Business North Carolina articles from January 2004

Business North Carolina archives from January 2004

Stepping out.(Up Front)(Column)
January 1, 2004... The little man and I had this routine. I'd shake my head, frown and mutter, "Can't walk, can't talk, ain't got no teeth." He'd wag his noggin, mocking me. It looked so natural: For most Kinney males, wallowing in self-pity is like sinking into...

Trend.(Illustration)
January 1, 2004... [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] TREND Latest Previous ...

Employers profit when Hispanics feel at home.(Economic Outlook)(Interview)
January 1, 2004... Alan Shao, professor of marketing and international business at UNC Charlotte, and some of his MBA students studied the benefits of making Hispanic workers feel more comfortable in the workplace. They focused on the Statesville plant of Trim...

Eastern.(Regional Report)(Frontier Spinning Mills)(Column)
January 1, 2004... NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH -- A town alderman says it will cost about $35 million to repair beaches damaged by Hurricane Isabel and other storms. The town would pay about $8 million, John Flynn says, with state and federal taxpayers picking up the...

Working capital.(Regional Report)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... North Carolina's unemployment rate fell to 6.0% in September. Rates decreased in 90 counties, rose in five and stayed the same in five. Dare County, for the third straight month, had the state's lowest rate at 1.4%. Vance County had the highest...

Triangle.(Regional Report)(Column)
January 1, 2004... TIMBERLAKE -- Miami-based Vector Group was to close its cigarette factory here in December, idling 150. The company is moving production of its Omni and Quest cigarettes to Mebane, where its Liggett Group division has a plant. It says the...

Triad.(Regional Report)(meshed briefs)(Column)
January 1, 2004... WINSTON-SALEM -- Susan Ivey, president and CEO of Kentucky-based cigarette maker Brown & Williamson Tobacco, will assume those titles at Reynolds American, the company to be formed by B&W's scheduled merger this year with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco...

Charlotte.(Regional Report)(business news briefs)(Column)
January 1, 2004... STATESVILLE -- Philadelphia-based Hunt will close its office-supplies factory here by July, eliminating 325 jobs. The company is moving production of its Boston office supplies and X-Acto knives to Asia. Hunt still has a distribution center and...

Western.(Regional Report)(Wilkes Community College)(Blue Ridge National Heritage Area)(Column)
January 1, 2004... PISGAH FOREST -- Lowe's, the Wilkesboro-based hardware-store chain, will build a $16.5 million store here that will employ about 175. It will open later this year. WILKESBORO -- The Ashe County campus of Wilkes Community College will spend...

Trouble looms for N.C. textile center.(Tar Heel Tattler)(North Carolina Center for Applied Textile Technology )
January 1, 2004... The North Carolina Center for Applied Textile Technology in Belmont celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. Rep. Debbie Clary, a Republican who represents Gaston and Cleveland counties, is considering a special gift: a cutoff of state...

Drug deal goes sour for Warren County.(Tar Heel Tattler)(CVS Corp. sued for breach of contract)(Column)
January 1, 2004... Four and a half years ago, Warren County commissioners thought they had been given the perfect prescription for a sick economy. But a proposed CVS Corp. distribution center proved bad medicine for the state's second-poorest county. ...

Haley heirs put down some Roots in racing.(Tar Heel Tattler)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The hoopla greeting the news of a wholly black-owned NASCAR team might have obscured a key fact: Don't expect change anytime soon in the lily-white roster of drivers in the sport's top tier. That's despite the intentions of the new team and of...

Tattle tales.
January 1, 2004... * Silence is golden: Complaining that Mecklenburg County tax appraisers had overvalued Ericsson Stadium, Carolina Panthers owners appealed. A board then raised the valuation $11.2 million--to $161.5 million--which could hike the tax bill by...

Investors might have cleaned out The Pantry.(Money Matters)(Column)
January 1, 2004... In early 2002, The Pantry Inc. was in trouble. It was losing money in the competitive convenience-store business. Its stock was selling for about what a bag of beef jerky costs. Investors were losing their ardor for The Pantry's larder. ...

Hunt takes a look back at the future.(Capital)(Interview)
January 1, 2004... Jim Hunt can stand behind his desk on the 21st floor of a down-town Raleigh office tower and gaze into what was once his domain. His office with the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice overlooks the Capitol and the Legislative Building....

Out of work: their plight rocked the state's political establishment. The unemployed are our Mover and Shaker of the Year.(Feature)(Column)
January 1, 2004... Esther Lentz sighs, hushing the ticking of a clock in her sparsely furnished living room--a couch, two chairs, an ottoman and a 32-inch television on a wooden stand. The walls are cracked throughout her 1,400-square-foot house in Concord, but...

Target prices: after a year when only one was in the black, the stock portfolios picked by our panel of pros all scored in 2003. Will their aim be true in '04?(Feature)
January 1, 2004... Frank Jolley is trying to play it cool. He says he doesn't take BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA's annual stock-picking competition seriously. Yet last year's champ, who's president of Jolley Asset Management in Rocky Mount, knew before the official...

Sticking to the point.(Feature)(Column)
January 1, 2004... "I don't want to go out and embarrass myself." I know just how Frank Jolley feels. That was my goal when I became the first BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA editor to participate in our annual stock-picking competition. Sad to say, I did not meet my...

Defensive star: Wade Smith's reputation as the state's top criminal lawyer is due to more than just not-guilty verdicts.(Cover Story)
January 1, 2004... Below on Salisbury Street, Raleigh's rush hour has begun. In the worn courtroom, a deputy nods, his shaved head bobbing like a fishing float. Jurors gaze straight ahead at witnesses or at the black-robed judge and occasionally steal glances at...

Lawyers say these are the best in their fields.(Legal Elite)
January 1, 2004... ANTITRUST Rodrick J. Enns Enns & Archer LLP Winston-Salem Noel L. Allen Allen and Pinnix PA Raleigh Everett J. Bowman Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson PA Charlotte Daniel G. Clodfelter Moore & Van...

Antitrust.
January 1, 2004... As a kid, Rodrick Enns thought that anyone who wanted to do anything--build a building, start a business, sell a house--needed to ask a lawyer to know how to go about it. "I wanted to be the lawyer. I wanted to be the person who knew all the...

Bankruptcy.
January 1, 2004... Gregory B. Crampton likes to win. A half-dozen times a year, owners of failing businesses come to him for legal help and leave empty-handed. Their companies are so fouled up that he declines to take them on, figuring there is no way the...

Business law.(women lawyers)(Biography)
January 1, 2004... As corporate counsel for Vanguard Cellular Systems, a Greensboro-based wire-less-phone-system operator, Doris Bray helped put together its 1988 initial public offering. She would go to New York with Vanguard co-founder Haynes Griffin to meet...

Construction.(law people in practice)(Biography)
January 1, 2004... During his junior year at Vance High School in Henderson, Jim Roberts was the starting point guard on a basketball team that went 26-0 and won the state championship. While he doesn't have a perfect record in the courtroom, his winning record...

Corporate counsel.(people in practice )(Biography)
January 1, 2004... From his homespun phrasings, you might not guess that David L. Ward Jr. advises executives about mergers, antitrust issues, bank regulations and corporate structure. To hear him tell it, he was surprised by his rise through the ranks of...

Employment.(women advocates)(Biography)
January 1, 2004... Penni Pearson Bradshaw was a mother's dream. At West-chester High School in Philadelphia, she was an A-plus student, a tennis star, a member of student government and a writer for the student newspaper. To avoid the distractions of a coed...

Environmental.(law people in practice)(Biography)
January 1, 2004... After more than eight years as an environmental lawyer for the state, helping to shape the regulations that protect its coastline and handle its hazardous waste, Glenn Dunn went into private practice. It wasn't an easy decision. Was he going to...

Litigation.(people in law)(Biography)
January 1, 2004... Ace Walker was sure there must be some mistake. How could he be the state's top litigator when he hasn't tried a case of any kind in more than five years? But there is no mistake. To his peers, Walker, 72, is still the best. "It's a little...

Patents/intellectual property.(people)(Biography)
January 1, 2004... Bright and early one morning, as you pull away from the drive-through window and take a big bite out of that steak-and-egg biscuit, think of Ken Sibley. He helped make your breakfast possible. Sibley wrote the patents on the process used to...

Real estate.(people)(Biography)
January 1, 2004... Strangers often confuse Alfred Adams for someone else, including golfer Jack Nicklaus and NASCAR driver Sterling Marlin. "I never look like me," Adams, 57, complains. His colleagues weren't confused, however, when they voted him the...

Tax/estate planning.(people)(Biography)
January 1, 2004... Don't tell anyone, but Curtis Elliott actually likes the Internal Revenue Service. In fact, he sympathizes with the people who work there. "We're part of the system, too. We owe a duty to the public to uphold the integrity of the...

Builders Mutual Insurance Company.(Legal Elite)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... P.O. Box 150005 Raleigh, NC 27624 (919) 845-1976 * Fax: (919) 227-0497 www.buildersmutual.com E-mail: jbeard@bmico.com Builders Mutual Insurance Company, North Carolina's largest writer of workers' compensation insurance,...

Ellis & Winters LLP.(Legal Elite)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... P.O. Box 33550 Raleigh, NC 27636 (919) 865-7000 * Fax: (919) 865-7010 www.elliswinters.com E-mail: dick_ellis@elliswinters.com Dick Ellis has a broad range of expertise defending products liability litigation, including...

Haynsworth Baldwin Johnson & Greaves LLC.(Legal Elite)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... P.O. Box 10035 Raleigh, NC 27606 (919) 233-4600 * Fax: (919) 233-9988 www.haynsworth.com E-mail: taf@ral.haynsworth.com We are pleased and honored that Tom Farr, Member of our firm, has been included in Business North...

Cranfill, Sumner & Hartzog LLP.(Legal Elite)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... 225 Hillsborough Street, Suite 300 Raleigh, NC 27611 (919) 828-5100 * Fax: (919) 828-2277 www.cshlaw.com E-mail: PLH@cshlaw.com Patricia L. Holland specializes in the representation of management in employment litigation....

Ellis & Winters LLP.(Legal Elite)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... P.O. Box 33550 Raleigh, NC 27636 (919) 865-7000 * Fax: (919) 865-7010 www.elliswinters.com E-mail: paul_sun@elliswinters.com Paul Sun's practice focuses primarily on business litigation and appeals. Mr. Sun has experience...

Howard, Stallings, from & Hutson, PA.(Legal Elite)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... 400 Westchase Boulevard, Suite 400 Raleigh, NC 27611 (919) 821-7700 * Fax: (919) 821-7703 www.hsfh.com E-mail: afrom@hsfh.com Howard, Stallings, From & Hustson PA is pleased and honored to congratulate partner I. Allan...

Law office of Harold Bender.(Legal Elite)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Harold Bender is a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist. He specializes in criminal law with an emphasis on Securities Fraud, Bankruptcy Fraud and major white-collar crimes. Harold is a member of the American Bar Association, a Fellow in the...

Nexsen Pruet Jacobs and Pollard, PLLC.(Legal Elite)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Jim Pulliam is a Member in Nexsen Pruet's Charlotte office and practices in the areas of litigation, creditors rights and bankruptcy, and construction. Mr. Pulliam has extensive experience as a litigator in commercial business disputes,...

Nexsen Pruet Jacobs and Pollard, PLLC.(Legal Elite)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Hayden Harrell is a Member in Nexsen Pruet's Charlotte office and practices primarily in the areas of real estate, banking and finance. Mr. Harrell received his undergraduate degree cum laude and his law degree from Wake Forest University. Mr....

Nexsen Pruet Jacobs and Pollard, PLLC.(Legal Elite)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Richard Wilson is a Member in Nexsen Pruet's Charlotte office. Mr. Wilson is a trial lawyer who practices in the areas of commercial litigation, construction law and litigation, bankruptcy law, creditors' rights law, and real property...

North Carolina premier neighborhoods 2004.(Special Advertising Section)
January 1, 2004... From its enchanting beach communities to its charming mountain villages, North Carolina offers residents an array of lifestyles and localities to call home. Join us as we explore some of the state's premier neighborhoods. [ILLUSTRATION...

North Carolina premier Neighborhoods: when opportunity knocks, let us help you answer the door.(Special Advertising Section)
January 1, 2004... When it comes to finding a place to live, North Carolina has much to offer with its diverse and beautiful landscape. Your search for a special home may take you to the mountains, the ocean or through the rolling hills of North Carolina's...

High tide: Carolinas beaches aren't coasting.(Regional Focus: SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION)
January 1, 2004... Water and sand. Those are about all the beach communities from Portsmouth Island in North Carolina to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina have in common. There are differences in the way the beaches were developed, how they're accessed and...

His business is based on dollars and scents.(People)
January 1, 2004... Victor Taylor's earliest memories are of his great-grandmother making soap on the family farm near Candler after the Thanks-giving hog killing. As an adult, nostalgia washed over him. He wanted his son and daughter to experience their family...

He's got this job down to a science.(People)
January 1, 2004... Lasers and astrophysics are second nature to Bob McMahan. North Carolina's newly appointed science adviser is the son of a physicist and had a childhood steeped in the principles of science. "Our dinner-table conversation was about laser...

Her policy is ensuring the numbers add up.(People)(Biography)
January 1, 2004... Every three months, Theresa Stone finds herself on a conference call pitted against a hostile crowd of faceless industry analysts. It's the quarterly earnings announcement, and Stone must deliver Jefferson-Pilot Corp.'s numbers--good or bad....

J.P. Morgan's Southern Railway needed a place to repair steam engines on the run between Washington and Atlanta, and Spencer lay midway.(Bricks & Mortar)
January 1, 2004... J.P. Morgan's Southern Railway needed a place to repair steam engines on the run between Washington and Atlanta, and Spencer lay midway. Built in 1896, Spencer Shops employed 3,000 at its peak. The North Carolina Transportation Museum now sits...