Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 24, 1992 TAG: 9201240266
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
IN BUSINESS
Thalhimer donates $1 million for joblessRICHMOND - Charles Thalhimer, retired vice chairman of the former Thalhimer Bros. Inc. department store chain, donated $1 million Thursday to establish a fund to help recently laid-off Thalhimers employees.
Beginning Feb. 3, the Charles Thalhimer Family Emergency Assistance Program will help workers at Richmond-area Thalhimers stores who encounter financial problems resulting from closings and layoffs.
Former employees who qualify will receive up to $3,000 for rent, mortgage payments, utility bills, medical expenses, food, job retraining and other needs.
May Co., the St. Louis-based parent of Thalhimers, announced in November it would close or sell several stores as part of the merger of Thalhimers with Arlington-based Hecht Co.
The fund will help former workers at the downtown Richmond store, Azalea Mall, Fairfield Commons, Walnut Mall, the distribution center and the central office. - Associated Press
Bristol-Myers to give drugs to needy
NEW YORK - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Thursday it will give cardiovascular drugs to the needy, the latest goodwill gesture by drug makers toward Americans who cannot afford proper health care.
The announcement comes amid increasing scrutiny of the pharmaceutical industry, which critics say profits enormously from expensive drugs that only the insured and the wealthy can afford. Some drug prices have increased by 20 percent and more each year in recent years, many times the rate of inflation. - Associated Press
Poultry plant can't pay `even one dollar'
RALEIGH, N.C. - The owner of a chicken plant fined $808,150 after a fire that killed 25 people and injured 56 others says the company can't afford to pay the fine or even contest it, according to a letter released Thursday.
In a Jan. 20 letter to the state Labor Department, Imperial Food Products president Emmett J. Roe denied as "simply absurd" the 54 willful violations inspectors found at the plant.
He said Imperial is "financially unable to pay even one dollar of any fine," and added that "Imperial does not contest because it financially cannot."
The fire occurred Sept. 3 at Imperial's plant in Hamlet. The Labor Department imposed the fine Dec. 30 for violations of Occupational Health and Safety Administration standards. - Associated Press