European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 the stars and stripes Money matters wednesday. December 28.1994 today s rates following Are fixed rates a which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal use British Pound. 1.59 dutch Guilder. 1.72 German Mark. 1.54 note tha rates above apply wet till the Host country. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar. Following Are Interbank rate that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign Curren cies .-.-. A austrian Schilling. 11.1015 Bahrain Dinar. 0.3770 belgian franc .32.4050 British Pound. 1.5447 Canadian Dollar. 1.3990 danish Krone. 6.1830 dutch Guilder. 1.7663 French franc. 5.4455 German Mark. 1.5780 greek drachma. 244.05 italian lira. 1,642.00 Kuwait Dinar. 0.3002 norwegian Krone. 6.8796 portuguese escudo. 162.16 saudi Royal. 3.7509 Spanish peseta. 133.25 Swiss franc. 1.3328 turkish lira. 38,440 note figures Are expressed in dollars to Trie British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $381 an ounce Silver quota $4.77 an ounce sources merchants National Bank & Trust co. .,./ and the associated press itt to sell division in $4 billion Deal new York a International Telephone and Telegraph corp. Will sell a big piece of its far Flung Empire to . Arm of a Large German Bank for about $4 billion the companies said monday in one of the biggest corporate deals announced this year. The Sale of itt s commercial finance unit comes a week after the Parent of the Sheraton hotel Chain arranged to buy Caesars world inc. For $1.7 billion in Amajor bid to boost its presence in Gam bling and entertainment. Itt is one of the most diversified .companies with operations that Span eight industries. It once symbolized the american conglomerate because of its presence in everything from publishing to Industrial pumps. But in recent years itt has sought to shrink its focus. The company is Selling itt Commer Cial finance to Deutsche Bank North America the american subsidiary of Deutsche Bank a. Owner lets off steam with Gas Giveaway Newton mass. A " Exxon corp. Took away Gene Leahy s Gas Sta lion. So Leahy gave away Exxon s Gas. Evicted by the Oil company after a bit Ter fight Leahy got his revenge on his last Day of work by giving away the last of his gasoline for free. Rather than give the gasoline to Exxon i d rather give it to the Public said Leahy 49, who ran the station for 25years. He pumped about 1,200 Gallons for longtime customers and others monday. He invited the beneficiaries to donate $5 to the Jimmy fund a Charity for children with cancer. Exxon cancelled Leahy s lease after dispute Over whether he could buy Gas and other products from More than on supplier. Leahy who lost a Federal Law suit contends he was evicted in revenge. Exxon s corporate offices were close monday and company officials could not be reached for comment. S return to stores after pause by Joyce m. Rosenberg a business writer shoppers got Back Down to business after Christmas giving some retailers a Opportunity to make up for a disappoint ing season and others a Chance to fatten receipts even further. Stores and malls were packed once again monday this time with people seeking bargains on marked Down gift wrapping and other items. Stores that had a great Christmas included those Selling Home furnishings electronics and computers. But clothing stores left with huge inventories because sales were Hurt by persistent War weather in some parts of the country hoped discounts of 30 to 50 percent would Clear out Winter merchandise. Bloomingdale s tried to lure after Christmas shoppers with newspaper ads proclaiming birr it s cold outside and promising sales on gloves scarves hats sweaters arid Down comforters. Unfortunately the temperature intransigent for much of the Holiday season was again failing to cooperate. Highs in the 50s were forecast for the entire week in new York Bloomie s biggest Market. In Manhattan shopper Ellen Shapiro looked at the bargains in upscale Saks fifth Avenue and said the pos Holiday prices were Good. But she added they were Good before  in downtown Chicago Steve Theilen who was loaded Down with two big bags said he had spent thousands of dollars on gifts before Christmas his usual outlay. Now he was doing follow up shopping. For family birthdays and things i did t get  retailers and Industry analysts Gener ally found Consumers willing to shop even splurge on some items during the season. But even shoppers who spent liberally were looking for Good prices and Quality afterwards. And Many concerned about cutbacks in their businesses were buying cautiously. Gary Prentice who works at a financial services firm was in Saks buying a Bath Robe at 25 percent off and explaining Why he did t spend wildly this Christmas it was t the greatest year for  the Day after Christmas is traditionally one of the biggest shopping Days of the year. Many shoppers run to stores in search of bargains while others return gifts that did t fit or they just Plain hated. Still others use gift certificates they got As presents. At North Park Center in Dallas Sophia and Carey Dowl said they were exchanging gifts. He got me dresses but i wanted to get something else she said. Two other Dallas shoppers Cristina and Hermelindo Salinas said two things brought them out the Day after Christmas they wanted to take advantage of half off bargains and their daughters wanted to spend Christma Money on shoes. We bought things for next year like an Angel for the tree Hermelindo Salinas said. "  " we got ii for $17.50," he said proudly. It was marked $40." France s or. Renault Dies Pierre Dreyfus a file Paris a Pierre Dreyfus a for Mer civil servant who built state owned Renault into one of Europe s leading automakers has died at age 87, his family said. He died sunday at his Paris Home of undisclosed causes. Dreyfus who retired As Renault s pres ident in 1975, also served As minister of Industry for a year in 1981 under presi Dent Francois Mitterrand and later was an adviser to the president. The newspaper be Monde called Drey fus or.  born nov. 18v1907, in Paris Dreyfus trained As a lawyer and held a number of civil service positions before becoming head of a state owned Coal mine in East Ern France in 1947. He moved to Renault in 1955, Over the next 20 years he expanded its output of 175,000 cars a year to 1.3 million turning it into France s main Industrial exporter. Dreyfus made Renault a Model state com Pany improving working conditions and wages. He extended annual vacations from two weeks to three and then four. He advocated working with unions whenever possible and earned Renault a reputation for enlightened labor  policies made him unpopular with other industrialists. But they admired the Way he preserved Renault s Independence from the government which gave him almost a completely free hand in Day to Day  succeeds when the government leaves the company a great Deal of autonomy he once  Industry minister Dreyfus tried with Little Success to Rescue some of the country s smokestack industries before retiring after a year giving his age 75 at the time As a reason. Paper is write. Salt Lake City a the latest in interactive Media is not a video game conversational software or hand held computer. This cutting Edge is As old As written communication itself Plain paper. More precisely it s paper with a sort of chemical thermostat that changes the paper s color when touched. Living paper can change from purple to Pink peach to yellow Blue to White and other combinations with swipe of the Handi Paul Wakefield president of Ogueri based touch it inc., describes his new product As a High tech version of the trendy mood rings of the 1970s or the temperature strips of the 80s. Both fads passed with their decades but Wakefield said he believes Consumers still Are charmed by color. Plus he said paper has an advantage that rings and temperature gauges Lack people us paper every Day. He plans to sell his paper to companies that would resell it to Consumers As gift wrap stationery business cards place Mats educational maps school folders and paper cups. A Patent is pending. He acknowledged that most people like the paper because it s Gimmicky. It s kind of a Novelty said Steve Furner vice president and general Man Ager of Meridian International which is doing some printing for touch it. I think the main reason people like it is be cause they Are a part of it Peter Lineal president of  in Hoffman estates 111., said his company uses the paper for custom print in jobs. Paper is paper but this product is pretty exciting he said. It s also expensive almost three times As much As Ordinary White paper Wakefield s Standard 8.5-by-ll-Mchpaper, for example retails for $36 to $38 for 500 sheets. Wakefield said Consumers Are paying for technology. Temperature is what makes the paper work. When it s heated it changes Clorand then returns to its original Shade when cooled. Blue paper for example transforms to White when run through a copy machine. People who run copiers can t believe if he Teyu see it Wakefield said.1 hey think they be ruined our paper or we be ruined their  the idea is based on  which causes dyes in the paper to react within a temperature Range of72.5 to 89.6 degrees. The dyes Are attached on top of the paper similar tothe process used to make carb onless paper  Wakefield said he began Experiment ing with the idea in his Kitchen sink an then decided in 1991 to try to launch the project with the help of chemical Engi neers at James River paper corp. And the University of  paper manufactured in Oregon and Virginia debuted in Utah last june when it was used for concert programs at a piano  caused quite a stir Wakefield said. People were rustling their papers instead of listening to the  Vivian Wood a fourth Grade teacher at Mcmillan elementary school in Mur Ray Utah uses a map made of the paper to teach her students the state s counties. Her students can Tell if they have correctly identified a county by touching the map which changes color to reveal the county s name. Of i like the fact that it s immediate Wood said. They can see the answer quickly and they Don t have to be looking in another place to see if they got the answer  said he knows the project is risky. But he said he has already seen a least one Reward nobody throws my business card