Business Notes LITIGATION

Bareknuckle competition is the credo of American business, but James and Linda Newton may have taken things too far. In a lawsuit filed last week, Procter & Gamble accuses the Parsons, Kans., couple of promoting their independent Amway distributorship by linking P&G to satanism. The Newtons allegedly circulated a flyer claiming that the president of P&G "gave Satan all the credit for his riches" and offering information on "alternative products." For more than a decade, P&G has been bedeviled by the satanism charge. Tales that its 108-year-old moon-and-stars logo was demonic forced the symbol off company packaging. Three previous rumors were traced to Amway distributors, who were repudiated by Amway officials.