MEMO

The Small Business Development Center will conduct counseling sessions in three areas this month.

The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available July 27 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office. The counseling sessions (about one hour) are free. Call 335-3312 for appointment.

He will conduct sessions at the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce July 26 from 9 a.m.-noon. Appointments are available by calling 471-2498. He will hold sessions at the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning office in Perryville July 28 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Appointments are available by calling 547-8357. Sessions will be held at Malden July 21, from 9-11 a.m. at the Malden Chamber of Commerce. Appointments are available by calling 276-4519.

The Small Business Development Center represents a "Partnership for Economic Development" between Southeast Missouri State University, the U.S. Small Business Administration, local financial institutions, area utility companies and Southeast Missouri municipalities.

The goal of the center is to stimulate diversity and growth in small-business by assisting new and existing businesses to become more productive and more profitable.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority will sponsor a meeting for area manufacturers and businesses involved or interesting in importing and exporting shipments.

The local Port Authority, along with the New Madrid County Port Authority and Pemiscot County Port Authority, are researching the feasibility of becoming a Customs Port of Entry and Foreign Trade Zone (POE/FTZ), which will serve all of Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky.

The POE/FTZ will be explained at the meeting, to be held Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at the Runway Restaurant at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport,

Among those attending will be Brad Keith of Missouri Department of Economic Development, area economic developers and traffic and/or financial managers from area companies.

Total construction activity in Missouri rebounded in May.

The F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market, reported total construction for the first five months of 1994 at $2.2 billion, up 15 percent from the $1.9 billion during the same period in 1993.

All figures were on the plus side in May.

Nonresidential construction in the state in May was reported at $251,382,000, up 33 percent from 1993 May totals of $189,253,000. Residential construction for May was $242,752,000, up 29 percent from the $288,054,000 total of May 1993, and nonbuilding construction was reported at $496,637,000, up 96 percent from the $429,542,000 total of May 1993.

Nonresidential construction in the state during the first five months, which includes commercial, manufacturing and other buildings not designed for shelter, was reported at $799,418,000, down three percent from the $824,897,000 total during the same period of 1993. In April, nonresidential construction was down 41 percent.

Residential construction for the year through May is up 21 percent, at $1,035,336,000 in 1994, compared to the $858,959,000 during the same period in 1993.

Nonbuilding construction, which includes streets, highways, bridges, river and harbor developments, airports and a few other projects, was reported at $398,006,000 for the year, up 57 percent from the same period a year ago, at $253,064,000.

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's "Business After Hours" will be held July 19 at Port Cape Girardeau.

The monthly meeting is held the third Tuesday of each month from 5-6:30 p.m.

Papa John's, a Louisville-based pizza company, opened its 500th store last week.

Founded in 1984, Papa John's now operates corporate and franchise stores in 20 states, including Cape Girardeau.

The newest store is located in Decatur, Ga.

The U.S. Savings Bonds Division of the Department of the Treasury reported sales of savings bonds topped $5 billion during the first six months of the fiscal year.

National sales were $5.4 billion. Sales in the state of Illinois for the first six months of the fiscal year were $304.7 million, and in Missouri, $124.6 million. The St. Louis District reported sales of $70.2 million.

FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. -- Four of Zeigler Coal Holding Co.'s six Illinois mines may close by 1997, costing more than 900 mining jobs, the company said in documents filed with federal regulators.

In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Zeigler outlines plans to virtually dismantle its Old Ben Coal Co. subsidiary, which runs five of Zeigler's six Illinois mines, plus others in West Virginia and Indiana.

Zeigler's sixth Illinois mine, in Elkhart, is run by Turris Coal Co. and is unaffected.

Zeigler, based in Fairview Heights, already had announced the closing of one Old Ben mine in Illinois.

By 1997, the Spartan mine near Sparta will be exhausted, except for coal too expensive to mine.