
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990                   TAG: 9004041028
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BEYER CALLS FOR FISCAL LEADERSHIP

The administration of Gov. Douglas Wilder has shown that Democrats can be fiscally responsible "and we must be if we are to lead Virginia and America," Lt. Gov. Don Beyer told the Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce at its annual meeting Wednesday.

As the first business person elected to high state office in a long time, Beyer said he brings a business background and a sense of "careful stewardship and husbandry" that is useful in budget decisions and tax and spending policies in Richmond. Beyer, an auto dealer, is a past president of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce.

His priorities in the state's second highest office, he said, are to advance economic growth, continue an emphasis on transportation and support a drug-free work place.

Virtually every problem from Roanoke west stems from unemployment and depressed wages, Beyer said, and he is trying to work with the many local development groups to improve the economy.

The new Virginia Economic Development Corp. can help lend money to business, he said.

Beyer supported the proposed Roanoke-Blacksburg connector road, which would tie "a major business center to a major university," and the Explore project, which he said capitalizes on "the Roanoke Valley's greatest asset, its landscape and the tourist industry."

While 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies have some sort of drug programs, the lieutenant governor said, only a fraction of small businesses have organized efforts to fight drug usage.

A drug-help program has been effective at his Volvo dealership, Beyer said. As business leaders, "we must draw a line in the sand and say that if you want to work in Virginia, you can't do drugs."

Beyer promoted volunteerism, challenging each chamber member to do three hours of volunteer work a week. If all the people of the state would give three hours, "that would be enough to eliminate virtually every problem . . . Government can't do everything," he said.

The chamber's annual good citizen award went to C&P Telephone Co. Lee Linkous, a deputy sheriff in Roanoke County, won the deputy of the year award and the officer of the year was Michael Green of the Salem Police Department, chosen for his work in the arrest of Dennis Wayne Eaton who killed four people last year.

Linda Markham, regional manager for Virginia First Savings Bank, follows Nathan C. Stephens, a dentist, as president of the chamber.

by CNB