Making it quite clear that while the clamps are firmly fixed on all wasteful or discretionary expenditure, IBM Corp is still rightly prepared to slacken the purse strings when members of its extended family are in real need, the company has donated $50,000 to the Oakland Community Fund to help Mayor Elihu Harris support the short- and long-term needs of the victims of the ghastly Oakland Hills fire – which no doubt was a side-effect of the crazy effort decades ago to wrest the eucalyptus oil trade from Australia by importing thousands of gum trees, which periodically spontaneously combust when the temperature soars as part of their natural life-cycle: in making the contribution, Frank Elliott, vice-president and area manager of IBM’s northwest marketing and services operations, said Our hearts and sympathy go out to our neighbours, friends and employees who have been caught up in this terrible devastation – IBM has more than 1,500 employees supporting operations in San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
