Tom Netherland

Virgil Smith won’t lose his job any time soon. Still, as a lifelong Southwest Virginia tobacco farmer, the 48-year-old sweat and toils year-in and year-out to make ends meet.

He barely makes it. Last year the slim, slow-talking Smith cleared just $12,000. He drives a battered Ford pickup truck laden with nearly 200,000 miles and has minimal health insurance. He and his wife have two teenage sons, both of whom want to go to college.

Unless his fortunes soon change, Smith’s sons may not be able to further their education. The prospect has him looking for another line of work.

"My boys need schooling," Smith said. "What with today’s jobs, a man ain’t gonna make it without an education. I want my boys to make it – and I aim to help ’em."

To that end, Smith has begun looking for work away from his farm, away from the meager money he’s made year after year in recent years.

"It’s tough," he said of re-entering the job market. "And you know what? I’m scareder than hell. People don’t look for men my age to hire."

That could change if Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, has his way. He has submitted several bills that would bring high-technology jobs to the Southwest. But to lure companies to the area, Wampler says, residents must be armed with the knowledge and skills needed to fill those jobs.

"The goal is to be able to say to anyone contemplating locating a business here that we have 2,000 people in the job market who have the skills," Wampler told the Bristol Herald Courier.

Wampler wants a $4 million slice of Virginia’s Unemployment Trust Fund of $70 million to spark a multi-tiered effort to train the work force. Local community colleges, the University of Virginia’s College of Wise and the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon will assist.

"I get frustrated by visits we have from high-tech company CEOs who want to bring their business here, but we are unable to quantify the skills our dedicated and quality work force has," Wampler said. This program will help answer those questions.

"My plan for the $4 million is to capture part of the Unemployment Trust Fund," Wampler added. "There is a surplus in the fund today because of the low unemployment rate in the state.

"The governor asked me to carry a bill for him to capture $9 million this year and $14 million the next. My bill is not inconsistent with what the governor wants, but is focused on the areas in the state that need it."

Smith doesn’t quite know how the money will help him.

"That’s an awful lot," he said. "Maybe it will and maybe it won’t help. I reckon it won’t hurt, though. We’ve got to do something around here. I’ve got to do something."

Wampler agrees. And the way he sees it, something can be done to improve Smith’s and others’ lot in life. He said that to be a force in the future, the area must arm itself with the tools of modern-day technology, especially those geared toward e-commerce.

"Too many times we’ve tried to focus our efforts on the home runs of employers that create 1,000 jobs, but there has been tremendous growth in the small-sized companies in e-commerce and business," Wampler said.

Indeed, Internet business seems to be a powerful wave of the future, Wampler said. By coordinating the training with local colleges – which in turn will work with local high schools – to prepare future entries into the work force, the area’s work force will in effect be brought from the technological dark ages.

Smith’s wife, Anne, furrows her brow and sips nervously at her coffee.

She knows it won’t be so simple.

"Our boys, other parents’ sons and daughters, they’ll get along," she said. "But what about my husband, other wives’ husbands? They’ve been used to working with their hands, hard work all their life."

Her husband sits and wonders. He knows she’s right, knows that he has one tough road to ride as he gradually shucks tobacco farming for a new vocation.

But Smith has never used a computer.

He suspects that he’s far from alone.

"I know what they are, know that they are all over the place, but I’ve just never had the use of one," Smith said. "Guess that’ll have to change, won’t it?"