The Journal Times from Racine, Wisconsin • 23

Rnncnnn Stocks 4C page editor Sam Manchester THE JOURNAL TIMES PAGE 3C FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1997 Johnson Wax faces fine for radiation waste mistake ViQMlHFRIENDL Regulators say the unauthorized disposal not a significant danger according to the company. NRC investigators visited Waxdale the day after the company reported the mistake. NRC inspectors did radiation surveys at the facilities and in select areas of the landfill, where the gauge may have been deposited. "Inspectors determined that the landfill operations were unlikely to cause damage to the sealed source (of radiation)," the NRC said in a press release; In a letter to the company, the NRC's Regional Administrator, A. Bill Beach, said although the gauge does not appear to be a hazard now, there is a reason for the fine.

health," said Johason Wax spokeswoman Cynthia A. Georgeson, noting the small fine. Last November officials at Johnson's Waxdale plant noticed that an unwanted machine part mistakenly wound up in a load of scrap metal. In the part was an industrial gauge that contained americium-241, the source of low-level radiation used in the gauge determines whether aerosol cans are completely full. The gauge had been removed from an assembly line in August and was supposed to be returned to the manufacturer.

Instead, it wound up in a landfill with other scrap metal, "Although S.C. Johnson Son is reasonably certain that the source is buried in a local landfill, this violation is of significant regulatory concern because several S.C. Johnson Son employees failed to follow established procedures regarding the handling of nuclear gauges," he wrote. Since, the incident all Waxdale employees have gone through significant training of properly handling such machinery, Georgeson said. "The NRC has been back and appeared to have been satisfied with what we have done," she said.

MILWAUKEE (AP) Four Wisconsin companies are among 100 listed by a magazine as having the nation's best working conditions for women. They are SC Johnson Wax of Racine, Marquette Medical Systems Inc. of Milwaukee, Promega Corp. of Madison, and QuadGraphics of Pewaukee. The 12th annual list of 100 was published by Working Mother magazine.

posed fining S.C. Johnson Son Inc. $2,500 for unauthorized disposal of the gauge. The NRC did not fine the company for three other citations unauthorized removal of the gauge, storing the gauge in an unsecured area and failing to immediately report the missing source to the NRC, according to the agency. "It seems to be pretty clear that there never was a threat to public Menard Inc.

says buyout rumor false Eau Claire headquarters flooded with phone calls Associated Press 'wTl EAU CLAIRE be sold had the busy suppliers, the John Menard 0 A rumor that Menard Inc. might home-improvement company's telephones with frantic calls from employees and retail chain's president says. blames the rumor on a competitor from Atlanta, Ga. "I don't know how they do business down South but that's not how we do it in the Midwest. It's ungentleman-ly," he said.

Lowe's Companies based in North Wilkesboro, N.C., was rumored to be interested in buying Eau Claire-based Menards. "No one from Lowe's has even talked to me," Menard said Wednesday. "We're a family-owned Midwestern company and we'd like to stay that way." "We're a family-owned Midwestern company and we'd like to stay that way." JOHN MENARD, President BY LAURA SUMNER COON Business Editor An industrial gauge containing a source of low-level radiation that mistakenly was sent with scrap metal to a Franklin landfill last fall would not likely pose a significant environmental or safety hazard, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission stated Thursday. As a result federal regulators pro- busi ess ropd DETROIT New Ford trucks recharge quicker Ford Motor Co. said it can recharge its Ranger pickup trucks in 20 minutes instead of six hours, an improvement that might encourage more consumers to consider using electric vehicles.

Analysts cautioned that the vehicles' recharging costs and limited range remain obstacles to broad consumer acceptance. The PosiCharge charger, developed by AeroVironment will be available for use with Rangers within about a year, Ford said Thursday. Because of the reduced recharging time, users will be able to drive 170 miles in a day, up from 50 miles. NEW YORK Columbia manager resigns via E-mail The former supervisor of three ColumbiaHCA Healthcare Corp. managers who face Medicare fraud charges resigned as the company continued its corporate transformation.

William S. Hussey used e-mail to announce his resignation, ColumbiaHCA said Thursday. The hospital chain also shuttered two departments employing 77 people in Austin, Texas, and Nashville, Tenn. TAMPA, Fla. Cigar maker plans to buy competitors Spain's Tabacalera, the world's oldest cigar company, said it is buying Havatampa Inc.

and two Latin American cigar makers, thus gaining one-fourth of the U.S. market. Before the purchases, Tabacalera had virtually no presence in the United States. Now it will have 800 U.S. employees and production capacity of nearly 1.3 billion cigars a year.

LINCOLN, Neb. Slaughterhouses face a clean sweep Agriculture Department investigators will search slaughterhouses next week for the source of contaminated ground beef that led to the nation's largest recall of meat. The source of the meat tainted with the E. coli bacteria remains unknown. Earlier this summer, a dozen people in Colorado were sickened by tainted meat from the Hudson Foods plant in Columbus, Neb.

The plant recalled 25 million pounds of ground beef before shutting down three weeks ago. YTD LIANA J. COOPER Journal Times An interior view of one of the five theatres at Westgate Cinema I II, 5101 Washington Ave. in Racine, that is being converted into "stadium seating." Westgate remodels for stadium-style seating is out there in Lowe's Brian Peace told The Star Tribune of "We do not comment on market rumors. announcement planned at this time." 2 in the home-improvement business 400 stores as of Jan.

31 and hoping to end of the decade. in the Midwest by acquiring Menards investment, Minneapolis market analyst said. billion in sales last year, Lowe's trails Atlanta, which reported $19.5 billion in secure in the Upper Midwest, is No. 5, the Center News says. stores in the region and is competing in Minneapolis-St.

Paul area with Home Depot. The scene might be familiar: People juggling popcorn and drinks select the prime spot in the movie theater, only to have someone several minutes later sit right in front of them. A theater rendition of musical chairs follows. But that may not happen at Westgate Cinema after two of the five theaters there are converted to stadium-style seating. On Monday Marcus Theatres which owns Westgate Cinema, began six-week construction on the project.

Marcus is changing one-third of its screens to the new style in the next year. "Stadium seating offers moviegoers a clear, unobstructed view of the screen," said Bruce J. Olson, president of The Marcus Theatres Corp. The tiered seating arrangement not only features a better view of the screen but also will include high-back seats and two or three double-wide love seats. Regular operation will continue in the theatre's three other screens during the remodeling project.

There are no plans at this time, according to Marcus officials, to add stadium seating at its other location, Regency Mall Cinemas. 'L-sv, Many analysts had expected initial unemployment claims to dip by just 1,000 rather than the 14,000 drop actually recorded. Some economists attributed part of the decline to the fact that the Labor Day holiday left only four days for claim filing instead of the usual five. Others disagreed. "The labor market remains tight," said economist Maureen Maitland of Donaldson, Lufkin Jenrette in New York.

"We think the seasonal factors used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics have fully incorporated the effects of the holiday." In any case, Wall Street took the report as an inflation warning, fearing a scarcity of qualified workers "The rumor the marketplace," spokesman Minneapolis. We have no Lowe's is No. with more than have 600 by the Expanding would be a wise Alan Rifkin With $8.6 Home Depot of 1996 sales. Menards, National Home It has 130 the looking up on trade deficit's decline exports and a 2.9 percent gain in imports. That translated into a $46.9 billion deficit in goods for the quarter.

As usual, the United States had a surplus in services. It was $20.5 billion in the second quarter, the same as the first. The current account also tracks investment flows and foreign aid. The improvement in the current account helped mute an overall economic slowdown in the second quarter. The gross domestic product grew at a healthy 3.6 percent pace following a torrid advance at a 4.9 percent rate in the first quarter.

Speaking in Seattle, Robert Parry, president of the Federal Reserve would drive wages up, forcing companies to either raise prices or accept reduced profits. In another report, the Mortgage, Bankers Association of America said the share of homeowners 30 or more days late on their mortgage payments fell to 4.24 percent in the April-June quarter, down from 4.36 percent in the first. The decline reversed two back-to-back quarterly increases and left the delinquency rate at the lowest point since last year's third quarter, when it was 4.18 percent. "A healthy economy and relatively low interest rates provided a favorable backdrop," said the association's economist, David Lereah. September 11, 1997 WALLSTREET WRAPUP Economy Associated Press WASHINGTON Economic reports showed a slight improvement in the U.S.

trade deficit, fewer workers claiming unemployment benefits and fewer homeowners falling behind on their mortgages. But they only contributed to inflation jitters Thursday on Wall Street. The deficit in the broadest measure of U.S. trade the current account declined 2.4 percent to $39 billion from April through June as the growth of exports outpaced the increase in imports, the Commerce Department said. The decrease reflected a 5.5 percent increase in merchandise Late gains Associated Press NEW YORK Stocks bounced off a familiar safety net Thursday, finishing only modestly lower after falling sharply to a level that has repeatedly proven too enticing for bargain hunters.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day down 58.30 at 7,660.98. An earlier loss of 138 points briefly put the Dow under 7,600, a psychological barrier that has now served as a market bottom three times in the past month. Broader sectors also cut their losses in the afternoon rebound, with the Nasdaq market managing to squeeze out a small gain. The session started on a troubling note with the release of more data suggesting upward pressure on wages a key force behind inflation and another flurry of discouraging developments concerning company profits. The technology group was initially hit hard by news that several leading brokerages had lowered their earnings forecasts for Ascend wipe out early damage Day market roundup Bank of San Francisco, said signs of a spring economic slowdown were "illusory at best" and growth at the current levels can't continue without eventually rekindling higher inflation.

Despite the second-quarter improvement in the current account, the deficit during the first half of 1997 was running at an annual rate of $158 billion, a deterioration from the $148.2 billion deficit in 1996. Separately, the Labor Department said newly laid-off Americans filed a seasonally adjusted 310,000 applications for unemployment benefits. That was the lowest level in a month and down from a revised 324,000 during the week ended Aug. 30. sified the jitters that have been building in advance of Friday's key readings on wholesale price levels and retail sales during August.

The Dow's losses were fairly broad-based, with only one of its 30 components losing at least 2 points. Disney fell 2 to 75 34, American Express fell 1 34 to 77 14, and International Paper fell 1 58 to 51 78 as the Dow's three biggest decliners. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by an 8-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume was very heavy at 574.57 million shares as of 4 p.m., up from 516.68 million on Wednesday. The Standard Poor's 500-stock list fell 6.44 to 912.59, the NYSE composite index fell 3.57 to 477.06, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 3.43 to 666.84. But the Nasdaq composite index erased an 18 point deficit, rising 0.61 to 1,639.86.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies, which on Wednesday fell for the first time in 13 sessions, slipped an alitional 0.97 to 435.93. High 7745.291 Highest close Low 7656.23 awiim. 7660.98 IT" 8650 8250 .7850 7450 7050 6650 6250 9197 10197 Name Dlv PE Last Chg Chg AbtLab 1.08 23 59VS -Vb 17.2 AdvBcp .40 39 49 2VS 51.9 APrec 24 24 'A 20.0 Amerilch 2.26 16 62 2.9 BancOne 1.52 21 53Vw -1V 24.0 CaseCp 20 14 66' 1 Vie 21.3 Chrysrr 1.60 8 36 -V 10.2 Ctrcon 15 -Vs 2.5 EmrsnEls 1.08 22 53'A -1 9.8 FlFnCps .60 24 32 -V( 33.2 Firstar SA 17 32V 25.5 Fiserv 32 46 'Vie 27.4 GnMag 20 7V4 23.1 GoWBks 10Vt JWA 14Vfc A 6.6 LeeEnt .52 19 26 -V 12.6 Undbrg .32 11 12'A 'A 22.5 Marcus 32 17 26'A -Vie 23.5 Marshlb .80 22 49Vw 41.7 Modine .76 15 33 23.4 Schultz 26 16 15 68.0 SecCap 1.20 22 107 45.6 SnapOn .84 1 8 427 19.1 SuHDnt .20 24 24 85.7 TCI kit SVi Tennco 1.20 24 48 6.8' Textron a 1.00 29 33.0 TwmDi .78 11 29 -Vie 34.4 Versa .44 22 24 87.5 WCCfl 1.72 17 41 VI14.8 WiscEn 1.54 20 25a -Vs -49 -r Communications, a leading player in the computer-networking sector. Corning, meanwhile, issued a lower forecast for its third-quarter profits, blaming disappointing growth in its optical fiber and cable businesses. But the most unsettling news came just after Thursday's close, when Motorola warned that its latest results will be significantly below expectations, setting the stage for a rocky start to Friday's trading.

A similarly dire forecast from Motorola in July 1996 helped spark the market's steep selloff that summer. Motorola actually rose 14 to 74 34 on the New York Stock Exchange, but tumbled 8 38, or 11 percent, to 66 in late composite trading on other markets. Corning fell 5 38 to 42 as the most active NYSE issue, and Ascend fell 2 316 to 37 1316 as the most active Nasdaq issue The Labor Department reported Thursday morning that the number of first-time claims for jobless benefits fell by a surprising 14,000 last week to 310,000. The data, which exceeded analyst forecastsfor a dip, inten I 919.03 I Highest Hose 902J6 Auwliw Ji 6197 7197 8197 6197 7197 8197 High Low 970 920 870 820 770 720 9197 10197 AP.