, $1,107.51 Fry Street Public House, 125 Ave. A, Denton, $7,672.23 Fuzzy's Taco Shop, 109 N. State St., Decatur, $1,230.65 Fuzzy's Taco Shop, 115 Industrial St., Denton, $936.92 Fuzzy's Taco Shop, 2412 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $1,831.17 Fuzzy's Taco Shop, 1004 Maple St., Suite 101, Sanger, $271.41 Fuzzys Taco Shop, 421 S. U.S. Highway 377, Argyle, $910.26 Fuzzy's Taco Shop Cross Roads, 11450 U.S. Highway 380, Suite 160, Cross Roads, $1,482.64 Genti's Private Club Inc., 3700 FM2181, Hickory Creek, $367.76 Good Eats No. 729, 5812 N. Interstate 35, Denton, $0 Hannahs, 111 W. Mulberry St., Denton, $3,367.68 Harvest House, 331 E. Hickory St., Denton, $7,452.87 Hickory Street Lounge, 212 E. Hickory St., Denton, $2,397.66 Hilton Garden Inn Denton, 3110 Colorado Blvd., Denton, $428.26 Hooligans LLC, 104 N. Locust St., Denton, $4,372.01 Hooters, 985 N. Interstate 35E, Denton, $3,601.85 Hula Hut Restaurant, 210 E. Eldorado Parkway, Little Elm, $4,503.53 II Charlies Bar & Grill, 809 Sunset St., Denton, $4,117.01 J R Pockets Club, 1127 Fort Worth Drive, Denton, $1,941.79 Jack's Tavern, 508 S. Elm St., Suite 101, Denton, $2,359.53 Jem Beverage Company LLC, 217 W. Division St., Pilot Point, $80.93 Johnny Carino's Italian, 1516 Centre Place Drive, Denton, $706.58 Keiichi LLC, 500 N. Elm St., Denton, $370.24 Kobe Sushi & Steak LLC, 2832 E. Eldorado Parkway, Suite 208, Little Elm, $171.72 Komodo Loco, 109 Oakland St., Denton, $265.99 La Milpa Mexican Restaurant, I 820 S. Interstate 35E, Unit 1, Denton, $762.86 Lake Cities Post No. 88 The A, 105 Gotcher Ave., Lake Dallas, $1,378.72 Lake Dallas Point Restaurant, 303 Swisher Road, Suite 100, Lake Dallas, $1,971.60 Lantana Golf Club, 800 Golf Club Drive, Argyle, $2,102.12

Las Cabos Cantina, 4451 FM2181, Corinth, $103.18 Leeper Creek BBQ & Cantina Club, 3142 N. U.S. Highway 287, Decatur, $79.79 Library Bar, 109 Ave. A, Denton, $1,029.38 Lone Star Attitude Burger Co., 113 W. Hickory St., Denton, $7,372.34 Los Jalapenos Restaurant, 420 E. Eldorado Parkway, Little Elm, $258.21 Lowbrows Beer and Wine Garden, 200 S. Washington St., Pilot Point, $869.25 Lucky Lou's, 1207 W. Hickory St., Denton, $10,550.75 Luigi's Pizza Italian Restaurant, 2000 W. University Drive, Denton, $268.87 Mable Peabody's Beauty Parlor, 1125 E. University Drive, Suite 107, Denton, $1,051.09 Mellow Mushroom, 217 E. Hickory St., Denton, $1,510.24 Meritt Ranch Beverages Limited, 2946 W. Ganzar Road, Denton, $139.82 Metzler's Food and Beverage I, 1251 S. Bonnie Brae St., Denton, $599.65 Mi Taza Latin Tex-Mex Café, 5017 Teasley Lane, Suite 101, Denton, $696.46 Miguelito's, 1521 E. McCart St., Krum, $862.89 Miguelitos, 1412 N. Stemmons St., No. 178, Sanger, $1,198.16 Motto Bar and Sushi, 222 W. Hickory St., Suite 103, Denton, $0 Movie Tavern Denton 4, 916 W. University Drive, Denton, $828.38 Muddy Jake's Sports Grille, 222 W. Hickory St., Suite 104, Denton, $0 Mulberry Street Cantina, 110 W. Mulberry St., Denton, $2,850.18 Norman Heitz Memorial Post 104, 501 Thompson Drive, Lake Dallas, $1,050.35 Oak Street Drafthouse, 308 E. Oak St., Denton, $6,488.95 Oakmont Country Club, 1200 Clubhouse Drive, Corinth, $2,151.16 Olive Garden of Texas No. 1611, 2809 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $1,307.90 Ollimac Company, 1400 Corinth Bend, Suite 103, Corinth, $666.31 On The Border, 2829 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $2,671.69 Outback Steakhouse, 300 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $1,535.90

Parker Brothers Trail Dust, 1200 S. Stemmons St., Sanger, $423.64 Pedro's Tex Mex & Grill, 420 E. McKinney St., Suite 100, Denton, $0 Pedro's Tex Mex & Grill, 209 S. Washington St., Pilot Point, $544.37 Pedro's Tex Mex & Grill, 209 S. Washington St., Pilot Point, $589.13 Pei Wei Fresh Kitchen, 1931 S. Loop 288, Suite 130, Denton, $60.30 Phil Miller Post No. 2205 VFW, 909 Sunset St., Denton, $1,427.30 Pilot Point Columbus Club, 221 N. Prairie St., Pilot Point, $18.29 Pizza Hut, 730 S. U.S. Highway 377, Pilot Point, $17.48 Pollo Tropical Beverages LLC, 2220 S. Loop 288, Denton, $13.93 Prairie House Restaurant, 10001 U.S. Highway 380, Cross Roads, $1,412.22 Queenie's Steakhouse, 113 E. Hickory St., Denton, $1,505.55 Red Lobster No. 6349, 2801 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $1,102.75 Riprock's, 1211 W. Hickory St., Denton, $5,829.40 Rockin Rodeo, 1009 Ave. C, Denton, $3,382.96 Rooster's Roadhouse, 113 Industrial St., Denton, $2,576.61 Rooster's Roadhouse Decatur, 106 N. Trinity St., Decatur, $2,109.56 Rosa's Cafe & Tortilla Factory, 1275 S. Loop 288, Denton, $185.79 RT's Neighborhood Bar, 1100 Dallas Drive, Suite 124, Denton, $7,606.44 Ruby Jeans Bar & Café, 309 N. FM156, Ponder, $0 Rusty Taco Denton, 210 E. Hickory St., Denton, $1,369.07 Savory Bistro & Gourmet To-Go, 2650 E. FM407, Suite 165, Bartonville, $1,500.26 Shots and Crafts LLC, 103 Ave. A, Denton, $1,928.86 Springhill Suites By Marriott, 1434 Centre Place Drive, Denton, $214.40 Starbucks No. 6698, 4600 Swisher Road, Hickory Creek, $6.63 Sweetie Pie's Ribeyes, 201 W. Main St., Decatur, $377.61 Sweetwater Grill & Tavern, 115 S. Elm St., Denton, $1,618.58 Tex Tapas, 109 Industrial St., Denton, $1,203.18

LIENS

SALES TAX

The following liens were posted in November at the Denton County Clerk’s office.

The following sales permits were issued by the state comptroller’s office for November. The list includes the owner, name of business and address within ZIP codes 75065, 75068, 76201, 76205, 76207, 76208, 76209, 76210, 76226, 76227, 76234, 76249, 76258, 76259 and 76266.

STATE TAX LIENS NAME/ADDRESS Brandi Farrington, 3939 Teasley Lane, Denton Mike Mckeown, 8532 Stallion Court, Denton Little Frilly’s Tex-Mex LLC, 2713 Valencia Lane, Denton

TYPE Limited sales excise and use tax Limited sales excise and use tax Limited sales excise and use tax

AMOUNT $426.55 $2,230.75 $1.022.00

REC. DATE 11/02/2016 11/02/2016 11/29/2016

RELEASE OF STATE TAX LIENS NAME/ADDRESS Elizabeth Dianne Shuman, 2317 W. University Drive, Suite 185

TYPE Limited Sales, Excise and Use Tax

AMOUNT $1,790.23

REC. DATE 11/09/2016

FEDERAL TAX LIENS NAME/ADDRESS Biopix Argo Products International Inc., 2200 San Jacinto Blvd., Suite 205, Denton Michael J. Oonk, 220 N. Bonnie Brae St., Denton

TYPE 941 1040

BUILDING PERMITS The following building permits were issued by the Denton Planning and Development department in November.

Commericial alterations and commercial permits reflect the owner or tenant and the address of the business.

CERTIFICATES OF OCCUPATION Alexander Gilmore, 710 E. Prairie St. Ben Ziaie, 2442 Lillian Miller Parkway, No. 115 Causley Apartments LLC, 721 W. Hickory St. Corbin Realty II LP., 5001 Dakota Lane No. 100-300 Craig Irwin, 1204 Bent Oaks Court, No. 200 Daryl German, 206 W. University Drive, No. 100 Den10 One 221 LLC, 221 W. Hickory St. Denton Hospital, 525 S. Locust St. No. 101 Dotson Properties, 730 Wainwright St. Edward Canada, 207 N. Elm St. No. 101 Five Seven Nines, 2921 W. Country Club Road Frontier Southwest, 3793 Teasley Lane Gramar Corp., 4222 N. Interstate 35 JDFIU Texas Building LLC, 100 W. Oak St., No. 301 J-Med Ltd., 1512 E. McKinney St., No. 202 John Calvert, 210 Dallas Drive Lisa Fong Levnz, 3730 E. McKinney St., No. 135 Matt Kloeber, 1217 E. University Drive McClendon Corp., 523 Bryan St., Suite 523 Paul Weigenant 1510-1514 Malone St. 1504-1508 Malone St. Roger Courtney Johson, 116 N. Locust St. RREC Denton Truckport, 2401 Worthington Drive, No. 151

Schmitz Realty Holding, 222 S. Elm St. Scott Brown Commercial, 1405 N. Elm St. Scott Brown Commercial, 723 S. Interstate 35E, Suite 100 THHBP Management Co., 2817 S. Mayhill Road, No. 230 Verde Via Holdings I LLC 2908 Augusta Drive 2009 Colonial 2005 Greenway VMY Properties LLC, 3969 Teasley Lane, No. 1400 Westport/TR Storage, 1815 Shady Oaks Drive

AMOUNT $1,840.32 $7,140.35

REC. DATE 11/01/2016 11/01/2016

COMMERCIAL Health Services of North Texas, 4304 Mesa Drive RCG-Denton LLC, 2309 Colorado Blvd.

RESIDENTIAL Country Lakes West LLC, 6212 Roaring Creek DR Horton, 2109 Skysail Lane Dunhill Homes DFW LLC, 5617 Del Rey Drive History Maker Homes 3625 Harbour Mist Trail 3701 Harbour Mist Trail 5317 Wharfside Place Kathy Palmer, 1005 Matt Drive LG Properties, 3808 Laurens Place Road

COMMERCIAL ALTERATION American Tower Corp., 813 S. Elm St. Harvest Church, 2281 N. Masch Branch Road, No. 100 Honey Baked Ham Co. LLC, 1435 S. Loop 288, No. 113 Insomnia Cookies, 106 Fry St. Jojo Foods, 3841 Market St., No. 113 Legacy Nail Spa, 4920 Teasley Lane, No. 168 Mac Tracks, 3305 S. Mayhill Road, No. 109 Newport Apartments, 120 Ave. H Robson Ranch, 10150 Ed Robson Blvd.

SBA Communication, 2630 S. Mayhill Road Toby and Renee Norton, 2430 S. Interstate 35E, No. 164 Verizon Wireless, 2200 N. Bell Ave.

ASSUMED NAMES The following names (followed by DBA and address) were posted in November at the Denton County Clerk’s office.

NAME — DBA/ADDRESS

NAME — DBA/ADDRESS

Austin Reding, Bloomin’ Baby Clothing Company, 2601 Huntington Drive, Denton Irma A. Maese, Maese Realty, 7909 Seven Oaks Lane, Denton Ismael Martinez, IM Garage Door Services, 2601 S. Mayhill Road, No. 92, Denton Jackson Wallis, Live Aktion Events, 628 Lakey St., Denton Jared Sharp, JJ Home Improvement, 317 Joshua St., Denton Jason E. Matlock, Rholin’s Boys, 1224 E. Hickory St., Apt. 801, Denton

Jesus Ramirez-Guzman, J’N’J Cleaning, 3500 E. McKinney St., Apt. 4305, Denton Jorge Guerra, G’2, 933 Scott Drive, Denton Juan Hernandez Sanchez, Hernandez Construction, 1925 Lakeview Lane, Denton Kenneth Chad Spatz, A Spotless Cleaning Service, 1013 Summer Oaks Drive, Denton Kiersty Hendrix, Hendrix Marketing, 1555 Nottingham Drive, Denton Mathew and Pamela Carroll, Vegan Freak, 1804 Cornell, Denton

75065 Chris Richards and Leven Pendergrass, Texas Leisure, 523 Ridgewood St., Lake Dallas John Grantland and Laura Kane, The Daughter Who Sews, 18 Indian Trail, Hickory Creek 75068 Aloysius W. Mathenge, Hotland Services, 2424 Morningside Drive, Little Elm Axalval Enterprise LLC, Axalval Enterprise LLC, 1100 Brendan Drive, Little Elm Dean Rott, Dean Rott, 2456 Dawn Mist Drive, Little Elm Emily R. O'Neal, Spits and Giggles, 1317 Rivers Creek Lane, Little Elm Jam-Tod LLC, Jam-Tod LLC, 15120 Mount Evans Drive, Little Elm Lauren Archibald, Archie's Views, 1933 Cliffrose Drive, Little Elm Little Elm ISD, Brent Elementary, 500 Witt Road, Little Elm Little Elm ISD, Cesar Chavez Elementary, 2600 Hart Road, Little Elm Little Elm ISD, Colin Powel, 520 Lobo Lane, Little Elm Little Elm ISD, Lakeside Middle School, 400 Lobo Lane, Little Elm Little Elm ISD, Little Elm High School, 1900 Walker Lane, Little Elm Little Elm ISD, Little Elm ISD, 300 Lobo Lane, Little Elm Little Elm ISD, Zellars Administrative Building, 300 Lobo Lane, Little Elm Little Elm ISD, Lakeview Elementary, 1800 Waterside Drive, Little Elm Mona Lisa Pizza Ltd., Dominos Pizza, 1000 E. Eldorado Parkway, Suite 80, Little Elm NTX Stanton Construction LLC, NTX Stanton Construction LLC, 608 Calliopsis St., Little Elm

Porfirio Portales, 416 N. Ruddell St. Robson Denton Dev. LP 12017 Willet Way 8204 Brant Court 9805 Orangewood Trail 12109 Willet Way 8101 Sanderling Drive 8801 Gardenia Drive 8117 Sanderling Drive

NAME — DBA/ADDRESS

76201 Adriana Barker, Escaping The Square, 318 E. Oak St., Suite 160, Denton Brittany Hale, Brittany Hale, 1908 Cordell St., Denton Brookielynn's Bungalow LLC, Brookielynn's Bungalow LLC, 221 W. Hickory St., Denton Dfw Logistics Inc., Apex Air and Heat, 303 N. Carroll Blvd., Suite 200, Denton Double L Salon & Gifts LLC, The Downtowner, 725 N. Elm St., Suite 5, Denton

Faraz Ahmad, Faraz Ahmad, 525 Fort Worth Drive, Suite 101, Denton Forever Flowers LLC, Forever Flowers, 509 S. Locust St., Denton Ian Kull, Ian Kull, 806 Cordell St., Denton Michael Urness, Rathmore Band, 1006 W. Hickory St., Denton Stephen Corey Bobbitt, Everyday Nectar, 515 S. Locust St., Denton Uyi-Oghosa Obadeyi, Stem Deep, 1200 Cleveland St., Apt. 428, Denton 76205 Jm3rd and Partners LLC, Jm3rd and Partners LLC, 717 S. Interstate 35E, Suite 126, Denton Kiri Allison Trotman, Esthetic Appeal, 201 S. Woodrow Lane, Denton NTO Denton LLC, Nto Denton LLC Denton Optometry, 2430 S. Interstate 35E, Suite 156, Denton Rafael Cepeda, Autos Of Frisco, 1230 Duncan St., Denton Trendsetters Beauty Supply LLC, Trendsetters Beauty Supply LLC, 717 S. Interstate 35E, Suite 130, Denton 76207 Brody Candle Company LLC, Brody Candle Company, 405 Meadow Lane, Denton Robson Ranch Denton Homeowners Association, The Robson Ranch Pro Shop, 9448 Ed Robson Circle, Denton 76208 Bulutoz Inc., Bulutoz Inc., 4304 Fieldwood Drive, Corinth 76209 DTRR Inc., Denton Roofing and Metal Works, 823 E. McKinney St., Denton Randell L. Barnett, RBR Home Services, 3001 Barnes Drive, Denton Roger M. Yale, Yale Law Group, 1417 E. McKinney St., Suite 220, Denton 76210 H. Allison, Ratliff Safronie, 1709 Cedar Elm, Drive, Corinth Jeromy B. Jones, Paranologies, 3516 Glenview Drive, Corinth Lisa Gould, Gould Pi, 3736 Lake Country Drive, Denton

Texas Roadhouse, 2817 S. Interstate 35E, Denton, $2,912.49 The Abbey Inn Restaurant & Pub, 101 W. Hickory St., Denton, $3,129.43 The Aztec Club, 720 W. University Drive, Denton, $1,394.87 The Aztec Club, 720 W. University Drive, Denton, $1,294.64 The Backyard On Bell, 410 N. Bell Ave., Denton, $2,290.26 The Bears Den, 11670 Massey Road, Pilot Point, $196.57 The Clubhouse At Robson Ranch, 9428 Ed Robson Circle, Denton, $753.01 The Draft House Bar & Grill, 2700 E. Eldorado Parkway, Suite 250, Little Elm, $2,327.78 The Fry Street Tavern, 121 Ave. A, Denton, $5,862.96 The Garage, 113 Ave. A, Denton, $3,685.06 The Green House, 600 N. Locust St., Denton, $1,329.01 The Labb, 218 W. Oak St., Denton, $1,544.55 The Loophole, 119 W. Hickory St., Denton, $3,768.41 The Milestone, 1301 W. Sherman Drive, Aubrey, $5,023.05 Tokyo Samurai, 3600 E. FM407, Suite 100, Bartonville, $491.78 Toms Daiquiri Place, 1212 W. Mulberry St., Denton, $1,471.58 Tower Tap House, 290 E. Eldorado Parkway, Little Elm, $2,866.99 Tredways BBQ, 721 E. Hundley Drive, Lake Dallas, $386.12 University Lanes, 1212 E. University Drive, Denton, $684.60 Verona Pizza Italian Restaurant, 201 Loop 81, Decatur, $34.84 Villa Grande Mexican Restaurant, 12000 U.S. Highway 380, Suite 100, Cross Roads, $1,605.05 Villa Grande Mexican Restaurant, 2530 W. University Drive, Suite 114, Denton, $1,557.68 Vitty's Sports Bar, 1776 Teasley Lane, Suite 102, Denton, $2,323.89 Vizcarra, 114 W. Congress St., Denton, $0 Walters Tavern, 201 Main St., Lake Dallas, $2,349.35 Wildhorse Grill, 9440 Ed Robson Circle, Denton, $3,284.47 Wing Daddys Sauce House, 2763 E. Eldorado Parkway, Suite 105, Little Elm, $3,175.26 Wing Town, 4271 FM2181, No. C316, Corinth, $0

Lyndsie Maree Reed, Fashionably Southern Designs, 1918 Piper Drive, Corinth TJJT Enterprises LLC, The Av, 2201 High Pointe Drive, Corinth 76226 Canton Outlet LLC, Canton Outlet, 2420 Britt Drive, Argyle David Gaona, Montacargas Usados, 1712 E. FM407, Argyle 76227 Dustin Stephens, Knotty Designs, 711 Chestnut St., Aubrey Film Power Gear LLC, Film Power Gear, 816 Whitemarsh Drive, Aubrey Mica Bates Imperfections, 4400 Oak Shores Circle, Cross Roads 76234 Decatur Wine and Spirits Inc., Eighter Liquor, 1845 S. FM51, Unit A-2, Decatur Mary's Computer Repair LLC, Mary's Computer Repair LLC, 2205 County Road 4371, Decatur 76249 Angela Earle Love, Texas Sisters, 8535 Plainview Road, Krum Blue Diamond Art Gallery LLC, Blue Diamond Art Gallery, 137 W. McCart St., Krum Joseph David Weaver, Joseph Weaver Premier Designs Jewelry, 1413 Feather Crest Drive, Krum Keestrack America LLC, Keestrack America LLC, 15066 W. U.S. Highway 380, Krum Ninfa Brown, Mrs. The Gourmet Waffle Pop, 319 S. 2nd St., Krum 76258 Eva Nichols, Eva's Tee Shirt and Boutique, 211 E. Liberty St., Pilot Point Kreuzung Kennels LLC, Kreuzung Kennels LLC, 1601 E. Blackjack Road, Pilot Point Mc's Dragon Ranch LLC, MCS Dragon Ranch, 12886 Saint John Road, Pilot Point Stratus Support Industries LLC, Stratus Support Industries LLC, 11000 Saint John Road, Pilot Point 76259 Curtis Jack Williams, Williams Woodshed, 105 Shaffner St., Ponder Gregory Leon Ford, Fords Designing Diva, 2750 Amyx Ranch Drive, Ponder 76266 MCJ Sales LLC, MCJ Sales LLC, 2210 Autumn Breeze Drive, Sanger Sno2go LLC, Sno2go 701B, N. Stemmons St., Sanger

Open/Closed

Phillip J. Duy Jr., Tru-que Barbeque, 3728 Allison Drive, Denton Ray of Sunshine Sitting Service Registry of Denton Inc., Ray of Sunshine Senior Care, 1204 W. University Drive, Suite 201, Denton Richard Dauphinais, Virtual Human Resource, 9214 Grandview Drive, Denton Roger Johnson, Buildersplus, 2320 Yorkshire St., Denton Sandra McCray, Superior Women Empowering Women, 3830 Old Denton Road, No. 284, Denton Shelley Kelley, Everday Heroes Photography, 7113 Sunburst Trail, Denton Tammie Gurley, WTW 77 Reunion Committee, 3852 Leisure Lane, Denton Tiffany Johnson, Moxie Media, 2117 Pinto Drive, Denton

Enterprising Voices BURKE | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

that payment will be in exchange for a release of any and all claims related the accident.

This means that the injured party needs to wait until they have received all the medical care necessary for the treatment of the accidentrelated injuries and know what the long-term effects of the injury will be on earning capacity.

If the injured party has no short-term disability insurance (or other income replacing coverage) and lacks health insurance, waiting until the treatment is over and a full recovery has been made can cause great financial stress.

However, auto policies come with coverage that can help bridge this gap.

Unless declined in writing, auto coverage comes with personal injury protection (PIP) coverage. This coverage is available to the covered individual or the employee of a covered business in the event of an accident caused by another.

PIP coverage can be used (up to 80 percent of the coverage, usually available in the

When your employees are driving their cars in the course and scope of their employment, you as their employer can be responsible for injuries resulting from their negligence. amounts of $2,500, $5,000 or $10,000) to replace lost earnings and to pay medical bills, and can be paid out incrementally as the losses are occurring.

This source of funds can allow a seriously injured person to pay medical bills and replace income during a sustained recovery and prevent that person from being in the position of trying to compromise a claim before they are sure of their losses because financially they cannot wait any longer for the settlement.

When discussing PIP coverage with an insurance agent, be aware that PIP coverage is different than medical payments (MedPay) coverage and generally PIP is superior coverage. If your agent is pushing MedPay coverage, ask him or her to explain the advantages and disadvantages of that coverage versus PIP in your particular financial and busi-

ness situation.

We almost all have insurance and have had auto insurance most of our adult lives.

However, the risks that auto accidents pose to our individual and business financial security is often underappreciated. As a result, the insurance available to mitigate those risks often is not fully understood and not tailored to our needs.

If you have not considered the risks an accident poses to your business — you’ve been on cruise control — you should sit down and review your coverages and discuss them with an attorney or insurance agent in the near future.

SAMUEL B. BURKE is certified in civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and can be reached at sburke@denton law.com or www.dentonlaw. com.

Jeff Woo

Toby Norton, right, and Renee Norton own Du Pop In Popcorn & Candy Co., now open in Denton.

DUNCAN | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

is set for Jan. 7.

Whimsy Finds opened just in time for the holiday season. The store features handmade signs, vintage goods and clothing at 221 W. Hickory St. Rebranding alert: Big Mike’s Coffee is now Aura Coffee, under the same ownership. The coffee shop on Hickory Street across from the University of North Texas now serves breakfast Monday through Friday and features a new brand of coffee beans, Counter Culture Coffee.

An opening date isn’t yet set, but the completion of

In-N-Out Burger is close. So close that the chain is taking applications for the Rayzor Ranch Town Center location.

A Code 3 Emergency Room and Urgent Care is under construction on Teasley Lane, the first hybrid ER/ urgent care facility in Denton.

It’s set to open in the summer of 2017.

Ever have a craving for a warm chocolate chip cookie at 2 a.m. and don’t want to go to Kroger on University Drive?

Enter Insomnia Cookies, a cookie shop and delivery service at 106 Fry St. that delivers until 3 a.m. Order online at https://insomniacookies.com.

Two juice bars in Denton are seeing changes. Everyday

Nectar now has a food counter, offering salads, sandwiches and vegan baked goods. Nearby Juice Lab also expanded to be able to offer indoor markets while the Denton Community Market is shut down for the winter, while adding a stage for musicians to perform.

Finally. The first phase of renovations at Movie Tavern is complete, so now there are six movie screens up and running. Phase 2 is underway to add three screens early next year.

JENNA DUNCAN can be reached at 940-566-6889 and via Twitter at @JennaFDuncan.

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DECEMBER 2016

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Denton Record-Chronicle

CHAMBER SPOTLIGHT #DentonMeansBusiness WHAT’S NEW?

UPCOMING EVENTS

RIBBON CUTTINGS NEW MEMBERS D’Manske Photography

J Dog Junk Removal & Hauling

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5544 Woodland Hills Drive, Denton jdogjunkremoval.com

DDay Solutions

Randy Neuser Insurance

5036 Atlantic Drive, Denton dentonsap.com

111 E. University Drive #108, Denton agents.farmers.com/tx/denton/ randy-neuser

Code 3 ER

DFW Nail Bar 2900 Wind River Lane #134, Denton dfwnailbar.com

ICMS, Inc 11609 Mayfield Drive, Denton icms.net

ImpactMS Now 7516 Somerset Lane, Aubrey impactmsnow.org

TJ’s Pizza Wings-N-Things

414 W. Parkway Denton, TX 76201 940.382.9693 Denton-chamber.org

J Dog Junk Removal & Hauling

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