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REAL ESTATE
TRANSFERS
The following real estate transfers, with
prices, were recorded recently:
MERCER COUNTY
Catherine DiBlasi to Erica Royster, both
Farrell. Property at lot no. 101, Beechwood
Improvement Company Limited, called Plan
B, South Sharon Plan of lots, Farrell; $9,500.
John S. and Helen I. Beggs, both Sandy
Lake Township, to Verna N. Sherman, Emlen-
ton, Pa. Property in Sandy Lake Townshp;
$65,000.
Victor H. and Marilyn J. Shaffer, both Pine
Township, to Victor H. and Marilyn J. Shaffer.
Property in Pine Township; $1.
Dale L. and Anna Marie Magargee to Phyl-
lis Walega. Property in Stoneboro; $1,000.
Kirk D. and Pamela J. Krall to Kirk D.
Krall. Property at 756 Mercer Road, Delaware
Township; $1.
Margaret E. Baseler, West Salem Town-
ship, to Dale E. Baseler and Linda L. DeMat-
teo, both West Salem Township. Property at
107 Tanner Road, West Salem Township;
$38,500.
Martha F. Graef, trustee of the Martha F.
Graef, funded revocable trust agreement, dat-
ed Dec. 29, 1998, and Daniel Graef, trustee
of the Daniel Graef funded revocable trust
agreement, dated Dec. 29, 1998, Farrell, to
Darren and Jennifer Garner, both Farrell. Prop-
erty at 1017 Negley St., Farrell; $25,000.
Thomas William and Marsha Ann Parrish
to Marsha Ann Parrish. Property at 1341 Pu-
laski-Mercer Road, Lackawannock Township;
$1.
Verna N. Wagner to Richard E. Wagner,
both Hermitage. Property at lot no. 10,
Christy Plan of lots, section D, Hermitage;
$1.
Walter B. and Mildred K. Johnson to Arnco
Spouting Inc., all Mercer. Property at lot 5-A,
Walter B. Johnson Subdivision, sectiono C,
Jefferson Township; $15,000.
Robert F. and Mary B. Murphy, both
Sharon, to Ralph and Gloria Jean Branca,
both Brookfield, Trumbull County. Property at
lot no. 3, Charles S. Flower Buhl Place Plan
of lots, Sharon; $38,000.
Kathleen A. Davidson and Karen M. McEl-
haney, co-administrators of the estate of
John W. Davidson, to Michael J. and
Stephanie L. Kizak, both Pymatuning Town-
ship. Property on North Hermitage Road, Py-
matuning Township; $80,000.
Debra Gay Leavens, Shenango Township,
to Debra Gay Leavens. Property at 3677 New
Castle Road, Shenango Township; $1.
Debra Gay Leavens, Shenango Township,
to M. Robert Stewear, West Middlesex. Prop-
erty in Shenango Township; $25,000.
Larry G. and Beverly J. McCloskey to
Christopher J. and Cheryl A. McCloskey, all
Perry Township. Property at 19 Wolfe Road,
Perry Township; $1.
Raymond A. Eastlick, Delaware Township,
to Howard L. Eastlick. Property in Delaware
Township; $28,000.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) —
In retaliation to an ordinance that
bans ATM surcharges in this seaside
community, two large banks have en-
acted their own ban — barring non-
account holders from using their
cash machines.
Starting today, Bank of America’s
21 ATMs in Santa Monica and Wells
Fargo & Co.’s 12 machines will be
cut off to everyone but the banks’
own customers. The ordinance also
took effect today.
“That’s no good,” said Yae Kojima,
who frequently uses her Sumitomo
Bank card at a Bank of America cash
machine she passes on her way to
Santa Monica City College. “I guess
I will just have to go to another bank
that does let me use it.”
Alice Howe, visiting the same au-
tomated teller machine, also found
the restrictions problematic.
“I use this machine because it’s
convenient,” said Ms. Howe, 35. “My
bank is a small bank and it doesn’t
have many ATMs.”
Bank officials say they are not ob-
ligated to provide free service to non-
customers.
“We built our network of ATMs
for our customers,” said Wells Fargo
spokesman Larry Haeg. “We believe
that is only fair for noncustomers
who want to take advantage of the
convenience of the network to help
support it.”
Bank of America said it will issue
similar restrictions in San Francisco
if courts fail to overturn the Santa
Monica ordinance. Wells Fargo plans
to take the same step, the San Fran-
cisco Examiner reported today.
The Santa Monica City Council
voted last month to prohibit banks
from charging noncustomers the typ-
ical $1 or $2 surcharge for ATM use,
the first such ban in the nation en-
acted by a city government and part
of a growing consumer backlash
against the surcharges.
A dozen other communities are
considering bans, including Los An-
geles and San Diego. Connecticut
and Iowa have used existing laws to
ban the surcharges, but Congress
has thus far rejected legislation to do
so nationwide.
Banks say the charges help offset
the cost of maintaining the 24-hour
networks. Opponents say the
charges are unjustified at a time of
soaring bank profits, teller layoffs
and bank branch closures.
One consumer watchdog group
plans to ask the California attorney
general to investigate whether the
banks’ move violates antitrust regula-
tions.
“It’s basically a withdrawal of their
product from the marketplace,” said
Harvey Rosenfield of the Santa Mon-
ica-based Foundation for Taxpayer
and Consumer Rights. “My personal
feeling is the people of Santa Monica
should potty train these two banks
by refusing to even ask for money
from their machines.”
David Stumpf, an analyst with
A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., said such
customer-only policies may bring
new business to banks offering large
ATM networks.
ATM surcharges make up only a
fraction of banks’ revenue. Wells Far-
go collects about $50 million annual-
ly from the charges, less than 1 per-
cent of its $15.4 billion in total
revenue last year.
Banks ban ATMs
from noncustomers
Sharon, Pa.
Thursday, November 11, 1999
A-6
HERALD
100
Wednesday’s closing stock prices of local inter-
est:
 Last ..........................Chg % Chg
Adelphia Comm (ADLAC/nq) ...54∂ +1˚ +2.10%
Aetna Life (AET/ny) .................56⁄ +Àú +0.11%
AK Steel Hdg (AKS/ny) ..........17fl -Âú -1.73%
ALCOA (AA/ny)......................59å -Æú -1.14%
Alltel (AT/ny) ........................83Ãú +3Äú +4.46%
Amer. Express (AXP/ny) .....147Äú +1fi +1.03%
AmericaOnline (AOL/ny) ........144⁄ -1fl -1.20%
AT&T (T/ny) .........................46Áú +fi +1.09%
Anheuser-Busch (BUD/ny) ....71Àú -Ãú -0.61%
Apple Comp. (AAPL/nq) ........90Ãú +Çú +0.91%
Banc One (ONE/ny)................35fl -3⁄ -8.33%
Bell Atlantic (BEL/ny) .............63fi +∂ +0.99%
Bell South (BLS/ny) ................47˚ +fi +1.07%
Bethlehem Steel (BS/ny) .......6Àú -Àú -1.02%
BF Goodrich (GR/ny) ...............22∂ -Ãú -1.90%
Boeing (BA/ny).......................41fl +Âú +0.75%
Bristol-Meyers (BMY/ny) .........76fl +1˚ +1.49%
Campbell Soup (CPB/ny) ......44Ãú -Äú -1.25%
CBS Corp. (CBS/ny) ...............49∂ +1ø +3.93%
Chase Manh (CMB/ny) ............81 -2Àú -2.48%
Citicorp (C/ny) .....................52Æú -˚ -0.24%
Coca-Cola (KO/ny)................58Àú +å +0.65%
Com. Intertech (TEC/ny).......12Áú -Äú -4.41%
Compaq (CPQ/ny) .................21ø +1˚ +5.42%
Con. Stores Ret. (CNS/ny) ..18Çú +Âú +1.69%
Cooper Cameron (CAM/ny)...43Ãú +Àú +0.14%
Cooper Ind. (CBE/ny) ...........43Áú +Ãú +1.02%
DaimlerChrysler (DCX/ny) .....73Âú -Ãú -0.59%
Dean Foods (DF/ny) ............40Æú -Áú -0.46%
Delphi (DPH/ny) .......................16 +˚ +0.79%
Disney (DIS/ny)...................23Çú +Áú +0.79%
Dow Chemical (DOW/ny) ....121Ãú +Çú +0.67%
Dow Jones & Co. (DJ/ny).......62fi +fi +0.81%
DuPont (DD/ny) ......................62⁄ +1⁄ +2.05%
Duquesne Light (DQE/ny).....39Àú -Èú -2.34%
Eastman Kodak (EK/ny).......66Áú -1Âú -1.94%
ESB Fin. (ESBF/nq)..............13Áú +Àú +0.48%
Exxon (XON/ny) ...................75Æú +å +0.50%
1stEnergy (FE/ny).................24Áú -fi -2.03%
FNB Corp. (FBAN/nq) ..............27⁄ +˚ +0.46%
Ford Motor (F/ny) ...................53∂ -Ãú -0.81%
GATX (GMT/ny) .....................34å +å +1.10%
General Dynamics (GD/ny) .....53∂ 0 0.00%
General Electric (GE/ny) ....133Çú +Ãú +0.33%
General Mills (GIS/ny) ..........41Àú -˚ -0.30%
General Motors (GM/ny) ........70fl +1fi +2.17%
General Tel. (GTE/ny).............74fi +1˚ +1.53%
Georgia—Pacific (GP/ny) ........39fl -1Àú -2.60%
Goodyear Tire (GT/ny) ..........37Âú + ⁄ +0.67%
Hershey Foods (HSY/ny).........49⁄ -Âú -0.63%
H.J. Heinz (HNZ/ny) ................44˚ -˚ -0.28%
IBM (IBM/ny) ......................95Èú +2Âú +2.47%
International Paper (IP/ny) ......53∂ -Ãú -0.81%
Intel Corp. (INTC/nq) ...........78Èú -1˚ -1.41%
J.C.Penney (JCP/ny) ............24Èú -Æú -2.68%
Kmart (KM/ny) .........................9fl +Áú +1.96%
Lockheed Martin (LMT/ny) ...19Âú +1 +5.46%
Lowe’s Cos. (LOW/ny) .........54Äú +å +0.69%
Lucent (LU/ny) .....................73Äú +Äú +0.77%
May Dept. Store (MAY/ny) ...32Áú +Áú +0.59%
McDonald’s (MCD/ny) ..........46Àú -Âú -0.67%
MCIWorldCom (WCOM/nq) .....84fi - ∂ -0.73%
Mellon Bank (MEL/ny) ...........36fl -˚ -0.34%
McGraw-Hill (MHP/ny) ..........58Äú +Âú +0.54%
Merck & Co. (MRK/ny) ........77Âú -Æú -0.88%
Microsoft (MSFT/nq) ...............87⁄ -1∂ -1.83%
Motorola (MOT/ny) ...............114fl +4⁄ +3.85%
Mylan Lab (MYL/ny) ............20Çú +fl +3.74%
National City (NCC/ny) ..........29å - ∂ -2.08%
National Fuel (NFG/ny).........52Áú -Àú -0.12%
Nike (NKE/ny) .....................46Çú - ∂ -1.32%
Occidental Pet. (OXY/ny) .....23Æú +Æú +2.99%
PP&L Resources (PPL/ny) ....25Äú -Áú -0.73%
PepsiCola (PEP/ny) ................32fl 0 0.00%
Pennzoil-QSt (PZL/ny) ...........12å +˚ +1.02%
Phillip Morris (MO/ny) ............24fi -ø -3.45%
PNC Bank (PNC/ny) ............58Æú -1Áú -1.98%
PPG Ind. (PPG/ny) ...................59 +Âú +0.53%
Procter & Gamb. (PG/ny) ...107Âú -Áú -0.17%
PhilSub Water (PSC/ny) .......23Àú -˚ -0.54%
Reebock (RBK/ny) .................9Áú + ⁄ +2.80%
Rockwell (ROK/ny) ...............46Àú -˚ -0.27%
Sears (S/ny) ........................29Àú +Ãú +1.53%
Sky Fin. Group (SKYF/nq) .......24˚ -å -1.53%
SBC Comm (SBC/ny) ..........50Çú 0 0.00%
Sony (SNE/ny) ....................175ø +5ø +3.46%
Toys R Us (TOY/ny) .................15 -Æú -4.38%
Trinity Indust. (TRN/ny)........28Èú -å -1.28%
Time Warner (TWX/ny) ...........67fi +2ø +4.45%
Union Carbide (UK/ny) .........62Âú +Ãú +0.71%
Union Pacific (UNP/ny).............52 -1˚ -2.12%
United Com Fin (UCFC/nq) ...9Ñû -Áû -0.93%
USAirways (U/ny) ...................27fi - ⁄ -0.90%
USX (X/ny) ...........................24Áú -Ãú -1.78%
U.S. Marathon (MRO/ny) ........29⁄ +1 +3.54%
U.S. West (USW/ny) ...............63⁄ +˚ +0.20%
Wal-Mart (WMT/ny)...............57Ãú -Äú -0.97%
Waste Mgmt. (WMI/ny) ..........15fl -2 -11.27%
Whlng-Pgh Steel (WHX/ny) ........9 ⁄ 0 0.00%
Yahoo (YHOO/nq) ..............195Äú +1 +0.51%
CANADIAN EXCHANGE
US $1 = C$1.4686; C$1 = US $.68092
COMMODITIES
Grain prices
Corn, No. 2 yellow, 1.79; oats, No. 2 milling,
1.12 1/4; soybeans, No. 1, yellow, 4.40 1/2;
wheat, No. 2 soft red, 2.37.
Precious metals
Gold, $296.90/oz.; silver, $5.17/oz.
ABBREVIATIONS: ny=New York Stock Exchange;
am=American Stock Exchange; nq=NASDAQ stock
market
By Shelby Clark
Allied News Correspondent
Just as fall began, union members
at Cooper Energy Services Grove
City plant agreed to a severance
package that terminates their posi-
tions.
They signed the agreement on
Sept. 21, according to Bob Flynn,
grievance chairman for United Steel-
workers of America, Local 6346-14.
The agreement was the second
package offered by the company, ac-
cording to Flynn. The union rejected
the first severance offer in July.
The initial offer included $200 a
month for every year worked for, up
to 30 years of service. The full bene-
fit would have been $6,000.
The first offer also included three
months of hospitalization insurance
and some funding for schooling to
be split among all union members
employed as of June 23.
According to Flynn, the union was
able to negotiate the final agreement
to be raised to $400 a month, for a
total severance of up to $12,000, an
additional three months of hospital-
ization insurance and up to $1,000
per worker for re-training. There is a
cap on the re-training fund, however,
of $50,000.
The next step for many of the dis-
placed workers is facing the fact that
they’re out of a job, Flynn said.
“Most people are going out now
are signing up for unemployment,”
he added.
Though CES has offered job re-
training, Flynn considers it inade-
quate. “There was a job center that
came in and were interviewing guys
for $8 and $10 an hour jobs. That’s
considerably less than what they
were making,” he said.
Workers tried to buy the company
last spring but their offer was reject-
ed by the company.
Flynn felt the union had been
“dealt from the bottom of the deck”
by the company.
In an attempt to keep the plant
open, the union “negotiated a consid-
erable package to reduce costs and
labor costs at the plant and (the com-
pany) refused ... because labor costs
were not the issue,” Flynn said.
“But when (the workers) went to
purchase the plant, the guy from
Houston (corporate headquarters)
said that labor costs were the main
reason for closing the plant,” he said.
Steve Newman, international rep-
resentative at USWA in Pittsburgh
explained this apparent contradiction.
“If this plant is making a product
that the company didn’t see a future
for, if there isn’t a product to make,
then labor costs become secondary.
“But when there’s talk about
whether or not the plant is efficient,
then certainly labor and other costs
become a factor,” Newman said.
If a company is trying to bring an-
other product in, Newman said then
they would look at labor costs as
well as other costs.
According to Bob Rafferty, Coop-
er’s director of human relations, the
plant was closed because the market
for the large, reciprocating engines
that CES manufactures started to die
out and retooling would have re-
quired too much capital investment.
According to Rafferty, the plant is
operating at less than 50 percent ca-
pacity and it’s “too expensive to op-
erate at that capacity.
“Large, reciprocating engines
were the mainstay for that plant. The
remaining product could not carry
the cost of operating that big plant,”
Rafferty said.
Of the approximately 125 workers
left at CES, most of them are work-
ing in the casting department, ac-
cording to Rafferty.
CES will continue to make cast-
ings for aftermarket and replacement
parts until the plant closes. At that
time, CES will outsource the casting
work through another foundry, ac-
cording to Rafferty.
CES officials are working with
Penn Northwest to “try and identify
opportunities for the plant,” Rafferty
said.
By Dec. 23, 22 more employees
will leave CES. Though it’s not offi-
cial, Flynn expects CES to close by
next March, ending an almost a cen-
tury-old tradition in Grove City.
Cooper workers sign severance packageGROVE CITY
NEW YORK (AP) — USA Today
has overtaken The Wall Street Jour-
nal in circulation, grabbing the spot
as the nation’s largest daily newspa-
per for the first time, according to
the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Total newspaper circulation fell 0.7
percent in the six months ended
Sept. 30, according to an industry as-
sociation’s analysis of figures re-
leased Wednesday. Small papers
showed larger losses on average, but
seven of the 10 largest papers
showed gains.
USA Today sold an average
1,758,477 copies daily in the six-
month period, up 1.1 percent from
the period a year earlier. It inched
past The Wall Street Journal, with
1,752,693 copies, up 0.7 percent. The
Journal’s figures combine its regional
editions with the national newspaper.
(The Wall Street Journal operates a
printing plant in Shenango Town-
ship.)
USA Today has already claimed
the No. 1 position in number of read-
ers. Its publisher, Tom Curley, said
the paper’s own circulation figures,
which include bulk sales to hotels,
overtook the Journal earlier.
Richard Tofel, a spokesman for
Dow Jones & Co., which owns the
Journal, said it still outsells USA To-
day every day but Friday. Both pa-
pers have weekend editions on Fri-
days and do not publish on Saturday
or Sunday.
Tofel said the Audit Bureau fig-
ures include copies that are in prac-
tice given away free at sporting and
other events and that “it’s still true
that more people buy The Wall
Street Journal.”
USA Today takes
circulation crown
from Journal’s head
AP
USA Today sold an av-
erage 1,758,477 copies
daily in the six-month
period, up 1.1 percent
from the period a year
earlier. It inched past
The Wall Street
Journal, with
1,752,693 copies, up
0.7 percent.