The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 22

EDITOR: JOHN MORRIS, 369-1009 THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1988 B-7 NYSE listingB-8 NASDAQ tableB-9 Amex stocksB-10 Mutual fundsB-11 Portfolio Armco apologizes to union workers 2175 2150 2125 BY ADAM SCHOR and IRENE WRIGHT The Cincinnati Enquirer Calling the decision an "error in judgment," Armco Inc. apologized Wednesday to union workers after forcing them to remove an American flag before the arrival of a Japanese delegation at the Ashland, plant. The apology came after union members stepped up their protest over Monday's decision by passing out more than 2,000 stickers of American flags that workers applied to their hard hats. "We now realize that we were wrong in asking our employees to remove the flag and that we have offended many people," said Bill Scaggs, Armco's superintendent of community relations in Ashland. "For that error in judgment, we apologize." Company officials had claimed the 15-foot flag, hung at one of the plant's furnaces, was meant to embarrass the Japanese delegation, while the union contended it was a show of patriotism.

It was hung the night before a Japanese trade delegation from Kawasaki Steel Corp. was to tour the plant Monday. Michael Hewlett, president of local 1865 of the United Steel-workers of America, which organized the protest, said his office had been besieged with calls from the media as well as support from other unions. "The phone has been hot all day," said Hewlett, who later was interviewed with Scaggs on an Arizona radio station. The national exposure plus the distribution of stickers in part brought on the apology.

"They said 'Oops, this is getting too Hewlett said. "The general public had perceived that our actions were wrong," Scaggs said. "We deeply regret this incident ever happened. The American flag is not an issue for Americans to be at odds over." He said his office received dozens of calls from across the country regarding the decision. Earlier Wednesday, Scaggs had said the man who hoisted the flag sought to "humiliate the Japanese delegation," in part because Monday was the 43rd anni versary of the day Japan announced its surrendered in World War II.

The company has several other American flags flying at the plant, he said. Also, the company would have allowed the flag to remain if workers placed a Japanese flag aside it. Hewlett, who before the apology said the issue "is not dead," later was satisfied. He said he was notified of the apology late Wednesday afternoon. (Please see ARMCO, Page B-12) 2000 1975 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 15 16 17 Thursday's focus: development August Dow Jones 30 Industrials dally highs, with closes at arrow tip Area-Interest stocks In Industrial average (NYSE change from previous day) unch.

GE 38 Cincinnati Stock Exchange volume 00 it. I I 4 A I i I. Dow manages a slim advance Stocks seesawed Wednesday and finished mixed in a slow session that reflected investor apathy and more uncertainty about where the market is headed. The mm TV station up for sale once again BY JON NEWBERRY The Cincinnati Enquirer WIII-TV (Channel 64) is back on the market. Less than a year after lengthy bankruptcy-court proceedings ended, clearing the way for a new start at the debt-laden independent station, Channel 64 is once again looking for a buyer.

A group formed by investors Gary Marshall and William Livingston had an exclusive contract to purchase the station, but it expired last month. United Cable Television Corp. of Denver, which reacquired ownership of Channel 64 earlier this year as part of a court-approved reorganization, has notified the Marshall group that it will entertain other offers. The Marshall group would have needed to raise more than $8 million to finance the purchase, according to documents filed with federal bankruptcy court in Cincinnati. Marshall could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Stephen Kent, general manager of Channel 64, said Wednesday that United Cable is discussing a possible purchase The Cincinnati EnquirerDick Swaim The Watertown Yacht Club on the shores of the Ohio River off Dayton, opened to the public Wednesday. Yacht club a waterway sampler Watertown owner went out of his way to find best features with several parties, including Cincinnati Gardens owner Gerald J. Robinson. Robinson's II 1 previous offer to buy the station out of bankruptcy wasn't accepted by United Cable, then Channel 64's largest creditor, and was withdrawn. lr It Robinson, who owns thrpp inrlpnpnHpnt sta- I Dow Jones average of 30 industrial stocks, which partly recovered Tuesday from a three-month low, swung in a narrow range and closed up 4.45 points to 2,025.96.

Most broader market indicators were lit- tie changed. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange floor totaled 169.50 million shares, vs. 162.79 million Tuesday. "But discounting institutional trading in stocks with high-yielding dividends, it was one of the slowest sessions of the sum- mer. Acquisitions MALRITE STUDIES OFFER: Mal-: rite Communications Group Inc.

of Cleve- land said its board appointed a special independent committee to study and make 'a recommendation on a buyout proposal Malrite received Monday. A management group has offered $10.25 for each of Malrite's common and Class A common shares outstanding. The group's proposal will terminate in any event if a definitive merger agreement has not been executed by Sept. 14. The assets of Malrite include i radio stations in Los Angeles, Philadel-.

phia, New York and Houston. The six independent television stations are in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Rochester, Jacksonville and West Palm Beach, and San Juan, P.R. POMINEX TO BE SOLD: Clinton Gas Systems Inc. said it has agreed in principle to acquire 100 of the stock of Gradison Pominex Inc. unit.

Terms weren't disclosed. Pominex oper-" ates about 170 natural gas and oil wells in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Clinton will buy Pominex's stock primarily for cash, and will make a formula-based offer to buy for cash the interests of limited partners in Pominex-sponsored drilling programs. The transaction is subject to a definitive agreement and board approval by both companies. GE SHEDS UNIT: The General Elec-.

trie Co. has agreed to sell its solid state division to the Harris Corp. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But some analysts said GE was eager to sell the semiconductor maker, so that the price might be close to the division's annual sales, which were $550 million. GE said the solid state unit did not fit its strategy of concentrating on such businesses as jet engines and major household appliances in which it has strong worldwide sales.

a Real estate PROFESSORSHIP STARTED: The University of Cincinnati College of Busi BY RICHARD GREEN The Cincinnati Enquirer When Sonny Lodder decided Cincinnati needed another dock facility on the Ohio River, he sought the finest amenities possible and would go any distance to get them. His plan was not an unfamiliar business tactic, except Lodder's quest took him 4,000 miles through inland waterways in the eastern United States. "I stopped at nearly every major marina from Virginia, to Florida, through the Gulf of Mexico region, up the Mississippi and back to Cincinnati choosing the best features from each of the marinas," Lodder said. "I wanted something here that would be the best in the area. I gathered up others' ideas and put them all together." Lodder, part-owner of Riverport Enterprises applied his findings in the $10 million Watertown Yacht Club of Dayton, which opened Wednesday.

The project was financed through loans from BankOne of Cleveland and Provident Bank of Cincinnati. With in-water slips for 500 boats and a dry dock storage area for 500 more, the facility nearly doubles the capacity of the area's second-largest marina, Four Seasons. "We believe we have the finest amenities to offer to local boaters," Lodder said. The 50-acre site offers cable TV hookups to boaters, dock phones, catering services, daily garbage collection and fire protection. And for the boater pressed for time, an advance phone call will send a "valet" to take a customer's boat out of service, gas and prepare it and put it in the water.

After use, the boat will be returned to storage. Lodder points to the marina's protective inland harbor as the attraction most boaters like. The harbor has eight-foot wide docks that rise and fall with the water level to keep boats from rocking from the wake caused by heavy river traffic. "People with $100,000 boats don't want the waves to rock the heck out of it," he said. "This place protects it from the barge traffic and also provides a nice club setting.

You don't have to be boating to come down and enjoy it." Only two of those docked at the new marina live in boats, Lodder said. "The rest come down in the evenings or the weekends to take their boats out and either go skiing or go to the riverboat restaurants-' Boat owners are charged $58 per foot of their boat to stay docked, either in slips or on land, from May 1 to Nov. 1. The rate is $20 the rest of the year. With 250 boats currently renting space in the harbor, and 50 more onshore, some interesting numbers can be calculated: With the average size of boats in slips being 36 feet, $522,000 could be collected for annual storage.

Another $60,900 could come from those in dry dock. The average value, according to Lodder, of boats in the water is $75,000. Multiplied by 250 boats, that is $18,750,000 resting in the harbor. Approximately $675,000 in rents (Please see YACHT, Page B-12) Kont tions elsewhere, said he 1 is discussing a possible deal with United but said an agreement isn't close. He expects to reach a decision one way or another within a couple weeks, he Channel 64 has made "tremendous headway" since it emerged from bankruptcy proceedings and is now a viable business, Kent said.

In addition to improved ratings and better credibility with advertisers, programming costs were drastically reduced through reorganization, said Kent. Before filing for bankruptcy, Channel 64 was stuck with contracts for television programming that it couldn't possibly afford to pay for, Kent said. The reorganization allowed the station to escape those obligations and start over. Interest rates frame home starts Housing starts Seasonally adjusted annual rate, millions of units 1.9 1.8 1.7 ness Aaministranon will dedicate The West Shell Jr. Professor of Real Estate professorship at 5:30 p.m.

Aug. 24 in the lobby of Lindner Hall. Business College Dean E. Leonard Ar-noff will mark the dedication with a plaque which will hans in the lobbv of 1.6 TT TT TT Ex-broker admits to wire fraud THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW HAVEN, Conn. A former stockbroker charged in the insider trading scandal involving leaked copies of Business Week magazine pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of wire fraud.

William Dillon, 33, who was dismissed last month from his job at Merrill Lynch Co. in New London, admitted paying $10 to $30 for advance copies of the magazine to various employees of R.R. Donnelley Sons which prints Business Week at two plants, one in Old Saybrook. Dillon, of Old Lyme, acknowledged in U.S. District Court that he bought non-public copies of the magazine on Thursday mornings between late 1986 and July 1988.

The publication is released to the public after the markets close on Thursdays. He admitted that he bought securities in about 129 companies mentioned favorably in the "Inside Wall Street" column. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS and CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Housing construction rose a moderate 2.4 in July, the government reported Wednesday, but economists warned that rising mortgage rates could make the two-month housing rebound a brief one. The Commerce Department said new homes and apartments were being built at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.49 million units last month after advancing 4.4 in June. Housing starts had dropped a sharp 12.1 in May to the slowest pace in three years, and rising mortgage rates were blamed.

The June-July rebound was attributed to stabilized mortgage rates, but last week the Federal Reserve boosted the discount rate, the interest it charges for loans to member banks. This move was widely interpreted as the opening salvo in a renewed battle by the central bank to drive up interest rates to fight inflation. As a consequence, a variety of other interest rates, including the banks' prime lending rate and mortgage rates have moved higher. 10.61 compared with 10.47 last week. For a 15-year fixed mortgage, the rate was 10.3 this week, up from last week's 10.17.

A three-year adjustable rate mortgage was 9.33 this week compared with 9.2 for the previous week. A one-year adjustable rate mortgage was pegged at 8.34 this week, compared with an 8.14 for last week. In comparison, last year's 30-year fixed rate at this time was 10.19, with the 15-year fixed at 9.81, the Board of Realtors reported. "I believe we have seen the peak for housing starts this year as rising interest rates cut into sales," said Richard Peach, an economist with the Mortgage Bankers Association. David Seiders, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders, said his organization was so concerned by the Fed's credit-tightening moves that he asked Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in a letter for "a more even-handed approach." "Clearly, the Fed views the housing industry and other interest rate-sensitive sectors of the economy as being sacrificial lambs," Seiders said.

Sales of homes and other high-priced items usually are the first to fall off when the Federal Reserve tries to dampen borrowing by raising interest rates. Michael Sumichrast, an economist and publisher of a construction industry newsletter, said that if mortgage rates climb to 11.5 or higher, it would spell disaster for the housing industry. i He said home sales already been hurt by big price increases in many parts of the country. "I don't think you can sell houses at 11.5 to 12 mortgage rates in this market because of the price increases," Sumichrast said. Analysts say another worrisome sign is that housing permits, considered a good barometer of future activity, fell in July by 5.4 to an annual rate of 1,41 million units.

It was the biggest permit decline since January, James Christian, chief economist of the U.S. League; of Savings Institutions, said the drop in housing permits probably reflects builders' fears of rising mortgage rates. TT Shell the college's home on the university cam A SON FMAMJ 1987 1988 pus. July '87 June '88 July '88 1.59 1.45 1.49 Source: U.S. Dept.

of Commerce Steel ARMCO TO UPGRADE: Armco Inc. said it will spend $8 million to upgrade its silicon steel processing line at the Butler, plant of its Armco Advanced Materials Corp. unit. Work is expected to begin within the next several months and to be completed by the third quarter of 1989. The project is subject to approval by Armco's board.

Compiled by Dick Benson from staff and news service reports Fixed-rate mortgages rose to 10.57 by the end of last week and analysts predicted mortgages would soon top 11. Interest rates late Wednesday in the Tristate reflected this trend, according to the Cincinnati Board of Realtors. Rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage rose this week to.