<B>Tom and David Nicholson</B> believe the highly conductive and volcanic ground of Nevada County provides fertile territory for ground-penetrating radar, so they’ve formed <B>Sierra Nevada Ground Scan Imaging</B> of Grass Valley.

The technology is a more powerful version of conventional radar that is used extensively to find buried utility lines and tanks in geological and environmental surveys, archaeology, and forensics, hunts for weapons and even victim searches.

Tom Nicholson has more than 28 years of experience in the construction field and has been an avid treasure hunter for longer than that, so he decided to turn his work and hobby into a business.
His son, David, has the computer expertise to operate the software that processes the data collected by their SIR3000 system manufactured by Geophysical Survey Systems Inc., the world leader in the technology.

Tom Nicholson said Nevada County’s soil has the highest mineral content in the state, making it highly conductive and difficult to find mine shafts or anything else buried in the ground.

That makes the area a good candidate for the ground-penetrating radar technology. “Anything in the ground, we can see within a 20-foot parameter,” he said. Nevada County GSI can be reached at 271-5793.

<B>Daystar Technologies</B>, a former Nevada County manufacturer of photovoltaic products that was lured to New York state last year by an $11 million incentive package, has announced a deal worth up to $75 million.

DayStar said it signed a contract to supply Blitzstrom of Germany with enough of its TerraFoil solar cells to produce 30 megawatts of solar power. Blitzstrom is a system integrator and distributor of photovoltaic systems and components in Europe.

DayStar was founded in Golden, Colo., in 1997 and moved to Grass Valley in July 2002, in part because of the state’s incentives that pay for solar energy. Then it got a better offer from the Empire State.

The <B>Technology Index</B>, which tracks the performance of 50 Sacramento area technology companies including Telestream of Nevada City, showed sluggish growth in the first quarter of 2005.

The index, compiled by the <B>Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance</B>, grew by six-tenths of a percent in the first quarter, a sharp drop from an average growth of 10 percent in the previous three quarters.

SARTA attributed the performance to a decline in market capitalization of the seven publicly held companies included in the index.

On the bright side, the 43 private companies in the index reported a 3.2 percent increase in revenue to $516.2 million, and the addition of 109 workers.

An individual or merchant who gets stuck with a bad check now has a better chance of getting their money back through a recently-introduced state <B>Bad Check Program</B>.

Once a complaint is filed, the person who wrote the bad check is contacted by the program and required to pay for the amount of the check plus bank fees incurred by the victim.

The check writer also pays an administrative fee to fund the cost of the public service. If the bad check writer refuses to pay restitution, prosecution can follow, said program spokeswoman De Anna Bingham.

Complaint forms can be downloaded at www.da-badcheck.com and additional information is available by calling (800) 454-6737.

A free seminar and insurance sales presentation on retirement financial strategies will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Peace Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall, 828 W. Main St., Grass Valley.
<B>Kent Suemnicht</B>, a financial consultant with <B>Thrivent Financial for Lutherans</B>, and <B>Ed Browning</B>, regional vice president of <B>Thrivent Investment Management, Inc.</B>, will discuss various aspects of the retirement planning.

Reservations can be made by phoning 886-8222, or by e-mail to kent.suemnicht@thrivent.com.

<B>SIP Home Systems Inc.</B> of Grass Valley has been named master distributor in Central and Northern California for Premier Building Systems. Premier manufactures structural insulated panels for houses and other buildings.

<I>Got local business news? Contact George Boardman at georgeb@theunion.com or 477-4236.</I>