http://www.thecharlottepost.com
Cljarlotte ^osft
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2000
8A
STRICTLY BUSINESS
Former
Charlotte
Hornets
Honeybee
Michelle
Bagby (cen
ter) teaches
dance and
cheerleading
skills at
Bagby
Studios
Cheerdance.
Instructor shows off fancy footwork
By Paula Young
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Dance landed Michelle Bagby a
spot in the NBA.
Now it’s helped the former
Charlotte Hornets Honeybee
larmch her own business.
After three years of teaching
dance in a small room at a local
gym, Bagby, an original
Honeybee, now owns her own
studio: Bagby Studios
Cheerdance Inc. Her students
are children from kindergarten
through 12th grade and adults
trying out for professional dance
squads and cheerleading.
Babgy’s youngest students,
known as the Carolina Fly Girls,
dance at local sporting events,
and often advance on to high
school cheerleading teams.
“I love teaching the kids,”
Bagby said. “Out of everything,
this is the most rewarding thing
Fve done.”
Bagby is a one-woman team,
handling the studio’s advertising,
marketing and recruiting, but
plans to hire more instructors
and add a tumbling class that
could attract more boys into the
studio.
‘TSTow that I have more space, I
can do a lot more things,” she
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Building
confidence
in your
website
By Amanda Danchi
SPECIAL TO THE POST
Are you contemplating building
a Web site or enhancing your cur
rent one to sell products or ser
vices online? If so, you’ll want to
make sure that your site is
secure. Essentially, this means
having a system of controls in
place to prevent the inappropri
ate or illegal access to informa
tion provided by those who visit
your Web site and make purchas
es online. The North Carolina
Association of CPAs offers the fol
lowing advice on building a
secure Web site that can also help
build consumer confidence.
Ensure encryption
technology is in place
Encryption technology is one of
the most important security fea
tures to implement when setting
up.your site. Encryption technol
ogy scrambles information from a
readable form to a nomeadable
form for security purposes.
When consumers consider
using their credit card to make
online purchases, they often look
to see if the site operates with a
secure server. Secure sites use
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), a
type of encryption technology
that protects credit card informa
tion before transmission. There
are various hardware and soft
ware mechanisms that a busi
ness can use to ensure that their
systems are secure.
Locate a payment processor
If your Web site requires online
payment, then you’ll need a pay
ment processor. This provider
will set up a merchant accoimt
for you at the bank, install the
proper software and fraud con
trols on your site, provide sup
port, detailed reports and ensure
that your profits are deposited
quickly.
Finding a payment processor is
fairly easy, but you need to do
some research first. Here is some
helpful advice to locate a rep
utable payment processor:
Shop arormd for the best rates.
Expect to pay about 2 to 4 percent
per transaction. Don’t pay exces
sive set up fees (the going rate is
about $200-$250). Be cautious
about jumping into a lease deal.
Suggest trying out the equipment
first.
Post refund and
return policies
Many consumers shy away
from credit card purchases online
because they are unsure of the
basic return and refund policies.
Posting refund and return poli
cies, shipping time, and pertinent
business practices, as well as pro
viding e-mail confirmations,
demonstrates that a company
stands behind its product.
Merchants who disclose this
information up front are more
likely to win consumer trust.
Disclose privacy policies
A person’s name, address,
phone number, e-mail address.
Social Security number, and
other personal information, is
often needed when visiting or
purchasing online. Consumers
are generally hesitant about pro-
See SECURE/9A
SPECIAL TO THE POST
La-Van Hawkins alleges in a $1.9 biilion lawsuit that Burger King Corp. broke its promise to help open 225 restaurants.
An unsavory tale
Detroit entrepreneur sues
Burger King Corporation
POST NEWS SERVICES
DETROIT - A Detroit business owner
has filed a $1.9 billion suit against the
Burger King Corp., charging the compa
ny with breech of contract and violation of
the Michigan Franchise Investment Law.
La-Van Hawkins accuses Burger King
officials of luring him to their franchisee
fold in 1996 by promising the opportunity
to build 125 restaurants and buy another
100 within a five-year period and subse
quently reneging on the agreement.
Hawkins owns 27 Burger King restau
rants in Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta,
Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
‘Burger King needed an experienced
franchisee who had effectively operated
quick serve restaurants in their most
under served market, the inner city,”
Hawkins said. “They recruited me
because of my success with Checkers and
promised me 225 Burger King restau
rants in eight urban areas. They have
since done everything they could to stop
me from reaching that goal.”
Shaw University graduate and trial
attorney Willie Gary is representing
Hawkins. Gary is most noted for his
$500,000 verdict in Jackson, Miss.,
against the Lowen Group, a large
Canadian funeral home chain
In 1991, Hawkins opened his first
Checkers restaurant in Atlanta and by
1995 had interests in or operated 34 sites.
Hawkins alleges Burger King duped him
into joining the corporation to attract
their' larger franchisees to open restau
rants in urban areas, a market seen as
less profitable and undesirable.
“Burger King used me as proof that
inner city stores can make money,”
Hawkins said. “Now that I have proven
the viability of urban stores, they are try
ing to induce larger franchisees to pene
trate the urban market in an effort to
save the corporation money.”
Hawkins says Burger King’s breech of
contract has cost him substantial lost
revenue and investment, damaged his
reputation and impaired his ability to do
business.
Hawkins rose from a high school
dropout and former gang member to a
successful career in the fast food industry.
In Detroit Hawkins built new restau
rants in underserved areas and provided
nearly $1 million in scholarships to urban
youth.
Lawyer: Big tobacco hasn’t changed much over years
By Catherine Wilson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI - Big Tbbacco has not truly changed
its ways and should be punished financially
for decades of misconduct, an attorney seek
ing prmitive damages for sick smokers told a
jury Monday. A tobacco attorney countered
that the industry has changed a lot.
“They’re on the same page they always
were on,” attorney Stanley Rosenblatt said in
opening statements as jurors begin consider
ing a possible multibilhon-doUar punitive ver
dict. “These defendants most assuredly have
not truly changed.”
The same jury already has ruled against
the industry and awarded $12.7 nulhon in
compensatory damages to three smokers rep
resenting approximately 300,000 to 500,000
sick Florida smokers. As the tobacco response
got under way, lead tobacco attorney Dan
Webb agreed the main issue is “have they got
ten the message.”
“What this case is really about is whether
these tobacco companies have changed,” he
said. “There’s an enormous disagreement.”
He promised to present “significant and com
pelling evidence” about how the tobacco com
panies conduct their business today and
changes in conduct in recent years.
“There are new people at the top. There’s a
new attitude,” he said. “The companies are
walking the extra mile to deal with different
smoking and health issues.”
The case is the nation’s only statewide law
suit seeking damages for hundreds of thou
sands of people with smoking-related
injuries.
Actors’ Guild wars over Powell commercial spot
By Lynn Elber
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — The striking Screen
Actors Guild was at war Monday with Colin
Powell over the non-union production of a
public service spot for the retired general’s
youth charity.
The public service announcement for
America’s Promise, The Alliance For Youth
began filming in Maryland on Sunday, and
SAG vowed to picket the production in which
Powell was scheduled to take part.
SAG President Wilham Daniels sent a let
ter to Powell last week calling on him “as a
man of great integrity, who is a role model for
so many Americans” to join in honoring the 3-
week-old strike by coirunercial actors.
Powell and the group he has led for three
years, however, were not changing their
plans, according to Matt Lauer, a spokesman
for America’s Promise in Alexandria, Va.
“We’ve invested a lot of resources into this
effort and we had a deadline,” Lauer said,
with the spot to be unveiled at the June 26
National Community Service Conference in
Orlando. ‘We need to move forward as quick
ly as possible.”
The spot featuring Powell and about 260
performers is a call to
action asking Americans to
help young people in need,
Lauer said.
SAG said Powell was
scheduled to film on
Tuesday, when a picket
fine would be in place at
the production at a
Baltimore area reservoir.
Lauer said he could not
confirm the location or
Powell
Please see ACTORS/9A
Clinton
said.
Bagby, 31, has been a dancer
since seventh grade. She started
by participating in competitions,
then on to UNC Charlotte and
the Hornets, where she danced
for five years. After her stint with
the Hornets, Bagby pursued
other career opportunities.
Through a coworker, she was
asked to give private lessons to a
Please see FORMER/9A
Study:
China deal
may hurt
deficit
By Martin Crutsinger
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Supporters
of a landmark trade bill with
China have a ticklish problem -
the government’s major study of
the measure indicates it will
make America’s already huge
trade deficit with China worse
rather than better.
U.S. Trade Representative
Charlene Barshefksy, who
requested the review, calls the
finished product “a very incom
plete study, and to be frank, not
much uti
lized.” But
opponents
have gleefully
seized on the
report by the
U.S.
International
Trade
Commission
to do their
own analysis
projecting the
. China deal will result in the loss
of 872,000 American jobs over
the next decade. Preposterous,
says the Clinton administration,
which pubhshed its own state-
by-state assessment that pro
claimed the China deal would
“open new export and employ
ment opportunities in all 50
states.”
Meanwhile, both sides mount
ed a frenzied last-minute lobby
ing bhtz Monday in advance of
this week’s House vote on the
deal that would make perma
nent normal trade relations with
China. “We’re making progress,”
declared President Clinton. But
a dwindling number of undecid-
eds — perhaps a dozen or slightly
more — continued to hold the bal
ance with 218 the niimber need
ed for passage in the 435-mem-
ber House. Supporters hope for
at least 150 Repubhcan votes
and about 70 Democratic votes.
If such a margin materialized,
and supporters say it remains in
doubt - the measure would win
by just two votes.
Supporters did pick up at least
two formerly undecided
Repubhcans on Monday - Tbm
Campbell of Cahfomia and Jim
DeMint of South Carolina.
CampheU said he feared congres
sional rejection “would compel
the Chinese government to
respond with extremely high tar
iffs on American goods exported
to their markets.”
As in the huge debate over free
trade with Mexico in 1993, both
sides offer starkly different views
of the future if Congress passes
legislation that would end the
annual congressional review of
China’s trade privileges. Clinton
and his economic team contend
the China agreement is a no-
brainer. All the trade concessions
are being made by China. In
return for America’s support for
its bid to join the World Trade
Organization, China would dis
mantle barriers that U.S. corpo
rations and farmers have long
complained about.
The trade commission did pre
dict that U.S. exports would rise
by 10 percent with U.S. farmers
the biggest wiimers. But it also
predicted imports from China to
the U.S. would rise by 7 percent.
Please see CHINA/9A