BUSINESS PERSONNEL

Dave Vaughn is the new manager at Hobby Lobby, 217 S. Kingshighway.

Vaughn, a Missouri native, is a graduate of Missouri Southern College at Joplin, with a degree in marketing management, and has been with Hobby Lobby for two years.

He started with the company at Nacogdoches, Texas, and was most recently manager of a Hobby Lobby Creative Center in Richmond, Ind.

Vaughn, originally from Jefferson City, said he was glad to be back in his home state.

Don Cohen of St. Louis has been named general manager of KBSI-TV of Cape Girardeau by Sinclair Broadcasting.

Cohen was previoulsy sales manager at KDSM Fox 17 in Des Moines, Iowa. He has also served as a senor media buyer and senior sports buyer for D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles and KPLR in St. Louis.

Cohen is a Missouri native with more than 16 years of television experience. He is a graduate of Memphis State University.

Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc. owns or programs 57 TV stations and 50 radio stations and is one of the top 10 media companies in the United States.

Dr. Charles H. Cozean Jr. of Cape Girardeau and a member of the Allergan Glaucoma Advisory Board recently attend a board meeting where he discussed new drug therapy and surgical treatment for glaucoma.

Allergan is a leading manufacturer of ophthalmic medical and surgical products.

David Hutson is new president of the Downtown Merchants Association.

Hutson, with Hutson's Furniture, was elected during the recent election of officers.

New vice president is Jim Weatherholt of In the Wine Cellar.

Board members include Jayne Ervin, Kent Zickfield, Scott Shivelbine, Chris Hutson, John Boardman, Dennis "Doc Cain," Dan Elkins, David Knight, Roger Lang, Don Greenwood and Judith Ann Lange, immediate past president.

Jackie Clark of Prudential Bridgeport Inc. Realtor has been honored with two awards by the Cape Girardeau County Board of Realtors.

Clark received the "Rookie of the Year" award and the Summit Level Award for Excellence, for multimillion sales.

Robert Dixon, a Glenallen farmer, was a member of the University of Missouri-Columbia team that conducted a two-week study in three European nations recently.

Dixon, who operates a cow-calf and timber operation, serves as a member of the MU Focus Team for the Office of Agriculture Value-Added Outreach, a program that helps Missouri producers process the state's farm commodities before exporting them.

The focus team recently visited France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, studying how producers in those countries add value to their raw agricultural commodities.

The European food system is different from the United States, said Dixon. "In the U.S. we produce large-scale commodities. Europeans produce products that are differentiated. They find out first what the consumer wants and then meets that need."

"We have a great opportunity to add value through differentiation here, by forming closer relationships with packers, retailers and the ultimate customer," said Dixon. "Education is the key to doing this, not only educating consumers but retailers who may be reluctant to put new products on the shelves."

The Value-Added Offices link Missouri producers with university faculty having expertise in marketing, finance, business planning, product innovation, and food safety and technology, said Dixon.

Denise Essner, a licensed clinical social worker, will conduct grief support programs for Ford and Sons Funeral Home once a month.

The grief support group will meet the last Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Friends Lounge of St. Francis Medical Center.

Essner works with Ken Callis and Associates as a psychotherapist and with Cotton Residential Treatment Center as a family therapist.

She previously served as director of psychosocial rehabilitation with the Community Counseling Center.

Essner is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

She is married to Alan Essner, a funeral director with Ford and Sons since 1988.