Press of Atlantic City from Atlantic City, New Jersey • 80

G2 The Press Sunday June5 Atlantic City NJ Marketplace Lady Luck starts work on 400 room tower LAS VEGAS Hotels an nounced capacity business the Riviera Hotel on the Strip cele brated the opening of its 24 story 1000 room Monaco Tower at the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend and the Lady Luck HotelCasino downtown held a ground breaking for a 400 room tower on June 2 On hand at the ribbon cutting ceremonies at the Riviera were Milton Berle Sid Caesar Danny Thomas and Pia Zadora alongwith Nevada dignitaries includ Jng Gov Richard Bryan Clark County Commissioner Thalia Dondero and Las Vegas Mayor Ron Lurie The president of the hotel Ar thur Walzman announced that when its planned 43 story tower Vegas Wire v'f I Jk I By ELLIOT KR AN is completed in 1990 the Riviera will be the largest privately held hotel in the world The Lady Luck tower which will be built directly across from the 17 story tower will be connected by a glass enclosed bridge over Ogden Street With a total of 820 rooms the Lady Luck will be the third largest hotel downtown behind the Gold en Nugget and the Union Plaza Steve Wynn chief executive officer of the Golden Nugget has written to state legislators urg ing that the brothels now legal in the rural counties of Nevada be outlawed existence is just one more item that out of state me dia people use to denigrate the quality of life in said Wynn Brothels are not legal in Las Vegas (Clark County) or Re no (Washoe County) Representatives of the rural counties said that their constitu ents would fight the outlawing of brothels and that there would not be enough support in the state Assembly to abolish them The final results of the vote by Showboat Inc stockholders to halt a possible hostile takeover is up in the air with both sides claiming victory Tentative results showed some seven million shares in favor of management proposals with 820000 in favor of the culinary and bartenders unions against the measure Union executives said that about one million votes were thrown out by Showboat mana gers These votes represented stock held by major financial institutions on Wall Street Had the votes been counted Showboat management would not have received the 60 percent vote required for each of the measures to pass The unions are in favor of a takeover primarily because of a wage dispute in which they say that the Showboat has denied workers $1 million in raises The Nevada Club in Laughlin will be purchased by the Golden Nugget for $40 million Owned by the Del Webb Corp the property includes 13 acres on the Colorado River and 80 hotel rooms There are currently six major hotelcasinos in Laughlin 90 miles south of Las Vegas (Elliot Krone is a writer and restaurant editor for the Las Vegas Review Journal) i Idea (Continued from Page Gl) heard of his plans and opened its own operation forcing Wynn and his son to return East Ironically that casino was the Golden Nug get Steve Wynn returned to Las Vegas in 1967 with a $35000 bankroll He engineered a deal with the late billionaire Howard Hughes for a piece of land Caesars Palace resold it to the resort months later for a $1 million profit and used that money to buy into the Nugget Today that $1 million would hardly cause a ripple in this gaming capital already invested more money in this property (down town) than the entire capital ex penditure of the city of Las Wynn said in a recent interview in his plush office atop the downtown resort enormous megabuck in vestment is not only necessary ithas become the safest route to Wynn said learned that a destination resortlike Las Vegas is the launching pad for bigger and better projects This place is a big huge roaring successful destination resort with people coming from all around the With nearly 17 million visitors in 1988 and tourism at a double digit pace each year Wynn says Golden Nugget be the last giant property built on the booming Strip where 20000 new hotel rooms are under construction or planned Wynn admits he suffered from an attack of cold feet seven years ago when he shelved plans for a similar project down the Strip from his present develop ment started one of these babies for $400 million in 1981 and chickened Wynn recalled know the impact of New Jersey on Nevada we had a recession starting that scared the dickens out of everybody We know how Las Vegas would handle a recession how it would handle a recession includ ing Atlantic City and deregula tion of the airlines There were no non stop flights here from the East Coast questions were fright ening frightening enough for me to say I gonna spend $400 million We could make a Now five six years later we saw what happened with the recession practically nothing We saw what happened with the airlines that hurt a little bit but we overcame it We saw what happened with Atlantic City $18 billion (in gambling) in Nevada in 1979 to $5 billion today Nobody dreamed there was that kind of elasticity in Money (Continued from Page Gl) not required However if assets are still above $600000 after deducting fees funeral expenses outstand ing debts and fees the federal estate tax rate can go as high as 55 percent There is one major exception to this rule Under the unlimited marital deduction you can leave your entire estate to your spouse without incurring federal gift or estate tax regardless of your worth But when yoursurviving spouse dies tax will be'charged against your estate and' your combined thus placing a potentially tremendous tax load on other heirs To minimize the tax burden on future heirs you can divide your "estate between your spouse and credit shelter or bypass trustwhich can provide your spouse ijland children income for life and enable you to take full advantage of the unified tax credit Another option is to divide assets equally between you and your spouse prior to death Or you can make tax exempt gifts of up to $10000 (or $20000 with your consent) per year per person You can consider educational or nursing home bills as gifts if you pay the bills directly Once you draw up a will keep it up to date Revise a will after a marriage or divorce or when tax laws change Keep your will in a central location with a copy of all other essential records keep the will in a safe deposit box When someone dies the box may be sealed until tax authorities can inspect the con tents Careful planning with a tax advisor and an attorney will en able you to create a will that provides for the well being of your family and insures you peace of mind in the here and now Management" is distributed by the NJ Society of Certified Public Accoun tants) Consumer Corner Coin collecting is profitable Your coin collection could become a major investment if it is given the same attention as more traditional ventures Studies done by enthusiasts show coin collecting to be one of the most profitable investments of the last decade Though not without risks coin collecting may be profitable to many investors with the know how and the time to acquire Keough How Much Teens Expect to Earn by Age 30 37 $25000 to 25 3 49999 22 8 16 rr $50000 (U5) or more Dont Ohx know $25000 Source: GsllupAP Youdi Survey Press photo by Michael Ein hBPtk I Tom Clark says changes in the industry will mean the death of service stations like the one he owns Service (Continued from Page Gl) sents the major oil companies it goes from there will be determined by how well self service catches on" added Holtz But one set of statistics seems to bear out dealers' fears according to Jerry er rara executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline Retailers Association said errara were 6000 independent dealers in New Jersey now there are about Southern New Jersey he said has been hit especially hard slew of stations have closed up around here trying to keep my station but to make sure we have another income started a construc tion said Paul Waterman proprietor of Cape May Exxon Route 9 and Schel lenger Landing Road Cape May The independents complain they are already losing price wars with company operated stations They say the plan is for the industry giants to mus cle out the independents and take complete control of the retail market in petroleum products While that will mean lower prices among company run sta tions in the short term the in dependents argue priceswill inevitably rise The new breed of and station say dealers will make life difficult for senior citizens and for people dressed for formal events wanting to avoid gas spills The oil companies however stress they are not lobbying to eliminate full service opera tions but simply 'to have the state permit the self service on your way to the beach on a nice Saturday and you stop to get gas but see six cars ahead of you nice to know you can jump out and pump the gas he said the other hand if Saturday night and on your way to dinner you may want to stop at a full service pump all switch over entirely to self service That just Holtz added least two of the pending bills require full ser vice be available as well as self There was a marketing sur vey done in ebruary and 79 percent of the motorists polled favored self service according to Holtz Self service proponents also point to a recent report by the ederal Trade Commission which indicates that gasoline costs are higher in New Jersey and Oregon partly because of their reluctance to embrace self service The report charges that sta tions here on average attach a 17 cent per gallon premium to their profit margins But according to errara sta tions in New Jersey are merely getting about 5 to 12 cents above cost full service prices are an average of 24 cents cheaper per gallon than full service sta tions in self serve er rara said general our full service prices are even with self service The dealer spokesman said the oil companies have artifi cially boosted their full service prices to make self service look more economical than it really is are 30 odd cities in Massachusetts that have barred self service because it has deprived their communities of errara said However at a recent hearing of the joint legislative commit tee on the self service bills most of the independent deal ers on hand expressed support for the measures according to Holtz are a lot of dealers behind self service Their big concern is the labor shortage in New Jersey and this would ease that said the industry spokesman noting a committee vote is expected on the issue before the summer recess Holtz emphasized that self service stations will save on manpower costs and that sav ings will ultimately be passed on to the consumer unless the dealer siphons it off major oil companies do not discriminate between full and self service stations in their wholesale he said whatever happens at the pump reflects the costs and the profit margin and competi tion situation of the local deal He agreed that New Jersey does have relatively low pump prices but attributed that to the fact that New Jersey also has the lowest gasoline tax in the country There may eventually be fewer stations geared for re pairs because auto centers spe cializing in particular parts and functions have already be gun springing up on major highways around the country Holtz said there are fewer cars older than four years on the he said used to be warranties were for about 12 months now not unusual to have them for two and three Dealers (Continued from Page Gl)' repair markets But not thrilled with been going on lately car dealers need us small guys to help with re he said do you go to when your water pump New style gas stations may be cost effective he said but it can deprive whole towns of service lot of us are full inspec tion centers but dwin dling in he said that many years ago Exxon had 10 stations in Vineland a half dozen in Millvile and five or six in Bridgeton Now one big heavy volume station in Vineland and none in Millville and none in Paul Waterman proprietor of Cape May Exxon Route 9 and Schellenger Road Cape May said he regularly hears complaints about out of state self service stations which oil companies want legalized here in New Jersey far as the price of fuel is concerned you can stand on my island any Saturday or Sun day and hear Pennsylvania people say terrific to buy gasoline for the same money or less and have somebody else pump he said To ensure that he weathers the commercial storms Water man said he has diversified starting a small construction company Richard Reineke ownerop erator of a Mobil station on Route 37 in Lakehurst said engaged in absolute strug with a nearby company run Mobil station He said his rates are among the lowest around but the com pany station is still able to beat his prices unfair I'm competing with my own he said run a busy garage good money in it But if I was selling only gas get out If he were to go under he says the company operated sta tion would probably boost its prices not a customer oriented thing he said of the new stations even have Mr Action Mechanic is out of tune What is supposed to be done when you get a real tuneup on your car? I paid a lot of money for a tuneup and the car ran worse than before I was then told that the ignition wires had to be changed Why that done with the tuneup? I had the wires changed but the car was only nominally better It still run ning great 1 It took another mechanic to discover that I had a bad coil He replaced that and now my car runs great this crazy? LE Cape May I A tuneup means different things to different mechanics Some do everything from changing the points and plugs to putting new ignition wires and new distributor caps on Others do nothing more than change the points and plugs You should read the ad or get the written word on what his tuneup actually entails before you pay for the work to be done Based on what you told us you had several problems with your car all at once A compe tent mechanic would have picked up on that from the start Maybe that tells you something about the first mechanic who worked on your car In the gutter Whenever it rains wa ter lays in our front gutter getting worse too Now the gutter looks like going to crash down It hangs lower in the center than any other section when filled with water The man who installed the gutters was supposed to take care of the problem weeks ago been avoiding our phone calls ever since we started call ing him regularly Help! Pleasantville Supposedly the gutter was installed improperly by a new employee That was corrected a few days ago when the boss himself adjusted the slant on the front section Basket case I had a basket of fruit sent to a house after her mother died I was there the day the bas ket arrived It was dis graceful Almost all the fruit was soft or spoiled I apologized to my 1 friend and asked if I could take the basket back to the shop She said that was fine with her so I did just that I was treated so rude ly that I broke down in tears so upset and 1 know what to do now RT Marmora A larger and more beautiful fruit basket was delivered to your house last week along with apologies from the owner of the shop glad this pleases everyone Take your time Can you get this jeweler to give me an ex change for the watch I bought from him? It loses five minutes a day sometimes more tried to fix it four times already It seems to me that it be repaired What do you think? WK Linwood We think you should pick up your exchange waiting for you at the jewelry shop Mr column appears every day except riday and Saturday If you have a problem you think he can solve write to Mr Action The Press Devins Lane Pleasantville NJ lie sure to include your name address and telephone number Please do not send original doc uments you want returned Mr Action reads each letter he receives lie prints only those that are the most interesting or helpful He regrets that he cannot respond individually to those let ters not used I St.