Business memo 09/17/01

Home-building milestones for Patriot

Patriot Homes Inc. of Waco, Texas, produced its 10,000th home recently.

Patriot Homes Inc., which has been in business since 1972, acquired Patriots Homes of Texas in 1993.

The company has produced an average of 1,250 homes a year to reach its 10,000th milestone.

Patriot Homes Inc., with headquarters in Elkhart, Ind., is a manufacturer and retailer of manufactured and modular housing with 10 manufacturing facilities in Indiana, Alabama, Texas and Missouri, including Heritage Homes of Sikeston, Mo.

The Sikeston plant completed its 1,000th home in July.

Patriot Homes assumed ownership of Heritage American Homes in 1998.

St. Louis site for OSHA seminar set for Oct. 3

A seminar to help employers comply with OSHA's new record-keeping law and other recent rulings, regulations and enforcement procedures will be presented by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, Oct. 3, at the St. Louis Airport Marriott Hotel, Interstate 70 at Lambert International Airport.

"The New Record-keeping Law and OSHA Update" will be taught by Frank L. Pellegrini, one of the nation's leading attorneys on employers' involvement with OSHA.

The one-day course will cover record-keeping regulations; current record-keeping enforcement and citations; the latest OSHA rulings and their effects on companies; new OSHA issues; and OSHA inspection, penalty and citation trends and statistics.

The seminar will begin at 8:30 a.m. and adjourn at 3 p.m. For more information, call Cynthia Bushmann at the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, (573) 634-3511, or e-mail cbushmann@mochamber.org.

Antique show at Arena Building scheduled

An antique and collectibles show will be held at the Arena Building Oct. 14.

The Sunday show, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is sponsored by the Community Counseling Center Foundation, with proceeds used for providing improved facilities, equipment and services for persons with mental illness. A preshow sale will be held from 8-9 a.m. Admission to show is $1 with preshow admission, $5.

The Community Counseling Center is a not-for-profit provider of mental health care, serving Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Madison, Ste. Genevieve and Perry counties.

Antique and collectible dealers can sign up for space now, by contacting Larry Essner, director of development of the Counseling Center Foundation, 334-1100, or Elmer Schetter, show chairman, 335-8733.

Verizon raising cost of pay phone use

Verizon Communications Inc. is raising the price of a local pay phone call to 50 cents, up from 35 cents.

Verizon, which serves 33 states, said it has begun converting its 430,000 pay phones to the new price, a process that will take several months. In some states, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and West Virginia, the hike may not take effect until next year, the company said, saying "market conditions are not right for a price change at this time."

The new rate will cover local calls of unlimited length, eliminating timed calling found mostly in New England, where callers paid 35 cents for an initial block of time ranging from three to five minutes and then paid more to talk longer.

-- From staff, wire reports