Talk about a high-performance engine! Adelphia should get out of the communications infrastructure business and start doing PR full time!

At 7:11 pm on Tuesday, this story hit the AP wire:

A shareholder lawsuit accused Adelphia of misleading stockholders about its financial condition by failing to disclose billions of dollars of off-balance-sheet debt ... accusing the company ... of issuing misleading statements. ... stock dropped from $20.39 on 3/26 to $13.12 on 4/1 to $11.83 on 4/2 ... incurred off-balance-sheet debt of $2.3B ... announced Monday its annual 10-K financial report was being delayed to review accounting for the debt.

Understandably, this news must have ruffled feathers at the company. So, after some poor soul no doubt spent a long night at the office, this story hits the wire at 12:47 am Wednesday morning:

Cable Company Keeps Small - Town Touch

Adelphia may be the sixth-biggest cable television company in the country, but founder John Rigas and family stay close to their roots in rural Coudersport, Pa., where Adelphia began 50 years ago as a $300 venture ...

The company has kept its headquarters in Coudersport, about 70 miles north of State College near the New York border, where Rigas, his sons and their families are familiar faces.

A town resident said: "The sons grew up here, they went to high school with us Their homes are right here. If we pass on the street, we say hello. ... John Rigas came to my dad's funeral and two of his sons came. That's the kind of community it is."

... gradually built their community antenna association into a larger cable operation ... They named their company "Adelphia," Greek for "brothers." ... branched out into sports properties ... John Rigas reached a handshake deal to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates ... only to have a California businessman outbid him ... family is involved in local affairs ... a member of the Rotary Club ... and the local hospital advisory committee ....

It's too bad this strategy won't work for Global Crossing ... but it'd be a hard sell to convince people that a firm with the word "Global" in its name has any of sort of small-town charm.