Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • 21

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL INVESTOR SUMMIT Questioners challenge SEC chairman 's past DOW NASDAQ NYSE Section l-SS Stocks 2 ri jo ej C4 Texas any Buying Psychiatric Hospital Comp Memorial Owners Want To Retire By Winthrop Quigley Journal Staff Writer A Texas-based behavioral health care company has agreed to purchase. Albuquerque's 58-bed Memorial Psychiatric Hospital, the par- keep them hospitalized for as long as previously and received lower payments for their care, he said. There weren't large corpo-' rate revenues to keep the place afloat," Hiester said. "We had to do it by struggling month to month, year by year." The hospital had to close beds, reduce services and lay off staff before it could operate in the black, he said. year, Lingenfelser said.

Memorial is the last of five freestanding behavioral health hospitals that were operating in Albuquerque four years ago, he said. Former Memorial administrator Richard Hiester blames Medicaid managed care for the hospital's hard times. Under Medicaid managed care, Memorial was able to admit fewer patients, could not are older than that," he said. "We've been here 18 years and most of are looking forward to retirement" The buyer, Youth and Family Centered Services of operates Desert Hills of New Mexico, a behavioral health care facility on Albuquerque's West Side. It also offers care in nine other facilities in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, ties confirmed Friday.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Memorial is owned by a joint venture of local physicians, clinical psychologists and National Psychiatric Centers which runs the facility, said Memorial chairman Bob Lingenfelser. "Most of (the owners) are in our middle 60s, and some of us Missouri and Pennsylvania. Memorial began operating in the landmark Santa Fe Railroad hospital on Central near Interstate 25 in 1984 and bought the building in 1986, Lingenfelser said. It employs about 120 people and is usually about SO percent to 55 percent occupied.

After four consecutive years of losses, Memorial should turn a profit in its current fiscal Gap Has Pruning Program For 2002 CEO Says Retailer Has Learned a Lot COURTESY CLIFF'S AMUSEMENT PARK RATTLER: The New Mexico Rattler roller coaster under construction at Cliff's Amusement Park at 4800 Osuna will snake from the top right In this sketch to the center front. The name was chosen In a contest. Rattler oils on June 21 Cliff's Prize for Naming Coaster Goes to a Duke City Preschooler track which, according to Custom Coaster, gives a roller coaster a smooth ride. When finished, the $2 million coaster will be 2,750 feet long, about half the size of the well-known "Texas Giant" at Six Flags Over Texas near Dallas. Cliffs owners expect the new roller coaster will boost the park's attendance by 15 percent, or 35,000, in the first year of operation.

About 230,000 people visited Cliffs in 2001. Gary Hays, received thousands of entries during the naming contest that ended April 30. The winning entry, chosen this month by Cliffs owners, was submitted by 4-year-old Joshua Romero of Albuquerque. "A lot of entries said rattler or rattlesnake, but New Mexico Rattler just said exactly what we wanted," said Linda Hays. Cliffs owners said they wanted a name that included steel framework for the coaster that will eventually stretch 80 feet, or eight stories, above the ground and be visible from nearby Interstate 25.

Shortly after the project was announced in February, crews from Custom Coaster began pouring the concrete foundations in and around existing rides at Cliffs. Once the steel framework is complete, another crew will construe the wooden By Rosalie Rayburn Journal Staff Writer The steel beams creating a gigantic tail-twisting snake are coming out of the ground and on track for an opening next month of the state's first serious roller coaster. The New Mexico Rattler will begin taking riders at Cliffs Amusement Park on June 21. Cliffs owners, Linda and a reference to New Mexico but also included the name of some predator. Joshua's winning entry netted a season pass to Cliffs for his family and a chance to take the first ride at the coaster's grand opening! Joshua himself may have to watch his parents from the sidelines because coaster riders must be at least 4 feet tall, Hays said.

West Chester, Ohio-based Custom Coaster Inc. started work last week erecting the By Diane Vfxasco Journal Staff Writer Gap Inc. executives outlined plans for turning their troubled company around at the specialty retailer's annual shareholders meeting in Albuquerque on Friday. They also faced accusations of apathy about workers at factories in Africa and Central America. "We are coming off the most difficult year in our company's history and we have learned a lot," said president and CEO Millard Drexler.

"We are aggressively managing costs and working to restore our comparable-store sales, focusing on merchandising, marketing and design." This week the company reported April same-store sales were down 24 percent. Same-store sales are a comparison of stores open at least one year. Sales have been in a downward trend for 25 months. The company slashed 10 percent of its headquarters staff last year and closed 100 stores and four distribution centers in an effort to cut expenses, said chief financial officer Heidi Kunz. Another 100 stores will close this year as leases expire, she said.

"Our store growth over the last several years probably was faster than we could manage well," Kunz said. "We are dramatically reducing the number of new stores we open. We shut off that pipeline several months ago and will not restart until we have momentum." One shareholder held up a shopping bag and complained that the extra large T-shirt he bought at a Gap store was smaller than large T-shirts he bought at Old Navy. Drexler acknowledged the company has had quality problems and said the company's three brands Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic have different size specifications. "Our customers are waiting for us to get it right," Drexler said.

"Our stores tell us that every day." Three shareholders, who said they were speaking on behalf of workers in El Salvador, Guatemala and the African state of Lesotho, criticized conditions in factories that make clothing for the Gap. "I am very proud to sew pants for the Gap, but this board of directors should not be proud of what's happening to us," said Maria Luz-Panamefio, who said sh worked in a factory in El Salvador. Lauri Shanahan, a senior vice president, explained that Gap Inc. does not own or control the factories it buys from but has a 100-member compliance team and uses an independent monitor to evaluate factories according to the company's standards. Dr Pepper Joins the Soda Wars Fall Swallows Most Of the Week's Rally sultant with Bevmark Inc.

"Coke and Pepsi are not going to allow (Dr Pepper) to become the alternative to cola, so they're developing their own alternatives," Pirko said. "Whatever Dr Pepper does in response had better be really dramatic, or it could be the 7-Up By David Koenig The Associated Press DALLAS Dr Pepper, facing new products from larger competitors, plans to roll out the first new flavor in the 117-year history of the brand, a fruit-flavored soda called Red Fusion. Dr Pepper announced Friday that the soda will be available in stores, By Amy Baldwin The Associated Press NEW YORK Uneasy investors opted for safety again Friday, taking profits for a second straight day and leav of the category. 7-Up, also part of Piano-based Dr PepperSeven Up was once the dominant uncola but has been passed i (issllkWI ing the market indexes with only modest gains from Wednesday's huge rally. The two-day sell-off wasn't, surprising given the triple- Investors had first believed that earnings would recover in the first quarter, and now their hopes for the second quarter are diminishing.

Johnson said a third-quarter recovery could also prove to be more premature, optimistic thinking. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 97.50 at 9,939.92. The blue chips kept about a third, or 103.37, of their 305.28-point gain from Wednesday. The Dow ended the week down 0.7 percent. The broader market also declined.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 49.64 to 1,600.85, losing all but 27,03 of the 122.47 it gained Wednesday. The Nasdaq fell for the. week, losing 0.8 percent. The Standard Poor's 500 index on Friday declined 18.02 to 1,054.99. After two days of selling, the was left with 5.50 points of the 39.36 gained Wednesday.

The ended the week down 1.7 percent. vending machines and soda foun tains in mid-July. Not a minute too late, say analysts, who warn that soda giants PepsiCo Inc. and the Coca-Cola Co. are taking aim squarely at the No.

3 U.S. brand. This week, Coke started selling Vanilla Coke, and Pepsi which scored a hit with high-caffeine Mountain Dew Code Red last year said it would sell berry-flavored Pepsi Blue in August. Both moves threaten Dr Pepper's position as the top alternative to the big cola drinks, especially among the teen-age customers that soda makers covet, said Tom Pirko, an industry con- I by Sprite, Coke's lemon-lime drink. Red Fusion, which contains caffeine, will be sold in 12-can packs and 20-ounce and 2-liter plastic bottles.

The Dr Pepper name is on the bottle but in small type. The company won't tell what is inside, other than saying it has fruit flavors and a hint of Dr Pepper. Company officials say the flavor and the Red Fusion name are the result of taste-test research that began in September. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RED FUSION: The new flavor from Dr Pepper Co. was developed since September, the company says.

digit surge of blue chips and technology stocks Wednesday. The week ended up being another loser for the market. "It was too much, too soon," Hugh Johnson, chief investment offer for First Albany said of the earlier rally. "There is a message that has been coming for a long time, and that is economists and strategists are too optimistic about the outlook for the economy and earnings." IIkiJiii iIHlt Wily SlIXslS tmqt ll'lHWHUVemlPflLMIUmiiMi PnESOYTEniAN.