Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 25

s-j FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1995 RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL I GAMING opens its first Las Vegas casino Harveys LAS VLGAS (AP) Hundreds of curious customers packed the first Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, operated by Lake Tahoe-based Harveys Casino Resorts, early Thursday morning to get a sneak peak at the rock 'n roll memorabilia and games. Although its name doesn't appear on the resort, it's Harveys' first venture into the Las Vegas gaming market. The resort's official opening is tonight night when MTV will tape concerts by musicians Sheryl Crow, Duran Duran, Iggy Pop and many others scheduled to perform at The Joint, a concert hall. Other artists scheduled to play today and Saturday include broadcast in downtown Manhattan on a giant television in Times Square. Hotel guests will be allowed to check in Sunday evening.

More than 200 people waited in line until 2 a.m. ThuMUay to get in and try their luck at the slots and table games in what officials are calling the world's first rock roll hotel. The resort is adjacent to the Hard Rock Cafe, which opened five years ago. The 11 -story, 340-room hotel has a wealth of rock memorabilia ranging from Elvis Presley's gold lame jacket to a vintage Harley Davidson once owned by singer Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. The items are part of $2 million in acquisitions that adorn the 17- acre resort designed to carry out a promise to "deliver Las Vegas for a new generation." "This is our biggest project to date," said Chairman Peter Morton.

"We've been getting reservations by the thousands." Included in the memorabilia collection are 600 guitars, including instruments once played by members of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, ZZ Top and Aerosmith; outfits worn by rockers from Buddy Holly to the artist formerly known as Prince; a rare billboard of the Doors' 1967 "Strange Davs" album; and a 1970s Pinball Wizard pinball machines adorned with pictures of The Who. Inside the main entrance there's HARD ROCK MTV SCHEDULE I The MTV Concert Special, taped tonight at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and featuring Sheryl Crow, Al Green and Duran Duran, will be shown on the MTV cable channel at 4 and 8 p.m. Pacific time Saturday. the Eagles, Bo Diddley, Patty Smyth, Wcczer, Billy Idol and Guns 'n' Roses' Dull McKagan. The taped concert special will be SMALL BUSINESS Delegates pick issues for national 1 i TODAY'S BRIEFING Mexican peso hits another record low MEXICO CITY The peso plunged sharply Thursday from Wednesday's record low, meaning its value is less than half what the currency was worth before the disastrous slide that began in December.

Apparently hoping to stem the collapse, the central bank announced at midday that the government's long-awaited economic plan would be announced "very shortly." Delays in the plan have helped depress the economy. See story, page 3A. The Mexican currency closed at 6.995 to the dollar Wednesday, below Tuesday's record low, 6.795. By midday today it took 7.5 pesos to purchase $1. 1 Put another way, the peso, worth about 29 cents on Dec.

1 9, is now worth 1 3 cents. Luxotica pushes bid to buy U.S. Shoe CINCINNATI Luxottica Group S.p.A., an Italian maker of eyeglass frames and sunglasses, Thursday tried to advance its uninvited bid to buy United States Shoe Corp. for $1.1 billion. Luxottica demanded that U.S.

Shoe schedule a special meeting of shareholders to consider the offer. If the meeting is called, Luxottica said it will ask shareholders to remove U.S. Shoe's board of directors and elect Luxottica's nominees as the new directors. Luxottica makes and sells eyeglass frames and sunglasses in four Italian plants and sells those products worldwide. The company has said it wants U.S.

Shoe's LensCrafters optical stores division and will sell off U.S. Shoe's footwear and women's apparel divisions. Corp. is seeking to make its products as easy to digest as fairy tales in 28 pages of advertising in a special issue of! ime magazine devoted to technology next week. is the sole advertiser in the issue.

Burger King Corp. Thursday unveiled a television advertising campaign that pits its Whopper sandwich against McDonald's Big Mac and Wendy's Single with ads based on the results of consumer taste tests of the three hamburgers. Marvel Entertainment Group the owner of market-leading Fleer trading cards, said Thursday it has agreed to pay about 1 50 million in cash for rival card marketer Skybox International Inc. The abrupt resignation of W.R. Grace chief executive officer, J.

P. Bolduc, may be linked to a dispute over whether to tell stockholders about questionable financial transactions involving the chairman and his son, a report said Thursday. Wire service reports Nancy J. Sadler has joined Pioneer Citizens Bank at vice president, cash management services. She was previously employed by U.S.

Bank of Nevada. Why did you become a chandelier made from 32 gold saxophones, and atop the hotel sits a 90-foot-tall Fender Stratocaster guitar. In the casino, slot players will pull on handles shaped like Fender guitar necks, while craps players will make their bets with $5 Red Hot Chili Peppers "Give It Away Now" chips. Although the Hard rock is designed to draw rock music lovers, there also are amenities catering to those old enough to be the parents ot today's rockers. The hotel has a separate area for high-limit slots and a special VIP lounge where high-rollers can wait in luxury while they're checked in.

post profit WASHINGTON (AP) The savings and loan industry posted a profit for the fourth straight year in 1994, but the total was less than the previous year with some clouds on the horizon. The Office of Thrift Supervision said Thursday that had $4.3 billion in earnings last year compared to $4.9 billion in 1993 and $5.1 billion the year before. Profits also declined slightly in the final quarter of 1994, to $1.1 billion from $1.2 billion in the previous three months. The overall picture is bright, said Jonathan Fiechter, acting director of the regulatory agency. But he said a shrinking spread between short-term and medium-term interest rates and the threat of continued high deposit insurance premiums for thrifts are worrisome.

"Every week the pressure on this industry is growing as the number of institutions shrink and the remaining ones face higher insurance premiums," he said. The industry was mired in losses in the 1980s as thrifts were forced to pay high rates for deposits and were stuck with low-rate mortgages negotiated years before. Falling interest rates turned things around for in this decade. Judge lets brokers keep client lists A Washoe Washoe County judge denied a request by a local stock brokerage for an injunction to prevent a group of brokers who left the firm in August from using client lists at a new agency. "This case involves actions that are much better suited to resolution by the remedial provisions of the New York Stock Exchange," said Judge Peter Breen.

The disagreement began in early August when 10 Kemper brokers left the company after Kemper alleged they intended to quit and go to work for Dain Bosworth Inc. Some of the brokers were fired from Kemper. The brokers all joined Dain and claimed the records they took with them were copies of client data that brokers usually keep to serve clients. Heading to Washington: The Las Vegas attendees also picked 10 delegates for the White House conference to be held in June. By Susan Skorupa GAZETTE-JOURNAL Nearly 200 Nevada small business representatives met in Las Vegas Thursday to begin hammering out a list of issues they want the federal government to address.

They also selected 10 delegates to carry the issues to regional meetings and to Washington, D.C., for a national conference in June. The initial results of the White House Conference on Small Business is a list of 25 top business concerns that the 10 delegates plus five more selected by Nevada elected officials will whittle down to 15. In June, delegates from all states will decide the top issues, and then present them to President Clinton and Congress, which created the conference as an independent commission. Of the 1 95 attending the Las Vegas event, only about 20 were from the Reno-Sparks area, said John Larsen of Port of Subs sandwich shops in Reno, appointed to the Washington conference by Rep. See CONFERENCE on page 3C conference THE ISSUES Among the 25 Nevada issues, John Larsen listed five that he considered among the most important to conference participants: Taxation.

Simplification of regulations, no new tax paperwork. Capital formation. The government should provide tax incentives for lenders to enter the venture capital market to create new capital for business start-ups. Franchisee rights. Introduction of legislation giving franchisees more legal rights in contracts.

Environment: Establish a cost-effective benefit relationship regt rding the Environmental Protection Agency and all environmental issues. Procurement. Small businesses need more help to participate in federal, state and local government contracts. THE NATIONAL DELEGATES I John Larsen, Port of Subs, Reno. I Robert Nielsen, Shelter Properties Reno.

I Jeff Day, KD Components, Carson City. I Theresa Maloney, 7- Eleven, Reno. sales promotion counter top. Trahan, Burden ft Charles, out-of-home media outdoor, print media consumer magazine four-color. TBC, electronic media radio local, advertising arts musical score jingle.

Smith a Jones electronic media radio, advertising arts visual illustration. Dunn Reber Glenn Man Advertising, electronic media radio, print media newspaper, print media businesstrade publication two categories, electronic media television, multi-media business to business, multi-media business to consumer. Studio collateral sales promotion packaging two categories. Tony Perry, collateral direct marketing and specialty advertising. Gustin ft Nakamoto, print media newspaper.

print media consumer magazine two categories. David McCamant, electronic media television. Jim LeGoy, advertising arts visual still photography. Jeff Ross Photography, advertising arts visual still photography. Gregg Willison, industry self-promotion.

Neiman-Musical Concepts, advertising arts audio two categories. March 9, 1995 DOWdodustnils) NYSE Associated Press DELEGATE: Reno's Robert Nielsen of Shelter Properties Inc. gestures during a breakout session at the Nevada White House Conference on Small Business in Las Vegas Thusday. Nielsen will be a delegate to the national conference in June. Reno advertising groups honor best works of 1994 74 certif cates of merit.

Judges for the awards were advertising industry professionals Carl Loeb of Portland, Joan Mel-lini-Renfrow of Los Angeles and Kurt Reifschneider of Seattle. This year's Best of Show award went to Kimber Moore for a special-event print material campaign called "Spell Binding" for client Smith Jones. Other winners and their categories were: Rose-Glenn Advertising Public Relations for collateral print material, color annual report, electronic media audio-visual. Susan Moore for collateral print material poster. BayerBrown Advertising for collateral print material four-color poster, print media newspaper black and white, print media businesstrade publication, electronic media television local in three categories, advertising arts visual logo or trademark, multi-media business to consumer, industry self-promotion.

Carver Letcher Miller, collateral print media special event two categories, collateral Mr MS By Susan Skorupa GAZETTE-JOURNAL Advertising professionals in the Truckee Meadows celebrated the finest work their agencies produced during 1994 on Thursday, presenting the annual ADDY awards for work in 40 advertising categories at ceremonies at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. Winners of local awards move on to national competition later this year. "This is one of our bigger and best shows with nearly 300 entries," said Rhonda Hendrix of the Reno Ad Club, who co-chaired the awards ceremony with Esther Isaac of Reno Women in Adverting. The two organizations present the awards as a joint effort. The clubs' affiliation with the American Advertising Federation allows Market Day Tim DunnGazette-Journal TOPS: A coaster that was part of Kimber Moore's best-of show' winning entry.

winners into national competition. In addition to the top winners, the organizations also presented lui? Sadler "Because I'm a firm believer in always doing what's right for my customer as well as the bank." What is your philosophy? "Maintain a healthy balance in your life, and give back to the community in a way that's meaningful to you." Your mentors? "I've had quite a few. The most important was a boss I worked for 1 5 years ago. He took a chance on me when nobody else would. He's the main reason I'm still in banking today." Advice? "Work is only what you do, not who you are.

Keep it in perspective." Diana Frear Paschall Questions or comments: STEVE FALCONE BUSINESS EDITOR PHONE, 788 6322 FAX, 788 6458 n- Currencies: The dollar renewed its decline against the Japanese yen but edged higher against the German mark Thursday, a possible sign that the U.S. currency was stabilizing further from a week-long selling assault. Activity in the 1 trillion global foreign exchange market was described as relatively subdued for the first time since the dollar last week began plunging to a series of record lows against the yen and the mark. It recovered strongly in volatile trading Wednesday. In late New York trading, the dollar was quoted at 90.50 Japanese yen, down from 91.33 yen late Wednesday.

In London, the dollar fell to 90.50 yen from 91.20. But it also was changing hands in New York at 1 .3945 German marks, up slightly from 1.3935 marks late Wednesday. Earlier in London, the dollar fell to 1 .3935 German marks from 1.3925. Stocks: Stocks followed bonds cautiously', higher on Thursday, but they were hampered by continued volatility in the dollar. The Dow Jones industrial average ended 4.

1 6 higher at 3,983.39, after trading in a narrow 22-point range all day. Of the 30 Dow index components, 1 1 rose, two were unchanged, and 1 7 fell. DondS' Treasury bond prices rose Thursday as investors appeared to shift their attention away from the troubled dollar and focus on the economy's fundamentals ahead of a key employment report. The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was up 7-16 point, or $4.38 per $1,000 invested, while its yield fell to 7.5 1 percent from 7.54 percent late Wednesday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Short-term Treasuries rose point to 5-32 point and intermediate maturities ranged from up 9-32 point to up 7-1 6 point. Metals: Gold closed at $38 1 10 per troy ounce, 1 .50 higher, on the New York Commodities Exchange. Silver climbed 6.4 cents to $4,584 per troy ounce on the Comex. Mortgage rates: Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 8.62 percent this week, up from 8.53 percent last week, according to a national survey released Thursday by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.50 percent, down from 6.51 percent last week.

Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 8.24 percent this week, up from 8. 1 5 percent a week earlier. mwbPS amex SaP MldCat IfeASDAQ NYSElLrl Amfed Financial 22Vt -Vb Amserv Inc. 2V BankAmerica 46 Clorox 61 -Vi Coeur d'Alene 167s Comstock Bank R.R. Donnelley 33'2 -V Echo Bay 9 First Interstate 78 -ft FirstMiss Gold 8M Vb FMCGold 3V8 Gannett 52 -Vi General Motors 41 1 Glamis Gold 8Vb Granite Const.

19' -316 Harding 5b Vb Nevada Power 20V4 Newmont 397 Pacific Telesis 298 J.C. Penney 42V? Radica Games 3 -Vi Reno Air 5V4 Vb Rotech 28V2 Santa Fe Pac. Gold 11 Sierra Pacific 19 Sierra Tahoe Southwest Gas 15 US Bancorp 25V4 L- New kigb 31 Advances: Detllnts: 1.097 Unchanged: 790 Total Issues: 102 Compoiitc volume: 386,769,000 avg. camp, 352J88 J90.