Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 211

i.i ED, USM SECTION WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 7,1988: Proposition 103 draw sire, praise iiihii i i nimii.i.11111 mi. i. mum i u.iiii. i hearing Station granted reprieve Court lets WHCT continue running to work on debts By STEPHEN M. WILLIAMS Courant Staff Writer ouse By JOHN F.FITZGERALD Courant Staff Writer WASHINGTON Ralph Nader told Congress Tuesday that a recent California referendum slashing auto insurance rates marked a burgeoning consumer backlash against the insurance industry.

Nadar warned that consumers will continue their offensive as long as 'the industry lobbies for tort reform, or ways to limit court awards to accident victims. Industry spokesman William B. Snyder had a vastly different interpretation, however. Chairman of the GEICO group of insurance companies, Snyder said California has long suffered from a bizarre legal system resulting in astronomical increases automobile accident litigation and irampant insurance fraud. By passing the referendum last Snyder asserted, "the citizens of California have voted to economic suicide." and critics of the referendum, known as Proposition 103, before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Competitiveness, where Chairman James J.

Florio, seemed more annoyed then enlightened. "There is a lot of self-righteous-jiess on both sides," Florio complained after hours of conflicting testimony. "There are a lot of different systems jfor regulating the insurance industry," he said, "none of which seems to be doing the job." 1 Florio noted, for instance, that 103 will bring to California much of the regulatory apparatus now existing in New Jersey where half the drivers are assigned to high-risk pools that have deficits totaling $2.5 billion. state is a scandal," Florio continued. "It seems no one ever learns anything from anyone." The chairman then told industry representatives that the public has St ill I Stephen Dunn The Hartford Courant James E.

Turner Electric Boat's vice presi- main challenge is to improve productivity de-dent and general manager since Sept. 6, says his spite higher wages than rival Newport News. Electric Boat's vice president says its work surpasses rival's impressions, describing the work place simply as "neat and orderly" and downplaying the bad feelings that persist at EB in the wake of the 103-day strike this summer and fall. Turner insisted no generalization can be made about employee morale. "There are a lot of different feelings," he said.

Turner said EB's shipbuilding techniques remain more advanced than those of its chief rival, Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. in Virginia, where he had worked as executive vice president before joining EB. But he said Newport News, which also builds aircraft carriers, has invested heavily in its submarine facilities over the past few years. "We are ahead," Turner said of EB. "We must work to stay ahead." Pressed about his plans for the EB shipyard, See EB's, Page G3 By ROBERT WEISMAN Courant Staff Writer GROTON James E.

Turner Jr. has spent most of his career in the submarine business, where the motto is "Loose Lips Sink Ships." And in his first meeting with the press since taking over the top job at the Electric Boat shipyard this summer, the 54-year-old Turner was properly tight-lipped Tuesday. Turner, who checked in Sept. 6 as vice president and general manager at EB, a division of General Dynamics said he has spent the past three months familiarizing himself with the southeastern Connecticut shipyard, chatting with workers, boning up on submarine programs and taking part in sea trials. But he was exceedingly cautious in sharing his Stock prices rise again as interest rates drop lost faith in the insurance system and is susceptible to the lure of any reform, no matter how poorly conceived.

"The system is collapsing and the people are going to be demanding responses," he said. "As unsophisticated as Prop ,103 may be, the fact is, it's a response and people want a response." Proposition 103 passed with 51 percent of the vote in state elections last month despite a massive indus-try campaign opposing it and favoring alternative measures. Propo-: nents said the industry spent $75 million to defeat the referendum. Industry witnesses said only about $40 million was spent. The referendum required that auto, home, business and other liability insurance rates be reduced immediately by 20 percent of 1987 rates, and a permanent 20 percent auto insurance discount for "good" drivers who have at least three years experience and no more than one moving violation on their records.

The state Supreme Court has stayed implementation of the referendum while it considers industry challenges to the law's constitutionality. Nader called passage of Proposition 103 a "remarkable citizen victory" and asserted that it demonstrated public opposition to the industry's state-by-state lobbying on behalf of tort reform. The industry wants to limit damages courts may award to accident victims, asserting that excessive damages contribute to higher premiums. John B. Crosby, who ran an industry group opposing the referendum, said passage of Proposition 103 offered Nader's forces no mandate because the vote was very close and because the referendum lost in all counties outside of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The industry campaign against Proposition 103 asserted that drivers outside the major See Referendum, Page G2 Most of the stock market's gains came late in the session on a wave of computer program trading. The market's latest upswing has also been attributed partly to a new restructuring tactic announced by four large companies Monday and reported to be under consideration by several others. The deals involve the proposed swap of "unbundled stock units," or packages of three different types of securities, for large amounts of their outstanding common shares. USX gained 75 cents to $28.50 and Texaco was up at amid rumors and speculation that financier Carl Icahn might be planning some new move. Elsewhere among the blue chips; International Business Machines rose $1.25 to General Electric 87 cents to $45.62, and American Telephone Telegraph 37 cents to $29.50.

As measured by Wilshire Associates' index of more than 5,000 actively traded stocks, the market increased $20.17 billion, or 0.75 percent, in value. The NYSE's composite index of all its listed common stocks gained 1.30 to 155.78. The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market added 1 .59 to 377.00. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index closed at 297.36, up .61. New York p.m.

gold Gold prices were $427.50 a troy ounce in the Tuesday settle price on the New York Commodity Exchange. DOLLARS PER OZ. 430 II 425 Pnil! 420 21 22 23 28 29 30 1 2 5 6 Discipline needed on U.S. debt, outlook WHCT-TV, Channel 18, which had been faced with involuntary bankruptcy, has been granted approval by a federal court to continue to operate while it works out a plan to repay its debt. The order allowing the station to file voluntary bankruptcy under Chapter 1 1 of the bankruptcy code is a reprieve of sorts for Astroline Communications Co.

Ltd. of Saugus, which owns and operates Channel 18. Three of the company's creditors, Lorimar Telepictures MCA Television Ltd. and Orion Television Syndication, filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition Oct. 31 against Astroline Communications, under Chapter 7 of the federal bankruptcy laws.

The order, signed Dec. 1 by U.S. Bankrupcty Judge Robert L. Kre-chevsky, allows Astroline to convert its filing from Chapter 7 to Chapter 11. Under Chapter 7, creditors could force the company to sell its assets in order to pay off its debt, while under Chapter 11, the company is allowed to continue to operate while it works out a plan to repay its debt.

The debt repayment plan generally is negotiated with the creditors and must be approved by the court. In the meantime, the company does not have to pay the debt it. incurred before the petition was filed. Astroline Communications, which owns and operates the Hartford- based independent television staO tion, must file a list of its creditors with the court by Dec. 15.

i Richard P. Ramirez, Astroline managing general partner and the station's general manager, was not available for comment Tuesday. The three creditors that the bankruptcy action sell program- ming to television stations such as Channel 18. They are seeking a total of $11.6 million, according to court documents. See Judge, Page G3 session told and the need to make the United States a richer nation by increasing productivity.

"We have been living far beyond our means for many years now, at least the past eight years," he said. "No other nation has been this deeply in debt in this short a time." Smith said this accumulation of debt is different from other periods in U.S. history when the country expanded its debt to accomplish tangible goals, such as fighting a world war or to finance industrial or technological advances. "We haven't really gained anything from this debt," Smith said. "It has nothing but penalty attached to it it probably will be paid through a shrinking standard of living by a nation down on its heels.

We have handed to other nations the ability to decide if we will have a recession and how deep it will be." Smith said a "secret consensus" has developed among lawmakers in Washington, D.C., on how to reduce the deficit. The problem, however, is that the solutions will require hard See Economic, Page G2 called "Chicken on a Bottle." Perdue said chickens could be the answer to the Soviet Union's perennial food shortage, as the birds re- quire only 2 pounds of feed to pro-, duce a pound of meat twice as -efficient as hogs, and more than three times as efficient as producing beef. Perdue, along with his father, built the company from a few dozen chickens into an operation with sales of $964 million in 1986-87 that distributes poultry products along the East Coast from Maine to North Carolina. At age 67, he stepped down last summer as chief executive, with Mabe taking over that job. Perdue and Mabe visited the national Poultry Breeding Institute north of Moscow in Ptitsagrad, or "Poultry City." They found that Soviet breeding See Perdue, Page G3 mmtm "VMM mmmmmmtmmmmmmmmm.

Associated Press YORK Stock -prices "chalked up their second straight gain Tuesday, benefiting from a sharp drop in open-market interest rates. ''The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials climbed 25.60 to 2,149.36 on top of a 31.48-point jump Monday. Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 8-5 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks, with 914 up, 555 down and 520 unchanged. "Volume on the floor of the Big Board came to 158.34 million shares, from 144.66 million in the previous session. Nationwide, consolidated volume in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-'the-counter market, totaled 190.25 'million shares.

''Prices of long-term government bonds, which move in the opposite direction from interest rates. Climbed about $20 for each $1,000 in face value Tuesday, -Analysts said bonds were buoyed by hopes that Soviet leader Mikhail Gprbachev, who arrived in the United States Tuesday afternoon, would 'make proposals that would allow "cutbacks in defense spending. Under the reasoning that seemed tf prevail in the markets, that would ft turn reduce inflationary pressures and help the United States deal with I Rs budget deficit Today's data DOW JONES AVERAGE Tuesday's close) 30 2,149.36 tip 25.60 points T-BILLS (As of Dec. 5) -12 month 6 month -3 month 8.75 8.25 8.04 MORTGAGES (Average, based on local survey) Adjustable, 1 10.90 fixed, 30 yr 10.90 Inside Award allow firm to expand Analysis Technology wins its largest Navy contract, allowing iBxpansion in Virginia. Pag G2 Farm subsidy talk break off Talks between U.S.

and Europe on farm subsidies break off in Montreal. Pas C3 Tony Bacewicz The Hartford Courant Howard K. highly acclaimed journalist and author, told a state economic forum that businesses and citizens most adopt more discipline to solve U.S. problems. He is speaking to Ronald E.

Comp-ton, Aetna Life Casualty Co. president, back to camera. By SEAN HORGAN Courant Staff Writer Howard K. Smith's face was familiar, his voice unmistakable and his opinions Tuesday on how to solve the problems facing the United States unsurprising. The keynote speaker at the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce's annual economic outlook, Smith said President-elect George Bush must provide leadership and businesses and citizens must adopt more discipline to solve the myriad of problems facing the country.

Those problems, he said, include the federal budget deficit, the crushing level of corporate and personal debt and the international trade deficit. "The main thing we need is leadership to get things going," said Smith, the highly acclaimed author and journalist for the ABC television network. "We are not competing internationally and we've just got to do it." Smith said the two domestic problems that require Bush's immediate attention are the high levels of debt commodity for another. The Soviets have few goods to sell, and Pepsi Cola sewed up world demand for its vodka 15 years ago with a deal that sends soft-drink syrup to the Soviet Union in exchange for Stolichnaya vodka. Still, a visit to a market makes it clear the Soviet Union could use Perdue's help.

Soviet chickens are so tough that few will bake them. One solution by local cooks is impaling the chicken on a glass milk bottle filled with water. The bird and bottle are balanced in the oven and the chicken is steamed from the inside out while it bakes. The recipe is Scrawny Soviet chickens don't make Perdue's grade Soviet chickens make do with 15 percent corn feed plus wheat and barley, while Perdue says he feeds his birds a diet of nearly 60 percent corn. By ANN IMSE Associated Press MOSCOW The chickens sold in the Soviet Union are so scrawny that shoppers joke the poultry is starved to death rather than slaughtered, and even Frank Perdue says he cannot help until the emaciated birds "are fed better.

Perdue, who picked over the poultry during a visit to Moscow's famous G.U.M. department store on Red Square last week, politely referred to the chickens he saw as "lean" and "narrow-breasted." "The chickens lack protein," concluded Perdue, chairman and chief promoter of Perdue Farms the United States' fourth-largest poultry producer. Soviet chickens make do with 15 percent corn feed plus wheat and barley, while Perdue says he feeds his birds a diet of nearly 60 percent corn. Their diet is not likely to improve soon since both corn and high-protein soybeans require a warmer climate than found in most of the Soviet Union, said Donald W. Mabe, president and chief executive of Perdue Farms.

"They could buy corn on the world market, but what could they use to pay for it?" he asked. "All their vodka is taken up by Pepsi Cola." Mabe was referring to the obstacle facing Western companies: the fact that Soviet rubles are not convertible on the world market, thus forcing most firms to barter one "I.