NEW ON THE BUSINESS SCENE: CAPE GIRARDEAU RESTAURANTEUR OPENS HIS 16TH

Cape Girardeau restaurant magnate Dennis Stockard, owner and CEO of DeStock Inc., has opened his 16th restaurant an Applebee's at Owensboro, Ky.

The restaurant, which opened Tuesday, is the third Applebee's for DeStock Inc., which operates other Applebee's at Cape Girardeau and Paducah, Ky. Two more Applebee's are on the DeStock drawing boards for Evansville and Terre Haute, Ind.

Stockard is involved in a number of restaurants in Cape Girardeau Applebee's, Shoney's, El Chico, Captain D's, the Royal N'Orleans and Broussard's Cajun Cuisine.

Stockard's latest operation in Kentucky will employ more than 100 and seat 198 customers.

"We're looking forward to serving the people of Owensboro," said Kevin Silvers, vice president and director of operations for DeStock.

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Illinois Governor Jim Edgar was in Southern Illinois last week to help break ground for a $24.6 million tape factory to be constructed at Carbondale.

The 200,000-square-foot Tesa Tuck Inc. factory will replace an older building the company had in Carbondale.

Carbondale agreed to buy Tesa Tuck's old building for $1 million, said City Councilman Richard Morris. The company also will get about $2.4 million in tax abatements and other savings.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs awarded the city $1.775 million in loans and grants for construction and employee training.

Tesa Tuck, a subsidiary of Beiersdorf AG of Hamburg, Germany, is the world's second- largest manufacturer of pressure-sensitive tape. The company's Carbondale workforce of 250 people has an annual payroll of about $10 million.

Two weeks ago Edgar was in another Southern Illinois community Metropolis where he helped break ground for a 120-room riverfront hotel adjacent to the Players Riverboat Casino at Merv Griffin's Landing.

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Move over Alex P. Keaton, Mark McKee is taking over.

Keaton, television buffs may recall, was the conservative and enterprising entrepreneurial young son of a liberal couple in "Family Ties," a popular television sitcom.

McKee, of Kansas City, is also an enterprising young man who has been involved in a variety of businesses since childhood, starting with the sale of ice water to construction workers as a youngster. McKee has been involved in selling everything from ice water to lemonade and flowers to water softeners.

He founded Pyramid Pizza while a sophomore in college at the University of Kansas. The pizza operation at Kansas City now has seven stores, grossing more than $1 million a year.

He is also a co-founder of Waddles Sportswear, a company that manufactures sportswear that sells to major department stores and mail-order catalogs.

McKee, who has been picked as one of the top 10 entrepreneurs in the U.S. by "Entrepreneur" magazine, visited Cape Girardeau two years ago to talk with high school students who attended the Missouri Freedom Forum.

He was scheduled for another appearance here last week, but was stranded at the St. Louis airport when his flight to Cape Girardeau was canceled due to thunderstorms.

"McKee is a dynamic young businessman," said Dave Lankford, vice president of education for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. "He is an inspirational speaker. We hope to schedule him for future appearances at the annual Freedom Forum."

Lankford was one of the speakers at the forum last week.

More than 130 high school students from St. Louis to the Bootheel discussed freedom and free enterprise during the three-day forum, one of two annual forums in the state sponsored by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and the Farm Bureau. The local forum, established in 1986, is also sponsored by the local chamber and Southeast Missouri State University.

The forums are designed to provide young Missourians the opportunity to talk with professional speakers, business leaders, legislators and counselors on the basics of the American economic and governmental systems, and to make "the leaders of tomorrow more aware of the system of government and system of economics.

A primary session gave students a chance to brainstorm on starting a small business in their hometowns and encouraged interest in such entrepreneurship.

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A recent article discussing the commercial growth boom on Mount Auburn Road failed to mention the Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Southeast Missouri (LFCS-SEMO) facility at 2911 Breckenridge.

The LFCS is observing its 20th year of services here. It moved from its longtime site at 833 Broadway into the new building on Breckenridge in September 1992.

The agency is a non-profit corporation serving emotional and spiritual needs of the community through counseling, referral, adoption and educational services.

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A bumper crop of blueberries is providing a boost in the agricultural economy throughout Missouri and Illinois.

The blueberries are ripe for the picking at 35 places in the state, including Highland Farm near Perryville.

"We started picking on Father's Day, and will be picking another three weeks," said Ronnie Hershey, who operates the farm along with her husband, Bob Hershey. "We have a great crop of berries this year."

The Hersheys grow six varieties of blueberries that provide for a six-week picking operation.

"People can pick their own," said Hershey. "We would recommend they call (314-547-4448) first, to check on weather and availability for a particular day."

Another big pick-you-own operation is Blue Berry Hill Farm about eight miles north of Anna on new Highway 51.

"We started picking last week," said a spokesman for the farm. "We'll probably be picking through most of July."

Blueberries grow on bushes with no thorns, so they are easy to pick, say horticulture experts. "They're often called nature's convenience food because they don't require peeling, seeding or coring," said Jim Anderson of the Missouri Department of Conservation.

"They're sweet, nutritious and low in calories," he said.

And they make great pies.

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Huck's convenience store chain has added an operation in Cape Girardeau.

The Illinois-based firm recently purchased Spanky's Convenience Store at 353 S. Kingshighway.

The Cape Girardeau store is the fourth in Missouri for the Huck's group, which is headquartered in Carmi. Other Missouri operations include those at Sikeston, Poplar Bluff and Dexter.

Huck's operates more than 100 stores.

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Teleco Cellular will hold its ribbon-cutting and grand-opening ceremonies this week.

"We have a ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. Thursday," said Lori Trepasso, account executive with the firm. "During the grand opening people may register for free phones and air time."

Teleco, 320 N. Kingshighway, opened June 28. The firm specializes in sales and service of cellular telephones. The company is an authorized agency for the Southwestern Bell Mobile System, and has offices at Sikeston and Poplar Bluff.

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Mollies Restaurant, owned by John and Jerrianne Wyman, opened Thursday evening in its new location in the Alliance Building near the intersection of Spanish and Independence in downtown Cape Girardeau.

The restaurant, previously located at 627 Good Hope, had a big opening night crowd, and everything went smoothly, noted the owners.

"We have the same menu and the same employees," said Wyman.

The restaurant will open at 4 p.m. daily.