1999 BUSY FOR BUSINESS COMMUNITY

1. Knowing where every person in Cape Girardeau lives counts for a lot. Ask Rich Daume. He has spent weeks poring over maps and checking city boundaries to make sure every resident is accounted for when census counters come to town. Even though the 2000 census is still months away, getting prepared is a long process. Daume, a geographic information systems technician for Cape Girardeau's planning department, has to check every address in the city to cross-reference it with lists from the U.S. Census Bureau. Now Daume is getting ready for a tough job visually checking every address to make sure a house still exists and everyone gets counted. Everything from representation to federal funding rests on population figures.

3. The Rhodes 101 Travel Center on Nash Road south of Cape Girardeau offers several services for over-the-road truckers and other travelers, but its newest device will help truckers keep in touch. It's a DRIVER Net kiosk, and it has brought the truck stop online. While the truck stop at Exit 91 off Interstate 55 has its own Web page, the new device will offer truckers a variety of online options, including e-mail.

3. Mathes & Frey Land Development LLC has opened at 1318 N. Kingshighway. The development group, which has new equipment, including a couple of dozers and excavators, is owned by Mike Mathes and Tom Frey. The company is involved in an number of activities including land development, building of ponds and lakes, roads, excavation and homes, and is currently in the process of constructing a six-acre lake south of Dutchtown.

5. Steven Bjelich wants a job that shares a sense of values, family and community, and he says he has found that job at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Bjelich has been named the medical center's president and chief executive officer. He assumes his duties July 5. St. Francis began a search for a new CEO in December when James Sexton announced his resignation to accept a position as president and CEO of North Iowa Mercy Health Center and Network.

6. Zenair of Canada Ltd. won't be coming to Cape Girardeau after all. Independent Manufacturing Development Co., a subsidiary of Zenair aircraft company, has notified Cape Girardeau officials that it was terminating its memorandum of understanding with the city and will not put a plant at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. Zenair and Independent announced in March that they would start assembling planes in Cape Girardeau within 60 days.

7. The Salvation Army Thrift Shop opens in a new location. Salvation Army officials, board members, volunteers and other workers join Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce representatives for a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new location, 610 Independence. The new site offers more than 12,000 square feet, double the space at the previous location at the intersection of South Sprigg and Morgan Oak. 10. Hobby Lobby is in the process of doing away with Sunday hours. Twenty-four stores, including Cape Girardeau, started closing on Sunday last weekend, bringing the total number of Hobby Lobby store now closed Sunday to 103, out of a total of 192. The motivation for the decision to close on Sunday, says a company spokesman, is to allow employees and customers more time for worship and family.

10. JCPenney's closes operations at West Park Mall for a brief period Monday afternoon. NationsBank and Capaha Bank, on Mount Auburn Road, lock their doors for more than an hour. Union Planters closes the door of its Mount Auburn Road branch for a few minutes. A power outage, created by a burned out inline-switch, leaves many homes and businesses including a portion of West Park Mall and Cape West Business Park without power for more than an hour in the afternoon.

12. Construction could begin on a new grocery store in Cape Girardeau sometime this year, says a representative of Piggly Wiggly Mid-South Inc. The grocery chain asks the city's Planning and Zoning Commission for approval to rezone a 10.76 acre tract along North Kingshighway. The tract had been zoned for general business and single family residential, but the store is requesting a general business district zoning. The owner plans to start construction later this year but is waiting to see how the new Wal-mart store in Jackson would affect business. The commission unanimously approves the request. It still needs the approval of the City Council.

16. Marion Eye Centers & Optical has opened in Jackson, at 2260 E. Jackson Blvd.

17. KELSO When Gary Burford started making his homemade wines, he first sought advice from the experts all the "old-timers" who have a lifetime of experience at winemaking. But he found that those experts didn't have much advice for making dry wines instead of the sweet, fruit wines they were accustomed to. So Burford had to strike out on his own. And nearly three years later, he's got a bronze ribbon to show for his efforts. Burford's 1998 vintage strawberry wine earned a bronze medal in this year's competition of the Home Wine and Beer Trade Association.

17. A new Country Mart Supermarket has opened in Marble Hill. The 36,000-square-foot operation offers groceries, dine-in or carry-out bakery-deli, floral department and video rentals.

17. Rental Service Corp. (USC), a national industrial and contractor rental service, will locate in Six Thirty Commercial and Industrial Park. USC, with more than 240 sites in the nation, has closed on a three-acre tract, on Southern Expressway in Cape Girardeau, between Ryder Truck Rental and Cape Central Publishing Co., and will start construction of a facility soon.

17. Brauns Fashions Corp. will open a new Christopher & Banks Store in West Park Mall in June. Brauns, a specialty retailer of women's apparel, dresses and accessories, also operates Brauns Fashion Stores, eight of them in Missouri.

17. Although the Nash Road Industrial Park is 39 years old, it is far from complete. The park has more than 20 industries and businesses in a complex south of Cape Girardeau, alongside Nash Road and near Interstate 55. Those businesses provide employment to more than 1,500 workers. The first business to settle in the park ABF Freight System Inc. is still operating 35 years later. The two newest businesses in park are Botkin Lumber and M & H Pallet. M & H moved to the park within the past six months.

20. Shock and surprise are common expressions as news of Dr. Dale Nitzschke's resignation as president speeds around the Southeast Missouri State University campus. Word of Nitzschke's resignation and the promotion to president of Dr. Kenneth Dobbins races through Kent Library and Academic Hall minutes after the announcement. The community reaction is also one of regret at losing Nitzschke's leadership.

26. Kelley Transportation Co. will continue its taxi service in Cape Girardeau. City Manager Mike Miller meet with Terrence and Kim Kelley, owners of the taxi company, to work out details for the subsidized program. The Kelleys agree to honor their bid for the next year. Terrence Kelley had said Friday that he would withdraw his $374,800 bid for the service after his contract expired in July.

27. Bargains by the mile are available during the region's initial 100-Mile Yard Sale. The event starts today, and traffic is expected to increase through Memorial Day as motorists look for bargains along the 100-mile stretch of Highway 25 from Jackson to Kennett. The event runs through Monday. Cities and communities along Highway 25 include Jackson, Gordonville, Advance, Delta, Dexter, Bernie, Bloomfield, Clarkton, Malden and Kennett. People along the highway have spent many hours pricing and preparing items for the yard sale.

24. The Welcome Wagon is back in Cape Girardeau. The Welcome Wagon, a "new homeowner" welcoming program, was discontinued in Cape Girardeau during the early 1990s. The program, in business 70 years, is based in Westbury, N.Y., and is a division of GETKO Group Inc., a source of advertising/direct mail programs and database services for the new homeowner market.

24. "See the Trainer, The Sports Medicine Store," combines advice of experienced health care professionals with sports medicine products. The company employs licensed physical therapists and certified athletic trainers to help customers select and fit products, ranging from back, knee, ankle and wrist braces, to computer-designed, custom foot orthotics.

24. Marie Seesing has been appointed administrative assistant at Westfield Shoppingtown West park Mall in Cape Girardeau. Seesing, a Cape Girardeau native, recently returned to the area after six years in Waco, Texas. She is a graduate from Southeast Missouri State University, with a business degree in marketing. She also has experience as an administrative assistant.

29. Charter Communications Inc. has entered into agreements to purchase two cable companies that will add more than 1.5 million customers to its list of cable users. The purchase includes Falcon Cable TV, which has more than 1 million cable users in 27 states, including a wide area of Southeast Missouri. Falcon, headquartered in Los Angeles, acquired TCI Cable in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson areas in April 1998 and now owns systems in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Sikeston, Perryville, Oran, Scott City, Chaffee, Charleston, Benton, East Prairie, Ste. Genevieve, Morehouse, Poplar Bluff, Dexter and Malden.