Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 28

Today's tip The National Technical Information Service otters a guide to help you get into from the government: "Products and Services" is available tree by calling: 1-703-487-4650. 10B Wednesday, October 4, 1989 Reno Gazette-Journal BUSINESS EDITOR JIM GOLD. 788 6322 tisimes New Jersey gamers say Atlantic City is the pits Codey, Dodd, and Anthony Parrillo, director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, similar to Nevada's Gaming Control Board, agreed the state has to do more to help problems such as regional planning, transportation and development. Their speeches spotlighting Atlantic City marked the first day of the three-day conference in Las Vegas sponsored by Gaming and Wagering Business magazine. The 3,000 attending are from 57 countries.

Codey said while Atlantic City is not the "Beirut of the Eastern Seaboard" as the press has depicted it, the state has failed to take a leadership role to help the city develop. The state erred when it failed to create But while bemoaning the city's failure to improve air travel and upgrade the downtown business area, Codey said if he had it to do again, he would still vote to legalize gambling in Atlantic City. The New Jersey Legislature is studying the creation of a superagency to deal with traffic, growth and airport problems, but that idea is controversial, according to Parrillo. With the rush to legalize various forms of gambling across the country and the world, Parrillo said "Atlantic City no longer has the luxury of time" to resolve its problems. "Atlantic City must be at its absolute competitive best," said Parrillo, who added it's time to stop carping and improve the situation.

Jane Ann MorrisortGuenjournai LAS VEGAS New Jersey officials bashed Atlantic City Tuesday before 3.000 gaming officials from all over the world, saying Atlantic City has hit rock bottom. Atlantic City "has never been worse than it is right now," said Frank Dodd of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, who compared it to a drug addict or alcoholic who has to hit the bottom before beginning rehabilitation. New Jersey state Sen. Richard Codey, one of the lawmakers who wrote the law which legalized gambling for Atlantic City in 1976, placed the Dlame for the city's shortcomings on a void in state leadership. a superagency to run Atlantic City, Codey said.

"I proposed a moratorium on any new casinos in Atlantic City," he said. "Just building casinos did not rebuild a dying city," he said. "The Boardwalk today is not much different than in December 1976." By halting growth with the 11 casinos currently built, the state could begin regional planning to improve the business district and the airport which is unable to handle the increased demands. Lack of a major airport restricts Atlantic City from becoming a destination resort and limits it to "day-trippers" who come in on buses and cars, spending just a few hours rather than a few days. Fortune rates top metropolitan areas NEW YORK Dallas, Atlanta and Kansas City, Mo.

are the best metropolitan areas in America for U.S. businesses, according to rankings in a Fortune magazine survey released Tuesday. The business biweekly said it ranked the top 10 of the nation's largest metro areas based on such factors as labor force, cost of doing business, economic base, infrastructure and quality of life. Dallas-Fort Worth emerged on top based on its 28 percent commercial real estate vacancy rate, large pool of "talented workers," surging population and active night life. "The so-called Metroplex.

embracing the suburbs and the area between the cities, is today's dream location for business, largely because of surplus office and factory space in the wake of the oil Fortune said. The survey results appear in the Oct. 23 issue of the magazine, which hits newsstands today. record hiah syraes to pward trend continue, experts say A i id wmm Virus scanner available NEW YORK International Business Machines Corp. said Tuesday it was making available a program that checks for viruses in personal computers, responding in part to customer worries about an impending attack.

News reports about the Datacrime virus, which will attack after Oct. 12, have caused widespread alarm even though experts say the virus is rare and a relatively small number of personal computers will be harmed. "Up until the recent press hype, our customers had not expressed any tremendous interest over and above what we already do in terms of security products and awareness," said Art Gilbert, IBM's manager of secure systems industry support. "It's about time one of the big boys realized what a problem this is and did something about it," said Ross Greenberg, a New York-based consultant and author of Flu-Shot Plus. The program is available for $33 directly from IBM or from dealers, marketing representatives and remarketers.

1 1 il 1 i -I: ill- By Joyce M. RosenbergAP NEW YORK Wall Street surged to a new high Tuesday as investors, optimistic about the prospects for interest rates, scooped up blue chip and consumer issues. And some local market experts say the market could climb even higher by year's end. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials achieved a new closing high, rising 40.84 to end the session at 2.754.56. That topped the widely-followed barometer's previous high close of 2,752.09, reached on Sept.

1. Broader market indicators also scored new highs. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a margin of about 2 to 1 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks, with 996 stocks up, 509 down and 486 unchanged. Volume on the floor of the Big Board came to a heavy 182.55 million shares, up from 127.41 million in the previous session. Nationwide, consolidated volume in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-the-counter market, totaled 221.51 million shares.

Analysts said Wall Street was awash with optimism about interest rates as prices rose and yields slumped in the credit markets. The Treasury's bellwether 30-year bond was up more than $5 in late afternoon trading, while its yield slumped to 8.16 percent from late Monday's 8.21 percent. Analysts said hopes seemed to be increasing that the Federal Reserve might relax its credit policy further, given a relatively slow pace of economic growth and no recent sign of increasing inflationary pressures. The Fed's policy-making body, the Federal Open Market Committee, was meet-See DOW, page 7B Jo GoMnodene-Journal AT MARSHALLS: Nancy Oden, left, of North Carolina, and Sharon Marlm of Southern California go shopping. Relocated Marshalis offers new look, variety Customers also wanted centralized fitting rooms to avoid long treks through the store to exchange sizes and styles.

"So we added the 'raceway format with the fitting rooms in the center with a corridor around the store," she said. "Customers are never far from the fitting rooms." But the biggest incentive for Marshalis customers, Maxwell said, is price. Buying for nearly 350 stores nationwide gives Marshalis the opportunity to sell name- and designer-brand clothing, shoes, giftware and other The newly opened store will hold a grand opening Thursday. Customer research and comments are at the heart of the new look and variety, said Jane Maxwell, a Marshalis corporate spokeswoman who is visiting Reno for the store's opening. New signage designating areas for such items as coats, designer fashions, petites, maternity and children's wear will help shoppers find their choices more quickly, she said.

"We spent a lot of time researching signs," Maxwell said. "They're important to customers for ease of By Susan Sk0rupaGa29tte-Journal It's a classier look, wider selection and several new departments that greet Marshalis shoppers at the off-price retailer's relocated Reno outlet. With its move to Shoppers Square at South Virginia Street and Plumb Lane, the retail giant has added big and tall men's fashions, maternity wear and men's designer wear to its offerings, and has expanded other departments. But the store also has an updated, department-store look to replace the wide-open, warehouse feel at its former location in Old Town Mall on South Virginia Street. More cars in tighter market DETROIT As automakers close the books on a ho-hum 1989 model year and prepare for the next 12 months, two things are certain: sharper competition in a smaller market and continued incentives to buyers.

Final sales figures, to be released today, probably will show that just under 15 million cars and trucks were sold during the 1989 model year, which ended last Saturday. Auto company executives and analysts have predicted a smaller market in 1990. During the past year, about two cars were sold for every truck, and analysts have predicted that ratio will remain about the same, or perhaps lean a little heavier toward trucks. MARSHALLS, page 7B -FM 1 Home sales slip a bit People RICK CETOVICK has opened Kartoys, an import auto parts store in Reno. Kartoys is on Wells Avenue and specializes in import auto parts and accessories with home delivery available.

Cetovick was MGM planning $700 million movie theme park in Vegas BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) MGM Grand Inc. said Tuesday it will spend $700 million to convert a Las Vegas golf course into a movie theme park and a hotel-casino, gambling on luring families to "the best mouse trap in town." "I remember the days when Las Vegas lived almost entirely on the high roller," said MGM Grand chairman Fred Benninger. "You can't do that anymore." The site is on the Las Vegas Strip site where the Tropicana Country Club and Marina Hotel and Casino now stand. Benninger wouldn't reveal how much MGM Grand paid for those properties.

Other details were sketchy as well, although conceptual drawings showed towering spires and domes, like a futuristic version of Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland. MGM Grand, owned by Beverly Hills billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, said last month it might build the theme park on a 60-acre site beside the Desert Inn, which it owns and is promoting as a top-end hotel-casino. The new theme park site, at 115 acres, is nearly Europe '92 project called a difficult task By Wayne MeltonGazetie-joumai European countries and companies have a tougher job preparing for economic diversification in 1992 than many believe, a director of the Fiat car company said in Reno Tuesday. "Don't think things can change very rapidly," Giorgio Pellicelli told 70 business students at the University of Nevada, Reno. The European business "gate will be very careful not to open its door to foreign competition." Europe '92 is the designation for the creation of a single international market by 12 countries.

All are in the European Community, formerly called the Common Market. In an effort to increase business and improve their economies, the countries in 1986 agreed to lift trade barriers, pass uniform taxes and set standard safety regulations. Most reforms are set to start in 1992. The changes are designed to benefit Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Luxembourg. Also preparing for the changes are the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and West Germany.

Until now, most of these countries have had a vast array of regulations. This has often made it difficult for See EUROPE, page 7B WASHINGTON (AP) New home sales fell a slight 0.4 percent in August but remained over 750,000 for the second straight month, the government reported Tuesday, as buyers took advantage of lower interest rates. Analysts had forecast a steeper slide in August sales from a double-digit gain in July, the largest advance in three years. They said the pace cannot be sustained but will remain healthy for the rest of the year. The Commerce Department said that new single-family homes were sold at a seasonally adjusted rate of 755,000 in August, a relatively small drop from July's revised 758,000 rate, which was a 16.1 percent increase over June.

The Commerce report indicated new home sales were stronger throughout the summer than previously thought. Not only was the July figure revised upward so too were the May and June figures, both of which totaled 653,000 units. In the Truckee Meadows, said Gary Hall of First Centennial Title in Reno, there were 150 new single-family homes sold during August. That compares to 111 sold in July. "One subdivision map is being filed after another," Hall said.

"New homes don't stay on the market very long." Analysts attributed the sales improvement to fixed-rate mortgages that dropped from an 11.22 percent peak in March to 9.81 percent at the end of August. With staff reports Cetovick twice as large. Benninger said finding enough space was a more imporiani cunsiuerauun man money I 2J 1 LOT Factory orders up 2.9 ette unveils new razor NEW YORK Gillette Co. unveiled formerly with Reno Imports and has 15 years experience in import auto parts. WILLIAM T.

GERTIIOFFER has been elected president of the American Heart Association's Nevada Affiliate Northern Division for the 1990 campaign year. Other officers elected were: RICK CASAZZA, chairman, and KATHY D. KEEF, treasurersecretary. The association is a voluntary health organization dedicated to the reduction of disability and death from heart and blood vessel diseases. Last year, the AHA spent $300,000 in Nevada on research at the University of Nevada School of Medicine.

JAN LAY ERTY JONES has been named to the board of directors at Security Pacific Bank of Nevada. Jones has served as vice president of the Fletcher Jones Management Group since 1983. The Las Vegas-based company oversees the operation of eight automobile dealerships in Las Vegas, Jones-West Ford Mitsubishi in Reno and two in southern California. She has also been the chief executive officer of Jan Mar-Corp. since 1985.

Jones currently serves on the board of directors of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Foundation and the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Wire service and staff reports In other news Dollar up; gold down: The dollar rose against most major currencies Tuesday despite continued central bank intervention. Meanwhile, on the Commodity Exchange in New York, gold bullion closed at $366.30 an ounce, down from $367.60 on Monday. Republic National Bank of New York said gold was bid at $365.50, down from Monday's $366.10. Divorce settlement: George E.

and Joan B. Johnson started one of the nation's largest black-owned companies together with $250 in 1954, but the family ties that bound the company and the couple have come undone. Johnson signed the company over to her this week in their divorce settlement. Johnson Products makes hair-care and cosmetics under such brand names as Gentle-Treatment, Ultra Sheen and Classy Curl. WASHINGTON Orders to U.S.

factories for manufactured goods rose 2.9 percent in August, the government said Tuesday, but analysts said a one-month boost from automobile orders belies the weakness in the industrial sector. The Commerce Department reported that orders for both durable and nondurable goods totaled a seasonally adjusted $237.2 billion after declining 2 percent in July to $230.5 billion, the lowest level since last November. Orders rose 0.6 percent in June. The August gain was driven by the transportation sector, which rose 6.9 percent despite a decline in the aircraft component. Orders for automobiles posted a big increase because of end-of-the-model-year sales incentives.

a new razor Tuesday and said it would support it with a $175 million multinational sales and marketing campaign, which the company said would be the biggest ever in the shaving industry. But analysts said the company could nick itself in the pocketbook if consumers don't take to the higher-priced Eroduct, which Gillette is billing as the iggest shaving advance in 20 years. The silver and black razor, called Sensor, and featuring two spring-mounted, ultra-thin blades, will be sold starting in January at an introductory price of $3.75. "We want to make sure people are not inhibited from using it because of a high price for trial," said Peter Hoffman, vice president of marketing. 'o-v C1BM Trlbufw M3H Same, me.

All RlgfiU RMfWd "Mr. Owens won't be in today and the phrase 'cookin' the books' is echoing down the halls.".