| Attention: |
Daniel
F. Duchovny,
Special
Counsel
Office
of Mergers and Acquisitions
|
| Re: |
Crown
Crafts, Inc.
Preliminary
Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A filed by Wynnefield Partners Small
Cap
Value, L.P. et. al.
Filed
July 3, 2007
File
No. 001-07604
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Very
truly yours,
/s/
Jeffrey
S. Tullman
Jeffrey
S. Tullman
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| cc: |
Daniel
F. Duchovny (with courtesy copy via Federal
Express)
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1.
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Please
disclose in the proxy statement that there is no assurance that
the
company's nominees will serve if elected to the board with any
of your
nominees. See Rule
14a-4(d)(iv).
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2.
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Each
statement or assertion of opinion or belief must be clearly characterized
as such, and a reasonable factual basis must exist for each such
opinion
or belief. Support for opinions or beliefs should be self-evident,
disclosed in the proxy statement or provided to the staff on a
supplemental basis. We note, for
example,
your assertions that (i) the company's ability to achieve market
penetration "continues to worsen," (ii) and your nomination of Mr.
Obus
and Mr. Wasserman to the company's board "has already borne fruit,"
(iii)
"having a staggered board tends to breed an atmosphere inside the
boardroom that serves to protect the interests of management above
those
of stockholders," (iv) leading independent stockholder services have
long
debunked the rationale for staggered boards as preserving director
continuity," and (v) "[m]odern governance thinking now recognizes
staggered boards [as an] old style entrenchment technique protecting
the
incumbent board at the expense of stockholder
democracy."
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3.
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You
must avoid statements that directly or indirectly impugn the character,
integrity, or personal reputation or make charges of illegal or immoral
conduct without factual foundation. Note that the factual foundation
for
such assertions must be reasonable and the factual basis must be
disclosed
in the document or provided to the staff on a supplemental basis.
Refer to
Rule 14a-9. We note your assertion that “discipline ... has been sorely
lacking” within the company's
board.
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4.
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We
note you refer security holders to information that you are required
to
provide and will be contained in the company's proxy statement for
the
annual meeting. We presume that you are relying upon Rule 14a-5(c)
to
refer to this information; if so, please note that we believe that
reliance upon Rule 14a-5(c) before the company distributes the information
to security holders would be inappropriate. Alternatively, if you
determine to disseminate your proxy statement prior to the distribution
of
the company's proxy statement, you must undertake to provide the
omitted
information to security holders. Please advise as to your intent
in this
regard.
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5.
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We
note that you may employ various methods to solicit proxies, including
mail, advertisement, telephone, facsimile, and personal solicitation.
Be
advised that all written soliciting materials, including any e-mails
or
scripts to be used in soliciting proxies over the telephone or any
other
medium, must be filed under the cover of Schedule 14A on the date
of first
use. Refer to Rule 14a-6(b) and (c) Please confirm your
understanding.
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6.
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Please
revise your disclosure to remove doubt from your disclosure of
beneficial
ownership. We note your repeated use of the phrase “may be deemed” with
respect to the participants’ beneficial ownership of shares of the
company's securities. Refer to Rule 13d-3 for the definition of
beneficial
ownership. Note also that the concepts of “direct” or “indirect”
beneficial ownership are not included in the definition. Please
revise.
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·
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the
Filing Persons are responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the
disclosure in the filing;
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·
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staff
comments or changes to disclosures in response to staff comments
do not
foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the
filing; and
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·
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the
Filing Persons may not assert staff comments as a defense in any
proceeding initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal
securities laws of the United
States.
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Wynnefield
Partners Small Cap Value, L.P.
By:
Wynnefield Capital Management LLC, its General Partner
By:
/s/
Nelson Obus
Co-Managing
Member
|
Wynnefield
Partners Small Cap Value, L.P. I
By:
Wynnefield Capital Management LLC, its General Partner
By:
/s/
Nelson Obus
Co-Managing
Member
|
|
Wynnefield
Small Cap Value Offshore Fund, Ltd.
By:
Wynnefield Capital, Inc.
By:
/s/
Nelson Obus
President
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Wynnefield
Capital Management, LLC
By:
/s/
Nelson Obus
Co-Managing
Member
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Wynnefield
Capital, Inc.
By:
/s/
Nelson Obus
President
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Channel
Partnership II, L.P.
By:
/s/
Nelson Obus
General
Partner
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/s/
Joshua H. Landes
Joshua
H. Landes
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/s/
Nelson Obus
Nelson
Obus
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