BUSINESS MEMO

About 1,000 people will converge on Cape Girardeau July 8 through 14 for a convention of the Masons and Eastern Star members.

The Cape Girardeau Convention & Visitors Bureau announced recently that convention headquarters for the 129th annual Communication of The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F. & A.M. and the 105th convention of Harmony Grand Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star will be the Holiday Inn and Victorian Inn.

Donald Sherwood, past master and committee chairman, will coordinate registration and hotel reservations.

Dr. Robert F. Sacha will discuss "Allergies," and "Living Wills -- Why?" at the January meeting of Professional Secretaries International, to be held Tuesday at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau.

The group's meetings are open to the public. Additional information is available by calling Donna Riley, 651-9279, or Betty Sargent, 651-2541.

Three awards will be presented at the annual Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Dinner Dance, Jan. 27 at the Show Me Center on Southeast Missouri State University campus.

Awards to be presented are the Go-Getter award, the Rush H. Limbaugh award and the Small Business of the Year award.

Retiring chamber directors and chairmen will be recognized.

A social hour will be held from 6 to 7 p.m., with a buffet dinner at 7. Dancing will start at 9.

The cost is $25 a person. Additional information is available by calling the chamber office, 335-3312.

ST. LOUIS -- The Ralston Purina Co. reached an agreement to sell Continental Baking Co., the maker of Hostess Twinkies and Wonder Bread, to Interstate Bakeries Corp. in a stock-and-cash deal worth about $568 million.

The Kansas City-based Interstate will pay $330 million in cash and nearly 17 million shares of its common stock. The deal could be completed this summer, the companies said Friday.

SIKESTON -- The National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers will conduct a two-day program on professional standards here next month.

The Professional Standards of Practice course will be held Feb. 3 and 4, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Ramada Inn, at Interstate 55 and U.S. 62.

The course is designed to meet part of the classroom requirements to sit for the state-appraiser-licensing examination. The group has also approved the course for 15 hours of recertification credit.

Tuition for members is $220 or $245 for non-members.

Additional information is available by calling (314)-783-6422 or (314)-781-6688.

NEW YORK -- Office hours no longer need to be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A banking corporation with some 30,000 employees has introduced a Flexible Work Arrangements program in which some employees share jobs, some choose a compressed workweek and others work at home.

Certain employees at Chase Manhattan Bank, depending upon their individual circumstances and the type of job they hold, have the option of working from home (it's called telecommuting). Others, working part time, share a job with another employee. Still others can pick job hours arranged to allow a full week's work to be compressed into three or four days.

The bank's flexitime program is intended to help Chase managers attract and retain good employees and to help some employees balance business and personal responsibilities, such as child care and medical needs, if a particular job is adaptable to it.