.V I" ' state / national August 25, Wall Street trading frantic Prime interest rates drop Would-be robber slain after taking hostages United Press International Dropping interest rates have “thrown a life jacket” to frus trated potential homebuyers and are bringing smiles and frantic trading to Wall Street. Both the Federal Housing Authority home mortgage loans and the Veterans Administra tion guaranteed housing loans drop to 14 percent today, the lowest rate in 16 months, the De partment of Housing and Urban Development said. Continuing declines in other interest rates, most notably the prime rate, rolled the stock mar ket’s summer rally into high gear Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average soared 21.88 points to an eight-month high on 110.3 million shares, the second busiest session in Wall Street’s history. Acting HUD Secretary Donald Hovde said Monday the 1 percent drop in the FHA home loan rate “is good news not only for the housing indus try but for many American fami lies which have been kept out of the home-buying market.” He added: “While we’re not out of the woods yet, we certain ly are headed in the right direc tion.” The government-subsidized rates, which apply to about 11 percent of mortgage loans, usually are available about 1 per centage point cheaper than commercial mortgage loans, which have dipped to 15 percent in parts of the country. “The markets have thrown a life jacket to home buyers and sellers who have been under wa ter for months,” said Mark Riedy, executive vice president of the Mortgage Bankers Asso ciation, representing 1,900 lending institutions. Four injured in house blast United Press International ALLEN — Three family members were in critical condi tion Tuesday and a fourth was in a burn center with injuries from a house explosion, which may have been sparked by an elec trical appliance and fed by gun powder. Hospital officials said Bryce Lank, 37; his wife, Sue, 32, and one of their daughters, Tammy, 12, were in Parkland Hospital at Dallas in critical condition. Tif fany, 11 months, was at the Shrine Burn Institute in Galves ton, her condition unknown. Fire Chief Ronald Gentry lives only a block from the four- bedroom brick home in Allen north of Dallas. He heard the fire call and ran to the Lank home where he found all four sitting in the front yard “in a state of shock.” Gentry said Tuesday he doesn’t know how they got out of the house, but at the hospital Lank said “he threw them out of the house, but we’re not sure ex actly who he was talking about.” The force of the explosion, which destroyed the $>85,000 house, could have thrown some of them outside, he said. Panes of window glass were found 35 feet away in the street. The cause of the explosion has not been determined, but the source was apparently in a northwest room wnere Lank, a gun enthusiast, stored gunpow der for reloading ammunition. Gentry indicated two electric al appliances, a deep freeze or a computer, which were also kept in the northwest room might have caused the explosion. The gunpowder and ammunition could have fueled the explosion, he said. The family dog, a German shepherd named Gretchen, was killed. Number of rigs at two-year low United Press International HOUSTON — Drilling activ ity in the United States last week dropped to its lowest level since January 1980 with 2,600 rotary rigs working, Hughes Tool Co. reported Tuesday. The total is 45 less than last week’s total and 1,551 less than a year ago when 4,151 rigs were drilling. Since the end of 1981 HEALTH INSURANCE when a record 4,530 rigs was set, the count has dropped 43 per cent. Hopes for an upturn in the near future are pegged to a his torical year-end increase when operators will begin drilling to meet terms of lease agreements. Fred Z. Mills, vice president of Rotan Mills Inc. in Dallas pre dicted Monday the number of rigs drilling will increase to 2,900 by December. HEALTH INSURANCE ALLEN DEPENDENT Oldsmobile COVERAGE Cadillac Substantial savings for bene fits and rates. Call 822-2774. Honda 18714 SALES - SERVICE “Where satisfaction is standard equipment’’ AUTO INSURANCE FOR AGGIES: Call: George Webb 2401 Texas Ave. Farmers Insurance Group 3400 S. College 823-8051 779-3516 Wednesday night Nuts & Bolts Night Girls get Nuts Guys get Bolts Find your fit and win a free drink each. Drinks 2 for 1 till 10 p.m. Dallas Night Club In the Duex Chene Complex Behind K-Mart, College Station 693-2818 The hew mortgage rate, the lowest since April 13 last year, is “a threshold number that should bring a steady stream of home buyers back into the mar ket,” said Riedy, whose associa tion represents mortgage len ders. But Jay Shackford, spokes man for the National Associa tion of Home Builders, the largest construction trade group, said the latest decline in rates is good news, but will not spark a surge in home buying by itself. “We’re hopeful that the trend continues,” he said. “Obviously that’s going to be good for hous ing. But we don’t expect any bounce back. The economy is too weak at this stage.” On Wall Street, institutional investors, fearful of missing a major move, continued to dominate the emotion-packed trading. But analysts said there were signs the little guy w^s be ginning to buy as the paper value of all New York Stock Ex change issues increased by $25.6 billion Monday. Interest rates, which influen tial Salomon Brothers econom ist Henry Kaufman predicted last week would drop because of the weak economy, continued their month-long drop. Banks adopted a 13.5 percent prime rate. United Press International HOUSTON — A police sharpshooter shot and killed a would-be robber who held at gunpoint one hostage he yanked from a fast-food re- stauarnt early Tuesday. Police officers surround ing the restaurant tried nego tiating with the man for two hours, but he continued to threaten the lives of three hos tages and the officers who stood 30 feet from the The decline in the FHA rate was the second in two weeks and widely anticipated, following eased credit pressures tint prompted the latest decline iu the benchmark prime rate. gunman. Police refused to release the name of the man felled by a single shot from a Special Weapons and Tactics Squad officer early Tuesday. Investi gators said the two women and one man hostages taken by the man during the appa rent aborted robbery attempt were freed unharmed. “What we have here is basically a robbery that went bad,” said police spokesman Larry Troutt. “There was not much else to do, he kept threatening the (male) hos tage.” Officers said the incident began about 10:30 p.m. Mon day when police interrupted a robbery attempt at the north Houston restaurant. The man took two restaurant em ployees and a security guard hostage. Two cooks and a customer who fled the restaurant re ported they heard two gun shots. One of the cooks, Steve Garcia, said he threw the si lent alarm. Garcia said one shot was fired to get everybody 1 !;- lion and then the unidts; man ordered the s® guard to lock the door. The gunman becamtj when he discovered tilts money was locked ini A SWAT team sum the restaurant and ] negotiations with thtj man. After about two In the man leftthroughtlitfij door of the restaurant revolver pointed at the* ity guard’s head. He reportedly had® gun tied to his haodJ pointed at the hostage^ Police ordered then stop and surrender,and.;! he refused, the order| given to fire one shot, \< said. Let 's Go Krogerl HINPIL INC...nAfUM or IMi WHK * PAK 12 OZ. CANS TEXAS 24/12 OZ. CANS CASE BAKERY SPECIALS CAKE $139 H Hamburger Buns AS: 69* eommrr ovm «mSat moked YOUR KROGER PHARMACIST CAN SAVE YOU UP TO M% ON YOUR PRESCRIPTION! 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