Page B4
April 12, 2000
-------------------------(Fije ÿlortianb ffiheeruer
/Business
P ortiani)
Study indicates casinos draw tourist dollars
A ssociated P ress
T ourist spending is grow ing faster in
the eight counties w ith tribal casinos
than the rem aining 28 counties in
O regon, and the num ber o f jo b s is
grow ing along w ith the gam bling,
according to a new study.
T ourist spending in counties w ith
casinos grew at an 8.4 percent annual
rate between 1993 when the first casino
opened and 1998.
E lsew here, spending grew 5 percent.
Jo b g ro w th a p p e a re d to m irro r
spending.
In th e e ig h t c a s in o c o u n tie s ,
em ploym ent grew at a 6.4 percent rate
com pared to 2.7 percent in the rest o f
the state betw een 1993 and 1998.
In addition, the study done for the
O re g o n T o u ris m C o m m is s io n
indicated that four o fth e state’s eight
casinos m ade the list oftop 10 Oregon
attractions in 1999.
Spirit M ountain C asino in G rand
R o n d e b u m p e d lo n g tim e N o. 1
attraction M ultnom ah Falls as the
top O regon destination last year with
an estim ated 3 m illion visitors.
T he figures indicate that casinos are
com peting w ith other visitor centers
the state has w orked to develop as
part o f its effort to expand so-called
“destination” tourism that encourage
people to spend m ore tim e and money
in O regon.
"T he casinos are ju st som ething else
people can do on a rainy day,” said
Julie C urtis, assistant director for the
O regon Tourism Com m ission. “It's
another thing to do. Not everyone
w ants to go backpacking.”
In th e p a s t d e c a d e , v a rio u s
businesses and organizations have
been a g g re ssiv e ly b u ild in g new
attractions.
Betw een 1990 and 2000, Oregon
g a in e d se v e n n ew m u se u m s o r
interpretative centers, the O regon
C onvention C enter in Portland and
the O regon C oast A quarium . The
O regon G arden, a 240-acre botanical
garden located near Silverton, opened
earlier this m onth, and is scheduled
for its formal “grand” opening in 2001.
D e s tin a tio n tra v e l h as b e c o m e
increasingly im portant to the state’s
visitor industry.
“ W e are in th e early stag es o f
b e c o m in g a m o re d iv e rs e an d
sophisticated tourism destination,”
C urtis said. “W e d o n ’t ju st w ant
‘w indshield ’ tourism . W e w ant to
provide w ays for visitors to spend
m ore m oney and m ore days here.”
But it has been the eight casinos that
h a v e b e e n p a c k in g in v is ito rs
consistently. A reas w ithout casinos
have w orried that tourists w ould
abandon their tow ns for the gam bling
meccas.
“ E veryone gets nervous w hen an
800-pound gorilla com es to tow n,”
said Steve Lamb, o w n ero fC atch The
Wind kite stores based in Lincoln
City, now hom e to theC hinook Winds
Casino.
But even though the casinos m ay
have diverted som e visitor traffic,
they have helped increase overall
spending and em ploym ent in the
tourism industry.
In Oregon, the tourism industry grew
at a 5.6 percent annual rate from 1993
to 1998 higher than th e national
average o f about 4 percent.
Also, grow th from the casinos is
expected to slow as th e gam ing
industry m atures and its novelty
w ea rs off. E v en tu ally , b u sin e ss
leaders expect tourist dollars to be
spread m ore evenly.
“W ith the casino, the pie grew in
Lincoln C ity,” said G uy Di Torrice,
manager for the Oregon Coast Visitors
A ssociation and the Central O regon
C oast A ssociation.
The tribes, meanwhile, are looking for
new w ays to attract visitors, said Bob
W helen, a senior econom ist w ith
P o rtla n d -b a s e d c o n s u ltin g firm
ECONorthwest.
“M any o f these casinos are im em o te
areas,” W helen said. “T hey” ll really
have to make them selves destinations
to attract the non-gam bling travelers.
The casino lure as a destination has
pretty m uch been m axed out.”
Two extra days, extended 1RS hours
CONTRIBUTED STORY
tor T he P ortland O bserver
T h is y ea r, ta x p a y e rs h av e u n til
m idnight on M onday, April 17, to file
their 1999 tax returns because the
regular due date, April 15, falls on a
Saturday.
A nd those w ho have put o ff filing
until the final days w ill find that the
IRS will be w orking som e overtim e to
help them m eet the deadline.
T axpayers can visit IRS w alk-in
offices to pick up form s and get
answ ers to last m inute questions.
T hose w ith com pleted returns can
file them and m ake tax paym ents, and
the IRS will date-stam p their forms
and checks or m oney orders. The
offices will also accept and date-stamp
com pleted extension forms.
O regon taxpayers can call the IRS at
1 -8 0 0 -8 2 9 -1 0 4 0 w ith th e ir tax
questions seven days a week, 24
hours a day. They also can get answers
to questions and dow nload form s by
v is itin g th e IR S W e b s ite ,
ww w.irs.gov.
Schedule o f IRS W alk-In O ffices in
Portland
1220 SW T hird Avenue(Green/W yatt
F e d e r a l B u ild in g ) :
M onday,
W ednesday, Friday - 8 a.m. to 4:30
p.m.
Tuesday, T hursday - 8 a.m. to 6:30
p.m.
S a tu rd a y s-8 :3 0 a .m .to 12:30p.m.
Sunday, April 1 6 - 12:30to5:30p.m .
Monday, April 1 7 -8 a.m .to m id n ig h t
Remember April 17th is deadline for
tax returns - 2 extra days
from Uncle Sam
M iller considered one o f nation’s top
turnaround experts for troubled companies
A ssociated P ress
If you need a m ajor corporation
turned around o r j ust som e w ork on
yourm odel railroad, Steve M illeris
the m an to call.
Robert S. “ Steve” M iller Jr. w as the
right-hand m an to form er C hrysler
Chairm an Lee Iacocca before he
b egan his ca reer ad v isin g and
rescuing troubled com panies.
The
W a ll
S tre e t
Jo u rn al
prom inently m entioned him four
tim e s d u rin g th e p ast m o n th ,
including a Page O ne story pegged
to trouble he ran into w hile trying to
turn around W aste M anagem ent,
the n atio n ’s largest trash hauler.
M iller graduated in 1959 from
Beaverton High School, follow ed
b y H a rv a rd Law S ch o o l an d
Stanford Business School. His early
ties to O regon keep pulling him
back, and he has a house in Sunriver
w here he also presides over the
C oos and Deschutes Railroad.
It may be the sm allest venture he
has ever led _ mostly because it is
confined to his basement.
M iller and his wife, M aggie, are
laying 800 feet o f nickel-silver track
to build a $1 0 0 ,0 0 0 m in iatu re
railroad. T he tracks have 80,000 tiny
steel spikes individually tacked to
20,000 tw o-inch pine ties that Miller
carefully sands and stains to look
authentic.
“ He has a fascination with order
an d re g u la rity ,” say s h is son,
Robert S. “ R obin” M iller III, a
Bandon attorney. “He likes to take
disorder and create a well-organized
by-the-clock operation.”
His reputation for restoring order
has helped th e elder M iller log
2,673,500m ilesoftravel since 1980,
w hich he m eticulously records on
his com puter for date, type o f plane,
airline, destination and m ileage.
He says he really w ants to retire for
good, but h e’s been w ooed out o f
retirem ent five times.
H e’s served as president o f M orrison
K nudsen in Boise, tw ice as ch ief
e x e c u tiv e o f f ic e r o f W a s te
M a n a g e m e n t, in C h ic a g o a n d
Houston, and as president o f Reliance
G roup Holdings in N ew Y ork, all
troubled companies, some on the brink
o f collapse.
“Steve is a one-person profession, a
rent-a-CEO,” says Gerald Greenwald,
a longtim e friend and associate w ho
recruited M illerto Chrysler and, m ost
recently, to A etna, w hich is fighting
takeover attem pts w hile trying to
reorganize.
M iller, 58, currently is an adviser to
the president o f troubled A etna, the
n a tio n ’s largest m edical in su rer,
based in H artford, Conn.
He credits m uch o f his success to his
father, the late Robert S. “Bob” Miller,
se n io r p artn er o f the p ro m in en t
Portland law firm o f M illerN ash and
legal counsel to G eorgia-Pacific.
In 1942, at age 31, M iller’s father
becam e the youngest law school dean
in the nation w hen he took o ver at
N o rth w e ste rn S chool o f Law in
Portland.
“ M ost o f my life w as trying to m ake
m y dad proud o f m e,” M iller said.
“T hat probably drives a lot o f people.
But it w as very im portant to m e to
succeed in his eyes, and it w as very
im portant for m e to succeed on my
ow n.”
W hen M iller w as still in high school,
his father took him to W ashington,
D .C ., where, after m eeting several
senators and representatives, he told
his son, “Y ou can be president som e
day if you w ant to.” M iller translated
that to mean, “ If I w asn ’t president,
I w ou ld n ’t succeed.”
But he w ent against his fath er’s
w ishes when he decided to enter
th e b u sin e ss w o rld an d le av e
Oregon, where his grandfather, D.H.
Miller, made the family wealthy with
the purchase o f the M oore M ill in
1948.
T he fam ily ow ned four m ills at one
time, but now manages about40,000
acres o f tim ber, m ost o f it near
Bandon on the O regon coast.
Mil ler has two brothers, David, now
president ofM oore Mill, and Randy,
a Republican state senator from
Lake O sw ego, and a sister, B arbara
Beale. The four m ake up the M oore
M ill board o f directors.
But M iller’s first jo b w as in D etroit
in 1968 with Ford M otorCo., leaving
him to climb the corporate ladder all
by himself.
“N obody in Detroit cared tw o figs
w hether I had a prom inent father in
P ortland,” M iller said. N obody
asked; nobody cared.”
M iller now spends m uch o fh is tim e
in N ew Y ork now adays, and at 6-
foot-4, tends to stand out in the
M anhattan crowd.
It’ s Mi 1 ler’s experience with bankers,
dating back to his C hrysler days,
that m akes him especially valuable
to com panies.
“ I know banks and how they behave
in stressful situations,” M iller said.
“ I talk their language.”
But lately, he adm its h e’s m ore
interested in things like getting his
m odel railroad into shape.
“T here are tim es w hen I get busy
and get frustrated, and ask w hy am
I doing this,” he said o f his post
retirem ent career as a corporate
turnaround artist. “I really w ant to
retire.”
Clinton touts importance o f Census 2000
A s he issu es a p ro clam atio n to
co m m e m o ra te A pril 1, 2 0 0 0 as
“Census D ay,” President Clinton will
call on all A m ericans to respond to
the census. T he U.S. Constitution
requires the federal governm ent to
conduct a census every 10 years, and
inform ation from the census is vital to
en su re fair rep resen tatio n in the
C ongress, to distribute billions in
governm ent funding, and to other
im portant decisions. Because the
1990census missed 8.4 million people
- including m any children, minorities,
and low -incom e Am ericans - the
C e n su s B u reau is eng ag ed in a
C ensus Inform ation A ffects V ital
D e c isio n s A b o u t O u r E v ery d ay
Lives.
E very question on the census form is
approved by C ongress and required
by law. These questions help the
g o v e r n m e n t a n d c o m m u n itie s
determ ine w here to build schools,
child care facilities, head Start centers,
hom es, hospitals, senior centers, jo b
tr a i n in g p r o g ra m , r o a d s , an d
s u p e r m a r k e ts . F o r in s ta n c e , a
question on the long form about
c o m m u tin g
tim e w ill
h e lp
transportation planners design new
roads and mass transit system s. T he
Information.
The President will reassure the public
th a t a ll c e n s u s in f o rm a tio n is
absolutely confidential and, by law,
c a n n o t b e sh a re d w ith a n y o n e
outside the Census Bureau for any
reason.
H e w ill add that C ensus B ureau
e m p lo y e e s are s u b je c t to s t i f f
penalties if they violate that trust.
T he President w ill also point out that
com pleting the C ensus 2000 form s is
not burdensom e: the short form ,
w hich the vast m ajority o f A m ericans
receive, is the shortest it’s been since
1820; the long form, w hich goes to
m assive m obilization effort to count
all Americans.
O nly about h a lf o f A m ericans have
m ailed in their census forms. N oting
th is, the P re sid en t w ill urge all
A m ericans to com plete and mail in
their form s or respond to the census
online (as vice President G ore has
done) by going to the C ensus web
page, w w w .2000.census.2ov. He will
also cal 1 on federal em ployees and hi s
C abinet to lead this effort by their
ow n example.
President will release a report from his
C ouncil o f Econom ic A dvisers that
d e m o n s tr a te s h o w b u s in e s s e s ,
c o m m u n ity o r g a n iz a tio n s an d
academ ics use census data to m ake
research, planning, hiring and other
critical decisions. A low response
r a te w o u ld p ro v id e in a c c u ra te
in fo rm atio n for th e se im p o rta n t
decisions that im pact our everyday
lives.
R eassuring A m ericans A bout The
C o n f id e n tia lity O f A ll C e n su s
only one in every six households, is
the shortest in its history. Every
question on both form s, the President
w ill note, has been review ed by
C ongress.
But m ore important, information from
the long form is critical for im portant
public policy decisions, from helping
co m m u n ities d esig n m ass tran sit
system s to providing 911 em ergency
services. T he inform ation also helps
the governm ent calculate cost-of-
living increases for Social Security.
Senior Property Tax deferral deadline is April 17
iO N T RlBUTEDSTORV
i or T he P ortland O bserver
For re se rv a tio n
&
in fo r m a tio n
p lea se call:
M y f y ' t y Ö wn -Cimo ó eivice
(503)
640*0251
T he O regon D epartm ent o f Revenue
rem inds taxpayers that April is the
deadline for filing applications with
co u n ty a s se ss o rs for th e se n io r
property tax deferral program.
“T he senior deferral program allow s
q u alified sen io r citizens to defer
paym ent o f their property taxes on
theirhom e,” explained Shirley Leiper,
su p erv iso ro fth ed ep artm en t” senior
D eferral Unit. “T he state pays the
taxes to the county, m aintains the
account, and charges 6 percent simple
interest, w hich is also d eferred.”
T axes and interest m ust be repaid
w hen the taxpayer dies, sells the
p ro p erty ch a n g es o w n ersh ip , or
ceases to live perm anently on the
property. To qualify, senior citizens
m ust be 62 years o f age or older by
April 15 o f the year they apply, m ust
live on the property, w hich is the
tax p ay er’s principle residence, and
m ust have a deed or recorded sales
contract. The total household income
m ust be less than $24,500 for the year
before applications. O nce on the
program , senior citizens need an
adjusted gross incom e o f $29,00 or
le ss to c o n tin u e to p a rtic ip a te .
Participants con com e in and out o f
the program ifth eirin co m eg o esu p o r
down.
A surviving spouse m ay continue to
defer future taxes if she/he is at least
59 A.
A new application is required for
surviving spouses o r in the case o f
rem arriage. Senior citizen can get
applications and inform ation about
the deferral program by contacting
their local county assessor’s office.
For inform ation, contact the IRS’s
Tax H elp line at 503-378-4988 ortoll
free within Oregon at 1-800-356-4222.
Portland from page 1
alw ays have, and they alw ays w ill.”
So w hat should m atter, Satcher said,
is how people intervene and respond
to m e n ta l illn e s s e s , s u c h as
depression. “It needs to be identified
and treated, and som etim es friends
and family are in the best position to
do that.”
I