Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 33

QIISDLTQCISS Section 4 CthlCO (Tribune Monday, January 4, 1988 lets parents Monday 1 1 I hook on IDs ofi Forget to get number for kids? id- In Social Security El Cost of living: Increase of 4.2 percent for benefit recipients, payable in January II Maximum benefit: $838 a month for a worker retiring at age 65 in January 11 Taxable wage base: $45,000 compared to $43,800 in 1987 Tax rate; 7.51 percent compared to 7.15 percenl in 1987 Maximum employee tax; $3,379.50 for those earning $45,000 a year or more Chicago Tribune Graphic; Source: Hewitt Associates jap 1 Tribune photo by Don Casper Lyle and Shirley Fralich run Shakey's outlets in Calumet City and Orland Park and Highland, Ind. Pizza with the works means buffet at resurgent Shaltey's i icKer Bon voyage Damn the stock market, full speed ahead. That, apparently, is the mood of many vacationers. According to a recent survey by American Express, 36 percent of Americans intend to take more vacations in 1988 than they did last year, and never mind the stock market's gyrations. Some 43 percent will take the same number of sojourns and 9 percent will take fewer vacations.

To finance their treks, 64 percent of those surveyed are willing to cut back on luxuries. The U.S. remains the top destination followed by Canada, the Caribbean and Europe. The travel research company said Americans averaged one to two vacations in 1987 and most took trips within the U.S. The most popular U.S.

cities cited in the survey are Orlando, Washington, D.C.; Honolulu; Los Angeles; Denver, San Francisco; New York; New Orleans; and Atlanta. Many rooms at the inn Vacationers can expect to pay more in 1988 for a hotel room in Chicago but will have a greater choice. According to a survey by the consulting firm of Pannell Kerr Forster, hotel rooms will cost an average of $80.50 in 1988, a 7 percent increase from last year. Travelers can choose from more rooms because of a hotel construction boom downtown, near O'Hare International Airport and in three suburban areas the Edens Ex-presswayTri-State Tollway area in far northern Cook County, the Schaumburg area and the East-West Tollway area from Oak Brook to Napei ville Pannell Kerr's "Trends in the Hotel Industry" survey said the Chicago area hotel industry is expected to pull in $650 million to $700 million this year. You talk too much Talking too much, listening too little and stretching the truth are among the most common mistakes applicants make on a job interview, according to a National Association of Corporate and Professional Recruit-' ers survey.

The survey of association members also showed that 19 percent see a trend toward testing middle managers for AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Some 58 percent see a trend developing for drug screening of middle management and 37 percent foresee drug screening for upper management. He blames himself K.C. Mosier II, chairman of Mosier Industries, an Ohio company that generates about $8 million in annual revenue making pneumatic cylinders and valves for industrial machinery, decided it was time to go out on the shop floor to find out what was causing production problems. Who was at fault for the worst problems? It was Mosier, said the 43-year-old executive.

One constant woe, of course, was that managers spent too much time scurrying around, trying to answer customer complaints and getting work orders and engineers' drawings to match the finished product. There were no big glitches; just a lot of little ones that added up to inefficiency, Mosier said. But the biggest hitch, Mosier discovered, was his inactivity. The production department badly needed several new machines, each of which cost about $100,000, and he had delayed approval of the expenditure. He promptly authorized purchase of one machine, and a backlog of orders has been cut by more than half.

jr. ij rr se I Total sales In millions of dollars for fiscal yaars ending Sept 30 $162.1 M54.4 IS 17.3 14S.B 145iT 1 983 report 84 85 "88 '87 Hunt International Resources Corp. in 1974, treated the chain "like a toy. It was such a small fraction, I wonder if Bunker Hunt even knew he owned it." At the time, the Hunt brothers were involved: in an alleged scheme to corner the silver market, which eventually collapsed, bringing down much of their financial empire. At the time, whenever Shakey field representatives showed up talking the party line, Fralich See Shakey's, pg.

f- By John Gorman When Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson founded Shakey's Pizza in 1954, he could hardly have known how prophetic the Shakey appellation would become for the restaurant chain. In its 33 years of operations under several ownerships, it has risen to the top and plunged toward the depths of the pizza industry. Now, the 254-unit chain is. climbing back up. After it was sold by its founders, Shakey's was for a time the world's largest pizza chain.

But Pizza Hut slipped past it in 1971 to become the largest pizza chain, and remains so. And, as the company learned to its sorrow, it wasn't just Pizza Hut that was slipping by, it was the market. In the restaurant firm's tumultuous days under such owners as the Hunt brothers of Texas, who spent their time on other investments, Shakey's franchisees had to fend for themselves. One such franchisee was Lyle Fralich, who joined the Shakey's system in 1968. Fralich watched the system take a roller coaster ride through ownerships, but plotted his own course after a start that was what else? shaky.

"In the first three or four years we weren't too successful," said Fralich, who has stores in Calumet City and Orland Park and Highland, Ind. "We didn't know where we were going and had no By Sallie Gaines Harried parents still getting over the holidays have an unlikely ally in their efforts to wrap up business from 1987 the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has decided to give parents a pass if they fail to get Social Security numbers for their children by the time the 1987 tax returns are due. Under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, any person 5 or older who's listed as a dependent on a tax return must have "Taxpayer Identification Numbers," or Social Security numbers. The law known in tax circles as "TINs for Tots" provides for a nominal fine if those numbers aren't listed on all tax returns, starting this year.

The Social Security Administration estimated that about 7.5 million children age 5 to 18 did not have numbers when the law was passed. As of last count, 5 million of those have gotten numbers, said Richard Rouse, public information specialist with the Chicago regional office. Faced with a last-minute crunch and fears that some parents hadn't gotten the message, the IRS decided to waive the penalty for 1987 returns. "We're still encouraging people to get the Social Security numbers and list them on the return," said IRS spokesman Michael McGrail. "However, those who do not have that number will be sent warning notices, indicating that this is a provision of the new law and has to be followed in the future." When the law was passed, there were concerns that the Social Security Administration would be swamped with applications.

That hasn't been the case, Rouse said. About two-thirds of all children younger than 18 had Social Security numbers, he said. Many parents apply for numbers when their children are born or when setting up savings accounts for them, he said. Teenagers who get jobs also get numbers, he noted. "We're not seeing a lot of panic out there or anything," Rouse said.

"We've been publicizing this for over a year and have taken about million new applications nationwide. There are very few glitches in the whole process." Recent weeks have been busy in Social Security offices, probably because children are out of school and have had time to apply, he said. The law wasn't designed to create hassles for parents, but was, intended to eliminate some for IRS auditors. "They want to make sure that people don't lie about their children and their dependents," said Matthew C. Kessler, partner in the Chicago office of Grant Thornton, a major public accounting firm.

"People have listed their dogs and cats as dependents on re- turns. The IRS wants to be able 1 'ft fr. jf 2 pand on his concept. "That's when I got the idea of putting together a free, open-access community computer network for everyone in the Cleveland area," Grundner said. "The equipment we received was multiuser, so lots of people could use it at the same time.

"I looked at the success we'd had with the electronic hospital, and I wondered what would hap to check to find out there is such a person." Kessler said his clients have not indicated that the new requirement is a problem. The reason for the rule is logical, and parents have plenty of time to comply, he said. "You don't have to run from the maternity room to the Social Security Administration," Kessler said. "You have until your child is 5 to do it." Parents applying for Social Security numbers for their children are being told it will take five working days to get a card. Rouse said it may take two weeks in the current rush.

To get a Social Security card, applicants must submit evidence of their birth date, identity and U.S. citizenship or lawful status in this country. Parents applying on behalf of a child must submit evidence of their own identity. Any person age 18 or older must apply in person. "Most of the children who are applying were born in the U.S., so their birth certificate can be used as evidence both of date of birth and citizenship," Rouse said.

"For proof of identity for the children, parents can use school records, report cards, medical records, records from day-care centers. "Any documents that people send us or bring in to us must be original documents or copies certified by the issuing agency," he continued. "Notarized copies are not allowable. After we see them, we return all documents." People should write or go to the nearest Social Security office to apply. There are 24 offices in Chicago and 240 offices throughout the six-state region.

The Social Security Administration has a recorded message explaining the application process at 1-900410-INFO (4636). There is a charge for the call. For people who need more information, the recorded message includes a toll-free 800 number. pen if we created a whole electronic city." While Cleveland Free-Net may exist only in silicon chips, the city is not without its impressive architecture: A Post Office where users send and receive electronic mail. A Schoolhouse that allows Cleveland area public and private schools to communicate.

A Government House that puts voters in touch with their elected representatives. A Public Square for special interest groups that includes a "podium" where anyone can make an electronic speech "as long as it's not pornographic or libelous," Grundner said. A Court House that is a legal version of St. Silicon's, offering answers to legal questions. Cleveland Free-Net has grown to about 10 buildings, including dental, veterinarian and psychological services.

None of the professional services can diagnose or offer cures, Grundner stressed, but they can answer questions. Ohio Bell has given financial support to the project, and from time to time, Grundner solicits voluntary donations from the system's users. But the project isn't too expensive because all the work on it including the answering of questions by business, medical and other experts is volunteered, according to Grundner. And now Cleveland Free-Net See Data banks, pg. New 'Cleveland" springs up along banks of data Number of stores' At the end of fiscal years ending Sept 30 310 278 i 1983 "64 35 '66 "87 Chicago Tribun Graphic; Sourca: Company help from the parent." To increase volume, Fralich began instituting a buffet and a broader menu without approval from corporate headquarters.

"If we had had a strong company like McDonald's, they would have had us in court the next morning," Fralich said. "But if it had been a McDonald's, we would never have gotten into the bad position in the first place." Fralich said the Hunts, who acquired the chain through their A bulletin board system is a simple computer link used by hobbyists and other enthusiasts to communicate by computer with others who share similar interests. "A couple of days after putting this thing up," Grundner said, "word got out in the lay community that this was up and we started getting people calling up the system and leaving medically related questions in hopes that a physician any physic-an would give them an answer. "I asked, 'What have 1 got here? I have lay people crashing my humble little system seeking medicrl "Then I wondered what would happen if I set up a computerized system that intentionally encouraged people to call in." So Grundner wrote a computer program called "St. Silicon's Hospital and Information Dispensary." It was set up like an electronic hospital, and the heart of the project was the "medical clinic," where people could call in with their questions and have an answer from a physician within 24 hours.

"About two weeks after the thing, went into operation, we were, getting around 100 phone calls a week, and after a month we were getting about 200 calls a week," Grundner said. "But after about six weeks, we were suddenly at the saturation point for this system a single phone line at that time of 280 phone calls a day. It was essen- Inside The Japanese break their "downtown" mold with a real estate investment that includes three sites near O'Hare. Page 2. In 4,194 pages, "The New Palgrave" provides a mathematical and literary look at the history of economics.

Page 3. Three Continental Bank employees use the microwave to make checks less "liquid," William Gruber writes. Page 4. Business facts By Howard Swindell Special to The Tribune CLEVELAND For more than a year, Tom Grundner has been, after a fashion, the mayor of Cleveland. But it's not the Cleveland that we all know and love.

It's Cleveland Free-Net, an electronic city populated by information a city where, if there's an answer to your question or a solution to your problem, you can find it. The electronic city, among other things, assists small and medium-size businesses by providing quick answers to economic questions and providing them with a communications link they could otherwise not afford. Grundner founded his city a year and a half ago in the data banks of a computer at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, where he is an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and a specialist in medical computerization. "It all began by accident," said Grundner, whose doctorate is in education. "In the fall of 1984, we were having the usual sort of communication problems that one finds in a department like ours.

"We had clinics scattered from one end of Cleveland to the other and we needed a way of keeping in touch, so I got the of setting up a simple little levtro'i'c bulletin board using a casioft' il computer." Using a real estate agent percent of buyers selected cities used an agent Photo lor Tha Trlbuna by Bruoa ZakAP Tom Grundner formed Cleveland's "electronic city" that gives firms a communications link they otherwise could not afford. r. in IH In In who 83 tially back-to back calls during the peak hours." Calls must be made through a computer modem. St. Silicon's became so well the computer commmunity that American Telephone Telegraph computer division heard about it and donated $50,000 in computer hardware to encourage Grundner to experiment and ex Chkaoo Trfbutw Graphic SouraK National Association of Roaltoi.