ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 18, 1991                   TAG: 9104180038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEARBY EATERY SEEKS FRIENDLIER LABOR RELATIONS

Christine Corrieri may quickly get a reputation for making the picket line a better place not to work.

The new co-owner of Theo's Bar & Grill, a refurbished eatery at 801 E. Campbell Ave., spent the first day of a nationwide rail strike ferrying free coffee and iced tea to strikers in front of the 8 1/2 Street entrance to Norfolk Southern Corp.'s East End Shops.

"Just trying to be a helpful neighbor," Corrieri said Wednesday. "Some of them are our regular customers, so we've been keeping tabs on what's going to happen. We're going to support them like they support us."

Then, too, the proprietor is trying to rebuild the reputation of a place that a lot of railroaders had come to avoid before Corrieri and her partner, Ted Crouch, took it over in February. "It used to be a pretty rough place," she confessed.

Trainman J.D. Tucker is not a regular at Theo's, but he appreciates Corrieri's neighborliness. "It's very generous of them," Tucker said before returning to the picket line with Local 620 of the United Transportation Union.

When James Mutter, a striking carman with the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, reached for his money to pay for a drink, Corrieri cut him off: "Put your wallet away," she ordered, smiling.

By late Wednesday, Corrieri was still hiking up and down East Campbell Avenue delivering iced tea to striking railroaders. "We're just keeping them in coffee in the morning and when the weather warms up we're bringing them cold tea," she said, a box filled with cups of tea under her arm.

But beverage support - restrooms, too, because there are no portable toilets on the picket lines - doesn't necessarily reflect how she stands on the 3-year-old labor dispute.

"I don't know that much about the unions," Corrieri said. "I'm here to support the people who support me." Maybe that's why her mission will continue as long as the railroaders stay out, no matter what it costs Theo's Bar & Grill. 


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