MEMO

The Missouri Association of Realtors will hold its annual convention in Springfield Oct. 11 through 14.

Thomas M. Meyer of Thomas L. Meyer Real Estate & Insurance, in Cape Girardeau, will become president of the MAR during the convention, succeeding Alice M. Watson.

Jon Sundvold, who led the Missouri Tigers to four straight Big Eight basketball championships, former NBA player and now a businessman, will be one of the speakers at the conference.

Additional information concerning the conference is available by calling 1-800-403-0101.

CyberTel Cellular, 500 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, has completed additions to its cellular network, providing expanded service in a number of communities, including Fredericktown, Marble Hill, Kennett and Lake Wappapello.

Additional improvements will be completed this fall, giving CyberTel customers cellular service from Fredericktown to Poplar Bluff along Highway 67.

CyberTel, an Ameritech company, has more than 100 cell sites in Missouri and Illinois, including Cape Girardeau, Perryville, Sikeston and Dexter.

Mercantile Bancorporation Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, announced last week that it has signed an agreement to merge with Central Mortgage Bancshares Inc., a $629 million-asset bank holding company based in Kansas City.

Central Mortgage operates four banks with 17 offices in Western Missouri and a mortgage banking unit based in Springfield.

"The merger continues Mercantile's strong and steady growth in the Kansas City area and Western Missouri," said Thomas H. Jacobsen, Mercantile's chairman and chief executive officers.

Mercantile has assets of about $12 billion and owns 41 banks in four states, including facilities in Cape Girardeau.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission will meet Tuesday at the commission's offices at 1 W. Joseph St. in Perryville.

Among topics to be discussed will be the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers draft environmental impact statement regarding future water flows in the Upper Missouri River Basin and flood-related projects that have been funded.

The meeting starts at 2 p.m.

ABF Freight Systems Inc., has received the "Partners in Pride" award from Beiersdorf Inc., a manufacturer of health- and beauty-care products.

The award is presented annually to the LTL carrier with the best overall on-time services level, lowest incidence of freight claims and the highest level of customer service.

Beiersdorf, based in Hamburg, Germany, has U.S. manufacturing and distribution centers in South Norwalk, Conn., and Reno, Nev.

ABF, a carrier of general commodities, offers direct service to all 50 states, nine Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico. In addition, international ABF services provides service to Mexico and more than 125 other countries.

The Sweetwater Unit of Asarco Inc. has received the "Sentinels of Safety" award for worker safety.

Asarco has an underground lead mining facility near Bunker, Mo.

The Sentinel award is co-sponsored by the Mine Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor and the American Mining Congress. The award honors mines across the country that have worked the most employee-hours during the year while suffering no lost-time injuries.

Asarco's Sweetwater Mine recorded 260,698 employee hours in 1993 without a single lost-time injury. Another Asarco mine, West Fork Mine, also near Bunker, placed third in the national competition.

"This award underscores our ongoing commitment of safe workplace practices and our constant attention to employee safety," said Terry Erskin, general manager of Asarco's Missouri Lead Division. "We're pleased that both Sweetwater and West Fork are being recognized nationally in the area of worker safety."

Asarco is a major producer of nonferrous metals, principally copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver.

CHICAGO -- New Wheaties are expected to be in stores by early next month.

The new cereal is described as "crunchier and slightly sweeter."

Five athletes who have been featured on the cover of a Wheaties box in the past 30 years gathered at Chicago last week to sample the new "Breakfast of Champions."

Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Mary Lou Retton and Bruce Jenner joined Olympic pole vaulter Bob Richards to unveil and sample the new Wheaties.

The ingredients of the cereal haven't changed but the toasting process has, said a spokesman for General Mills, which produces Wheaties.

CHICAGO -- Amoco Corp. has completed the sale of its credit-card operation for an undisclosed sum to a division of Ford Motor Co.

Amoco, which employed about 400 people in West Des Moines, Iowa, sold to The Associates, a part of Ford's financial services division.

The Associates acquired Amoco's existing credit-card balances and became the private-label issuer, processor and servicer of Amoco credit cards. There are 8.6 million Amoco cardholders, An Amoco spokesman said Tuesday.

The Associates will continue to employ most of the unit's workers, the companies said.

TRENTON, N.J. -- Hertz Corp., blaming the higher cost of buying fleets coupled with rising interest rates, said it is raising car rental rates between 8 and 10 percent nationwide.

The new rates, announced last week, are effective immediately, except in Hawaii, where the new prices are effective Oct. 1.

NEW YORK -- In a corporate marriage of surf and turf, the owner of the Arby's roast beef restaurant chain is buying seafood purveyor Long John Silver's Restaurants Inc. for about $525 million in cash.

The deal would create a restaurant company with about 4,200 stores, generating more than $2.5 billion in annual sales.

The buyer, Triarc Companies Inc., said it intends to begin offering both chains' menus at company-owned Arby's and Long John Silver's restaurants.