European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 02, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes Money matters tuesday november 2,1993 today s rates pol towing Are fixed rates a which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal use German Mark 1.65 British Pound. 1.52 dutch Guilder 1.84 greek drachma 233.8416 note this Ratos above Dippy within the hos country figures we pro Sod to dollars to the. British Pound other currencies to Tho Dollar following Are Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign Curren cies italian lira 1,643 turks Rillera 13,009spanish peseta 134.60 portuguese ecu to. 174.08austrian Schilling 11.835 saudi rival 3.7502bahrain Dinar. 0.37681 Kowahl Dinar 0.2989norwegian Krone. 7.3625 Danalah Krone. 6.7940british Pound 1.4840 German Mark 1.6870swiss franc 1.4915 French franc 5.9140dutch Guilder. 1.8952 belgian franc. 36.30 Canadian Dollar 1.3181 not figures a expressed w dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar void Quot $387.00 a ounce Silver quote s4.30 in ounce defense company to Cut 1,150 jobs Lexington. Mass. A Ray Theon co., a defense contractor plans to Cut 1,150 jobs in Massachusetts in a move to reduce costs amid shrinking . Mili tary spending. Raythelon which announced the Cut Friday evening said the Job losses will follow a voluntary retirement program that already trimmed the payroll by 800 jobs 600 of them in Massachusetts. The combined cuts will bring the com Sany s Massachusetts work Force Down to 1,050, compared with a Peak of 31,100in 1989.in the last several years Raythelon and other military contractors have be enforced to retrench As the Federal govern ment slashed the defense budget in the Post cold War Era. It s absolutely necessary for us to take this step now so As to remain competitive and save the most jobs possible in the future said Patrick Coulter a Maytheo spokesman. Among the Sites suffering cutbacks will be Rayth con s Andover Plant which makes the Patriot missile mat soared to prominence in the persian Gulf War. An Dover will lose nearly 400 jobs. New York a Banks Are find ing Good Money in bad checks. Major . Metropolitan area Banks Are boosting the penalty fee for a bounced Check to As High As $30, a Finan Cial newsletter reported sunday. It said some Banks even see rubber checks As unattractive and growing profit source. The average Bank fee for a bounced Check is ,$19.35, said the Survey by Bank rate Monitor of the 120 largest ban Sand thrifts in the 12 largest . Metro Politan areas. In contrast the average fee was $18.58 a year ago and about $15 in 1987, the newsletter said. No doubt about it Banks make Money off bounced checks said Robert Heady publisher of Bank rate Monitor a weekly that tracks interest rate trends. Heady said Banks realised in the early1980s that bounced checks were becom ing profit centers Consumers Aref Gentoo embarrassed about bouncing Dweck nostalgia by the los Angeles times los Angeles on an information Highway full of sleek driving machines the nostalgia network looks at first sigh like a real Clunker. It s got one fourth the reach of such competitors As esp and can and a programming lineup dominated by a relic named Ben Casey. But with a Premium being placed on Highway Access these Days the nostalgia network has become the hotly contested prize in a holy War. Companies linked to the Rev. Pat Robertson and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Are competing for control of los an Geles based nostalgia As part of a plan to expand their communications  s International family entertainment fired the latest shot last week when it indefinitely extended the dead line for nostalgia to respond to a $40 Mil lion buyout offer. Concept communications which pasties to Moon s controversial unification Church is already one of nostalgia largest shareholders. Over the last sever Al months concept has been mired in Battle for control of the company with chairman Michael Marcovsky. Mor music television a Start up Cable company has also made a bid on the network. As part of the Deal All three have offered $2 million Cash to help fund nostalgia s troubled operations. Helping nostalgia sort through its option s is Allen & co., the investment banking company that is advising ivc network chief executive Barry Oiler in his bid for Par amount communications. To complain about the fee he said. But a spokesman for the America Bankers association John Hall said Heady was  s certainly not a profit Center for a institution. It s strictly a deterrent to people s writing bad checks he said. , he said the number of bounced checks has risen in recent years Costin Banks More Money. Banks have increasingly turned to fee producing services As they have faced growing Competition from finance another no Bank companies in making Loans. One thing that s fair to say is that Hanks Are finding they need to Price All of their services to make Money said Rob Ert stickler a spokesman for Barnett Bank. The Bank s branches in the  charge $2750 for a bounced Check. The Survey found that the average bounced Check  from $28.90. The Rev. Pat Robertson. Nostalgia interest that s not bad company for a network with a Long Trail of red Ink including a $3.2 million loss in 1992. All the attention has caused nostalgia s modest Over the counter Stock to nearly double in Price to $1.75 a share since August. It has also put an unaccustomed spot Light on the network which reaches Only .14 million Homes with its grab bag of pro Grams that includes a variety show featuring big band concerts and a talk show with sex specialist or. Ruth Westheimer. In Philadelphia to $11.05 in los  said fees tended to fee Tower in California because of lawsuits against financial institutions by incensed consumers./. Other areas surveyed and their average bounced Check fees included e Miami a $25.20 fee. E Washington , $24. E Atlanta $20.90. Houston $20.25. E Dallas $20, Chicago $19.20. E Boston $18.30. E Detroit $17.45. New York $15.60. And san Francisco $11.35. This is not a reasonable Price. It s no cheap admitted Pat James vice presi Dent of retail banking at pc Bank. Wedon t want to make this Check bouncing  big players Marcovsky defends nostalgia As the flip Side of  but analysts say it has also gained value As people have Begu jockeying for limited positions on the Cable spectrum. The Channel is on the Cusp said on source. There s not enough subscribers to get much advertising yet but today Youcan t easily Start a new Channel. It s impossible to get subscribers. It also appeals to an interesting demographic group of people Over 45." nostalgia s Board was expected to makeup the rival offers on monday when it was to hear from an Independent committee that is charged with evaluating the bids. But few people expect a Quick  reason for the deadlock Marcovsky and concept each control five Board seats. The two sides started feuding last fall according to published accounts when Marcovsky pledged his shares in the net work As collateral to pay off reorganization debt. Concept said it had first rights to Marcovsky s Stock which would give it control of the company. But Marcovsky challenged that. The corporate governance issues Are still before a Delaware court. Also unresolved is a nostalgia suit accusing Moon s unification Church of an illicit and unlawful scheme to seize net work control. The los Angeles Federal court Case accuses the Church of trying Touse nostalgia to spread the Moon cult message. Concept denies the allegations and says it is still committed to winning control of nostalgia. Concept wants Torun it As the nostalgia network a spokeswoman said. Glad hands guffaws boost Wal Mart profits Salisbury my. A pumping hands like politician Don Schramm barely kept up As shoppers streamed into the Wal Mart  got a backs Lap or help with a cart from the 65-year-old people  each child got balloon from the Bunch he continually replenished and about every third customer got a joke from his endless and endlessly corny Supply. You know my Mother is 92 years old he confide to one woman her eyes startled at first but then twin Kling when he added and she does t use  her heart the shopper said. No he deadpanned she drinks right out of  the punch line registered after a confused second helped along by a Broad smile from the greeter. Sam Walton would have smiled too. Schramm shtick is precisely How the greeter system was intended to work when it was established by Wal Mart s lat founder after a suggestion from an employed we re More important than the manager a Here said Schramm a Short compact Man with wisps of Gray in his hair and smile wrinkles around his eyes. He looks younger than retirement age. Why should anybody retire he scoffed. Look a George Burns. He Hast  joke time again have your eyes been checked lately Schramm quizzed a customer.  mine have always been  Schramm came to the Wal Mart in Salisbury md.,from one in Somerset a. He d worked for a variety store Chain before that he s a True believer in Wal Mart and has accumulated 150 shares of  Wal Mart is supposed to have a greeter stationed by the Entrance a concept copied by some of the discounter s competitors. Often greeters Are older like Schramm sometimes they go farther than his jokes dressing in costumes. Extensive research has shown that customers whore greeted stay in a store two to three times longer and buy More said Scott Sorensen a National retailing consultant and author. Greeters also deter shoplifters Walton once  said he once asked to see a receipt As two men brazenly walked past him toward the door with Large Box they put it Down and took Oft my prevented them from walking out with a $300 to set he said. \