Ad agency to help get messages out

For business owners, getting the message out about their product or service is more than key. It's crucial.

Teresa Morill, a partner in the new Cape Girardeau advertising and marketing agency called AJT Enterprises, says that's why choosing the right advertising vehicle is so important.

"It is so overwhelming, believe me," she said. "There are so many different types of media. If you don't know what you're doing, you can really blow it."

That's where the new agency, which recently opened, comes in. She and her two partners -- including Amanda Chapman and Jerry Taylor -- will do that for business owners who don't have the time or expertise to make the best decision.

"You've got to get the message out there or they won't know about you," she said.

Their new firm, at 840 S. Kingshighway, will do a business analysis and study the market in relationship to the product or service to help determine whether newspapers, radio or television are the best option. (No bias, but you can hardly go wrong with newspapers.)

"If you're looking for females 25 to 54, there's a way to get their attention," Morrill said.

Chapman is a recent graduate of Southeast Missouri State University. Morill and Taylor both worked in sales at a local radio station for nine and eight years, respectively.

Morill said she knows that there are other businesses out there that do this, such as Red Letter Communications.

"I think there is enough business to go around," she said.

MISS PRINT: Miss Print, a small-business print shop has opened at 891 N. Kingshighway. The owner is Tina Parrish.

The shop customizes letterheads, business cards, envelopes and does other special-needs printing, Parrish said.

It has been a print shop in the past under different management, she said.

VENIDA'S VILLAGE: Venida Warren has opened Venida's Village at 1135 W. Jackson in Jackson. The shop offers quilting supplies, yarn and thread. Warren also will make shadowboxes and do some dress altering.

"I've been doing crafts all my life," she said.

DEAD, BUT RICH: They are gone, but not impoverished -- and certainly not unpaid. Some celebrities' estates command some hefty annual incomes, according to a recent ranking of estimated earnings.

Elvis Presley is the king of annual income, generating about $40 million for his estate this year, according to the research by Forbes.com. Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz was second, about $8 million behind Elvis. "The Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien was No. 3, with $22 million.

THE FRIDAY RUSH: A study of more than 1 million vehicle accidents from January through June by one of the nation's largest auto insurers found more accidents happen between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday than during any other time of the week. That was also the most crash-prone day, with 16.4 percent of all wrecks, followed by Saturday and Thursday.

As for rush-hour crashes, Monday morning was tops. The fewest crashes occurred on Thursday, between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.

The data are from Progressive Corp., the nation's third-largest auto insurer, based in Mayfield Village, Ohio.

The company offered no guesses about why the crashes occurred when they did.

Scott Moyers is the business editor for the Southeast Missourian. The Associated Press contributed to this report.