The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 35

fO)n nfrftnrm JUMUl THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Thursday, August 24, 1995 lesiErer woe't issue mew policies ft v. -3 if to ensure that all Floridians have affordable hurricane coverage. The property and casualty market has been disrupted since Andrew alerted insurers to how much risk they were carrying. The companies proposed setting up a quasigovernmental program paid in part by homeowners' premi By CHERYL JACKSON Tribune Staff Writer TAMPA State Farm, the state's largest home insurer, will stop writing new homeowners insurance policies in Florida, the company said Wednesday. Most other Florida companies have already stopped writing new policies and have not renewed policies following Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida three years ago today.

That's forced homeowners to the state-run insurer of last resort, the Florida Residential Joint Underwriting Association. "That has increased our exposure the JUA and it has increased demand for our policies," State Farm spokeswoman Sharon Conlon said. "We simply need to place limits on our exposure." The new State Farm policy, which affects owners of homes, condominiums and mobile homes and renters insurance, takes effect Sept. 1. The company, which covers about 1 million Florida homes, will not terminate current policies in the state, but will cease transferring existing policies to Hillsborough, Pinellas, Broward, Dade or Palm Beach counties, where the company has high hurricane exposure.

"We had been looking at what our next step would be for quite some time and we just have to make the prudent decision to protect our customers," Conlon said. The decision comes on the heels of a preliminary task force report issued last week that failed to recommend the shifting of hurricane risk from private companies to a tax-exempt state program. State Farm originally made that proposal, which was later backed by Allstate. The academic task force is studying how The bottom Line Mickie Valente ums. "We believe if they did that, then most insurers would write more homeowners insurance coverage here," said Vince Rio, a State Farm attorney.

"It's the risk of insolvency that's poised by hurricanes that as a See INSURER, Page 8 Floridians' pay outpaces inflation By NOAM M.M. NEUSNER JJ.M I 1M. FT 1 7 ijOl a 2H -i II tM- ft a I -It i FT 1 Tribune Staff Writer TAMPA Floridians incomes outpaced inflation last year, and kept up with healthy income growth throughout the country. The state's per capita income rose 4.1 per- cent to CHART Page 8 $2 1,651, while the nation's per capita income rose 4.3 percent to $21,699. By comparison, inflation how much prices went up for most products went up 2.4 percent.

The figures were released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department Per capita income, which measures what people make in wages, investments and other income, is figured by adding up the total number of dollars earned in the state by the number of residents, from corporate executives to prisoners. As a result Florida, which has the second highest per capita income in the Southeast, benefits from a relatively high number of retirees, who have guaranteed incomes from pensions, the government and other investments. About 25 cents of every dollar earned in the state comes from investment dividends, interest and rent proceeds; the U.S. figure was 17 cents of every dollar.

But state officials say the state, in order to move above the pack in national income levels, must attract more manufacturing jobs. Such jobs not only pay well, but generate other jobs, said Nick Leslie, a research manager with the state Department of Commerce, which had nothing to do with the federal study. In Florida, income growth was moderate in manufacturing and government jobs, and robust in construction and service-oriented jobs. But the incomes of those working in farming fell by 18 percent a dramatic drop. Farming incomes swung wildly throughout the nation, however, with farmers in the Great Plains and Great Lakes seeing huge gains.

Federal officials said those areas benefited from a recovery from 1993 floods. Incomes shot up 6.4 percent in the Plains states and 5.8 percent in the Great Lakes region, compared to a 2.5 percent increase in the Far West. GARY RINGSTribune photo Construction is under way at Busch Gardens on a new area called Egypt that will feature a new roller coaster, museum, sand dig area and shopping bazaar. Busch Gardens photo With a price tag upwards of $20 million, the new area is the most expensive addition in the Tampa park's history. Busch ride aims to leave you hanging By LISA BACKMAN Tribune Staff Writer TAMPA A harness comes down, strapping you into a seat.

The floor disappears, leaving your feet to dangle. You dive, loop and twirl in mid-air for there is nothing to brace your feet against That's the sensation of riding an inverted roller coaster, a new thrill ride Busch Gardens announced on Wednesday that it is adding. The yet unnamed roller coaster is part of a new seven-acre, Egyptian-themed area for the Tampa park, which uses African themes in its attractions. Egypt as it's called, is set to open summer of 1996. With a price tag upwards of $20 million, the new area is the most expensive addition in the Tampa park's history.

And it's a continuation of Busch Gardens' emphasis on thrill rides, a formula found to be wildly popular with 2-year-old Kumba. "We've had tremendous success with Kumba. Why not this one?" said Joe Fincher, general manager of Busch Gardens. "Coasters give the park high visibility." The new attraction, proposed for the southeast corner of the Serengeti Plain near the park's entrance, will recreate Egypt of the 1920s, when King Tutankhamen's tomb was discovered. PR firms and lawyers create a circus The media is often accused of acting irresponsibly and being sensational.

Though we journalists often console ourselves with the response that we are misunderstood and unappreciated, we know, deep down, that on occasion there is some validity to the complaints. Sometimes the press does become too much a part of the story it is covering. And certainly by the mere act of what we write or broadcast, situations develop, events take place or changes are made. That is in fact why the press was originally dubbed the Fourth Estate by Sir Edmund Burke. Although it may not always handle its watchdog role with the utmost consideration and responsibility, few could argue that the press has played a vital role over the years in effecting positive change.

It's when the press effects change that you as an individual or as a member of a group disagree with that you feel reporters have overstepped their bounds. But few outside the press see the other side. Few see the aggressive public relations or law firms who create a story and pull the press into the story as an overall strategic plan. Leaking for leverage You've seen this happen in the O.J. Simpson trial and many other sensational court cases of our time.

And you see it happen time and again in political campaigns. Information is leaked, information which may or may not be fully substantiated later on, and the mere publication of that information creates the issue. One of the most disturbing trends I see developing along those lines is what I might best call the filing of the press-release lawsuit. I'm referring to a publicity strategy that seems to be increasingly used between future litigants or even would-be litigants to attempt to put pressure on someone or some company with which they have a dispute. Consider, for instance, the group of 58 former sales agents with Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

in Tampa who spoke to newspaper reporters and appeared on television Aug. 18 contending that on Tuesday they would file a suit accusing Met Life of refusing to support them when the state called their company-taught sales practices into question. They even scheduled a news conference for Tuesday, so they could chat more with reporters about the particulars of their complaints, presumably after they filed the suit documenting examples of their allegations. But, Tuesday came and Tuesday went. No lawsuit.

No news conference. The agents, who have been trying unsuccessfully to settle their dispute with Met Life for six months, said they were postponing the action because of "legal activity." It seemed their premature prepared statement had managed to do what it was intended to do, get the full attention of Met Life. Diminishing the damage If anyone doubts the power of premature publicity, or even just the threat of it in such matters, you need look no further than the pending Publix Super Markets discrimination lawsuit On that occasion, it was Publix, the defendant, which actually came out ahead of time to defend accusations before they were even officially lodged. The day before eight current and former women employees sued Publix for discrimination, Publix officials issued a prepared statement in an attempt to head the bad publicity off at the pass. It was an extremely unusual move for a private company that historically plays everything close to the vest.

Publix issued a public comment in anticipation of the suit which said, "Publix is committed to fair promotion practices and any lawsuit that suggests otherwise is out of touch with reality." Just what kind of game are we playing here? If the press is expected, which it should be, to not try court cases in its public venue before they are tried in court, shouldn't the participants be held to the same standard? While it's true that individual media organizations can choose to ignore such advances, institute strict policies not to print or broadcast accounts of a yet nonexistent lawsuit, one wonders what the public response would be to the publication that chose that higher ground? Likely, the readers or viewers who didn't receive the "news" of the anticipated suit would assume the news organization that decided to wait for the real thing, simply missed the story instead of questioning whether there was actually a story to miss. In addition to the roller coaster, the area will include a simulated archaeological sand dig, 55-foot-tall gateway decorated with hei-roglyphics and a museum with such simulated artifacts as King Tutankhamen's sarcophagus. But don't expect a mummy in the catacomb-like room where the coffin will sit. "We'll have gold death masks," said Mark Rose, head of engineering for Busch Gardens. Egypt's centerpiece, however, is the roller coaster, a ride in which cars hang from track suspended overhead like a ski lift.

There are half a dozen inverted roller coasters around the country, but the Busch Gardens ride will be the only one in the Southeast, said Tim O'Brien, Southeast editor of Amusement Business, a Nashville, trade publication. With Disney and Universal Studios each spending billions of dollars to add new gated theme parks, Busch Gardens continues to position itself more as a family amusement park, O'Brien said. Adding thrill rides, one jazzier than the next, is a good way to do it he said. However, Busch Gardens' Fincher says the next new attraction after Egypt will be an animal area in keeping with the park's original theme. "Pandas are not over yet," he said, referring to the popular exhibit of 1987-88.

Naming the new coaster, however, has proven to be difficult. Though Sphinx is reportedly its working name, others such as Egyptian deities Anubis and Isis have been considered. Picking the right name is crucial, as the theme park has gotten a lot of marketing mileage out of the catchy Kumba moniker. The new ride will feature three trains of 32 seats each. Each row is four seats wide.

It will race riders over of track at 65 miles an hour, the same speed as Kum- See BUSCH, Page 8 9 smokers sue tobacco manufacturers, sellers Expo aiming to help black businesses help themselves Tony Brown urged blacks to patronize black-owned businesses. 1 By JEFF STIDHAM Tribune Staff Writer TAMPA Nine West Florida residents, all smokers or former smokers, and the estate of another are seeking damages and medical costs for various illnesses in lawsuits filed late Wednesday against 12 manufacturers or sellers of tobacco products. St. Petersburg lawyer Howard Acosta filed the suits in Hillsborough Circuit Court against cigarette manufacturers R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Brown Williamson Tobacco Philip Morris Lorillard Liggett Group, and Culbro and tobacco sellers Winn-Dixie Stores The Southland Circle Kmart Publix Inc.

and U.S. Tobacco Sales Marketing. The suits accuse the companies of negligence and fraud, contending they manufactured and sold products they knew to be dangerous, defective and addictive. In addition, the lawsuit says, the manufacturing companies misrepresented what they knew in order to sell their products and failed to warn smokers of the dangers of cigarettes. Executives at the tobacco com- panies could not be reached for comment.

Acosta filed the individual suits on behalf of Marcella F. Ennis, Elizabeth Covone, Paul Rossiter, Harry Sellers, Delpha J. Childress, Gary Welker, George N. Celani, Paul Haar, Dickrian Kaloustia, and Jessie King, personal representative of the estate of Arthur King. The plaintiffs' illnesses Include heart disease, lung cancer, emphysema and other lung ailments.

Acosta said his clients came to him through legal advertisements. "Basically, we've been advertising and asking people who have tobacco-related illnesses to assert a claim," he said. "Many of my own clients and even a couple of doctors want to help." So far, no tobacco company has had to pay money penalties in court. Federal laws requiring warning labels on cigarette packages have partially shielded companies from lawsuits. But personal tobacco litigation is continuing.

In February, a federal judge cleared the way for the first nationwide class action against the tobacco industry on behalf of the nearly 100 million Americans who smoke or havequit smoking. pa Organization of Black Affairs and a host of other sponsors will stage what's billed as the first such event in the area, the 1995 Black Business Consumer Expo. TOBA, a 100-member nonprofit group, has presented other events touting black business in the past. But they usually have been during September's Minority Enterprise Development Week and have focused primarily on Tampa Bay. The expo, in the Westshore Airport Hotel at 4500 W.

Cypress is a statewide effort to empower blacks economically. "Our goal is to form a lasting marriage between the African-American consumer and the African-American business owner," said TOBA board member Yolan-da Anthony. Black buying power nationwide has increased 40.5 percent since 1990 and will reach $427 billion by 1996, according to a study Issued last month that sought to highlight the growing importance of black consumers. That's why more than 1,200 businesses statewide have registered for the event that includes seminars aimed at finding ways to revive the black business districts that thrived during segregation. By TRACIE REDDICK Tribune Staff Writer TAMPA "Buy Freedom" is a phrase coined by journalist Tony Brown, who began a national campaign in the 1980s aimed at getting blacks to seek financial independence by shopping only at black-owned stores.

Brown's theory was the money not only would help uplift black entrepreneurs but their communities, because the dollars would be recirculated back into neighborhoods. His message is one dating back to the slavery era and continuously preached by prominent blacks such as Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey and Elijah Muhammad. The century-old plea has struggled to find receptive ears among blacks. Black businesses often find themselves losing out to nonblack but wealthier store owners flirting with the same black consumer dollars.

But in the last five years, sellout crowds have flocked across the country to expositions of products and services offered by blacks. Friday and Saturday, the Tam "We grew up patronizing black businesses, but we somehow got away from that practice as things became so urbanized," said Fele-cia Wintons, the black owner of Books For Thought in Tampa. "It's important for our survival as a community to recirculate our money back into our neighborhoods and among people who are going to support things that are important to us," she said. The event begins at 6 p.m. Friday with a $10, five-hour "net: working reception" designed to give black buyers and sellers a chance to become acquainted.

Ernest "Big Daddy" Moody will provide live entertainment. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, participants will show their wares to those paying an admission fee of $2. For more information, call Ken Anthony at 875-2686..