American Forest Products

Three retired employees of a Northern California forest products concern, including two who are seriously ill, have filed a suit accusing the leveraged buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. of illegally cutting off the retirees' health insurance benefits. The retired employees had worked for American Forest Products, in which KKR held a controlling stake before selling it off to Georgia Pacific Corp. in April.

Three retired employees of a Northern California forest products concern, including two who are seriously ill, have filed a suit accusing the leveraged buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. of illegally cutting off the retirees' health insurance benefits. The retired employees had worked for American Forest Products, in which KKR held a controlling stake before selling it off to Georgia Pacific Corp. in April.

Barbara Perrine, credit manager of Western American Forest Products, City of Industry, has been elected president of the Building Industry Credit Assn., Los Angeles. Doris Levendusky was elected vice president, and Peter Lech, treasurer. New directors are Patrick Powers, Marceil Coor-Pender, J. Thomas Fagan, Gary Weis, Anita Hearne, Chuck Fleischner, Mike Gunderson, Ella Miller, William G. Thompson and Frank Collard.

Barbara Perrine, credit manager for Western American Forest Products, has been elected president of the Building Industry Credit Assn., succeeding Patrick Powers of C. L. Pharris Sand & Gravel. Other new officers, who also serve as directors, are Doris Levendusky, Decratrend Corp., vice president, and Peter Lech, Carrier Southern California, treasurer. Other directors are Powers, Marceil Coor-Pender, Vent-Vue Window Products Inc.; J.

Two dozen federal agents outfitted with side arms and bulletproof vests strode past a display of electric guitars signed by Joan Jett and Slash of Guns 'N' Roses and quickly seized control of the cavernous guitar factory. Some workers were caught sanding guitar bodies. Others held newly painted guitars between their bellies and cloth-covered wax wheels, gently swaying and pushing as they buffed the instrument in some kind of tuneless dance. Turn off your machines and go home, they were ordered.

The United States and Japan reached agreement today on removing various barriers to the sale of American forest products in Japan, U.S. officials announced. The conclusion of the negotiations on forest products clears up the final case cited by the Bush Administration a year ago when it placed Japan on a trade "hit list" of the countries with the most offensive barriers to sales of American products. U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills said U.S.

Final figures are expected to show that Japan's trade surplus with the United States last year soared to a whopping $50 billion, an increase of nearly one-third over 1984. With that kind of trend, can new congressional demands for protectionism be far behind? Probably not, but in any fresh clamor for cutting imports the old truism ought not to be lost sight of: Protectionism is never cost-free.

After he won his 800th game last summer, Forney Bashman began thinking about retiring from amateur softball. Bashman, 57, has been one of the nation's top pitchers for 34 years. He was recently selected for induction into the Amateur Sports Hall of Fame in Johnstown, Pa. "This is the first year I've thought about it (retiring)," Bashman said from his home in Stockton. "I've never once before admitted that I was ready to quit. "But playing is pretty time consuming.

President Bush touted the benefits of his proposed tax cut for small businesses Tuesday, but representatives of some of America's largest industries protested that there is nothing in the package for them. They quietly are working on a plan that also would cut the income taxes paid by corporations, seeking support within the White House and on Capitol Hill for their argument that a foundering economy needs the boost that lower corporate taxes would bring.

The Bush Administration appears to be heading into a barrage of criticism from its major economic allies over its decision to threaten Japan and other countries with possible retaliation if they do not eliminate trade barriers that the United States calls "unfair." The assault is expected to come this week at the annual ministerial-level meeting of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a forum of industrialized countries. The 24-country session begins today.