Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 26

Today's tip TULSin.es The Service Corps of Retired Executives needs volunteers to share their knowledge and experience with people running or just starting small businesses. Details, 784-5477. 8B Reno Gazette-Journal Friday, September 5, 1986 Casino closure shakes Ely economy Prices for precious metals back on rise NEW YORK The dollar turned higher against most major currencies in the United States Thursday, after falling in Europe, while precious metal prices rebounded from the previous day's trading. Platinum for current delivery rose $11.90 to $663.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Platinum had fallen $11.30 Wednesday.

Gold was quoted at $409.75 an ounce at 1 p.m. PDT at Republic National Bank in New York, up $6.25 from Wednesday's late bid. Gold for current delivery rose $5.50 to close at $410 an ounce on the Commodity Exchange in New York. Silver rose 3.3 cents to $5.35 an ounce on the Comex. ing to the company's attorney in Reno, Stephen Harris.

The Chapter 11 reorganization was converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation, and lone Jackman of Ely was appointed Wednesday as trustee of the case in bankruptcy, sources said. Monday's closure was not authorized by bankruptcy court officials, sources said. More than five dozen slot machines had been removed from the casino and apparently taken to Las Vegas, the sources also said. Husing has been ordered to appear at a bankruptcy court hearing at 8 a.m. Tuesday in Reno, sources said.

Norm Goeringer, former owner of the Hotel Nevada building and property, filed earlier this summer for foreclosure on a deed of trust, according to Harris. Goeringer, owner of the Jail House casino By Mike NorrisGazette-Journal Ely, the once-bustling copper-mining community in White Pine County, suffered another economic blow this week when cash-flow problems forced the closure of one of its three casinos. Financial difficulties led to the shutdown of the Hotel Nevada on Labor Day, according to business and law enforcement officials in Ely, a town of about 4,500 people in eastern Nevada near the Humboldt National Forest. The hotel-casino's general manager, John Husing of Ely, could not be reached for comment. State records list Husing as president of White Pine owner of the Hotel Nevada.

Ely Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ferrel Hansen called the closing a "significant blow" to the economies of Ely and White Pine County, which have had problems since 1978 when Kennecott Corp. shut down a massive copper mine that had employed up to 1,500 people more than half the jobs in the area. "It was a significant blow, especially to our ability to attract conventions and tourists," Hansen said. "We're hopeful that it will reopen in the not-too-distant future." Hansen estimated 65 people lost their jobs as a result of the closure. "They've had financial difficulties, as has the rest of the town of Ely," said Reno attorney A.J.

"Bud" Hicks, resident agent for White Pine Co. The hotel has been attempting to straighten out its financial problems for several years. White Pine Co. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in Reno bankruptcy court 3' years ago, accord OR LD Hunts to face Dallas court DALLAS A federal judge Thursday ordered the Hunt brothers of Texas to transfer their bankruptcy cases from New Orleans to Dallas. Placid Oil one of its subsidiaries and a Hunt family trust filed petitions under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy laws last week in New Orleans.

Lawyers for the Hunts argued this week that the companies should have their bankruptcy petitions heard in New Orleans, especially because Louisiana is where most of the assets are. Banks seeking payment of $1.5 billion in debts from the Hunts said the bankruptcies could be handled more efficiently in Dallas. and motel opposite the Hotel Nevada on Ely's Aultman Street, could not be reached for comment. The prospects for the reopening of the hotel-casino were not clear Thursday. "There's no word on whether they'll reopen or whether it'll be turned back to Goeringer or what," Under-sheriff Bernie Romero said.

Romero confirmed the Hotel Nevada was closed at about 2 p.m. Monday and that its slot machines had been removed. Ely has one casino, one casino-motel and one motel that is planning to add a casino, according to the Chamber of Commerce's Hansen. He said he believes permanent closure of the Hotel Nevada would be a sharp but not crippling blow to the local economy. Ex-investment bankers admit insider trading NEW YORK (AP) Two former investment bankers who helped Dennis Levine carry on the biggest insider trading scheme ever uncovered pleaded guilty to criminal charges Thursday and pledged to cooperate in the continuing investigation.

Ira B. Sokolow, 32, a former vice president at Shearson Lehman Brothers, and David Brown, 31, a lawyer and former employee of Goldman, Sachs told U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan they provided Levine with information he used to make millions of dollars in the stock market. Each man waived the need for prosecutors to seek an indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud.

Sokolow also pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion and Brown confessed to one count of mail fraud. Each count carries a possible five-year prison sentence and $250,000 fine. Keenan set sentencing for Oct. 24 and allowed the two men to remain free on their own recognizance in the meantime. Levine, a former managing director at Drexel Burnham Lambert pleaded guilty to four counts earlier this summer after federal officials charged him with making more than $12 million in illegal profits over a five-year period.

Levine was described as the man at the center of a ring of Wall Street professionals who swapped confidential information and used it for their own advantage. Federal law forbids corporate executives, investment bankers and others with access to non-public information from using it to trade in securities. The law seeks to protect ordinary investors from being victimized by those with, for example, advance knowledge of a merger offer that will soon send a stock's value soaring. In his brief court appearance Thursday, Sokolow calmly admitted giving Levine advance information about RCA plan in 1983 to sell its CIT financial services unit to Manufacturers Hanover Trust and about merger talks between Sperry Corp. and ITT Corp.

in 1985. Brown admitted that, through Sokolow, who was his college classmate at the University of Pennsylvania, he gave Levine advance word last year about plans for a leveraged buy-out of McGraw Edison and a merger offer by Internorth Inc. for Houston Natural Gas. Ceramic for engines NEW YORK GTE Laboratories said Thursday it has developed a durable ceramic composite that could be used for components in automobile engines of the future. An engine made with ceramic components could operate at temperatures nearly twice those tolerable by conventional engines, reducing both fuel consumption and pollution, engineers say.

However, development of such engines has stalled because most ceramics are too brittle about 100 times more brittle than steel. Ht.v.-;, r. ZJ Ct J' World's woes blamed on fare wars it started OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) World Airways' feisty founder saw his company as a David that would slay airline industry Goliaths with no-frills flights. Instead, World collapsed under huge financial losses caused largely by the fare wars it started.

On Thursday, a day after World announced it will cease scheduled passenger service Sept. 15, some of its 1,500 laid-off employees were calling for a return to fare regulation. The company will focus on the profitable charter service and maintenance areas that have been the financial base of the company since Ed Daly founded it in 1950 with $50,000 in poker winnings. The decision ends an era that began in 1978, when Daly offered unrestricted coast-to-coast flights for $99. That first shot in the ensuing fare wars contributed to the government deregulation six years ago that revolutionized air travel, but also led to the collapse of Frontier Airlines and layoffs at Eastern Airlines in the past month.

Some newly laid-off World workers urge the government to resume regulation of the airline industry. Randy Fowler, a reservations clerk from San Francisco, blamed the World shakeup on "the craziness of the industry since deregulation. The airlines come and go, especially the budget airlines. Theyre being eaten up by the big airlines." Until 1978, airline fares and routes were strictly regulated by the federal government in an environment that was seen by critics as hostile to competition and protective of the veteran airlines to the exclusion of new competitors. "The industry is in such bad shape, everybody's been feeling sorry for themselves," said flight attendant Fran Tigner.

"It should go back to regulated fares." The estimated 50,000 people who hold World tickets for Sept. 16 and after are to be accommodated by Pan American World Airways, United Airlines and Presidential Airlines. United also plans to give job interviews to the laid-off employees, who represent 57 percent of World's work force of 2,600. Fowler said World is planning job-placement seminars. In many ways, World's achievements reflected the personality of its pugnacious founder, who died in 1984 at age 61.

In the early 1960s, the airline set numerous records for nonstop flights and speed, using Boeing 707s. The airline gained its most attention through Daly's rescue of refugees from Vietnam as the South Vietnamese government fell in 1975. Daly personally supervised the missions and more than once used his fists or pistol butt to fend off mutinous soldiers who tried to push their way aboard. He also criticized the U.S. government's handling of the missions, sometimes ordering his planes to land and take off illegally rather than await clearance.

"I can't tolerate the stupidity, the ignorance on the part of the many agencies of the U.S. government and the China to make family cars PEKING China, where the bicycle is the main form of private transportation for most city residents, plans to produce small cars for families by the late 1990s, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday. The cars will be designed to carry two adults and a child and will sell for about $1,620, or 6,000 yuan, more than a well-paid urban worker currently earns in three years, according to the news agency. Associated Press RESTRUCTURING: A mechanic for World Airways, which is eliminating its scheduled passenger service, walks past one of the carrier's huge DC-10 planes. The airline has decided to concentrate on charter and maintenance operations in an effort to overcome financial problems.

Failing airline So fau26-rlirtftf3a3 for rrgaflkatiifi Cfhder banHrvptcv raws since the indusMprSfes deregulated in 1979. 13 Mutual fund assets drop NEW YORK Assets of the nation's 362 money market mutual funds fell $95.2 million in the latest week, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday. The decline, to $233.24 billion in the seven-day period ended Wednesday, followed a $1.5 billion increase in the funds' assets the previous week, according to the Washington-based mutual fund trade group. country club set," he once said. "They are inexperienced and incompetent." Daly, a former boxer, enjoyed the limelight and reportedly played a videotape of the missions for visitors.

He once issued an internal memo warning employees to refer all journalists' queries to him. Any violator, the memo said, "will wish he or she had been in Hell." All the while, World was pushing for government approval of more passenger routes and lower fares. 1 With deregulation, World's grip on its share of the low-fare market began to slip. Stiff competition and high fuel costs resulted in losses of $58.2 million in 1982, $29.4 million in 1983, $17.9 million in 1984 and $9.5 million last year. The company restructured a $287 million debt in 1984.

Daly was replaced as president in 1982, even though he held 81 percent of the company's stock, and a flurry of management changes followed. On Wednesday, Chairman Jerrold Scoutt Jr. named T. Coleman Andrews III, chairman of the small Key Airlines charter service, as president and chief executive officer. He succeeds Arthur H.

Hutton, 54, who becomes vice chairman. As part of the restructuring, World will return four of 14 planes to their owner, United Airlines. Five other jets will be returned to lessors, leaving World with a fleet of five DC-lOs for charter and cargo flights. U.S. money supply on rise NEW YORK The nation's basic money supply rose by $600 million in late August, the Federal Reserve Board reported Thursday.

The rise was much less than anticipated, but even so, analysts said it had a slightly negative effect on credit markets. The Fed said Ml rose to a seasonally adjusted average of $688.6 billion in the week ended Aug 25 from a revised $688 billion the previous week. Ml includes cash in circulation, deposits in checking accounts and non-bank travelers checks. For the last 13 weeks, Ml averaged $675.1 billion, a 17.9 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate of gain from the previous 13 weeks. The Fed, in its attempt to provide enough money to stimulate non-inflationary economic growth, has said it would like to see Ml grow in a range of 3 percent to 8 percent from the fourth quarter of 1985 through the final quarter of 1986.

79 '80 '81 '82 '83 '84 '85 '86 Year 'Through August 31. Source: Airline Economics Inc. Linda BrennanGazette-Journal Back-to-school shopping helps boost retail sales Ramada buys potential casino site in Laughlin PHOENIX, Ariz. Ramada Inc. announced Thursday it has purchased a 28-acre parcel of land in Laughlin, as the site for a proposed new gaming property.

In making the announcement, Ramada stressed it has not made a final decision to move forward with construction of a gaming facility in Laughlin. However, the company said it is well along in the market research and design phases for a casino-hotel project and expects to reach a final decision soon. Ramada said the 28-acre parcel, purchased from Eugene and Geraldine Maday of Las Vegas for $8.5 million, is located along Casino Drive in the center of Laughlin's casino "strip." "We have been carefully evaluating the possibility of entering the Laughlin market for the past two years," said Paul E. Rubeli, president of Ramada's gaming group. "We are attracted to Laughlin because of its position as the fastest-growing gaming market in the United States, and because it appears to have excellent long-term growth potential." Should Ramada proceed with the project, the proposed casino-hotel would be known as Ramada Station and would be themed to depict an old-time railroad station.

Ramada Inc. is a diversified hospitality company operating in the lodging, gaming entertainment and restaurant industries. Its principal brands are Ramada Inns, Ramada Hotels including the Ramada Reno Hotel Casino, Ramada Renaissance Hotels, Tropicana Hotel casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., and Las Vegas, and Marie Callender's restaurants. Wire service reports 1 Back-to-school business was strong. Business picked up as the month progressed.

5 Monroe Greensteinretail analyst Bear Stearns Co. Strong sales of back-to-school merchandise at the end of August helped the nation's major retailers post solid sales gains for the month, it was announced Thursday. The acceleration in consumer spending was encouraging and could signal a healthy fall season, financial analysts said. However, they noted the sales were being compared with a weak period a year ago, which made the latest results look better than they actually were. And they warned that competition from brisk auto sales may hurt the stores in September.

Sears, Roebuck and the largest retailer, said its sales for the four weeks ended Aug. 30 rose 4.3 percent over a year ago. No. 2 mart Corp. said its sales increased 7.4 percent.

J. C. Penney Co. ranked third, posted a 5.5 percent gain. Sales jumped 12.3 percent at No.

4 Dayton Hudson Corp. and spurted 40 percent at fast-growing Wal-Mart Stores No. 5 son, but it is an encouraging sign," Edelman added. Jeffrey Feiner, an analyst with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner Smith said, "While those limited results are too small to extrapolate from, we nevertheless believe this strengthening could portend an improving retail sales climate." Greenstein said, "The two really significant seasons are back-to-school and Christmas. If they are willing to spend at back-to-school they may be willing to spend at Christmas." However, Greenstein said September sales probably will be hampered by competition from auto sales.

The major automakers have introduced auto incentives to clear inventories of 1986 models. Retailers remain extremely cautious with inventories and expenses, which should help profits in the second half of their year, Feiner said. The companies operate on a fiscal year that begins in February. They record most of their sales and profits in the latter six months. Press Ford announces recall DETROIT Ford Motor Co.

is recalling 441,000 1986 vehicles to repair possible wiring defects and replace faulty gaskets that could cause oil leaks, the automaker announced Thursday. The wiring defect is suspected in about 194.000 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable passenger cars. Owners are being asked to return them to dealers for possible rerouting of a wire near the radiator that could cause radiator corrosion. Owners of about 247,000 Ranger and Bronco II vehicles are being asked to return them to dealers for replacement of defective intake manifold gaskets. Failure of the gasket may cause oil leaks and result in engine problems, the company said.

Wire service reports "Sales were good. The main thing is that business was on or above plan (for the retailers), which is a good sign," said Monroe Greenstein, a retail analyst with the investment firm Bear Stearns Co. "Back-to-school business was strong. Business picked up as the month progressed." Jeffrey Edelman, an analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert said, "This is the first noticeable uptick we have seen in probably 14 months." However, Edelman noted sales were soft last year. "One ij-eek doesn't mean a whole sea.