Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 22, 1995 TAG: 9509220086
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Westvaco Corp. said Thursday it will sell its corrugated-container division to the Weyerhaeuser Co. of Tacoma, Wash. Westvaco, based in New York city, operates 10 corrugated box plants, including one in Richmond.
The company anticipates no change in the production schedule at its Covington paper mill, where it makes 300 tons a day of linerboard, used to make corrugated boxes.
The purchase price was not disclosed.
Westvaco has operated its container division for more than 40 years.Weyerhaeuser operates 36 corrugated-container plants in the United States.
-Staff report
Incentive study taps Roanoke area
Roanoke County will be included in an analysis of incentives paid to industry being conducted for the Southern Industrial Development Council in Atlanta.
The council has collected data from 20 other localities in 17 states in a trial run of the study. Results will be discussed during the council's annual meeting, expected to attract 500 to 600 people to Myrtle Beach, S.C., Oct. 13-17.
Incentives take the form of land, buildings, roads, services and tax breaks given to prod a company to expand or build a plant in a particular community. Some have questioned whether local and state governments are too generous with these financial inducements, which come at taxpayer expense. Virginia is in the process of tightening its incentives policy.
A financial analyst will do a cost-benefit analysis of actual projects by comparing the incentives to the tax dollars the projects generate, French said.
Tom Ralser, director of the Economic Strategy Center in Atlanta, will do the analysis for the council, a 1,400-member association for people in economic development in 17 states in the Southeast.
Roanoke County was chosen because its assistant economic development director, Brian Duncan, is an alternate director of the council, French said.
-Staff report
Batten to head new Landmark unit
Frank Batten Jr., president and publisher of The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk since 1991, has been named executive vice president of Landmark Communications Inc. on Oct. 1. Landmark, based in Norfolk, is parent of both The Roanoke Times and The Virginian-Pilot.
R. Bruce Bradley, who has been vice president and general manager of The Virginian-Pilot since 1992, will succeed Batten as president and publisher. Bradley, 45, become general manager of The Virginian-Pilot three years ago.
In his new post, Batten, 37, will organize and lead a new media technology group within Landmark. The group will seek opportunities to develop new businesses and products using new and emerging technologies in media and communications.
Both Batten and Bradley have worked at The Roanoke Times, Batten as a reporter and advertising salesman and Bradley as advertising director.
-Staff report
by CNB