Briefs

__BARBER SHOP OPENS IN POPLAR BLUFF__ POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting to open Cutting Edge Barber Shop and Salon at 104 S. Main St. Chris Jones owns the business.

__SMOKEHOUSE HOLDS RIBBON CUTTING__ KENNETT, Mo. -- The Smokehouse restaurant at 1302 Independence Circle in Kennett held a ribbon cutting Oct. 25. It is the newest member of the Kennett Chamber of Commerce.

__RESTAURANT OPENS IN ADVANCE__ ADVANCE, Mo. -- Maddy's Country Kitchen opened Sept. 1 on Route C, about one mile west of Advance, according to the North Stoddard Countian. Jeannette Hill owns the restaurant.

__THRIFT SHOP CUTS RIBBON__ SIKESTON, Mo. -- Grace and Mercy Thrift Shop, which opened Sept. 7 at 522 W. Murray Lane in Sikeston, held a ribbon cutting with the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce. The store, owned by Onethia and Jimmy Williams, sells clothing for infants through adults, shoes, home decor items and furniture.

__ANTIQUE MALL OPENS IN POPLAR BLUFF__ POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Quintin and Tammy Marler opened an antique mall, Country Bumpkins, just off Route T on County Road 556. The store has all 80 booths rented out to vendors.

__RELIABLE APPLIANCE HOLDS RIBBON CUTTING__ DEXTER, Mo. -- The Dexter Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for Reliable Appliance Repair LLC, 19 N. Walnut St. The business, owned by Randy Renfro, buys and sells used appliances, does repair work and sells parts.

__TESTING OFFICE CERTIFIED__ POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The Testing Center at Three Rivers College received certification from the National College Testing Association. According to Diane Patterson, testing center coordinator at the college, certification validates that the office is operating at the highest standards available. She and staff member Lynn Merriman have been working toward the certification for more than a year and a half. Certification became official in September at the NCTA's annual conference in San Diego. Three Rivers is one of only eight colleges with the recognition.

__CIGAR SHOP OPENS IN CAPE__ Fumatore di Sigaro opened at 1720 Kingsway Drive, Suite 101 in Cape Girardeau. Scott Pietreface of Cape Girardeau owns the store, which features hand-rolled cigars, smoking accessories and a smoking lounge. The lounge has leather seating for 16, two televisions, a poker table, bar and cigar lockers, and is equipped with a smoke eater and air purifier.

__FARMINGTON POSTAL ANNEX TO CLOSE__ FARMINGTON, Mo. -- As part of the United States Postal Service's continued efforts to trim expenses, a postal annex operation in Farmington will close by year's end, reported the Park Hills Daily Journal. The 19 carriers working in the location were notified at the end of September that they would be working from the Park Hills Post Office effective early December. Richard A. Watkins, a Kansas City-based public liaison for U.S. Postal Service, said the move was purely economics. "Seventy-five percent of USPS facilities nationwide are leased. It makes good business sense to consolidate operations when there's workroom floor space available -- in this case Park Hills -- that's currently not being used," Watkins said.

__CAPE DRY ICE OPENS OFFICE__ Cape Dry Ice opened as an extension of River City Biologicals at 813 Southern Expressway in Cape Girardeau. Along with dry ice, the company offers shipping containers. River City Biologicals is owned by Jerad Busch and George "Skip" Wrape.

__SALON OPENS ON BROADWAY__ Shear Madness Salon opened at 909 Broadway in Cape Girardeau. The salon uses Enjoy products and color, which are all-natural and sulfate- and silicone-free. Shear Madness offers all hair services and specializes in color. Facials, waxing and body sugaring are available. The owners are Heather Carmack and Melyssa Terbrak, and Jona Edwards is a stylist.

__SIKESTON MOVIE THEATER ORDERED CLOSED__ SIKESTON, Mo. -- Sikeston city officials informed the Malco Trio Theater on Oct. 5 that its building was no longer in compliance with city codes and must be closed, reported the Sikeston Standard Democrat. City manager Doug Friend said the closure came after efforts by the city to encourage the property owner and Malco officials to bring the building into compliance. The property at 1045 E. Malone Ave. is owned by Central Realty, a St. Louis-based company, and rented by Malco Trio Theater.

__OZARC OPENS NEW LOCATION__ FARMINGTON, Mo. -- The Farmington Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting Sept. 22 for the new Ozarc Gas location at 220 Busenbark Drive, Suite C in Farmington.

__ESQUIRE THEATER TO REOPEN__ The Esquire Theater at 824 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, which closed in 1986, will be renovated and reopened, the Southeast Missourian reported Oct. 12. New owner John Buckner hired a design firm from St. Louis, and Penzel Construction of Jackson will complete the overhaul of the historic building. When finished, the theater will show independent films and allow patrons to buy drinks and food from a wait staff. It will also offer student theater and cabaret.

__STEELE CREST WINERY OPENS NEAR JACKSON__ Terry and Sheila Steele opened Steele Crest Winery at 2055 Route Y, near Jackson. The couple also owns Jackson Door and Window. The three-acre winery has a 3,000-square-foot wine tasting and restaurant building with large decks and outdoor seating. It is open for lunch and dinner, and offers five fruit wines, seven white wines, iced tea wines and six red wines.

__NEW RENTAL WEBSITE FOR CAPE AREA__ RentCheckOnline.com is a new website created to connect landlords and tenants in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson areas. The website has a comprehensive database of available residential rental properties along with an array of searchable and customizable features. Rent Check LLC was founded by local entrepreneurs Rhett Hendrickson, Jennifer Hendrickson and David Soto Sr.

__PARK HILLS 7-11 STORE CLOSES__ PARK HILLS, Mo. -- The 7-11 store in Park Hills closed Oct. 25, reported the Park Hills Daily Journal. Store manager Ashley Kjos said she was told the location wasn't making enough money to remain open. All employees were offered jobs in other locations.

__HUCK'S HOLDS RIBBON CUTTING__ POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting recently to open the new Huck's Food and Fuel station at 703 N. Westwood Blvd. Brandy Stevenson is the store manager and Roger Lawrence is senior manager.

__THREE RIVERS PARTNERS FOR SATELLITE CAMPUS__ POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Three Rivers College has been selected to coordinate educational services at a new off-campus location in Willow Springs, Mo., reported the Daily American Republic. Classes for 200 to 250 students are expected to begin in the summer or fall, college president Dr. Devin Stephenson said Oct. 19 following the announcement at a board of trustees meeting. Training, educational classes, business incubation and professional development are expected to take place at the site. Three Rivers will lease a 30,000 square-foot building from the city of Willow Springs for $1 per year. The building will be given to the city by the Missouri Department of Transportation as it restructures under budget cuts. It has recently undergone a $2.8 million renovation. The college will partner with other institutions of higher learning at the site, including Missouri State University, which had also sought control of the facility.

__GIFT SHOP OPENS ON KINGSHIGHWAY__ Dee's Gifts and Gift Baskets will open Nov. 19 at 1743 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau. Dee's offers unique gifts and made-to-order baskets.

__SEMO OPENS NEW BUSINESS CENTERS__ Southeast Missouri State University held ribbon cuttings Nov. 1 for new Business Service Centers at its regional campuses in Sikeston, Malden and Kennett, Mo. The centers aim to serve aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners in the Bootheel. Staff at each center will provide one-on-one counseling and technical assistance for current small business owners, as well as opportunities for clients to meet with loan officers as part of ACCION Delta, a new partnership with Southeast's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to provide microlending services in areas of the Delta Regional Authority. The centers will host Operation Jump-Start entrepreneurship training, and the university's entrepreneurship minor will now be offered at the regional campuses.

__JOHN'S PHARMACY ADDS NEW TECHNOLOGY__ John's Pharmacy and John's RX are the only pharmacy in the region to offer automated blister card dispensing. The machine fully automates the dispensing of oral solids including pills, tablets and capsules. The machine selects a blister card, counts the right number of the right medication and strength, places each pill in the right blister for each day, seals and labels the card for each patient. All of this is done in a fraction of the time it takes to complete the same steps by hand and makes prescription errors less likely, said pharmacist John McMullin, president/owner. Last year, John's Pharmacy became the first independent retail pharmacy in Cape Girardeau to use a robotic automated dispensing system.

Seabaugh Bait and Tackle cuts ribbon

__BAIT SHOP HOLDS RIBBON CUTTING__ Seabaugh's Live Bait & Tackle, 425 E. Main St. in Jackson, held a ribbon cutting on Oct. 21.

__SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE MOVES__ KENNETT, Mo. -- The Kennett Social Security office moved to 800 S. Bypass on Sept. 19. The office is next to George Street and across from Teaco Road.

__PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR OFFICE TO MOVE__ Safety concerns and the benefits of proximity to other government offices were presented by Cape Girardeau County Public Administrator Phyllis Schwab in her request to relocate her home office to a recently acquired property at 120 E. Washington St. in Jackson. The Cape Girardeau County Commission approved the move Oct. 6 and noted that the property will need winterizing, reported the Southeast Missourian.

__TAG TRUCK CENTER PURCHASES DUCKETT__ SIKESTON, Mo. -- TAG Truck Center LLC, headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., has purchased Duckett Truck Center Inc.'s six locations in Missouri and Kentucky for $21 million, according to a news release from TAG. Robby Phillips will be vice president/general manager of all existing Duckett facilities.

__JACKSON BREAKS GROUND ON FIRE STATION__ Jackson city and fire officials broke ground Sept. 6 on a new fire station that will help double the number of on-duty firefighters and reduce response times. The Jackson Fire Department's second station will be at 2448 S. Old Orchard Road. The 4,600-square-foot building will house a crew of three firefighters at all times, said Jackson fire chief Jason Mouser. Three firefighters are currently always on duty, and the additional three will give the department a boost. Construction of the new station will cost roughly $900,000, said assistant city administrator Larry Koenig, and should be completed by March.

__ACCENT MARKETING TO ADD 40 JOBS__ FARMINGTON, Mo. -- Accent Marketing Services, a call center in the Farmington Industrial Park, announced Sept. 7 it will add 40 new jobs in coming weeks, reported the Farmington Press. The company expects to complete the hiring process within the next two months, bringing the total employee count to 601 at the Farmington location. Accent is hiring employees to support increased call volumes on behalf of a global teleservices provider. Newly hired "engagement specialists" will provide customer care and technical support as well as provide information on clients' wireless products and services. The positions are a part of Accent's involvement in the jobs4america Coalition, a collection of forward-thinking businesses committed to creating a combined 100,000 new jobs in the United States.

__BROSELEY BREAKS GROUND ON NEW CENTER__ BROSELEY, Mo. -- A groundbreaking was held Sept. 2 for a new senior and community center in Broseley. The 4,800-square-foot facility is being built at 2470 County Road 650, the site of the original community center. The senior center is about a block away. The new facility will replace the both existing centers and will be paid for with two state and federal grants totaling $550,000. Ron Grojean of Cape Girardeau is the architect for the project.

__SABRELINER OPENS NEW HANGAR__ PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Sabreliner celebrated the opening of its new $7 million aircraft painting hangar at the Perryville airport Sept. 16, but without the new jobs company executives hoped it would provide, reported the Southeast Missourian. Some of the military aircraft refurbishment work Sabreliner was doing at the time the facility was planned is now being done internally instead of being contracted out, said Jim Meier, senior vice president of government and corporate aviation services at Sabreliner. The company continues to employ 441 people in Perryville. The hundreds of jobs it anticipated adding are, for now, on hold.

Last September Gov. Jay Nixon announced nearly $5 million in state economic development incentives to assist Sabreliner with the new stripping and painting facility. A total of $3.7 million was in Missouri Quality Jobs program tax credits, which aren't actually granted until after new employees are hired.

The new 32,000-square-foot hangar built by Perryville-based Robinson Construction will eliminate a bottleneck in Sabreliner's refurbishment process, increasing its efficiency, said Meier. When it's fully operating, about 25 people will work at the new paint hangar, which includes two large bays -- one for stripping and sanding and another for aircraft painting. It allows Sabreliner to handle larger aircraft than it previously had the capacity for. The new hangar is also climate controlled and has a three-stage air filtration system. All equipment is housed on the hangar's second floor in the event of a major flood.

__NEW PHASE OF VETERANS MEMORIAL DRIVE__ Construction of the next phase of Veterans Memorial Drive is began Nov. 1, a $2.3 million section that will create about a mile of roadway from LaSalle Avenue to Bainbridge Road,. According to the Sept. 22 Southeast Missourian, city officials say that's just one portion of a larger project that will eventually provide a 6 1/2-mile outer road for Interstate 55 that will ease traffic and create acres of prime property for commercial development. Phase four -- from Kingshighway to Scenic Drive -- was finished first earlier this year. The middle sections, phases two and three, will likely be the last completed as they are yet unfunded. Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger said the plan calls for including those as part of future voter-approved Transportation Trust Fund projects. The $3 million phase five, from Scenic Drive to Hopper Road, was approved by voters as part of TTF-4 last year and is included in that five-year list of projects. The completed $1.3 million phase four was a part of the TTF-3 "pay as you go" package approved by voters in 2005. When completed, Veterans Memorial Drive's first five phases will take the road from LaSalle Avenue to Hopper Road. But city officials say the plan calls for it to be extended even farther south to William Street near Starbucks, which will require one or two more phases. Those would likely be included in future TTF proposals, officials said. On Sept. 19, the Cape Girardeau City Council authorized city manager Scott Meyer to enter the city into a contract with Lappe Cement Finishing of Perryville, Mo., for phase one work.

__CHAMBER GETS COMMUNITY BETTERMENT AWARDS__ PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- The Perryville Chamber of Commerce took home second and third place awards from the Missouri Community Betterment Conference Oct. 17 in Jefferson City, Mo. Perryville chamber representatives Melissa Hemmann and Brein Bishop accepted a second place youth award for the chamber's Teen Council projects, and a third place community award for the chamber's enthusiasm, creativity and broad representation of community members in all projects.

__ENHANCED ENTERPRISE STATUS GRANTED__ The Missouri Department of Economic Development has announced approval of Enhanced Enterprise Zone designation to Cape Girardeau County. The designation, which includes Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Scott City, Delta and Dutchtown, will allow county officials to continue to move forward with economic development efforts. Enhanced enterprise zones are specified geographic areas designated by local governments and certified by the Department of Economic Development. Zone designation is based on demographic criteria, the potential to create sustainable jobs in a targeted industry and a demonstrated impact on local cluster development.

__JUNIOR HIGH BREAKS GROUND FOR LIBRARY PROJECT__ A groundbreaking was held Oct. 20 for a new library at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School, reported the Southeast Missourian. The library is the latest project to begin in a long list of districtwide building improvement projects financed by $40 million in bonds approved by voters in 2010. The 8,300-square-foot one-story addition will be at the northeast corner of the school. Plans for the interior include a classroom, conference room, computer lab, checkout desk and book stacks integrated with open reading areas. The tentative completion date for the library is near the start of the 2012-2013 school year.

__DEXTER BUSINESS AWARDED GRANT__ DEXTER, Mo. -- The Southeast Missouri Pellet Plant Project of Dexter received grant funding to assist in conducting a feasibility study to assess a farmer-owned biomass pellet plant. Grant funding totals $68,000. The Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority awarded the value-added grants to foster new enterprises that will aid rural economic development. Grants are funded from the sale of tax credits and can be used for business planning purposes.

__SIKESTON GETS GRANT TO EXPAND TRAIL__ SIKESTON, Mo. -- Sikeston has received $220,421 from the Missouri Foundation for Health's Healthy and Active Communities funding initiative, reported the Sikeston Standard Democrat. Funds will be used to expand the city's exercise trail facilities at the Sikeston Sports Complex, according to Jiggs Moore, director of the Sikeston Parks Department. Moore said bids will be sought after the first of the year and hopefully awarded by April 2012 in order to begin construction. Additionally, Bootheel Counseling Services in Sikeston received $10,000 to help integrate mental health and substance abuse programs into primary care services, through MFH's Mental Health and Substance Abuse program.