El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 1

3" FARM MUSEUM $7 million center settles in V) STUDENTS 'NEED' BACKPACKS PARENTING 3D TEXAS LOSES Sosa hits 55th home run BLOOD DONORS CAN GO TO EAST SIDE TUESDAY SEPT. 1, 1998 92 66 MOSTLY SUNNY COPYRIGHT 1998 A GANNETT NEWSPAPER 35 CENTS Market expected to bounce back in '98 Impact on 401(k)s, pensions minimal Peso's value against dollar drops 25 apply for chief of police By Patrick C. McDonnell El Paso Times ni is Wo ii mm fx ii ft El Paso investors 1 fl Market experts offer advice By Jim Conley El Paso Times stay put Top drops By Mike Mrkvlcka El Paso Times The biggest point losses in Dow history, with the percentage drop in parentheses: 554.26 (7.2) 512.61 508.00 (6.4) (22.6) if 8,400 8,200 Mm 8,000 1 Oct 27, Monday Oct. 19, 1997 1987 Aug. 27, Aug.

4, 1998 1998 About 25 people applied for El Paso's police chief job, including at least eight El Pasoans, City Personnel Director Pat Diamanti said Monday. Monday was the last day to apply for the job, which pays $64,196 to $102,225 a year. The position became vacant with Russ Leach's July 17 return to Los Angeles. The man Mayor Carlos Ramirez picked to be interim chief, 47-year-old Deputy Chief J.R. Grijalva, is one of the applicants.

So is Carlos Leon, one of the two assistant chiefs Ramirez skipped over with his selection of Grijalva. The other assistant chief, George DeAngelis, was not one of the 22 people who had applied as of 3 p.m. Monday, Diamanti said. "We've had, I believe, two or three more applications come in since 3 p.m.," Diamanti said at the end of the day Monday. "But I don't know if (DeAngelis) was one of them." DeAngelis couldn't be reached for comment Monday.

Diamanti said she could not provide a complete list of applicants until today. The 22 applicants identified Monday included several out-of town candidates who worked in much smaller cities, and a handful who come from major cities. All 22 applicants were men. When the city last sought a new police chief, at the end of 1994, the city had about 30 applicants, Diamanti recalled. Ramirez said he was satisfied a good chief can be found from this pool.

"We know the council would like to see a local person, and there are at least nine current or former El Pasoans who applied, at least five of whom at first blush seem to be very qualified," Ramirez said. The personnel department now will go through the list and determine which ones meet all the minimum qualifications for the job, then testing of those applicants will begin. Ramirez said he hopes to nominate a new police chief to the City Council by year's end. 1 Monday close, lif year-to-date performance: jj 2 Monday close. After Monday's stock market drop wiped out many investors' gains for the year so far, financial planners and investment experts were bombarded with questions.

Advisers in El Paso were asked their opinions on several of the basic questions. What should investors do now? That depends on whose opinion you ask. But all agree that panicky decisions should be avoided. "Normally, investing should be for at least five years," said financial planner Mary Brock of El Paso. "If you are investing for a shorter term, leave it in the bank.

"But this isn't the time to sell your stocks," Brock said. "The ones who sell now will be the losers." She advises people to continue their investment course, buying regularly a method called "dollar cost averaging." For example, you invest $100 a month no matter what the market is doing. Over time, you've bought more stock when the price is low, less when the price is higher. "You can see the value of Please see Advice 2A 4 7,800 I i 7.600 "I 1 JEM Washington Post NEW YORK Stock prices cancaded to their lowest level this year as Wall Street's worries about global economic turmoil Monday sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 512.61 points, or 6.37 percent. In six weeks of sustained selling pressure, more than $2.3 trillion in paper profits have evaporated from the U.S.

stock market since the Dow average hit a record high of 9337.97 July 17, according to Wilshire Associates. In just three trading sessions, the Dow has fallen almost 1,100 points to 7539.07, wiping out investor gains for the year. All major stock indexes suffered sharp declines Monday, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq index plunging 8.57 percent, its worst single-day loss since the 1987 crash. Unlike 1987, when panic selling overwhelmed securities exchanges, trading was heavy but appeared to be orderly. Mutual fund companies reported a higher-than-usual level of telephone inquiries from investors, with more seeking to sell than to buy stocks.

But shell-shocked traders said they could find few glimmers of hope in the market rout. Instead they said it appeared to mark a turning point, one in which investors were increasingly concerned that economic turmoil in Asia, especially Japan, and Russia could affect the U.S. economy. The Dow average of 30 blue-chip stocks, once up 18 percent for the year, was up only 3 percent when trading started, but quickly gave up those gains early in the day. Yet it was only late in the day after an announcement by Travelers Group that it has suffered $360 million in trading losses in Russian and other securities since July that the Dow average started a breakneck decline into negative territory, closing out August with its second-worst monthly performance ever.

Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, appearing briefly at the Treasury press room in the afternoon, acknowl edged that "the world is currently working its way through a difficult period." But he contended that "the fundamentals of the United States economy are strong and the prospects for growth with low inflation and low unemployment continue to be strong." Traders In the futures pit at Some time before he died, Jackie Wicker's husband pulled her aside to explain the facts of life about the stocks and mutual funds he'd been investing in most of his life. The prices of stocks will rise, the prices will fall, he said. No matter how they perform in the short run, the trick to successful investing is to "leave the stocks alone," he said. Jackie Wicker put that advice into practice Monday as the Dow Jones average plunged more than 500 points. She didn't even think about touching the stocks.

"I've seen this kind of thing before," she said. "I hung in there then. I'll continue to hang in there now." Wicker's determination to stick it out appeared to be the rule Monday among many El Paso investors and investment brokers. The Dow Jones industrials the most watched stock market index of 30 major companies dropped 512.61 points Monday, or 6.37 percent. The Dow is down 19.3 percent from its record high of July 17.

Hypothetically, the value of a $100,000 stock portfolio in the Dow at its peak is now worth $80,700. "I've lost slightly but nothing for me to panic about," said James Valdez, a West Side resident who invests in mutual funds for his retirement. "The market was due for a correction. I'm going to ride it out for the long haul. I know it's going back up." Nancy Baker, an associate professor of government at New Mexico State University and an expert on presidential politics, said she did not believe that President Clinton's troubles were behind the stock market's free fall.

"But it's not farfetched that it could be a reaction to his troubles because the market is a psychological beast also," she said. "My Please see Investors 2A the Chicago Board of Trade saw the Dow plummet Monday. Associated Press kmnnniunnnnninininininiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinniiiiiinniiininiiiiinniin uiiiiiiiiiiiiMii.iuiiiiiimlmniiiiumiiiinlnlLlinni.miul Keith Alewine Ei Paso Times Full report: Administration tries to assure investors Dow shakeup adds to global troubles Milestones: Dow's ups and downs Mexican stocks tumble as peso weakens Stories, 10D How El Paso stocks fared: Columbia HCA Health: 22ie, down 1 El Paso Electric: V'a, down va Elamex SJL de C.V.: down Helen of Troy: 178, down 14 Southern Union: 174, down li Tenet Healthcare: 25b, down lia VF Corp: down lvu Russian lawmakers shoot down Chernomyrdin City releases names of applicants 2A INSIDE confirming Viktor Chernomyrdin for a second try as prime minister deepened a dangerous deadlock between the president and parliament and left Russia in chaos on the eve of President Clinton's arrival for an ill-timed summit. Clinton arrived in Russia early today, when he was met at the airport by Russia has been without a government since Aug. 23, when Yeltsin fired Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko in the midst of an economic crisis that has crippled the ruble and stocks, threatened to bring down the country's banking and financial systems and sent an earthquake through world markets.

The New York Stock Ex change plunged amid news of the Russian crisis as well as North Korea's apparent firing of a missile over part of Japan. But there was no sign of panic in Moscow or other Russian cities Monday. The ruble rate continued to improve modestly in street trading, although official trading was suspended for a fourth day. Associated Press MOSCOW Despite doomsday warnings that Russia faces collapse, angry lawmakers Monday rejected Bori9 Yeltsin's candidate for prime minister, blocking formation of a government to try to pull the country out of its economic and political tailspin. The lopsided vote against Classified 6B Comics 5D Crossword 8B, 6D Deaths 2B, 7B Lotto Mexico 5A Movies 4D Things to do 2D Weather Longhorn sues NM refinery, alleges sabotage over pipeline F7 Air quality iHigti HighF block competition." that Navajo contacted the Austin ordering that no OK to water EVEN filed Monday in El Paso is "a frivolous reaction to the federal court finding," the Austin law firm of George, 4 Pollution Pollen Printed on recycled newsprint using a soybean-based ink CONTAINS las, claims Navajo Refining Co.

of Artesia, N.M., which operates two gasoline pipelines in the El Paso area; its parent company, Holly of Dallas; and an Austin law firm conspired to stop the pipeline by recruiting some Central Texas ranchers to file a federal lawsuit against the pipeline and then financing the lawsuit's legal costs. Last week, the lawsuit resulted in a federal judge in Several El Paso leaders, including Mayor Carlos Ramirez, have supported the Longhorn Pipeline because they expect it would spur competition and drive down gasoline prices. Longhorn claims it could incur damages up to $350 million if it can operate the pipeline. Longhorn. is asking for up to triple that amount as allowed by Texas law.

By Vic Kolenc El Paso Times The Longhorn Partners Pipeline Monday filed a $1 billion lawsuit accusing a New Mexico refinery and others of sabotaging its attempts to build a Houston-to-El Paso pipeline as a way to stop gasoline competition in El Paso and other Southwest markets. Longhorn, based in Dal Austin law firm about fighting the pipeline after a Longhorn partner told him the pipeline would succeed because it would put refineries in West Texas and southern New Mexico out of business. Carter Montgomery, president of Longhorn, said: "Navajo bankrolled the (federal) lawsuit in the name of the environment when the real purpose is to gasoline be shipped through the pipeline until a federal environmental impact study is done. Longhorn officials have argued that an environmental study, which could take up to two years to complete, is not necessary and is not required by law. Longhorn is in the process of appealing the Austin judge's ruling.

The Longhorn lawsuit SOYOILI Donaldson Ford said in a written statement. The firm represents ranchers who filed the federal lawsuit against Longhorn. Navajo and Holly Corp. officials were not available for comment Monday. Bill Gray, senior vice president of Navajo, told the El Paso Times in May 040901 02401.