The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 17

SECTION Still growing If developments such as Jack WestGlen Shopping Center are any indication Johnson County reached its retail saturation point Story B-3 Anti-smoking actions face fight Lawsuits threaten silicone Public opposes cigarette marketing restrictions Do you support or oppose having the government allow only black-and-white text no color or pictures on tobacco billboards and in cigarette advertisements in magazines that many young people read? Clinton proposals to keep teens away from tobacco are unpopular The Associated Press Slims Tennis Tournament And 53 percent oppose allowing only black-and-white text no color or pictures on tobacco billboards and in cigarette advertisements in magazines read by young people Clinton ordered those restrictions Aug 10 with the goal of cutting teen-age smoking in half The tobacco industry immediately challenged him in court The Food and Drug Administration could begin writing the regulations in November unless stopped by the courts or Congress The poll of 1007 adults taken Aug 16-20 finds relatively weak support for the premise behind the regulations Only 40 percent agree unequivocally that the tobacco companies actively use advertising and promotion to try to get youngsters to start smoking Forty-five percent adhere to the tobacco company argument that ads are aimed at promoting brands to people who already smoke president and the FDA commissioner both said very clearly and loudly that they believe this advertising is targeted at kids Well apparently the public is not ready to buy that assertion" said Walker Merryman vice president of the Tobacco Institute an industry group based in Washington The results are based on telephone polling by ICR Survey Research Group of Media Pa part of ACS Consultants The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points In the Associated Press poll 73 percent support Clinton's proposal that the tobacco industry be required to spend $150 million a year on a campaign to discourage teenage smoking The industry says the requirement is an illegal tax these numbers do show is a solid base of support for reducing the appeal of these products to our said FDA spokesman Jim O'Hara 1 9 Don't know no answer1 NEW YORK Most Americans oppose some of President aggressive efforts to shield teen-agers from tobacco advertising and promotion an Associated Press poll found Fifty-eight percent reject a proposed ban on advertising tobacco brand names on T-shirts or in sporting events such as auto Winston Cup or the Virginia Source: AP national telephone poll of 1007 adults taken August 16 20 by ICR Survey Research Group of Media Pa part of AUS Consultants Margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points AP IN TOWN TO LEARN Commerce planning overhaul Staff reductions are expected in effort to increase revenues Fvtirf Of jhe Transport Ism stry ration moVi Monrs 0F I)K! lo Till RSI I THIJC VVs from the Louisville Chamber of Commerce at an event held at the American Heartland Theatre Among those speaking Tuesday at a 1995 Urban Workshop was Mike Kelley of Yellow Corp He talked to an audience Urban tour peruses KC Louisville business leaders study competitiveness entrepreneurism As the latest judicial deadline imposed on the breast-implant litigation approaches the quest for largest product-liability settlement proceeds despite evidence that the case may be without merit One irony of this case is that the proposed $425 billion agreement has been put at risk by a question as to whether even this massive amount of money is adequate to cover all the claims A parallel irony is that all this money has been offered despite extensive research indicating that silicone breast implants do not cause the connective tissue diseases for which they have been blamed A federal judge nevertheless has ordered plaintiffs and defendants to renegotiate the pact If they fail to reach a new agreement by next week they risk losing the original settlement Judge Sam Pointer imposed the mandate because he accepted last settlement on the condition that it must be adequate He said if the money proved insufficient to cover all claims defendants would have the choice of opting out of the class-action to pursue individual suits Because the adequacy has been thrown in doubt however the two major defendants have refused to sweeten the pot Dow Coming has committed $2 billion and Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co has promised $115 billion This money has been pledged despite a 14-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health that showed no link between implants and disease The study was reported in The New England Journal of Medicine in June and contained the same conclusions as similar research findings reported a year ago from a Mayo Clinic study In yet another irony the latest findings seemed to indicate that women with implants had a reduced risk of health problems The latest study showed that women with silicone implants had 70 percent less connective-tissue disease and those with any type of implant had 40 percent fewer cases of illness Such findings of course raise an obvious question Why would anyone volunteer to settle for billions when science appears to be on their side? The answer is that they want to spend from here to eternity figjhting lawsuits With about 2D 000 lawsuits pending a Dow Coming executive recently said a negotiated settlement is the preferred option Meanwhile Dow Coming has even filed for Chapter 1 1 protection under the bankruptcy law because of the uncertainties created by the litigation And there be any misunderstanding about the tenacity of those representing the claimants After the Mayo Clinic study was released a plaintiff demand for related documents produced a burden and had a chilling effect on implant research a researcher said How much money might be enough to satisfy all the claims? Some attorneys have said that as much as $24 billion would be needed Beyond the fight for all this money lies another question The positive research findings should be perceived as good news Millions of Americans have medical implants each year and silicone has myriad beneficial uses besides breast augmentation Many of the procedures involved are life-saving as well as life-enhancing If fears raised by the breast-implant litigation force silicone into disuse many Americans may suffer a lower quality of life as a result Jerry Heaster's column appears Wednesday Friday Saturday and Sunday To share a comment caimom-mn and enter 2301 Send E-mail including a telephone number to cstarnetcom By TED SICKINGER Staff Writer Commerce Bancshares Inc is planning a reorganization that is expected to result in significant staff reductions and efforts to increase revenues within the next year The initiative has been dubbed Bank internally according to bank management and is being conducted with the help of Washington-based bank consultant Furash Co are involved in a re-engineering said William A Sullins Jr vice chairman of the bank holding company and project coordinator for the reorganization are intent on eliminating outmoded tasks and functions and staffing layers that may have made sense in the past but no longer do Sullins said Tuesday the reorganization was in line with branch consolidation and downsizing trends that have been seen throughout the banking industry He cited one recent study by Deloitte Touche that predicted that during the next 10 years half of the nation's 59000 bank branches would close and 450000 jobs would be eliminated But he said Commerce hoped to avoid the draconian staff cuts adopted by other institutions undergoing reorganizations no question that there will be some restructuring of jobs and some layoffs" Sullins said Commerce has more than 5000 employees But its revenue per employee $23065 at the end of 1994 lags behind other Missouri banks such as Mercantile and Boatmen's by more than 10 percent doesn't surprise me at all" said Kansas City banking consultant Jerry Swords "Certainly they'll do it probably where they can consolidate the banks they've bought into their own Sullins said the bank is looking to reduce its efficiency ratio which represents the expense associated with earning a dollar of net revenue from close to 65 percent to below 60 percent by the end of 1996 To do that the bank has organized eight task forces to develop plans to increase revenue and reduce expenses The reorganization measures are expected to be implemented in 1996 and would affect all the bank's holdings in Kansas Missouri and Illinois a combination of enhanced revenues the implementation of various fees and through expense reductions we're looking for upwards of $20 to $25 in additional pre-tax revenues said Sullins That number represents about 168 percent of Commerce's 1994 earnings before taxes By VICTORIA SIZEMORE LONG Staff Writer Eight years ago Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson started an Urban Workshop program that called for Louisville area business leaders to visit cities across the United States The mission: Study business-related issues and how those cities were handling them Since then the Kentucky business leaders have trav- See LOUISVILLE B-U Col 1 Photo by KEVIN ANDERSONThe Star Seeking ideas on business-related issues Louisville Ky business leaders have visited cities such as St Louis Nashville and Pittsburgh This week they were in Kansas City here they listened during a presentation on urban transportation planning Girls moms run businesses opens up opportunities for entrepreneurship to youth and young girls Marilyn Kourilsky vice president of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Great Stamp The company takes student drawings and makes them into stamps for imprinting which it then sells to stores Kayce and her mother Robin Riley are among 12 teams of teen-age girls and their mothers developing their own businesses through a pilot program of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Inc The teams exhibited their products Tuesday at the Ritz-Carlton Kansas City hotel The program Made-It is designed to help build self-esteem by helping young women explore the option to make a job rather than take a job opens up opportunities for entrepreneurship to youth and young girls said Marilyn Kourilsky vice president of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation mother and daughter are working together fortifying their relationship at an age that's The teams attended a short orientation session in the spring and a one-week entrepreneur this summer where they learned about cash flow market research writing a business plan and marketing their company kind of overwhelming to commit the time and money to a business" said Janice Collier See MOTHERS B-U Col 5 Pilot program helps build self-esteem entrepreneurship By JOYCE SMITH Stan Writer Some teens are making money baby-sitting or working at fast-food restaurants this summer Others like 13-year-old Kayce Kahl are heading their own companies real sorry going to miss out on a summer job with Kayce said wryly as she looked over her growing enterprise WAGS: What a Price fixing One of the largest makers of commercial explosives agreed Tuesday to pay a record $1 0 million criminal fine for conspiring to fix prices in three states Story B-2 Quincy Jones signs on to proposed KC television station keting agreement Channel 9 executives would be responsible for selecting programs and supervising the sale of advertising That arrangement would give Channel 9 already the local ratings leader additional clout with syndicated-program distributors who would find a ready outlet for hours and hours of new shows In some cities with local marketing agreements the parent station also supplies newscasts for the leased station eventually to be on the air every day Currently WB programs are available in Kansas City on' WON wli carried by cable systems and satellite-dish program suppliers If Hearst Corp were to operate the new station under a local mar- investment will provide the financing to construct the studio office and tower Channel 32 has assigned tower space in Raytown Liepold said there has been no decision on where the studio and office will be located Industry sources assume the new channel will become an affiliate of the WB Network which began offering programs in January WB operated by Warner Bros broadcasts programs on Sunday and Wednesday nights and plans nications consultant and former Sprint Corp executive vice president Trade reports and industry sources have said that when the station is built it will be operated by Hearst Corp owner of KMBC Channel 9 under a local marketing agreement Neither Liepold nor Dino Dinovitz Channel 9 general manager would confirm those reports Liepold has held a construction permit for the station for more than a year By BARRY GARRON TV Critic Kansas City is perhaps a year away from having a new television station Robert Liepold the majority owner of TV-32 confirmed Tuesday that entertainer Quincy Qwest Broadcasting agreed to invest in what will become Channel 32 have a partner and going to go ahead and build a said Liepold a telecommu 4.