Austin Business Journal articles from December 1991

Austin Business Journal archives from December 1991

Employers risk penalties. (1991 Civil Rights Act)
December 2, 1991... 1991 Civil Rights Act While the 1991 Civil Rights Act should not be viewed with fear and loathing by the business community, the new law exposes employers to the prospect of more job discrimination claims and higher money losses if the charges...

October jobless rate highest since 1987. (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... The October state jobless rate hit 7.2 percent according to the Texas Employment Commission, the highest rate for the month since 1987 when it reached 7.4 percent. "We did not expect it to be so high," said Commissioner Mary Scott Nabers. "In...

Dell record. (Dell Computer Corp. announces third quarter earnings) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Dell Computer Corp. announced that net income for the third quarter of fiscal 1992 (ended Nov. 3, 1991) increased 90 percent to $13 million on record sales of $229.3 million. Earnings per share were 52 cents compared to 34 cents in the third...

Lemon-aid. (LemonBusters to open new offices) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... LemonBusters, an Austin firm which inspects used cars and trucks for prospective buyers, has expanded to San Antonio and expects to open offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, St. Louis, Kansas City and Tampa Bay. The...

Computer video game goes gold. (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Origin, an Austin-based developer of entertainment software, has applied to the Software Publishers Association for official "gold" status for its computer video game Wing Commander II, because of sales of more than 100,000 copies. Those sales...

Crown Furniture closes north store. (Focus: Office Technology) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... After losing the lease on its North Austin store, Crown Home Furnishing began selling the entire inventory of furniture, appliances, electronics and jewelry from all its stores Nov. 29. In a written statement, Elliot Silverstone, president of...

Mesa Systems. (Contracts) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Mesa Systems, a division of Mesa Software Inc., has signed an agreement with Mr. Rooter Inc. to provide computer hardware and software systems to all Mr. Rooter franchises. Mr. Rooter is a Waco-based plumbing, sewer and drain service franchise.

Tracor Flight Services Inc. (Contracts) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Tracor Flight Services Inc. has been awarded a $2.6 million fixed-price contract from the German Air Force to provide target-towing services to train German pilots flying F-4F and Tornado aircraft.

Applied Materials Inc. (Earnings) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Applied Materials Inc. reported record net sales for the fiscal year ending Oct. 27 of $638.6 million, up 12.6 percent from $567.1 million for the fiscal year 1990. Net income was $26.2 million, or $1.52 per share, down from fiscal year 1990 net...

Easy payment plan. (Team Bank submitts reorganization plan)(Texas Trends) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- After more than a year of wrangling in bankruptcy court, the largest secured creditor of National Bancshares Corporation of Texas has submitted a reorganization plan that aims to sell off the company's most profitable asset and pay...

Stalled. (sale of Sunbelt Savings)(Texas Trends) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... DALLAS -- The sale of Sunbelt Savings has been stalled by the federal government's latest savings & loan funding crisis. Officials of the Resolution Trust Corp., the government's S&L bailout agency, said recently that without additional funding...

Clean and natural. (Lone Star Energy Co. to assist Tarrant County, Texas in its vehicle fuel conversion program)(Texas Trends) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... FORT WORTH -- Lone Star Energy Co. of Dallas has offered to assist Tarrant County in operating a pilot program for converting gasoline-powered vehicles into clean-burning compressed natural gas-powered vehicles. The six-month, four-vehicle pilot...

Ready, set, grow. (CompuCom Systems Inc.'s success)(Texas Trends)
December 2, 1991... CompuCom: the fastest growing company in Texas DALLAS -- At 5 p.m. the sky is already growing dark outside the headquarters of microcomputer dealer CompuCom Systems Inc. Inside, as office lights blink off and employees straggle toward the...

ComputerLand Texas. (Texas Trends) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... AUSTIN -- ComputerLand Texas -- the Arlington-based firm that owns ComputerLand franchises in Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston -- was tying up loose ends last week to acquire ComputerLand in Austin. Carol Thompson, president and...

Texas Commerce Bancshares. (Texas Trends) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... HOUSTON -- Texas Commerce Bancshares plans to roll out the ultimate in customer convenience in Houston -- a bank on wheels. Upsetting the apple cart of traditional services among the state's largest banking organizations, Texas Commerce wants...

BancPlus Mortgage Corp. (Texas Trends ) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio-based BancPlus Mortgage Corp., which occupies five floors of BancPlus Plaza on Highway 281 and Northeast Loop 410, is considering buying the $9.5 million structure. After shopping around for other office space, the...

Venture Stores Inc. (Texas Trends) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... FORT WORTH -- Missouri-based Venture Stores Inc. is looking to enter the Metroplex discount-retailing fray with five to six stores by 1993. The retailer, which competes directly with Target Stores, is looking at sites in Arlington, Fort Worth...

Critical Air Medicine Inc. (Texas Trends) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio will serve as the base location for a flying ambulance service that will bring trauma patients to local hospitals from Central America and Mexico. San Diego-based Critical Air Medicine Inc. was scheduled to open its...

Gaubert, creditors square off over $350M bankruptcy. (Thomas Gaubert's case against government regulators over the collapse of American Independent Savings Association)(Texas Trends)
December 2, 1991... DALLAS -- Dallas developer Thomas Gaubert, who has been waging a relentless court battle against government regulators over the collapse of Independent American Savings Association, shifted to a new front in April when he quietly slipped himself...

Rents stagnant in Houston's Galleria, downtown areas. (Texas Trends)
December 2, 1991... HOUSTON -- A surprising trend has developed in Houston's two biggest commercial real estate markets. Office rental rates in the downtown and Galleria areas were widely expected to soar in 1991. Instead, they're still hovering at the same...

San Antonio oilman says industry is 'dying on the vine.' (Eugene L. Ames Jr.)(Texas Trends)
December 2, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- One of the city's most successful independent oilmen is waiting for one more boom before dedicating his life to getting his golf handicap down to a single digit. But for now, Eugene L. Ames Jr. is plenty busy as president of...

Governor calls for boost in small business activity. (Governor Ann Richards)(Texas Trends)
December 2, 1991... AUSTIN -- Gov. Ann Richards stood before a crowd of 150 people last month and derided the state's record of economic development. "In the past decade, the fastest-growing occupation in Texas was janitors and cleaners; low-skill, low-paying jobs...

Shareholders push for reinstatement of Datapoint dividends. (Texas Trends)
December 2, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- Another shareholder group has balked at a Datapoint Corp. plan to restructure the firm's preferred stock, and now is attempting to appoint one or two members to the San Antonio-based computer company's board of directors, according...

Free-trade pact with Mexico could be costly, reports say. (Texas Trends) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... AUSTIN -- A free-trade agreement with Mexico could create as many as 300,000 new jobs in Texas by the end of the century, but only if major environmental and public works projects prepare the way. That is the message contained in a recent...

Hey, banker, can you spare a loan? (lack of available credit from banks)(Focus: Banking) (Industry Overview)
December 9, 1991... Is the credit crunch fact or fiction? The answer depends on which side of the teller window you're standing on. On one side, bankers maintain they are eager to make as many good loans as they can, but say demand is low and most of those...

Lee Cooke out of office but in town. (former Austin, Texas mayor forms new market-development company)
December 9, 1991... Lee Cooke says his three years as mayor of Austin took a lot out of him. But you would never know it by the pace he is keeping these days. For starters, Cooke, who declined to run for a second term as mayor last spring, recently formed a new...

Take stock. (Texas comptroller's office announces Texas Stock Index) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... The Texas comptroller's office has announced that its Texas Stock Index, a compilation of stock prices of 76 companies based in the state, has gained 28 percent in the last year. At the end of October, the index stood at 147.57, up 32.25 points...

Radian grows. (Austin-based environmental services company Radian Corp.'s to service Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Austin-based Radian Corp. will open a new office in Cincinnati to service portions of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Ron Braun, senior program manager, will oversee business development at the new office. Thomas Tucker will be office manager and...

New game. (test marketing of new board game Hedbanz in Austin, Texas) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Austin is the sole test market for a new board game, Hedbanz, by The Games Gang, makers of Pictionary and Balderdash. The game is being sold through major retailers such as Toys R Us. Players draw cards that display the identity of a person,...

IBM rentals. (PCR Personal Computer Rentals of Austin is authorized International Business Machine and Apple computer dealer) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... PCR Personal Computer Rentals of Austin has become an authorized IBM dealer following a reversal of longstanding policy by Big Blue to ignore the advent of computer rental businesses. IBM's decision follows a similar decision by Apple. Now PCR...

$70 billion stop-gap irks Austin bankers.
December 9, 1991... Austin bankers say Congress has forged a stop-gap banking bill that braces protection to depositors but leaves the industry stranded in the search for new capital. "All this did is put off what ultimately will have to be addressed: Interstate...

Holiday spenders make retailers smile. (Austin, Texas retailers are please with holiday shoppers)
December 9, 1991... Austin retailers are reporting that this indeed is the season to be jolly, judging from a surprisingly strong post-Thanksgiving turnout of Christmas shoppers. "I'm expecting to see sales increase an estimated 10 percent to 15 percent ahead of...

Shucking Arizona gas nets Southern $37 million. (Southern Union Co.)
December 9, 1991... Austin-based Southern Union Co. last week sold its northern Arizona gas utility operations to Citizens Utilities of Connecticut for $39 million in cash and $7 million in assumed liabilities. The transaction was in line with Southern Union's...

Humphrey hammers. (George Humphrey teams up with Robert Justman to buy Courtyard Apartments thru J&H Courtyard Co. ) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Meanwhile, metro government is not the only thing that Humphrey is hammering away at these days. Humphrey has teamed up with homebuilder Robert Justman to buy and remodel the Courtyard Apartments at 300 Crockett Ave. in South Austin. Humphrey...

Cable arbitration. (Austin, Texas' dispute with Austin CableVision goes for arbitration) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Saying that negotiations have failed to resolve a dispute between the city and Austin CableVision over franchise fee payments, city officials have asked that the case go to arbitration. The city has named former Houston federal judge Gabrielle...

Health Vest up. (earnings for the third quarter) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Third quarter net income for Austin-based Health Vest was up to $500,000, or 5 cents per share, compared to the same period last year when the company reported a net loss of $1.8 million or 17 cents a share. Net income for the first nine...

Earnings down/up. (American Physicians Service Group Inc.'s third quarter earnings) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... American Physicians Service Group Inc., an Austin-based financial services firm, reported third-quarter earnings decreased to $3,170,000 from $4,104,000. However, revenues for the first nine months of 1991 still were higher than last year's...

Texas Index. (Index of Leading Texas Economic Indicator as of September, 1991) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... State Comptroller John Sharp said the Index of Leading Texas Economic Indicators hit an all-time high in September despite adverse effects of a weak national economy. The index hit 116.6, a 0.5 percent increase over the same month last year. The...

Littlefield: banking bouncing back. (Texas' Banking Commissioner Kenneth Littlefield)(Focus: Banking) (Industry Overview)
December 9, 1991... Texas' banking industry will see better financial times in 1992, according to Banking Commissioner Kenneth Littlefield. "It looks like we're finally at the end of a very long and painful shakeout of the industry," Littlefield said. "I'm real...

Cypress Semiconductor's. (Contracts) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Multiprocessing mission-computers based on Cypress Semiconductor's SPARC microprocessors will coordinate all the avionics, flight control and weaponry systems aboard France's next generation Rafale fighter aircraft.

Telecommunications Inc. (Contracts) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Telecommunications Inc. and Cable Healthcare have announced their agreement to provide cable television service to four Dallas hospitals. Under the agreement, TCI will install and provide a customized cable programming service for distribution...

Warren/Martino. (Contracts) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Warren/Martino has been selected agency of record for Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi.

Southwest Airlines. (Earnings) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Southwest Airlines declared a quarterly dividend of 2.5 cents a share on all shares currently issued and outstanding. This 61st consecutive quarterly dividend will be paid on Dec. 26 to shareholders of record at the close of business Dec. 5.

Applied Materials Inc. (Earnings) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Applied Materials Inc. reported a record net sales for the fiscal year ending Oct. 27 of $638.6 million, up 12.6 percent from fiscal 1990 sales of $567.1 million. The firm also reported net income of $26.2 million, or $1.52 a share, down from...

Political heat burns assistant city manager. (Joe Lessard)
December 16, 1991... Austin City Councilmember Louise Epstein is demanding the dismissal of Assistant City Manager Joe Lessard for allegedly telling federal aviation officials that her support of an airport consulting team was a political payoff to campaign...

Patents no problem for MCC inventors. (Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp.) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Twenty patents for high-tech innovations have been awarded since February to inventors at the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. (MCC). The latest additions bring total patents issued to employees of the research consortium to 72. Ten...

Tracor emerges. (Tracor Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy reorganization) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... The reorganization of Tracor Holdings Inc., has been confirmed formally in bankruptcy court. Judge Larry E. Kelly of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Western District of Texas entered an order creating two companies that will emerge from Chapter...

Severance survey. (corporate severance practices) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... A recent survey of corporate severance practices shows that about one-third of respondents provide fired managers with outplacement services, continued medical and life-insurance coverage, use of an office and secretarial assistance. Right...

Big eats. (restaurants account for big share of tourist spending) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... The biggest slice of the Texas tourist dollar is spent on food and the largest share of jobs in the tourism industry are involved in supplying the grub. The Texas Restaurant Association said that in 1989, tourists in Texas spent about $4.1...

New high-tech firm. (Avant Technologies Inc.) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Avant Technologies Inc. has opened its doors as a new design center for printed circuit boards. Company officials aim at reducing product-development time for customers through use of automated electronic design tools and computer automated tools...

Peat moss cuts pollution from runoff. (filetring system at the South Towne Center) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... An innovative filtering system, featuring the use of peat moss, is helping to reduce pollution running off the parking lot at a new shopping center in southwest Austin. The filter, believed to be the first of its type installed in Texas, is...

CenTex shopping highest in the state. (Christmas sales in Austin and San Antonio) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Christmas sales in Austin and San Antonio lead the state, according to a Houston-based check acceptance firm. Ken Wait, founder of Telecheck Southwest, said retail sales in the Austin area were up 2.6 percent between Nov. 15 and Dec. 7 compared...

Big hurdles ahead for affordable housing. (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... In trying to provide affordable housing to its residents, the city faces some formidable obstacles, according to the draft of a comprehensive five-year housing strategy prepared by city staff. Consider, for example, the following sobering...

Cable revisited. (public hearing on CableVision's franchise agreement) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... The city council has decided to hold a public hearing Jan. 9 on Austin CableVision's performance in carrying out its franchise agreement with the city over the past decade. The council decided to schedule the hearing even though the city's...

Golf company bonus. (tax abatements for Custom Golf Clubs) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... The value of tax abatements and other incentives offered to Custom Golf Clubs, the city's fast-growing golf-club maker, have just about doubled since the city council offered the incentive package in June to keep the firm from moving to Round...

Lockheed Austin. (Notables) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Lockheed Austin and BEI Defense Systems Company Inc. have teamed up to bid on the U.S. Navy's next generation rocket that will deliver significantly greater velocity, accuracy and crew safety than current systems.

Texas Instruments. (Notables) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Texas Instruments announced that Ford Dealer Computer Services has sold its 1,000th system based on the Texas Instruments 1500 Computer. The system was sold to Fillback Ford, a Ford dealership in Highland, Wis.

The White Budd Van Ness Partnership. (Renamings) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... The White Budd Van Ness Partnership has changed its name to Budd Beets Harden Kolflat. The architecture firm has offices in Austin, Houston and Beaumont.

File by computer for fast refund. (Focus: Year-End Tax Planner)
December 16, 1991... Discovering they can get refunds much quicker through electronic filing of tax returns, taxpayers' use of the system has risen dramatically since it was started six years ago. Computerized tax filing jumped from 25,000 returns in 1986 to 7.5...

Two views on the Texas franchise tax: state income tax by another name. (Focus: Year-End Tax Planner)
December 16, 1991... The Texas franchise tax is a tax on each corporation that does business in Texas or is chartered or authorized to do business in Texas. The definition of a corporation includes business corporations, banking corporations, limited liability...

Bonner & Tate. (Contracts) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Bonner & Tate, an Austin-based advertising and public relations agency, has been named agency of record for Capital Metro.

Diener-Triplett. (Contracts) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Diener-Triplett has been selected agency of record for Truman's. Truman's, located at 3500 Jefferson, provides fine-quality pre-owned suits, shirts, ties and other clothing items from manufacturers such as Hickey-Freeman, Gitman Brothers,...

Zero-G Design. (Contracts) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Zero-G Design of Austin has been retained by Kathleen "KC" Anderson to produce graphic materials for her campaign for District Court 167 Judge.

Larry Lubenow & Associates. (Contracts) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Larry Lubenow & Associates of Austin has been selected to provide national and international media relations to the Ohio Division of Travel & Tourism.

Texas Business Consultants. (Notables ) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Texas Business Consultants has been named an IBM Business Partner as an "Authorized Applications Specialist." IBM Business Partners are independent firms that work with IBM to provide a broad range of hardware and software systems, marketing,...

Xerox Corp. (Notables) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Xerox Corp. has adopted a program of collecting copy cartridges for recycling in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The recycling program covers copy cartridges for the Xerox 1012, 5011, 5012, 5014, 5018, 5028 and 5034 copiers and the 4030, 4197 and...

Landfill can't get loan for recycling. (Texas Disposal Systems Landfill Inc. needs about $500,000 to build recycling center in Travis County)
December 23, 1991... How many millions is the largest landfill in Texas worth? Its owners are not putting a price on it because it isn't for sale. Let's just say more than $40 million probably is not far-fetched. How much money can be borrowed against the...

Backers of metropolitan government urge action. (Travis County business, political leaders form Consolidate Overlapping Governments)
December 23, 1991... Concerned about the increasing tax burden imposed on local residents, several business and political leaders have formed a group advocating metropolitan government in Travis County. Combining the operations of city and county governments would...

Record-setting housing bonds. (joint county-city program of federally-backed housing bonds to provide mortgage loans)
December 23, 1991... Many lower and moderate-income families that currently can't afford to buy a home will have a good shot at home ownership under a joint city-county program announced last week. The Travis County Housing Finance Corp. has issued $45.3 million in...

Forecast for Austin 2000. (secure and steady growth for Austin, Texas in the next century) (Focus: Business in the 21st Century)
December 23, 1991... Austin's superb quality of life, its economy's growing emphasis on information-based industry, its new convention center and its geographic location in the center of the state and along Mexico-to-Canada Interstate 35 should bring secure and...

Recharging batteries. (Electrosource Inc. to sell preferred stocks and to cancel planned merger with privately held company) (Brief Article)
December 23, 1991... Electrosource Inc. has agreed to sell $1.5 million in preferred stock to a partnership and will drop plans to merge with a privately held company as a way to settle its debts. The new plan is aimed at paying creditors while allowing the firm to...

New bank. (fifth Liberty National Bank in Travis County) (Brief Article)
December 23, 1991... Liberty National Bank plans to open a branch motor bank in the Two Commodore Plaza building at the corner of San Jacinto and Ninth Street in Austin. It will have three drive-through lanes, a drive-up automatic teller machine and a walk-up teller...

Q: Pay of the city's top 11 managers? A: A total of more than $1 million. (Austin, Texas)
December 23, 1991... Four city executives will pull down more than $100,000 in salaries over the next year and another seven will make more than $90,000, according to the latest city pay figures. Leading the list is City Manager Camille Barnett at $113,880. She is...

Hibernia recapitalized. (Brief Article)
December 23, 1991... Hibernia Corp., based in New Orleans, announced that it has reached an agreement in principle with a group of lenders led by Chase Manhattan Bank to recapitalize the company. The troubled bank has been trying to find buyers for its subsidiary,...

Fa-la-la-la-lah, and ring those sales. (retail industry sales statistics for the holidays)
December 23, 1991... For Austin merchants, the measure of the year will depend, as it always does, on the last few shopping days before Christmas. Last week that measure seemed headed for somewhere between good and great. There have been throngs of shoppers,...

Business must go global to survive. (mergers among capital-intensive companies, which must be globally competitive to stay alive) (Focus: 21st Century Business)
December 23, 1991... When the modern world reaches the end of its second millennium just eight years from now, businesses will be much leaner and meaner and computerization will help them get that way, experts say. The trends, they say, point to more mergers among...

Age of the 'investment Jedi.' (instantaneous access to worldwide stock markets 24 hours a day) (Focus: 21st Century Business)
December 23, 1991... By the year 2001, the "Age of the Investment Jedi" will have begun, when individuals have instantaneous access to worldwide stock markets 24 hours a day and the Dow Jones industrial average will soar beyond 5000, according to market experts....

Futurologtists predict look of business in the year 2000. (Focus: 21st Century Business)
December 23, 1991... The future, philosopher Yogi Berra once said, ain't what it used to be. But understanding trends and what the future might bring is a key to profitable business. The World Future Society -- a nonprofit educational and scientific organization...

RTG/Partners Inc. (Contracts) (Brief Article)
December 23, 1991... RTG/Partners Inc. has been awarded a commission by St. Andrews Episcopal School on the basis of a site-planning design competition to develop a new master plan for the eight-acre site near Seton Hospital.

Arnold R. Henson. (Upward and Onward) (Brief Article)
December 23, 1991... ARNOLD R. HENSON has been named chief executive officer of the Farm Credit Bank of Texas.