U. S. Representative Mike McIntyre recently sent
letters to the chief executive officers of Fortune 500 companies, encouraging
them to consider locating in Robeson County. As he feels others need to
do, he highlighted the county's positive features: “a loyal work
force, an abundant water supply, major interstates and low-cost construction.”
This article goes on to discuss whether the county really
has a negative image, how much impact the negative image (if it exists)
might have on a company's or a professional's decision about moving to
the county, and how the negative image might have come about and been perpetuated.
Phil Kirk, chairman of North Carolina Citizens for Business,
points to recent problems at Robeson Community College that caused SACS
to put the school on probation (see WITT015)
as the sort of controversy businesses don't like to see. He notes that
incidents like this might overshadow the county's strengths.
Greg Taylor, the Cape Fear Regional Small Business Center's
director of small business and technology, remarks that different industries
place priority on different requirements, making it difficult to discern
how much difference the county's image makes.
Morris Bullock, assistant vice president of physician
and business development at Southeastern Regional Medical Center, finds
that the county's economic problems and its higher-than-average illiteracy
and dropout rates make it harder to attract medical professionals.
Opinions differ on the role of the news media in creating
the problem (if it exists) and perpetuating it.
Greg Cummings, director of Robeson County's economic development
office, maintains that the news media's extensive coverage of stories such
as the Robesonian hostage-taking and Eddie Hatcher, the murder of
Michael Jordan's father, the county school board, student test scores,
county race relations, and the aforementioned problems at Robeson Community
College have damaged the county's business recruitment efforts. He notes
that after a company visits the county to assess its industrial parks,
banks, neighborhoods, and schools, it checks out the area by visiting the
local media's Web sites. What's reported on the front page and in editorials
might keep businesses from coming.
Tony Normand, CEO of COMtech, an education technology
park being developed near Pembroke, believes most of the public agrees
with Greg Cummings. He adds, however, that this attitude is “killing
the messenger”; people are blaming the newspaper for writing about
a problem, rather than blaming the people or entities who created the
problem. He would prefer, however, that the local newspaper run fewer
stories on topics such as Eddie Hatcher and the murder of Michael Jordan's
father. He states, “I realize that the news media has to run the
news as it takes place and that people want to read that. But my concern
is how long do you run it on the front page and how often do you bring
it up?”
Cummings is honest and upfront when he talks to prospective
businesses about the county. If they don't ask him about the school system
or the crime rate, he brings it up. He tries to counter any negative perceptions
by discussing steps that are being taken to improve these situations.
