STRICTLY BUSINESS: YELLOW PAGE CON ARTISTS CONTINUE TO FIND VICTIMS

Chemical Lime Company representatives, state and local officials participated in a ground-breaking for anew plant north of Ste. Genevieve last week. Pictured here from left, David Reilly, Chemical Lime Co. president and COO; Jodi Krantz, Missouri Department of Economic Development; William Anderson, Ste. Genevieve mayor; Patricia Chambers; Tom Chambers, Chemical Lime Co. chairman and CEO; Barbara Basler, Ste. Genevieve Chamber of Commerce president; and John Mullins, Chemical Lime Co. Ste. Genevieve operations manager.

Con artists peddling phony "Yellow Pages" ads are at it again.

This is the word from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce.

An item in the state chamber's monthly newsletter, "Missouri Business," explains how the scam works.

The the scam artists mail fake invoices confirming ads that were never placed.

Some of the mailings included ad clippings from the directory to make the pitch look credible.

Chamber officials remind people not to be fooled by the familiar "walking fingers" logo. The logo is not a registered trademark so anyone can use it. Also, legitimate directories generally don't send a separate invoice for Yellow Page ads; instead, customers are billed monthly.

Businesses, organizations and professionals in eastern Missouri paid an estimated $300,000 to be listed in a bogus Yellow Pages directory during a recent year, according to an investigation by the Better Business Bureau.

While the imitation Yellow Pages scam is several years old and has involved several companies, it continues to find victims across the country in spite of repeated warnings by Better Business Bureaus and sporadic court action by state and federal authorities.

After responding to many complaints involving phony Yellow Pages directories, Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages stopped using the "walking fingers" logo in 1993 and adopted its own trademark, "Swbyp's."

There are many legitimate Yellow Page publishers. More than 400 directory publishers, members of the National Yellow Pages Publishers Association, headquartered in Detroit, share in a $9.5 billion business. That figure is more than three times the $2.9 billion industry in 1980.

However, to determine the impact of the Yellow Pages scams in eastern Missouri, the Better Business Bureau that serves eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois, analyzed one bogus directory recently.

This particular directory was the 1993-94 edition of "The Southwest Yellow Pages," printed by AMCAN Enterprise doing business as North American Directories of Dallas. The company maintained some 60 addresses in publishing Yellow Pages for other regions.

The directory has 25,000 listings, 1,800 of them in eastern Missouri's 314 area code.

Despite covering a five-state area, it is about one-fifth the size of Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages that cover only the St. Louis metropolitan area.

According to the company's advertising, the Southwest directory is not sent to regular customers. Rates are $176.40 per listing for immediate payment, or $98 in two installments, according to the company's advertisement and invoice.

Churches are the largest group in the directory, with a total of 977 (90 in eastern Missouri). Churches as a group paid an estimated $190,000 to the directory. One church secretary confessed to the business bureau her unwitting predecessor had paid $98 four different times because of duplicate billings.

Listings in the directory also include 608 physicians (50 in eastern Missouri); 479 attorneys (19 in eastern Missouri; 95 accounting firms and 143 banks, including branch offices of major banks in St. Louis; 31 newspapers, 81 radio stations and 33 television stations; numerous outlets of fast food chains and stores, Federal Reserve Bank outlets, the Dallas Cowboys and a branch office of a major telephone company.

North American Directories, headquartered in Miami, has come under the scrutiny of law enforcement authorities in several states, the business bureau said.

In March 1991, the U.S. Postal Service issued a cease and desist order, alleging the company obtained money by means of false pretenses. Postmasters in Miami, Seattle and Phoenix were directed to return all mail to senders.

In May, the federal court in Washington issued a preliminary injunction to allow the Postal Service to return to the sender any mail sent to North American and its related companies. The Postal Service now is seeking civil penalties for violations of earlier cease and desist orders.

Five states have filed suits against North American.

North American and its related company, business bureau officials said, have refused to respond to correspondence from the Better Business Bureau.

The business bureau, and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, urge businesses, professionals and organizations to make sure that whoever is responsible for paying bills to examine all Yellow Page solicitations or billings to determine if the billing is actually what it seems to be.

New on the business scene

Jeremiah's has reopened.

The restaurant and lounge, which opened in downtown Cape Girardeau in 1984 and closed in 1994, has been remodeled and reopened by Daniel John Grimm and Don Ganim, St. Louisans who attended Southeast Missouri State University here and elected to remain in the area.

The restaurant, which opened in December, has an arrangement where customers can cook their own steaks, Grimm said.

Jeremiah's is in a Mississippi River waterfront building at 127 N. Water St.

The restaurant offers a lunch menu from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., featuring soup and salad, sandwiches featuring rib-eye, chicken and burgers, along with a number of ala carte items -- mini beef K-bobs, frog legs, strip steak teriyaki and "wings of fire."

The dinner menu is served from 5 to 10 p.m., and features steaks ranging from a 14-ounce filet, chateaubriand for two, to a 20-ounce rib-eye. Also available are grilled shrimp, Malo Shark and other seafood.

The lounge area is open from 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. daily.

Jeremiah's originally opened in Cape Girardeau in November 1984 by the late David McKinney of Cape Girardeau and Tom Sanders of Paducah, Ky.

Jeremiah's operations continue to operate in Paducah and Sikeston, Mo.

Jennings Refinishing, a company founded to refinish, touch up and repair antique and new furniture, has opened at Jackson.

Heath Jennings, who has eight years experience in furniture refinishing, and his wife, Heather, opened the new business at 3154 Highway 25 South.

Business hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Jennings strips furniture by hand. He also does touch up work to match finishes.

His services include pickup and delivery.

Jennings, a graduate of Jackson High School, recently returned to Jackson from Memphis, Tenn., where he did furniture refinishing.

A new look at Schnucks

Schnucks Food & Drug, 19 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, has completed its interior facelift.

Numerous departments throughout the store were expanded and extensively remodeled in an upscale decor that complements other renovated stores throughout the 64-store chain.

The check-out area has been re-configured and expanded; the in-store bakery has more display space; the video department was converted to "self-service" and expanded to include more than 7,000 titles; the produce section has increased its selection of pre-packaged salads and exotic fruits; and the liquor department has been expanded.

The grocery section carries more than 650 new items.

New equipment in some areas has been added. High-tech refrigeration cases were installed in the produce section; a new hot case was added to keep prepared food warm in the deli area, which now features more ready-to-heat and prepared foods, such as roasted and fried chicken, quiche and pot pies.

An enlarged floral department is now a certified FTD florist, enabling customers to place orders that can be delivered locally and worldwide.

"Customer response to all the new improvement has been tremendous," store manager Dennis Marchi said. "We're very happy with the added variety and convenience we now provide."

Schnucks Markets Inc., which operates stores in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana, was founded in St. Louis in 1939. The company recently announced it has agreed to purchase most of the net operating assets of National Supermarkets from Toronto-based Loblaw Companies Limited.

Included in the planned acquisition are National's 53 metro St. Louis stores, plus seven others, including Del Farms National at Cape Girardeau, and Carbondale, Ill. The purchase is subject to Federal Trade Commission approval.

Elsewhere:

POPLAR BLUFF -- Karen J. Miller is new president of the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce.

Miller, an attorney, is a graduate of the University of Missouri, and has practiced law in Poplar Bluff since 1981. She served two years on the chamber board.

STE. GENEVIEVE -- Chemical Lime Company of Missouri will build a $50 million plant along the Mississippi River, north of Ste. Genevieve.

Company officials of the Fort Worth, Texas-based company gathered at the site last week to break ground for the new plant which will have a capacity of producing 900,000 tons of lime-based products a year.

Chemical Lime is the nation's leading producer and supplier of solutions-oriented, lime-based products. The new Missouri plant, expected to be in operation by the fourth quarter, will focus on producing a product for sulfur dioxide removal for coal-burning power plants.

"Our technical understanding allows us to custom-blend products based on the customer's requirement," said Tom Chambers, chairman and CEO. The company has more than 30 plants throughout North America.

The new facility will feature two coal-fired preheater rotary kilns, each with a capacity of 1,350 tons per day. It is adjacent to a limestone deposit with reserves in excess of 100 years.

The new plant will employ about 40 people.

CARUTHERSVILLE -- Caruthersville is looking at buying the Brown Shoe Co. building, vacated when the factory closed last year.

The property, which includes a 98,000-square-foot building on 8.3 acres, is on Truman Boulevard and West 13th Street.

Don Lloyd, economic developer, told the city council recently that the city could receive a federal Economic Development Administration loan to help purchase and renovate the building.

Four companies have expressed an interest in leasing the building, including a shoe factory in another part of the state.

More than 450 jobs were lost when the factory closed.

Caruthersville is the site of a riverboat gambling operation expected to open in April.

MALDEN -- Some areas in Southeast Missouri are conducting "Job Fairs," offering employment opportunities to workers.

Officials at Malden are conducting "Job Application Days," seeking jobs for workers in that Bootheel area.

Although the unemployment rate in Dunklin County was 4.7 percent in November, Malden Chamber of Commerce officials say the rate is probably higher now with post-Christmas layoffs in retailing, and reduction of the work force in agricultural and construction-related jobs.

More than 100 work applications have been taken during the December and January job application days.