That alert is TEN YEARS OLD for Pete's sake!!! I have no idea why this newbie first time poster went back and pulled this up from the archives! The company was sold by Bob Hice, the inventor, and the company went bankrupt when the owners went to China for production of the stands with what turned out to be inferior materials. The Hices got the company back and resumed production in the original US factory with the proper materials. Bob died in January of 2006 and his wife kept the company going for a few years until it finally folded several years ago.