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

DATE: SUNDAY, June 18, 1995                   TAG: 9506200007
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

BLACKSBURG - Jim Dymock, general manager of Davidson's on Main Street, isn't known solely for his sartorial sense. He's also a veteran observer of the town, and indeed, one of downtown Blacksburg's biggest advocates.

And now, he's the Greater Blacksburg Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Person of the Year.

Dymock, 65, has worked at the venerable Davidson's in Blacksburg for 36 years. He has seen enough of the town to lament some of the changes it has experienced - and he's seen enough, too, to get excited about downtown Blacksburg's potential.

"I don't think we'll ever have what we had when I first came here," he recently said, harkening back to the days when the downtown was a place of hardware stores, more men's clothing stores and fewer restaurants.

But he adds that Blacksburg still retains a "distinctive difference" from the malls.

Blacksburg can capitalize on its unique qualities through the ongoing work at the Lyric Theatre - "a great starting point for a revitalization of downtown Blacksburg," he said - and a proposed covered farmer's market on Roanoke Street, which could open as soon as this fall.

Dymock, who plans to retire soon from his managerial position at Davidson's and replace it with some part-time sales work at the store, said the town's business owners are another resource.

"I've been fortunate to work with a good group of downtown merchants."

Names and changes

The New River Valley Bureau of the Roanoke Times & World-News will have some new faces this summer.

Education writer Melissa DeVaughn, who hiked the Appalachian Trail with her dog two years ago, is venturing out again - this time to Alaska.

DeVaughn will leave this month after five years with the paper for a job with a newspaper in Kenai, Alaska. While at the newspaper, DeVaughn won the company's Landmark Award for feature writing for a series of stories she wrote while hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Lisa Applegate, who has worked in the Roanoke newsroom as an editorial assistant for more than a year, has moved to the New River Valley Bureau on an internship and has taken over the education beat from DeVaughn. Applegate is a 1992 graduate of Radford University, where she majored in journalism and political science.

Laura Zivkovich, the bureau's editorial assistant who handled education news and wrote the Class Notes column every Tuesday, has moved to the Roanoke newsroom to take a position as editorial assistant with the Neighbors section.

Hale Sheikerz has replaced Zivkovich as the editorial assistant handling education news. Sheikerz is also a graduate student at Virginia Tech, working on a master's degree in business administration. She is from Fairfax

Adrianne Bee, a senior majoring in English at Virginia Tech, has also joined the staff as the bureau's summer intern. Bee will write feature stories and cover government meetings during her 10-week summer internship. Bee is from Alexandria.

Completes program

CHRISTIANSBURG - Von Mills, administrative assistant at the Christiansburg-Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, has completed a three-year executive institute program from the Virginia Association of Chamber of Commerce.

Mills, who has worked for the Christiansburg chamber since March 1992, received a certificate for the program at a conference in Williamsburg in May.

Kathy Mantz, executive director of the Christiansburg chamber, said Mills has already suggested fund-raising possibilities that the chamber's board of directors will consider.