BUSINESS MEMO

Southeast Missouri Stone Co., Cape Girardeau, was recently honored for having the best safety program for its size category in the state based on competition sponsored by the Missouri Limestone Producers Association.

To be considered for the award, a quarry must have achieved a record of no lost-time accidents during a 12-month period, implementation of a superior safety training program and adherence to safety regulations by employees.

The local business received its award recently during the Limestone Producers Association's annual convention.

Golden Cat Corp., maker of Tidy Cat and Kitty Litter, has been named "Supplier of the Year" by Petsmart, a leading pet product superstore, with locations across the U.S.

Golden Cat, headquartered in South Bend, Ind., has manufacturing operations in Bloomfield, Mo., Olmsted, Ill., Maricopa, Calif., and Ontario, Canada, and a research and development facility at Cape Girardeau.

Kitty Litter and Tidy Cat are cat box filler products.

The Missouri Motors Carriers Association (MMCA), a trade group representing more than 750 motor carriers and their allied suppliers, will conduct a series of regional information meetings for truckers across the state in January and February.

The first meeting will be held Jan. 6 at Springfield.

The Southeast Missouri session will be held Jan. 28 at the Holiday Inn in Poplar Bluff, from 1 to 3 p.m. A meeting will be held Jan. 21 in St. Louis at Holiday Inn Southwest, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

All meetings are informal, free, and open to all truckers.

Total construction activity continues to rise in Missouri, reported the F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market.

Total construction for October of 1993 was $523,740,000, up about 24 percent from the $421,414,000 figure of October a year ago. Overall construction for the first 10 months of the year was reported at $4.2 billion, from the $3.8 billion of a year ago.

Nonresidential construction in the state, which includes commercial, manufacturing, and other buildings not designed for shelter was reported at $1.67 billion for the first 10 months, 38 percent above the $1.2 billion total for the same period a year ago. Residential construction in the state was at $1.9 billion for the year, an 8 percent increase over the $1.7 billion for the same period of 1992.

Nonbuilding construction, which includes streets, highways, bridges, river and harbor developments, airports and a few other projects, was reported at $646,311,000, down about 20 percent from last year's figure of $805,212,000.

RANTOUL, Ill. A new line of auto parts for Chrysler Corp. will mean 275 new jobs next year, Rantoul Products said.

The company said Wednesday it will make plastic parts for mini-vans in an empty hangar at the former Chanute Air Force Base. It already is occupying a building there to make parts for other Chrysler vehicles.

Rantoul Products plant manager Bruce Sandahl said the 275 jobs would be added to the current work force of 560. The company's main factory is on the west side of the village.

A Mini-Society Workshop, sponsored by Farm & Home Savings and Missouri Council on Economic Education (MCEE), was held recently at the Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau.

Nineteen teachers from nine area schools were on hand for the workshop, which is designed to help teachers bring their knowledge of economics into the classrooms by integrating the subject into history, language arts, social studies, business and other subjects.

The local workshop was conducted by Mary Suitor, associate director of the Center for Economic Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Schools participating in the recent workshop included Leopold R-3, Bloomsdale Elementary, Meadow Heights, Nell Holcomb, Oak Ridge, Matthews Elementary of Sikeston, Sikeston Southeast Elementary, Oran and Valle School of Ste. Genevieve.

Additional information concerning the program is available by calling Farm & Home in Cape Girardeau, 334-6034.