European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 8, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday february a 1968 the stabs and stripes Page 7 pm promises dealers 88 Price freeze san Francisco api general motors corp. Chairman Roger Smith offered an Olive Branch 10 disgruntled Auto dealers saturday pledging that pm would nol raise its car and Ruck prices Tor the balance of die 1938 Model year. But Jam Caplinger outgoing president of the National automobile dealers association said a Price free a alone would not thaw increasingly Chilly relationships Between dealers and automakers there will be More conflicts Between makers and dealers at a Lime when we both need to cooperate More closely on product design Quality and consumer is  Caplinger Tolj applauding Nada members holding their 71 is annual convention Here. Nearly 25,000 dealers Are attending the four Day Nada convention. Smith acknowledged reports thai most dealers be Lieve automakers neither understand i hair business nor respond 10 their concerns. Pm s Price Fretic is part of an Effort to upgrade that relationship he said. In the last 2vi years import car prices Hove in creased anywhere from 25 percent to 35 percent with recent Price hikes going As High As s500 per car. Smith said in prepared remarks. Bui Over the same period Domestic car makers raised their prices an aver age of a i than 10  the strength of the yen against the Dollar has made japanese products More expensive in the United Stales. Low inflation meanwhile has made it possible for Domestic automakers to hold Down their prices. Bui Industry analysts have accused . Companies of Matching japanese car makers Price increases until recently to boost profits. Caplinger said the . Auto Market had become a buyer s Market in which dealers have had to take smaller profits to compile Auto prices average Price of a new car for Model years in thousands of dollars cite ago Tribune graphic v soum . Department of Commerce automakers trying to Cut their costs Are pushing these costs onto dealers Caplinger said. For example he said manufacturers have Cut their training and regional employees while introducing new High tech engines and ear computers. They Are asking dealers technician. To learn about them from a videotape Caplinger said of the new  also Are bearing the added costs of sin and seven year warranties offered by the big three . Auto makers and matched by Tome smaller make Caplinger said it s turning our service departments into warranty shops. You can t make Money that Way he said. Automakers also have computerized the business so that dealers mint buy computer systems to communicate with them. But the various manufacturers is terns Are nol compatible with each other. For dealers who sell multiple car make that Means buying multiple computer systems which Start at $6,000 each and can run Inlo the Hundred of thou Sands of , Many dealers Are looking Tor new makes to add to their lineup even though makers of Many of the new brands do not have cars to show the dealers yet. The whole trend is to be mag dealers said adorn Lee whose family owns nine dealerships and an audio leasing company in album Maine you Bave live 10,20 dealerships owned by one person or  the Infin ill luxury sports car division of Nissan motor corp., which will fee launched with two $20,000-10 $4q000 can and about 75 dealer in the fall of 1989, Miracle a Ilc Ady Stream to a Booth that gave deafen a glimpse of what an in Miti showroom will took like. The dealers who win an in Miti franchise will have to make an investment of j2.s million to m million much of it in land for the spacious free standing dealerships said William Bui Bruce infiniti s general Man Fly Thrall the dealers can see of the infirm i ear is a concept drawing that Bruce says is close to the final product but Nissan already has 700 dealer applications. Pm s new Saturn subsidiary also has attracted thou Sands of dealer applications even though it will nol produce a car until at least 1990. Paper says airline building $50 million strike fund Miami Lipi Eastern airlines is developing a j5q million contingency plan wiling aside several million dollars a month to hire and train non Union workers in the event of p strike by a chins is a newspaper reported saturday the Miami news said inc undated documents showed Eastern budgeted 120,9 million in november december and january1 for Ellke rela cd operations and 19 million for february. By March the newspaper said East Ern plans to have $48.5 million to hire train and deploy new ground workers pilots and night attendants and beef up Security and keep customers briefed on the labor situation. An Eastern spokes Man declined to comment on any aspect of the document the newspaper said. Negotiations Between Eastern and its largest labor Union the International As social Ion of machinists have been Slor my in the past and a Federal mediator is currently involved. Union leaders last month warned employees to prepare for a strike although no strike Vole has been taken. Eastern is seeking $450 million in con Cessions from its employees disclosure of the suite preparation document came one Day after Eastern announced he Sale for 5225 million in rash and notes of its profitable air shuttle service to its Parent Texas air corp. Eastern said it planned to spend 130 million to train 195 Crews of pilots and night engineers which the news said would be carried out by Orion air a cargo Carrier in Raleigh. . An additional $3.26 million is set aside to hire and train 1,24ft flight attendants and �4,45 million for 2,500 mechanics 450 Stock clerks and us build ing maintenance mechanics in Miami the newspaper reported. Eastern also budgeted $787,000 for Franklin services inc. Of Broomall a to re Clit mechanics and other ground workers although an official of the com Pany said Eastern has not contacted the company to work out a contract a separate document obtained by the news. Called Eastern airlines Cash Impact of contingency planning sketched six proposals operating Tram May through june at 60 percent. 40 percent and 20 percent of capacity with and without a  each Case inc greater the reduction of operation the Foster its cosh assumed to be $313.6 million on april i would be exhausted. N the event of a strike the document showed Eastern would have negative Cash balances at the end of the second Quarter on july i ranging from $1 18.9 million at 60 percent of capacity to$260.1 million at 20 percent of capacity. Tennessee town bracing for weekend weddings Gatlinburg Tenn. A cupid will be Busy Ocul weekend As sweethearts warm to the romantic shadows of the Smoky mountains to say i hair vows on Valentine s Day. Ministers in this resort town expect to perform More than 100 cd Dinuis saturday and sunday in four special chapels. The Rev de Taylor senior minister of the Chap Els plans to officiate at the ceremonies for about 36 straight hours. Last year. 74 couples were married on Valentine s Day and he performed marriages for about 24 consecutive hours. We re seeing a return to traditional values and  said Taj Lor a Southern Baptist minister. A lot of longtime relationships Are culminating in marriage. Marriage is Back in Vogue  Taylor and two other ministers will perform inc ceremonies in this town of 3,000 where just mar ried signs Are As common on cars is Are License plates. Three thousand couples were married in the town last year and thousands More spent their honeymoon Here after saying i do elsewhere. The interdenominational to to so Fri nuts wed dings Cost -$95, bul a deluxe package at $998 includes lodging for two Days and two nights plus a meal and other extras. It would Cost several thousand dollars to do this in someone s Hometown Taylor said. In Tennessee there is no waiting period and 110 required blood lest. The marriage License is s26.50. And Taylor says the county clerk has been known to Issue licenses at All hours. Valentine s Day is Taylor s busiest Day of the year As cupid s Bow and Arrow work their magic and he anticipates gelling Little sleep  of Romance we just have to psych ourselves up and go non Stop Taylor said. Sometimes you can get in a Corner during a Lull and stretch out for five minutes or so. And you drink plenty of  we have a few open slots at 2, 3,4 in the morn ing he said about sunday and there s some open Lime on saturday 2nd agent shot in undercover drug bust Dies Pasadena Calif. Up a second of three Federal drug agents hot during an undercover investigation Ofa Golden Tri Angle heroin ring was pronounced dead saturday after spending in Day on life sup port systems authorities said. Drue enforcement administration agent Paul schema 52, who was shot in the head in the attack and declared brain dead Friday died Al 2 31 . At Hunt Inion memorial Hospital said mandrel Mcl Pillips a spokeswoman for the med ical fac Liny. Fellow agents were at schema s Side when he died Mcphillip said. Schema s partner Dea special agent George Mon Loga 34, who was also shot in the head died Friday. A third agent Jose Martinez 25, was listed in stable condition saturday with a gunshot wound in one of his legs. Two suspects were killed and one was wounded in a second gun Battle Wilh police officers. Three More suspects were arrested a Short time later. The agents were shot by two thai men while Silling in an undercover Dea car in Pasadena during a supposed drug transaction that turned Inlo an ambush robbery a Dea spokesman special agent Roger Guevara said every indication was that inc sus a cols were major thai heroin dealers Guevara said. " but in looks now like they were just after the Money rather. He stressed that a Day after the shoot Ings investigator were unsure whether the gunmen were actually drag dealers adding our investigation of the thai dealers will continue and now. With this i d say it would have to  everyone is very  said Guevara his voice breaking. We try to look out for these things to avoid them and still it just happens All Loo  Guevara said the Dea s investigation initially led the three agents to a meeting at tiny Naylor s Coffee shop in Monterey Park with a suspect identified As Wen Huei Row a thai National living in Southern California