Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 94

Thursday December I 996 NORTHEAST ID) 0 musiness SECTION 0 usmess Thursday December 1 SECTION Mob family reportedly gets case of Tickle Me Elmos lisx -ee- '4 Nit 1 John Gotti Jr gets a supply of the coveted toy newspapers say Todd Mason shopping spree at a Toys 0 outlet in the Queens borough on Friday The toy in desperate demand by par ents nation- wide has sup- Elmo posedly been "out of stock" for weeks Gotti his wife and six other couples spent two hours shopping late Friday night at a Toys Us store in Queens the New York Daily News and The New York limes reported The News said store workers filled 10 shopping carts with hundreds of toys including a case of Tickle Me Elmo dolls Toys Us employees told the News that Gotti handed out $20 and $100 in cash to workers as he left the store Though the store stopped handing out rain checks for the dolls quite some time ago store manager Les Morris told the News that a shipment came in unexpectedly "He was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time" Morris said But another manager Alan Gasphi told the limes that Gotti could not have bought Elmo dolls there "We didn't have any in the building" Gaspin said A spokeswoman for the Paramus NJ-based toy chain Carol Fuller also doubted that Elmo took a ride with Gotti "I cannot imagine that they would have had a case of Tickle Me Elmo dolls" she said "Tickle Me Elmo sells out immediately upon being brought to the stores" The toy which vibrates and giggles when its tummy is (More on ELMO on Page 5) From wire reports NEW YORK Need one of those hard-to-find Tickle Me Elmo dolls? You might check with the mob John Gotti Jr the on of jailed mob boss John Gotti reportedly bought a crate of the dolls as part of a private $8000 after-hours Companies want relief for own mistakes Atirliftne5 Will keep profftt5 tax eitad5 i jt 0 i 4 4 I -g 1 Ah 4 Pi 1 A I 4 Ar'l ----ipir- ---r ty f-S it 4 re :1 i I -r (1 ot 4-1 1 1 'ilipla I' 0 Il 4 t't a -I 7 1 I 41 4 1 0 0 I' i 1" I i -'L 7 'I- 1 4 -4t 444t 4441441-41 1)- 4-444 4 44 444 4 Ns 4- tk A TA 1- -4 4 4 1 1 -'''14 -40 A federal levy on tickets will soon expire but fares will stay the same SIX FLAGS An artist's rendering gives a preview of Mr Freeze Coolest Coaster on the Planet Sky high and really cool BY DAN REED Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH In January when the 10 percent federal excise tax on airline tickets expired most of the nation's airlines passed the savings on to consumers But the same won't happen in 12 days when the tax reinstated by Congress in August expires once again This time the nation's airlines apparently plan to pocket the 10 percent windfall Most airlines have quietly raised the price of their standard leisure fares the 21-day advance-purchase fares by exactly 10 percent said Tom Parsons editor and publisher of Best Fares Discount Travel Magazine in Arlington So when the 10 percent federal tax expires Dec 31 the actual price of the tickets will be unchanged "The only difference will be that instead of 10 percent of the amount going to the federal government the airlines will keep 100 percent of that money for themselves" Parsons said The 21-day advance-purchase fare for travel between DallasFort Worth Airport and New York provides a good example Parsons said Last week that benchmark fare was $663 round trip including a base fare of $60273 and $6027 (More on TAX on Page 4) Six Flags announces state's tallest fastest coaster We usually think of business as the victim of lawsuit abuse rather than the perpetrator But the fact is that corporations are also quick to ask the courts to fix mistakes of their own making The news this week furnishes us with two examples one that has almost run its course and one that's just beginning In one banks asked a bankruptcy law review panel Tuesday to crack down on a record wave of personal filings that they precipitated by mailing credit card offers to everyone with a pulse and an address Meanwhile the Supreme Court declined to wade into a nasty spate of corporate litigiousness left over from the Texas real estate bust The high court let stand an appeals decision holding that (yes indeed) private mortgage insurance companies must abide by the language in their own policies The case of Verex Assurance vs Palma the mismatch of a 'General Electric subsidiary and a Texas homeowner perhaps suggests what the credit card industry wants When corporations turn to the courts they can field armies of attorneys Verex stars in the last chapter of a saga dating to the early 1980s and spawning thousands of lawsuits against Texas homeowners Ultimately the attorney general and Texas Department of Insurance intervened to force the private mortgage insurance industry out of the litigation business Private mortgage insurance 1 companies promise to make good on mortgages if homeowners default Borrowers who put down less than 20 percent are usually required to buy insurance Private mortgage insurance was a boom business in the early 1980s when inflation promised to price homes out of reach By 1987 with the state awash In foreclosures and home prices falling private mortgage insurance was a disaster zone Verex and other private mortgage insurance companies began suing homeowners to recover their losses on foreclosure sales despite a clause in their policies expressly prohibiting such lawsuits Their argument: The policy was a contract between the insurer and the lender Because homeowners weren't a party to it exccpt to pay for it they had no right to argue in court that insurers were violating its terms That the state courts bought this argument tells you all you need to know about "bidnessfirst" justice in Texas The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals saw things differently (More on MASON on Page 5) Record rides 4 44 ht 747c t'71407 'eV 4:: 4'1 1 14 il 1 46 4 4 I 1 i c41 7 Mr Freeze at 218 feet tall with speeds up to 70 mph is billed as Texas' tallest fastest and most advanced roller coaster But others still take top billing as record-breakers according to Arlington's Tim Baldwin of American Coaster British Airways says it will sell its USAir stock BY LEIGH STROPE Star-Telegram Staff Writer ARLINGTON Yesterday's frigid temperatures helped set the scene for the announcement of Six Flags Over Texas' new attraction the state's tallest and fastest roller coaster It will be called Mr Freeze The Coolest Coaster on the Planet The ride is based on Batman's rival Mr Freeze who will be played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in a new film to be released in the summer The coaster will change the Six Flags skyline as the tallest attraction in the park at 218 feet said spokesman Keith SalwosId The Texas Chute Out stands at 200 feet Mr Freeze rivals the world's tallest coaster which peaks at 260 feet in Fujikyu Highlands Japan Mr Freeze will have 1300 feet of steel track and will use the latest coaster technology known as linear induction motors to launch trains from a standstill to a top speed of 70 mph in just 378 seconds Salwosld said "It's a completely different experience" he said "We're ready for the next step as far as coasters go" The height and launch speed of Mr Freeze will be unlike any coaster which will be a boon to the park and Arlington said Gary Slade publisher of Amusement Park Today magazine "It will be superior to anything out there that we've had the chance to ride" Slade said "It could not have been built until now because it's all new technology And of course it will have a huge impact on the park's attendance next season Any time parks open coasters of this magnitude you always see a significant increase in slasts Six Flags' Batman David Gaskill A The Fujiyama in Fujikyu Highlands Japan is the world's taligst roller coaster at 260 feet It opened lin the summer and has a 230-foot drop AThe Desperado in State Line Nev previously was the tallest coaster at 209 feet It was built in 1994 at Buffalo Bill's Casino and boasts a 225-foot drop into an underground tunnel AThe world's tallest roller coaster in which the riders stand up is in Sandusky Ohio at Cedar Point Park The Mantis is 145 feet tall has a 137-foot drop and reaches speeds of 60 mph AThe world's tallest and longest inverted roller coaster is the Montu at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Florida An inverted coaster has riders hanging in their seats feet dangling in the air The coaster was built this year AThe nation's fastest roller coaster is the Steel Phantom built in 1991 at Kennywood park in Pittsburgh It tops 80 mph BY DAN REED Star-Telegram Staff Writer British Airways its 1993 marriage to USAir on the rocks over British Airway's proposal to wed its trans-Atlantic operations with those of American Airlines said yesterday it will divorce USAir British Airways Chief Executive Robert Ay ling said yesterday that his company has told USAir that it will sell its USAir stock worth $428 million at current share prices within 60 days and remove its three appointees from USAir's board USAir which announced its plan to sever its marketing alliance with British Air on March 31 has the option to buy back its stock from British Air but is not expected to do so If not British Air (More on USAIR on Page 4) (More on FREEZE on Page 5) DOiNOIL REPORT Pi 1 NAFTA's effect on US jobs 'near zero' researchers say Two cities see themselves as victors in pharmacy duel 6850 6600 6550 0500 I 4 ih 6450 8400 8350 Yesterday 6250 634677 0200 6150 3844 6100 American Chairman Robert Crandall calls for more cooperation among airlines 0 Dow Jones 11 4 5 0 9 101112131617 4 8 0 9 10111213161718 Drug on the Richland Hills side the scene will not only be a battle between the industry's top players but also a competition for sales tax revenue And officials of Richland Hills and North Richland Hills couldn't be happier "We think it is great" said Mike Marcum chairman of the (More on DRUGSTORE on Page 5) had promised according to a US government-funded study the most comprehensive analysis of the 1994 accord NAFTA's effect on US jobs has been "near-zero" or slightly positive researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles have found in a study to be released today (More on NAFTA on Page 4) BY TARA DOOLEY Star-Telegram Staff Writer At the intersection of Grapevine Highway and Glenview Drive two cities are offering a battleground for the emerging drugstore war With work on a Walgreens pharmacy under way on the North Richland Hills corner and the beginnings of an Eckerd BY SARA SILVER The Associated Press NEW YORK Haven't heard that giant sucking sound? Maybe that's because there hasn't been one The North American Free Trade Agreement has not taken a substantial number of jobs from Americans but neither has it generated the employment its fans Page 4C 4 -111111 BUSINESS DIGEST Page 2C NYSE Pages 6-8C AMEX Page SC NASDAQ Page BC MUTUAL FUNDS Pages 10-11C Oil futures $2616 per barrel (Jan) $045 Oil posted price: 7 $2400 Unchanged op Gas futures: 0 6 $40754095 4 7 StanDlegram N' I' aWe i -r'' vM wxs.