Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 31

1 iteaKfl3Mtrj.p$i Business COST OF LIVING Albuquerque's cost of living in February was slightly higher than the nation as a whole. PAGE -y. Ear" Mfot.wf' I Cover Story Maloof casino packs 'emm Off and running Marathon runners take heart. This year's Duke City Marathon has a well-heeled corporate sponsor Albuquerque-based Sun Healthcare Group. A Sun Healthcare spokesman said sponsorship of the Oct.

1 race was an initiative of Andrew Turner, Sun Healthcare's chief executive officer, who is a dedicated fitness buff. Marathon registration forms will be mailed automatically to prior participants; other runners can call 890-1018 for race information. New Vegas venture already will expand By Barbara Chavez Journal Staff Writer LAS VEGAS, Nev. A muffled ring from the cellular phone tucked into George Maloof suitcoat pocket interrupts lunch. "Yeah, I'm having lunch ahuh, ahuh, yeah.

OK, thanks." Interruptions are nothing new for Maloof, the 30-year-old president of Fiesta Casino Hotel in Las Vegas and a member of one of Albuquerque's most prominent business families. On this weekday in mid-March, Maloof is explaining why, after a mere four months of operation, Fiesta is planning a $10 million expansion. Why? Take a look around the casino, Maloof says. Fiesta is crawling with gamblers its 600 video poker, video keno and reel slot machines flashing, clamoring and beeping. The blackjack, craps and roulette tables are nearly at capacity and it's not even noon.

"Yeah, and it gets even busier after five, when people get off work," says Maloof. "This place really is driven by the area residents." Fiesta is the $35-million newcomer to the Maloof Companies business empire, which includes three other hotels, another casino in Central City, New Mexico's Coors distributorship, a trucking company and a liquor distributorship. The initial business See MALOOF on PAGE 8 How Americans spend Where disposable income went, in percent, in 1994: Interest, transfer Durable Sayments: Savings: goods: .6 4.1 11.9 mm to) ir.v Services: 53.3 JAIME DISPENZAJOURNAL George Maloof president of Fiesta Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, is the driving force behind the latest business venture for Albuquerque's Maloof family. Nondurable goods: 28.1 SOURCE: Bureau of Economic Analysis; research by Pat Carr Knight-Ridder Newspapers Industry Paper plant boosts Grants area Beating those seasonal sneezes Albuquerque residents determined to beat the sneezes this hayfever season are grabbing for all kinds of remedies. Walgreen Drug Stores, which has 19 Albuquerque outlets, reports thay the top-selling allergy medications here this season are: 1.

Tavist-I 2. Tavist-D 3. Benadryl 4. Chlor-Trimeton 5. Dimetapp Transportation Roswell bus company finds smoother road By Richard Benke The Associated Press ROSWELL For Roswell's bus manufacturing plant, it was a bumpy ride first came layoffs beginning in 1991, then the sale of the parent company to a Mexican corporation, and finally the sale of the factory to a Canadian company.

However, the road has since smoothed out for the plant once known as Transportation Manufacturing Corp. Now called NovaBUS the company has rehired 450 TMC workers and produced 54 buses in the first two months of 1995. The ex-TMC workers have an average seniority of 14 years, says Scott Mintier, president of Montreal-based NovaBUS the new parent company. "One of the strengths that this company had was that the employees knew how to build a bus," Mintier said. ROSWELL on PAGE 14 work.

"Everybody's going into recycling." In addition, everybody from workers to community leaders seems to be singing the praises of McKinley Paper. The company began selling linerboard from its plant 100 miles west of Albuquerque last June. However, it held its grand opening only last week, when it hosted a board meeting of parent Amcor Paper Group, part of Amcor a South Melbourne-based paper and packaging giant with plants in seven nations. "We're very pleased with the business venture in general," said Bruce Ward, McKinley's executive vice president and general manager. An Australian, Ward leads a sales By David Staats Journal Asst.

Business Editor PREWITT Wayne Lucero became a victim of the Grants area's economic downfall when Anaconda Minerals closed its uranium mine in 1982 and put him out of work. Now he's part of the comeback. Lucero, 35, of Grants, is one of about 100 residents of Cibola and McKinley counties who have taken jobs with McKinley Paper Company. The Australian-owned firm has built a plant that chews up old corrugated boxes and turns them into the smooth brown linerboard used in new corrugated boxes. "This is the first full-time job I've had in eight years," said Lucero, a husband and father of two who joined the plant last year after more than a decade of seasonal logging Bruce Ward, general manager of McKinley Paper Company near Grants FULL INDEX PAGE 2 See PAPER on PAGE 3 :1 4.