| OCR Text |
Show - Page is to a sailor what Mt. Everest is to a climber Friday, October Elderly victims of S&L struggle to pay bills Editor's Note: Federal deposit insurance did not protect everyone in the savings and loan debacle. Some 22,000 mostly elderly Part depositors at Lincoln Savings in Southern California lost $200 million, possibly forever. Lincoln officials say they did nothing wrong in urging purchase of risky junk bonds in their parent company, a real estate developer. But regulators call their marketing misleading, and others partly blame US. senators' intervention on behalf of a campaign contributor. Angry bondholders blame simple greed. By SCOTT McCARTNEY Associated Press Writer ANAHEIM HILLS, Calif. (AP) Youssef Davoudian, 66 years old and fighting cancer, moved from West Germany to California for expensive, specialized treatment in an attempt to save his life. He put all his savings in a local savings bank, Lincoln Savings and Loan the one with a profile of Abe Lincoln on the doorknobs. He told the tellers it was for his cancer treatments, and the tellers told him the money was as safe as it could be. But they didn't tell him the whole story. What he thought was a secure, insured account turned out to be a risky junk bond in a g Arizona real estate developer, now bankrupt. Davoudian lost $50,000 almost all he had. Stuck in a foreign country without insurance and so broke he had to sell his car, Davoudian wonders how he'll pay for his next treatments, how he'll survive. "I guess I'll do what other poor people in America do, whatever that is," Davoudian said. "Now I know they cheated me 100 percent But Who can help me?" His is a cry repeated across Southern California these days, where the speculative tactics of the Lincoln Savings, its high-flyin- now-faile- d Arizona-base- d parent company and its chairman have left more than 22,000 depositors, two-thir- of them elderly, short $200 million in life savings. Some can't afford nursing homes now. Some have lost their own homes. Some even blame heart attacks and thoughts of suicide on Lincoln. Albert Boszak, 69, lost $110,000 and can't pay for his wife's surgery. Pat Gorman lost $50,000 and had to take in a boarder to make ends meet. Sam Epstein, 77, saw $42,000, set aside for his grandchildren's education, wiped out. Duk Yun, 65, saved $195,000 from his cleaning business. It's all gone. "I have always told my children that this adopted country of mine was made of honest and blessed people," the Korean native said. "Now it seems I have inadvertently lied to my chil- dren." What makes the plight of Yun and the others unique is that they 10 ss sloops were ever built, and today, only three remain. The Endeavor, which challenged for the America's Cup in 1934, is one of them, thanks to a lifelong yachtswoman who rescued the wrecked yacht from its berth in England and rebuilt it to the tune of $10 million. rapid-growt- $1,-00- v Lincoln tellers tried to steer customers to the bonds, bondholders say. Sales calls were placed to Lincoln depositors shortly before large CDs were up for renewal. The bonds weren't insured, underwritten by a brokerage house or even traded on an open market like other junk bonds. They were supposed to be sold only by American Continental em- 1 .V 4 OJNUHHKIAI. Ik at Lincoln ployees stationed Youssef Davoudian, 66, who is fighting cancer, poses in Los Angeles earlier this month with a $50,000 bond he thought was secure, which is now in a bankrupt firm. branches, but some investors say Lincoln tellers sold them the bonds. Interest could be deposited right into Lincoln savings accounts. "They said this is our mother company and it's as good as Lincoln Savings, and it's got billions of dollars in assets," said Achille DeSio, who deposited his $25,000 lump-supension in the bonds. "They never told me it was. not insured. I've been very prudent all my life. I don't risk money." DeSio said he wasn't given a which does say the prospectus bonds were uninsured until weeks after the sale. But bondholders who did ask specifically if the bonds were covered by federal deposit insurance say they never were told, "No." m are, in a sense, among the first ordinary, everyday victims of the nation's S&L crisis. Except for stockholders or other investors in S&Ls themselves, federal deposit insurance has protected most depositors from the widespread debacles and, in some cases, out-- filed for bankruptcy protection and suspended interest payments on the bonds, now in default. Federal regulators then took control of Lincoln, which they say may prove to be the biggest S&L failure ever, costing the government $2.5 billion. "I have always told my children that this adopted country of mine was made of honest and blessed people. Now it seems I have inadvertently lied to my children." Duk Yun, who lost $195,000 to failed S&L - "They said Lincoln Savings backed the bonds. They said the bank would have to faiL and the bank is insured by the government," said Harold Rosenberg, a Van Nuys attorney who invested $100,000. right fraud. "This one (Lincoln) was more heartless than the rest. Others just robbed the entire public at large," said Ronald Rus, an attorney representing some of the 22,000, including a blind woman who took a bus to the bank and was sold the bonds. The investors say they thought they were putting their money in safe certificates of deposit at Lincoln Savings, a thrift where deposits were insured by the federal government. Instead of insured CDs, what they really bought were subordinated debentures in Lincoln's "junk bonds" parent company, American Continental Corp., a Phoenix-base- d real estate developer run by Charles Keating Jr. In April, American Continental ch high-yieldi- Lincoln and American Continen- Regulators said CD holders were protected by deposit insurance; bondholders were on their own. Since the bondholders are at the end of the line in bankruptcy court, experts say their paper is virtually worthless. Keating and other American Continental officers declined comment for this story because of pending lawsuits over the losses. In the past Keating has denied doing anything wrong. He blamed federal regulators for what he called harassment. The House Banking Committee wants to know more and voted last week to subpoena Keating, along with federal and California state thrift regulators, to testify at hearings on Lincoln's problems. In an interview, American Con tal shared the same red, white and blue logo, and bondholders said Lincoln went out of its way to show the savings bank and ACC were one and the same. American Continental representatives sometimes went behind the counter to help cash checks when lines grew long. Some customers were allowed to transfer CDs that had not yet matured to the bonds without the penalty for early withdrawal. Some even said Lincoln tellers offered to come to their house to pick up a check for the bonds. "There was such a commingling of efforts that you didn't know where Lincoln ended and American Continental started," said Rosenberg. Bondholders and attorneys say they believe Lincoln targeted the elderly. SonyColumbia: What future holds By VIDEO MAGAZINE For AP Newsfeatures When Sony bought Columbia Pictures they bought more than a Hollywood film studio. They bought control of over 3,000 movie titles. But why is that control valuable? For one reason, they now own those titles and can release them on VHS and 8mm videotape. But perhaps, more importantly, Sony can now make sure that there will be a supply of movies available on videotape instead of only being available on cable or According to the current issue of Video Magazine, cable and Eric Hall home video's Lisa Nord companies chief competition pay Hollywood film studios to buy the rights to show movies on their systems. Cable TV reaches over 50 million over 500,000 homes, and growing, thus making both industries capable of paying potentially huge fees to Hollywood to get film rights that could prevent movies from being made available on videocassette. Lisa Hall, daughter of Mr. and Now with the Columbia ownerMrs. John F. Hall, Or em, wills Sony has gained control to ship, marry Eric J. Nord, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry R. Nord, Las Vegas, Nev., Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Springville Art Museum. A reception will honor the couple that evening, 7:30-- at the Springville Art Museum. The event is 'open to all friends and relatives. 4- pay-per-vi- Eric Nord to wed Lisa Hall w tomorrow personal video components that includes a Super VHS VCR, and LCD monitor and a palm-size- d color camera. All the components fit into a tiny briefcase no date has been set for introduction, and no prices are as yet available. It seems that the technology that makes personal video possible has been improving by leaps and bounds no longer do viewers suffer by watching fuzzy, flickering insure there will always be a supply of movies available on VHS video cassettes. At the same time, Sony can release the titles on 8mm videotape, a compact video format that Sony developed. If this personal video format is successful Sony stands to gain even more. Though the initial reception to these compact, portable products has not been widespread only 250,000 compact TVs are expected to be sold in 1990 as opposed to 22 million standard size TVs there is a burgeoning effort on the part of manufacturers to popularize this spectacular new compact, portable video gear. As for what's available: Sony has the GV-- 9 Video Walkman, a four-inc- h liquid crystal display screen with an 8mm VCR available for There are also LCD TVs $1,500. priced from $299 to $399 made by Casio, Magnavox, Sharp and Sony. As for what's coming: Panasonic has the pocketwatch, a four-inc- h LCD monitor with a VHS VCR, now only available in Japan at a whopping $1,800. And JVC has come up with a modular system of ' -1-- I-. Associated Press Writer Friends NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) told her the legendary boat would sail again when pigs flew. Still, Elizabeth Meyer was determined to breathe new life into the Endeavor, one of the three remainsailboats. ing Five years and $10 million later, Endeavor is racing again. - are to sailors what Everest is to climbers," says Meyer, 36, a lifelong yachtswoman who spent more than 20 years following the yachts. "I've always been in love with their "J-boa- ts Mount history." Only 10 sloops were ever built, the last in 1937. The Endeavor, which had eight owners in its 55 years, and two others are left. When the boat that challenged for the America's Cup in 1934 came up for sale, it was berthed at Calshot Spit, England, wrecked, out of the water it once ruled so gracefully. "When I saw Endeavor, I said ... 'Somebody has to do something," Meyer' says. She decided in "a thunderclap" that she was the one to undertake the challenge. "I didn't hesitate and I haven't regretted it," she says. Meyer, the granddaughter of financier Eugene Meyer Jr., a former owner of The Washington Post, could certainly afford the whim. "In order to do something like that properly it takes a lot more than money. It takes a lot of attention to detail. That's what I gave it, and that's what the people I hired gave it," she says. Meyer has "the sense of quality to not just get things right, but make them perfect," says Gary Jobson, a member of the team that defended the 1977 America's Cup and recently skippered the Endeavor off Newport. "This boat is nicer now than it ever was." Meyer would not disclose the "negligible" sum she paid for the boat. Its former owners paid approximately $16 for it in 1979, when it no longer floated. Among those who helped Meyer rebuild Endeavor was Frank Mur-docone of the boat's original designers and crew. Meyer also met with Sir Thomas Sopwith, for whom the Endeavor was built in 1934. Although he was interested in her undertaking, Sopwith, who died in January, told her that "the boat was ridiculous then and they're worse now," according to Meyer. He told her it was a monstrosity, wild and dangerous. Meyer, however, says that when she sailed the Endeavor, she found the boat to have "very good manners." "I was not prepared for how good she was," says Meyer. "She was quick and responsive. It's just so much fun to sail that boat." The monstrosity boasts a solid cherry interior and carved marble fireplace. "It's the aesthetics as seen by Elizabeth Meyer," she says. "Beauty took precedence over safety, good sense, practicality. Because the prime function of a is to be beautiful and sail wicked good." Jobson calls the Endeavor the 130-fo- ot k, J-b- if " V Jill off-wat- Astrograph Saturday, Oct. II, 198 In the year ahead dont be afraid to go after big objectives Just because you never tried to do so before. This is a new ball game and Lady Luck will do her best to coach you. LIBRA (Sept ZKkt 23) Steer clear of competitive involvements today where you know going in that the odds favor your opponents. Wait until the deck is more evenly stacked. Libra, treat yourself to a birthday gift Send for your Astro-Grap- h predictions for the co year ahead by mailing $1 to Astro-Grapthis newspaper, P.O. Box 91421, Cleveland, OH Be sure to state your zodiac sign. SCORPIO (Oct 22) Be on guard today letting your emotions overrule your logic. Be a bit detached, keep a cool head and hold your feelings in check. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 21) Keep everything on a purely social basis with friends today. Dont try to draw them into your business deals nor let them involve you in theirs. CAPRICORN (Dec. 19) If at all possible avoid associations with egoistical or individuals a domibecause arrogant today, neering type might try to entice you to do something you'd rather not. 19) You're a pretty AQUARIUS (Jan. keen observer today, but unfortunately, your focus might be on the frailties of others rather than on your virtues. No one is perfect, including yourself. PISCES (Feb. 20) Check things out personally today before taking on gambles on investments recommended by another. Your counselor might not be half as smart as you are. In order to ARIES (March 19) maintain peace in your household today avoid issues where you and your mate feel compelled to take opposing positions. Neither is apt to yield. TAURUS 20) If there is some(April thing you want done a specific way today, be prepared to do it yourself. You could be rather difficult to please and your demands may discourage helpers. GEMINI (May 20) Strive to protect your possessions and manage your money wisely today, because there is a chance you might be careless or wasteful, or perhaps both. CANCER (June 22) You might experience some inner conflicts today because of your indecisiveness. Instead of trying to have a foot in two camps, take a singular position and it. adhere to LEO (July 22) Usually you are rather independent and daring, but today you might become immobilized because of your fear of making a mistake. Be hopeful and positive. VIRGO (Aug. 22) If you get involved in a group activity today be sure it is something where everyone realizes they must pay their fair share of the bill. Donl let the burden get passed onto you. to I CHERRY HILL BARN HI BOUTIQUE COLLECTIBLE ARTS, CRAFTS AND GIFTS REFRESHMENTS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2 pm - 7 pm FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, Noon 7 pm SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 10 am 5 pm 1 MILE SOUTH OF 12TH SOUTH, FOR MORE INFORMATION CAI J I ON GENEVA RD. 756-382- 3 571-550- m. -AwM I IT awaawaVaiii4liiJkA W I finest yacht in the world. "Donald Trump's (yacht) is a statement in glitz. It's expensive. It's big. (The Endeavor) is a statement of excellence," he says. Meyer moved to England for 18 months while the ship was rebuilt, and oversaw the reconstruction of the hull. The weather was miserable and it was often difficult to get supplies for work on the boat "It was hard a lot of the time, but I never wanted to sell the boat, get rid of it or walk away from it," Meyer says. Meyer says it was necessary, for the sake of the boat, that she be the sole voice in its rebuilding. "A group can't do a boat like this. It's got to have one owner who calls the shots and pays the money. Vou have to assume you know what's right. The minute you start to wonder, you fall apart" r- but while stern and decisive on the outside, Meyer says there were many nights when she cried herself to sleep. Things are easier now on the Endeavor. "You go below to the air conditioning take a hot bath, watch the VCR," Meyer says. But even in the luxury below are reminders of the trying times. In the boat's salon, above the dining room table, hangs a friend's painting of a flying pig, embellished with the caption, "Endeavor? When pigs fly." V Announcine the monochromatic images. Today's color pictures are sharper and clearer than ever before. Industry experts are unsure if personal video will be an important PV-M4- " By KAREN SCHWARTZ market. Certainly Sony's purchase of Columbia to insure that great movies will be available on cassettes will help. But before you laugh at the idea of people walking down the street watching "Gone With the Wind," remember that when Sony introduced the audio Walkman, people also laughed. Today the Walkman has changed the way the world listens to music. B5 at Editor's Note: Only 1 tinental spokesman Brad Boland said the firm's "whole goal is to reorganize and pay off the bondholders." h Back in the heady, days, Lincoln lobbies were filled with signs touting the bonds, wtych paid about 2 percentage points above CDs and were sold 0. in denominations as little as '.iW """ J-bo- THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, 20, 1989 4 ADMISSION: SI .00 - F - 1 9, Maid of honor will be Christine Hall with Kara Chai, Lisa Cram, Christy Ortiz, and Sara Nord as bridal attendants. Best man will be Gary McKellar with Greg Nord attending. Steven Hall, Richard Nord and Jeff Nord will usher. Travis Nord will be ring bearer. The bride-ele- ct graduated from Orem High and Utah Valley Community College where she was active in student government and DECA. She will be attending Salt Lake Community College. Her fiance graduated from Timpview High whre he was active in basketball and baseball. He attended UVCC and is employed at Famili.m Pipe & Supply in Salt Lake. The couple will make their first home in Salt Lake City. .HI ' Hi DIEFFINBACIA ... CHRISTMAS ;;! ' WW 'fj' .''','' f.i 'l'JW:"'l' ft tti" Reg. i NOW $9" Reg.53SL Sale Magic Silk Floral Spray $1.99 value Just for coming in (United to itrtt 100 customers) $2S9r NOW v Wv 524" Sale $&5: - it 9 Ft. Garland Canadian Pine Reg. Ct NOV $295 1 me G DOLLS NOW 30" Wreath Canadian Pine Reg. Sale$44SC NOW $4999 an Indian 4" NOW 52a V tr now ,49c tyjf Mini 12 Corn $3g: 14" 7 Popping Pumpkins Salr91 HOW 2Za &W$& ffl&im SaleC $4399 J gmJtk TREES 78" Canadian Pine :f km Uerehanrfite Christm FICUS w !. 16" Porcelain Early Bird Elegant 80" 756 Leaf 60" (2) 399 it Vis Uit |
