OCR Text |
Show Coli-ECTJOEN6-HH-5- fe 70- - D 313 MU ? C'trt i SERIALS ORCER CCTT, U OF U CITY. j 5 Vi-i- LIBRARY SALT LAKE I . .0 l r I , " . ', .Os Ul Vo emis UT THE Half a million at stake Promoter sues in Classic case sisting of certain amounts of Classic Mining common stock. by James M. Schutz Enterprise Staff Writer Dealing in the low priced penny stock market is almost a Salt Lake legend. Fortunes are made overnight, or so the myth goes. But at least one promoter is having his difficulties, having become entangled in a complex lawsuit involving ownership of over one million shares of Classic Mining. At current market prices, the stock is worth about $968,000. The lawsuit was filed in Third District Court in early February by Mike Strand, well known in the regional brokerage community as the moving force behind Classic Mining. is J.W. The defendant "Jack Cranney, a small local businessman. In the legal action, Strand claims Cranney lent him money on collateral con- - The For Sale sign at Sky-pacame down fast week. Owner Brent Jensen decided the airport industrial park was too good an idea to sell He's developing it himself, . rk Cranney, on the other hand, claimed a partnership was formed. The implications of the two charges are clear. If Strand is right, he pays Cranney back a little over $100,000 and gets back his million shares now of Classic worth almost $1 million. If Cranneys claim is justified, he gets to keep half the stock. Trading at 15 The total amount lent to Strand comes to $104,000. In return for the borrowed funds, Strand offered 10,000 shares of Classic as consideration" and over one million shares as collateral over a period of four months. The transactions began in late March last year, with the price of Classics common trading at around 15 cents on the bid. a-bo- ut According to Strand, after all these loans were made, he wanted to repay his indebtedness to Cranney on Jan. 31 of the current year. Strand claims Cranney refused to take the cash and return the stock. A couple of days later, Strand filed suit. In an affidavit filed in Third District Court, Cranney presented his side of the story. Cranney claims that on May 13, 1977, he signed a partnership agreement with Strand and Galen J. Ross, Strands attorney at the time. However, Cranney claims Strand and Ross have refused to supply him with a copy of the agreement. Cranney ahead Representing Cranney in the lawsuit is Bryce Rowe, squared off against Strands attorney, Dick Leede. In the early round, Cranney clearly holds the lead. The Honorable G. Hal Taylor issued a preliminary judgement calling the arrangement between Cranney and Strand a partnership." Leede had no comment regarding the judgement except to say Im sure Mike will want to appeal the judgement. (See CLASSIC, page 2) Pro politicos make unification assault Proponents of consolidation are out in force again, despite the licking they took in 1975, and this time they mean business. The campaign to consolidate the city and county will be one of the best financed and well organized campaigns during the upcoming election year. According to Jeff Gabardi, the campaign director for the proposal, they hope to raise $100,000 for the campaign and build a powerful organization to get it through the polls in November. Even the image has changed. The name consolidation" has been officially dropped, and in its place comes the new image unifica- tion." The proposal differs from 1975s consolidation proposal, but the intention remains the same, to eliminate as much as possible the wasteful duplication" of local govern- ment services. But as Gabardi admitted, The change is only half substance. The other half is marketing." 3 5 Supermarket owners , managers and wholesalers were surprised to hear Justice was probing Industry balks at supermarket -probe competition alive and well VOLUME 7 NUMBER 47 Gabardi was the organizational director for Frank Moss latest bid at relection to the Senate. He also worked in an organizational capacity in Wayne Owens attempt to become a Senator, and he was chairman of Students for Holbrook. I guess Im a glutton for punishment, he quipped. But the committee didnt stop there. They ahr ired Frank Matheson as the organizational director. Matheson is an expatriate Republican, whose allegiance lies with Democratic party. The reason I hired Frank is because, aside from his organizational skills which arc impressive, he knows a lot of Republicans." In both platforms structure is intended to cut the chatter and clear the channels for new customers started with Full time manager iA1 Fed lip with Ma Bells waiting list for a mobile phone? A newly approved rate Cinderella he's not, but Mel Millgrom still tells a rather incredible rags to riches story. The fabric retailer has a lot more in his pocket no w than the $15 he The Citizens for Unification committee is taking the issue seriously. Jeff Gabardi was hired full time to direct the campaign. Although a recent graduate of the University of Utah Law School, Gabardis experience in electoral politics is extensive, but as he admits, hardly successful. Name a Democratic candidate who lost his bid, and I probably worked for him," he notes. st man would apply. Flynn added the Salt Lake area is only one of several being Act. Professor John Flynn of the discussed by Justice Department attorUniversity of Utah College of Law says neys for the test. Dick Harwood, president and a case like this would test the theory of whether or not a small general manager of Harmons Supergroup of sellers dominating one market markets, a local independent retailer, and acting so as to restrict the ability of countered by calling this an extremely difficult market to work in, adding others to enter the market could qualiSalt Lake and Denver are probably pracfy for status as two of the most competitive and agtices. gressive markets in the United States." Chains and independents Unlike Denver, where 80 to 85 percent The present law, says Flynn, of the market is controlled by chain has not been extended to deal with stores, the Salt Lake area is dominated this kind of concentration." The sup- by both chains and independents, he ermarket case currently under investi- added. gation would be a test to see if Sher (Sec PROBE, page 12) Section II of the Sherman by Colby Smith Enterprise Staff Writer The revelation that the Department of Justice in San Francisco was conducting an investigation into possible anti-truviolations by Salt Lake area supermarkets came as a surprise to supermarket owners, managers, and wholesalers. Generally, they called this one of the most competitive markets in the country. Involving a test of the concept of shared monopoly," the case is intended to determine if economic concentrations should be treated the same as combinations or conspiracies under st violations . They say the local area for anti-truits one of the most competitive in the nation . Gabardi stresses the bipartisan nature of the unification proposal. Were going to submit the unification proposal to both parties so they can put it in their platforms. He also points out that representative Gary Brockbank supports the proposal. The basic differences between the unification proposal offered this year, and the con- (Scc ASSAULT, page 8) MONDAY, MAY 22, 1978 Anti-Tru- st still-undefin- non-competiti- ed ve 50 CENTS |