May 02, /KUTTAWA, Ky./--Assets of the former Diversified Decorative Plastics plant, now operating as Kuttawa Plastics, will be sold at public auction at 11 a.m. May 9.

The sale will take place by way of a telephone conference linking the Hampton Inn in Kuttawa and the law offices of Richards, Ralph & Schwab in Vernon Hills, Ill. The winning bidder will be required to pay 10 percent of the price immediately and the balance within three days.

A March 7 public sale of the plant was postponed amid a squabble between Kuttawa Plastics President Bob Parsons and a Chicago-area investment group that wants to buy the assets. Parsons obtained a temporary restraining order to block the sale.

Parsons said Monday that he and attorneys representing "both sides" have agreed not to comment until after the sale. They have previously said they want the plant to remain open and build on a work force of about 60. Attorneys for Parsons and the investment group, Kuttawa Plastics LLC, did not return telephone messages Monday.

A Chicago-area businessman, Parsons previously said the investors schemed to purchase the plant assets themselves after he sought to borrow money from them to buy it. The investors' attorney countered that Parsons wrongly assumed he owned the plant merely because he was the manager.

The investors bought security interests in the plant from chief lenders Wells Fargo Business Credit and General Motors who reclaimed most of the assets after the plant fell into financial trouble last fall. GM, which had been Diversified's largest customer with about 60 percent of its sales, grew dissatisfied with the plant's performance and pulled its business around Oct. 1.

Having closed in November, the plant reopened Jan. 14 with only a fifth of its previous 300 workers.