The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 3

A 10. THE COURIER-JOURNAL FROM PAGE ONE SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1996 Dueling Grounds loses its license Louisville. 12 Price Sale Continues on all summer clothing SALE ROOM UP TO 70OFF DRESSES SPORTSWEAR SWEATERS SHORTS T-SHIRTS SIMPSON COUNTY AvjooxFranklin jjr I Quality Women's Apparel Accessories Sizes 4-1 6 TENNESSEE 48W BROWNSBORO CENTER 893-2415 MON-SAT A And its financial picture was only getting worse, said racing Commissioner Jim Squires. Sinks said yesterday he had obtained a $25 million loan from an Orlando, mortgage company. About $3 million of that was to be deposited directly into a purse account controlled by the racing commission.

But commissioners yesterday expressed concerns about both the size of the loan and the little-known 2-year-old mortgage company, Global Capital and Finance Corp. "Taking on this debt would plunge this track much deeper into debt," Squires said. "It seems to me this makes it impossible for them to ever get out of debt." He also raised questions about whether Sinks or the mortgage company would control the track. "This debt would effectively turn over control to an entity about which we know very little," Squires said. The commission has been scrutinizing Dueling Grounds since June, when the track submitted its annual Continued from Page One simulcast signals from other tracks that got a cut of the handle.

"We're devastated. We lose a lot of purse money, and we lose an opportunity for the horsemen to run," said Rick Hiles, president of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. More than $3.7 million was generated for Kentucky horsemen, who also get a percentage of the betting, at the track last year, according to the association. Other Kentucky race tracks made a similar amount from simulcasting at Dueling Grounds last year. The commission voted 6-0, with Commissioner Lon Fields abstaining.

Two members were absent. Commissioners met privately for more than three hours before announcing the decision. Dueling Grounds, financed by mysterious Hong Kong backers, has always been a losing bet. The track has never made a profit and still owes more than $13 million on its original mortgage. report, which revealed serious financial problems.

Since then, Sinks has tried unsuccessfully to find a buyer for the track. Sinks and his wife, Rita, are former Nashville country-music singers who had plans to turn the track into a racing and music mecca. That never happened. Earl Sinks testified before the racing commission that he was so short of money he had to get a loan to pay purses last year. The Sinkses bought the track Vh years ago after former owner Bradley "Mike" Shannon pleaded guilty to lying to a federal grand jury investigating state government corruption.

Under a plea agreement, charges of extortion nd aiding and abetting corruption against Shannon were State Rep. Bill McBee, chairman of a committee that handled horse-racing legislation in 1990, admitted taking $30,000 in bribes to help pass laws benefiting Dueling Grounds. The racing commission was never able to determine the identity of the DUELING GROUNDS RACE COURSE MEMORIAL PARK FUNERAL HOME i est BY STEVE DURBIN. THE COURIER-JOURNAL track's financial backers. Richard "Smitty" Taylor, chairman of the racing commission, said he expects a mortgage foreclosure, bankruptcy or other legal action to follow the commission's action.

Evidence introduced in those proceedings, he said, may finally shed light on Dueling Grounds' murky origins. 4400 Bardstown Rd. 491-5950 KET asked to pay $1.5 million CEO SALARIES Chart compares salaries for the chief executive officers of WKPC Channel 15, Kentucky Educational Television and the national average for CEOs of public-television stations with budgets of $4.5 million to $6 million, the range that includes WKPC. WKPC (54.6 million budget) John- Labor Day Weekend Special All Garden Spaces 12 One day, all of us must make the very difficult I decision of purchasing a cemetery space for someone we love. Don't put it off.

This limited "Preplan" offer represents a substantial savings. Savings can be applied to above ground mausoleum entombment. Pre-need only. In setting a price of $1.5 million for the KET acquisition, WKPC officials assume they'll receive adequate proceeds from a separate sale of WKPC's building, Curtin said. The building was appraised at about $2.4 million in 1994 before WKPC paid $2.1 million for it and put $600,000 or so into renovating it and building a tower behind it.

Beyond the building, WKPC considers its most valuable assets to be its broadcast and production equipment, which was valued at about $3.5 million before depreciation in 1994, according to federal tax records filed by Fifteen Telecommunications. It's unclear how much of that equipment KET wants though the state-owned system is clearly interested in WKPC's transmitter and its tower in Floyds Knobs in Southern Indiana. Curtin said he's confident that KET would be getting a good deal on its acquisition, chiefly because "there's no profit built in on the sale price. As a non-profit corporation, Fifteen Telecommunications is merely interested in charging "what it's going to take to close this out." "If it's less than $1.5 million, that's what it'll be," he said. Still, dealers in secondhand television equipment caution that as a general rule, prices should be low.

In some cases, equipment that's 2 years old can trade for as little as 25 percent of its initial cost, said Gary Dennis, who works for Media Concepts, a Tulsa, equipment dealer. And though WKPC's license from the Federal Communications Commission would also be part of the deal, it's difficult to determine the value of a non-commercial broadcast license, Curtin acknowledged. Robert Curtin NATIONAL AVERAGE (stations with $4.5 million to $6 million budget) ceo IliliiFI KET ($23.3 million budget) Virginia 1 flMfrfil Fox SBBmm Continued from Page One ing with was made whole." Chief among the lenders is Stock Yards Bank Trust which provided about $3.2 million, most of it used to acquire and renovate WKPC's headquarters in 1994. Curtin said yesterday that WKPC has repaid about $1 million of that. (Other lenders all far less involved than Stock Yards include Fifth Third Bank, Bank of Louisville and NBD Bank in Southern Indiana.) The station occupies only a small portion of the building.

WKPC has tried to lease the rest of the space, with limited success. A major tenant, drugstore chain Taylor Drugs, ended its lease after being acquired this summer by Rite Aid Corp. Up to 40,000 square feet are not under lease, Curtin said. WKPC's role as a landlord is just one of its business ventures; others have earned Curtin a reputation as an innovator. Fifteen Telecommunications the non-profit company that operates the station, also has for-profit subsidiaries, including Team One a communications consulting firm that specializes in such areas as "distance education" and teleconferencing.

Federal tax records filed by Fifteen Telecommunications for 1994 showed that the for-profit companies, which are intended to provide money for their non-profit parent, lost money that year. Team One lost nearly $122,000. Starco Holdings a holding company, reported a loss of nearly $171,000. Curtin said both companies still contributed income to the parent company by paying for management services under contracts. He said the losses reflect accelerated depreciation on equipment.

And he noted that he receives no salary from any of the for-profit subsidiaries. Nonetheless, his salary is generous by national standards. For the past three years, Curtin's base salary has been $125,000. Data from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting show that the average salary for chief executive officers at public television stations with comparable budgets is about $96,861. The highest salary paid at any of the stations with comparable budgets was $127,000.

At KET, whose budget is five times as big as WKPC's, director Virginia Fox, who is a state employee, makes $88,860 a year. Curtin said he does not believe the station's salaries are too high. The next-highest salary below his is around $70,000 a year, he said. mm 1 wi a uiSU IU LJ UU LJ Vi-X LJ A I LJ Pbsturcpcdu? Support Only From Scaly Louisville's Largest mattress gallery featuring Sealy, Simmons, Serta Perfect Sleepers mattresses on Sale Now at Guaranteed Low Holidav Prices! '1. ,31 wsm hf4 24 MONTHS SAME AS CASH! BONUS BRING IN ANY MATTRESS ADVERTISEMENT RECEIVE OFF NEXT DAY DELIVERY REMOVAL BEDFRAME WITH SET PURCHASE WITH SET PURCHASE WITHIN OUR DELIVERY AREA EXPIRES 9-6-96 EXPIRES 9-6-96 SET PURCHASE.

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