In an engagingly well-written article about the impact of rural sourcing on Lebanon, Virginia (pop. 3,300), the Christian Science Monitor’s Patrik Jonsson paints a word picture of the town and some of the people who live in this mid-Appalachian plateau community where the average household income is about $27,000.
It’s not hard to imagine the excitement generated by the news, announced late last year, that CGI-AMS and Northrop-Grumman were bringing 700+ technology jobs to Lebanon – and with salaries of around $50,000 a year. Jonsson quotes one of the town’s high school students as saying that "It’s nice to know that I might be able to stay here and raise a family, instead of having to go somewhere else to do that."
Even non-subscribers of the respected international daily should be able to read the article free for another few days at http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0223/p02s01-usec.html
Wikipedia entry on Lebanon (including its location on a Virginia map): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon,_Virginia
