WORD TO ROANOKE: JOB LOSSES CAN BE TURNED

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 6, 1993                   TAG: 9301060049
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
WORD TO ROANOKE: JOB LOSSES CAN BE TURNED
Although Roanoke is facing significant layoffs at Dominion Bankshares and smaller industries, the region's work force is "very self-determined and the people are constantly looking for means to improve themselves," said Cathleen Magennis, Virginia Secretary of Economic Development.
"You've got significant strengths here," she said in an interview Tuesday.
Observations gathered from about 10 trips to Roanoke suggest that new jobs are coming in "as other regions do not have," she said.
"You're highly diversified" in the Roanoke Valley, she said. Companies such as Vitramon Inc., a Roanoke maker of high-tech components for autos and computers, and Valleydale Foods Inc., a Salem meat processor, are expanding because of the quality of life, the work force and the cost of living, she said.
Magennis said the state is working as a partner with Roanoke-area governments and economic development officials to improve business conditions.
The Department of Economic Development has an industry retention group "working as hard to keep companies A special "rapid response team" is ready to move quickly when a company notifies the governor's office of a plant closing. as to get new business," she said.
As the state faces defense spending cutbacks at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, and in Tidewater and Northern Virginia, the reductions will leave "a highly trained work force, and that helps us attract new business," Magennis said.
A special "rapid response team" is ready to move quickly when a company notifies the governor's office of a plant closing, as required by law, she said.
Magennis came to Western Virginia for a public hearing of the Governor's Commission on Defense Conversion and Economic Adjustment. The hearing begins at 8:30 a.m. today at New River Community College.
The state can educate and train workers laid off from defense jobs "and we must retool" for other operations, she said.
Virginia can gain from the cutbacks by consolidation, Magennis said. For example, the combining of tactical and strategic operations at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton added 1,200 jobs there.
Her office is helping draft legislation to allocate $1.2 billion in federal money that's set aside to assist in downsizing of defense companies.
Magennis said another service of her state agencies is a series of forums promoting trade with Central America. The first was held in Northern Virginia and other meetings are planned in Tidewater and Western Virginia, she said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB