ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 7, 1996 TAG: 9612090030
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
N. Virginia short high-tech workers
NORFOLK - Northern Virginia desperately needs skilled workers for high-tech industries, said Ray Pelletier, executive director of the Northern Virginia Technology Council.
Pelletier said Thursday that Northern Virginia has 10,000 high-skill jobs - with an average salary of $40,000 - that it can't fill because applicants lack qualifications.
The council's goal is to have 250,000 people employed in the high-tech industry within five years, a significant increase from the current 160,000.
The organization wants industry, schools and universities to work together to bolster technology education. The group has recommended measures such as extending the school year to give students more time to learn and teachers more time to get training, and investing in computers for classrooms.
- Associated Press
Official downplays copyright changes
GENEVA - The top U.S. official pressing for sweeping changes to world copyright law said Friday that opponents of the revisions are exaggerating the impact of what he termed ``modest updates.''
The proposed changes, the first to world copyright law since 1971, are billed by the U.N. agency sponsoring them as needed to stop illegal copying over the Internet of the latest pop music or software.
But opponents say they could have far-reaching effects on everything from newspaper sports and stock reports to the way people communicate via computer.
Assistant Commerce Secretary Bruce Lehman, who heads the U.S. delegation to the 160-nation World Intellectual Property Organization, said there was little chance the most controversial treaty - on data bases - will be approved before the WIPO meeting ends Dec. 20.
The other two accords - on literary and artistic works and on music recordings - are less sweeping and closer to approval, Lehman said.
The main goal of the three-week negotiations is ``to provide some very modest and simple updates to the international treaty regime'' so companies can take advantage of the Internet, Lehman said.
The U.S. delegation is listening to opponents' concerns and is determined to preserve the ``fair use'' doctrine of limited exploitation of copyright material, Lehman said.
- Associated Press
Briefly ...
Goodwill Industries Tinker Mountain Inc. of Salem is building a new thrift store on Wards Road near River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg. The store, scheduled to open in spring 1997, will include a drive-through donation center. This is Goodwill's fifth store in its 32-county service area.
The store will work with Lynchburg Sheltered Industries to provide about 40 jobs for people with disabilities.
* WLR Foods Inc., Broadway poultry processor operating a unit of its Cassco Ice & Cold Storage Inc. division in Salem, has acquired the ice manufacturing business of Jennings Ice Co. of Lynchburg. The Jennings operation will be incorporated into the Cassco unit. The acquisition closed Monday. Terms of the deal were not reported.
- Staff reports
Bankruptcies
Five bankruptcies with business affiliations were filed this week in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Western Virginia at Roanoke. All of them are personal bankruptcies that the court listed as businesses because they have commercial connections and could be of interest to business creditors and customers.
* Donna Fay Meade of Bristol filed for liquidation. She operates a cleaning service and listed assets at $66,500 and liabilities at $43,841.
* William E. Milton Jr. of Gladehill, who was listed as joint partner in Franklin Street Citgo, filed for liquidation, reporting assets of $5,842 and liabilities of $21,735.
* Joe F. Mullins of Clinchport, sole proprietor of Wild Cat Trucking, filed for liquidation, reporting assets of $76,547 and liabilities of $115,187.
* Tony Lee Rhoton and Wanda Ann Rhoton of Gate City filed for liquidation, reporting assets of $9,142 and liabilities of $66,249. They listed these business affiliations: Energy Flow, John Brown, Raytheon Engineers Rust Construction, Lauren Construction, Gatewood Apartments, Fluor Daniel Services Corp., Benchmark, Results Salon, Precise Salon, Duffield Adult Res. Center and Ridgecrest Manor.
* Joseph S. Rowsey and Virginia Elizabeth Rowsey of Christiansburg filed for liquidation, reporting assets of $2,945 and liabilities of $24,816. He was listed as a truck driver for Ozark Motor Lines and she as a self-employed housecleaner.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 linesby CNB