MEMO

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

The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available Dec. 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office. The counseling sessions (about one hour) are free. Call (314)-335-3312 for appointment.

He will conduct sessions at the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce Dec. 13, from 9 to noon. Appointments are available by calling (314)-471-2498. He will hold sessions at the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning office in Perryville Dec. 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Appointments are available by calling (314)-547-8357.

Sessions will be held Thursday at the Malden Chamber of Commerce office, from 9 to 11 a.m. Appointments are available by calling (314)-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.

Total construction activity in Missouri was down in October but continues to be ahead of 1993 levels.

The F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market, reported total construction for the first 10 months at $4.8 billion, up 12 percent from the $4.3 billion during the same period in 1993.

Nonresidential construction in the state during the first 10 months, which includes commercial, manufacturing, and other buildings not designed for shelter was reported at $1.7 billion even with the $1.7 billion during the same period of 1993.

Residential construction for the year through October is up 12 percent, at $2.2 billion, compared to the $1.9 billion total 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 $934,819,000 for the year, up 41 percent from the same period a year ago, at $659,729,000.

October totals show a 38 percent drop in nonresidential construction, from $210,750,000 in 1993 to $129,964,000 in October. Non-building construction was reported at $163,496,000 in October, up 79 percent from the $91,106,000 total of October, 1993. Residential was down about 10 percent in the state in October, at $194,355,000, compared to the 1993 October totals of $215,618,000.

Cape Girardeau Regional Airport flight boardings for Trans World Express continue to increase. October boardings were 644. That is up 36 from the previous month.

Boarding totals for 1994 -- January through October -- total 5,228. That total is 274 more than the 4,954 boardings during the 12 months of 1993.

When counting total enplanements, TWE, the Procter & Gamble shuttle and the FBO's charter business is county. Airport officials are hopeful that the magic number of 10,000 can be reached in 1995, which will entitle the airport to substantial government funding.

MARION, Ill. -- Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge is looking for someone to clean up heavy metals at a site after the contractor hired to do it quit.

Heritage Remediation Engineering Inc. of Indianapolis, which was awarded a $1.78 million contract to clean a portion of the Superfund area, withdrew because dioxins were discovered.

"Their internal policy prohibits them from working in any area where any level of dioxins is present," said Mary Monett, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman.

Fish and Wildlife Service officials hope to have a new company in place by early 1995.

Some parts of the federally owned refuge near Marion are contaminated with heavy metals left by several manufacturing plants decades ago.

CAVE-IN-ROCK, Ill. -- The new owner of a ferry between Cave-In-Rock and Kentucky says more than 300 vehicles a day have been making the trip since service was restored Nov. 10.

Some days more than 500 vehicles make the 10-minute ride, Lonnie Ray Lewis said.

Ferry service was restored after being closed for nearly five months. The previous owner stopped service after complaining of government regulation and increased operating costs.

If traffic increases next summer, Lewis said he might have to use two barges instead of the one that currently operates 16 hours a day, seven days a week.

ST. LOUIS -- A can plant here is slated to close at the end of the year, putting as many as 180 people out of work.

The Crown Cork & Seal Co. plant makes aluminum cans for infant formulas and adult nutritional drinks. Customers include Carnation, Bristol-Myers and Slimfast. Plant manager Joe Lange said about 150 people work at the plant, but a union official put the figure at about 180.

Philadelphia-based Crown Cork says it plans to close 10 or more of its less efficient factories around the country. The company is North America's largest maker of closures for cans and the second-largest producer in the world.