The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 8

iDif Anniston itnr Company allows casual dress for interview Page 2B Monday. August 23. 1999 -Business Briefcase 1 lated the lab for the "excellence of the servii.es being provided" The federal government recognies the accreditation as equal to or more stringent than their own inspection program Williams joins Alabama broadcaster's board Thomas illiams, general manager of WHMA AM and FM. has been elected to the Alabama Broadcaster's Board of Directors. Williams has been general manager at the station since lWl and will now represent radio and television broadcasters in distnc' IV of Northeast Alabama for the next lour ears.

JSU offers one-on-one small business counseling The Jacksonville State University Small, Business Development Center, the Small Business Administration and the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce will offer free one -on-one counseling for prospective and existing small business owners on Aug. l'J from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the chamber. Call 237-3536 to make an appointment.

Retirees offer knowledge to prospective entrepreneurs The Service Corps of Retired Executives conducts free counseling sessions for prospective entrepreneurs in the area. The sessions are held at the Calhoun Count) CKunhei I Ommeu; building ever, luesdav at I p.m. Call 237-3536 for an appointment. Members of the business community can submit typed items and pictures to Business Briefs, The Anniston Star. P.O.

Box 189. Anniston. Ala. 36202. or fax them to (256) 235-3535.

Please include the business address, a contact person and a phone number for questions. Please do not staple pictures. Sorry, but pictures can not be returned. Engineers mote in new office on Noble Street HGS tngineenns: has opened a new office jt i 2 i ohle Street in Anniston The new otfice will accommodate the structural, civil and environmental engineering firm's growing and to take advantage of business opportunities in downtown Anniston The compj-n il! continue to maintain its cur- rent location Hillver Robinson Industrial Parkvvuv South in OvtorJ The phone number tor the new office is 256 Regional Medical Center receives lab accreditation following an on-site inspection, the laboratory at the Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center in Anniston was awarded a two-year accreditation the Commission on Laborator Accreditation of the College of American Pathologists. The commission also congratu gambler and would rather play a safer bet.

Incidentally, you don't have to be a "strong negotiator." but it helps if you are patient and can "think on vour feet." Dear Mr. Walberg: I have an interv iew coming up ith a company that allows their employees to dress casually. I'm concerned with what to wear for the interview. Do vou know who I could ask to get some advice? via e-mail. Dear Reader: You can always ask the person who arranged your interview, or visit the company before vour interview to see how their employ ees dress.

Plan to dress just a little dressier than what you see when you visit the workplace. Marvin Walberg is a job searchsales trainer. Your comments are welcome. Send job search question and success stories to: "Getting Hired," P.O. Box 130757, Birmingham, AL 35213.

For a confidential reply, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Send e-mail to Dear Mr. Walberg: I read your column about salary negotiations, and what you call "interview ping pong." While 1 agree with you in principle, what do you do if you're not a strong negotiator 1 1 don't feel comfortable in that role, and would 'much rather just state nn acceptable figure. Is there anything wrong in using that approach' H.S.. Nashville.

Tenn. Dear H.S.: No. there's nothing wrong with using your approach, however it could end up very costly. Let me explain. Several years ago.

I worked with a client who was completing graduate school. She was going on an interview for a professor's assistant; a newly created position for which there was no salary history. We had no idea what the professor had in mind for a starting salary, so my advice was to play "interview ping pong" and let the professor make the first move. After the interview, which went very well for both parties. I asked my client if money as dis-cussed.

She was rather hesitant to answer Marvin L. Walberg Getting hired me. but eventually I learned that when the professor asked her what kind of money she was expecting, she said. "I'd be happv with Well, she got the offer, at guess how much? S20.0OO. of course! Why would the professor offer her more if that's what she said she wanted? But.

if the professor was thinking S25.000 to start, she gave away S5.000 because she was uncomfortable playing ping pong! We never learned what that professor was thinking, but I'm not a Hewlett: Woman at work shatters glass ceiling Piatt said. "We were no longer connected to gone. Southern dairymen see hope for survival By David Pace consumers. Agriculture Department statistics show that lower milk production costs in other regions are more than offset by the cost of transporting it to the Southeast. Southern dairymen like Thompson and Williams have the region's congressmen and senators lined up solidly behind the compact plan.

And they have support from Northeastern lawmakers, who are trying to extend a similar regional dairy compact that was created in 1996. But they're still fighting an uphill battle against Midwestern dairymen and industry and consumer groups who contend that regional compacts will drive up the cost of milk to consumers and pit one region ofthe country against another. From Page 1b long employee, who had joined right out of business school in 1966 and worked his uav up the ladder, he soldiered on. When he married again in 1983. his second wife.

Joan, took over the household responsibilities, freeing him to indulge his "workaholic tendencies. But rather than retreating to his old way of thinking, he found he sympathized with the plight of the average working woman more than ever. The new Mrs. Piatt had two daughters of her own. Amanda and Hillary, then 9 and 7.

and surrounded as he was as the sole male, he had little choice but to look at their side of things, noted his daughter. Caryn. "We would gang up on him pretty mercilessly." she recalled. All four daughters are now working. Named a vice president in 1983.

Piatt continued his ascent at Hewlett-Packard, managing various parts of the company's computer business before becoming an executive vice president in 1987. During that time, more women were rising to the level of manager, but few were making.it to the highest ranks. By the time he became chief executive in 1992. he says, droves of those women managers were leaving. "The pipeline didn't look very good." he said.

After an outside consultant conducted interviews with many of these women, he came to realize that despite his own open-mindedness on the subject, the company's policies were not flexible enough to accommodate their lives outside the workplace. What concerned him in particular were the omen in their late 30s who left the company to devote more time to their children, never to be seen again. "The were them" So he decided to take action. Working ith other top executives. Piatt developed what for Hewlett-Packard was a new workplace strategy.

Over the next several years, the company began to encourage employees to adjust their workweeks, arrange flexible work schedules, work at home if necessary and even share jobs all so that they could meet their personal responsibilities. They could even take sabbaticals yearlong unpaid leaves from the company no questions asked. While many companies offer these options, few corporations actually encourage their use. Hewlett-Packard did. Piatt made speeches, reminding managers that they needed to consider seriously any of their employees" requests to take advantage of this new flexibility, and he put his name on memos sent to managers across the world.

"Worklife issues are a business priority," one statement said. "Attention to worklife issues strengthens HP's competitive edge and improves teamwork within HP." Even high-level employees take advantage of the new flexibility. Janice Chaffin, an 18-year Hewlett-Packard employee and general manager in charge of providing large computer systems to 'companies, for example, shared that position, just one rank below division president at the company, for a year. Ms. Chaffin says she has never come under any pressure to put in time in the office for the sake of appearance her bosses" boss evpn encouraged her to make clear to her own manager, who was known for spending nearly every waking hour at the office, that she would not do the same.

"It was never an issue," she said. Eatonton Dairy Farms about 70 miles southeast of Atlanta, said it's not unusual for his 400-cow operation to go from a small profit one month to a $75,000 loss the next. A regional compact that could set a floor under the price farmers are paid for their milk, said Thompson, "would give you some stability, some feeling you could plan. "You could know whether you could continue in business or milk your assets out and close doors and sell the cows." said Thompson, who has logged. 40 years of dairy farming.

In Georgia, nearly 1,000 dairy farmers have called it quits in the past three decades, leaving just 450 in business. The dwindling number of dairy farms has left the state, and the South as a whole, unable to produce anywhere near the amount of milk it consumes. In the 13 Southern states that have endorsed the compact, milk production has declined 17 percent during the past decade. When the region's population growth is taken into account, the average production per person has declined 22 percent. When Southern dairy farms fail to produce enough milk to meet the region's demand, it's imported from other regions, driving up the cost to Associated Press WASHINGTON Charles Williams dreams of his son continuing the south Alabama dairy farm he's spent nearly half a century building, but he knows that's' not likely without help from Congress.

One of a rapidly dwindling breed of Southern dairymen, the 70-year-old Williams is looking to Washington for final approval of a Southern Dairy Compact that's already been endorsed by 13 state legislatures in the region. Dairy farmers from Kansas to Georgia see the compact, which would empower a commission to set the minimum price for Class 1 milk in the region, as the panacea for a marketplace where wildly fluctuating prices and steadily increasing production costs have made it all but impossible to turn a profit. "Anything you have to do eight days a week and 30 hours a day, you need to make some money from it," said Williams, who's seen the number of dairy farms in Mobile County decline from 160 to six since he began milking cows for a living in 1952. "It's not a romantic thing." Tom Thompson, a partner in Adjacent to Forestlawn Gardens 620 Golden Springs Road Anniston, Alabama Large study of Internet use finds 6 percent are addicts 231-2334 057JI5 By Jeff Donn i presenting the widely used set of criteria for gambling addiction. For example, the questionnaires asked if participants had used the Internet to escape from their problems, tried unsuccessfully to cut back, or found themselves preoccupied with the Internet when they were no longer at the computer.

If participants answered "yes" to at least five of 10 such criteria, they are viewed as addicted. A total of 990 participant-s, or 5.7 percent, did answer "yes" to five cr more questions. With an estimated 200 million Internet users worldwide, that would mean that 1 1 .4 million are addicts. The question about using the Internet as an escape yielded more "yes" answers than any other: 30 percent. the expanding acceptance of compulsive Internet use as a real psychological disorder.

Kimberly Young, a pioneer in the new field of research, said the latest study is so broad that it "adds a- layer of legitimacy to the concern that Internet addiction is real." However, the 6 percent figure is lower that some estimates of 10 percent or more stemming largely from research on college students. Greenfield, who is a psychologist in West Hartford, carried out the study jointly with ABC News. He collected 17,251 responses to an Internet use questionnaire distributed and returned through the Web site ABCNEWS.com. He adapted his questions from a Associated Press BOSTON Almost 6 percent of Internet users suffer from some form of addiction to it, according to the largest study of Web surfers ever conducted. "Marriages are being disrupted, kids are getting into trouble, people are committing illegal acts, people are spending too much money.

As someone who treats patients. I see it," said Dav id Greenfield, the therapist and researcher who did the study. The findings, which were released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, appear likely to bolster Obituaries rt I-. -A- "iV" 4 La JJ '4 Hanner LINEVILLE Services for Mr. Winford Hanner, 80.

of Lineville will be Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Benefield Funeral Home with Rev. Wayne Hester officiating. Burial will be in the Lineville City Cemetery. The family will receive friends 5-8 today at Benefield Funeral Home and Tuesday until service starts.

Mr. Hanner died Saturday at his home. Survivors include his wife, Gertrude Hanner and a number of nieces and nephews. Mr. Hanner was a native and lifelong resident of Clay County.

Mr. Hanner, a Baptist, was employed by Higgins Manufacturing in Lineville for a number of years. Matheny Imagine instant communication that goes everywhere your employees do. With Southern LINC Irom Southern Company, one compact Motorola handset gives ylou Instant UNCM phone service, paging, and more. Plus the most complete Meadows of Havelock, N.C., and Matt Meadows of Bethany, his grandmother, Sidney Williams of Alma, and his grandfather, Clayton Wade of Alma.

Mr. Meadows, a native of Alma, lived most of his life in Anniston. He was a member of Gladeview Baptist Church in Saks and was an honor student. He served as president of" student government and president of his class for three years. He was a member of, the Fraternal Order of Police and was an active volunteer at ARC of.

Calhoun and Special Olympics. He received a degree in criminal justice at Jacksonville State University and' was a graduate of Northeast Alabama Police Academy. He was a police officer with the JSU Police Department. He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Mark W. Meadows and Ora Meadows.

Reid OXFORD Services for Mary H. Reid, 77, of 227 Mountain Ave. will be Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Brown Kughn Memory Chapel with Revs. William B.

Kughn. Jim Harrington and Scott Blake officiating. Burial will be Forestlawn Gardens. The family will receive friends 6-8 tonight at Brown Kughn Memory Chapel. Mrs.

Reid died Saturday in 'Oxford. Survivors include three daughters, Peggy Morrison and Pam Gunnett, both of Oxford, and Pat Burley. of Mesa, three sisters, Marjorie Ashley and Sue Simmons, both ol Oxford, and Dorothy Starr of Anniston; a "brother, Milford Hill of Weaver; 10 grandchildren, Tommy Morrison. Traci Johns, Gary Wood, Donny Wood, Bobby, Wood, Dana Morris, Jason Davis, Joshua Davis, Billy Gunnett and Amy Gunnett; and 10 great-grandchildren. Pallbearers will be Richard Simmons, Rick Brown, Greg Ashley, Ronnie Hill, Bobby Wood, Tommy Mdrrison, Jason Davis and Josh Davis.

Honorary pallbearers are retired employees of J.C. Penney Co. Mrs. Reid was a native and lifelong resident of Calhoun County; she owned and operated Reids Food Store for 22 years and retired from J.C. Penney Co.

Mrs. Reid, a member of Greenbrier Central Church of Christ, was preceded in death by her husband, James Reid. Robison WEAVER Services for Robert W. "Rob" Robison, 89, of 1222 Russell Drive will be Tuesday at 1 1 a.m. at Anniston Memorial Cemetery with Rev.

Charles Rutherford officiating. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Monday at Gray Brown-Service Mortuary and Crematory. Mr. Robison died Saturday at Regional Medical Center.

Survivors include his wife, Margaret G. Robison of Weaver; a stepdaughter Valeria Holdbrooks of Albertville; and three sisters Ruth L. Herring, Lois Irene Conaway arid Nealy Mae McMillian, all of Tupelo, Miss. Mr. Robison was a retired master sergeant in the U.S.

Army with 20 years of service. He owned and operated Robison's Plant Farm in Weaver and was a member of Leatherwood Baptist Church for 32 years. He was preceded in death by his stepdaughter, Jeanie Byars. coverage in the Southeast. Sign up for service by October 15, and you'll receive two months free access on select Integrated Service Packages.

Simply call 1-800-818-IJNC or one of the Southern LINC representatives listed below for more information. Southern LINC www.southernlinc.com LEESBURG Services for William Matheny, 68, of 160 Cherokee County Road 317 will be announced by Jordan Funeral Home. Mr. Matheny died Sunday at his home. Meadows JACKSONVILLE The family of Mitch Meadows, 23, of Jacksonville will receive friends 6-8 tonight at K.L.

Brown Funeral Home and Crematory Chapel. Burial will be Wednesday at Lakeside Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery in Metter, Ga. Mr. Meadows died Saturday at his home. Survivors include his parents.

Jack and 'Bo Meadows, of Alma, a sister, Mary Ann Meadows of Old Hickory, three brothers, Mark Meadows of Enterprise, Mike southern A COMPANY Southern LINC Authorized Dealers AHComm Wireless Anniston- 256-236-0245 McCord Communications Anniston 256-237-6697 Q'PJ) Southern Southern UNC I mum I JN'( anil the Southern (iompany loeo art proprietary wince marks of Southern Company- Motmolj it a reentered trade mark of Motorola, Int. Some remiamni applv New atnvaiionv and twelve-month minimum contract required. Not valid with any other equipment or service promotion )Her valid from 7 1 d'W to lOlS'jy..