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<DIV class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white 0% 50%; moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial"><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><DIV class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white 0% 50%; moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial"><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black"><DIV class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white 0% 50%; moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial"></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">Plagued by a chronic shortage of local workers, Wintergreen Resort has tried every tack but lassos to fill its staff: It has recruited 15-year-old high school kids. College kids. Seventy-five-year-old retirees. Foreign students in work exchange programs.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
fficeffice" /><o
></o></SPAN></DIV><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black"><?xml:namespace prefix = u1 /><u1:P></u1:P><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">Still not enough.<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black"><u1:P></u1:P><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">This season's idea: Jamaicans.<u1:P></u1:P><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">This Blue Ridge Mountains ski resort three hours southwest of <?xml:namespace prefix = u2 /><u2:STATE u3:st="on"><u2:PLACE u3:st="on"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:State w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Washington</u2:PLACE></u2:STATE></st1lace></st1:State> -- playground for the region's comfortable -- used a temporary visa program to fly in 35 islanders who were so unaccustomed to winter that many didn't think to pack coats.<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black"><u1:P></u1:P><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">"Honestly, I was so clueless about this place, I brought all my impy-skimpies," said Venesha Hinds, 21, a restaurant hostess, giggling and shaking her head at the memory of the tube tops and spaghetti-strap dresses she had expected to wear on the mountain. Instead, she found herself springing for long johns even before the mercury dipped below 50 degrees.<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black"><u1:P></u1:P><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">Then there were the cultural adjustments. Jermaine Gooden, 25, a houseman, was amazed to discover that in the <u2:COUNTRY-REGION u3:st="on"><u2:PLACE u3:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</u2:PLACE></u2:COUNTRY-REGION></st1:country-region></st1lace><FONT face="Time
fficeffice" /><o></o></SPAN></DIV><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black"><?xml:namespace prefix = u1 /><u1:P></u1:P><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">Still not enough.<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black"><u1:P></u1:P><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">This season's idea: Jamaicans.<u1:P></u1:P><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">This Blue Ridge Mountains ski resort three hours southwest of <?xml:namespace prefix = u2 /><u2:STATE u3:st="on"><u2:PLACE u3:st="on"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:State w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Washington</u2:PLACE></u2:STATE></st1lace></st1:State> -- playground for the region's comfortable -- used a temporary visa program to fly in 35 islanders who were so unaccustomed to winter that many didn't think to pack coats.<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black"><u1:P></u1:P><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">"Honestly, I was so clueless about this place, I brought all my impy-skimpies," said Venesha Hinds, 21, a restaurant hostess, giggling and shaking her head at the memory of the tube tops and spaghetti-strap dresses she had expected to wear on the mountain. Instead, she found herself springing for long johns even before the mercury dipped below 50 degrees.<o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black"><u1:P></u1:P><o></o></SPAN><P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 9pt 0pt 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">Then there were the cultural adjustments. Jermaine Gooden, 25, a houseman, was amazed to discover that in the <u2:COUNTRY-REGION u3:st="on"><u2:PLACE u3:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</u2:PLACE></u2:COUNTRY-REGION></st1:country-region></st1lace><FONT face="Time