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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 11, 1993                   TAG: 9305110153
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

C&P INFORMATION CENTER EXPANDING, ADDING JOBS

C&P Telephone President Hugh Stallard announced plans Monday to expand the company's Pulaski telephone directory-assistance center and immediately hire 30 new operators.

"Our Pulaski operators time and again prove themselves to be among the most efficient and productive in all of the Bell Atlantic Companies," he said. "Our center here has been so successful that we want to elevate it to an even greater role."

The announcement was made at a news conference in Pulaski attended by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abington, state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, and Del. Tommy Baker, R-Radford.

The Pulaski center, which opened two years ago, operates daily from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. It operates off a switch in Washington and serves C&P's customers in the Washington area.

By the end of September the Pulaski facility will be staffed 24 hours a day, Stallard said. The company will hire 30 new operators, increasing employment to about 120 workers.

Stallard said the new operators could have been added at any of C&P's directory assistance centers.

"The fact that we chose Pulaski is a credit to the high caliber of people who make up this community," he said.

Starting salary for the new operators is $269 a week and after four years an operator can earn $488.50 per week. Anyone interested in working as an operator should contact the Virginia Employment Commission.

Stallard also said that the jobs wouldn't have come to Pulaski without "the tireless effort" of Boucher. Boucher said he is confident that the Pulaski directory assistance center will continue to expand and hire new workers.

"C&P has done quite a bit to advance the economic agenda of this community," he said.

The center handles about 60,000 calls a day and is expected to increase to about 70,000 when it is operating around the clock. Pulaski Mayor Gary Hancock labeled Boucher and Stallard "the dynamic duo of economic development in Pulaski County. "We're delighted C&P has enjoyed success and we're particularly delighted delighted with the jobs," he said.

by CNB