Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page 1

Chicken Boy A flighty California icon Money, Page 4B Challenges Exams, foes test Wildcats Sports, Page ID Holiday bread Join in this grand tradition Food More, Page 1 1 99 1 The Arizona Daily Star Vol. 150 No. 352 Final Edition, Tucson, Wednesday, December 18, 1991 54 Pages 1 wV tni' nr f-t mi Ill lift i ocdl wHh TEP says-rt imeai? a much more hopeful than we were" of getting final agreement that will lay the foundation for the company's financial recovery. Adler said all the major banks and all the lease participants in the utility's complex structure have signed initial or final term sheets outlining new terms for TEP's obligations. Only "the ongoing relationship with Century Power Corp." remains unresolved, Adler said, and there is "substantial progress" in the last few days in those talks.

A top state utility regulator also saw signs that TEP could be nearing the end of its financial agony. Gary Yaquinto, director of the Arizona Corporation Commission utilities division, said he believes TEP "is going to finally get this thing done." Yaquinto said last night that he is "more optimistic now than I've ever been that they will pull this thing off." In the two months since the ACC approved a 15 percent rate increase for the utility, TEP "has come a long way" in reaching agreements with creditors, lease participants and major suppliers to rewrite terms on about $3 billion in total liabilities, he said. Yaquinto said the ACC action, as well as actions by the U.S. Bank court restructuring were in the best interest of ratepayers. Adler said the company plans today to ask the ACC to "file an application for permanent rates in case the bankruptcy petitions are dismissed (on Dec.

31) or an extension of the rates if the petition is still pending" after the court hearing. Yaquinto said the ACC could be prepared on Dec. 31 to act in making the October rate increase permanent if Judge Ollason rules quickly to dismiss the petitions. Such action by the ACC would hinge on TEP's "having agreements well wrapped up" with creditors setting forth restructuring terms. Death knell set for Soviet Union by end of year Even hammer-and-sickle flag to be lowered from the Kremlin i By Richard Ducote The Arizona Dally Star WTucson Electric Power Co.

last night reported reaching tentative Agreement with all but one of the parties to its restructuring talks, jmoving the utility closer to solving its financial crisis. -The progress in talks with creditors and suppliers, together with yesterday's setting of a Dec. 31 Bankruptcy Court hearing, signals that the utility may finally be emerging from the shadow of bankruptcy. i jlra R. Adler, TEP senior vice president and chief financial officer, said last night that "we are n0 ft ruptcy Court, have pushed all the parties to an agreement.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Lawrence Ollason yesterday set a Dec. 31 hearing on TEP's November request for dismissal of petitions filed last July by a group of corporate lease investors. Those investors asked that TEP be forced into Chapter 11 reorganization. Ollason on Monday received a long-awaited report from Tucson attorney Thomas Chandler, appointed by the judge as a "special ratepayer analyst" in the TEP case.

Chandler's report generally found that TEP's efforts toward an out-of- II il Mil l' i U'lJ fr" J- I m. i The ACC's October action granting TEP a 15 percent rate increase was contingent on the withdrawal or dismissal of bankruptcy petitions by the end of the year. Adler said he expects, by the time of the Dec. 31 hearing, that TEP will have "at least conditional statements of support" for dismissal from the very parties that triggered the bankruptcy court action. The six corporate investors are all among the parties that have now signed preliminary agreements on restructured obligations, he said.

Among the agreements Adler said See TEP, Page 2A The two presidents agreed that an orderly process of transforming the old Soviet Union into the new commonwealth should be completed within two weeks. "Whether or not there is milk is probably of bigger interest for most people." Sergei Lutin Moscow resident The president of Kazakhstan says his republic wants to keep its nuclear weapons. Page 12A. struggle to feed themselves amid increasing shortages. "Whether or not there is milk is probably of bigger interest for most people," said Sergei Lutin, 30, of Moscow.

In part of the relief effort being See SOVIETS, Page 12A at the thrift reducing the risk to their personal assets. RTC investigators, who have had more than two years to examine Southwest Savings' books, have found no evidence that the thrift carried a similar insurance policy on its top officials. As a result the suit poses a deep personal financial risk to some, if not all, of the 12 defendants. Symington's attorney, James Vieh, has said that he is not sure if insurance was in place when Sy- See SOUTHWEST, Page 14A Mm i w--' "1 I I By Brian Friedman The Associated Press MOSCOW Boris N. Yeltsin and Mikhail S.

Gorbachev agreed yesterday to dissolve the Soviet Union and proclaim a new commonwealth by the new year. Even the hammer-and-sickle flag will be lowered from the Kremlin, a Yeltsin aide said. The announcement by Gorbachev's office, carried by the Tass news agency, ended days of uncertainty over whether the Soviet president would continue to fight the inevitable disintegration of the superpower founded 74 years ago in revolution. Left unresolved was what role Gorbachev would play: whether he would resign when the Soviet Union is liquidated or remain in some capacity with the new Commonwealth of Independent States being formed to replace the world's largest country. The hammer and sickle the flag that has flown above the Kremlin since the 1917 revolution probably will be taken down for good on New Year's Eve, a Yeltsin spokesman told the independent Interfax hews agency.

But for many Soviet citizens, the dramatic crumbling of their union was overshadowed by the daily mington, who has suffered some highly publicized business setbacks since he became governor is who will pay for the damages, should the RTC win or obtain a settlement. The federal agency's cited damages are roughly half of what it sought earlier this year when it sued top officials of MeraBank, another failed Arizona thrift The difference, however, is that MeraBank carried liability insurance for its directors and officers in the event they were sued for losses Bruce McClelland, The Arizona Daily Star Francisco Mada uses a tree limb to break windows out of a from the home and began breaking the windows before firemen small house in the 2C0 block of West Oklahoma Street to see if arrived. No one was in the home, but seven people were left home-anyone is inside. Mada, who lives nearby, saw smoke coming less. Story, Page IB.

Southwest suit to test Symington's credibility By Walt Nett The Arizona Dally Star While Gov. Fife Symington's Camelback Esplanade deal grabbed yesterday's headlines as the biggest bad 5eal leading to Southwest Savings' failure, the broader issue may be Symington's credibility. A $140 million lawsuit filed Monday by the federal Resolution Trust Corp. tacitly questions the business ethics and acumen of Symington and other outside directors of Southwest a problem for a governor who campaigned on the need "to run the state like a business." Another threat is the possibility that the $140 million civil suit is not the end. FBI officials say they began an investigation six to eight weeks ago of possible criminal activity that might have contributed to South-west's collapse.

That investigation is based on referrals from RTC investigators, which have already been reviewed by the U.S. attorney for Arizona before being assigned to the FBI. And a third problem one that may be of special concern for Sy jr- The RTC suit against 12 Southwest Savings officials details seven deals that allegedly show a mismanagement pattern. Page 15A. The Camelback Esplanade Is situated on prime real estate.

Page 15A. That's one of several threats for Symington and the other 11 former Southwest officials named in the suit Housing starts fell 2.1 percent in November, assuring home builders of their worst year since World War II. Page 2A. there is a recession in a technical sense, but is now using the term because that is the way most Americans view the economy. The adjustment in terminology came as an ABC News-Washington See RATINGS, Page 2A WEATHER Chance of storms.

Today is expected to be cloudy with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms and a 50 percent chance of measurable rain. Look for a high in the lower 60s and an overnight low near 50. Yesterday's high was 72, arjd the low 52. Details on Page 17A. INDEX Sweating the small stuff t.

Jt'S the pits. Chrysler Corp. Is asking workers on the Jeep paint Jine not to wear anti-perspirants on Jhe job. Anti-perspirants, Chrysler says, flake and fall onto the paint Where a chemical reaction causes Jbratering. Page ISA.

latent 14C Horoscope JC iGsssifled 1-MD Money 44B tsmment 1S-UA News summary ZA rtssirrd ID Obitmries ID Cetr Abby JC Public records IB JC Sports 1-7D r-T ii Appeals court ruling allows most Haitians to be deported from Guantanamo Bay base Bush says there's a recession, blames it for his low ratings coup toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in September. Since Oct 29, the Coast Guard has intercepted more than 7,700 Haitians at sea. Their advocates say the refugees deserve political asylum and would face danger if forced back to Haiti, because they supported Aristide. The U.S. government argues that most of the Haitians are economic refugees who, if allowed to stay, could inspire a mass exodus from the Caribbean nation that the United States couldnt handle.

No action against the immigrants would be taken before today, State Department spokesman Joseph Snyder said in Washington. Cheryl Little, an attorney for the Haitian Refugee By Terence Hunt The Associated Press WASHINGTON In a sudden about-face, the White House yesterday said the nation is still gripped by recession and blamed anxiety over the economy for a plunge in President Bush's ap-. proval rating to the lowest point in his presidency. "For all practical purposes, the recession continues," White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said. Later, he said the administration does not actually believe By Tom Saladino The Associated Press ATLANTA The government can send back thousands of Haitians picked up at sea while trying to flee their homeland, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

The Haitians aren't protected by an international agreement on refugees, because they didn't reach the United States, an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel held in a 2-1 ruling. The court dismissed a preliminary injunction by a federal judge in Miami, that had blocked deportation of the Haitians held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Haitians fled their country after a military See HAITIANS, Page 4A.