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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994                   TAG: 9406070066
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By STEPHEN FOSTER and SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: ROANOKE                                LENGTH: Medium

COMFORT INN REORGANIZATION PLAN IS ACCEPTED

Hometown Lodging Inc., Herbert Alcorn Sr.'s company that owns the Blacksburg Comfort Inn, has emerged from bankruptcy proceedings after 18 months in court.

The reorganization plan, filed more than a year ago but not approved in U.S. Bankruptcy Court until last month, calls for Alcorn to pay Choice Hotels International, which granted him the franchise for the Comfort Inn, $50,000 in two installments. According to his son, Ray Alcorn, that money has already been paid.

The 80-room hotel will continue to operate, and Herbert Alcorn will continue to own the franchise. In a news release, Alcorn said, "Choice made it clear they wanted us to continue our relationship."

The reorganization plan also calls for Alcorn to pay the Internal Revenue Service more than $46,000 in back taxes, $6,000 of that in a lump sum, and the remainder over the next six years.

He will also pay Montgomery County more than $54,000 in back real estate and lodging taxes.

Alcorn is also undergoing personal bankruptcy proceedings, and a hearing is scheduled for June 15 to decide whether to merge the Hometown Lodging plan into his personal reorganization plan, according to court records. A confirmation of his personal bankruptcy reorganization plan is expected in July, said Ray Alcorn.

"The linchpin to this whole deal is the Hometown Lodging plan," said Carter Magee, the Roanoke lawyer handling the case. With the hotel still operating, Alcorn can continue to use its cash flow to help him work with creditors to resolve debts.

Bankruptcy proceedings involving Homestyle Restaurants Associates also continue to proceed. Alcorn, partner of the group which owned the Big Boy restaurant in Blacksburg, had been the target of a criminal investigation looking at whether he illegally took money from the partnership's investments and sank it into another of his companies, Park Realty Corp. The realty company is included in Alcorn's personal bankruptcy case.

Prosecutors said last month, though, that they would not seek charges against him in part because a case would be too difficult to prove.

by CNB