NEW ON THE BUSINESS SCENE: WORKING TOGETHER PRODUCES RESULTS

When people work together, things get accomplished.

A good case in point is the Union County Economic Development Corp. headquartered at Anna, Ill.

During the first two months of its existence, the group has tallied an impressive record. It has:

Obtained more than 6,000 names on petitions to support a maximum security prison in "Southernmost" Illinois.

Secured a portable office building at the busy intersection of Highway 51 and Route 146 in downtown Anna.

Made many contacts in efforts to bring new industries and businesses to the area.

All this has been accomplished with volunteer staff and workers.

The corporation is seeking a logo and slogan, via a contest, to represent the "beauty, energy and vitality of Union County."

"We have received more than 30 slogan entries and over 50 logo entries," said Theresa K. Bradley, chairperson of the group's publicity committee. "Winning entries will probably be selected this week."

The corporation was founded in March, soon after two large industries Florsheim Shoe and Bunny Bread Bakery closed their doors in Anna, resulting in more than 350 job losses.

The Union County economic crisis and its residents' response are topics of a television documentary, "Anna at the Crossroads," prepared by WSIU-TV. The documentary chronicles the events that have taken place in Union County since the closing of the two industries. People will have an opportunity to view the documentary at 8 tonight when it is presented in the Anna-Jonesboro High School Auditorium. Following the "preview" showing, a town meeting will be conducted.

The town meeting will bring together civic leaders, economic development specialists, unemployed workers and others in a public forum to discuss the changes taking place in the community.

The corporate board of the group recently established a long-term planning committee. The committee is chaired by Carol Goodman and Judy Smith, and will be working to develop a business plan and long-range objectives for the corporation.

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Union City, Tenn., could look to Anna as an example. Brown Shoe Co., the nation's leading maker of women's shoes, announced recently that it will close its Union City manufacturing plant.

The Brown Group actually announced the Union City closing a year ago, but because of a strong demand for the type of women's comfort footwear produced at Union City, plans to close the plant were delayed until early 1993.

"Orders still remain strong for our brands, but Brown Shoe must continue to reduce costs and realign capacity to compete in the value-oriented retail climate of today," said John B. Biggs Jr., president of the company. "This move will allow us to continue to operate our remaining eight shoe factories and two components plants at full capacity for the foreseeable future."

The 60-day Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notification was issued more than a week ago. The WARN law requires companies to give employees who will be affected by the closing 60-day notifications.

The latest Brown layoff affects 265 employees.

Last summer Brown closed three plants in Missouri, including one at Fredericktown, where more than 380 people worked. Executives blamed the shutdowns and layoffs on economic conditions and the continued shift in the industry to imported shoes.

Brown was founded in 1878. It made the well-known Buster Brown line of shoes for children, and has gradually watched imported shoes take over the women's shoe industry in the U.S.

Brown Shoe is a subsidiary of Brown Group, which is based in St. Louis.

The company, which had 42 plants in 1970, is now operating only nine facilities in the U.S. Six of the remaining plants are in Missouri and four are in Tennessee.

Brown employs 6,200 workers. The company has been importing more shoes in recent years, and has importing offices in Italy, France, Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Taiwan.

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For the past nine months a group of students from the Cape Girardeau Vo-Tech School have been receiving on-the-job training as a home-building construction crew.

Twenty students and their instructor, Joseph "Bud" Thompson, are in the final stages of completing a three-bedroom, brick-and-frame house at 1962 David.

The home, which is being constructed by the vo-tech's building-trades classes, includes a two-car garage, large bay window, and deck. It will be on display next Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.

"We'll hold an open house this weekend," said Harold Tilley, director of the school. "The house will be placed on the market at a minimum bid of $77,000. I think visitors will be impressed with the quality of the house."

Funds from the sale of the home are plowed back into the school's building trades. This is the sixth home constructed by building- trades classes over the past decade.

This is a great example of a Cape Girardeau facility providing opportunities for workers to obtain experience and skills to find a job.

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Willard Bechel is in the used-car business again.

Bechel, who was involved in auto sales in Cape Girardeau for more than 40 years before retiring, has opened Cape Auto Mart, 1000 N. Kingshighway.

"I started selling cars in 1953, and opened my own used-car business in 1964, said Bechel. He said he will buy mostly local cars.

"We'll buy or sell your car," he said. "We also plan to have some cars on a consignment basis."

Bechel said he will build his inventory to about 12 to 15 vehicles.

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A new accounting firm has opened in Cape Girardeau.

Jerry Keele and Paula Huggins have founded Keele and Huggins CPA.

"We'll be doing bookkeeping, accounting, income tax and payroll processing," said Huggins. "We have a combined total of about 19 years experience in accounting."

The address of the business is P.O. Box 1143, Cape Girardeau. The firm hopes to open an office in the near future.