ENERGY SAVING BULBS 

A provision in the 2007 energy bill signed by President Bush in December has placed traditional incandescent light bulbs on a slow dimmer switch. Over a three-year phase-in period from 2012 to 2014, all new bulbs will be required to use 25 percent to 30 percent less energy than the current generation of incandescents. While the new requirement is expected to lead to wider use of compact fluorescent bulbs — virtually all of which already meet the new, tougher standard — the law does not specifically ban incandescents, and General Electric has already announced plans to develop energy-efficient incandescent bulbs that comply.

REMODELER AND HOMEOWNER CLASH OVER STASH

Most remodelers have probably fantasized — while ripping down old lath and plaster — about finding a diamond ring or a sack of gold coins inside a wall. But after actually making such a discovery, remodeler Bob Kitts of Lakewood, Ohio, could be forgiven for concluding that the dream is more fun than the reality.

In April 2006, Kitts was gutting the bathroom of a Cleveland home belonging to former high school classmate Amanda Reece when he came upon a box within a stud cavity, buried beneath a mound of rusty razor blades from the blade-disposal slot in the medicine cabinet.

Upon finding that it was stuffed with bundles of greenbacks wrapped in half-century-old sheets of newspaper, he telephoned Reece, who was at work, and told her she’d better come home right away. Kitts and Reece counted the money together and found that it totaled $157,000.

A few days later, when Kitts got back to work, he found three more boxes, containing an additional $25,000. According to Kitts, he and Reece agreed to split the money 50–50 and to put the bathroom job on hold.

From there, Kitts says, things went downhill. In September 2006, Reece — who still had the money — revised her offer downward to a 10 percent finder’s fee on the $182,000 face value of the find. (Because the old bills are valuable to collectors, a currency appraiser told Kitts that the actual value may be as high as $500,000.)

Increasingly frustrated as months passed and Reece failed to produce even that smaller sum, Kitts took his story to The Cleveland Plain Dealer in December 2007. “One of the things about this trade is that you never hear anything good about a contractor,” he says. “You mostly see stories about how they’re crooks or liars. I thought this might show people that contractors could be honest, and take away a few of those black eyes.”

Kitts’ decision to go public apparently enraged Reece, who claimed he was trying to extort money from her. She later accused him of breaking into her house sometime after the original discovery to punch holes in her walls while searching for more hidden treasure.

Denying he’d done anything of the kind, Kitts filed two lawsuits against Reece in January of this year, seeking 40 percent of the recovered money plus unspecified damages for defamation of character. If the case goes all the way to trial, it will fall to a state court judge to decide who gets what. According to Heidi Robertson, a professor of property law at Cleveland State University, the court would most likely award something to both claimants. “The homeowner probably has a stronger claim,” she says, “but giving her everything would basically punish the builder for doing the right thing. Most courts would rather encourage good behavior than create incentives for people to behave badly.”

Even if he does end up with a significant share of whatever money remains once the lawyers take their cut, it’s easy to wonder whether Kitts wishes he’d just tucked the money into a toolbox without saying anything to anyone. When asked, he laughs. “I get that question all the time at the lumberyard,” he says. His answer? “No, I don’t. That’s not how I was brought up. But if I’d known it was going to be like this, I might have thought about it for a minute.”  Courtesy of www.JLCONLINE.com

 HOUSING SLUMP AND HORSES

The ongoing housing slump is beginning to affect horses, reports the New Hampshire Union Leader. Decreased demand for lumber has led to a severe shortage of the sawdust and shavings that many horse owners traditionally rely on for the animals’ winter bedding. According to the paper, some owners have tried using shredded paper instead, but it “tends to blow around.”