Boater hopes to lure clients with lake maps

Vassalboro, Maine — Setting his tackle box aside, Tim Thurston steers his 18-foot power boat on a straight-as-an-arrow course across China Lake as he prepares to pull something other than brown trout or bass from the greenish waters.

Armed with a combination global positioning system and depth recorder, he is trying to produce a detailed and accurate map depicting how the bottom of the central Maine lake is shaped.

The primary market for his maps consists of fishermen and recreational boaters. Maps spelling out the contours of the lake bottom can signal the most productive fishing spots.

When Thurston began Maine Lake Charts Inc. in 2001, the only lake depth data available came from a Depression-era program designed to put people back to work.

Leadership

Kansas association taps area bankers for board

A pair of area bankers have been named to the board of directors of the Kansas Bankers Assn.

Kent Needham, president and chief executive officer of Tonganoxie-based First State Bank & Trust, has been inducted as chairman of the Kansas Bankers Assn. after serving one year as chairman-elect. Todd Sutherland, president and chief executive of University National Bank of Lawrence also was installed as a director on the board.

The board’s responsibilities will include facilitating the transition of leadership within the association when KBA President Jim Maag retires Nov. 31 and Senior Vice President Chuck Stones steps into the position in December.

Needham has been with First State Bank & Trust since 1993. Sutherland has been with University National Bank since founding it in 1988.

Real estate

N.Y. lamppost space listed at $21M a year

Further proof New York’s real estate market is inflated: The city plans to sell space on top of lampposts to wireless phone companies for $21.6 million a year.

The equipment would be attached to 18,000 of the city’s 200,000 lampposts. T-Mobile USA Inc., Nextel Partners Inc., IDT Corp. and three other wireless carriers want the equipment to increase their networks’ capacity.

No wireless equipment is on the lampposts yet, because the plan must undergo a review by the city’s Art Commission. Rules are strict: The equipment has to be the same color as the lamppost, cannot carry logos and must meet size constraints.

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