ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607240054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
ONE HUNDRED would-be workers had to return home after finding no housing, jobs or food in Atlanta.
They went to Atlanta to earn money at the Centennial Olympic Games, but Richmonders recruited to tend bar and sell souvenirs brought back only frustration.
Two buses carrying 100 workers, about half of the Richmond residents recruited by Happy Hour Personnel for Atlanta Recruiting Inc., returned home Tuesday after being stranded. They had no jobs, slept on floors and went hungry.
``It's been a total disaster, total chaos. We were told we'd have housing, transportation and food, but we ended up sleeping in a church in a red-light district with battered women upstairs,'' said bartender Linda Cousins.
Many said they had signed contracts with Atlanta Recruiting, which used Happy Hour Personnel in Richmond to find temporary employees for the games.
``It was a learning experience. I learned not to trust everything you read. Everything fell through at the end,'' said Carlton Gray, 19.
The would-be workers had to have those contracts notarized before they were allowed to go on the buses that left Richmond last Wednesday after two days of delays.
Judy and Denny Mattox said they let their 18-year-old daughter, Nancy, go because she was with a friend who found the recruitment notice in a church bulletin. It seemed like a good experience for their daughter, who needed college money.
Marsha Schindel, Happy Hour spokeswoman, said investigations are being conducted in Georgia and on the federal level.
Gov. George Allen said he has asked Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore to investigate whether the recruiters can be prosecuted or sued in Virginia.
``I'm not sure if there is any recourse. ... Obviously, it's a raw deal,'' Allen said.
Schindel said Happy Hour, which provided staff for both the Bush and Clinton inaugurations, has lost thousands of dollars on the contract it signed with Atlanta Recruiting in June.
In the thousands of special events Happy Hour has staffed since she began working with the company 10 years ago, Schindel said she's never seen anything like this.
Meanwhile, Atlanta Recruiting is nowhere to be found. Calls to the Atlanta telephone number Happy Hour gave to those who complained reached a voice mail, a recorded message saying the call was not being answered or merely rang unanswered.
Some recruits stayed in Atlanta, hoping to find some kind of job. Schindel said she was not certain how many of the recruits were still there since some left using other transportation and some knew people in the area.
``Some of them are picking up trash. They have nowhere to stay. They stayed, bless their hearts, to be close to the Olympics, and they need the money,'' Cousins said. She said trash collectors made $8 to $10 an hour, but that wouldn't buy much at Atlanta's inflated Olympic prices - even if rooms were available.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB