BY
MIlia
Shaw
BIZ OP SALESMAN BLUDGEONED • DISTRIBS BEAT l.A. TAX • OMEGA GAMES SEIZED • THE BAnLE OF
NEW YORK • ENHANCEMENT MAKER PUTS UP SHIELD • STERN ELIMINATES PINBALLS 0.} ANTI-GAME
LEADER GETS VICTORY • BURGLARS HIT CLEVELAND COIN • MIDWAY STOPS "HOW TO" BOOK • 'KONG'
SEIZURES PASS 1,000 • PARENTAL FEARS UNNECESSARY. SOUTHWEST CONSTRUCTS FACILITY
BIZ OP
SALESMAN
BLUDGEONED
A busine opportunity alesman who quit
one firm to work on his own aid he was
threatened by the principals of that firm
and then beaten with a lead pipe the
evening tho e threat were made.
Fred Ammond,a Minne ota video game
business opportunity alesman. said he
received three threatening calls. one each
from the president, chief attorney, and
owner of a firm he had ju t quit. The call
warned him not to continue selling video
business opportunitie on hi own .(The
name of the firm and individuals who
allegedly threatened Ammond are with-
held pending further police investigation .)
The last of the three calls was the mo t
viciously threatening, Ammond aid. The
firm' owner allegedly called him at
approximately 6 p.m . on day in mid-
February and told him he better not con-
tinue to compete with the firm he had just
left. Ammond aid his former boss told
him he had wiped out other competitors
and would do the same to Ammond .
''I'll get you, you on of a bitch."
Ammond said he was told . "I'm going to
take you out. After I break your arm and
leg, I'm going to take you out."
Ammond said he ignored the warning
and left hi room at the R amada Inn
located by the Minneapoli airport to
conduct interview that evening within the
motel with potential buyers for his video .
"After the e ion, I went down tair to
eat dinner and have a cou ple of drink in the
motel lounge," Ammond told Play MeIer .
"I left th e lounge a little after midnight and
stopped to buy a new paper. then tepped
into the elevator to head for my room ."
When th e ele ator reached the seventh
floor and the door opened, Ammond.
alone on the elevator, was greeted by a
16
young man with a lead pipe, he said .
Ammond aid he struggled with the man
but wa no match for the lead pipe. When
he regained con ciou nes later in the
ho pita!. he had already been through
surgery that required more than 100
stitche three layers deep to close the
gaping wound abo e his left eye .
Bloomington, Minn ., police aid their
investigation of the incident ha become
inactive because of the lack of evidence and
it limited resource.
"It wa a etup," aid Bloomington
police detecti e Laurila, "but pro ing it is
difficult . There i no corroborating e i-
dence. I doubt if Fred (Ammond) could
e en identify hi attacker."
So. currentl.
mmond' attorney,
teven Ya 'gur of Hoff & lien in den
Prairie. Minn., is pre sing uit against the
Ramada Inn for damages at the highest
level Minne ota law allow, "in e ce of
50.000." Ya gur aid the principals of the
firm mmond accu e of being re pon ible
will bejoined into the s uit "if a link ise tab-
lished by police inve tigation."
Because the firm Ammond accuse i
loca ted out ide Minnesota, the Federal
Bureau of Inve tigation has become
i n 01 ed in the inve tigation. That fact wa
confirmed by Laurila, who aid that
although the FBI doe not hare the
findings of any inve tigation with the
Bloomington police , it continue to
reque t information on the ca e.
The Minneapolis office of the FBI
refu ed to comment on the ca e.
•
DISTRIBS
BEAT
L.A. TAX
Two major di tributor, . A . Robin on
and ircle International. led a fight that
re ulted in the defeat of a propo ed $250
per machine tax on coin-op amu ements in
Los ngele .
The current I .75 annual licensing fee
for location will remain the ole financial
attachment the city make on amu ement .
The Lo Angeles ity Council wanted to
tax the game to benefit it general revenue
fund , but according to . A. Robin on's
Ira Bettelman. alifornia' tax reform bill.
the highl y publicized Propo it ion 13, was
pro iding a stumbling block .
ccording to the legi lation. California
itie cannot create a new tax without
taking it to the electorate. 0, in order to
pass a tax on the amusement industry, the
it
ouncil fir t (by July 14) had to
formulate a propo al to be put before the
oters at general election time in ovem-
ber.
To battle the tax . indu try repre enta-
tive hired an attorney who had had
pre ious dealing with the it
ouncil,
and a a re ult. wa aware of the working
of the oun il and wa s familiar with its
members .
hoo ing the right negotiator. according
PLAY METER. September 1. 1982