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The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 41

Publication:
The Anniston Stari
Location:
Anniston, Alabama
Issue Date:
Page:
41
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

ar Feb. 9, 1992 PagelE 01 i By Stephen Wilson Tha Attoclatad Pratt companies pay for the right to be an official sponsor while competitors run ads that play off the event. In this case. Visa is one of the 12 international corporations paying for the right to be part of the IOC's sponsorship program, known by the acronym TOP. These sponsors have exclusive rights to describe themselves as part of the Olympic movement.

American Express recently began a series of ads in the United States that play off the Winter Olympic theme. While the ads never stipulate any Olympic ties, they show scenes that clearly relate to the Winter Games quaint French villages, Alpine vistas and other sites with an Olympic flavor. American Express has. also distributed publicity material in the Albertville Olympics zone to challenge Visa. is "American Express has been regularly involved in trying to create the impression that it is a sponsor of the Olympic movement and trying to diminish the competitive advantage of Visa," said Richard Pound, the marketing chief of the International Olympic Committee.

"Whenever we can, and if necessary, we take legal action to stop it." Pound said the French organizers of the Albertville Winter Games have filed suit against American Express. He had no details of the legal action. Pound said other non-authorized companies have sought to pass themselves off as Olympic sponsors, but See Olympics3E 2 Harris Hill 'Johnson COURCHEVEL. France A credit card war has broken out before the Winter Olympic Games. The International Olympics Committee last week said it is taking legal action to stop companies from using "ambush" tactics against official Olympic sponsors, singling out American Express, as the main violator.

But American Express said it was only detending itself against "malicious attack" from its main competitorVisa. The issue of "ambush marketing" has come in other major sports events, like the Super Bowl, where Automakers, government join hands? Experts moving in AmSouth announces changes On the local front at AmSouth Bank in Anniston: Ronnie Harris has been promoted from assistant vice president to vice president. Wayne Johnson, who worked at the bank, is returning as vice president and branch administrator. Harris has worked at the bank since December 1972 in the consumer lending department. He holds a B.S.

degree from Jacksonville State and is a graduate of the Alabama School of Banking in Mobile. Harris is a member of the Saks and Anniston Civitan Clubs and the McCoy Methodist Church. He is currently participating in the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce's leadership class. Johnson, for the last three years, had been city president of the AmSouth Bank in Sulligent, but it was recently sold. So he is returning to Anniston where he started his banking career in 1976 in AmSouth's consumer lending department.

Johnson holds undergraduate and master's degrees from Jacksonville State and is a graduate of the Alabama School of Banking in Mobile. Electrician passes exam Byron Stanley Hill recently passed thestate Master Electrician Examination. Hill owns and operates Hill Electric 714 S. Leighton Avenue. Hill Electric is state licensed as an electrical contractor to do residential and commercial wiring.

Technologist passes test Cindy Prince, a radiologic IV i. SMvt QrouTn AnnKton Star Manager Johnny Thompson stands beside old Firestone sign technologist with Anniston OB-GYN Associates, recently passed a national registry exam for advanced qualifications in mammography The exam is administered three times a year by the American College of Radiology and certifies Mrs. Prince as an X-ray technician specializing in mammography. New store, color scheme brightens downtown site By David Everett Knlght-Rlddw Tribune Nawa Wire WASHINGTON Whenever President Bush and leaders of the nation's Big Three automakers discuss the growing level of cooperation between Industry and government, they are careful to avoid the words "industrial policy." Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca recalls the flak he got back in 1985 when he uttered the phrase. "My God, did that ever set off fireworks! I was practically preaching treason.

A plan? Planning is un-American!" Iacocca said in a recent speech. Anathema to conservatives and many business executives, industrial policy in its most extreme form means the government promotes and even bestows favors on industries it selects as nationally significant. Bush says he hates the concept. But slowly, quietly, subtly, the Big Three automakers and the federal government appear to be moving toward a new era of cooperation that appears to be a crude, de facto industrial policy: With the government's approval, the Big Three have used antitrust exemptions to start at least six different joint research programs. Several get taxpayer money, and a Japanese carmaker has been excluded from at least one.

To tap government expertise, the nation's biggest carmaker, General Motors is developing close relationships with the government's prestigious national laboratory network. The U.S. auto industry was a major focus of Bush's recent Japan trade mission, which included the chairmen of the Big Three. An official advisory panel of auto parts industry officials is helping U.S. negotiators in their trade talks with Japan.

This panel has access to secret government trade information. The U.S. government-industry relationship is nowhere near as close as the synergistic one that has helped give Japan the most efficient and successful car companies in the world. But the American trend is genuine, despite the careful avoidance of those'hated words by government and business leaders. Today, Iacocca tries to avoid the phrase "industrial policy," but he and some congressional Democrats believe the nation needs some kind of plan or policy for an industry they consider the most important in America.

"What is so un-American about having a plan to compete?" Iacocca asked. "Everybody has a plan." But not everybody wants a plan. While many industry experts believe automakers can cooperate more with government, others worry that even today's hints of an industrial policy or whatever you call it can be dangerous. Cynthia Beltz, a research associate at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and author of a book on trade, said that while some government-industry cooperation on research could be useful, other programs are not. For instance, the government's funding of a Big Three electric car battery research consortium may See Policy2E i i Prince Mrs.

Prince, 29, has worked at Anniston OB-GYN Associates for six years. By Frederick Burger Star Bualnasa Editor The purple, yellow and white stripes provide a rather abrupt contrast to what bad been the familiar red and white colors of the landmark Firestone tire store at the corner of West 11th Street and Wilmer Avenue in downtown Safety products exhibited Suppliers of safety products for the construction industry will exhibit their wares in a show Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Birmingham-Jefferson County Civic Center. The conference is being sponsored by the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama, the Associated General Contractors of Alabama and the National Safety Council.

For more information call these groups in Birmingham at 870-9768, 252-8021 or 328-7233. Anniston. The theory, of course, is to draw attention to a new tire estab lishment, and if this doesn't work nothing will. what is now the parking lot of SouthTrust Bank, before moving across the street about 20 years ago to its present location at 18 W. 11th St.

That's where it prospered until it closed last Dec. 1, and corporate plans for changing the name and renovating moved into high gear. The Bridgestone Corp. of Tokyo bought Firestone in 1988. and the American subsidiary became BridgestoneFirestone which is moving its corporate offices from Akron, Ohio, to Nashville, Tenn.

BridgestoneFirestone also has decided to etablish a new chain of corporately owned discount tire stores under the ExperTire name. According to Thompson, 300 ExperTire stores are springing up around the country, including ones in Gadsden, Sylacauga, Troy, Do than and Enterprise. Since mid-December, the old Firestone store in downtown Anniston has been receiving its new See Expertire2E I think It'll bth best looking ttoro In downtown If you like purplo. Wo'ro going to have hundreds of tiros on display. Johnny Thompson, manager scheme, Thompson says the prices will be about 25 percent less than they were at the old Firestone store.

"It's a different color, but 99 percent of the comments have been positive," Thompson says with a smile "I think it'll be the best looking store in downtown if you like purple. We're going to have hundreds of tires on display." The new name and colors actually are not, in some ways, so far removed from the store's long history. Thompson dates the Firestone storftjndowntown Anniston to the 1930s. It initially was on the site of people are starting to notice the splash of color that symbolizes the new store. It will open under the name ExperTire, probably by mid-March, and even Manager Johnny Thompson breaks into a grin when LP gas licenses offered Persons or firms who want to conduct service work on LP-gas systems are required to be licensed by the Alabama LP-Gas Board.

For more information, write Leonard Pakruda, Administrator, Alabama LP-Gas Board, P.O. Box 1742, Montgomery, Ala. 36102-1742 or call 205-242-5649. the store's new trademark colors are mentioned. As a discount tire store, Thomp son says this is the tire retailer of the future.

It will carry multiple lines of tires, some from different manufacturers. And, more important to consumers than the color New chamber chairman plots battle for fort, depot By Frederick Burger Star Buiinaaa Editor Rehab Works names director Pamela Hall, an occupational therapist in Anniston, has been named state director for Rehab Works of Alabama, a company that provides management and direct services for therapy programs in various facilities around the state. Ms. Hall, 33, had been regional director for the company. She has worked for RehabWorks since February 1991.

Ms. Hall also was named regional director of the year at a banquet last month at Orange Beach. She was a member of the company's therapy team of the year, which also included Mary Coyle, Wanda Ervin, Tonya French and Linda Ragland. Edna Hall (Pamela's mother) was named administrativeclerical employee of the year for the company's regional division, which spans Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, Louisiana and Northern Florida. RhabWorks has its corporate offices in Clearwater, Fla.

It employs more than 1,000 people in about 15 states. battle over the too. Jackson and other community leaders, at the urging of U.S. Rep. Glen Browder, already are working to broaden the base of opposition to any future threats to the fort and the depot.

Both are regional facilities, and efforts to preserve their vital economic impact must be approached on that basis. The chamber has decided that it would be both logical politically and more feasible economically to recruit neighboring counties many of whose residents work at the fort and the depot to help share the burden. "We can't even measure the man-hours that took," Jackson says, referring to the chamber's successful effort last year that See Jackson2E Part of the agenda was already set when Anniston attorney William H. "Bill" Jackson recently became chairman of the board of the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce, the voice of most of the county's business community. Another assault to close Fort McClellan is already taking shape in the trenches.

And the chamber will be expected to respond and save it. The same could one day be true of the Anniston Army Depot, particularly with the talk about cutting national defense spending further and redirecting priorities to domestic concerns. So the chamber is anticipating a Compiled from Staff, Wire Reports CHWia llMlMlTha innlahui la. Anniston attorney William H. "Bill" Jackson fight for fort, AOD Small company's international headquarters (TallsTuscaloosa home rrrr-' A IB fgg lod-IUtldwital JT Total tSZ.BOS I $27.1 26 1 2 I I Iglffv 1 $19,496 1 Hi IM.WS -mm mr lim-iiii- lun-iiif u.

in t-. By Max Heine Tha Aaaoclatad Pratt Fried Chicken and Pepsi-Cola. "It's really difficult to compete with one of the largest corporations in America," said Wilkin, Taco Casa president. Nevertheless, that's business as usual for him, and he claims a good measure of success. Sales at the Northport Taco Casa have continued to climb although Taco Bell opened on a prominent corner Just down the See Tacos2E building.

Instead of an international enterprise, Wilkin holds the reins of an intrastate business pushing Mexican fast food: four company-owned outlets in Tuscaloosa County and one in Mobile, and a franchise in Birmingham. The most direct competition, however, has international muscle. Taco Bell's parent, Pepsico, is one of the largest food-and-drink conglomerates in the world. Pepsico's other children include Pizza Hut, Kentucky TUSCALOOSA There must be some misunderstanding, say the callers to Taco Casa. They want the home office.

For Rod Wilkin and his associates. Taco Casa's bona fide home "international headquarters," he says with tongue in cheek is in the rear of a Tuscaloosa RnkS Rk TrmUeTrat Ameton SMf.

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Pages Available:
849,438
Years Available:
1887-2017