Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 11, 1995                   TAG: 9508110059
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

WASHINGTON - Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 7.80 percent this week, down from 7.82 percent last week, according to a national survey released Thursday by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

It was the lowest since July 27, when the average was 7.79 percent. The average hit a 25-year low of 6.74 percent in October 1993.

On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.91 percent, up from 5.89 percent last week.

Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 7.31 percent this week, unchanged from a week earlier.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.

- Associated Press

Phony sex pill fund sets deadline

NEWARK, N.J. - Consumers who bought pills that were supposed to enhance men's sex lives have 90 days to claim a piece of a $1 million restitution fund set up by seven companies that sold the pills.

The 90-day period started Thursday after principals of the companies paid the money into a fund, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors and postal authorities claimed the pills, ``Nitrocet HP,'' ``Nitrox 2000,'' ``Duke Ts'ao's Special Formula'' and ``Thoroughbred'' didn't work and could harm some users.

The main ingredient, arginine, is an essential amino acid and part of a regular diet, but may sicken people with kidney problems, Samuel D. Uretsky, a pharmacology professor at New York University Medical Center who examined the pills for the government, has said.

Consumers seeking refunds must send documents supporting their purchase to the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York, New Medical Discoveries Restitution Fund, P.O. Box 767, New York, N.Y. 10010-0767.

- Associated Press

Kroger to hand out council fliers

Kroger Co. supermarkets in the Roanoke and New River valleys and the Alleghany Highlands on Sunday will begin distributing fliers about the work of the New Century Council.

The fliers explain the purpose of the council, which has developed suggestions to guide Southwest Virginia's growth for the next 20 years. Also included is a summary of the issues identified by the council, a group of more than 1,000 volunteers, as fundamental to the development of the area.

An initial printing of 40,000 brochures was ordered, according to Archie Fralin, public relations manager for Kroger. He said he expects Kroger to end up distributing about twice that number in the next few weeks.

Kroger paid for printing the fliers.

- Staff report