PEOPLE WRITING FEWER CHECKS

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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 25, 1992                   TAG: 9202250036
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
PEOPLE WRITING FEWER CHECKS
Check clearings, generally a good indicator of local economic activity, were down 3.3 percent last week from a year earlier, suggesting both consumers and businesses are spending less.
Roanoke Valley banks last week exchanged checks worth $128.8 million, compared with $133.2 million in the same week last year. The figure was up 1 percent from the prior week, $127.5 million.
The decline came despite last year's inflationary gain of 3.1 percent in the consumer price index.
Clinton Brooks of First Virginia Bank, president of the Roanoke clearinghouse, attributed the year-to-year drop to the recession. He said people are not spending money as they have in the past.
Check clearings generally are considered a valid indicator of a locality's economy because they measure a broad spectrum of individual and corporate spending. But the figures for the Roanoke Valley could not be used as an indicator for the past year because of distortion caused when some area banks consolidated their sorting and exchange of checks at the check clearinghouse in Richmond.
A.C. "Rick" Wolfe, who is associated with the clearinghouse at Dominion Bank, said there has been no significant move out of the local check exchange in the past 12 months and the clearinghouse totals again indicate the amount of money circulating in the local economy.
It also measures the velocity, or turnover, of money. The rapidity of the money flow is affected by the economy.
Other updated statistics added this week on the regional economic indicators show:
The number of passengers boarding planes at Roanoke Regional Airport last month fell 10.5 percent to 20,295 from 22,679 in January 1991. The passenger traffic was off a dramatic 23.5 percent from 26,536 in December.

The number and value of building permits in the valley in January rose 24 percent and 33 percent respectively from a year earlier. Local governments handled 265 permits worth $5.6 million in January compared to 213 permits valued at $4.2 million during the same month last year. December permits totaled nearly $20 million, but that included major additions to both Roanoke Memorial and Lewis-Gale hospitals.

Norfolk Southern Corp. coal loadings fell 6 percent to 19,498 cars last week from 20,735 last year. The report for the prior week tallied 18,470 coal cars.

Appalachian Power Co. sold 307 million kilowatt hours of electricity in the Roanoke area in January, 8.8 percent more than the 282 million kilowatt hours in January 1991 and 286.7 million in December.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB