Stories from Monday, June 26, 2000

A.G. Edwards Inc., has reported record revenues and earnings during its first fiscal quarter. Net earnings for the quarter ended May 31 were $107 million on revenues of $810 million, or $1.24 per diluted share. The totals were up from $85 million earnings during the same quarter a year ago on earnings of $651 million, or 88 centers diluted earnings per share...

Laura Nicholson, Jenifer Brown, Anita Tedder and Deanna Brown, all of Kies Eye Center, 1429 Mt. Auburn Road, recently attended a LASIK seminar at Branson. The seminar/workshop offered continuing education classes on Laser Vision Correction. Kies Eye Center in Cape Girardeau has an onsite excimer laser to perform LASIK procedures. Kies Eye Centers around Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois provide free screenings to determine candidacy for LASIK...

Jana Jateff of Cape Girardeau, Susie Kindle of Sikeston, Pamela Turlin of Perryville, Emily Wahlers of Oak Ridge, Ellen Sickler of Bonne Terre, Julie Wehmeyer of Chicago, Betsy Ferguson of Patton, Kay Waller of Cape Girardeau and Leslie Thresher of East Prairie were recently recognized for sales honors of Mary Kay Cosmetics products...

William "Bill" Brockmire of Prudential in Cape Girardeau recently attended the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRI) annual meeting, held at San Francisco, Calif. Brockmire was among 5,000 Round Table members and special guests from than 50 nations who qualified to attend the five-day meeting...

July 7 Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee, 7:30 a.m., Show Me Center. July 20 Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's "Chamber Means Business" breakfast, 7:15 a.m., Holiday Inn.

Henry W. Bloch, a co-founder of tax preparation giant H&R Block Inc., will retire in September as chairman of the board of the directors, the company announced last week. President and chief executive officer Frank L. Salizzoni, 61, will succeed Bloch, 77, beginning Sept. 13, when the company holds its annual meeting. Mark A. Ernst, 41, will succeed Salizzoni as CEO beginning Dec. 31...

Illinois is attracting more overseas visitors than ever before. According to the latest statistics released by the United States Department of Commerce, overseas visitors to Illinois increased 5.2 percent in 1999, with an economic impact of more than $1.85 billion to the state...

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and the Clinton administration voiced opposition Wednesday to a proposal to double the limit on bank deposit insurance to $200,000. Such a step would give "increased subsidies to upper-income individuals," Greenspan said...

DaimlerChrysler Corp. president James Holden has been named chief executive officer of the North American arm of DaimlerChrysler AG in a move that analysts say could help strengthen the division's independence. Holden, 49, joined the company in 1981 after eight years at Ford Motor Co. He will be responsible for the Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Mopar businesses. Eaton retired March 31...

Some big things have happened on the business and industrial front in Southeast Missouri the past couple of years. Some major happenings are under way at present. And some big things are on the planning boards for the future. Some of these things we can talk about, others we just wait and watch with great anticipation...

This "Financial Focus" column is prepared by Edward Jones Investments, headquartered in St. Louis. Jones includes branches throughout the nation, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson. If you weren't all that good in math at school, then you probably have never really liked the way the stocks are priced -- in fractions of a dollar, rather than dollars and cents. ...

Manufactured home sales may be on a roll, but they are not so mobile these days. Over the past decade, manufactured housing has been the fastest growing segment of the U.S. housing market. The Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) estimates that the number of manufactured homes will reach the 9 million mark in the United States this year...

Dr. Ukeme Umana of Marion Eye Centers recently attended the American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Convention, held in Boston. Techniques to improve LASIK surgery and research into the correction of presbyopia (the aging eye) were among topics discussed...

Dr. William Thorpe was one of three American orthopedic surgeons to represent the United States at the International Musculoskeletal Laser Society's annual meeting, held recently at Vienna, Austria. Thorpe presented his experience comparing radio frequency versus laser technology as applications for treating shoulder instability. He also assisted in training orthopedic surgeons from underprivileged countries with laser technology and its application in orthopedic surgery...

William "Bill" Dunn of Cape Girardeau has joined Rhea Optical Company as sales manager. Dunn, who has more than 14 years experience in sales, marketing and public relations, graduated cum laude from Southeast Missouri State University with a bachelor of arts in English. He also obtained a master's degree in English from Southeast in 1992...

A half-century-old company in Cape Girardeau is under new ownership. Rhea Optical Company, 1105 Broadway, which produces lens for optometrists in a four-state area -- Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Arkansas -- has been acquired by Chuck Ross, who has served as sales manager of the company the past quarter-century...

Cape Electrical Supply Co. of Cape Girardeau has acquired Belleville Electrical Supplies, at Belleville, Ill. Belleville Electric, which provides a complete line of commercial, industrial and residential electrical products, also features a decorative lighting showroom...

Liz Abernathy has acquired the Coldwell Banker Realty office at Jackson. Coldwell Banker Abernathy Realty is located at 2836 E. Jackson Boulevard. Abernathy has 21 years experience in the real estate business. She has been involved with Coldwell Banker a number of years, and holds membership in its Multimillion Dollar Club and as a Coldwell Banker Top Producer for 11 years...

Express Cycle/Kawasaki has merged with St. Louis Powersports. Express Cycle-Powersports, located at 1407 North Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, will provide a full line of Kawasaki and KTM Motorcycles. Todd Rowland remains with the company as general manager...

Cape Imaging-MRI facility has opened at William and Mt. Auburn. The facility , located in Auburn Park Place Building, Suite 109, is one 32 centers operated nationally by Med Quest, headquartered. The Cape Girardeau facility is the first of Med Quest Associates Inc., headquartered in Norcross, Ga...

Progressive Realty & Insurance has opened at 9004, Westfield Shoppingtown West Park. The new company will offer "quick quotes" on auto insurance, and provide displays of digital print-outs of properties for sale in the area.

Check Please, a locally owned payday advance financial company will relocate its Cape Girardeau location to the former Mercantile branch facility in Town Plaza. Tom Kelsey, broker with Lorimont Place Ltc., which handled the transaction, says the company hopes to be in its new quarters by early July...

Saulsbury Electric will open a branch office at 1301 Warner in Scott City. The 5,000 square foot office and warehouse building will serve as the commercial and industrial electrical contractor's operation headquarters in Southeast Missouri. Saulsbury Electric is a division of Saulsbury Industries...

Jennifer L. Garms has joined Schott & Van de Ven, Certified Public Accountants, as a staff accountant. Garms, a 1999 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University with a BSBA in accounting, is experienced in income tax return preparation and general accounting work. She was a member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society in college...

The semi-private room where Henry Tipton lives at the Missouri Veterans Home isn't large, but Tipton says he's happy there. He shows off the bulletin board above his bed that's filled with pictures of his family. On top of a small refrigerator sits a boom box playing big-band dance music. A table is filled with small vials of paint Tipton uses to create sun catches, several of which hang in the window...

Sebastian, an 8-month-old St. Bernard puppy, is so rambunctious and energetic that he's almost too much to handle for owner Terri Cagle. The first week Sebastian attended an obedience class at the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, Cagle said she had to leave early. "He was just dragging me around and pulling me down. I had to leave early I was so exhausted," she said...

Amy Arteme doesn't know where Billy may wind up. But she's hopeful that good things will come his way. "He's a great pianist," said Arteme. "He can't read music, but he plays by ear." Arteme met Billy at a SOME (So Others May Eat) Center in Washington D.C., a non-profit homeless shelter that daily serves more than 1,200 hot meals to homeless men, women and children...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Marcus Seyer decided farming on a steep hillside along Highway A and Scott County Road 223 was more troublesome than profitable, so he began looking for alternative uses for the land. "It wasn't profitable because of erosion," he said. He leased the land to a cattle farmer for some time so the herd could graze...

Five teen-agers were injured in an accident Sunday morning on a county road north of Cape Girardeau. Jennifer Bracken, 16, of Cape Girardeau, Jamie Smith, 13, of Columbia, and Joseph Harrison, 14, AnneMarie Bracken, 15, and Samuel Buchanan, 15, all of Cape Girardeau, were injured and taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital for treatment...

Bogey was certainly above par Sunday afternoon. Chad Bogenpohl -- a former Southeast Missouri State University pitcher out of Oak Ridge -- gave up just one run in 6 2/3 innings as the McDowell Capahas defeated the Clarinda (Iowa) A's 4-3 in the rubber game of a three-game weekend series at Capaha Field...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Chaffee Medicap Pharmacy American Legion baseball team continued its sensational season Sunday by sweeping a District 14 doubleheader from host Sikeston. Chaffee prevailed 5-2 and 6-4 to improve its overall record to 20-2 and its first-place District 14 mark to 17-1. Chaffee also has now won all four meetings with Sikeston this season...

Clarence A. Loos, 83, of Cape Girardeau, Mo., died Saturday, June 24, 2000, at Ratliff Care Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 18, 1916, in rural Jackson, son of Conrad and Annie Bock Loos. He and Elnor Pittman were married Oct. 3, 1939. She died in June 1967. He and Ailene Barringer were married Jan. 18, 1969. She survives...

Al Powderly, 71, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, June 25, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Chapel.

Donald Blattner died Sunday, June 25, 2000, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Chapel.

The numbers are frightening almost beyond belief. The FBI says one in four children in the United States is molested by the age of 18, some repeatedly, some only once. The number would be even higher if every case of child molestation were reported to authorities...

Jackson businessman Don Sievers is the 2000 recipient of the R.A. Fulenwider Meritorious Community Service Award, the most prestigious of awards presented by the Jackson, Mo., Chamber of Commerce. Sievers, the president and chief executive officer of Associated Sheet Metal Inc., is a longtime resident of Jackson. He a retired Missouri Army National Guard colonel, was a district governor for Optimist International and has served as president of the Jackson Industrial Development Corp...

To the editor: Thank you for your recent column regarding detention vs. retention. My husband and I had been talking about the use of that word in headlines and stories in your paper. Detention, in my mind, had to do with a juvenile lockup, while retention had to do with holding back, among other things, floodwaters. ...

To the editor: I saw a column by local (and personal) favorite, David Limbaugh. As usual, I wasn't able to read past the second paragraph. But even that short essay was monumental in its scope. He said, "But we don't need a trial to establish the government's culpability. It has already been established through the investigations conducted following the event."...