Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 29, 1995 TAG: 9510310010
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
PULASKI - Local Wal-Mart managers said this week that customers are welcome to write down prices on items in their stores.
"As far as price checking, they can write down anything they want," said Ginny McCoy, manager of the Pulaski Wal-Mart.
The question has been in the news since a woman who was price checking in a Florida Wal-Mart recently was escorted out of the store. In the New River Valley, a radio station sent a reporter to the Pulaski Wal-Mart, where the reporter did a live, 15-minute broadcast from the store as he wrote down prices. The reporter also was asked to leave.
"It was live and without permission to be live," McCoy said. "Anything like that has to be approved, and we have to know about that kind of thing." McCoy, who escorted the radio representative from the store on Oct. 19, said she told him he could stay if he ended his broadcast. He didn't do so until he was out of the store.
Herb Conley, manager of the Christiansburg Wal-Mart, said: "Customers can write anything they want. We just try to stay away from our competitors doing it."
Quality control manager named
DUBLIN - Bill Westerman is the new quality control manager at the Volvo GM Heavy Truck plant in Dublin. He is in charge of daily truck quality audits and inspections.
He also maintains the plant's ISO 9001 rating, which was affirmed this month. The rating ensures that the plant adheres to international business standards and universal guidelines.
Since May 1992, Westerman has been a product engineer at the plant. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Miami (Fla.) and master's degrees in mechanical engineering and business administration from Virginia Tech.
Dublin office closed
DUBLIN - The Dublin office of the Rural Economic and Community Development Agency, formerly known as the Farmer's Home Administration, has been closed because of streamlining within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Christiansburg office will serve all New River Valley localities. One of the Dublin office's three employees will be transferred to the Wytheville office, and the other two will go to the Christiansburg office, said Tommy Loflin, rural area manager.
Loflin said the consolidated office will focus on community development, offering a variety of home loans - including loans to first-time buyers - community facility loans, and industrial and infrastructure loans. Farm loans are being administered by the new Farm Service Agency.
Loflin said other agriculture department offices in the valley's counties will be consolidated into a central Christiansburg office next year as the federal government continues to streamline.
by CNB