STRICTLY BUSINESS: JACKSON'S GROWTH CONTINUES INTO 2001

Housing continues to be big on the Jackson construction scene.

A total of 45 one-family home-building permits have been issued the first six months of this year, said Rodney Bollinger, building and planning superintendent. Four apartment permits -- three duplexes and a townhouse apartment building -- have been issued.

This translates into $5.3 million in housing construction this year.

New homes have been big on the Jackson building scene since 1994, when permits were issued for 145 new homes, estimated at $16.5 million in construction costs.

"Jackson has averaged a total of 111 new single-family homes year since then," said Bollinger. That totals to 777 new homes going into 2001.

New housing -- single-family homes and apartments -- have been a necessity into the growing Jackson community.

People have flocked to Jackson over the past decade, spurring a population growth at a staggering 29 percent in the 1990s, making it the fastest growing town in Southeast Missouri.

Census figures show Jackson's population is approaching 12,000. It grew by nearly 2,700 people in the last 10 years.

Building permits vary from year to year, but Jackson has averaged almost $21 million a year since 1994, with $33.6 million in 1999. In an annual report to the city earlier this year, Mayor Paul W. Sander said a continued strong construction climate in Jackson "helps keep our overall economy strong."

Jackson could be on track to another $20 million construction year.

A total of 157 total permits were issued in the city during the first six months, in the amount of $8,160,998.

"The second half of the year will likely show increased commercial activity," said Bollinger. "The Jackson R-2 Junior High School addition and an expansion of Midwest Sterilization will add to the totals."

Estimated cost of the new junior high project could add more than $4.5 million to the totals.

One of the largest permits to date this year is the $1,750,000 permit for Immaculate Conception School/Church, at 250 E. Madison St. Another large permit, $450,000, was issued to the Klein Group, L.L.C., for a retail outlet at 2050 Walton Drive.

Many of the permits this year have been for remodeling and additions to residential buildings -- 33 permits in the amount of $145,717. A dozen permits were issued for storage sheds, and 10 permits have been issued for additions and remodeling of commercial buildings, in the amount of $106,346.

Fighting boll weevils

Boll weevils feed on cotton, costing farmers over $7 million a year in crop loss and pesticide use. The boll weevil is second only to the Civil War in damage caused in the southeast portion of the United States.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture is tired of the little pest and is undertaking a seven-year program to rid the Show Me state of the little bug.

News conferences and public meetings this week will outline the state's plans for the boll weevil eradication program.

Lowell Mohler, director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, and eradication program manager Dewey Wayne King will talk to reporters during a special news conference at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Malden Airport.

Aerial spraying will start next month as party of the seven-year program. Under the program, about 400,000 acres of cotton in Scott, Stoddard, Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid and Pemiscot counties will be sprayed with the pesticide malathion, which is commonly used for mosquito control.

The spray program stems from a referendum Bootheel cotton growers passed in December.

The Southeastern Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation will conduct meetings in three areas of Missouri cotton country.

* Today, 6-8 p.m., Sikeston Public Library.

* Tuesday, 7-9 p.m., Kennett American Legion.

* Thursday, 7-9 p.m., University of Missouri Delta Center, Portageville.

King will conduct the meetings and outline the eradication process.

"These are some historical moments in Missouri," Mohler said.

Most of the affected areas will be sprayed by planes. Sensitive areas, including those near schools, homes, and organic crops will be sprayed by ground equipment.

Depending on weather conditions, the applications will be conducted weekly until the first frost or harvest, whichever comes first. The timing is designed to prevent the boll weevil population from moving out of the cotton fields to over-wintering sites, where they lie dormant until the spring mating season.

After this year's initial spray program, fields will only be sprayed on an as-needed basis, determined by the number of boll weevils found in traps placed in the fields.