Pensacola News Journal from Pensacola, Florida • 47

WEEKLY STOCKS; MUTUAL FUNPS1NS1DE Li fi SECTION STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST FromMwril1 Mmeh, Fenner Smith Inc. Newsjournal voiuim a 6V, 259,300 30 10,900 25 34,600 28 142,400 46 2,274,500 52 121,800 17V. 49,700 43 307,400 59Va 449,500 31 'A 88,800 9 120,100 41 741,200 39 Chj Compass Bank Cvtec Delchamps Vk Dlllards 14 Echllnlnc. First Data First Union 14 Flagstar Vi GonnettCo. 'A GelmonSci.

'4 Great Western ft Heritage Home Depot Volume 331,400 70,300 2,900 122,200 104,500 153,100 173,400 208,000 219,200 3,400 164,900 a 26 38 17'A 27 34 5Vs 44 7 52 Chg Wl Paper 14 Kmort 14 Landry's LkonlnTI 114 Lowe's 'A McDonold's Vb Mercantile Va Monsanto Vi Norwest 14 Office Depot Proffttt t-Vj Regions Corp. Sears Volume 474,600 1,084,700 305,200 70,500 350,600 1,189,500 80,200 239,500 267,000 715,000 40,000 26,500 1,940,100 CI 74 1414 28 Chg 14 14 Volume 50,400 77,400 1,052,600 97,100 35,300 59,900 110,800 2,073,500 1,819,000 574,100 27,100 CI Chg 10'A 'A Air Products ABrtson's Am HmPatlent AmSouth Armstrong BankSoutti Barnett BellSouth Brown Ferris Brunos Champion ColumbtaHCA St. Joe Paper Southern Co. Storter Stein Mart Stone Contain SunTrust Synovus VFCorp. Vlocom Wal-Mart Waste Mangmt Weshnghouse Winn-Dixie 11 3814 33'i 43 20 54 4j 18 49 47 23 26 14 53 Va Vi -'A 'A 75 l'd 24'A 13Vi MVi 25 21 47 V4 'A 1 112,000 25 66,000 49 TO REPORT A MONEY STORY: 435-8550 Saturday, February 11, 199 i.v Wm0i 11 1 111111 Ly Pensacola, Florida Briefs Mnas mflefl Sr If I.iKlLSL??.

Pensacola is one of two state sites By Charlotte Crane News Journal An international trade conference that could spotlight Pensacola as a potential Mexican trading partner has been set for May 4 and 5. Being invited to the talks are state commerce officials and trade Vi P- representatives from Mexico, and possibly other Central American countries and Chile, meeting co-chairman Bill Watson, said. The Pensacola meeting is one of two post-summit meetings to be held in Florida, at the request of Gov. Lawton Chiles, as follow-ups to the Summit of the Americas conference held in December at BLAB-TV'S urn 1 i'f- M' Miami. The other post-summit will be in Jacksonville.

Tourism, the chemicals industry and technology, because they are Pensacola areas of strength, are being considered as primary topics for discussion, Watson said. "Our first concern is to have direct economic impact on the community. We want to enhance the potential for long-range business and to create jobs." Those to be asked to participate NEW STUDIO "sa'f. it '-V-: City may finally get trade rep Monday Florida Department of Commerce said Friday it's selected another candidate for the position of trade representative at Pensacola. The department has made an offer and expects to get a response on Monday, a spokesman said.

The candidate is from Pensacola. The person hired will serve Northwest Florida, from Pensacola to Tallahassee, from offices in downtown Pensacola, helping businesses find markets abroad and assisting potential foreign investors. The Pensacola trade office will be a first for the region, joining four others in the state. The Commerce Department last month picked a person for the position, but the announcement proved premature: the candidate decided to turn down the offer. AmSouth introduces new debit card AmSouth Bank introduces CheckCard, a product that allows customers to access their AmSouth checking accounts without writing checks.

The CheckCard looks like a credit card and can be used to make purchases at any of the more than 12 million locations worldwide that accept VISA including shops, restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores and hotels. The cards, along with customers' personal identification numbers, also provide access to AmSouth's automated teller machines. Wholesale inflation increases 0.3 percent WASHINGTON Inflation at the wholesale level was moderate last month. But analysts said new government figures are sending mixed signals: There may be turbulence beneath a calm surface. The Labor Department said Friday the Producer Price Index, measuring inflation pressures before they reach the consumer, rose 0.3 percent in January.

The closely watched core PPI which excludes energy and food costs rose 0.2 percent. Chiles, MacKay sell Commerce plans WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Florida fell behind other Southeast states in economic development in recent years, and state leaders now are seeking to create a government climate friendly to business. That's why Gov. Lawton Chiles and Lt.

Gov. Buddy MacKay took to the road this week to hear suggestions on how to cut red tape and sell the idea of dismantling the Department of Commerce. The private sector would get the job of promoting tourism and industrial development. Compiled from staff and wire reports CORRECTION The name of the Realtor connected with the HomeFinder cover story to appear Sunday is incorrect. Al Ingram of Con-nell Manziek Realty describes Sotogrande subdivision.

HomeFinder is pre-printed Friday mornings. wm. is rt ret 1 nU 'i Mexico shouldn't be a deterrent to people interested in doing businejssj' there, Watson said. "There have been financial crises in this country going on over 20 years and there will be crises in Mexico. This could be a bubble -si.

a hiccup." Most of the trading risk is in the; exchange rate, and there are ways to ensure the price in transactions he said. See PENSACOLA, 2F Small-time crooks hit-the jackpot ATM fleeced 724 I times in 54 hours By Bob Baum Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. Karen Smith didn't notice her bank card was missing until her credit uniog telephoned to tell her that her account was more than $346,000 overdrawn. Two men and a woman now face charges they used the card td make 724 withdrawals over 54 hours in what authorities say was one of the five largest automated teller fraud cases in U.S. history.

A fourth person is being sought. For the thieves, it was like hit. ting the jackpot on a slot machine over and over and over. They cruised from one automated teller machine to another in "a maroon, gold-trimmed Cadillac spending hours at a time withdrawing money, police said. To safeguard against this sort of thing, the machines are supposed to give no more than $200 per day on any single card.

But because a computer software change at Oregon TelCo Credit Union, the limit wasn't in effect that week-, end. By the time they finished, they'd withdrawn $346,770 from 48 bank machines. "They drained a couple of them dry," Secret Service agent James Cline said. When the account became empty it was no problem. They used empty envelopes to make five phony deposits totaling $820,500.

"Many banks will believe the card user and trust their customers," Muzyn said. "If you're put ting some money, it will post it immediately. It began on a Friday night, Noy 18, when Smith left her van locked in a parking lot while she attended a high school football game in Gresham, a Portland suburb. Someone broke into the van, went through Smith's purse and stole the bank card. She had written the card's personal identification number on her Social SeoK rity card.

Smith didn't notice her van haj been disturbed; the culprit pried lock open and re-locked the doo upon leaving. Investigators used bank machine records to trace the thieves' route more than 100 miles through five counties. The card was last used at 2:20 a.m. on Nov. 21.

By then, the group's luck had rurt out. Four of the machines they'd used had hidden cameras that had capf tured their picture. At a postal inspector investigating an unrelated check fraud case had installed a camera that took pie-, tures much more frequently than the bank machine cameras did. nezia. He scoffed at the notion that pasta could lead to obesity "Customers come here and tell me 'I'm on a diet I'll just have pasta Lucozzi said.

This isn't the first time Italian? have turned defensive about nnctn Wtion a IT a. are government policy-makers who can influence business deals, said Frank Tamberrino, economic development vice president for the Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce, which is coordinating meeting plans. "We're going to bring together people who can facilitate deals, then send them back and see what they can do for us," Tamberrino said. The current financial crisis in Vw-'l. ib M.

lik. "Americans ought to just think about giving up eating mindlessly about quitting stuffing themselves four times a day with mountains of hot dogs and toppings," Giorgio Calabrese, who teaches nutrition at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Piacenza, told La Stampa. Gianni Lucozzi serves up plate-fuls of spaghetti with clams, lin-guini al pesto, penne with tuna and other dishes to elbow-to-elbow lunchtime crowds at the Na-poleone Bar, near busy Piazza Ve- Photos by Charlie SteedNews Journal The former J.C. Penney 's building at 121 S. Palafox Place has been renovated to house BLAB-TV, the accounting firm Dickson Company and home furnishings store Good Design.

Eyesore turns business center Three companies call old J.C. Penney's building home i w' i bought the vacant building in December, 1993 because they needed more space and wanted to play a role in revitalizing downtown. Investor David Brannen is also a partner in the venture. The building had sat vacant since the national retailer moved its Pensacola store to University Mall in the late '70s. It narrowly escaped the wrecking ball, before being sold to the partners for $100,000.

Renovations started last September and, except for landscaping, are nearly completed. The portion of the building that served as the J.C. Penney furniture department was demolished to make room for a 40-space parking lot. The retail space on Palafox was renovated See 3 COMPANIES, 2F GEHEES ticians' Society, Eugenio Del Toma, said on RAI state television. Del Toma appeared on the national news to talk about arguments by U.S.

experts that starchy foods might contribute to obesity. The experts were quoted in a front-page article in Wednesday's New York Times to the immediate alarm of U.S.-based Italian newspaper correspondents. By Katrina Blauvelt News Journal The former J.C. Penney building downtown is once again a place to chat, shop and count money. The $650,000 renovations have transformed a downtown eye sore into the new home of BLAB-TV, accounting firm Dickson Company and home furnishings store Good Design.

"We wanted tn Inrfltp BLAB-TV Vigodsky downtown. We feel we are the community television station, and the community station should be downtown," BLAB president Fred Vigodsky said. BLAB-TV and Dickson Company joined forces and III BLAB-TV and Dickson Company bought the vacant building in 1993 because they needed more space and wanted to play a role in revitalizing downtown. i Mama mia! Italians shocked by U.S. pasta study I ESmmm 6 39 DOW JONES I i AVERAGE STOCK INDEXES Close Change Dow Jonea Ind, 3939 07 6.39 Consolidated Volume 358,476,830 Up 1,230 Unchanged 770 Down 931 20 Trent.

1542 13 3889 15 Utilities 193 05 S8.P 500 481.46 1.27 NYSE Composite 261.80 0 59 Amex Index 447 85 1.52 hASD Composite 790 43 4 99 GOLD AND SILVER Oold(Comex) $376 40 40 Silver (Comsx) $4.757, Sunchanged Prime Rate 9 -ii i i By Frences D'Emilio Associated Press ROME The warning made front-page headlines. Cafe customers buzzed about it. Experts came on lunch-time TV to calm Italians just as they were sitting down for their daily serving of pasta. For Italians, a suggestion by American nutritionists that pasta can be bad for you has been harder to swallow than mushy macaroni. "The whole thing is so ridiculous," the head of the Italian Die- "America, You Don't Understand Pasta," was the headline over a front-page commentary in Thursday's La Stampa, a nationwide daily.

The Times article focused on concerns that a diet heavy on carbohydrates might be bad for the overweight, particularly for those whose bodies tend to overproduce insulin after eating sugar or starches. "Bye-bye pasta. It's been fun," the Times wrote. Italians counter that Americans just need to learn how to eat. long ago denounced the calories in fettuccine Alfredo, Italians were quick to point out that that dish smothered with heavy creara i sauce, was invented to satisfy American tastes..