Sometimes, Crime Does Pay

It’s obvious now that fraud was pretty easy in the savings and loan business. But how easy was it?

Warren Buffett, perhaps the nation’s most successful professional investor, may have put it best when he was discussing with a friend a troublesome feature of S&Ls;: The federal government guarantees deposits but has no control over who gets the loans.

“It doesn’t surprise me that crooks went into the savings and loan business,” said Buffett, who controls Mutual Savings & Loan Assn. in Pasadena. “What I don’t understand is why they went anyplace else.”

No Half-Baked Idea

Here’s evidence of a warming trend in the home redecorating market: An artist has figured out how to sell old stoves for $2,000.

Matthew Fassberg said he “wanted to do something crafty--but not tiny, like jewelry.” So he found an old, 1950s-vintage porcelain stove, restored and refinished it in brilliant colors, and started a company called OvenArts Ltd. in his West Los Angeles garage. “I made the first one for fun,” he said.

So far, Fassberg, who is also a writer and video tape editor, has sold four of the custom-made appliances he calls “functional art.” Recipes not included.

Lucky Gamble in Vegas

With earnings suffering from the cost of maintaining two separate California food chains, it’s no wonder that American Stores is salivating at the thought of eventually merging Alpha Beta with its more successful Lucky operation.

For months, the union has been prohibited because of an antitrust suit filed by California Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp. But in Las Vegas, where four Alpha Beta stores not covered by the legal action were converted to the Lucky banner on Feb. 2, the company has shown sales gains of 10%.

Speaking to American Stores shareholders at last week’s annual meeting in Newport Beach, Lawrence Del Santo, Lucky’s chief executive, credited the improvement to a move to Lucky’s consistent low price strategy and away from Alpha Beta’s policy of doubling coupons and pricing some items quite low to draw shoppers.

Having Otter Plans

Exxon has reportedly spent $5 million to clean up sea otters who swam into its Alaskan oil slick in March--but that may be just the start of the price the furry mammals will exact.

Three California veterinarians who directed otter-cleaning centers at Prince William Sound recently urged the California Coastal Commission to plan for a big spill here by making oil companies put sizable gobs of emergency money aside.

To start, said Randall Davis of the Sea World Research Institute in San Diego, how about two mobile otter-rehabilitation centers along the coast at a cost of $1 million each?

Thomas D. Williams, veterinarian at Monterey Bay Aquarium, also told the commission that because hundreds of otters died in Alaska, animal rescue authorities should have more clout in the cleanup of spills--including the right to decide the fate of a damaged tanker.

“If there’s no way to save the lives of 1,500 otters other than setting fire to the ship,” he said, “then so be it.”