Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 24, 1994 TAG: 9405240102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Then he gave the main speech at the recently completed shell building for the Louisa P. Chrisley Fitness Center on the grounds of Pulaski County High School.
Proclaiming Virginia ``once again open for business,'' Allen credited leaders in the New River Valley with supporting state incentives with their own benefits package for Volvo-GM.
``The commonwealth would not have been able to do this alone,'' he said shortly after being brought to the plant by helicopter. ``Yes, the incentives were important but, believe me, if it was incentives alone, this company would be locating in North or South Carolina.''
Later, during his talk at a fund-raising diner in the fitness center, he said those states ``offered 10 times what we did.'' The determining factors, he said, were the quality of the work force and the ability of New River Community College and Virginia Tech to train new employees in state-of-the-art technology.
The $260 million expansion will mean more than 175 new jobs at the truck manufacturing plant, he said, plus hundreds more for support services in the surrounding area.
Allen said after the groundbreaking ceremony that it was obvious had the Pulaski County plant would eventually have gone there, too.
Jerry White, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, said it had been a year since Volvo-GM Vice President Frank Adams had outlined alternatives for the plant's future.
The board commissioned an economic impact analysis which "further confirmed our belief that keeping the expansion here was our only option," White said. "It is a win-win situation for all concerned."
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.