Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout009-93 Blue Ridge Indus. (rev) - Shawnee District - Backfile (2)Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. Page is too large to OCR. BUSINESS The Winchester Star Tuesday, March 9, 1993 A6 BRIEFCASE AROUND TOWN • CHAMBER MIXERS. Adelphia Cable will spon- sor a membership mixer for the Front Royal - Warren County Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, March 10, at the Quality Inn on Commerce Avenue in Front Royal, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. To respond, call (703) 635-3185. • The Winchester Country Club, on Senseny Road in Frederick County, will host the Win- chester -Frederick County Chamber of Com- merce monthly membership mixer Tuesday, March 16, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Call the chamber at 662-4118 for reservations. HERSHEY •JEFFERSON BANK PROMOTION. J. An- drew Hershey has been named vice president and mortgage loan officer at the Lou- doun Street Mall office of Jefferson National Bank in Winchester. His prior job was as mortgage loan officer at the bank's main office in .Charlottesville. • AT THE MALL. Apparel store County Seat opened recently near Leggett in the Apple Blossom Mall in Winchester. Coming to the mall in May, into the former site of World Bazaar, is Payless ShoeSource. • WARREN TOURISM. An open forum on the future of the tourism industry in Front Royal will take place Friday, March 12, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Warren Heritage Society, 101 Chester St. To respond, call the Front Royal -Warren County Chamber of Commerce at (703) 635-3185. • UNION MEETING. The United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America will meet with VDO-Yazaki Corp. employees Monday though Friday, 1 to 6 p.m., for. the next several weeks at U.A.W. Local 149 at 2625 Papermill Road in Winchester to gauge worker interest in organizing. For more informa- tion, call 662-4948. • ADDENDA. Janet P. Dick of the Frederick County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office has been named Frederick County employee of the month for March ... • Alson H. "Skip" Smith III has been elected to the board of directors of the New Life Center Inc., an alcohol and drug rehabiliation treatment center in Winchester ... • Barry K. Carper, president of the Virginia In- surance Network in Winchester, recently received the Virginia life and health insurance license, and Albert Weinmann, a representative at the agency, was named outstanding servicing agent for the month ... FOCUS: MANUFACTURING Star Photo by Scott Mason Gus Nusu of Blue Ridge Industries leads government officials and others on a tour of the plastics firm's Frederick County plant last week. Expanding Plastics Blue Ridge Industries Triples Size of County Plant By MARK KRIKORIAN Star Staff Writer A small local plastics manufacturer is more than tripling its current factory east of Winchester. Blue Ridge Industries is expanding its current 22,000-square-foot plant off U.S. 50 by building a 47,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse addition. The injection molding and assembling firm was started in 1985 and was located at 2028 S. Loudoun St. in Winchester until moving to its current site in 1990. Blue Ridge incorporated in 1989, and currently employs a total of about 100 people. Gus Nusu, chief operating officer/general manager of the firm, said employment will expand to nearly 150 once the addition is open in mid -June. The expansion project will cost about $750,000. Because of the expansion, Blue Ridge will vacate about 18,000 square feet of space it leases in the Shockey Cos. complex off U.S, north of Winchester. Along with Nusu, the partners in the venture are: John P. Good, president of Blue Ridge and a vice president at Shockey; Nick Krassowski, also owner of Audio Pak at Stonewall Industrial Park in Frederick County; and.Ben Ziekle of Leesburg. A Romanian native, Nusu had been general manager of a cosmetics company in Long Island, N.Y., for 18 years before coming to Blue Ridge last year. Nusu wouldn't give sales figures for the plastics company, but did say that business in 1992 was double the 1991 total. "We are growing," Nusu said, though he did not expect to double again this year. The company makes a variety of plastic pro- ducts, including toys, baby rattles, cassette tape cartridges, and air fresheners for Winchester's Rubbermaid Commercial Products. He said the firm has done one small job for O'Sullivan and is bidding for more. Exports to countries ranging "from Australia all the way to Taiwan" make up between 25 percent to 35 percent of Blue Ridge's business, Nusu said. To boost that proportion, Nusu is visiting his native Romania this week to see if any deals can be ar- ranged. Please send business news items and coming events to Briefcase, The Winchester Star, 2 N. Kent St., Winchester 22601. Photos are welcome. and will h— -iced as space perm►- c11 '. - NATIONAL The Winchester Star Tuesday, March 9, 1993 A5 Health Care Hillary: No Middle -Class Tax Hike Under Proposal WASHINGTON (AP) — The Clin- ton administration would delay im- plementing some of its health care plans or consider limiting doctors' fees rather than taxing the middle class to pay for the system, Hillary Rodham Clinton says. "In terms of any broad, general middle-class tax increase, it's just not going to happen," said the first lady, who is heading President Clinton's health care reform task force. "We will look for other alter- natives, either a slightly longer phase -in or quicker cost -contain- ment before we do that," Mrs. Clin- ton said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. Her comment echoes that of her husband, who promised during the election campaign to trim his domestic agenda before raising taxes on the middle class. But his budget proposal as president in- cludes fuel tax increases that would hit the middle class. Mrs. Clinton made one exception to the middle-class pledge: "Sin taxes," such as those on cigarettes, would be a good source of financing for the plans "because those are health -related." The president has promised to send his health care package to Congress in May, but no date has been set to put the system in place. "As soon as possible is the time frame," Mrs. Clinton said. "The definition of `possible' is what we're trying to work out now. Ideally, we would do it in the next two years." Another alternative to taxing the middle class would be to impose some sort of "cost containment" measure, such as caps on the fees doctors, hospitals and other health HILLARY CLINTON care providers can charge, she said. The action could help ease the nation into the new system. "How do we, in effect, stabilize the patient until we get the whole system in place," Mrs. Clinton said. She said taxing employee health care benefits would be unfair because the tax imposes a burden on the middle class. Mrs. Clinton did not elaborate on other financing options, but there are several other ways to raise money for the changes, including tax hikes on insurance companies and health care providers. She said the nation spends $900 billion a year on health care, and nearly a fourth of that can be saved by cutting red tape and put back in- to the health care system. Some examples cited by Mrs. Clinton: , • Standardizing reporting forms that doctors and hospitals use. She said this would be "a windfall to providers." • Eliminating federal subsidies to medical schools for training specialists. She said the nation has too many specialists and not enough general practitioners, yet the gov- ernment is paying to train specialists. • Changing antitrust laws so that hospitals could decide among themselves what medical equip- ment they buy. She said cooperation between hospitals could cut the amount of expensive equipment purchased. Mrs. Clinton also sought to soften concerns about her role. "I kind of view myself in some ways as a citi- zen representative," she said, ad- ding that she would not make final decisions on the legislative pro- posal. She said the legislation will create a national guaranteed "core of benefits." This basic insurance package will resemble a typical in- surance policy. Mrs. Clinton said the details haven't been worked out, but major hospitalization and preventive health care coverage are likely components of the guar- anteed benefits package. Working under a budget limiting how much the nation can spend on health care, cooperatives of in- dividuals and businesses organized at the state level likely will negoti- ate with insurers, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and others to develop insurance packages tailored to their popula- tions, Mrs. Clinton said. These packages would incorporate the "core of benefits" yet ensure flex- ibility at the grassroots level. King Expected to Testify LOS ANGELES (AP) — Setting day. In other testimony Monday, the doctor said. the stnor- for R.ndnPv u.... 1- -'a ►­ ct;tehed up Associated Press Secretary of Defense Les Aspin signs N.Y., from duty in Somalia. Fort Drum is not ex - autographs for members of the 10th Mountain pected to be on a list of U.S. military bases Division Monday after their arrival at Fort Drum, scheduled for closure. Aspin, Families Welcome Soldiers FORT DRUM, N.Y. (AP) — Secretary of Defense Les Aspin welcomed home 300 soldiers Monday from Somalia, but it was nothing like the greeting they got from their families. Spouses and children waving American flags and toting red, white and blue balloons filled a gymnasium to welcome their loved ones, who handled security in Kismayu and other Somalia cities. Aspin told the members of the Army's loth Mountain Division that their service in Somalia was an "Ameri- can gift to the world." He thanked the families for their sacrifices, then dismissed the troops, triggering a reunion rush at the gymnasium on this base 70 miles north of Syracuse. "I feel go-oo-od!" Staff Sgt. Robin Wynn said as he embraced his wife and four young children. "I didn't think we'd ever get home. Every time they told us to get ready, something would happen to change the plans." Brenda Wynn, who talked to her husband only once for 15 minutes during his 70-day tour in Somalia, said she was up all night rejoicing after receiving word Sunday night that her husband was coming home. Eleven -year -old Keisha Wynn said her mother acted like "a little kid" on the way to the gym. "She was making noises in the car, giggling and bouncing around she was so excited." Staff Sgt. Billie Shelton Jr. said he couldn't sleep a wink on the 23-hour flight from Somalia. "My adrenalin was too high. I just kept seeing my wife and my kids in my mind," he said. Shelton missed the birthdays of his son, Justin, 5, and his daughter, Heather, 6. Lisa Terwillegar was shaking before the soldiers ar- rived at the base.