Michael D. Hickson, co-owner of Frontier Produce in Tulsa, OK, died Sept. 11. Mr. Hickson, 49, was the victim of an accidental drowning in a swimming pool at his home in Tulsa, according to his partner and brother-in-law, Robert DeWitt. Mr. Hickson was born and raised in Perry, OK, and was a graduate of the public school system there. He and Mr. DeWitt founded Frontier Produce 12 years ago "with just a van and a truck and built it up to 15 employees" according to his brother-in-law. The company distributes a full line of commodities, with 95 percent of its business to foodservice  including

Charles F. Hanline Jr., executive vice president of John F. Stambaugh & Co. Inc. in Plymouth, OH, died Sept. 18 as the result of injuries sustained when the private plane he was piloting crashed shortly after take-off from Seneca County Airport in Tiffin, OH. Mr. Hanline was 56 and a resident of Willard, OH. He was born in Shelby, OH, and was a graduate of Plymouth High School and Ohio State University. He had been with onion and potato grower-shipper John F. Stambaugh & Co. Inc. since 1974, having worked there with his father, Charles Hanline Sr., and son Timothy Hanline. He was also an owner

There were just too many potatoes on the market. That is the conclusion Idaho potato growers came to after several years of devastatingly low market prices. So growers took the matter into their own hands. Forming a voluntary cooperative called United Fresh Potato Growers of Idaho, they reduced planted potato acreage in Idaho for the 2005 fall harvest by 36,400 acres, or about 10 percent of the state's 2004 acreage. Other potato-growing states across the country followed suit with their own state cooperatives, and a national organization was formed as well. Through a united effort, potato

"Freeport is intact and appears to have weathered Hurricane Rita relatively well," Mike Mitchell, director of corporate communications for Chiquita Brands International Inc. in Cincinnati, said Sept. 26, The port of Freeport [in Texas] has told us that the ship channel is currently open for daylight vessel movements. They are awaiting survey results from the U.S. Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers, but reports indicate that the ship channel is expected to be open sometime Tuesday [the Sept. 27] or Wednesday for 24-hour traffic. Juan Alarcon, CEO of Turbana Corp. in Coral Gables, FL

PHILADELPHIA  The extent of fruit damage from a freeze in Chilean vineyards and orchards on, and to a lesser extent before, Sept. 12 remains something of a mystery. Scattered areas in Chile had a freeze on Sept. 12, but there were lesser freezes in the country running from late August until Sept. 12. Jim Pandol of Pandol Associates Marketing Inc. in Delano, CA, said Sept. 27 that the impact of the cold weather on Chile's fruit exports will be "significant but not disastrous." Tom Leonardi, vice president at Fresh Taste Produce U.S.A. & Associates Inc. in Philadelphia, said Sept. 26 that the

Building on its commitment to helping its members understand transportation issues critical to the fresh produce industry, particularly the recently amended U.S. Department of Transportation hours of service rules, the Produce Marketing Association released via its web site a question-and-answer guide to the new regulations. These regulations went into effect Oct. 1. Titled PMA Overview: U.S. Dept. of Transportation Driver Hours of Service Amended Regulations Summary, this resource describes how the October 2005 regulations amended the April 2003 HOS regulations; defines "agricultural