The Jackson Sun from Jackson, Tennessee • 12

Business Editor: John Semien Phone: 425-9644 Toll free: (800) 372-3922 Fax: 425-9639 Internet: jsemienjacksonsun.com DOW L-J Close: 11,352.01 Up: 67.96 NASDAQ L-J Close: 2,160.70 Up: 20.41 Tuesday, August 29, 2006 4B Briefly IFn inTO to Ml tkmml IB JKT Channel 16 officially became a FOX affiliate on August 21, said Ned Hunter "The winning artwork will be reproduced and sold throughout Kirkland's Home stores nationwide. One grand prize winner will receive $5,000. Nine runners-up will each receive $500 in Kirk-land's merchandise credit," the release states. "In addition, Kirkland's Home may negotiate a contract with the winners at the conclusion of the contest." For contest rules or to make a submittal, go to www.kirklands.com. Ned B.

Hunter is The Jackson Sun business reporter. You can reach him at 425-9641, outside Madison County at (800) 372-3922, Ext. 641 or by e-mail at nhunterjacksonsun.com. broadcasts. Vimonos Those of you chomping at the Pico De Gallo sauce-covered bit for the new Los Portales on South Highland to open can ease your Mexican food craving by trying Chango Loco.

The restaurant is located in the Omni Center off the U.S. 45 Bypass North the former home of Gus's fried chicken. Chango Loco is family run and serves Mexican food favorites like the Burrito Verde and shrimp Chimichanga. For more information call: 664-4088. Artists in a Jackson residence Kirkland's is searching for the next great artist Americana.

As part of its 40th anniversary, Kirkland's is holding an artists competition beginning Thursday and running through October 2, according to a Kirkland's press release. The home decor store is asking artists nationwide to submit a photo of original artwork in any medium, including paintings, photography and sculptures for images to be used as wall art or other decorative products, according to the release. Wendy Turner, marketing consultant. The former UPN affiliated station is owned by Clear Channel Communications. "WHBQ the FOX on Channel 13 now will be replaced with this channel," Turner said, "becoming the only Fox channel available in West Tennessee." Channel 16 now broadcasts all Fox programming, including professional football and college games, Turner said.

"We ran our first football game nhunterjacksonsun.com on Thursday," she said. Clear Channel hopes to begin a local news broadcast within the next 12 to 18 months, Turner said. "Originally it will be at 9 p.m. only," she said. The channel, which has three employees, currently does not have any locally originated Google, eBay form alliance Internet giants to help buyers 'click-to-call' online merchants J'fjA i -s it: Jack Daniels maker to acquire Mexican tequilas LOUISVILLE, Ky.

Brown-Forman which makes Jack Daniel's, Southern Comfort and other liquor brands, said Monday it agreed to acquire Mexican tequila company Grupo Industrial Herradura SA de CV for $876 million. Brown-Forman will acquire Herradura and El Jimador tequilas, as well as the New Mix tequila-based ready-to-drink brand in the deal struck with the owners of the 136-year-old company, Pablo Romo de la Pena and Jose Guillermo Romo de la Pena. Other assets included in the sale include tequila production facilities and a sales and distribution organization in Mexico. The company, known as Casa Herradura, employed about 1,100 workers and reported net sales of approximately S200 million in 2005. BP CEO ordered to testify in Texas refinery blast HOUSTON A Texas State Court Monday ordered a deposition from BP PLC Chief Executive John Browne in litigation related to a fatal March 2005 accident at a Texas refinery.

The London-based energy company is expected to appeal the ruling. Judge Susan Criss of the 212th Judicial District in Galveston, Texas, ruled that Browne and BP global refining chief John Man-zoni must give depositions in the case. The plaintiffs consist of about a dozen survivors and family members of workers who died in the 2005 explosion, said lead attorney Brent Coon. BP is expected to appeal Monday's ruling through state courts, said Art Gonzalez, an attorney with Brent Coon Associates. "The court has ruled that both John Browne and John Manzoni have unique and superior knowledge," Gonzalez told Dow Jones Newswires.

"She's ruled that they have to appear for depositions." BP has broadly accepted responsibility for the calamity, which killed 15 and injured 170. The oil giant has reached settlements with many of the victims, but is fighting the case, which includes the plaintiffs claim that the accident resulted from "gross negligence" at BP. BP has been fighting to restrict plaintiffs' access to Browne and other senior BP executives on the grounds that they don't have unique knowledge in the case. Coon earlier this month took a deposition of BP Global Refining Vice President Mike Hoffman. A jury trial is scheduled to start on Sept.

18 in Criss' courtroom in Galveston, about an hour south of Houston. NBC expresses regret for Emmy plane-crash skit LOS ANGELES NBC expressed regret Monday for an Emmy Awards comedy skit that' included a mock plane crash and aired on the network the evening of a fatal Kentucky jetliner accident. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the many families who lost loved ones in the plane crash in Kentucky on Sunday, and to the entire community that has suffered this terrible loss," NBC said in a statement the day after the ceremony. "In no way would we ever want to make light of this terrible tragedy," NBC said. "The filmed opening during the Emmy telecast was meant to spoof some of television's most well-known scenes.

The timing was unfortunate, and we regret any unintentional pain it may have caused." The prerecorded skit was broadcast as part of the live Emmy ceremony just hours after a commuter jet taking off in Lexington, crashed into a field and burst into flames, killing 49 people. Only a co-pilot survived. Criticism of the sequence appeared on Web sites Sunday night, including the Los Angeles Times', with a columnist for the paper calling it "cringe-inducing" and "of questionable taste." The airing of the skit, a spoof on the ABC plane-crash drama "Lost," was condemned by the general manager of NBC's Lexington affiliate, WLEX. "It was a live telecast. We were completely helpless," Tim Gilbert was quoted as saying Sunday night on the Lexington Herald-Leader's Web site.

"By the time we began to react, it was over. At the station, we were as horrified as they were at home." The Associated Press RiC FELDTne Associated Press ABOVE: Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy speaks to a group of school kids on a tour of the corporate headquarters July 26 in Hapeville, Ga. The family-held company holds to its 'biblical' standards in all it's dealings according to Cathy, including remaining closed on Sundays. BELOW: Cathy pours out a bag of stuffed Chick-fil-A cows for the visiting group of school kids. This year is expected to be a major milestone for the company, as its officials estimate Chick-fil-A will cross $2 billion in yearly sales.

People before profits spell success for Chick-fil-A By LISA LEFF The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO In a deal between two of the Internet's most prominent players, Google will begin selling advertising for eBay outside the United States and help buyers quickly ring an online merchant to do business. The arrangement announced Monday promises to introduce "click-to-call" Web site technology to a broader audience and potentially speed its adoption as means of more quickly connecting online consumers with advertisers. It will allow potential buyers to call eBay merchants or Google advertisers by clicking a link on a Web page. "We have a chance to create a whole new way for buyers and sellers to connect online and to create what we hope will be a significant revenue stream for both eBay and Google," eBay Inc. Chief Executive Meg Whitman said in an interview Sunday night.

Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt said the agreement with eBay is "likely to go on for many years," but he would not disclose the terms of the deal or what it might mean for the Mountain View-based search engine's bottom line. Whitman said eBay does not expect the partnership to affect its financial performance this year or next Whitman said eBay decided to give Google's advertisers access to its international auction sites after choosing Yahoo for its domestic advertising because of the competing Internet search engines' respective strengths and how they mesh with eBay's assets. The click-to-call component of the new alliance calls for the two Silicon Valley companies to work together on developing a service that lets Web surfers place telephone calls through their computers or handheld devices when they click on a link in an Internet ad. Google already has been testing a program in which users click on a phone icon and type their number into a box.

Google then dials the user, who hears ringing until the merchant answers. Schmidt and Whitman said they would begin testing some of their joint services early next year. 1 4 Chick-fil-A at a glance Company Name: Chick-fil-A First restaurant: Opened in 1967 at a south Atlanta shopping center Number of restaurants today: 1,250 in 37 states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Sales (in 2005): $1,975 billion Restaurant chain rank (in 2005 sales): 25th, just behind International House of Pancakes and just ahead of Papa John's Pizza, according to Restaurants and Institutions magazine. Menu items: Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich, Chick-fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich, Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit Source: Chick-fil-A 'A UAT; 4 I 1 1 y0 By DANIEL YEE The Associated Press EAST POINT, Ga.

Every week, Harry Moss finds a cozy table at his neighborhood Chick-fil-A restaurant to read the entire newspaper and enjoy a salad garnished with the fast-food chain's staple chicken. However, he doesn't get to pore through the Sunday paper there. That day is when the fast-food chain's restaurants close to give employees a day of rest, a business decision 85-year-old founder Truett Cathy said has been a big factor in the company's success, by sticking to his doctrine of considering people before profits. Chick-fil-A executives routinely say that the chain's 1,250 restaurants in 37 states, spanning from Georgia to California to Massachusetts, make as much money in six days a week as many of its competitors do in seven. For nearly 40 years, Chick-Fil-A has offered up a taste of the South, from its chicken sandwiches to sweet tea and biscuits and gravy.

The Atlanta-based company the 25th largest restaurant chain in the U.S. with more than $1,975 billion in sales in 2005 has increased revenues by at least 11 percent a year for the past decade. This year is expected to be a major milestone for the company, as its officials estimate Chick-fil-A will cross $2 billion in yearly sales for the first time. "They make good competitors," Cathy said of his larger fast-food rivals. "We can outperform them because we teach our employees the importance to be kind to customers.

Your customers become cheerleaders for you and you have to do little advertising, they're worth more than TV and radio." Chick-fil-A is also known for a decade-long campaign of TV and billboard ads that use witty cows who try to make sure people eat chicken, instead of them. "It's extremely clever They are positioned in a fast-food arena that's dominated by hamburgers, and it distinguishes them in a humorous way as a non-hamburger fast-food outlet," said Bill Guilfoyle, associate professor of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. "But Chick-fil-A is not just about TV commercials or these billboards," said Guilfoyle. "They're about promoting that brand as an upstanding and positive fast-food company." Cathy's entire life has been focused on serving up staples as a little boy, he would make money by selling six bottles of Coca-Cola for a quarter and soon "realized a talent for pleasing customers." He later turned his entrepreneurial skills to the restaurant business, opening an Atlanta diner called The Dwarf Grill (named for example. "It's a small thing, but in our business it's very competitive, so if you can raise yourself above the norm and improve customer relations, that's going to be as beneficial to the chain as 'We need to sell more waffle Truett never says 'Let's sell more waffle said spokesman Don Perry.

Even at age 85, Cathy still remains involved with the company as its founder and CEO. His son, Dan, is the president and COO. The company is entirely owned by the Cathy family. The chain works to help its employees through programs that include an employee scholarship program and a marriage retreat center at Berry College in Rome, Ga. "It's very important to keep people happy," Cathy said.

"A person cannot work hard in the day if they go home to a crying wife or family. It's very important to keep your life in good order." Chick-fil-A has also managed to keep its house in order. It has steered clear of lawsuits possibly, Adolf said, by managing to not ruffle anybody's feathers. "It's certainly not uncommon that businesses are involved in disputes labor disputes, employee litigation," she said. "The fact there hasn't been anything speaks volumes about their practices and their commitment to their employees." the short and stout shape of the restaurant) with his brother, Ben, in 1946.

But it wasn't until 1961 that Cathy developed Chick-fil-A's trademark sandwich, A company that cooked boneless, skinless chicken for airline meals wanted to sell him pieces that were too big for the airline's needs; Cathy cooked the chicken in a pressure cooker and put it on a buttered bun. He sold the sandwich at independent restaurants for a few years before opening his first Chick-fil-A restaurant at an Atlanta shopping mall in 1967. Chick-fil-A prides itself on its service, making the extra effort to win over customers Cathy asks his employees to faithfully say "My pleasure" whenever customers thank them, for PAUL SAKUMAThe Associated Press An ebay sign at their headquarters is shown July 17 in San Jose, Calif. Google will begin selling advertising for Web auctioneer eBay outside the U.S. and help buyers quickly ring an online merchant to do business..