
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 28, 1993                   TAG: 9304280240
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

COX CABLE ASKS JUDGE TO RULE ON $25,000 DEBT

Cox Cable Roanoke Inc. owes a construction company more than $25,000. But rather than give it to Boeck Telecommunications Inc., Cox has handed it over to a court.

In a document filed in the Roanoke City Clerk's office, Cox asked that the court take the money and have a judge determine who should get it.

"We don't know who the money is owed to," said Cox Controller Phil Ahlschlager. Letting the court decide seemed the fairest thing to do, he said.

Last month, Boeck employees complained that the contractor owed them two weeks' pay. They said some of their paychecks had bounced before Boeck announced in mid-March that it couldn't pay them and closed the business. Boeck had said Cox owed the company money and that's why it couldn't pay its employees.

Listed as defendants are Boeck, four Richmond companies and one company in Colorado.

The document says Cox Cable hired Boeck Telecommunications on Aug. 27, 1992, to upgrade the cable system involving connections to homes. Cox said it experienced difficulties with delays and deficiencies in Boeck's work in January and February.

Cox received complaints from customers about the quality of Boeck's work and Boeck's failure to make timely corrections. It received information from suppliers about numerous outstanding claims against Boeck.

The document says Cox had to find another contractor because Boeck abandoned the project.

by CNB