The News Journal du lieu suivant : Wilmington, Delaware • Page 33

The News-Journal papers, Wilmington, Del. Oct. 3, 1988 People, D2 In Delaware, D3 Your money, D4 Area stocks, D5 SECTION 0 668,233 552,104 Port activity Total tonnage at the Port of Wilmington 1 i Childless homes A majority of American families have no children under 18 living at home, according to a March survey by the Census Bureau. There are 33.2 million families without children at home, compared to 31.9 million with children. Rising shipments The demand for U.S.-made plastic injection molding equipment will grow 7 percent a year through 1992, a Free-donia Group study says.

The value of total plastics processing machinery shipments will reach $770 million by then. VVeiner reaches 50-year mark George J. Weiner of Wil-' mington is celebrating his 50th anniversary in the insur-' ance industry this year. Weiner, who became an agent with New York Life Insurance Co. in 1938, has been a mem- -ber of the Million Dollar Round Table continuously since 1953.

In 1965, he received the Charles B. Palmer Award, the highest honor presented by the New Castle County Association of Life Underwriters. Some 100 people were at a surprise luncheon at the University and Whist Club Sept. 23 to honor him. if 1 Olympic TV interview caps week of free ICI publicity A company struggling for name recognition could hardly ask for more.

Every shot of Boh Kersee, coach of a successful Los Angeles track team that qualified his wife and five other members for the U.S. Olympic team, seemed to show him in the stands at Seoul sporting a cap and T-shirt with the ICI logo. Then Kersee and his wife, heptathalon gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, popped up in a four-minute interview with NBC's Tom Brokaw with ICI T-shirts and caps. Though ICI plans to spend more than $5 million next year on a corporate identity advertising blitz in the United States, this was a freebie. It turns out that Id's British parent sponsors the World Class Athletic Club of LA.

Joyner-Kersee, Andre Phillips, Gail Devers-Rob-erts, Valarie Brisco, Pam Marshall and Roy Martin, all team members, made the Olympic squad. But the athletes are under no obligation to wear ICI gear. Says ICI director of public relations Bill Adams, himself an avid runner, "We lucked out." Firm treats beer like gold F.Y. '87 F.Y. '88 to date to date Source Port ol Wilmington August August 1987 1988 Fiscal year is July 1 to June 3 1 i 7 (M Tower of conflict Coors and its Delaware distributor, Standard Distributing Co.

of Wilmington, hired a Brink's armored truck Pei building rPrJl I Coors' Extra Gold beer Cinde Dolphin explained, "Extra Gold finds itself under siege waa introduced to Delaware last spring. In some areas, the product virtually sold out within 72 hours." Dolphin did not know what it cost to use the Brink's truck, though she thought it would not be used regularly. Coors and Standard have also placed one Extra Gold six-pack in a safe deposit box. Dolphin acknowledged this was unlikely to help much if the beer sells out again. Should this happen, Dolphin said, "We're going to have a party, and we're going to give everybody a shot glass." Latest in legal maneuvers 13 Delaware's Chancery Court, which has decided the fate of many i of the.nation's corpora-l tions and sometimes it-aiu i i keeps Wall Street wait ing on tenterhooks, has Airing views on chemicals at Hercules John P.

Frawley's job is to take the puUe of people's attitudes about the environment. He's the general manager of health and the environment for Hercules Inc. A veteran of environmental controversies, including the complex Agent Orange class-action lausuit, Fraw-ley has watched environmentalist)! wax and wane as a public concern. Reporter Merritt W'allkk spoke with him recently about the apparently growing concern over environmental issues and how companies should respond. Qu Is environmental activism on the rise? Am It appears to be from the presidential campaign.

Both politicians have placed environ- mental protection high on their agenda. I see environmental concerns moving to a much broader agenda, including natural elements of our environment and chemicals that are in our diet. A good example is radon, which is a natural phenomenon. Q. Do you think one industry tends to get targeted in this atmosphere? Am Well, in the atmosphere of the past, there's no question that the chemical and petrochemical industry has been targeted more than anybody else has.

QB What do you think is the reason behind the increased talk about pollution? AB Episodes similar to what took place on the Jersey beaches this summer certainly have heightened the awareness of people to pollution or solid waste disposal. Plus there's also the controversy that's taking place in many major cities as to what to do with solid waste. Nobody wants a solid waste disposal site See HERCULES D10 mm '7'7a I til fi 2 I 5 Ji 1 i i A -v f. i sometimes taken some jabs for its homely furnishings. Now the court By Maureen Mileord Staff reporter The office tower at 12th and Market streets makes such a striking architectural statement that for more than 20 years it's been called by the name of its renowned architect, I.M.

Pei. But many professionals and businessmen who have leased space in the 21 -story tower, properly called the American International Building, say the structure with the "brutalist" exterior is not user friendly. Former and current tenants, real estate brokers and designers list a variety of problems with the award-winning building from design problems to maintenance troubles. The list includes faulty elevators, leaking roof's and windows, acoustical problems, ineffective temperature control, inadequate ventilation in the bathrooms, flaking concrete from the walls and poor floor design. For one tenant, the problems have resulted in court action.

The tower's premier tenant, the law firm of Morris, Nichols, Arsht Tunnel, has brought suit against the owners in Delaware's Chancery Court, saying the building was not the "top class" structure it had expected. Gradually, the building is emptying out. Morris, Nichols and another large law firm, Morris, James, Hitchens Williams, plan to move out next year. Unless new tenants are obtained, the building will be about 70 percent vacant when these two tenants leave, according to Philip M. Hansen, general manager of has some attractive (and comfortable) new leather furniture in the small waiting room in the Public Building.

On a re-'cent Friday afternoon, Vice Chancellor Carolyn Berger showed the couch and two arm chairs to a young attorney during a break in an international corporate takeover battle being heard by 'Vice Chancellor Jack B. Jacobs. Since one of the chairs was out of place, Berger slid it back into its corner. "Is that in your contract?" quipped Patty Kelley, co-owner of Parcels a document retrieval firm, who was sitting nearby. "Beats writing an opinion," Berger replied.

Parking meter find in Md. In Philadelphia it's 25 cents for 20 minutes. In Wilmington it's 25 cents for an hour. But in Chestertown, parking meters give you an hour for a nickel and no limit on the number of hours. So why even bother charging? Simple, says Bill Ingersoll, the town manager.

The idea is not to generate revenue, obviously. It's just to keep one group of parkers from hogging shopping district parking spaces all day. It's not just the shoppers who cause the problem, he said. It's store employees, too. And Chestertown is proof that it is not the amounts involved that set people off about meters and fines.

"People around here can get real mad about a nickel and a $3 fine. Coffee Break is compiled by the business staff. btdH photo by Jim Graham The I.M. Pei building: Is it user friendly? Stoltz Realty the local repre sentative of building manager Completed in 1 97 1 the Pei building went a year without Maritime Realty Corp. of New York.

tenants. The rent was dropped from $7.50 to $8 per square foot Not everyone is jumping ship, to $6. By 1972, the building was up for sale. however. The architectural and engineering firm of Tetra Tech Briefcase by John Louthan Richardson recently leased an entire floor in the building.

The architects say it's a "pleasure" being in the building. The structure's owner, R.H. International Ltd. of Atlanta, has put more than $800,000 in renovating and correcting problems in the building, including a new roof, new heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and new window film on the building's southern side. "We spent a lot of bucks because we're proud of that building," said Myron Goldberg, vice president of operations with Maritime Realty Corp.

Many designers quickly come to the defense of the building. They say it is not suited to every office user. Neither should a building started in 1966 be judged by 1988 standards, they say. "My own personal feeling is it's the finest building in the state. And as more buildings go up, it looks better and better," said Eldon du P.

liomsey, president of Homsey Inc. Architects. He is also president of the Delaware Society of Architects. "The greatest American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, had buildings that leaked like crazy and were notoriously inefficient. But they're beautiful things that people still treasure today.

My own opinion is that in the judgment of time, that Pei building will be considered See PEI Dll ill ryi John P. Frawley 5P Irvlf Business show The annual Delaware Business Show, sponsored by the local chapter of the Administrative Management Society, is Tuesday and Wednesday at the Radisson Hotel. The event kicks off at a dinner at the Hotel du Pont tonight, at which Harry Corless, chairman of ICI Americas will receive the society's Award of Excellence in Management. The two-day business show, featuring products and services that are offered by area businesses, is open to the have a 37'A-hour work week, as opposed to the traditional 40-hour week. That's an increase of 3 percent from last year's survey and 12 percent since 1985.

UNICEF cards The Delaware Committee for the United Nations Children's Fund has begun its annual corporate card campaign. Interested companies can receive a card catalog by calling the office at 655-3628 In 1987, ICI Americas Inc. bought 38,000 cards, the largest U.S. corporate purchase of the year. It will be held at the University of Delaware at the Small Business Development Center.

The cost is $15, which includes all materials and a box lunch. For more information, call 451-2747. The seminar is free at Salisbury State. To register, call (301) 543-6315. Working less The trend toward a shorter work week in American business continues.

A survey of 290 companies by the Administrative Management Society Foundation of Trevose, found that 30 percent now Start-up seminar If you're young and interested in going into business, the U.S. Small Business Administration may have just the thing for you. A national Young Entrepreneurs Day will be Oct. 22 at the University of Delaware, Salisbury (Md.) State University and other nationwide locations. The seminar will feature the fundamentals of starting a small business, including marketing and promotion; how to prepare a business plan; legal aspects of starting a business; sources of capital; record keeping for small businesses; franchising and selecting the right location.

The program runs from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 'Let's turn to page 38 in our wine lists.".