Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 29

Wednesday, July 21, 1999 TaLLAIIASSEE Democrat Estate planning: Prevent business from going to IRS instead of heirs. 12E Stocks. 9 Briefcase, 3 CD rates. 7 mttv.taUahassee.com Trade deficit New service helps plan weddings mm I r-r rrrTi i I mm Hf fit! Special to the Democrat Best Buy store, will sell items ranging from refrigerators to computers to CDs. The store plans to swells Climbing figures for May set a new high.

By Jeannine Aversa THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON America's trade deficit surged in May to another record as foreign oil prices jumped to their highest level since late 1997 and U.S. exporters were battered by the global economic crisis. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the trade deficit ballooned to $21.3 billion a 14.8 percent increase from the $18.6 billion deficit in April. Imports of goods and services climbed 2.2 percent to a record high of $98.9 billion in May, reflecting higher oil prices and a big jump in auto shipments. At the same time, U.S.

exports fell 0.8 percent to $77.6 billion as demand dropped sharply for commercial aircraft, farm products and American-made autos. So far this year, the U.S. trade deficit is running at an annual rate of $225 billion, more than one-third higher than last year's $164.3 billion, which had been a record high. The swelling deficit presents a major political headache for the Clinton administration, which is having to fight off growing cries for protection from a number of U.S. industries, ranging from steel producers to sheep and apple growers.

American manufacturers and farmers have been battered by the global economic turmoil, which has pushed a number of Asian countries into steep recessions and forced American companies to compete with a flood of cheaper imports. Since March 1998, manufacturers have cut 488,000 jobs and U.S. farmers are suffering their worst economic crisis in a decade. The overall U.S. economy, however, has continued to post robust growth as consumer spending has remained strong, powered by the lowest unemployment rate in nearly three decades.

The trade deficit in goods and service has set a record in four of the last five months, reflecting the fact that a strong U.S. economy has propelled demand for imports while American companies and farmers have seen their overseas sales shrink. Prices of imported crude oil, which for most of last year were falling sharply as global demand shrank, have rebounded in recent months, sending America's oil bill sharply higher. Farm sales fell by $29 million with exports of meat, rice and corn all down. IT in ii t.

Nancy ell Law horn has opened Nancy Dell a Wedding and Special Event Planning. Palmer-Harrell Isuzu has been named dealer In Bill Wessner HAVE YOU HEARD? for a new electric bicycle for the Tallahassee area. Classic Accents has opened at 5194 Mahan Drive. The company makes architectural mailboxes, specializing in heavy-cast aluminum mailboxes, says owner Jerry Sanders. Call 877-6020 or fax 877-0808.

CopySmith Printing Copying has moved three doors down in the same building at 1 180 Apalachee Parkway next to Applebee's. Store hours remain 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; telephone number is 942-9800. Maring Chiropractic Clinic has moved to the upper level of Governor's Square mall near the mall entrance between Burdines J.C.

Penney. Call 878-6623. Watch for the construction of a fire station on three acres on the south side of Bannerman Road, west of Bull Headly Road. Tallahassee's Development Review Committee has reviewed Hillside Office Park's project to subdivide 6.8 acres into three lots for the construction of three office buildings at the Centre Point DRI at Care Drive and Capital Circle Northeast. 0 I Can't Believe It's Yogurt at the Bradfordville Publix Shopping Center on Thomasville Road has closed.

Mission Way Estates plans to subdivide 52 lots for the construction of single-family duplexes. The property is located on about 48 acres at Gearhart and Mission roads. Threads Treads on the upper level J.C. Penney's wing at Governor's Square mall has closed. Plans are underway to build the William Roberts Office Building at Mahan and Spottswood drives.

Thought for the week: Words have a longer life than deeds. Pindar 518-438 B.C. Mail items to Have You Heard? co Tallahassee Democrat, P.O. Box 990, Tallahassee, 32302; or fax to 599-2295; or e-mail Bill Wessner at americalnettally.com Dads find Getting home by 5 p.m. is a rarity in our workaholic computer-age world.

By Amy Gage ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS When Larry Bell's teen-age daughters were babies, he roamed the globe as an international attorney for Ecolab, where Bell is now general counsel. The heavy travel schedule kept him on the road for years. A grade-school teacher once asked Bell's elder daughter, Andrea, how her father earned a living. "He's a traveling attorney," the girl replied.

Bell, 52, a committed father and careerist, doesn't laugh when he tells the story. But he's not embarrassed by it either. As any hard-charging professional knows, jobs that bring high pay, status and perks demand more than 40 hours per week. Often those jobs require superhuman efforts and a mentality that puts business before everything else in their lives, including Construction workers are silhouetted Inside what will be the Best this fall In the old Bruno's location on Apalachee Parkway. Tons of electronics under one roof Though the store is gutted and doesn't even have a wall in the front, Best Buy, in a few short months, will be filled with electronics and accessories.

When it opens, it will enjoy the advantage of being the new, hot thing in town a temporary fascination, which could become permanent if I -tfOlp When it opens in Tallahassee, the begin hiring in August. The new Best Buy store will feature hands-on displays, a Boom Room and a noncommissioned sales force. By Victoria Michelle Brown DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER Tallahassee shoppers are going to get a present just in time for the winter holidays. Computer and electronics retailer Best Buy is scheduled to open just in time for the holiday season in the Gulfwind Shopping Center on Apalachee Parkway, the space previously occupied by Bruno's grocery. The block of Apalachee Parkway at Magnolia Drive has quickly become one of the most active shopping areas in town, with the recent openings of Eckerd Drugs and Borders, a superstore that sells both books and music.

Best Buy promises to be a shopper's dream, offering plenty of hands-on displays and a noncommissioned sales force that is supposed to be more interested in meeting customer needs than pushing products. The superstore will certainly intensify competition among retailers that sell themselves family. "If you're going to be at the senior echelons of anything, whether business or politics, I can't think of too many people who have done that and done their families justice," said Craig Shaver, managing director of investments at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray and the father of two sons, ages 8 and 4. Career men, especially those who want to excel, have long accepted and internalized that pressure.

But today they're finding themselves caught between old and new definitions of what it means to be a father. Raised to be breadwinners, they thought their wives would handle home and children. But these days, that rarely happens. The result is a pressure on men to forge both an economic and an emotional presence. Like working women, these career-driven men are being forced to make hard, daily choices between work and family.

Many fear they're putting too little energy in either place. The truth is, they're right. Working fathers are facing similar items within a mile of the new store. Best Buy will carry refrigerators, microwaves, TVs, computers, software and CDs. The Tallahassee store is one of about 45 new stores Best Buy Co.

based in Eden Prairie, plans to open this year. The company, which finished its fiscal year on Feb. 27 with revenues of $10.1 billion, already operates 313 stores in 36 states. PHIL SEARS Democrat Buy electonrics store, set to open customers connect with Best Buy's shopping environment. "Our store is not so much grouped into departments," said Joy Harris, company spokeswoman.

"We group products to mirror how people live, how you would use them in your home. It's a lot easier for customers." Please see BEST, 4E gf-i I 5 caught between demands of work, family x)Uu --ft WW pressures today that their own fathers never imagined. The workday is growing longer. Competition is growing stronger. And the modern-day male heroes aren't like Ward Cleaver, who returned to hearth and home by 5 p.m.

These days, our culture celebrates workaholic computer-age titans who can make a household name of any company that has "dot com" in its name with rarely a media mention of their home and family life. The effect has been powerful. Academic researchers and family advocates decry the loss of male influence in children's lives. And professional women say they'll never advance until men do their fair share with home and family. Nonetheless, a wave of business books such as "Working Fathers" and "Business Dad" assure men they' can be careerists and Little League coaches, too.

Experts say that change will take another generation. Men continue to judge themselves and each other by the heft Please see DADS, 5E -is GINGER PINSON ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS Jamil Brown checks his work e-mail from his home with his children, Malik, 7, left, and Naima, 13. As competition increases many men find they are working more hours putting pressure on the time they can spend with family..