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Landlords may face big holes: If groceries close, centers would suffer

Marsh Supermarkets Inc. serves as an anchor tenant for dozens of central Indiana shopping centers. So if the company or a buyer ends up closing stores, centers across the region could be left with gaping holes. Not only can large vacant spaces in shopping centers make them look blighted. They also reduce customer counts at smaller retailers that feed off grocery store traffic, retail experts say. “People go to the grocery store once or twice or three times in a…

ISO program gets high marks:

An Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra program that incorporates art and music into elementary schools benefits students and teachers, according to an independent study released this month. ISO’s School Partnership Program is in its sixth year. In the program, ISO and the schools collaborate to create lesson plans and curricula incorporating the arts into classrooms and core subject areas. The study, performed by Robert Horowitz, associate director of the Center for Arts Education Research at Teachers College, Columbia University, evaluated progress at…

BULLS & BEARS: Buffett colleague Munger is also a man of wisdom

I am reading the book “Poor Charlie’s Almanack,” edited by Peter Kaufman. It’s mostly a compilation of advice from Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and chairman of Wesco Financial, which is 80-percent owned by Berkshire. Munger, 81, owns Berkshire Hathaway stock worth $1.6 billion. Like Berkshire Chairman Warren Buffett, Munger hails from Omaha and as a youngster worked at the Buffett and Son grocery owned by Warren’s grandfather. The two were reacquainted in the early 1960s and became…

Family follows Trusty path: Local manufacturer uses lessons from innovative founder

Trusty-Cook Inc. looks like an old-school manufacturer, even though its inventions are cutting-edge. The company’s 15,000-squarefoot factory on 59th Street east of Fort Harrison State Park looks more like an inventor’s workshop than a state-of-the-art operation intent on pounding out millions of widgets. Trusty-Cook owners eschew hot trends like Japanese-imported lean manufacturing, and aren’t apt to use catch phrases like “just-in-time delivery.” Despite the company’s throwback demeanor, when it comes to working with urethane, Trusty-Cook is revolutionary. And its latest…

Property taxes could dominate session: Lawmakers face difficult chore of addressing flaws in market-assessment system

Indiana has been struggling for more than a decade to move its property tax system to a market value standard. Expect the property tax reform debate to take center stage once again in the 2006 Indiana General Assembly. “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” said Karl Berron, vice president of the Indiana Association of Realtors. There are some who would like to scrap the property tax system entirely and replace it with some other form of…

ABDUL-HAKIM SHABAZZ Commentary: We have equal discrimination for all

I want to introduce you to a friend of mine (Let’s call him “Dave” to protect his identity.) Dave is in his mid-30s. He has a good career, makes a decent living, and volunteers in his community. One day, Dave was at work and his boss came by and noticed there was a picture on his desk. His boss asked who the person was in the picture and Dave replied that it was Sam, his significant other. The boss sort…

Health discount cards spark call for regulation: State insurance group leads registration push

Some health care discount programs that can leave patients stranded with large medical bills have put Indiana insurers in the strange position of asking for more government regulation. The Indiana Association of Health Underwriters plans to lobby in the upcoming legislative session for a bill that requires companies offering health care discounts to register with the state. That would allow regulators to investigate complaints and pursue regulatory action if troubles arise with the discounts, said Shawn Gibbons, a board member…

Telepoint Voice and Data Systems: Phone-tech firm aims to answer all clients’ calls Company rebounding after Y2K-related downturn 379 587 474 599366 605 475 616Address: 3912 Pendleton Way Phone: 545-6900 Web site: www.telepoint.comE-mail: bboyd@telepoint.

Address: 3912 Pendleton Way Phone: 545-6900 Web site: www.telepoint.comE-mail: [email protected]: 1987 Founder: Bruce Boyd Owner: Bruce Boyd and Larry Shinn Service/product: business telephone systems and computer networks, sales and service Employees: eight Revenue (2004): $1.2 million One-year goal: increase customer base 20 percent Industry outlook: Looks good, with the deployment of voice-over-Internet-protocol technology and voice-data conversions. one-room office in Castleton and three employees. The business plan called for two of them to make 50 cold calls a day, while the…

Under pressure?: Largest outside shareholder could be pushing Marsh to find buyer

Marsh Supermarkets Inc.’s decision to seek a buyer might not have been made within the company’s Indianapolis headquarters. It might have come from 115 miles away in Cincinnati. That’s home base for the c o m p a ny ‘s largest outside shareholder, A m e r i c a n Financial Group Inc., an insurer controlled by the family of billionaire tycoon Carl Lindner. A source knowledgeable about the discussions said AFG, a Marsh shareholder for more than two…

Prominent technology executive steps down: Wortman resigns from Mezzia after just one year

Details are scant. But after only a year on the job, one of the city’s best-known IT leaders is moving on. Mezzia Inc. CEO David Wortman has resigned. “It was just time for a change,” Wortman said. “I was with the company for a year, accomplished a lot, and was ready for a change.” Best known as the longtime CEO of locally based manufacturing softwaremaker Made2Manage Systems, Wortman, 54, led his former company through an initial public offering. But he…

Pass the sushi, boss; it’s time to celebrate: Corporate holiday events are less common, more fun

Surveys may point to a decrease in corporate parties this holiday season, but party planners say those who attend them are likely to have more fun. The trend is shifting away from stuffy, business-focused affairs. More parties are including live music and other entertainment, said Joe Husar, co-owner of Kahn’s Katering and meeting venue Montage at Allison Pointe. Still, this year could mark the first decrease in corporate holiday events since 2001, according to a national survey. Eighty-seven percent of…

EYE ON THE PIE: WestClay, prepare for some competition

U.S. 20 is one of our lesser-known t r a n s c o n t i n e n t a l highways. It starts at the Boston Commons, about two miles from the Green Monster of Fenway Park. The route then winds west to a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean at Newport, Ore. U.S. 20 runs through Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and such cities as Albany, N.Y.; Erie, Pa.; Toledo, Ohio; Rockford, Ill.; Sioux City, Iowa;…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Farming on decline, but ag still offers opportunity

Drive less than 20 minutes from almost any crossroads in Indiana and you’ll come across a feature of the Midwest landscape we take for granted: farmland. The vast open space in abundance between our state’s urban areas remains dominated by the industry that once employed more people than any other: agriculture. And while the sights of barns, cropland and animals grazing in pastures are familiar to us all, we should remember that looks can be deceiving. Plenty of changes are…

SPORTS: Eggs laid in NFL preseason usually don’t hatch

Thoughts about this, that and the other: By the time you read this, the Tennessee Titans may have sprung the biggest upset of the NFL season, rendering some of the discussion moot. Remember, on any given Sunday. That’s why I always say that, in the NFL, every game is a big game. Therefore, that the Indianapolis Colts made it at least into December winning every one of those big games is an amazing accomplishment, especially when you recall the hand…

Comcast is boosting cable rates for 2006: Annual price hike could be ammunition for competitors

Comcast plans to increase cable TV rates an average of 5.1 percent in its suburban Indianapolis territory next year, even as SBC Communications threatens to roll out a cable-killing video service via phone lines. Annual rate hikes by cable companies have become as inevitable as sitcom reruns. Comcast last jacked up local basic cable rates a year ago, by 6.5 percent. Although the 2006 increase is more modest, SBC already is using it in an attempt to soften up consumers…

Wal-Mart hurt Marsh, but expansion may have, too:

Five years ago, Wal-Mart had about a 2-percent share of the grocery market, according to Morningstar Inc. Today, the $31-billion-in-sales behemoth has 23 percent. Grocery-industry observers say fierce competition from the Arkansas-based company played a big part in the financial decline of Marsh Supermarkets Inc., which announced Nov. 29 that it was considering a sale. They said the onslaught was tough to absorb in a region that already had too many grocery stores for its population. “What went wrong?” asked…

High risk could mean high payoff for ad agency: Young & Laramore eschews local, regional work to take aim at national targets

Locally based advertising agency Young & Laramore won another national account in November, and with the announcement unveiled a strategy to eschew local and regional work to shoot for the industry’s biggest targets. Minnesota-based Red Wing Shoe Co. chose Young & Laramore to help it launch a line of casual footwear targeted at a mainstream men’s and women’s market. The 100-year-old shoemaker has made a name for itself with its hiking, hunting and work boots. Though terms were not disclosed,…

INVESTING: Slip in home-builder stocks signals market weakness

The big, bad wolf has been huffing and puffing against homebuilding stocks, and for a while it didn’t look as if he’d blow the house down. The outlook changed in early August, however, and the wolf now is seeing results. Residential real estate became the talk of the cocktail party circuit after the market topped in 2000. Over the next five years, the stories became more and more fantastic. Condos in south Florida doubling in price. Shacks in California tripling….

BULLS & BEARS: Slowing inflation may mean good news ahead for stocks

Despite natural disasters, war and oil shocks, the U.S. economy has had a good year, with the gross domestic product posting growth of 3.8 percent. Corporate profits will grow this year at a doubledigit rate. And yet the U.S. stock market, as measured by the Dow Jones industrials, has done next to nothing. Here’s one big reason: fear of inflation. It’s slowed the economic sprint and caused investors to reach for their worry beads. We all know Alan Greenspan has…

Race against crime: As public safety becomes a business issue, much is riding on battle for prosecutor

The dust has settled on Mayor Bart Peterson’s failed police merger. Meanwhile, local crime is surging, up 11 percent from 2002 to 2004. The next bellwether on how to turn the tide will be the 2006 Marion County prosecutor’s race. The contest, pitting Melina Maniatis Kennedy against incumbent Carl Brizzi, already is drawing the attention of community and business leaders, who say the stakes are huge: Rampant crime can cripple a local economy. “Where there’s crime-scene tape, there are not…