BUSINESS MEMO

The Missouri Department of Economic Development has opened five regional offices, including one at Dexter.

Open house events will be held at the offices this week.

The open house at Dexter is set from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Other open house events will be held Tuesday at Houston; Wednesday at Springfield, Thursday at Trenton and Friday at Moberly.

Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar attended the groundbreaking for a new $12 million Pepsi Cola bottling plant at Marion recently.

The ceremony was held at Marion Pepsi headquarters, not at the 50-acre site where the actual construction will take place. Harry Crisp II, Marion Pepsi's chairman and chief executive officer, said the plant would create at least 200 jobs. The company already employs about 300.

Some residents near where Marion Pepsi Cola Bottling Co.'s new plant will be built oppose the project. They say it will increase traffic and lower property values. About 100 residents of the Westernaire Estates Subdivision met last weekend to discuss ways to oppose the plant.

TNT Dugan, a regional carrier unit of TNT Freightways Corp., has been named one of the top three LTL "Carriers of the Year" by the Tennant Co. of Minneapolis.

Carriers were ranked in a number of categories, including on-time delivery, claims experience, billing accuracy and communications.

TNT Dugan provides delivery service throughout the United States, including Cape Girardeau.

Educational Services Inc., 114A, N. Main, will conduct two financial planning seminars next month.

The seminars, presented by Steve and Jan Gerard, consist of three sessions each.

Thursday sessions will be held July 6, 13 and 20, with Tuesday sessions July 11, 18 and 25. All sessions will be held at the Show Me Center.

The seminars, Steve Gerard said, are designed to teach people ways to minimize taxes and maximize their investment returns.

Cost of the course is $49 in advance, and people enrolling in the course may bring their spouse or a guest at no extra cost.

Additional information is available by contacting Education Services Inc.

The Walt Disney Co. has announced it will build a fourth theme park in Central Florida -- Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom -- featuring beasts from real life and mythology.

Disney had held off making a formal commitment to the $760 million-plus, 500-acre project largely because of declining attendance, but Walt Disney Chairman Michael Eisner said attendance has been rebounding.

The new park is due to open in 1998. The centerpiece will be a "Tree of Life," a swirl of animal images that will be larger than Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center.

The Disney World complex includes the Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center and the Disney-MGM Studios. The company already has cleared a huge area for the new park on property west of the studio.