Date: Fri 04-Oct-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Trudeau-Amoco

Full Text:

Mired in bankruptcy court, William Trudeau, Sr, parted ways with the American

Oil Company (Amoco) earlier this week. The service station on Church Hill Road

is now under new ownership.

PNM Enterprise, Inc of Norwalk opened for business Tuesday morning. The

service station is now officially known as DBA, Newtown Amoco.

Richard Patchen, an Amoco dealer in Norwalk for 25 years, along with Bill

Galasso, Frank Mastroluca and Stephen Hill are partners in the business,

according to Mr Galasso.

Mr Trudeau, his wife, Barbara, and their son William, Jr, are the principals

in several Trudeau businesses that have filed bankruptcy petitions in US

Bankruptcy Court since the summer of 1995.

Asked if he was concerned about existing liens against the business from the

previous ownership, Mr Galasso said it was all being dealt with in bankruptcy

court.

According to Amoco's Gary Shute, Mr Trudeau of 88 Riverside Road, who owned

the service station for more than 20 years, was forced to give up the business

due to his financial difficulties and ongoing court proceedings. With Mr

Trudeau apparently short of both gas and cash, paper bags had covered the gas

nozzles at the service station more and more in recent weeks.

Mr Trudeau apparently filed a mutual termination agreement with Amoco in late

May. Since that time, Mr Trudeau continued to run the business until a new

franchisee could be found.

"We did not want to disrupt the service to folks who use the station," Mr

Shute explained.

Mr Trudeau was unavailable for comment Thursday morning.