The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 29

6 THE COURIER-JOURNAL, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1993 EAT Durable goods New orders Billions of dollars, seasonally adjusted ,140 other produce is stored. A forklift trip through a thick plastic curtain takes you to 34 degrees, where Kroger keeps cantaloupe, apples, peas and oranges. It's 25 degrees where Campbell works, in the dock area where ice cream and other frozen foods are unloaded for a freezer that's kept at minus 20 degrees. Workers there wear heavy insulated coveralls with hoods, wool hats, thick leather mittens and immense boots with thick felt liners. Some of the workers spend most of each night in the freezer, choosing cases of products to be stocked in 81 Louisville District stores by morning.

But they don't get cold. Distribution Manager Wes Mon-hollen, who once worked in the from vacation after a couple of weeks, your joints will ache for a while. But that's about it." The men said they don't have any problem with chapped skin. "You do get real red-faced," Phillips said. "Sometimes when you stop on the way home, people look at you funny.

It's like you had a shot of whiskey or something." They said it is healthy in the freezer because the cold keeps down the germs. "I haven't had a cold in years," Duffy said. Phillips said he's been off sick only a couple of times in 30 years of working in freezers. But it's a shock to come out of the freezer into the heat of the day. "It hits you right in the face," Phillips said.

dirty job," he said. But Beeler had the topper. He once had a job cleaning the inside of oil tanks with a hose that blasted hot water. And he had to wear a rubber suit to do it. "That's hot," he said.

But what about working in a cold place when it's more than 90 degrees outside? Walton "Happy" Phillips, 56; Mike Duffy, 49; and Charlie Campbell, 50, work in the cold rooms at Kroger new Kentucky Distribution Center. And they like their jobs. The center, located off the Gene Snyder Freeway near La Grange Road, opened in March. The warmest area is 45 degrees. That's where the watermelons and freezer, said those employees regularly work up a sweat.

"They're on the move," he said. Phillips and Duffy drive forklifts with heated cabs, considered necessary because driving is a sedentary activity. But they do get out of the cabs, which resemble phone booths, quite often to do hand work. Phillips noted that once the door to the cab is open, the heat is gone. But they love it.

Monhollen offered the men's ages as proof. It's a union job, and the senior men get the work they want. Younger people work elsewhere in the warehouse. "On days like this, I'm really thankful for the job in the freezer," Duffy said. "You get used to it," Phillips said.

"Sometimes when you come back Continued from Page 1 out of the direct sunlight." "I wouldn't want to be in the kitchen someplace," Beeler said. Unloading the semitrailers that deliver the coffee beans to conti must be one of the hotter jobs around, Nethery said, adding, "When it's 95 degrees outside, it's 120 in one of those trailers." "Now, doing blacktop work, that gets hot," said Beeler, who worked construction jobs before he joined conti. Nethery countered with tobacco wurk. Hanging harvested tobacco in the rafters of a barn "is a hot, dusty, hhbb Hantaan JASONO A 1992 1993 S. IMP ot Commerce ASSOCIATED PHLSS ECONOMY Continued from Page 1 i lj after consumers went on a holiday spending spree.

But consumer de mand softened this year, causing a decline in factory orders and a buildup in stocks of unsold goods. Consequently, hiring in manufacturing has remained sluggish. I i MiJMrmK mm uutm 1 I If "1 1 I I I I fl I I I I The backlog of unfilled orders fell 0.8 percent, to $435.5 billion, the lowest level since August 1988. It tni muTTi TtmfiMTfmi NVv-v- tH sS is Mill lllvf) I I was the fourth consecutive decline. A dwindling backlog is an indication that the current factory work force is having little difficulty keeping up with the flow of new orders.

"That's a bad sign for blue-collar employment. If there's less work to do, you need fewer people, said economist Maury N. Harris of Painewebber Inc. in New York. Orders for defense goods increased 8.1 percent following a 20.7 percent plunge the month before.

Excluding defense, orders overall rose 3.6 percent. Non-defense capital goods, a measure of businesses' investment spending, rose 11.4 percent. But excluding aircraft, non-defense capital-goods orders increased just 0.7 percent. flirm 1 SHEET -I 1 ft Continued from Page 1 phens said some life insurance companies had teamed up with real estate investors to buy the entire life business. Stephens said he prefers to sell the entire life business.

Otherwise, he might be left to deal with the problem real estate after the company's life insurance policies are sold. The bids will be reviewed by the accounting firm Ernst and Young over the next two to three weeks to determine which offer the best II I 1 Irt 1 EEI Itllll II I I I price. They will then make their rec u-7 wim ins iv ommendations to Stephens, who with the help of advisers will then review them, weighing such other factors as the bidder's reputation and whether jobs will be left in Lexington. Kentucky Central employs about 500 people at its home office. tl I W.W Wlfk .1 -GLi I ill ii iwitiiiiiKaiiiiiiitHJvy I If a best bid is selected, Stephens will negotiate final terms of the sale and then open the bidding a second time, giving all eight investors a sec ond chance to buy the business.

Stephens hopes a final bid will be selected by Sept. 15. Fayette Circuit Court would have to approve the I i LWWwiiiitL jjniii in ji ii in i I I rssi i i cjiKniiumum sale. 1 4091963 i NiJJ yJXJlNWJUiXPte An investment group that real estate developer Dudley Webb, who had more than $100 mil lion in bad real estate loans with Kentucky Central, did not bid yes terday. New York real estate broker Tom Smythe, who organized that effort, said he intends to wait and see if Kentucky Central receives any legitimate offers for its real estate i lJlW.

m) i i jd assets before making his offer. Smythe hopes to combine Ken tucky Central real estate with oth 111 2 i I Lr 11 HT itifrf" I I er real estate holdings of Webb. But Stephens said yesterday, "I'm not selling anything to anybody that owes us money now and is not pay ing it." EJ 1 Zrvffmi I 2201028 iv- Stephens said most of the bidders were life insurance companies. Late yesterday afternoon he was still expecting a bid from one non-insur wLjoil i iii FUEL HESISTMT COAL tnRau 1 UC TAR EMULSION VV'MAVV3 DRIVEWAY SEALER II II I HI III II I I III IIKIIIIIHIIIIL, IIJ. t'lH in iiiiiiii ill hi Tmii in, MiiitiiiitaiMMaatMMiMMatiMMtAtt TTVDr-t 1 I rmr- I ance investor.

National Underwriting, a trade journal, has reported that Jefferson-Pilot Corp. of Greensboro, N.C., and Torchmark Corp. of Birmingham, were interested in making bids. Neither would comment yesterday. Stephens said virtually all the bidders expect to be protected from policyholders surrendering their policies once the company is bought.

That means policyholders could be severely penalized for cashing in universal life policies for a period of time after the sale. Still to be offered for sale are Kentucky Central's property and casualty companies, and its credit-life and accident and health business. Stephens said he rejected a $9.1 million bid from Protective Life Insurance Co. for the credit-life and accident and health business last week because he thought the price was too low. LOW PRICE GUARANTEE! PICK UP YOUR VALUE PACKED CATALOG D0QfoG0? fo ifi, trwM or butsl if vou vr find promotfofut ad ofict on tn ionric item ktwtr tnan ours, wt II mtcr mat price ptus gtvt you 10H of.

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