March 30, 1992

The executive in charge of day-to-day operations at the Wordperfect Corporation, which makes the nation's best-selling word processing software, has been forced to resign. Some industry analysts suggest that W. E. (Pete) Peterson, who had been Wordperfect's executive vice president, is the first victim of the company's bruising battle to fend off an increasingly popular word processing package from the Microsoft Corporation.

Many of the largest banks in North America, Europe and Asia lent billions of dollars to Olympia & York Developments Ltd., the world's largest private real estate company, even though it refused to disclose all its financial obligations and would not let the banks review its books. Now the company, owned by the Reichmann family of Toronto, is being pummeled by $18.5 billion in debt, depressed property markets and a series of disastrous investments, and the banks are nervously lining up to see what their losses are likely to be.

Companies Many of the world's largest banks lent billions of dollars to Olympia & York, even though the real estate developer refused to disclose all of its financial obligations and would not let the banks review its books. Now it is being pummeled by $18.5 billion of debt, depressed property values and disastrous investments. Its banks are nervously lining up to see what their losses may be. [ Page A1. ] An emergency loan will enable work to continue on the Canary Wharf development in London only for the next month or so. [ D4. ]

Southeastern Turkey, swept by some of the worst fighting between Turkish troops and Kurdish guerrillas since the rebels' insurgency began in 1984, seems to be on the edge of full-scale rebellion. Neither side appears willing to yield. After clashes in recent days that reportedly left scores of people dead and wounded, the Turkish Government, despite censure from powerful benefactors like Germany, has imposed curfews in half a dozen towns, shipped in elite counterinsurgency battalions, arrested several hundred people and moved aggressively to track down Kurdish rebel positions.

Before there were nerds, before there was a Silicon Valley, there were Heathkits, which let tens of thousands of ambitious amateurs and aspiring engineers build their own radios, televisions and other electronic equipment. But this month, after 45 years in the business, the Heath Company is closing out the last of its kits to concentrate on faster-selling home-improvement products and educational materials. Heath's kit sales have steadily declined since 1981, victims of reduced leisure time, declining prices that make it cheaper to buy fancy radios and electronic equipment than to build them, and the seduction of technically oriented consumers by personal computers.

Finally, Down to Four The field for college basketball's Final Four was completed as Cincinnati and Michigan won to join Duke and Indiana for national semifinal games that will be played in Minneapolis on Saturday. SportsMonday, page C1. Pitching In at School Now more than ever in New York City, parents are stepping in to give the schools what the city cannot. But because more affluent parents can give the most, the contributions raise troubling questions. Page B1. Thawing of a Cold Warrior William Colby, once a general among cold warriors, now advocates a 50 percent cut in the military budget and advises Eastern European intelligence agencies. Page A10. Fewer Bucks, Fewer Books With an eye on the bottom line, publishers say they are turning away proposals they would probably have accepted a few years ago. Page D1.

Lou Corradi thinks of himself as a loyal union man, the son of a transit worker and a longtime supporter of Sonny Hall, the president of the transit workers' union. But Mr. Corradi could not even wait to bring his D train to a complete halt at the end of its run in Coney Island the other day before beginning a broad denunciation of his union and the tentative three-year contract that union leaders had negotiated with management. "The workers are disgusted," Mr. Corradi said. "This really struck a chord."

The marketers whose commercials will appear during tonight's telecast of the 64th annual Academy Awards on ABC are borrowing some strategies from the Hollywood studios whose films are vying for Oscars. To attract attention, many of their spots will be premieres or will exploit star power. It was the "theatricality" of Oscar night that persuaded Ian Schrager, chairman and chief executive of the Morgans Hotel Group in New York, to choose this evening to introduce three commercials for his Paramount Hotel. "We think the hotel epitomizes hotel as theater," he said. "And we wanted to try to do the same with the advertising."

As President Bush left his home this morning for a Sunday walk around Lafayette Park, his unsolicited question echoed the ones asked by all the others who have ever been captivated by a basketball, two hoops and the wondrous things that can happen in between. "Did you see the ending of the Duke game?" the President asked.

When Congress passed a much-celebrated welfare law in 1988, its supporters, including Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, said it would bring revolutionary changes to the system. But the first major study of its implementation says the program's accomplishments fall far short of radical change. While the law has succeeded in expanding services, the report found, it is failing to convert welfare from a system that permits long-term dependency to one that stresses skills, jobs and financial independence.

As details emerged today about local-aid cuts and new fees in the budget agreement reached by state leaders late Saturday, Mayor David N. Dinkins denounced the plan as too harmful to New York City and urged lawmakers to revise it. The Mayor's protests came as Senate and Assembly leaders of both major parties began drafting the bill intended to be New York State's first on-time budget in eight years. The 1992-93 fiscal year starts on Wednesday, with April 1 the legal -- if seldom observed -- deadline for the budget.

When Cincinnati and Memphis State meet to play basketball, it might as well be in a dark alley, the players say. The game becomes a street fight, an up-and-down, bump-and-grind, full-court affair where only the strongest survive. Well, Memphis State got roughed up. Again.