DATE: Tuesday, October 14, 1997             TAG: 9710140226

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   75 lines

LOCAL SCENE

NORFOLK

BABINEAU AND BARRINGER JOIN FAMILY PRACTICE: Dr. Terri W. Babineau and Dr. Peggy I. Barringer have joined Providence Road Family Practice, a member of the Sentara Medical Group. Babineau, a part-time family practice physician, received her doctor of medicine degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School. She is also an assistant professor of family and community medicine at the Eastern Virginia Medical School. Barringer, previously medical director of the Family Medicine Clinic in Farmville, Va., is a family practice physician with a special interest in pediatrics and women's health.

CI TRAVEL HONORED: CI Travel has been honored as an Award of Excellence winner in a national travel agency marketing contest launched by Walt Disney World Resort. The agency was one of only three travel agencies nationwide to be awarded this honor. The Walt Disney World Resort's 25th Anniversary Contest, which ran from April 21 to Sept. 15, rewarded travel agencies conducting innovative marketing campaigns promoting the resort's 25th anniversary, which runs through Jan. 31, 1998. CI Travel has also been named one of the top 50 travel agencies in the nation by Travel Weekly, a travel industry publication. The agency was listed as the 43rd-largest travel agency.

ODU HOSTS JOB FAIR: A job fair, sponsored by the Career Management Center at Old Dominion University, will be held Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Webb Center's North Mall. Representatives of about 90 employers, including Bell Atlantic, Dollar Tree and Newport News Shipbuilding, will be available to speak with college students. For information, call 683-4388.

VIRGINIA BEACH

MANAGEMENT TEAM NAMED AT CREDIT UNION: Virginia Beach Postal Federal Credit Union named Elizabeth Kouri and Cris Arthurs to its management team. Prior to this, both were employed in management at a local credit union.

NEWPORT NEWS

NOLAND SALES DOWN FOR QUARTER, YEAR: Noland Company reported third-quarter sales of $122.1 million, $1.4 million less than in the third quarter of 1996. Sales for the year through September totaled $350.7 million, trailing last year's sales by 1 percent. The company has blamed the year's disappointing results on weak air conditioner sales and costs associated with opening nine new branches. Noland distributes plumbing, heating, electrical, air conditioning and industrial products through 107 branches in 14 states.

VIRGINIA

MEDIA GENERAL TO BUY BRISTOL NEWSPAPER: Media General will purchase the daily Bristol Herald Courier and two affiliated weekly newspapers for $91.2 million. Bristol straddles the Tennessee-Virginia border, and the Herald Courier serves readers in far southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. The morning newspaper has a circulation of 43,800 daily and 47,000 on Sundays.

CSX AGREES TO POST TOLL-FREE NUMBER AT CROSSINGS: CSX Transportation Inc., the railroad subsidiary of Richmond-based CSX Corp., has agreed to put signs up at major passenger railroad crossings with a toll-free number in case of an emergency. The signs will include the crossing's identification. The move is part of a safety agreement reached with the Federal Railroad Administration after an Amtrak train hit a stalled tractor-trailer at a Garden City, Ga., crossing last week. The agreement also established restricted speed zones for trains in hazardous highway-rail crossing zones and requires safety briefings and tests for CSX dispatchers who will handle the emergency calls. The signs will go up in 180 days, a CSX spokesman said.

GANNETT EARNINGS DOWN 63 PERCENT: Gannett Co. said its earnings were down 63 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, when profits were skewed sharply upward by the sale of Gannett's billboard advertising business. Gannett reported earnings of $152.4 million, or 54 cents per share, in the quarter, compared with $414.7 million, or $1.47 per share, in the same period of 1996. Revenue rose 4.9 percent in the third quarter to $1.14 billion from $1.12 billion in the same period of 1996. MEMO: To submit an item, send it to Local Scene, The Virginian-Pilot

Business News Department, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510.

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Babineau

Barringer

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