Enron's Azurix Unit May Exit $400M Argentina Concession
Dow Jones International News, 09/20/01
US FERC Slates Ethics Forum As Lawmakers Voice Concerns
Dow Jones Energy Service, 09/20/01
Investor Skepticism Grows Over Asia Pwr Deal Arrangements
Dow Jones Energy Service, 09/20/01
Enron says judicial probe into power purchase pact will delay resolution of dispute with Indian government
Associated Press Newswires, 09/20/01
Calif PUC Likely To Abandon Electricity Deregulation
Dow Jones Energy Service, 09/20/01
UK PRESS: Enron Withdrawal From India Plant Faces Setback
Dow Jones International News, 09/20/01
ATTACK ON AMERICA; Family, friends from far and wide feel pain of loss; Death struck victims on travels for work, play
Boston Herald, 09/15/01



Enron's Azurix Unit May Exit $400M Argentina Concession
By Tim Loughran
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

09/20/2001
Dow Jones International News
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- Tired of battling local government officials over the terms of its 30-year water services concession with Buenos Aires province, Azurix Corp., a unit of the Houston, Texas-based Enron Corp.(ENE), may just pack its bags and leave, a company spokesman said. 
Abandoning a business it paid more than $400 million to win just two years ago "is one of many possibilities" Azurix and Enron are evaluating for their Argentina operations, said John Ambler, Enron's spokesman for its Latin American operations. 
At the same time, Enron remains committed to expanding its power business in Argentina and across the region, Ambler said.
Earlier this month, John Garrison, the president and CEO of Azurix, flew to Buenos Aires to negotiate face-to-face with senior provincial officials in an attempt to settle a series of outstanding issues between the company and the province, Argentina's largest. 
After Garrison's visit, local newspapers cited provincial officials as claiming Azurix had given the province four months to meet the terms of the company's 1999 concession or face a $600 million lawsuit. 
Garrison was unavailable for comment on Azurix's complaints, the state of the company's current operations in Argentina or the status of its negotiations with Buenos Aires governor Carlos Ruckauf, a 2003 presidential candidate whose efforts to protect the operations of local companies during Argentina's 38-month recession have earned the enmity of several multinational companies. 
And Enron spokesman Ambler, aside from confirming that Azurix may abandon Argentina, said the company would not provide additional details about its negotiations for the time being. 
"We are continuing to talk with relevant officials in the Buenos Aires government to explore every opportunity to resolve the issues related to Azurix Buenos Aires. It's premature to discuss the details of those meetings," Ambler said. 
In Enron's 2000 annual report, officials said Azurix Buenos Aires lost $11.6 million on operating revenue of $89.5 million in the year ended Dec. 31, 2000. 
The company complained to shareholders that "Azurix Buenos Aires has not been performing to expectations," because provincial officials had not fulfilled their pre-purchase promises to complete important infrastructure projects or allow Azurix to raise prices to the levels set in the concession negotiation. 
In addition, provincial officials failed to deliver "complete billing and customer records" to Azurix, which has complicated the company's customer service and collection efforts, transfer important assets to Azurix Buenos Aires or pay assorted pre-takeover costs. 
In February, to accommodate Azurix's complaints and lower revenue, the company and provincial officials signed an agreement that would allow Azurix to raise prices and invest less than the $350 million it promised to spend when it won the water utility, according to the company. 
Azurix officials warned shareholders, however, that "there is no assurance...that these negotiations will result in a resolution satisfactory to Azurix or the province." 
Since December 2000, provincial officials have taken an equally hard line against Azurix, saying the company should lose its concession for its alleged failure to modernize and expand the province's network of water lines or improve service. 
Azurix owns 90% of the water company, which serves the largest and most populous of Argentina's 23 provinces. The company's employees own the rest. 
Last month, reports circulated that Azurix planned to sell all its Argentina operations to Societe de Amenagement Urbain et Rural, or Saur, of France, the company's partner in a 95-year concession to run Obras Sanitarias de Mendoza, a water company in the province of the same name. 
At the time, Ambler said he could not comment on a possible sale of Azurix assets in Argentina but did tell Dow Jones Newswires that Enron is in the process of selling Azurix assets worldwide. 
-By Tim Loughran, Dow Jones Newswires; 5411-4313-1918; tim.loughran@dowjones.com

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	


US FERC Slates Ethics Forum As Lawmakers Voice Concerns
By Bryan Lee

09/20/2001
Dow Jones Energy Service
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has scheduled an ethics forum next month as Senate Democrats voice concerns that the agency's former chairman, Curt Hebert, improperly communicated with Enron Corp. (ENE) Chairman Kenneth Lay.
In a letter Sept. 17 to current FERC Chairman Pat Wood III, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., cited a recent General Accounting Office investigation and requested the commission to review its ethics procedures and record-keeping requirements. 
"While the GAO concluded that it found no evidence that either Mr. Hebert or Mr. Lay violated criminal statutes or ethics regulations, the fact remains that GAO confirmed that the chairman of a federal regulatory commission discussed support for his continued appointment as chairman with the senior official of a major energy company regulated by the commission," according to Lieberman and Feinstein's letter. 
"We believe that such behavior undermines the public's confidence in federal regulators in general and in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in particular," the lawmakers wrote. 
FERC scheduled this week a forum on ethics issues for Oct. 17. This comes after FERC, within days of Wood becoming chairman Sept. 1, previously issued a revised ethics code concerning prohibitions against discussing matters before the commission, as well as other issues such as gifts and financial holdings. 
Of concern to Lieberman and Feinstein is a telephone conversation in February between Hebert and Lay regarding the Lay's political support for Hebert continuing to serve as FERC chairman. The conversation, which was first reported by The New York Times in May and subsequently detailed by PBS's Frontline documentary series, came amid growing speculation that the White House intended to appoint Wood to FERC and later make him chairman. 
Wood, a close associate of President George W. Bush who formerly chaired the Texas Public Utility Commission, was reported to be strongly endorsed by Lay, who was a major financial contributor to Bush's presidential campaign. 
Hebert, then the only Republican among three sitting commissioners, had been named chairman two days after Bush took office. The phone call to Lay apparently was part of what industry and congressional sources described as a concerted campaign by Hebert to win industry and Senate support for continuing as chairman. 
Hebert ultimately resigned, effective Aug. 31, to become Entergy Corp.'s vice president in charge of government relations and communications. 
Telephone calls to Wood, Hebert and Enron weren't immediately returned Thursday. 
According to a letter Aug. 16 to Lieberman from Robert Hast, GAO's managing director of special investigations, Hebert and Lay offered differing accounts of the telephone conversation. But both agreed that the conversation concerned Lay's support for Hebert continuing as chairman, and that they didn't discuss any Enron regulatory matters pending before the commission, Hast wrote. 
Hebert repeated assertions he made in interviews with the New York Times and Frontline that Lay had suggested he must alter his position on competitive access to the power grid in order to win Enron's support. Lay told the GAO he never tied Hebert's position on electricity competition to Enron's endorsement, but said Hebert told him the Houston-based energy company would "probably be happy with the direction in which FERC was moving," Hast reported. 
The letter went on to review FERC ethics regulations and pertinent federal law to conclude neither Lay nor Hebert "violated criminal statutes or ethics regulations." 
The GAO probe of Hebert's dealings is part of a concerted Democratic effort to question Bush administration energy policies as tainted by the energy industry's political contributions. 
Lieberman sought the GAO probe of the Hebert-Lay conversation in May, and has held hearings and issued press statements questioning FERC's response to California's energy crisis. 
In the House, meanwhile, Reps. John Dingell, D-Mich., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., have been waging a concerted campaign to force the White House to detail its private meetings held as the administration developed a national energy-policy blueprint, which was issued in May. 
The effort was spearheaded by Vice President Richard Cheney. The White House has refused the GAO's demands for information regarding the meetings as part of an investigation requested by Dingell and Waxman. 
In their Sept. 17 letter to Wood, Lieberman and Feinstein called for an ethics review and other measures "to ensure that communications between commissioners and the regulated community are conducted in a manner that leaves no question in the public's mind about the objectivity and independence of the commission." 
A FERC spokesperson said the revised ethics policy and the scheduling of the ethics forum were "in the works" prior to the Lieberman-Feinstein letter requesting an ethics review. 
"It's an effort to ensure public confidence in the commission's decision-making process," said Celeste Miller, the commission's spokeswoman. 

-By Bryan Lee, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6647; Bryan.Lee@dowjones.com

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	


Investor Skepticism Grows Over Asia Pwr Deal Arrangements

09/20/2001
Dow Jones Energy Service
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

SINGAPORE -(Dow Jones)- Foreign power companies are growing increasingly skeptical over the worth of contractual arrangements signed in Asia, according to delegates at an industry conference in Malaysia this week. 
The concern has been precipitated by a raft of forced "renegotiations" of power purchase agreements, or PPAs, in several countries across the region. Both Indonesia and Thailand are renegotiating contracts with independent power producers which effectively means lowering the prices.
The Philippines has stated its intention to follow suit. In India, the Maharashtra state electricity board is failing to honor its power purchase agreement with Enron. 
"India is off all foreign investors' radar screens at the moment" said one delegate. 
"There's no recourse to law... it's just not an option," said another. "Many of these contracts are worthless." 
However speaking at the same conference, the chef executive of Malaysia's Tenaga Nasonal Bhd. Fuad Jaafar said his company would "bite the bullet" and continue to honor its PPAs. 
"It proves to investors that we honor contracts" he said. 
Power purchase agreements are contractual obligations to purchase power for a set duration at specified prices, normally signed between state boards with responsibility for supply and independent power producers, or IPPs. 
The Asian financial crisis of 1997 led to a sharp fall in regional currencies against the U.S. dollar. Because most of the PPAs were denominated in U.S. dollars while revenue is in local currencies, the cost of PPAs became almost impossible for some national electricity suppliers to service. 
Ken Oberg, China Light and Power International's managing director, said further IPP investment in the region would require smaller plants and more domestically sourced debt. This would help reduce the currency risks in existing contracts, he said. 
"Investors will be far more skeptical over power purchase agreements in future... they certainly have proved not to be a guarantee of revenue" said Ken Oberg. 
A number of overseas companies left the region after Asia's financial crisis and some believe there will be little further IPP investment in the region for several years. 
"Relationships in Asia are so important... and the nature of contractual arrangements is different particularly from the U.S." said another delegate. 
-By Jeremy Bowden, Dow Jones Newswires; 65-415-4062; jeremy.bowden@dowjones.com -0- 20/09/01 11-24G

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

Enron says judicial probe into power purchase pact will delay resolution of dispute with Indian government

09/20/2001
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

NEW DELHI, India (AP) - U.S.-based Enron Crop.'s Dabhol Power Company said Thursday that the Maharashtra state government's order for a judicial probe into the company's power purchase pact was "inappropriate" and would delay any solution to the payment dispute between the company and the government. 
"This action is an unfortunate reflection of the great difficulties in progressing business in India," company spokesman Jimmy Mogal told The Associated Press.
On Wednesday, Maharashtra state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said that his government was setting up a commission of inquiry to probe all aspects of the power purchase pact between Houston-based Enron Corp. and the Indian government. 
Enron Corp., which holds 65 percent stake in Dabhol Power Project, is locked in a dispute with the government over nonpayment of electricity charges by the state-run power utility in Maharashtra state in western India. 
Work at the project has been suspended since May. Enron now wants to pull out of the project and expects the Indian government to facilitate its exit. 
Mogal said it was improper for the government to bring its executive powers to bear against Dabhol Power Co. since the company was seeking a solution through "previously agreed dispute resolution procedures." 
Chief Minister Deshmukh said the commission would question the government officials who had cleared the power purchase pact seven years ago. It would also investigate whether the electricity supply and demand forecasts made by Enron were consistent with the power purchase pact. 
The commission, to be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, will give its report within six months, Deshmukh told reporters. 
Deshmukh's announcement follows Enron's threat to pursue claims of up to dlrs 5 billion relating to the Dabhol Power Co. dispute. 
In a Sept. 14 letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Enron chairman Kenneth L. Lay had threatened legal action and questioned India's ability to honor its contracts, Dow Jones Newswires reported Wednesday. 
On Sept. 7, Vajpayee had said that he expected a quick settlement of the dispute, which involved the state utility's nonpayment of more than dlrs 21.7 million in electricity charges. 
Enron supplied electricity from naphtha, a petroleum product, for its sole customer, the government owned Maharashtra State Electricity Board, which has said it can't afford the prices negotiated in the contract. 
The contract included a federal government guarantee to cover any nonpayment. Enron has said that guarantee has not been met, despite two notices to the federal government. 
(str-rkm-kgo)

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

Calif PUC Likely To Abandon Electricity Deregulation

09/20/2001
Dow Jones Energy Service
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)--California's Public Utilities Commission is set to vote Thursday on a measure that could strip away one of the last vestiges of the state's failed experiment with energy deregulation, which was widely blamed for rolling blackouts and ballooning bills. 
Deregulation would be replaced with a system dominated by the governor, a new public power authority and three troubled utility companies. The vote comes as other states are backing away from the experiment that was supposed to revolutionize the energy industry.
Thursday's PUC vote could wipe out consumers' ability to choose their electricity provider and buy power directly from retailers such as Green Mountain Energy or Enron Corp. About 200,000 customers had switched utilities by September. 
Trumpeted at its creation in 1996 as a way to stimulate competition and lower electric rates, deregulation foundered after a year of soaring wholesale electrical prices and customer bills, a utility bankruptcy and energy shortages that led to rolling blackouts. 
Today, California's government is more directly involved in the power business than ever before and deregulation is dead, said PUC Commissioner Carl Wood. 
"There's no way in the world deregulation would ever get an affirmative vote from the people or its representatives," Wood said. 
The expected PUC vote will continue a trend that started in January, when the Department of Water Resources started buying a third of the power needed by customers of the state's three largest private utilities - Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. 
All three utilities had faced the possibility of bankruptcy because the deregulation law didn't allow them to pass rising costs on to customers. That and the record-high wholesale prices led the three utilities to run up more than $14 billion in debt. 
As their debt rose, their credit ratings dropped and some wholesalers refused to sell to them. PG&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April. 
Six days of rolling blackouts earlier this year cut power to more than 3 million customers and shut down refrigerators, ATMs and traffic signals. State regulators approved a rate increases of 30 percent or higher for utility customers. 
However, the threat eased after many residents followed recommendations to conserve, wholesale prices dropped and the state enjoyed an unseasonably cool summer. The last rolling blackouts were ordered May 8. 
Since January, the state has spent almost $9 billion to buy electricity and has signed at least $43 billion worth of long-term contracts that last until 2021. It also created a Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority, which can float $5 billion to build, buy or lease power plants. 
By creating the authority, consumer advocates said, the state moved even further from deregulation and created a government-run system that encourages renewable energy and stable rates. Unlike businesses, it doesn't have to answer to Wall Street. 
The state's decision to sign long-term contracts included an order that the PUC restrict direct access so the state wouldn't be stuck with a shrinking pool of people to pay for the energy it ordered. 
But by voting not to allow consumers to choose their power provider, the PUC may discourage the energy retailers that benefited from it from ever returning to the California market, said Rick Counihan, Green Mountain Energy's general manager. 
He said Green Mountain would "relocate to other states that are more friendly." 
Nevada and Oklahoma lawmakers delayed plans to deregulate their states' electricity market, citing California's troubles. Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin have slowed their deregulation plans.

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

UK PRESS: Enron Withdrawal From India Plant Faces Setback

09/20/2001
Dow Jones International News
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. energy company Enron Corp.'s (ENE) proposed withdrawal from a controversial power plant was further set back after Indian authorities announced a judicial investigation into the origins and legality of the project, the Financial Times reports. 
The probe into the $2.8 billion project, announced Wednesday, could prove politically sensitive because the terms of reference include the examination of the circumstances and individuals involved in approving the project, India's largest foreign direct investment, the paper reports.
Newspaper Web site: http://www.ft.com 
-London Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 44 20 7842 9269

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

NEWS
ATTACK ON AMERICA; Family, friends from far and wide feel pain of loss; Death struck victims on travels for work, play
JOSE MARTINEZ and MARK MURPHY

09/15/2001
Boston Herald
All Editions
020
(Copyright 2001)

American Airlines flight attendant Gretchen Sarmanian tortured herself yesterday over what to say. 
She had been asked to speak at a memorial service for a friend she considered one of the best in the business - Cape Codder Barbara Arestegui - and the process was wrenching.
"I think God puts the words in your head at a time like this," Sarmanian said. "She was so, so special, with a smile for everyone - absolutely everyone." 
Arestegui, 38, of Marstons Mills, was part of the ill-fated crew on American Airlines Flight 11 out of Logan International Airport that terrorists slammed into the World Trade Center. 
Hijackers seized and crashed three more jetliners Tuesday, killing 266 people on board and thousands more on the ground in New York and Arlington, Va. 
The moment Sarmanian heard an American Airlines official read off her friend's name on the list of Flight 11's crew will not easily fade. 
"Her name was the fourth one read, and I just broke down, the pain was so intense," Sarmanian said. "I was a basket case on (Thursday), but friends have rallied around. I didn't want to write anything that was too long about Bobby, because I knew I would start to cry." 
Arestegui was, according to Sarmanian, small enough to fit into the tightest corner of the tiniest airplane galley - a must with a large crew. 
"Such a little bundle of energy. You'd look up, and there she'd be sitting on the counter, smiling out at everyone," Sarmanian concluded yesterday, after finally composing her testimonial in one anguished, cathartic burst. 
** Mildred Naiman swam daily, drove her elderly neighbors around - often too fast, according to relatives - and insisted on flying alone to visit her sons on the West Coast twice yearly. 
The 81-year-old Andover woman was making the trip alone again Tuesday aboard American Airlines Flight 11. Now the very sons she meant to visit are trying to return home to Massachusetts to help deal with the widow's death. 
"She was 81 but you could never know. She was in better shape than I am," her granddaughter, Heather Naiman, recalled yesterday. "She always spoke exactly what she thought at that exact time. She was very open. She drove like she was 25 . . . like a NASCAR driver. She thought she was Terry Labonte or something." 
For years, Naiman lived next door to her granddaughters, Heather and Hope, in Methuen. She taught Heather to swim and play the organ. 
Naiman, born in Lawrence, is survived by her sons, Richard, William and Russell, eight grandchildren and three great- grandchildren - with another tyke on the way. 
** Even the simple act of answering the telephone was difficult yesterday at Xontech Inc. - the Washington, D.C., company that employed Leonard Taylor as a technical manager. 
The 45-year-old Andover native was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, which terrorists crashed into the Pentagon Tuesday, and along with him went the spirit of an entire company. 
"We're just trying to deal with things, and to be honest we're having a hard time of it," said a receptionist. 
Taylor was known as an athletic, outdoors-oriented sort who liked long bike rides and hikes. He played hockey during his youth in Andover and at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he graduated in 1979. 
His technical ability was understandable, considering that his father, Dr. Raymond L. Taylor of Swampscott, was a scientist who owned the company RLT Inc. for many years before his retirement. 
Raymond Taylor was at his son's home in Reston, Va., yesterday, consoling his daughter-in-law Karyn, and his two grandchildren, 8- year-old Jessica and 5-year-old Colette. 
"It's been a big, big shock to all of us," he said. "We're trying to get through this as best we can." 
** When weather delays meant he would be unable to make his Monday night Frontier Air connection from Denver to Los Angeles, Brian Dale decided to spend an extra night in Boston, rather than in Denver. That's what put the 43-year-old father of three young children on Flight 11 Tuesday. 
"Instead of being stranded in Denver, he decided he'd rather be stranded in Boston," Dale's older brother, Kevin, said from their hometown of Warren, N.J. "When all this happened, his wife (Louanne Baily) thought he was already in L.A." 
Dale, who graduated from Dartmouth and had a law degree from the University of Michigan, worked for the investment firm Blue Capital Management in New York and was on a New York-Boston-L.A. business trip. 
"That kind of randomness is a little difficult to reconcile," said Kevin Dale, a Coast Guard commander in Boston from 1983 to 1988. "The family is holding up and moving ahead. We're just totally shocked that this happened - the randomness of it all and the deliberate murder of these people." 
Kevin Dale last saw his brother vacationing at Lake Placid in New York over Labor Day Weekend. In addition to his wife, Brian Dale leaves 3-year-old Jacob and 18-month-old twins, Rachel and Russell. 
** At just 20, Eric Hartono epitomized the American Dream, friends say. He was in the process of moving from Boston back to Portland, Ore., when he lost his life aboard Flight 175. Yesterday, Oregon friends of the Indonesian-born Hartono remembered their friend as "a very friendly, very personable, very mature" young man. 
"It's hitting a lot of people hard," social studies teacher Larry Lawson said after returning from a one-hour prayer service at City Christian High School in response to President Bush's nationwide plea for a day of remembrance. "It makes us empathize with what's going on in New York City. There's already been a youth service dedicated to Eric." 
** Patrick Currivan, 52, left Winchester for a job in Paris last October but didn't sell his local digs. He was here visiting friends last weekend and was one of the victims of the terrorist attack on American Flight 11. Currivan, a native of Paris, lived in Winchester for five years. The answering machine at that home, with his voice on it, remained active three days after his death. 
** Mary Alice Wahlstrom, 75, of Kaysville, Utah, was, according to family members, "scared to death of flying." 
Still, she accompanied her daughter, Carolyn Beug, to the Boston area to drop off her twin grandaughters at the Rhode Island School of Design. 
She called her son Monday to tell him she was homesick and never leaving home again. On Tuesday, Wahlstrom and Beug died aboard Flight 11. 
"You can't believe that it happened," her grandson, Nathan Wahlstrom, told the Salt Lake Tribune. "We all have to go, but not like that." 
Beug, 48, of Santa Monica, Calif., was a filmmaker and video producer who won an award for the 1990 Van Halen video "Right Now." 
She was writing a children's book that was to have been the story of Noah's Ark, written through the eyes of Noah's wife. 
Beug is survived by her husband John, daughters Lauren and Lindsey, and son Nicky. Wahlstrom leaves her husband of 52 years, Norman, four sons and 13 grandchildren. 
** Myra Aronson, 52, of Charlestown, had worked in public relations for the Cambridge division of Compuware since May 2000. She was a passenger on Flight 11, along with co-worker Graham Berkeley, 37, of Boston. 
"We are devastated by this loss and our sympathies go out to the families and friends of Graham and Myra," Compuware spokeswoman Lisa Elkin told the Cambridge Chronicle. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them." 
** Chelmsford-native Andrew Curry Green and his boss at eLogic, Jeffrey P. Mladenik, were headed back to the West Coast aboard American Flight 11. Green was 34. Mladenik was 43. 
"Everything Andrew did came straight from the heart," said Carl Midson, who took over as interim CEO after the loss of Mladenik. "His easygoing, fun loving, radiant personality touched many of his co- workers in the office. . . . He will be fondly remembered and sadly missed by us all." 
Green, who leaves his wife Shannon in Los Angeles, began work at Cahners Business Information family of publications and Web services in September 1999 after 11 years of directing software development elsewhere. 
Mladenik, of Hinsdale, Ill., joined Cahners in 1998 after working in marketing at Tripp Lite Manufacturing and Toshiba America Electronic Components. He is survived by his wife Sue and four children. 
** Brother Roger Argencourt of Bishop Guertin High School had no trouble remembering Brian Kinney, 28, of Dracut, who died aboard United Flight 175. 
"He was not the type of kid who would be easy to forget," Argencourt said. "He was a nice kid, he never had a down day and he was always jovial. I had him in a couple of classes and he was a good student, but he had one of those amazing personalities that everybody liked." 
Kinney was a class officer, a member of the student council and a four-year player on the varsity baseball team. His prowess on the diamond earned him the Coaches Award for baseball. Kinney's brother, Tim, also attended Bishop Guertin. 
Kinney earned his bachelor of science degree at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and he worked in the Boston office of PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the past seven years. 
** Nicholas Humber, 60, of Newton was en route to Los Angeles aboard American Flight 11 to complete his consultant work for the Enron Corp.'s attempt to solve the California energy crisis. 
Humber owned Brae Burn Management where he worked on energy and environmental issues. He also was a member in good standing with the Environmental Business Council of New England, a diverse group of 200 companies connected through environmental issues. 
The council's president, Daniel K. Moon, had known Humber for more than 30 years. The two men worked together during the formative years of the Environmental Protection Agency. 
"I've known Nick for many years from the EPA in the early '70s when I was in Boston and Nick was in Washington," Moon said. "That was a very dynamic time and it's still a dynamic time, but we are moving in a different direction. 
"We accomplished a lot, that was the beginning of the movement and we got the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act." 
** Dorothy A. Dearaujo was returning to Los Angeles on United Flight 175 after a monthlong stay with her son Tim in Bedford. Her friends in Long Beach, Calif., described the 82-year-old Dearaujo as an independent women, a world traveler and an accomplished artist that specialized in water colors. 
** Maclovio "Joe" Lopez Jr. was a Los Angeles-based construction worker who was on temporary assignment in Boston. Lopez had worked throughout the United States building underground water lines. He lived in Norfolk, Calif., with his wife Rhonda, daughter Dannette, 21, and son Joseph, 18. He was returning home on United Flight 175. 
** Barbara Keating was returning home to Palm Springs, Calif., after a holiday on Cape Cod and a visit with family on the New Jersey shore when she boarded Flight 11 at Logan International Airport. 
The 72-year-old widowed grandmother and mother of five grown children was an active member of St. Theresa's Catholic Church. For eight years, Keating had worked with the Altar Society - the "ladies guild" - while assisting the nonprofit Catholic Charities group. She volunteered every weekday morning for the past six months without fail. 
Tuesday night about 300 parishioners gathered at St. Theresa's to pray for Keating and the other victims. 
** Alona Avraham, 30, of Israel, was making her first visit to the United States. On the 11th day of her American sojourn, she boarded United Flight 175 at Logan Airport. Avraham is a descendent of Bombay Jews who immigrated to Israel in the 1950s. 
** Daniel Brandhorst, his partner of 14 years, Ronald Gamoba, and their blue eyed, 3-year-old adopted son, David Brandhorst, perished together on United Flight 175. Brandhorst was a lawyer and accountant for PriceWatherhouseCoopers. Gamboa was a Gap manager. They were returning home to LA from a vacation in Massachusetts. 
** Tim Ward, 38, of San Diego was returning home to California alone after spending a working vacation in Boston with his girlfriend, Linda Brewton. Brewton, who works for Cisco Systems, was in Boston attending business meetings. Ward was an executive at Rubio's, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based restaurant chain. He worked for the company for 14 years. 
** A retired chemical engineer, Gerald Hardacre, 62, was returning to his home in Carlsbad, Calif., on American Flight 11. He is survived by his wife, daughter and stepdaughter. The family, reached by phone yesterday, respectfully declined to comment. 
** Jessica Sachs, 23, of Billerica, was an accountant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers on her way to Los Angeles for business aboard Flight 11. 
Her family lived in Rochester, Minn., for 12 years before relocating to Billerica. Sachs was the youngest of Stephen and Karen Sachs' three children. Her brother Eric lives in San Antonio, Texas. She has a sister, Kathy Brower, who lives in Burnsville, Minn. 
John Connolly, Steve Conroy, Gus Martins, Mike Shalin and wires contributed to this report.

Caption: A FRIEND'S PRAYERS: Frank Ciampa prays at the cross atop Orient Heights yesterday. His close friend and former Winthrop resident Kathleen Nicosia was an attendant and died Tuesday on Flight 11. STAFF PHOTO BY PATRICK WHITTEMORE; CAROLYN BEUG: Filmmaker had dropped twin daughters off at Rhode Island School of Design.; MILDRED NAIMAN: Andover woman was headed to the West Coast for annual visit with her sons.; MARY ALICE WAHLSTROM: Accompanied granddaughters to RISD despite fear of flying.; DOROTHY DEARAUJO: Accomplished artist was returning from stay with son in Bedford.; LEONARD TAYLOR: Athletic Andover native worked for Washington, D.C., company.; BRIAN DALE: Last-minute change of plans put father of three on fateful Flight 11.; MACLOVIO LOPEZ JR.: California construction worker had been on temporary assignment in Boston. 
Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.