BUSINESS PERSONNEL: USDA HONORS

Leslie Michael, formerly of Commerce, Mo., and a 1987 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, has been honored by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for "outstanding assistance to the East St. Louis and Vicinity Interior Flood Control and Restoration Project."

Michael, of Alton, Ill., received the award during a special ceremony held in Washington D.C. She is the district conservationist with the NRCS at Edwardsville, Ill.

The award credited Michael and nine other members in her group for their work with a variety of government agencies and private landowners, assisting with flooding problems in the American Bottoms, located in St. Clair and Madison counties in Illinois.