A developer's latest proposal for an Upstate wind tunnel is still "thin," Gov. Mark Sanford said Thursday, putting the future of a $2.6 billion automotive development in question.

Miami developer Clifford Rosen submitted a new proposal for the planned automotive research park in Greenville County to the state Department of Commerce on Thursday.

Sanford said the proposal still did not justify the state's spending $37 million for roads and other incentives for the project.

"We're going to make a counterproposal and see if it shakes something free," Sanford said. "We're beginning to have our doubts."

However, Sanford said, if the state and Rosen cannot reach an agreement, the deal is not necessarily dead. Another developer might submit a proposal, salvaging the plan that would bring businesses, graduate programs and thousands of jobs.

It's not the first time Sanford has expressed doubts about the project. He riled Upstate residents earlier this year when he raised similar questions about whether state taxpayers were getting a good deal.

Speakers Set For Baptist Conference

Two widely known Baptist leaders will be the featured speakers at the 2003 General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina, today and Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Beaufort.

The two-day assembly will bring ministers and lay people together to learn about a variety of topics, including defining the identity of individual churches, developing church outreach and developing church communication with the media.

Friday's speaker will be Calvin Miller, professor of preaching and pastoral ministries at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala. Saturday, the speaker will be Catherine Allen, former executive with the Women's Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina, along with the Fellowship movement nationwide, started 11 years ago after members split from the Southern Baptist Convention over its increasingly conservative positions.