The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 14

The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution NEWS A 14 Thursday, December 12, 1991 Most large companies don't let their top executives fly together travel on the same aircraft," he said. BellSouth Corp. also limits the number of officers who can travel together, said spokesman Terry Johnson. "We don't disclose the exact number or combinations, but it's both," he said. "There are very few BellSouth officers who travel together." The policy also applies to executives of Southern Bell and South Central Bell, he said.

"We're the second-largest publicly owned company in America" in terms of shareholders, said Mr. Johnson, noting BellSouth has 1.35 million stockholders. "And you have to have these kinds of policies and they have to be enforced." The Southern parent of Georgia Power Co. and four other electric utilities, "limits the number of senior executives on any single airplane, wheth- er commercial, corporate or private, wherever practical," spokesman David Mould said. "While we have no formal companywide writ- ten policy on this, our executives understand the practice and its intent," he said.

For example, "the top two guys in our nuclear subsidiary will not get on the same airplane together," Mr. Mould said. At Georgia-Pacific "no two executives can fly together if it would leave an operating division or the company without a No. 2 person," spokeswoman Gail Smith said. "That would mean the chairman and president could not fly together.

"In addition, no two heads of operating divisions can fly together," she said. General Motors Corp. also doesn't permit the chairman and president to fly together, said spokesman John Maciarz. "Nor does it allow for more than 50 percent of any staff, or group of people who work together, to By Robert Luke STAFF WRITER Many large companies have policies forbidding senior executives from traveling together. Bruno's Inc.

apparently had such a policy. The Associated Press, quoting an unidentified financial consultant familiar with Bruno's, said the retailer had a policy against Chairman Angelo J. Bruno and President Ronald Bruno flying on the same plane. Ronald Bruno was not on the flight that crashed Wednesday. Crash: Executives had just visited Rome store Crippling of Bruno's not seen But its growth may be slowed Continued from A I ny officials said, and had planned to make the trips for another 10 days.

They flew in different groups, using at least two planes. Bruno's chief executive officer and other executives were on a different plane Wednesday. "Thev come through to talk to By Chris Burritt STAFF WRITER vd Growth of Bruno's Inc. mayi slow, but the supermarket chain will not be crippled by the death! of six company officials, analysts said Wednesday. Ronald Bruno, president and chief executive officer of the Birmingham-based chain, was not aboard the company plane that crashed near Rome.

The crash killed Bruno's Chairman Angelo J. Bruno and Vice Chairman Lee J. Bruno. all the employees, shake their hands, give them a season's greeting button and tell them they enjoy the work they do," said Alton Butterworth, assistant manager at a Marietta store. "It adds a little personal touch.

"We called the company to verify that what we heard was true," Mr. Butterworth said. "Everybody is down. We're just in shock and disbelief right now." The executives who died Wednesday morning left Birmingham early and landed in The Associated Press ever seen an aircraft," said Clay Smith, a pilot for 49 years, who flew over the wreckage. "The! mountain's about 50 degrees at that point, the jet was picking up speed.

It's like flying into a stone wall." Captain Townsell, whose squad of firefighters was the first; to reach the scene on foot, said wreckage was scattered more: than 200 yards. "The biggest piece was as big as that door," he said later, pointing to a van parked nearby. "There was a fire, and everything was just scattered all over," he said. "From the look of. it, right on we knew there were! no survivors." Mechanical trouble suspected Aviation experts said the jet! normally would have been at an' altitude of from 1,500 to feet at the time of the crash.

The crew filed its instrument flight plan with the FAA, select- ing one of the agency's estab-; lished routes from Rome to; Huntsville, FAA spokeswoman 1 Kathleen Bergen said. Those routes steer planes away from! mountains, she said. I Steve Brown, senior vicej president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said it is( unlikely that the crew hit the! mountain simply because theyj couldn't see it. "Normally, if an airplane hits Emergency workers use rope to help them negotiate the terrain of Lavender Mountain near Rome, during the removal of bodies from the Bruno plane. Bruno family respected and liked Analysts said the company with more than 80 supermarkets in Georgia will rebuild its management around Ronald, 39.

He is' expected to suc- rppH Anuflr his tirtf 4 Rome about 8:30 a.m., to visit the company's FoodMax store there, and returned to the airport about an hour later. The plane, bound for Huntsville, and another store visit, took off at 9:37 a.m. 'Bunch of twisted metal' Federal aviation authorities did not begin to suspect the crash until nearly two hours later, when they contacted the Rome airport and reported that the plane may have gone down. Robby Ramey, 24, a lineman at the Rome airport, was the first to spot the wreckage from a search plane. "There was a lot of smoke, a lot of metal all across the mountain," Mr.

Ramey said. "As far as telling it was an airplane, all you could see was a bunch of twisted metal." He said the jet "left a big smoking trail up the mountain." The plane hit the mountain actually a ridge several miles long 6V2 miles west of the airport. It struck about 100 feet beneath the ridgetop, close to the mountain's highest point, authorities said. "It was as demolished as I've ton, president of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce. The success of the three brothers Angelo, Lee and Joe was of the rags-to-riches variety, Mr.

Newton said. "It was one of the stories of starting from the botton and working their way to the top," Mr. Newton said. "It was a Horatio Alger story. Everybody feels friendly to the Brunos.

All the business community respected them." Ms. Byrd said family members and company executives met at the Birmingham airport before 6 a.m. Wednesday to take off in two planes, but the flights were briefly delayed. After an hour, a plane carrying Joe Bruno, Ronald Bruno, Ms. Byrd and others took off to visit Tupelo, and Chattanooga.

"We set out this morning and we saw it the plane that later crashed at the hangar and ihen we went on our different direction," she said. "We were notified at the store in Chattanooga that there was a problem so we returned to Birmingham." By Jim Yardley STAFF WRITER Birmingham Employees filed silently out of Bruno's Inc. headquarters here at the end of the day Wednesday, many with stunned expressions and reddened eyes. A large Christmas tree in the lobby was decorated with red balls and presents lay underneath. Christmas was a special time for the Bruno family, company spokeswoman Catherine Byrd said.

Joseph "Mr. Joe" Bruno, who started the firm with a single grocery in Birmingham's West End, years ago began the tradition of visiting each of the company's stores to deliver a small token to each employee during the holidays. This year workers in all 241 stores were getting a Happy Holidays button as part of the annual tour. "All of the Bruno family as well as the people they brought in have been extremely active in the community. They are very caring people," said Don New Edward Hyde Mary Faust Crash victims Here, according to Bruno's are the names of the people who died in the crash: Angelo J.

Bruno, chairman of the board. Lee J. Bruno, vice chairman. Sam A. Vacarella, senior vice presidentmerchandising.

Edward Hyde, vice presi-dentstore operations. Randolph Page, vice presi-dentpersonnel. Karl Mollica, director of produce. Mary Faust, partner in the advertising firm Steiner Bressler, which handled the Bruno's account. John Tesney, pilot.

Rob Stamps, pilot. a mountain or high terrain, it's i associated with mechanical problems," he said. Mike Potts, spokesman for; Beechcraft, said the plane re-! tailed for about $3.6 million. Its maximum speed is 430 miles an hour and it can climb around 3,800 feet per minute. Mr.

Potts' said this is the first fatality nx volving a Beechcraft 400 sinjci the plane was certified in 198U Pilots have charts showfcij terrain and would know the location of nearby mountains, he said. Staff writers David Beasley, Robert J. Wickers and Jim Yard-ley contributed to this article. BATHTUBS Si TILE REGLAZED The Notion O.dest end Lcrqest Reglazing Co. vim ju oncwTOOTi au ror nee orocnure UNIQUE REFINISHERS -S- Atlanta 845-0072 StatWide We Also Soecialize in An'iaue Tub Sink Restorations IT'S BEEN 25 YEARS SINCE YOU PLACED A DIAMOND ON HER FINGER.

THIS ANNIVERSARY, PLACE ONE A LITTLE CLOSER TO HER HEART, Lee Bruno father, as Firm vice chairman, chairman was Joseph Bruj one of nine n0( 78) chairman killed in crash, emeritus, also is active in the chain, founded as a1 small grocery in 1932. "It is a horrible thing to happen to any company, when you lose executives who are relatives," said Lee Wilder, an analyst for Robinson-Humphrey Co. in Atlanta. "Going forward, they may have to slow down store openings while they flesh out the management structure," she said. "The family will close ranks and move on." "Bruno's does have a considerable amount of talent elsewhere in the company," said Ste- -ven Huffines, an analyst for Sterne, Agee Leach in Birmingham.

"Therefore, I don't think it will affect day-to-day operations of the stores." With 241 supermarkets in the Southeast and annual sales of $2.6 billion, Bruno's expanded into Georgia in recent years. It operates seven Bruno's! Finer Foods stores and four FoodMax stores in metro Atlanta. It also owns American Fare, a combination grocery-and-gener-al-merchandise store in Stone Mountain, with discount chain Kmart Corp. Bruno's also runs about 70 Piggly Wiggly stores in Middle and South Georgia. Members of the Bruno family also are large shareholders in Big a Birmingham-based drugstore chain that has an estimated 60 Big stores and five Drugs for Less stores in metro Atlanta.

Big used to be part of Bruno's, but it was spun off as a separate company in 1981. When news of the plane crash spread early Wednesday afternoon, the National Association of Securities Dealers temporarily halted trading on Bruno's stock. The stock had gone down 62 V2 cents, to $12.25 a share, before trading stopped on the over-the-counter market. Trading is expected to resume this morning. The price of the stock may drop initially, but analysts said they expect it to recover because the company remains strong despite the recession and increasing competition.

Ms. Wilder and Mr. Huffines said they don't plan to reduce earnings estimates for Bruno's because of the crash. Brothers Angelo and Lee Bruno owned nearly 19 percent of the company's shares. 1, PUBUO N0TI0E! Let her know you'd do it all over again with a 25th Anniversary Diamond Necklace from Bailey Banks Biddle.

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The City of Atlanta, Georgia invites all interested parties to submit proposals to restructure the City's Water and Sewerage Revenue Bonds, Series 1 985 Escrow Fund. The proposals should contain, at a minimum, the following information: 1) A listing of your firm's experience in the specific area of escrow restructuring with at least one reference per transaction. 2) A listing of the types of securities and their expected yield that you would substitute for the securities currently held in the Escrow Fund. 3) Dollar amount of unused or excess escrow funds after the restructuring (net of all expenses and fees) which the City could reasonably expect to realize. Please base your projections in this area on the market as of November 22, 1 991 4) Listing of the dollar amount of all fees and expenses which you expect to be paid andor reimbursed.

Please assume that the City will secure directly services for a tax opinion and reverification. 5) Approximate time frame for accomplishing the restructuring on January 2, 1992. Please be aware that the City would not restructure the Escrow Fund with securities with less of a guarantee from the federal government than the securities currently held in the Escrow Fund. Please submit your proposal not later than December 13, 1991 to: Dr.MlchaelJ. Bell Acting Chief Financial Officer Department of Finance Suite 11100 68 Mitchell Street, S.W.

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