The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 17

I best mum copy The Kansas City Star New degree Keller Graduate School of Management plans' to offer a degree in telecommunications management 1 beginning in February B-2 ru rnoy October IS DOW JONES NASDAQ AMEX 30-YEAR T-BOND YIELD Watts Mill Cinema closes Voters are too comfy to listen Move is pari off a plan to bring seven other movie theaters out of bankruptcy Clothier seeks aid in court By STEVE EVERLY Stall Writer trustee said Watts Mill Cinema was doomed in part when many other theaters opened in the area The theater leased 12190 square feet on 103rd Street near State Line Road Lease payments were $8246 a month according to Bankruptcy Court records Only Watts Mill Cinema among the eight theaters involved in the bankruptcy case is scheduled to close Strauss said The others continue to show movies They are Blue Springs Cinema Blue Ridge Cinema East Blue Ridge Cinema West Seville Square Cinema See WATTS B-8 Col 4 the future lost a lot of said Bill Burnett a vice president for Dickinson Theatres which was chosen last month to operate the eight movie houses under a Chapter 1 1 bankruptcy proceeding involving the owner Cinema Ventures Corp A Chapter 1 1 filing provides protection from creditors while a company reorganizes its operations Bruce Strauss the bankruptcy In the unlikely event Bob Dole can persuade President Clinton to engage in a third presidential campaign debate Dole should avoid talking about the economy What he failed to acknowledge when preparing for Wednesday face-off is that most Americans consider the Watts Mill Cinema in south Kansas City shut its doors this week as part of a plan to bring a group of area theaters out of bankruptcy the dosing came after both former and current managers told a bankruptcy trustee the theater do enough business to cover costs and was not likely to do so in lP Todds menswear chain files for federal bankruptcy protection from creditors Watts Mill Cinema patrons found the theater shut down this week By JOYCE SMITH Stall Writer this is only a test A cruise" Thursday gave Missouri gambling regulators a chance to evaluate operations at the Hilton Flamingo Casino One comer of the gambling hall at left is packed with slot machines Tina Dameron below got the ball ready to spin in a roulette wheel A state investigation had forced Hilton to postpone plans to open the casino in late August Photo by KEVIN ANDERSONThe Star A longtime Kansas City clothier JP Todds Inc has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors while it reorganizes The company which owns nine area stores under five different names plans to regroup by trimming its operations Bankruptcy filings listed assets of $14 million and liabilities of nearly $3 million JP restructuring could include changing merchandise closing some locations or laying off some of its 57 employees Alan Jerwick son of the cofounder said the clothing market had changed in the last two years as men have moved to more- casual wear JP Todds made some effort to pursue that market but also wagered that the industry would shift back to more classic clothing The Jerwicks have been working closely with Van Dorn Retail Management Inc a New York retail consulting firm for the See MENSWEAR B4 Col 1 The area jobless rate dipped to 35 percent in September Story B-2 Esreysees no reason to depart By MARTIN ROSENBERG Stall Writer economy a pressing issue Most apparently are just comfortable enough to believe this expansion is strong enough to meet their long-term economic needs This is not the case of course but President Ginton will be well into his second term before most Americans understand this President Clinton is a very good politician Perhap more important though a lucky politician Just as the economy was improving in 1992 too late to boost President re-election prospects the economy is now turning down too late to hurt Ginton by offering visible validation of warning of economic weakness The second quarter it appears was the last loud hurrah for this recovery and expansion which began in the spring of 1991 Gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 47 percent from April through June which was the best growth spurt in two years Some analysts feared this signaled an overheating economy that would prompt the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary with an interest rate ost Such fears appear increasingly unfounded The preliminary GDP report for the third period is due the day before Halloween and estimates of what expected to show shrink from week to week Earlier this month the consensus call was for an annual expansion pace of 2 percent but many experts have since trimmed their forecasts to 15 percent A few have even pre: dieted third quarter growth at only slightly better than 1 percent which is flirting with recession The good news is that wobbly GDP numbers will relieve a lot of anxiety over whether the Fed is still pondering an interest rate hike for after the elections The bad news is that without a significant rebound during the fourth holiday shopping season the economic outlook for 1997 begins to appear very bleak The advent of a weakening and possibly recessionary economy come as a surprise This up cycle is well past its fifth birthday and thus one of the longest of the post-war era Prospects for its rejuvenation are remote because the Fed is still the most critical element of the growth mix As long as central bank policy-makers consider slow growth the key to controlling inflation the economy will be kept at the historically low growth rate of only about 2 percent to 25 percent Somebody once said rather be right than president Dole will probably be proved right about the economy being in worse shape than most people' think Meanwhile looking more and more like he be president because timing as they say is everything In case his exhortations for a growth-boosting tax cut translate into the votes necessary for victory because few Americans realize how close the economy is to the precipice The irony is that federal fiscal problems would be significantly ameliorated by the strong revenue gains that could be expect- I ed from robust economic growth Tamping growth how-I ever means making it harder for Uncle Sam to deal with the now and future funding challenges posed by Social Security and Medicare Jerry Heaster's column appears Wednesday Friday Saturday and Sunday To share a comment call (816) 889-7827 and enter 2301 Send e-mail including a telephone number to cstarcom Flamingo aims to open today Sprint Corp Chairman William Esrey in a note to employees Thursday reiterated that he has no plans to move to rival longdistance giant off let me tell you that nothing could be further from the Esrey wrote in a note congratulating employees for strong third-quarter financial results Industry observers had speculated this week that Esrey was among a handful of business executives being considered for presidency and possibly the chairmanship in the future Sprint immediately denied the rumor and noted that contract at Sprint bars him from working for a competitor for 18 months after leaving ny But such a move is not even under consideration Esrey wrote Esrey employees cannot envision any set of circumstances that would cause me to want to leave our he wrote express it better than a CNBC commentator who said Analysts would be amazed if Esrey is interested in leaving the company he helped build to lead its far-clumsier built a dynamic company togh-er We are the fastest-growing major telecommunications company our future is brighter and we are better: positioned than any of our competitors And the best is yet to links between Hilton Hotels Corp and former Kansas City Port Authority Chairman Elbert Anderson will meet by telephone at 10 am today to consider a final go-ahead If commissioners approve as expected the glitzy riverboat by the Paseo Bridge will be issued a gaming license and hold a public ribbon-cutting at noon long-awaited appeared to go smoothly with a giant stuffed pink flamingo greeting the VIP guests that the casino had invited to test its slot machines dealers and money handlers with play money Also during the test cruise monitored by See CASINO B-5 Col 1 Hilton casino conducts test of its operations in advance of state decision this morning By RICK ALM and KEITH CHROSTOWSKI Stall Writers The Hilton Flamingo Casino strutted its stuff Thursday at a test gaming session for state regulators and is set to open at noon today The Missouri Gaming Commission which delayed the opening of the casino for nearly two months while investigating questionable Developer of Leawood shopping center seeks lender Town Center Plaza also is looking for tenants for third and final phase of project By JOE GOSE Stall Writer $100 million project But after selling all of the pad sites surrounding the main block of stores the developer is ready to go it alone we want to do is find a lender that will take out Wells Fargo and RREEF and leave us as the sole said Terry McEwen a principal of Poag McEwen are a half-dozen people working with right now to do McEwen would not identify the potential financiers but said the most likely lender in this scenario would come from Wall Street McEwen also said a pension fund recently offered to buy the project but the developer turned down the offer However selling Town Center in the future stray from Poag typical practice The developer sold two other projects it had developed in Omaha Neb and Memphis after eight years of ownership In the event of a sale he said Poag As workers continue to complete Town Center physical structure the developers are trying to tie up behind-the-scenes details Poag McEwen of Memphis Tenn developer of the 750000-square-foot shopping center in Leawood is searching for a longterm lender Poag McEwen currently has a $43 million short-term construction loan out on the project that comes due in more than a year RREEF Funds a pension fund adviser also had contributed financing and had be- come a partner with Poag McEwen in the BEVERLY BYNUMm Star Town Center Plaza tenants on the south side of the mall facing 119th Street (right side of photo) report good business traffic North-side tenants have been hampered by Col construction projects but look forward to the holiday shopping season SeePEVELOPER B-8.