STRICTLY BUSINESS: REDIGER RETIRES FROM JOB, NOT AREA

During my years on the Southeast Missourian business beat, I've had the opportunity to work with a number of outstanding people -- too many to name.

It's always a bittersweet moment when one of these people bids farewell to his colleagues because of retirement or change in employment.

Such is the case with Harry Rediger -- just Harry to most Cape Girardeans. Rediger for the past 21 years has served as manager of the JCPenney store here.

But, more than that, Rediger has been involved: with the United Way, with the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, with Southeast Missouri State University's Copper Dome, with the Cape Girardeau Public Schools and much more.

Rediger has been a ready source in many business news items -- retail sales, chamber happenings, zoning, etc.

And although Rediger has retired from his career, he will remain active in many community happenings.

He is still involved in the Untied Way, with the school board, and as a member of the chamber.

My time spent with Harry Rediger has allowed me to learn a lot about the business and industrial happenings in Cape Girardeau and the Chamber of Commerce and its diversity.

Rediger has been involved in much of the business and industry in the immediate area since he arrived here 21 years ago.

He is respected by the people who worked with him for his dedication, loyalty, enthusiasm and willingness to do whatever it takes to get a job done.

Thank you, Harry Rediger, for your 21 years of service to this community and for putting up with my questions much of that time.

Bootheel project under way

It's no surprise a $100 million, 250-megawatt power generationplant, is being built in Southeast Missouri.

It was a matter of just where the facility would be located.

It's official now. The plant, jointly developed by Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI), and Duke Energy Corp., has received approval to be located in the Bootheel, near AECI's existing transmission lines west of Glennonville in Dunklin County, on the east side of the St. Francis River.

Three 40-acre sites were considered for the plant -- one each in Dunklin, Stoddard and Butler counties.

After a year of considerations, the Dunklin County site was selected.

Preliminary site work is already under way by Siemans Power Corp., the U.S. arm of Siemens Power Generation Group, which will oversee construction of the plant under contract with the AECI-Duke Energy partnership.

When completed, hopefully by mid-1999, the facility will have a significant economic impact on the area through the property tax base. The power plant will be highly automated and will require only a limited number of employees to operate. Employment is estimated at 20 to 22 people.

The plant will incorporate an advanced Siemens combustion turbine, one of the most efficient units of its type on the market. The water needed for the power plant will come from on-site wells.

State-of-the-art facility

This will be a state-of-the-art facility, said a spokesman of Siemens. And this will be one of the cleanest power plants in the state.

Electricity produced by the plant will be jointly marketed by AECI and Duke Energy Trading and Marketing L.L.C., a Duke Energy and Mobile

The power plant was first announced in August 1996 by AECI and PanEnergy Corp.

Earlier this year Duke Power Co., headquartered at Charlotte, N.C., and PanEnergy Corp., headquartered in Houston, agreed to a $7.7 billion merger, creating Duke Energy Corp. into one of the largest providers of energy and energy services in North America.

Duke Energy, which remains headquartered in Charlotte, with major operations in Houston and Denver, will become the second largest marketer of electricity and the third largest marketer of natural gas in North America.

Associated Electric, headquartered at Springfield, Mo., includes a power facility near New Madrid.

AECI's extensive transmission system is directly interconnected with 21 Midwest utilities, located in four of the nation's 10 electric reliability councils.

Natural gas transmission to the new plant will be provided by Texas Eastern Transmission Corp., a subsidiary of Duke Energy. Fuel management will be provided by Pan Energy Trading and Market Services, LLC., a PanEnergy and Mobile Corp. company.

AECI, an electric power wholesaler, is owned by and provides power to six regional generation and transmission cooperatives. These cooperatives in turn supply power to 40 Missouri and three Southeast Iowa distribution cooperatives that serve more than 1.2 million consumers.

AECI will reserve 125 megawatts of the plant's capacity to meet its future capacity needs. The partners plan to sell the project's other 125 megawatts of capacity in the open market.

More bank mergers

Mercantile Bancorporation Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, and HomeCorp. Inc., headquartered in Rockford, Ill., have announced merger plans.

Mercantile, a $30 billion bank holding company, will acquire Home Corp., a $327 million thrift holding company for HomeBanc, which operates 10 offices, in Rockford, Freeport, Loves Park and Dixon in Illinois.

Mercantile operates offices at more than 500 sites in five states, including Cape Girardeau.

Commerce Bancshares Inc., headquartered in Kansas City, and City National Bank of Pittsburg, have announced the signing of a definitive agreement to merge.

Commerce, which has $10 billion in assets and 260 banking sites in Kansas, Illinois and Missouri, including Cape Girardeau, will acquire the Pittsburg, Kan., bank, which has $120 million in assets at three locations in Pittsburg and one in McCune. The Pittsburg bank is owned by Pittsburg Bancshares Inc., a registered, one-bank holding company.

B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.