SABRELINER RECEIVES MILITARY CONTRACTS; RESTAURANT OPENS

It's cleanup time in the flood plains following this year's devastating river flooding, and in the case of Sabreliner Corp. that includes a portion of the Perryville Municipal Airport.

Sabreliner is looking forward to returning to its Perryville airport facility, which was flooded when a Mississippi River levee was breached.

Sabreliner, headquartered in St. Louis, has been awarded two engine contracts. One is to be carried out at Sabreliner's Maintenance and Modification Center at Perryville.

Sabreliner had to find new quarters following the levee break in August. It now has some equipment at various sites in Perryville and at Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport.

The new contracts, announced last week, are valued at about $7 million.

The U.S. Navy Fleet and Industrial Supply Center at Jacksonville, Fla., awarded Sabreliner a contract with an estimated value of $6 million for the repair of engine compressors on Pratt & Whitney J52 engines, which power the Navy's McDonnell-Douglas A-4 and Grumman EA-6 aircraft.

The contract calls for work to be completed over a three-year period. The work will be performed at the company's Engine Overhaul and Repair Center In Neosho.

The second contract was awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration for the overhaul and repair of Pratt & Whitney JT12 engines, which power Sabreliner Model 40 and Lockheed Jetstar aircraft among others. The contract calls for the work to be completed over a three-year period at the Perryville center.

A complete cleanup is now under way at the Perryville facility, where the company has a 30,000-square-foot hangar and a total of 128,000 square feet under roof. It includes an aircraft engine test facility.

Sabreliner is a diversified-service modification and manufacturing company that supports a variety of commercial, government and military aircraft, engines, systems and components. Before the flood, the Perryville facility employed about 500 people.

Among entities utilizing Sabreliner services are the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, federal administration agencies and the Justice Department, and foreign governments of Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico and Sweden.

Dumplin's is open at Lorimont Place, 280 South Mount Auburn Road.

The new franchise restaurant, which specializes in dumplings and baked goods, is owned by John and Lisa Johnston.

"We feature chicken dumplings and apple dumplings," said Johnston, "We also bake daily."

Johnston said the menu also includes chicken and tuna salad, ham-and-cheese sandwiches, and desserts.

The restaurant is open form 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.

Johnston is experienced in the food business: He was restaurant services director at the Holiday Inn and has worked in food management at the Victorian Inn, both in Cape Girardeau.

On hand at Dumplin's last week was Helen York, mother of the founders of H.R.H. Dumplin's. The Dumplin's concept was a family idea, and the recipes are those of Helen York.

"When a new Dumplin's opens, I like to lend a helping hand," said York.

Dumplin's was founded six years ago at Sikeston by York's children, Kathy York Ring, Susie York Kennedy and David York. There now are 33 restaurants, 28 of them franchises.

Ring and Kennedy each run company operations at Sikeston and David York has three restaurants: two in Nashville and one at Clarksville, Tenn.

Boyd Gaming Corp., one of the gambling companies that wants to come to Cape Girardeau with a riverboat casino, is at work on a project in Tunica, Miss.

"We're looking at a Memorial Day 1994 opening," said Maunty C. Collins, senior vice president and director of operations for the firm's central region. The Tunica area, about 35 miles south of Memphis, already has two gambling casinos. The Boyd project will be about 10 miles north of Splash Casino, which opened at Tunica last year.

Some gaming operations are making big proposals for a gambling site at Evansville, Ind., on the Ohio River.

The richest package offered is that of Peoria, Ill.-based Jumer's Hotels & Casinos, which offered a 250-room hotel attached to an existing downtown restaurant, offices and a retail complex. On adjacent land, Jumer would construct a 10-deck, 1,200-car parking garage. The land-based development would overlook a 40,000-square-foot dock for the Casino Evansville riverboat, which could carry 2,000 people.

Jumer also promises to deliver $7.5 million to a downtown development fund over a five-year period, $1.2 million to renovate the vaudeville-era Victory Theater, and $1.25 million for an environmental reclamation project. That's an $89 million investment.

Also offering 250-room hotels were Collins Casino Co. and Aztar Corp. Others interested in Evansville are Players International, which opened the Ohio River's first floating casino at Metropolis, Ill., and Gold Strike Resorts of Nevada.

Meanwhile, Casino Magic, which has operations along the Gulf of Mexico in Mississippi, is hoping to do business at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port near Scott City. The group met with area residents at Sikeston last week to explain their proposals.

But all the plans could be moot: Voters will decide in Cape Girardeau, Scott County and Evansville Nov. 2 whether to allow riverboat gambling in their communities.

Grass Roots BMW held its grand opening last weekend.

Owners of the new BMW motorcycle dealership, 28 S. Spanish, are motorcycle enthusiasts Dave, Jeff and Chris Hutson and Dave Zimmer.

The partners purchased the dealership at Carbondale, Ill., and moved it to Cape Girardeau.

David Bork, a certified BMW mechanic, is manager of the business, which sells and services BMWs and has parts for a number of other motorcycles. Douglas Houghton is also a certified BMW mechanic.

Mark Watson, a native Iowan, became acquainted with the Pagliai family when he was a high school student.

"I worked for the Pagliai Pizza restaurant in Iowa City as a high school and college student," Watson recalled. Now, Mark and Judy Watson own Pagliai's in Cape Girardeau.

"We're observing our 20th year in the business here," said Watson. "And we're observing the 25th year for Pagliai's."

The Pagliai family, which operated about 18 pizza restaurants including restaurants at Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Ill., and Murray, Ky., founded the Cape Girardeau restaurant 25 years ago. Five years later Sam Pagliai decided to sell some of the restaurants.

"I was familiar with pizza operations, and decided to look at the Cape Girardeau business," said Watson. "We liked what we saw; we liked the weather and we liked the people."

That was 20 years ago, in 1973.

The restaurant at 1129 Broadway is decorated in the theme of Judy Watson's hobby -- sheet music -- with hundreds of titles displayed along the walls.

The Watsons continue to be active in the business.

The Runway Restaurant and Lounge is open at Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport.

"With all the construction work going on in the parking lot area, some people don't realize we're open," said Mary Bergen, who operates the restaurant that opened last month.

The restaurant, which offers breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.