THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, September 19, 1994             TAG: 9409170521
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY          PAGE: 15   EDITION: FINAL 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   56 lines

MID-ATLANTIC

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Milliken & Co. contends a North Carolina yarnmaker conspired with Milliken workers to haul away good yarn and fabric marked as waste.

Milliken filed a federal lawsuit for nearly $1 million, alleging Richard S. Searcy paid workers to obtain good materials at a discount. The suit alleges Searcy, owner of Searcy Yarn. Co., of Columbus, N.C., resold the materials to textile brokers, costing Milliken about $312,000. North Carolina hotels had a good quarter

RALEIGH - North Carolina hotels and inns posted strong occupancy rates in April, May and June, North Carolina State University reported.

The average lodging occupancy rate for the quarter was 58.65 percent, compared to 50.57 percent last year, associate professor Larry Gustke said.

``Indications are that this has been the best summer in years for many tourism operators in North Carolina,'' Gustke said. ``Attendance is down slightly at some attractions, but overall it's a very positive picture.'' First BMW car rolls off S. Carolina assembly line

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - BMW rolled its first luxury car off the new assembly line with no fanfare.

``We're building cars fairly slowly,'' BMW spokesman Bobby Hitt said. ``When we're ready from a quality standpoint we'll go to three cars a day, then four.''

A four-door white 318i model was the first car off the assembly line in the $400 million plant built by the German automaker.

BMW intends to assemble 400 cars a day, but first wants to make sure the new plant can turn out the simplest version of BMW's least-complicated model, the 318i.

In other Mid-Atlantic developments:

Oakwood Homes Corp. of Greensboro, N.C., filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to $75 million in convertible subordinated debentures.

Metrocall Inc. of Calabasas, Calif., a paging and wireless-messaging services firm, bought First Page U.S.A. of Alexandria, Va., for about $105 in stock and assumption of debt.

McCormick & Co. of Sparks, Md., bought the dessert business of Traders Pty. Ltd., Sydney, Australia, for an undisclosed amount.

Engineering Science Inc. of Pasadena, Calif., part of Parsons Corp., signed an environmental engineering contract with the National Guard Bureau, Falls Church, Va., worth up to $50 million. by CNB