ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230116
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
MINORITY SHAREHOLDERS have scheduled a news conference today and are expected to produce evidence to support their shake-up of the hockey team's board.
The Roanoke Express has scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. today at which the team's minority owners will discuss last week's ouster of team president John Gagnon and general manager Pierre Paiement as officers on the Hockey Roanoke Inc. board of directors.
The minority owners of the East Coast Hockey League team also are expected to present documents they say show Paiement still is involved with Gagnon in the purchase of an ECHL expansion franchise in Biloxi, Miss., a charge Paiement steadfastly has denied.
The date of today's news conference was set Friday, when five of the club's minority owners deposed Gagnon and Paiement, the two most visible members of an ownership group that kept minor-league hockey in the Roanoke Valley with the awarding of an expansion team three years ago.
However, the topics to be discussed today were not determined until a day of negotiations among the owners produced no resolution Monday.
``I was hoping we would never get to this day,'' said Joe Steffen, who was elected as the club's vice president and director of communications on Friday.
Paiement's job status is one of the topics expected to be addressed. The former Roanoke Valley Rebel, who became a successful Roanoke restaurateur, has not been to work since Friday, but Steffen declined to say Paiement had been fired.
Steffen, a Blacksburg attorney who owns 15 percent of the club, was working in Paiement's office Monday. He sat at the end of Paiement's desk and told a visitor he would not sit in Paiement's chair for fear of office personnel thinking he had taken over for Paiement.
When asked to explain Paiement's absence from the Express' office, Steffen said: ``Sometimes you have to take a step back to evaluate a situation. I think that's what Pierre is doing.''
Paiement said he is unsure of his status with the club.
``I just want to get back [to the team] now,'' Paiement said. ``At least I've gotten the yardwork done. My grass looks good now, but my wife is already getting sick of me.''
Steffen issued a release Monday stating ``the majority directors of Hockey Roanoke Inc. will fully address the recent office-holder and management changes in the organization, as well as the future direction of the Express.''
One source said the group has evidence Paiement did not fully remove himself from the Biloxi franchise, which he and Gagnon purchased in January. At the behest of Express owners who felt their team's general manager should not be financially involved with another ECHL club, Paiement announced Feb.19 that he was pulling out of the Biloxi deal.
Unless a settlement is reached by this morning, the source said, the Express' minority owners will make their evidence public.
Gagnon, who was out of town Monday and could not be reached for comment, said Sunday he would consider buying out any disgruntled owners, but Steffen said none of the minority owners he knew was interested in selling.
Paiement has maintained he is not involved with Biloxi. However, the suspicion among other owners that Paiement secretly was working for the Biloxi club apparently led to Friday's shake-up, when Gagnon was replaced as president of the board of directors by Richard Macher and Paiement was replaced as secretary by Michael Stevens.
Team bylaws give each member of the board of directors one vote on team matters, regardless of how many shares the board member owns. Gagnon owns 50 percent of the club; Paiement owns 10 percent.
The other 40 percent of the team is owned by five individuals: Steffen; Macher, who owns the Macado's restaurant chain; Stevens, a furniture company executive from Galax; Cassandra Bell, a Covington accountant; and Richard Yancey, a Harrisonburg accountant.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 linesby CNB