Business North Carolina articles from December 2003

Business North Carolina archives from December 2003

Darkness at noon.(Up Front)(Editorial)
December 1, 2003... They say the darkest hour is just before dawn. Since the recession officially ended two years ago, night must now last nigh unto noon. The stock market is creeping up, but mills and factories keep shutting down. Maybe they're the economic...

First in hype.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... Excellent article on the "First Flight Centennial" in the October issue. As a Tar Heel born and bred (even spending formative years near Kill Devil Hills), it again raises the question for me of why some in this state feel so attached to this...

Over your head.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... Regarding your cover story in the October issue, I am left wondering what you hoped to accomplish with an article that is filled with errors and distortions of fact. Why would a magazine that promotes businesses in this state want to cast such...

Johnnys come lately.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... I appreciated your column on "Lost Causes" (Up Front, October). It takes courage to try to understand the perspective of the "other side" during a time of war. Putting forth a concrete analogy to non-slaveholding Southerners during the Civil...

A historical jewel.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... Thank you for your recent photo and caption of the Ruby City mill ruins in Jackson County (Bricks & Mortar, October). We thought it important to point out that the Ruby City mill ruins are not being allowed to return to dust, nor are the lives...

Trend.(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Latest Previous ...

Region must move beyond what's been Triad-and-true.(Economic Outlook)
December 1, 2003... No part of the state has been immune to layoffs and plant closings, but the Triad, with its high concentration of manufacturing jobs, seems to have taken more big hits lately. UNC Greensboro economist Donald Jud discusses how his region finds...

Alutiiq Security and Technology.(Eastern)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FAYETTEVILLE -- Anchorage, Alaska-based Alutiiq Security and Technology landed a $20 million contract from the Army to provide security guards for Fort Bragg, which will free military police for other duties. Alutiiq will subcontract with...

Wal-Mart.(Eastern)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... PEMBROKE -- Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart will build its first supercenter here on 30 acres east of town. The $15 million investment will create 250 jobs when it opens in 2005.

Tech-Sys.(Eastern)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FAYETTEVILLE -- Tech-Sys, a Greensboro-based technology consulting company, planned to open an office here in November, creating up to 20 jobs.

Contempora Fabrics.(Eastern)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... LUMBERTON -- Contempora Fabrics employees voted 81-61 against representation by the Union of Food and Commercial Workers.

Cover story, October.(Eastern)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FAYETTEVILLE -- The group that staged a celebration in May of the Wright brothers' first flight (cover story, October) needs about $173,000 to pay bills and wants the city and Cumberland County to make up the difference. It initially fell $1...

Hilton.(Eastern)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... JACKSONVILLE -- The city agreed to a $13 million plan for a conference center and hotel if underground oil contamination at the site can be cleaned up. Private sources would pay for the Hilton hotel.

Global TransPark Foundation.(Eastern)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... KINSTON -- The Global TransPark Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises private money for the air cargo-based industrial park, has named two high-profile figures to its board. Erskine Bowles is a Charlotte investment banker and Senate...

Gojo Industries.(Eastern)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Akron, Ohio-based Gojo Industries will spend $10 million to refit a Laurinburg plant to make Purell hand cleaner, its signature product. The company will hire about 250 and move into a plant that Abbott Laboratories donated to Scotland County....

Working Capital.(Eastern)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... North Carolina's unemployment rate fell to 6.4% in August. Rates decreased in 82 counties, rose in 13 and stayed the same in five. Vance County, for the fifth straight month, had the highest rate--14.5%. Dare, at 1.4%, had the lowest. ...

Quintiles Transnational.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... DURHAM -- Shareholders approved contract-research organization Quintiles Transnational's sale to a group led by its chairman and founder Dennis Gillings for about $1.7 billion, $14.50 per share. Gillings then took the company private.

Bayer Biological Products.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Bayer Biological Products, a division of Germany-based drug maker Bayer, wants to sell its blood-plasma business. It wasn't clear how that would affect its plasma plant in Clayton, which employs about 1,350.

Duke University.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... DURHAM -- Two Duke University researchers won National Institute on Drug Abuse grants totaling $4.1 million to study how childhood psychiatric conditions influence later drug use and whether early treatment can lessen the risk. Kenneth Dodge...

AlphaVax.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Vaccine maker AlphaVax received two biodefense grants totaling $16.6 million over the next four years from the National Institutes of Health. It will get $9.1 million to develop a vaccine for botulinum neurotoxins,...

El Segundo, Calif.-based Hughes Electronics, which operates DirecTV, and Littleton, Colo.-based EchoStar Communications, which operates the Dish Network, sued the state in Wake County Superior Court after it refused to refund at least $35 million of sales tax on their services.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... RALEIGH -- El Segundo, Calif.-based Hughes Electronics, which operates DirecTV, and Littleton, Colo.-based EchoStar Communications, which operates the Dish Network, sued the state in Wake County Superior Court after it refused to refund at...

Channel Master.(Triangle)
December 1, 2003... SMITHFIELD -- Andrew Corp., a Chicago-based maker of antennas and other communications equipment, offered to buy satellite-dish maker Channel Master for $15 million. The deal is contingent on approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware....

Americal.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... HENDERSON -- Americal continued its downsizing, which the hosiery maker blames on foreign competition, by laying off 80 workers in November. It cut 205 jobs in May. About 200 remain.

Law Enforcement Associates.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... YOUNGSVILLE -- The General Services Administration, the federal procurement agency, extended its contract with surveillance-device manufacturer Law Enforcement Associates by five years. The company says details cannot be revealed for...

Chatham County has the biggest share of the region's 935 miles of unpaved roads.(Triangle)
December 1, 2003... Chatham County has the biggest share of the region's 935 miles of unpaved roads. Chatham 13.2% Wake 13.1 Granville 10.5 Johnston 9.2 Warren 8.7 Moore 8.6...

Cree.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Durham-based Cree, which makes light-emitting diodes and semiconductors, agreed to sell at least 500 million computer chips to Germany-based OSRAM Opto Semiconductors through mid-2005. The value of the deal depends on the mix of products...

Industrial Microwave Systems.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... MORRISVILLE -- New Orleans-based industrial-equipment manufacturer Laitram bought Industrial Microwave Systems, which makes ovens used to dry manufacturing materials. Terms were not disclosed. Industrial Microwave, formed in 1997, expects to...

Sony Ericsson.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- London-based cell-phone maker Sony Ericsson cut 200 jobs here as part of a companywide streamlining. About 500 still work here.

Drug-discovery company ChemCodes changed its name to Nuada Pharmaceuticals.(Triangle)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... DURHAM -- Drug-discovery company ChemCodes changed its name to Nuada Pharmaceuticals to emphasize its new focus on small-molecule compounds to treat heart disease, diabetes and arthritis.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... WINSTON-SALEM -- R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings agreed to merge its U.S. tobacco operations with British American Tobacco's Brown & Williamson subsidiary, valued at $2.6 billion, to form Reynolds American Inc. RJR will get a 58% stake in the...

Cone Mills.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... GREENSBORO -- Shareholders elected three directors opposed to selling Cone Mills to New York-based WL Ross & Co. Foes now hold four of the board's 10 seats. Cone also announced weak denim sales are forcing it to close two of its three plants in...

Meadowlands Development.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... WALLBURG -- Meadowlands Development will build a $140 million, 597-home subdivision in northern Davidson County over 12 years. Five Winston-Salem companies--Hubbard Realty, The Sherwood Co., Ramey Properties, A.C. Jones and Southern Fields...

Only two Triad counties had more people move out than move in between 1995 and 2000.(Triad)(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... Only two Triad counties had more people move out than move in between 1995 and 2000. County Net change Alamance 4,927 Caswell 1,880 Davidson 4,795 Davie 3,094...

BB & T.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... WINSTON-SALEM -- BB & T will eliminate 940 positions at First Virginia Bank, which it acquired in July. The cuts will be made by the end of the year and affect about 17% of First Virginia's former employees, mainly in operations, accounting and...

Tanger factory Outlet Centers.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... GREENSBORO -- Tanger Factory Outlet Centers and New York-based Blackstone Real Estate Advisors are buying nine outlet shopping centers in eight states for $491 million from Virginia-based Charter Oak Partners. Blackstone will own 67%; Tanger,...

Tangent Analytics.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... WINSTON-SALEM -- Tangent Analytics, a software company that got a low-interest $100,000 loan from the city to move here from Conover, says business has been so good it doesn't need the money. It planned to move its 10 employees in December and...

UNC Greensboro and N.C. A & T State jointly plan to build two research parks.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... GREENSBORO -- UNC Greensboro and N.C. A & T State jointly plan to build two research parks--a 75-acre one on the northeast side of the city and an 80-acre one on the southeast side. The schools did not announce how much the project would cost...

Chinqua-Penn Plantation.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... REIDSVILLE -- N.C. State University is trying to sell money-losing Chinqua-Penn Plantation, built by American Tobacco executive Jeff Penn in the 1920s and closed to the public since last year. The buildings, furnishings and 23 acres have been...

Greensboro Bats.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Greensboro voters defeated a proposed ordinance that would have prevented a minor-league baseball stadium being built downtown by nearly a 3-to-2 margin. But opponents are still challenging the city's contention that zoning rules allow the $20...

Duracell.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... LEXINGTON -- Duracell started what could be the final cleanup of a 26.5-acre hazardous-waste site around its battery plant. Soil and sediment remediation should be finished later this year. Groundwater cleanup could take as long as 30 years....

Southern Community Bank and Trust.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... WINSTON-SALEM -- Southern Community Bank and Trust sold its auto-loan subsidiary, Southeastern Acceptance, to Southeastern Acceptance President Will Pulliam for an undisclosed amount. Southern Community's $11.9 million auto-loan portfolio will...

Xceldyne Technologies.(Triad)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... THOMASVILLE -- Xceldyne Technologies, which makes titanium valves for the auto-racing industry, moved its headquarters here from Valencia, Calif. The company is expected to employ at least 60 people locally within three years.

Ruddick subsidiary American & Efird.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... MAIDEN -- Ruddick subsidiary American & Efird, which makes and distributes industrial sewing thread, will close its spinning plant here in December, shedding 125 jobs. Charlotte-based Ruddick attributed the closure primarily to increased...

Goodrich.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... MONROE -- Charlotte-based aerospace giant Goodrich will hire as many as 150 people in 2004 to run a planned repair-and-remanufacturing center. The company is moving operations from Englewood, N.J., and Aurora, Ohio, into a vacant...

Pillowtex.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... KANNAPOLIS -- Liquidation specialist GGST bought the assets of Pillowtex for $128 million at a court-approved auction. GGST originally offered to buy the bankrupt sheet and towel maker for $56 million last summer. A bankruptcy judge must...

TIAA-CREF.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... CHARLOTTE -- New York-based financial-services company TIAA-CREF cut 40 employees from its 1,100-employee operations center here. The layoffs were part of a national restructuring program that resulted in 500 job losses.

Ortronics.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... GASTONIA -- New London, Conn.-based Ortronics is consolidating its Bradenton, Fla., manufacturing plant into operations here by the end of the year. The move will create 30 positions at the existing 100-employee Gaston County plant. Ortronics...

Shelco.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... CHARLOTTE -- The owners of Shelco have sold the general contractor to management. The buyout team, led by CEO Ed Rose, bought Shelco from founders Charlie and Ed Shelton for an undisclosed amount. Shelco specializes in office, distribution,...

Defense Technology.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... GASTONIA -- Gaston County is scheduled to receive $2.5 million from a federal defense bill intended to create jobs. Virginia-based Defense Technology will use some of the money to open a 200-employee manufacturing plant here to upgrade circuit...

Bassmaster Classic.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... CHARLOTTE -- The Queen City will play host in July to the Bassmaster Classic, a $700,000-purse event known as the "Super Bowl of fishing." The three-day, ESPN-televised tournament will be held at Lake Wylie, with events at the Charlotte...

North Carolina Biotechnology Center.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... CHARLOTTE -- Research Triangle Park-based North Carolina Biotechnology Center plans to open a satellite office in Charlotte by fall 2004. It will have a staff of two and will provide grants for research, loans for businesses and links to...

Duke Energy is the top-rated electric and gas utility in Information Week magazine's annual ranking of the companies.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... CHARLOTTE -- Duke Energy is the top-rated electric and gas utility in Information Week magazine's annual ranking of the companies that use information technology best. In another listing, Working Mother magazine hailed Wachovia as one of the...

Charlotte-based J.A. Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.(Charlotte)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Charlotte-based J.A. Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The 113-year-old conglomerate is one of the world's largest construction companies, with eight subsidiaries--including Rea Construction and J.A. Jones Construction--and...

More of Forbes magazine's 400 richest Americans live in Charlotte than any other Tar Heel city.(Charlotte)
December 1, 2003... More of Forbes magazine's 400 richest Americans live in Charlotte than any other Tar Heel city. Source of Fortune Rank Name Home income ...

Thomas Wolfe House.(Western)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... ASHEVILLE -- A $2.4 million restoration of the Thomas Wolfe House will be completed in December, more than four years after arson destroyed more than a third of the 29-room home. The tourist attraction will open on a limited basis, with a...

Silver-Line Plastics.(Western)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... WOODFIN -- Silver-Line Plastics, which makes plastic pipe for home plumbing, launched an expansion that will add as many as 60 jobs. The manufacturer employs about 150. It will pay about $1.5 million for an adjacent industrial site, formerly...

U.S. Forest Service.(Western)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... ASHEVILLE -- The U.S. Forest Service paid International Paper $4.8 million for nearly 2,900 acres near Lake James in McDowell County to expand Pisgah National Forest.

Angel Medical Center.(Western)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FRANKLIN -- Angel Medical Center paid $1.1 million to settle allegations that it overbilled the government for treating some Medicare and Medicaid pneumonia patients. Officials say the billing was an error stemming from a consultant's bad...

R & V Warren Farms.(Western)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... CANDLER -- A federal indictment charges R & V Warren Farms, a commercial tomato and strawberry grower, with faking storm damage to collect $9.2 million in federal crop-insurance payments. Indictments claim the owners, who deny the charges, had...

Pardee Hospital.(Western)(Pardee Hospital)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Hendersonville's Pardee Hospital began an expansion that includes a new helipad and emergency department, along with increased medical staffing. It includes four operating rooms, bringing the total to 10, and a pharmacy adjacent to the surgery...

RJR seeks a big gain from net loss of jobs.(Tar Heel Tattler)
December 1, 2003... When Gov. Mike Easley signed the Job Development Investment Grant Program into law last year, his office issued a press release saying the legislation enables the state to compete for "industrial recruitment projects that otherwise would not...

Coach needs to teach ex-assistants a lesson.(Tar Heel Tattler)
December 1, 2003... Give Coach--oops, Professor--Mike Krzyzewski credit. He has what is arguably the best resume of any active coach in college basketball, going 27 years, three national championships and more than 600 wins without a whiff of scandal. No...

FinancialContent/Business North Carolina index.(Tar Heel Tattler)
December 1, 2003... High-tech and life-science issues helped continue the rally of North Carolina large-cap stocks. The earlier momentum of Tar Heel small caps petered out, with life-science companies among the big losers. 52-week return * N.C. large...

Of course: Pro golfer Davis Love III might want to refine his redesign of Forest Oaks Country Club, the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro course.(Tattle Tales)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Of course: Pro golfer Davis Love III might want to refine his redesign of Forest Oaks Country Club, the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro course. Love, who had won more PGA Tour events this year than any player not named Tiger Woods or Vijay...

Getting Goofy: Charlotte-based Bank of America, which dispatches employees to Disney World to learn how to handle bellyaching customers, has a few squawkers of its own.(Tattle Tales)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Getting Goofy: Charlotte-based Bank of America, which dispatches employees to Disney World to learn how to handle bellyaching customers, has a few squawkers of its own. Some employees say it's Mickey Mouse to outfit new branches with fewer...

BofA.(Tattle Tales)(BankAmerica Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Get with the program: Quoting bank memos, a San Francisco business newspaper reports that BofA employees who complain too much get sent to "associate engagement sessions" for re-education and some attitude adjustment.

Shocking development: Three weeks after confirming that Duke Power earned $100 million more in profits than Tar Heel regulators would allow.(Tattle Tales)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Shocking development: Three weeks after confirming that Duke Power earned $100 million more in profits than Tar Heel regulators would allow, parent Duke Energy announced that its third-quarter profit was down 79% and that it would lay off 2,000...

N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.(Tattle Tales)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Name says it all: The spokes-woman for the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries is Nancy Fish.

Midway Airlines.(Tattle Tales)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Folding its wings: How long does $12.5 million last? For Morrisville-based Midway Airlines, not quite two years. That's how much the airline, already in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, got from the $15 billion federal bailout of airlines. It's now...

Final flight: Midway's final flight was not into the sunset but to Kinston Regional Jetport.(Tattle Tales)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Final flight: Midway's final flight was not into the sunset but to Kinston Regional Jetport, also known as the Global TransPark.

Wrong number: So David Perdue, CEO of Pillowtex just 10 months, didn't walk away with $3.2 million, as was reported (Tattle Tales, June).(Tattle Tales)(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2003... Wrong number: So David Perdue, CEO of Pillowtex just 10 months, didn't walk away with $3.2 million, as was reported (Tattle Tales, June). Home Textiles Today says that, when all was said and done, he pocketed only $2.4 million. The 6,400 left...

Goobers and gobblers: The National Wild Turkey Federation and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.(Tattle Tales)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Goobers and gobblers: The National Wild Turkey Federation and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission plowed under three state-protected plant species while planting turkey forage in the Croatan National Forest, near New Bern. [ILLUSTRATION...

East, not least.(Data Bits)(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... EAST, NOT LEAST The counties with the state's highest property tax rates are typically in the east... Tax per $100 County of value Washington ...

Timberlake brushes off furniture imports.(Tar Heel Tattler)
December 1, 2003... Bob Timberlake makes millions painting the simple life in his native North Carolina. But when it comes to halting the exportation of Tar Heel furniture jobs, he's finding life less simple. His target is the company that manufactured an...

City is on slippery ice with its hockey team.(Tar Heel Tattler)
December 1, 2003... Greensboro officials want to make it clear: The city is paying the bills and calling the shots for the Greensboro Generals this year, but it doesn't own the professional hockey team. It's just trying to keep the Generals alive until it can hand...

Analysts wonder whether Boston pops BofA's string.(Money Matters)
December 1, 2003... Most Bank of America Corp. investors kept their faith in the state's biggest bank holding company when it said it would set aside $100 million to pay for damage caused by a mutual-fund scandal. What they're less tolerant of, it seems, are big...

Tar Heel stock watch.(Money Matters)(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... Expensive stocks Highest price-earnings ratios among North Carolina stocks P/E 10/31/03 52-week Company ratio* price range Red Hat ...

Tar Heel stock watch.(Illustration)
December 1, 2003... Rankings based on three-month price change August-October Top 10 large-cap stocks 3-month 1-year 52-week Company change change range Red Hat ...

The education of Molly Broad.(Capital)
December 1, 2003... There is a lot of angst in Chapel Hill over why Carolina football coach John Bunting can't win and whether basketball coach Roy Williams can win as many as he ought to. There is also growing concern about another UNC leader's performance and...

Cheer up: giving it the old college cry, our Small Business of the Year scores as a cheerleader for cheerleading.(Feature)
December 1, 2003... Gwen Holtsclaw knows how you see cheerleaders--as eye candy, meant to give male sports fans something to ogle during timeouts. But she wants you to know you're dead wrong. She has built her business around the premise that cheerleading is as...

Images that stick with you.(Motorsports Designs Holding Inc.)(Company Profile)
December 1, 2003... John McKenzie went from zero to 20--customers, that is--in nine months. If that seems sluggish, bear in mind that he was revolutionizing the appearance of NASCAR racers. When he started Motorsports Designs Holding Inc. in 1982, the elaborate...

Flushed with success.(Speedway Plumbing Inc.)(Company Profile)
December 1, 2003... Growing up in Concord, Bryan Huneycutt's dreams revolved around being a fireman. They still do. Call them his nonpipe dreams. "I want to be a fireman, but firemen aren't paid what they deserve." Huneycutt, 28, is president and owner of Speedway...

Knocking on wood.(St. Lawrence Homes Inc.)(Company Profile)
December 1, 2003... In some ways, Bob Ohmann never grew up. He loves his collection of old fire engines--real ones, not toys--which he bought from his hometown in New York. At 54, he still plays flag football with twenty somethings. Though he acts like a kid...

A bridge over troubled water: the fate of Oregon Inlet and the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge pits environmentalists against business interests on the Outer Banks.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2003... As the Angel Dawn churns seaward from its home port of Bayboro, the gentle swells of Pamlico Sound give way to choppier waters. Virgil Lockey III spots the broad arch of the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge a mile ahead and, beyond, the Atlantic. It's...