Education is business mainstay, panel told.

Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

A stable education system with a capacity for vocational training would go a long way toward unleashing Oregon businesses and reviving the state's economy, a touring contingent of the Oregon Business Plan was told Tuesday in Eugene.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, leading proponents of the plan on a five-day meander around the state, invited a gathering of more than 75 local business and government leaders to voice concerns and share opinions about what's working and what's lacking in the Oregon economy.

"Good economic development is essentially bottom-up," Wyden said, seeking direction from his audience.

The Oregon Business Plan, launched in January 2002, is a multiyear partnership between government and business leaders to rebuild the state's economy with well-paying jobs and globally competitive industries.

"Our goal was and still is to create more stable, higher-paying jobs in the state of Oregon," said Bill Thorndike, a Medford businessman and chairman of the ad hoc Oregon Business Plan Steering Committee.

Those who spoke and others who filled out written surveys at Tuesday's Eugene tour stop seemed to agree with those who weighed in Monday in Medford and Klamath Falls - that the top priority should be to stabilize funding of public schools and broaden vocational offerings that could lead to a better-trained work force.

Brian Huber, owner of Creative Composites in Oakridge, was on a four-person panel of southern Willamette Valley executives who offered portraits of their businesses and outlined their suggestions for improving economic conditions.

He said the biggest challenge for his fast-growing company, which makes aerospace parts and bulletproof vest materials, is finding qualified employees.

"Oakridge is a community that can support this type of operation," Huber said. "There just needs to be a training element brought in."

Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey, speaking from the audience, touted a proposal for fostering a partnership between Lane Community College and local high schools to create "master career schools" with a different vocational focus at each campus.

Responding to a question from Thorndike, which had been raised at earlier tour stops, local business leaders said many prospective employees are being weeded out of their hiring processes by drug testing, and that new options must be found to encourage a drug-free work force.

Other concerns raised at the Eugene forum included health care, government regulations and transportation issues.

Ed McMahon, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Lane County, asked Wyden and others to eliminate meaningless regulations that seem to do little but interfere with commerce.

"A 16-year-old can go out and drive 75 miles per hour on I-5, but he can't go to a job site and pick up a cordless drill," McMahon said.

The Oregon Business Plan tour continues today in Newport, then breaks until next week, when it will resume in The Dalles and head east to Pendleton, La Grande and John Day. The organization's Web site is www.OregonBusinessPlan.org.