Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 14, 1993 TAG: 9310140313
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HOUSTON - Cooper Industries, which last year sold its Gardner-Denver industrial equipment factory in Roanoke to a Texas company, said it will spin off the entire Gardner-Denver Industrial Machinery Division to shareholders. The move is one of several steps announced by Cooper to complete a 2-year-old program to cut costs and get rid of weaker businesses.
The Houston-based manufacturing giant will give shares in the Gardner-Denver division - which has annual sales of $160 million and employs about 1,100 - to stockholders in a tax-free transaction, creating a new company. - Houston Chronicle
Greenspan attacks reform plan for Fed
WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan bluntly rejected a congressional move to make the nation's central bank more politically accountable, calling such efforts "assaults" that could lead to economic instability and recession.
Greenspan squared off Wednesday with House Banking Committee Chairman Henry Gonzalez, D-Texas, who is spearheading the most concerted effort in three decades to overhaul the Fed, which critics charge is undemocratic, secretive and dominated by white, male bankers.
Gonzalez's bill would require the heads of the 12 regional banks to be picked by the president rather than by bank-dominated local boards. It also would force more timely public release of policy actions; allow for greater congressional oversight of the Fed's budget; and expand opportunities for women, minorities and non-bankers to be regional bank directors.
Greenspan rejected all the proposed changes, saying they either were not needed or would subject the central bank to greater political pressures.
- Associated Press
TeleBrands sues for patent infringement
TeleBrands Direct Response Corp. of Roanoke and George W. Madray Jr., a Brunswick, Ga., dentist, have filed a patent-infringement suit against Guthy-Renker Corp. and Perfect Smile Inc. of Palm Desert, Calif.; USA Dental Products Inc. of Corona, Calif.; and Direct-To-Retail Limited Partnership, Natick, Mass.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, alleges that the defendants' Perfect Smile product, which is endorsed by TV celebrity Vanna White, and their Smile and Professional Choice variations "willfully and deliberately infringe" the patented Dental White Professional Tooth Whitening System invented by Madray and sold by TeleBrands. - Staff report
Dominion branches changing over today
All Dominion Bank branches will close at 2 p.m. today for the bank's final phase of conversion into First Union National Bank of Virginia.
Automated teller machines will be out of service for 20 minutes at a time on a staggered basis throughout the day.
Both actions are part of switching to First Union's computer system. The 53 branches in 23 communities across Southwest Virginia will reopen Friday as First Union. Also, new green and white First Union signs will be unveiled overnight tonight.
First Union acquired Dominion in March, but the branches have kept the Dominion name during installation of the new computer system.
Customers can continue to use their existing checks and deposit slips, but First Union is sending customers new teller-machine and credit cards.
- Staff report
Borden settles final milk-bid complaint
Borden Inc., New York parent of Meadow Gold Dairy Inc. of Roanoke, said it will pay $750,000 to settle federal charges that it rigged bids on school milk contracts in Louisiana during the late 1980s.
Since 1990, Borden has been charged with rigging school milk bids in Florida; Texas; and Jackson, Miss. Borden agreed to pay about $15.8 million to settle those cases.
"With today's agreement and others reached during the past several years, Borden has settled all of the significant outstanding federal allegations relating to its past dairy antitrust activities," Borden said.
- Associated Press
by CNB