DATE: Thursday, March 20, 1997              TAG: 9703200328

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   77 lines

LOCAL SCENE

VIRGINIA BEACH

SOUTHLAND TECHNOLOGIES APPOINTS RENFREW AND DODGION TO NEW POSITIONS: Southland Technologies, a manufacturer of molded rubber automotive engine sealing components, appointed Robert Renfrew to plant manager of the automotive injection molding and engineered components and systems manufacturing facilities located on Baker Road. He will be responsible for manufacturing and related support operations. He joined Southland in 1995. Also, Donald Dodgion was named process engineering manager for the two facilities on Baker Road. He will report to Renfrew and be responsible for manufacturing engineering and process development. He joined the company in 1994. Southland Technologies is a privately held company based in Chesapeake with two additional manufacturing plants in Virginia Beach and an automotive support center in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

WALDMAN REACTIVATES FIRM: Jim Waldman, founder of Cooper Career Institute in Virginia Beach, has reactivated an independent educational consulting firm, Enrollment Management Associates in Chesapeake. The consulting business specializes in education consulting to public, private and proprietary schools, primarily in the area of post secondary adult education, marketing and enrollment.

RITA'S REOPENS: Rita's Italian Ice officially reopens for the season today. To celebrate the return of spring, Rita's will be giving out free Italian ice to customers for the entire day. As a local summertime retailer, Rita's closes its doors every October and reopens the first day of spring.

PORTSMOUTH

NEW RITEAID STORE: As part of an ongoing, multimillion dollar investment in Portsmouth, RiteAid broke ground this week for a drug store at the corner of London Boulevard and Elm Avenue, said the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority. This new 11,000-square-foot store will replace the smaller Rite Aid drug store operating in the London Plaza Shopping Center. RiteAid is investing more than $1 million in private funds to develop this site, which will provide $13,600 in real estate taxes and about $3 million in annual sales. The store will be finished within six months and will employ 12 people. The development site was assembled by the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority under the Crawford Urban Renewal Program using Community Development Block Grant funds. Rite Aid is planning a fifth Portsmouth store.

VIRGINIA

MEDIA GENERAL COMPLETES NEWSPAPER SALE: Media General said it completed the sale of a group of 10 daily and weekly newspapers in and around Hudson and Ogdensburg, N.Y., to the Johnson Newspaper Corp., for approximately $8.8 million. Media General is an independent, publicly owned communications company situated primarily in the Southeast with interests in newspapers, broadcast and cable television, recycled newsprint production, and diversified information services.

ALLEN APPONTS BUSINESS ASSISTANCE DIRECTOR: Gov. George Allen on Wednesday appointed David Garson Dickson director of Virginia's Department of Business Assistance. The department is the principal liaison between state government and Virginia's businesses. It provides services such as work force training, financing and small business development to existing Virginia businesses. Dickson, of Chesterfield County, has served as the agency's acting director since it was established last July. Before that, he was the director of existing industry development in the former Department of Economic Development.

BB&T KNOWS WHAT'S IN A NAME: Southern National Corp., the Winston-Salem, N.C., parent of Branch Banking & Trust banks in North and South Carolina and Virginia, said it will ask its shareholders to approve a change in name to BB&T Corp. When Southern National and BB&T Financial Corp. merged in 1995, the parent company took the Southern National identity, and its bank subsidiaries used the BB&T name. Southern National shareholders are scheduled to vote on proposed change at the company's annual meeting April 22. The change would not affect the company's lines of business or subsidiaries. However, the trading symbol of Southern National stock would become `BBK.' Southern National and BB&T established a presence in Virginia in early 1995 by acquiring Virginia Beach-based Commerce Bank. MEMO: To submit an item for the Local Scene, please fax it to 446-2531. ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Renfrew

Dodgion

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu