DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711060421

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   75 lines

LOCAL SCENE

VIRGINIA BEACH

PIGGOTT AND PARKER PROMOTED: Sullivan, Andrews & Taylor, a certified public accounting firm in Virginia Beach, promoted Evelyn R. Piggott, a certified public accountant, to manager. She has been with the firm for seven years. Also, Barbara T. Parker, a certified public accountant, was promoted to supervisor. She has been with the firm for two years. Both practice in the accounting and auditing area.

HAMPTON ROADS

UP-AGAIN, DOWN-AGAIN COAL SHIPMENTS DOWN IN SEPTEMBER: Having yo-yoed up and down all year, shipments of coal through the port of Hampton Roads fell 9.3 percent in September. According to the Hampton Roads Maritime Association, the region's three coal terminals loaded 3.9 million tons of coal in September, down from 4.3 million tons last September. Coal shipments had risen 14 percent in August after falling 17.2 percent in July and 4.6 percent in June. Through September this year, the port has shipped 39 million tons of coal, down less than 1 percent from last year. Shipments at each of the region's three terminals were down. Loadings at Norfolk Southern Corp.'s Pier 6 coal terminal, the region's largest, slipped 7 percent to 2.4 million tons.

COAL COUNCIL HOSTS CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE: The Virginia Coal Council is sponsoring a Nov. 17 conference called ``Kyoto Global Climate Treaty and Ozone Issues: Fact or Fiction'' at the Hotel Roanoke and Convention Center in Roanoke. The conference will examine the effect on Virginia's coal industry of the new emissions regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the December global climate treaty signing in Kyoto, Japan. The conference is also sponsored by Sens. John Warner and Charles Robb, Rep. Rick Boucher, the United Mine Workers of America and National Coal Leader. Registration is $150 per person. For more information, call the Virginia Coal Council at (540) 964-6363.

GALLERY EXPANDS: Virginia Images, which has a gallery at Waterside, has opened its second gallery at Hilltop East Shopping Center in Virginia Beach. The new gallery's name is Virginia Images Gallery.

NORFOLK

NEW AUTO-BUYING SYSTEM OPENS: C.A.R.S. (Comparative Automobile Report System), a new car shopping program, will open today at the Cenit Bank inside the Super Kmart at Norview Avenue and Military Highway. The program allows consumers to shop at four major auto groups without leaving the bank and without sales pressures. While a bank loan officer verifies the customer's credit and processes the financing, the C.A.R.S. computer easily guides the buyer through the steps to shop for the available models within the approved price range. Dealers include Casey, Checkered Flag, Freedom Ford and Greenbrier. Banking hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday - Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

VIRGINIA

COLONIAL DOWNS STOCK DROPS: The stock of Colonial Downs Holdings Inc. fell 29 percent Wednesday, the day after Virginia voters failed to approve parimutuel betting facilities in the state. Investment bankers Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. of Arlington downgraded the stock, citing the elections in Fredericksburg, Roanoke and Martinsville, in which voters rejected referendums that would have allowed parimutuel betting. The firm cut its estimate of the company's 1998 earnings to 38 cents a share, from 75 cents a share. Colonial Downs, a New Kent horse racing and gambling company, had net income of $902,000, or 17 cents a share, on revenues of $10.4 million for the first six months of 1997. Shares of Colonial Downs fell $2.125, to close at $5.125 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

CORRECTIONS

Sears Roebuck & Co. operated a store in Norfolk's Southern Shopping Center until 1993. A story in Wednesday's Business News said the last Sears left Norfolk in 1981. Also, Sears operates a store in Chesapeake Square Mall. That store was omitted from the story.

LCI International will offer local phone service to small Hampton Roads businesses. A headline in Wednesday's Business News contained an error. ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Piggott

Parker

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