STRICTLY BUSINESS: VISITORS PLEASED, SURPRISED AT CAPE

Some visitors to Cape Giardeau recently were pleasantly surprised.

They found that the Southeast Missouri city on the banks of the Mississippi River had a large concentration of retail outlets, including Famous Barr, Sam's and Staples.

Visitors also found Cape Girardeau had a favorable ratio of doctors and medical specialists and some of the big names in banking -- NationsBank, Union Planters, Mercantile. Educational facilities included Southeast Missouri State University, a Division I school, and high schools for public and parochial students.

At one time during the decade of the 1990s, the city was ranked No. 17 on a report card of "Life in America's Small Cities."

A number of families are getting their first look at Cape Girardeau County this month.

Forty-five potential Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co. employees from Mehoopany, Pa., visited the area more than a week ago. for the new towel and tissue plant here, and their spouses, were in Cape Girardeau more than a week ago, from Mehoopany, Pa. Employee groups from Green Bay, Wis., Oxnard, Calif., and Toronto, Canada, were expected to visit the area and the new towel and tissue plant here later this month.

The groups tour the Procter & Gamble plant, Jackson and Cape Girardeau schools, and shopping centers throughout the area, and visit a vendor fair, where they have an opportunity to talk with bankers, real estate companies, educators, local government officials and medical personnel.

The visitors are people who have been offered positions at the expanded P&G plant. Some will have permanent positions at the new $350 million plant being constructed adjacent to the existing plant. Others will be here to help open the new plant before returning to jobs elsewhere.

About 120 P&G employees and their families will visit. P&G announced the expansion project last April.

Location big asset

Cape Girardeau's location between two large metropolitan areas -- two hours from St. Louis and three hours from Memphis., Tenn. -- is another big asset for visitors looking at moving here.

People are interested in moving to Missouri and to Cape Girardeau.

During 1997, more than 4,580 families were moved into the state by one of the nation's largest household movers, United Van Lines. Another 2,300 were moved into the state by Allied Van Lines.

The downside to these statistics is that 8,000 people were moved from Missouri by the same two van lines.

Results of newly released studies by the two van lines, based on more than a half-million household goods shipments in all 50 states by the two lines, shows Missouri lost about 1,600 people.

The state is still about even in moves over the past five years, which is better than some.

Illinois lost more than 5,700 people by moves in 1997, with about 20,000 outbound moves and 14,300 inbound moves.

Kentucky gained last year, with 4,000 moves into the state and 3,900 moving out. Arkansas was one of the near-even states, with a gain of about 250. Tennessee was also among the gainers with more than 53 percent of more than 14,500 moves inbound.

For the first time in eight years, more people moved into California than out. Of 52,949 United Van Lines moves associated with California in 1997, 51.3 percent or 27,156 were inbound with 25,793 or 48.7 percent outbound.

United moves to California were almost even, with 12,774 going in and 13,000 moving out.

Nevada led the nation in the United Van Lines moving people into the state category, with 3,204 of 4,775 moves inbound. Alaska, which had the highest inbound ranking in 1995 and 1996, moved to second place this year with 550 of its 869 moves inbound.

The Allied Van Lines report revealed more people moved to Georgia in 1997 than any other state with 62.7 percent of the moves going in, while Nevada finished second on the inbound list at 62.6 percent.

North Dakota led outbound moves by both van lines -- 70.9 percent in 1,000 moves by Allied and 68.1 percent in 1,400 moves by United.

Migration trends

Although California's scale is tipping away from outbound migration, the state continues to sweep the nation in the number of relocations crossing its borders -- 52,949 by United and 25,862 by Allied.

The migration trends, as measured by the United survey, tend to mirror economic conditions in various regions. Although the company does not maintain records on why customers are moving, van lines officials say there may be a year-to-year "blip" tied to the fortunes of a particular industry. But such motivating factors as regional job opportunities and retirement plans tend to produce consistent trends over longer periods of time."

United Van Lines, based in suburban St. Louis, has conducted its annual survey since 1977. The company has more than 1,000 agents affiliated throughout the United States and the world.

Looking for a home

Bucky is looking for a new home.

Bucky, a squirrel, had been living in a 25-foot Buckeye tree on the Missouri University campus at Columbia.

The tree was near the office of Rich Guyette, a forester at UM-Columbia.

This year's weather quirks have been tough on trees, said Guyette.

The combination of warm weather, saturated soil and heavy snow has topped some trees and caused others to bend so far they may never recover.

The warm winter meant soils were frozen, so tree roots had little to anchor them when the weighty snow that "stuck to the smallest branches" came early last week, Guyette said.

"The snow was especially tough on young trees with a lot of small branches and a small root system," said Guyette.

The snow hurt bigger trees too, like the giant Buckeye, which fell, sending Bucky to seek a new home.

Thousands of little trees were bent over at the University Wildlife Refuge near Ashland.

Some of them may straighten, but many were so badly bent they may have to be cut down, he said.

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