ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 11, 1990                   TAG: 9007110280
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short


ALL BETS STILL ON FOR TRUMP

For the likes of Donald Trump, every $27,094.18 counts.

So when Wayne Tolson gambled away that amount at the Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City, N.J., Trump Plaza Association - entangled in its own financial woes - filed suit in Roanoke Circuit Court to collect the debt.

At a hearing Tuesday, Tolson's attorney asked that an earlier default judgment against his client be set aside. He said the issue should be settled in Stafford County, where Tolson now lives.

Although Judge Clifford Weckstein delayed a final decision, he said he knew of no way that he could set aside the judgment - apparently clearing the way for a small victory among Trump's much larger financial battles.

Art Strickland, a Roanoke attorney who represented Trump Plaza, said the collection issue was "in no way" related to the tycoon's much-publicized cash shortage.

Strickland said Trump often files lawsuits against gamblers who lose big at his casinos on credit and then fail to pay up. Such matters were routine even when Trump was "riding high" before his marital and monetary problems added to his fame.

Just a day earlier, Trump's continuing financial problems apparently led to his exclusion from a former spot on Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people.



 by CNB