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Parsons still hopes to reopen ASHLAND -- The wait goes on for Parsons Pine Products' reopening. A hearing this morning in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Eugene could clear the way for the longtime Ashland mill to restart operations, something company president Mike Rasmussen hoped to do weeks ago. Neither Rasmussen nor the company's attorney, Barry Caplan, could be reached for comment Tuesday. Today's hearing is on a request by Parsons that the company's cash collateral, basically its equipment, be freed for use and that the court approve a small loan to the business to get things started. Parsons filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy April 27, staving off an auction of its equipment by a day. The equipment was listed as collateral on a $658,000 promissory note issued by Heller Financial Leasing. Heller foreclosed on the equipment after Parsons Pine defaulted on the note, failing to pay each of its $15,747 monthly payments since Sept. 4. The mill closed at the end of February, laying off 40 workers. Rasmussen hoped to reopen it less than a week after the bankruptcy filing but has yet to get approval to do so. Heller, which is owed more than $600,000 in principal, interest and late fees, is one of three secured creditors in the case. The other two secured creditors are Business Factors Inc., a receiving lender owed $143,592, and Wood Products Enterprises, the holding company for former owners Jerry Sivin and Jim Parsons. Wood Products Enterprises claims it is owed $620,000 -- a figure that company officials dispute. Five other creditors have filed claims against Parsons, the largest being a $404,371.71 claim by the Internal Revenue Service. The other creditors are Louisiana Pacific ($20,502.52) of Hayden Lake, Idaho; Hardwoods Inc. of Livermore, Calif. ($25,277.52); Idaho-based Boise Cascade ($28,822.85); and Personal Source Inc. of Medford ($1,853.88). Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA