Arizona Daily Sun from Flagstaff, Arizona • 2

2 ARIZONA DAILY SUN, Flagstaff, Arizona, Thursday, June 20, 1991 Investors seek removal of KNAZ president By EMILY DARBY Sun Staff Reporter KNAZ-TVs general manager and president, Peter Klein, is scheduled to go to court Wednesday to show why he should not be removed from the helm. Four investors, who own 72.5 percent of Grand Canyon Television are suing for the removal of Klein as the companys only voting stockholder. In addition, investors are asking the court to place the company, which also operates KMOH in the Bullhead City and Kingman area, in receivership. They are recommending that television management consultant A1 Greenfield handle the daily operations during receivership. The lawsuit was filed in Coconino County Superior Court on Tuesday and alleges several examples of financial disarray.

In February, Klein denied any financial difficulties. Besides claiming that Klein has failed to keep investors accurately informed about company finances, investors also claimed in their suit that Klein used payroll money to pay back taxes. The suit alleges that the company failed to make good on its June 14 payroll, but KNAZ station manager Beverly Bishop said that claim is untrue. The company employs a total of 60 people at both stations. Since Ive been station manager, we have never missed a payroll, said Bishop, who has been station manager for less than a year.

Those payroll checks went through last Friday, but the investors just didnt know it. In a prepared statement released Wednesday, Bishop stated, This is strictly a stockholders move to gain management control and will in no way affect the day to day operation of either KNAZ TV2 in Flagstaff, or taxes and $5,319 in local personal taxes, according to county Treasurers Office records. Bishop acknowledged the outstanding taxes but said the company has a payment agreement with the county. Valley National Bank has a policy that prohibits comments on customer accounts, said bank spokesman Steve Roman. As for Kleins absenteeism, Bishop said that Klein is usually at KNAZ about 10 days a month.

Klein lives in Indianapolis. Bishop said she was unable to reach Klein on Wednesday for a statement. Investors other than Franke who filed the joint suit are Harold and Patricia Gawthrop of St. Petersburg, with 9.06 shares out of a total 1,000, John P. Michaels of Tampa, with 63.44 shares, and Robert Wood Johnson, of New York City, with 282.75 shares.

Franke, from Paradise Valley, holds 369.75 shares. KMOH TV6 in Bullhead (City). Another statement from investor William A. Franke, the only Arizona investor, also said daily operations would be unaffected. Investors claimed in their suit that they would immediately have to dump in another $100,000 just to keep things going.

Other examples of Kleins alleged mismanagement named in the suit include chronic absenteeism from the companys operations, a company loss of about $3.8 million, and failure to keep up with debts owed the Internal Revenue Service, local taxing agencies and Valley National Bank in Phoenix. The IRS had garnished revenue from Grand Canyon Television for a few months but stopped on May 31, said IRS spokeswoman Elsa Matta. The IRS collected $51,364. The company still owes $10,441 in local real property Lawmakers agree on key waste bills PHOENIX (AP) Two key hazardous-waste bills are at the top of the agenda today as lawmakers struggle to bring the legislative session to a close. House and Senate negotiators announced Wednesday that they had reached agreement on a comprehensive hazardous-waste bill, and leaders said they were close to agreeing on legislation to facilitate the buyout of the ENSCO hazardous-waste plant.

Meanwhile, a bill providing a taxpayer subsidy for Cactus League baseball stadiums won final passage in the Senate Wednesday and the House voted down a measure that would have banned corporal punishment in schools. The measure (HB2121) would regulate the generation, storage, treatment and transportation of hazardous wastes and create a new category of special wastes, which are not considered hazardous but require special handling. Final agreement on the bill was reached following a marathon meeting on Tuesday of conference committee members, industry lobbyists and environmentalists, said Sen. Karan English, D-Flagstaff, chairman of the Senate Environment Committee. Key provisions of the bill would: Require companies that use or generate large amounts of toxic substances to participate in a pollution-prevention program and provide incentives for smaller companies to participate as well.

Impose a generation fee of $10 a ton for hazardous wastes, a $40 a ton fee for off-site disposal of hazardous wastes, a $4 a ton fee for wastes that are disposed of on site and a $2 a ton fee for special wastes treated, stored or disposed of in a state facility. There would be a 50 percent discount for companies with pollution-prevention programs. Delay implementation of regulations covering private non-hazardous landfills pending completion of a legislative study. Require corporations subject to DEQ regulation to disclose past environmental violations. Direct the DEQ director to develop a legal definition of recycling.

Require the Department of Agriculture to report annually on the amount of pesticides used in Arizona. Ban importation of hazardous-wastes from other states for disposal at a state-operated facility and incineration of hazardous wastes at the state facility. Hotel owners return By JENNIFER DOXSEE Sun Staff Reporter The Monte Vista Hotel, built in 1926, has ended a 212 year bankruptcy streak and is now in the hands of previous owners. The new owners are W.W. Johnny and Kathleen Johnson and David and Trudi Slipher.

The quartet bought the property at auction on May 31. They previously owned the property, but sold the building in 1979. Since then, two other owners have filed for bankruptcy. After a trustee took over the hotel it was sold to the Johnsons and Sliphers. When we first got in the place we removed 125 cubic yards of trash and broken equipment from the basement and storage areas, Johnson said.

The owners plan to upgrade the property until they find new owners to continue renovation. We are very particular about who wants to buy the property from us, Johnson said. We want to keep the southwestern motif and make sure that new owners want to continue improvements, not tear the place down. Previous owners had also installed an illegal fireplace without a permit. The fireplace is between the cocktail lounge and the banquet room and blocks a fire exit.

We have gotten a tremendous start on improving the place. We already removed the chimney, Johnson said. We hope to bring it back to its original condition. The new owners plan on opening the restaurant in 30 to 45 days. The previous restaurant was famous for its Friday night steaks, and the new owners hope to bring that back.

The restaurant will be very well run striving for the quality of the food, fast service and extremely favorable prices, Johnson said. We wont open until we are proud to open then doors to our coffee shopres-taurant. One attraction that will no longer be a part of the Monte Vista Hotel is the Route 66 Comedy Club. We felt that it drove away customers because people would come in to enjoy a drink and would be forced to pay a cover charge, Johnson said. We used to have very good clientele when we wen the owners before and we want to try to get that back.

Another factor that helps attract customers to the hotel is the rooms that stars have stayed in, including John Wayne, Clark Gable and Gary Cooper, The rooms are named after the stars that stayed there. Hotel in the 1960s and 70s, says hes back on top of things at the hotel. Mountainaire committee creates area plan NATION ment would occur on parcels smaller than one acre, according to the most recent draft policies of the area plan. While existing nonconforming uses will be allowed, any changes to the lot development will have to comply with the future area plan. Commercial development will be restricted to businesses with low water uses and to the currently com-merically zoned areas along Interstate 17.

and property owners with more than one are being encouraged to combine them. The hodge-podge development has caused problems in areas of septic tank failures, water shortages and road conditions. Mountainaire has 375 lots with homes built on them, 38 mobile homes or travel trailers and 275 undeveloped lots. In general, no further develop density limits, said Sue Pratt, a planner for Coconino Countys Community Development Department. The committee should have a plan ready for review by the countys Planning and Zoning Commission by August, said Pratt.

Final approval of the Mountainaire plan rests with the county Board of Supervisors. Because the roughly 1, 000-acre community sprang up as a summer haven, many existing lots are small By DAILY SUN Larger lot sizes to keep the density and water usage down are being encouraged by the Mountainaire Planning Committee as it puts together the communitys first area plan. The six-member committee, which has been gathering information since December, is now getting to the meat of its task as they begin to spell out specific land uses and SUNUNU EXPLAINS. When a political headache hits, one of Washingtons traditional remedies is to get out of town and blame the trouble on the inside-the-Beltway crowd. Theyre an unpopular lot anyhow.

John H. Sununu, the White House chief of staff, has tried that cure for the controversy over his travel habits, but its not a prescription likely to work. It is nice to get out of Washington to see real people in hometown America, Sununu told Iowa Republicans in Dcs Moines on Tuesday night. He said hed rather listen to them than to self-styled experts in Washington. There are some folks who keep asking why I have to travel.

Actually, the question has been how. President Bush acknowledged Wednesday that theres an appearance problem with Sununus trip to a New York City stamp show in a govern- ment car. He said Sununu recognizes that, too. The latest installment involves his use of a chauffeured government car to drive to New York City for a collectors stamp auction on June 12, then to a Republican fund-raising appearance in Bedminstcr, that night. He flew back to Washington on a corporate airplane, paid for by the New Jersey GOP.

In both cases, Sununu said his government travel arrangements were necessary because he had to have access to immediate, secure communications with the White House. CONSUMERS PREFER IMPORTS. American consumers exhibit stronger brand loyalty to the cars made by Nissan, Honda and Toyota than to the products Detroit turns out, a Brookings Institution economic study said today. That represents a long-term obstacle for American carmakers, the authors said. Even if American cars now are just as good as their foreign com- petitors as Detroit claims people are likely to perceive them as inferior and continue to prefer Japanese cars.

POWERS SELL WEAPONS. The major industrial powers have sold advanced weapons so widely around the globe that they gradually are losing control of key military technologies, congressional researchers said today. A growing number of developing nations such as South Korea and Brazil now are exporting weapons they produced with know-how that originated in the United States, Europe or the Soviet Union, said a report by the Office of Technology Assessment. Even though arms sales worldwide are declining, the expanding club of arms producers makes it more difficult to limit the spread of modem weapons, including ballistic missiles, to unstable regions such as the Middle East, said OT a research arm of Congress. Scott IndermaurArizona Daily Sun Weekly story circle Governor: Free trade brings jobs MEXICO CITY (AP) Arizona Gov.

Fife Symington says a North American free trade agreement will mean jobs for Arizona and a better life for Mexicans. A wider economic relationship with Mexico is vital to jobs in Arizona, Symington said after a half-hour meeting with President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. We have begun plans for a more sophisticated level of promoting exports into Mexico, the first-term Republican said of his three-day visit to Mexico. He said Arizona and New Mexico will open a joint trade office in Mexico this year. Illinois, Texas and California already have Mexican trade offices.

Lousisana Gov. Charles Buddy Roemer arrives in Mexico City Thursday to open his states trade office. Mexico is Arizonas largest trading partner, buying a fifth of its exports. Symington said Mexico accounted for $831 million of Arizonas $4.3 billion in exports last year. Rather than take jobs away from Arizona, the governor argued that a free trade agreement will increase the states employment.

I already know of 3,000 jobs directly attributable to the maquiladoras (border plants), and I am confident many more will be created as each of our economics further develop, he said. Direct air service with the border state of Sonora and the Mexican capital would enhance the relationship, he said. Mary Brown, a Christensen School second grade teacher, reads a story to children at the Christensen Elementary School library Wednesday morning. Christensen Parents and Teachers Organization is sponsoring a summer storytime at the schools library every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to noon.

I Embezzling priest sentenced today nMamni Official Legal Newspaper for City of Flagstaff and Coconino County Publication No. (USPS 030-560) TUCSON (AP) A priest charged with embezzling almost $400,000 from parishioners and Roman Catholic Church organizations in the Tucson area could receive a 10-year prison term. The Rev. Joseph Octavio Tye is scheduled to be sentenced today in Pima County Superior Court by Court of Appeals Judge John Roll. Tye, 40, pleaded guilty to 10 felony charges in May involving the theft of $386,976 over a six-year period from St.

Monicas Parish in Tucson, St. Christophers Parish in Marana and other church organizations. He was charged with six counts of theft and four counts of burglary. Deputy County Attorney Howard Fell said he will ask Roll to sentence Tye to the maximum 10-ycar term on the two charges and put him on probation for other eight charges. Fell said the probation would begin after Tyes release so he can repay the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, which has already received $250,000 in insurance money.

Tye originally told church officials all the money was spent on church activities and helping others. However, financial records showed he spent thousands of dollars at expensive department stores, gift shops, music stores, high-tech adult toy shops and on private apartments. Fell said Tye, who received $17,424 a year in wages, led other priests to believe his extra money came from family members in Hcrmosillo, Son. Carrier Delivery Arizona Daily Sun through Friday or and Sunday, please If unable to reach phone Arizona Daily department at 779-4189. change of address Sun, Post Office Box 86002.

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