MEMO

"Visions for Community Development" will be the theme of the 12th annual Quinstate Economic Development Conference to be held at the Executive Inn Riverfront in Paducah, Ky., April 7-8.

The Quinstate Conference, co-sponsored by cooperative extension services from Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, and local chambers of commerce throughout the region, is held at various sites. The 1992 conference was held at Cape Girardeau.

Topics for this year's sessions include Electronic Communications and Information Networking, Tourism and Local Hospitality, Licensing of Contract Business, Youth Programs, River Opportunities, Agri-business Marketing and Americans with Disabilities Act.

Activities will include a dinner buffet, river cruise and area tours.

Additional information is available by contacting Rick Sparks, business and industry specialist, Missouri University Extension, Jackson, 243-3581, or Phil Kelley, community development specialists with Missouri University Extension at Bloomfield, 568-3344.

Foamex, a manufacturing firm that produces rubber carpet cushions, has received a fourth-place safety performance award for 1993.

The Cape Girardeau operation finished behind Elkhart, Ind., Milan, Tenn., and Mesquite, Texas.

"This is a significant achievement for our plant," said Gary Morningstar, plant manager. "We finished in last place among 17 plants in 1992."

In recognition for the achievement, the company will provide free donuts for all employees Tuesday.

The plant safety committee is comprised of Morningstar, Paul Smith, Orville Rhyne, Jerry Hilleman, Tab Wachter, Dwayne Eaker, Karen Stover, Greg Unsbee and Russell Kirkpatrick.

Younghouse Distributing Co. representatives were in Indianapolis, Ind., last weekend.

Younghouse, headquartered near the intersection of Interstate 55/Highway 74, is a wholesale distributor of a number of items, participated in the Indianapolis Gift Show.

"This is the third gift show for our company recently," said E.C. Younghouse. "We also attended shows in the St. Louis area and Kansas City."

Total construction activity was down in January in Missouri.

The F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market, reported total construction for January at $291,334,000, down about 18 percent from the $354,464,000 figure of a year ago.

Construction in the state, however, was up in 1993, at $5.1 billion, up from the $4.4 billion of 1992.

Nonresidential construction in the state, which includes commercial, manufacturing and other buildings not designed for shelter, was reported at $121,071,000 in January, down 39 percent from the $193,807,000 total of a year ago during the same month.

Residential construction was up, however, at $134,119,000 in 1994, compared to the $118,967,000 total of January 1993.

Nonbuilding construction, which includes streets, highways, bridges, river and harbor developments, airports and a few other projects, was reported at $36,144,000, down about 13 percent from January of 1993, at $41,464,000.

Westvaco Corp., a major manufacturer of paper, packaging and chemicals, reported sales and earnings for the first quarter of 1994, which ended Jan. 31.

Sales for the period were $577 million, a 2.9 increase over the same period a year ago, and the second highest first-quarter sales total in the company's history. Net income for the quarter was $15.8 million, or 24 cents a share, down from the $76.1 million or $1.14 per share reported during the first quarter of 1993. Earnings in 1993's first quarter were significantly increased, by 83 cents per share, from adopting new accounting requirements set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Westvaco, headquartered in New York, has a paper processing plant at Wickliffe, Ky.

Cape Girardeau Edward D. Jones & Co. offices -- 1749-I Independence Square and 215 N. Sprigg -- will host a free health reform seminar in Cape Girardeau March 18.

U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt, majority leader of the House of Representatives, will be speaker for the live-satellite program, "Health Care Reform: What Can You Expect?"

The program will outline the main points of President Clinton's new health care proposal, according to Joe Domian and Robert N. Etherton, Cape Girardeau representatives for the financial-services firm.

Gephardt will discuss the key aspects of the health care proposals. The audience will have an opportunity to address questions to the congressman.

Additional information on the program are available by contacting Domian, 335-6681, or Etherton, 335-4495.

"Annual Bankruptcy Institute," a legal education program for lawyers, will be held at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau, March 11, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The seminar, which provides up to 6.8 hours of Missouri MCLE credit, is sponsored by the Missouri Bar. Cost of the program is $79 for newly admitted lawyers and $99 for other lawyers and non-lawyers. Additional information is available by calling (314)-635-4128.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- H&R Block Inc. reported a 46 percent increase in its third-quarter net, with tax service income down but pretax earnings from its computer communications subsidiary rising by more than $10 million.

Block said Monday that it earned $12.5 million, or 12 cents a share, in the quarter ending Jan. 31, compared to $8.6 million, or about 8 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.

The quarterly results included a $27.3 million gain on the sale of Block's interest in its temporary help subsidiary, Interim Services Inc., through an initial public stock offering in January.