The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 16

yiiie Moitiey B8 The Sun WEDNESDAY, January 14, 1987 Inland Empire bankruptcy filings soar in '86 MARKETS Yearly bankruptcy filings San Bernardino-Riverside Counties 1986 DOW NYSE NADSQ AMEX 3.52 0.94 Dow gains 3.52 for seventh consecutive winning session II III I I 1 I I I I 7,633 S3 1975 LV--- 3,398 S5v L-Li 983 I By BARBARA DETERS Sun Business Writer SAN BERNARDINO Bankruptcy filings for the Inland Empire soared to a new high last year as 7,633 companies and individuals found they needed help to get out from under their debts. The number of filings jumped 37.5 percent from 1985, which also was a record year, and 175 percent from the pre-recession year of 1980, when only 2,774 bankruptcies were recorded. Filings in 1986, which supposedly was a prosperous year, were even higher than those of the recession years of the early 1980s. While that may not sound logical, a San Bernardino bankruptcy attorney said it's not difficult to understand. "Almost every time the economy turns around you see a rash of filings," said Shoshana Simon, who with her husband, William, have been involved in a number of the area's more prominent bankruptcy cases.

"What you will often see when power here. You just can't stop 'em," said Robert O'Toole, manager of over-the-counter trading at the investment firm of Shear-son Lehman Brothers Inc. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials finished at 2.012.94 points, up 3.52. It was the seventh consecutive session that Wall Street's best known barometer has reached a new high. On the New York Stock Exchange, 815 stocks advanced, 794 declined and 387 were unchanged.

Big Board volume totaled 170.94 million shares. 75 '80 85 wage earners in two-income households, she said. As the incidents of divorce increase, there's an increase in bankruptcy filings," she said. It takes two incomes to support a large household, and if one income is lost because of injury, unemployment, divorce or separation, many people are finding it NEW YORK Stocks shuddered Tuesday because of profit-takers and a decline in bond prices, but the Dow Jones industrial average hit a seventh-straight record and analysts said the broader market showed resilience. Though some other market indicators fell slightly and reflected a largely mixed showing, there as little evidence that the rally buoying Wall Street since the new year began would fade soon.

"There's too much buying LOCAL FCC approves KIHS ONTARIO The Federal Communications Commission has approved Home Shopping Network's request to change the call letters for its Ontario television station, the company said Tuesday. KIHS Channel 46 is now KHSC. The on-the-air merchandise- KDUO, KGGI top radio ratings Top 11 radio stations in the Inland Empire Ontario hotel included in purchase Station City Format Ave. share 1. KDUO San Bernardino Easy listening 7.0 2.

KGGI Riverside Top 40 6.6 3. KIIS- AIWFM LosAngeles Top 40 6.4 4. KRTH-FM LosAngeles 60's 4.8 5. KFXM San Bernardino Big band 4.5 6. KLOS Los Angeles Rock 3.7 6.

KOST LosAngeles Easy listening 3.7 8. KNX-AM LosAngeles News 3.4 9. KFI LosAngeles Top 40 3.2 10. KROQ LosAngeles Rock 2.9 10. KQLH San Bernardino Top 40 2.9 fM I I II 11 1,1 I I am' I Tl 1 i Source: Arbitron Inc.

() A Long Beach company has purchased eight hotels, including one in Ontario, from Lexington Hotel Suites in Texas, the company said. August Financial Corp. bought the eight hotels for about $50 million, according to a company statement. A Cathedral City hotel also was included in the deal. Chino building permit CHINO The value of building permits issued here in 1986 reached an all-time high, the city reported Tuesday.

The city issued permits for projects valued at $121.7 million, topping the $71.8 million record set in 1976. The 1986 total also was well above the $67.6 million value for 1985 permits, the city said. For December, the monthly permit valuation of $30.1 million PEOPLE By P.G. TORREZ Sun Business Writer SAN BERNARDINO Area radio stations KDUO-FM and KGGI FM are still kings of the Inland Empire radio market, according to the latest Arbitron Inc. ratings.

"Easy listening" KDUO captured an average share of 7.0 percent of listeners 12 years of age and older in the fall 1986 survey, making it the top-rated station in the San Bernardino-Riverside area. New York-based Arbitron said. KGGI, a "Top 40" station, was ranked second with a 6.6 percent share. Two other Inland Empire stations KFXM-AM. ranked fifth with a 4.5 percent share, and KQLH FM, tied for 10th with a 2.9 18-month decline, the dollar was close to a point where the deficit should begin to improve.

At last year's estimated record level, American imports exceeded exports by $175 billion, about $30 billion greater than the 1985 figure. That slowed the domestic economy and caused recessions and huge job losses in particular industries, including agriculture, mining and timber and in some manufacturing. The administration has been under intense political pressure to respond. Some leading members of Congress have been calling for protectionist laws to curb imports. But the administration, a staunch advocate of free trade, prefers instead to change currency values to make imports more expensive and exports more competitive.

Administration wants dollar to decline further too difficult to maintain their debts with only one salary, Simon said. The stigma that may have been attached to filing bankruptcy 20 to 30 years ago has changed, according to Judge David Naugle, one of two judges who hear cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court In San Bernardino. Simon, who agreed with Naugle, said her firm also has noticed that clients are discussing their bankruptcies with friends and suggesting it to them as a way of getting rid of their debts. "It was like divorce was 20 years ago," Simon said.

"You may have done it, but you didn't talk about it. People are now coming out in the open with their financial problems." With the stigma gone, Simon said more highly educated people are availing themselves of the system, which used to be for poverty-level people. Unemployment and physical injuries used to be main reasons for filing. Now, bad management See BANKRUPTCYB5 percent share made the top 11, according to Arbitron. KDUO and KGGI have finished among the Inland Empire's top three stations on the quarterly list for at least the past four surveys.

"KGGI and KDUO have consistently dominated the market," said radio consultant Allen S. Klein. "They go after different audiences and are doing the best Job in the market." Klein, president of Media Research Graphics Inc. of Encino, said KDUO has "no direct local competition no one (in the Inland Empire) is doing what they're doing." Los Angeles stations KBIG and KJOI reach area listeners, but "KDUO just does it better and it's local," he said! "People generally See RAOIOB5 While a declining dollar is the main weapon to curb the deficit, the administration is also trying to restrain imports that it attributes to "unfair" trade practices. While the policy should help domestic producers, the higher prices could push up inflation and hurt American consumers, who have come to rely on imports.

The government rarely comments publicly on the dollar to avoid causing turbulence in the financial markets. But in letting its views be known, the administration appeared to be alerting the markets not to expect it to buttress the dollar, which the Treasury tells the Federal Reserve to do by buying dollars in world currency markets. Such demand is supposed to increase the currency's value. day's close of $19.01 but well above its level of about $15 a barrel just before OPEC's December conference. Heating oil for February delivery closed at 54.22 cents a gallon on the exchange, down from 54.66 cents on Monday but above its pre-OPEC price of about 44 cents.

Wholesale unleaded gasoline eased to 51.48 cents a gallon from Monday's 52.35 cents, still much higher than its level of around 41 cents in mid-December. According to the latest Lund-berg Survey, released Sunday, retail gasoline prices have already risen an average of 3 cents a gallon in the last two weeks. Gasoline prices "are certainly going to be going up some more," said Gordon Pye, an economist for Irving Trust Co. in New York. "I don't see any (upward) pressure coming off oil prices for some time." Pye and other analysts expect retail gasoline prices to rise by around 4 to 5 cents a gallon in the next few weeks, as UJS.

refiners start to pass on the higher prices they will be paying for their raw material, crude. As the peak spring driving season draws closer, gasoline prices will likely continue to firm: Pye estimates that motorists could be paying about $1 a gallon by Memorial Day. Additional upward Impetus on gasoline prices could come from U.S. refiners cutting back on their production runs, analysts say. in "OS 3 2 1 0, 65 70 it gets prosperous is a need for property protection," she said.

"People have something to protect. Before they didn't have anything to lose." Record filings last year were precipitated by an increase in the number of professionals filing for protection and changes in the employment and marital status of W-aaMtftii 1,1 1,1,1. 1. 1, 1 1 I. I I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 then, the dollar stood at 1.8735 in New York on Tuesday afternoon, down from 1.896 on Monday.

That represents a substantial drop, 7 percent, in only three eeks. Market specialists attributed the latest pressure on the dollar to a weekend rearrangement of European currencies. But the decline is part of a steady erosion that has pushed the dollar to its lowest level in six years against the mark and to a near-record low against the Japanese yen. The administration sources, requesting that they not be identified by agencies or functions, noted that a major economic problem, the trade deficit, deteriorated last year, confounding expectations. The administration believed last autumn that after an MIKELL ANDERSONThe Sun labor force and affordable housing.

The first phase will include 12 single-tenant industrial buildings totaling 132,515 square feet of space, three multi-tenant industrial buildings with 59,694 square feet and two multi-tenant service retail buildings with 37,572 square feet. So far, none of the buildings are leased, said Worley. David Ariss, managing director of the California Commerce Center, said Paragon Business Center is Paragon's first project in this region and "adds additional credence" to the commerce center, the area's largest master-planned business park. About 2.5 million square feet of buildings worth an estimated $61 million has been completed and sold In the commerce center's first phase, said Ariss. The 98-acre Ontario Auto Center currently under construction is among the first-phase projects.

Airport Dr. 1 1 -1 1 I Site of Paragon a Business Juru'aSt I Center 5 I Sources name candidates for Fed vacancies change to KHSC selling network agreed last year to purchase the station for $35 million. It started broadcasting its special brand of programming last month. The company, which has purchased nine other stations to spread its discount merchandising fare, said the call letters for all those stations eventually will be changed to include the letters "H'and Terms of the sale call for Lex--ington to continue managing the eight hotels. Since its formation in 1979, August Financial has acquired shopping centers, hotels, apartments and other properties as part of its real estate investment push.

The three-story, 120 room hotel in Ontario opened in 1985 and has been for sale since last year. values hit record set a new record, topping the $18.5 million mark set in August 1986. Construction permits issued during the year went for such businesses as Mervyn's, Target, PACE and Nordstrom's Rack stores, which are all part of the Chino Town Square now under construction. Residential permits totaled 1,474, just shy of the 1,482 record set in 1976. Donald T.

Regan, the White House chief of staff, was said to be heavily promoting Sprinkel for the post, but the odds against him seem to have lengthened. Olsen's selection would mark something of a departure from the pattern established by Reagan in choosing five Fed governors, four of whom still serve, since he took office. The 60-year old Olsen, who retired from Citibank last year, has a reputation as a monetarist, while Reagan's other appointments have exhibited supply-side tendencies. trade legislation deficit with that nation. Senators at the committee's hearing, the first of what will likely be many before the panel drafts a bill, pronounced the idea intriguing and added ideas of their own on how to close the trade gap.

In the House, Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, is calling trade his top 1987 priority, although the issue has been overshadowed thus far by the Iran-Contra affair. business debated begin deploying the first part of a full-scale Star Wars missile defense "as soon as possible." "I'm against it," said William Colby, a former director of the CIA. "First, it won't work. Second, it's dangerous. Third, it's a waste of money." Money for Star Wars would be better spent on research with direct commercial potential not just incidental spin offs that would help the United States compete economically against Japan and other nations, Colby and others said.

From Sun News Services Analysts: Gas prices to rise in coming weeks By PETER T. KILBORN The New York Times WASHINGTON The Reagan administration let it be known Tuesday that it wants the dollar, now the weakest it has been since the start of the decade, to decline still further. Administration sources said that in light of the nation's unexpectedly large, record trade deficit, they did not expect the government to try to arrest the fall. But they declined to say how far they thought the process should continue. Since Christmas, the dollar has been dropping relentlessly against the world's second most-widely used currency, the West German mark.

From a level of 2.02 marks Groundbreaking set on Paragon Business Center By P.O. TORREZ Sun Business Writer ONTARIO Groundbreaking is scheduled today on the first phase of a $27 million business center that will be the northern gateway of the California Commerce Center here. To be completed later this year, the $15.5 million first phase of the Paragon Business Center will have 17 buildings totaling nearly 230,000 square feet, according to spokeswoman Ann Worley. Developers of the project are the Texas-based Paragon Group and Cal Fed Income Properties. The project will be built in three phases on a 28-acre site at the southwest corner of Airport Drive and Milliken Avenue, which is on the northern edge of the California Commerce Center and just east of Ontario International Airport.

"The project is phased to meet the current and projected needs of users by offering single-tenant industrial buildings, multi-tenant industrial buildings and service retail space In the first phase, and two-story research and development office space in the second and third phase," said Paragon's Jeremy B. Fletcher. He said the developers expect the complex to be successful in the competitive Southern California marketplace because the site is highly visible and accessible and is close to a major international airport. Fletcher said the surrounding area also has an ample WASHINGTON Leif H. 01-sen, formerly the top economist at Citibank, and Edward W.

Kel-ley, an investment adviser from Texas, seem likely to fill the two current vacancies on the Federal Reserve Board, government and business sources said Tuesday. Meanwhile, prospects appear to have dimmed that Beryl W. Sprinkel, the chairman of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, will be chosen to succeed Paul A. Volcker, whose term as the board's chairman runs out in August. ECONOMY Senators open hunt WASHINGTON The Senate Finance Committee, amid warnings that the nation cannot stand the strain of a projected $173 billion trade deficit, launched on Tuesday a quest for legislation to match exports to surging imports.

Robert S. Strauss, the nation's top trade negotiator under former President Jimmy Carter, called for a U.S.-Japanese summit to dramatize the issue and begin to reduce America's trade SDI's impact on U.S. NEW YORK "Star Wars" is a waste of money that threatens the health of American industry, critics warned Tuesday at a conference that examined the impact of the missile defense program on business. Backers of the Strategic Defense Initiative said it can work and will have spin offs that will benefit other industries, from medicine to computers to the telephone network. The conference came one day after Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger said he wanted to for NEW YORK (AP) The upward trend in oil prices since OPEC's December meeting and the recent cold spell in Europe could lift gasoline prices in the next few weeks by around 4 to 5 cents a gallon at the pump, analysts said Tuesday.

Oil prices have been boosted by the recent cold wave that has gripped Europe and the Soviet Union with record low temperatures and is expected to continue until later this week. In the United States, a cold snap is predicted soon for the Northeast and the Midwest. The cold weather has put a strain on oil inventories, which until recently had been in surplus, draining supplies and pushing prices upward. Prices had already been rising since late December, when oil ministers of the 13-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cut their overall production by 7.6 percent during the first half of this year and to set an average price of $18 a barrel. In the weeks before the meeting, crude oil had been trading at levels between $14 and $16 a barrel.

A barrel is the equivalent of 42 gallons. In trading Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the February contract for West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark crude, finished at $18.89 a barrel, down 12 cents a barrel from Mon.