The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 22

22 Sunday, June 2,1991 The Sallna Journal New building to bring more jobs 21 FROM PAGE 21 -equipment are manufactured else- where. It plans to move its assembly, -finishing and warehousing operations into a building under construction west of its headquarters. These functions will move from a collection of nearby buildings. When the building is completed this fall, the firm will add three to six employees. The company employs about 115.

In addition to the bulk handling and storage equipment, the company also makes the electrical control panels for its systems. The electrical business is a remnant of Jarrett Electric, Salina, which teamed with Salina Manufacturing Co. in the 1950s to make bulk handling equipment. The bulk-handling business was purchased in 1969 by Butler Manufacturing Kansas City, Mo. Butler's bulk handling and storage "division was spun off in 1978 as Premier Pneumatics.

George Korbelik, a group vice president of Butler, became president of the new company. PAGE 21 Custom vehicles smooth tough times much tougher than we anticipated when we started up," he said. "But things nationwide are improving daily, and we are fortunate to be enjoying some of that ElDorado Motor which once employed more than 700 at its plants in Minneapolis and Salina, filed for bankruptcy in 1989 after a $5 million loss. ElDorado's mid-sized bus operation in Salina was sold to Thor Industries of Ohio and now operates independently under the name of ElDorado Bus Co. The Minneapolis motorhome plant closed its doors in January 1990.

The ElDorado Motor Corp. reorganized in October 1990 as Honorbuilt Industries the company's name "I go to various trade shows in Europe and every time I come home I get on my knees and thank the dear Lord that we're in the business here instead of there." George Korbelik George Korbelik said Butler bought Salina Manufacturing and Jarrett Electric to, strengthen its materials handling and storage business. "After eight years it appeared maybe the further diversification was not such a good strategy," he said. At the time Butler was a $450 million-a-year business and its handling and storage division was doing a mere $4 million a year, he said. "It started out as a diversification and ended up being a diversion," George Korbelik "I felt responsible to all of the (employees) who hitched their wagon to the Butler star mostly on my say-so, so I told my associates on the (Butler) board that I would take it off their hands." Being a separate company aided the firm's growth, George Korbelik said.

Business, law training When the elder Korbelik left Butler, he ended a 23-year association with a company that he joined not long after he emigrated from Czechoslovakia. He had just completed a law degree at Charles University in Prague, Czechoslovakia, but fled before he was awarded his degree. After arriving in the United States, he attended the University of Texas and completed a degree in marketing and finance. In April he was able to close a chapter in his life when he and other fellow students were asked back to Prague and were presented with their years late. Despite the high-tech engineering required to build the Premier Pneumatic Systems, Korbelik said his degrees in law and business have served him well, especially with overseas marketing.

Premier products Mexico, Colombia and Canada. The 1992 unification of Europe probably won't present many new opportunities, Korbelik said, because intense competition already is in place and is expected to get worse next year. "I go to various trade shows in Europe primarily to see if somebody's sneaking up on our blind side, and every time I come home I get on my knees and-thank the dear Lord that we're in the business here instead of there." Asbury takes over festival bike race Journal, which inaugurated the event in 1986. The newspaper has dropped sponsorship of the bike race. "This was an opportunity for us to get involved in a premier event at the, festival," said Betsy Wearing, public information coordinator at Asbury.

"The festival is a good, family- oriented event, and it's something we want to support. The bike race encourages good health, so it's a natural for Asbury," said Wearing, who also is co-director of the race with her husband, Ben, a Journal editor who was instrumental in founding the bike race. The Saturday five- and two-mile foot races and walking events and the 23-mile bicycle race on Sunday attract about 1,000 participants annually. "I'm glad to see it continue," said Journal Publisher Harris Rayl, who said dropping sponsorship of the race was a budgetary decision. Instead of the bike race, the Journal will be donating space in the paper for a series of advertisements about arts and also sponsoring "a visual arts information booth.

Support of the festival, more so than financial gain, is the prime motivator for contributions, businesses said. "The Smoky Hill River Festival is an important event for Salina and all of central Kansas, and we want to be part of it (to help) make it a success," said Jerry Hinrikus, general manager of KSAL Radio. KSAL grabbed its partner Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. again this year and is co-sponsoring Friday night's performance by the Hays Big "We don't make dime one on the deal, but there's a lot of demand for Big Band music," Hinrikus said. People who are left plum tuckered out by the dance can rest a spell on the free shuttle buses, courtesy of National Bank of America.

The three shuttles will run between the festival grounds and the two parking lots at the Bicentennial Center. "It's just a public service," said Senior Vice President Ron Green. "We like to do as much as we can for the outstanding product for said. early in its 29-year history. A loan from the Farmer's Home Administration, a $300,000 community development block grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce and at least $400,000 from 12 private investors made the reorganization possible.

Currently, 85 people work at the plant many of them former El- Dorado employees, Stewart said. Before he knew what the effect of events in the Middle East would be, Stewart said he expected the company would have a work force of 120 by now. He said the company may hire more than 85 people, but that number may be the peak for this year. The company's products range from 19-foot camper vans and cutaway minivans to 35-foot mot- orhomes. Currently, 30 dealers represent the company, and Stewart expects that number to grow to 50 this summer.

Stewart said the company has contacted 8,000 to 10,000 owners of older ElDorado products. through direct mailings to let them know the brand name is back and replacement parts are available. Through the tough months when the market for recreational vehicles was down, Stewart said Honorbuilt relied on sales of custom commercial vehicles that are used in a number of One customer ordered seven vehicles to be used as mobile sales rooms for import decorations, he said. A Long Island optomitrist ordered one vehicle he will use as a mobile examination laboratory. The first 150 vehicles produced were mobile medical units sold to hospitals to contain special medical equipment, such as mammogram facilities, Stewart said.

"Necessity is the mother of invention now and then," he.said. US Sprint targets small businesses By The Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. US Sprint has introduced a new service targeting small businesses that would simplify billing and increase volume discounts. The new service; called Dial 1 Wats Advantage, combines all intrastate, interstate and international calling from all the customer locations and provides a volume discount on the calls. "This lets small businesses take the bills from all the offices around the country and combine them into one bill, so there's only one payment per month," Spring spokeswoman Robin Pence said Friday.

"This will also increase their volume discount" by grouping all calls together and then discounting them. The service aims at businesses generating between (100 and $15,000 in monthly long distance calls. A business that, spends $1,000 in long-distance calls would get a percent discount off the entire bill; a business spending $5,000 would get percent off; and a business spending $10,000 would receive a percent discount. The new service "is a simple and powerful means to improve our customers' business operations and profitability," said Gary Forsee, president of Sprint's Business Services Group. "If a customer has six locations, like a typical retail store, today they could very well be getting six bills.

This plan means they could get a single bill," Forsee said. The new program was initiated at the customers' request, he said. "They have wanted and desired a single bill. They asked for it," Forsee said. The service also features a business travel card to charge calls.

The new card is the first one Sprint has developed for business customers that charges calls in six-second increments. Six-second billing, rather rounding the calls up to the minute, creates savings for customers. Happy Retirement, Jeanie! June 12, 1961, one week after the bank opened, Jeanie Huscher opened her window at First Bank for the first time. Now, 30 years later, Jeanie is going to retire and follow her other interests. All her friends are invited to come by for coffee, cake and farewells on Monday, June 3.

Anytime between 9:00 and 4:00, drop in at First Bank, 235 South Santa Fe and wish Jeanie good luck. Norma Jean Huscher FIRST BANK AND TRUST CO. Member FDIC 235 S. Santa Fe 1333 W. Crawford Salina, Ks.

Main Center Assaria, Ks. 100 S. Kansas Kanopolis, Ks. 120 W. Second Ellsworth, Ks.

Every person charged with a crime, is guaranteed a fair trial. The Bill of Rights assures your day in court, before a panel of your peers, to protect your most precious right, "liberty." THE BILL OF RIGHTS RIGHTS IT'S IN YOUR COURT KANSAS BAR ASSOCIATION Rediscover the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, and celebrate 200 years of personal freedoms.