I Business The Prince George Citizen - Friday. August 23,1996 - 21 Canadian software helping FBI negotiate end to hostage-takings Jean Kelly and Walter Keirstead’s software firm, Clverex, has sold a mental-health diagnostic program to the FBI. BUSINESS IN BRIEF No target, yet DETROIT (AP-CP) — The United Auto Workers Union today put off its much-anticipated announcement of a target company in negotiations for a national contract with the Big Three U.S. automakers. Instead, the union said it would keep talking with General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp. and announce later which of the three will be the focus of the negotiations. The contract that results from talks with the target company is used as a pattern in bargaining with the other American automakers. Low-level talks on contracts for about 385,000 autoworkers got under way with GM, Ford and Chrysler in June. The current three-year contracts expire Sept. 14. American union officials at a meeting today in Detroit decided to delay a decision on the target company until Monday. Union president Stephen Yokich told about 500 local leaders that negotiating teams plan to meet with chief executives of GM, Ford and Chrysler before choosing a target. Taxmen audit realtor VANCOUVER (CP) — Revenue Canada is auditing failed NRS Block Bros. Realty to determine what happened to $1.5 million worth of employees’ income tax deductions, the bankruptcy trustee said Wednesday. “The $1.5 million in (sales) commissions was deducted ostensibly for income tax,” said George Abakhan, of Deloitte and Touche. “The company claims payments were made to Revenue Canada and they applied them somewhere else.” Several real estate agents had complained before Vancouver-based NRS went into bankruptcy and receivership last month money had been deducted from their paycheques and not remitted to the federal government. Abakhan said he expects up to 500 agents, or half of the realty firm’s former sales force of 1,000, to file claims. New milk pouch VANCOUVER (CP) — The Vancouver area will be the test site for a new milk pouch produced by the global packaging company Tetra Pak in a joint venture with Dairyworld Foods. “It could have been introduced in Europe, but Tetra Pak chose Greater Vancouver because when it comes to packaging, British Columbians are among the most discriminating consumers in the world,” said Dairyworld president David Coe. He said that Dairyworld will test market the new “store and pour” flexible jug for four months. It is the first new package developed for milk in more than 20 years. Malt plant gets nod VANCOUVER (CP) — ITI World Investment Group Inc. of Vancouver is getting the permits to build a $ 116-million US barley malting plant in Qingdao, a port city between Beijing and Shanghai that is known as the bee "apital of China. “I don rhii ,k we will have any problem raising ti noney,” ITI president Dennis Graham ,aiu Wednesday. “We will do it throigh foieign sources, probably in Asu> ’’ Grahar ^aid construction is expected to begin within six months. News Corp. profit dips SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Rupert Murdoch’s global media group News Corp. said Thursday its year-end earnings dropped 25 per cent from last year, weighed down by losses from the sale of two divisions. News Corp. earned $770 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, compared with $1,008 billion in 1995. Strong performances in U.S. TV and British newspaper divisions were offset by lower results at its magazines and inserts division, book publishing and Star TV, its Asian satellite service. News Corp. said it’s optimistic about its current fiscal year, already getting a boost from the success of the movie Independence Day in U.S. theatres. News Corp. also expects a moderating trend in paper prices. Campbell ponders cuts CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Campbell Soup Co. is considering selling some of its brands as part of a restructuring that could reduce staff and close a soup plant, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday. Jerry Buckley, a spokesman for the Camden-based company, declined to comment on the report but said Campbell was “in the midst of examining our operations, especially our North American operations. Decisions have not been made and the analysis continues.” Citing employees and analysts, the newspaper reported the company is weighing the sales of some brands, including Swanson frozen food, while considering the layoffs of hundreds of the 1,500 employees who work in Camden. by ELENA CHERNEY Southam Newspapers MONTREAL — FBI supervisor spe-cial-agent Leon Schenck had a mission. Alarmed by the disastrous attempt two years ago to lure cult members out of the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Tex., Schenck, of the bureau’s critical-incident response unit, set out to find a computer program to guide agents through hostage and barricade situations. His international software search led him to Montreal’s Civerex Systems Inc., started by Jean Kelly and her husband, Walter Keirstead, in 1994 with $500,000 and run from a basement office across the street from their home. A version of Civerex’s mental-health diagnostic software — originally designed for use by mental-health workers — will be installed within the next two months at each of the FBI’s 56 offices across the U.S. “Come out with your hands up!” might soon become “What kind of voices are you hearing?” as agents type behavior patterns into their laptop computers to get a fix on a hostage-tak-er’s mental state. Civerex’s Civer-Psych program uses a modified version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, 1994 (or DSM-1V), to help agents at hostage-takings and barricades figure out what kind of case they’re dealing with and respond accordingly, Schenck said. “Some things you would say to a paranoid schizophrenic you wouldn’t say to a borderline personality,” he explained during a recent telephone interview from the FBI training academy at Quantico, Va. Schenck said the FBI faced a daily average of 15 hostage or barricade incidents across the U.S. in 1995. More than 90 per cent of all such crises involve either a person threatening to commit suicide and refusing to leave a building or holding family members hostage and threatening homicide or homicide-suicide. In most cases, the bureau tries to get a psychologist or psychiatrist on the scene, and all FBI hostage negotiators receive training in behavioral psychology. “This is nothing more than a tool” that on-site agents can use as a reference to double-check a course of action, he said. When dealing with a paranoid schizophrenic, for example, you can check how Civer-Psych would approach the case and “use the same negotiating strategy that has worked in the past,” Schenck said. Research showed that no other program based on the DSM-IV existed, Kelly said, so after finding a couple of outside investors, they hired two fulltime programmers and set out on. the project. They began showing the product last year at psychiatric and psychological exhibitions in the U.S. On the advice of mental-health professionals who checked out the product, they added modules for treatment plans, bill and claims processing and writing patient reports. The program retails for about $1,300, and sales for 1995* came to $300,000, including the $140,000 deal with the FBI. Schenck contacted Kelly and Keirstead after searching throughout the U.S. and Europe for similar software. The closest he came to finding what he wanted was in France, where police use a rudimentary program for similar purposes but were asking too much to modify it for the FBI. Profits tumble TORONTO (CP) — Net profits of Canadian companies slipped in the second quarter as the weak economy took its toll on many industry sectors, especially forestry, wood products and electronics. Statistics Canada reported Thursday that Canadian companies earned $8.6 billion in net profits during the quarter, down 17 per cent from the $10.4 billion they made in the same period last year. Operating profits for the period fell to $22.1 billion from $23.7 billion. Profits grew strongly in 1993 and 1994 and maintained their historically high level through 1995, the agency said. However, this year’s weak economy, sluggish consumer spending and soft markets for minerals and pulp and paper all contributed to lower earnings. Despite the declines, however, profits still remain well above the last peak level of 1989, a year before the recession began to devastate the economy and corporate finances. SEARS Expect more from Sears Sears wishes to bring your attention to the following corrections. Media 0841 which was in the Citizen on August 19, contains an error on page 32. The colour television #14216 is incorrectly advertised as a 25” when in fact it is a 20". Media 0911 which will be in the August 26th edition of the Citizen contains an error on page 29 with the storm doors. The ad should read - 2” storm doors in 3 styles, white or brown in colour. Left - 2 lite Reg. 299.99 (21641) Sale 179.99 g Right - 3 lite with art glass 5 Reg. 369.99 ^ (21672) Sale 249.99 Ask in store about our guarantee. Installation extra. Custom sizes not available. Sears apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause our customers. UQUDAT10N SALE ENDS THIS SATURDAY! PRICES CLEARLY Every vehicle in stock will display a special price during this event. These prices will be removed at the end of our Massive Liquidation Sale ... save before it ends! LTD. KEY LEASE CANADA Corner of 17th & Victoria Street, Prince George, BC Hurry in for the best selection at our prices! CASH • FINANCE • LEASE NEVER BEFORE ... have we had a bigger or better selection to choose from FORD • CHEVY • TOYOTA • DODGE • CHRYSLER GMC • MAZDA • PONTIAC • JEEP • PLYMOUTH ASK ABOUT OUR KEY LEASE WARRANTIES OUR ENTIRE SELECTION OF CARS, TRUCKS AND VANS ARE BEING OFFERED TO THE PUBLIC AND DEALERS AT MASSIVE SAVINGS! YOUR BANK OR OURS Low monthly payments to suit your budget 7Y BCTEL . , yi FLEET VEHICLES / AVIS RENTAL RETURNS LEASE RETURNS / TRADE-INS / REPOS ON THE SPOT INSURANCE & LICENCING A SALE SO MASSIVE IT NEEDS NO GIMMICKS! MASSIVE SELECTION • MASSIVE SAVINGS Don’t even think about buying a used vehicle until yqu visit Key Lease’s Massive Liquidation Sale HURRY IN FOR THE BEST SELECTION ... AT OUR PRICES, THEY WONT LAST LONG! NOTHING HELD BACK EVERYTHING GOES! 204318 KEY LEASE CANADA. Corner of 17th & Victoria Street, Prince George, BC • DL8877 • Phone (604) 564-6378 Out-of-Town Call Toll Free 1-800-660-5661 I