News Scrapbook 1982-1984

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Daily Transcript (Cir. D. 7,000)

Davis, CA (Yolo Co.) Enterprise (Cir. D. 4,993)

1984

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San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (D. 127,454)

Escondido, CA Daily Times Advocate (Cir. o. 31,495) (Cir. S. 33,159)

Kayp o cuts price of computer By Donald Colem n µ ': nbun FlnancLtl Writ 'I Th Kaypro Corp. has reduc d the price of been sold since June 1983, Kay said the newer model Kaypro • at $1,995 retail cur- rently outsells the II. The more expensive model, however, offers double density disc drives, among other features.

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and Bellevue-based Microsoft, which also is involved in the deal as a software maker, and "everything wlll go ahead as planned." Newman's re ·ignation was offered and Kay said he accepted it. "There was a problem of miscommunications," Kay said. "He did not understand me, and I did not understand him." Kay said he has no plans to replace New- man, who worked under Kay's son, David, vice pre dent for marketing and sales. The executive said a published report that 20 former Kaypro employees have de- fected to the Seequa Computer Corp., based in Maryland, was inaccurate. He said the writer of the story did not verify the mun- bers with him. "Actually about four or five sales people left us, and I'm not worried," Kay told the USD gathering "We had earmarked them to leave because they were not meeting their quotas They saved us the trouble of letting them go." (David Gardner, Seequa president, told The Tribune that "over the past several months" about six Kaypro sales personnel left their po itions to join Seequa "at about the same pay package" because they felt "the opportunity was greater.") Kay said the price break on the Kaypro was mad in hopes of increasing sales of the model, which at one time was the top seller. Although 50,000 Kaypro IIs have

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T·f Editorial S01:i~ty's fabric torn Ia there no end to the assault

ts Kaypro II microcomputer to $1,295, hoping to capture a broader market. hare, ccordmg to Andrew F. Kay, pr ident and ch 1rm n. Th reduction is from $1,595 and 1s the ond price cut mce th product first cam on th m rket m Jun 1983 at Sl,795 Th Kaypro II w the company's first comput r product in a line which now in- clud th Kavpro 4 the Robie and the top priced Kaypro 10 at $2,795. The company I.so I planning to market a Japanese- mad i-omputer by ummer that will retail upward of $5,000. "W hope to g t mto a price bracket clos r to $1,000 (with the Kaypro II price drop)," Kay id Kay nnounccd the cut at a forum held y t rday t the Univ of San Die o. He also said a deal struck with the Mit- u1 Co of Tokyo to market a lap-sized com- puter through Kaypro's dealer network will contmu a planned, de:;pite the depar- ture ov r the weekend of the company's n ·w marketing director. Kay id Bia r Newman, who had been with K ypro for two months, made the ar- rangements with Mi u . Kay said he has ubs u ntly t lked with officials of Mitsui

Any price drop, Kay said, would be ab- sorbed by the higher priced units. At $1,295, Kay said, the company would need to sell 2,500 Kaypro I1s per month to break even on the model. Kay was asked at the USD gathering about the disadvantages and advantages of going public with a stock offering, which the company did last August at $10 per share. He said the Kay family controls 86 per- cent of outstanding shares, with 63 percent held by Kay. The Kay family, he said, dis- likes public disclosures of their financial and personal information. As to advantages of going public: "We're more liquid. The banks now are eager to loan us money. At least one or banks come in to us each week to offer us loans of money." The discounted market price of shares ($8 currently versus the $10 offering price in August) is not causing Kaypro financial problems, Kay said. "Kaypro does not have a problem (be- cause of price droe)," Kay said. "But the people who bought it do."

greatly" on repeat bustneaa, they need no regulation. This person la obviously bent on the destruction ot society as we know It today. Thero can be no world order without the Cali- fornia Board ot lt'abric Care. l'he Center tor Public lnttireat Law, 1.1.ctlng upon the conclu• alone of lta agent's report, last year sought a legislator to carry forward lts conspiracy. But none would respond, not "traditional consumer-oriented liberals" or "traditional anti-regulation con- servative Republicans," the cen- ter reported. For 1.1. time, then, democracy remained sate In the hands of the California Legislature, an- other body whose wisdom has been proven again and again. UntU Sen. Greene of Sacramen- to. He has been led down the • primrose pa.th by the fatuous ar• guments of those who would re11d the tabrjc of our state's most basic lnatltutions. And what are those argu. ments? That the Board ot Fab- ric Care has revoked but one 11· cense 1n the past decade? That it has initiated no disciplinary actions in recent years and in- tends to Initiate none in the next year? Tha.t aggrieved customers may find redress through ot:her means, like the small claims courts or the Better Business . Bureaus? Can you tind among these any compelling reason tor the abolltlon ot the Board of Fabric Care? In a position paper on Greene's bill the Center tor Pub- lic Interest Law reveals a hid• den agenda. Abolishing the tab- rte care board, It says, will "fa- cUitate future ettorts at abolish- Ing California's other unnecessary licensing boards." Here is ample cause to take to the ramparts. The Board of Fab- ric Care is the :F·ort Sumter of this coming Internecine strug- gle. It marks but the opening salvo.

on the b8.Blc rights of the people of Calitom a? Can your llte, lib- erty and pur11ult of happlnes11 be sate when tha Legislature Ul.reatena to abolish the Califor- nia Board oC Fabric Care? We are here to so4nd the clar- lon, to talce the midnight ride to warn the weary citizenry that such a move Le afoot. State Sen. Leroy Greene, a Democrat trorb- Sai:ra.mennr, ha.a IUed a bill tha.t would do away wtth an agency that has since 11>411 been dedicat- ed to protecUng consumers from the ravages ot inadequate dry cleaning. And here we thought the Democra.ts were the party of the people. In the glorious history of the august fabric board are such fine ep1.Bodes as its attempt to protect consumers by assuring that they would be charged no less than a dollar for any item to be cleaned. It maintains the pu- rity ot the profeeaion by allow- ing only •U percent ot those it tests to pass Into the dry clean- ing ranks, to serve the masses hankering for clean shirts. It further enforces the pristine na- ture of Its flock by weeding out those not proficient In leather cleaning, hat blocking and fur restoration. There 1s cause for concern. Only two states - California and Oklahoma - show enough concern tor the well-being of their citizens to regulate dry cleaners . Our fair state is clear• ly one ot the last bastions against the onslaught ot the unk- empt. This attack against the Board of Fabric Care is not a new one. In 1967 the Little Hooyei:__Com- mission, seeking ways to s"'tresmnnte California govern- ment, recommended that the board be done away with. So, too, ln 1971 did then Gov. Ronald Reagan. So, too, In 1979 did the state Department of Consumer Affairs. The Center for Public Interest Law, an adjunct of the Universi- ty .ot San-Dago School of :Caw, has been doggedly pursuing the beleaguered board. One of the center's operatives, a.fter ob- serving the board at some length, had the audacity to sug- gest that the Board ot Fabric Care 1s slmply a useless and self-perpetuating body whose only real function ls to limit competition in the cleaning busi- ness. The operative goes so far as to suggest the laughable, that because dry cleaners depen~ so

ANDREW F. KAY

'About four or five sales people left us, and I'm not worried. They saved us the trouble of letting them go' - Andrew F. Kay

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Thursday, March 8, 1984

L\ .JOI.L.\ UGI! I

SOL~ial Sketches

Manchester center dedicated La Jollans Doug and Betsy Manchester were the center of festivities on the University of San Diego campus recently when formal ceremonies dedicated the Douglas F. Manchester Executive Conference Center. The afternoon event was followed by a black tie dinner in the center, and preceded an ad- dress by Dr. Ruben F. Mettler, chairman and chief executive of- ficer of TRW, Inc. Highlights of the dedication in- cluded ribbon-cutting by Man- chester's youngest daughter, Anne-Marie, who attended with her sisters, Sally, Molly and Ka- ty. Others who were present in- cluded Frank and Linda Alessio and John and Judy Comito.

And what is to follow? The state Board ot Registration of Geologists and Geophysicists? The Board of Landscape Archi- tects? The Bureau of Home Furnishings? The Board ot Behavioral Science Examiners? After the Board of Fabric Care, can the Board of Certltied Short- hand Reporters be tar behind? Californians, we Implore you. Make your feellngs known to your legislators. You muiit lm- ·mediately heed the cau, or anar- chy wl.ll liurely follow. /