1999 BUSY FOR BUSINESS COMMUNITY

2. Current and potential employees of area businesses can now improve industrial skills using state-of-the-art equipment recently received by the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School. School director Harold Tilley says the school received production equipment valued at some $80,000 from Allen-Bradley, a subsidiary of Rockwell Automation. The company donated PLC5s, or programmable logic controllers, and accompanying software. Six computers also were donated by the Regional Technical Education Council for use with the PLC5s. The equipment will be used to train industrial workers in the operation of automated production equipment.

4. Jayne Ervin is the newest member of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Ervin, a jeweler of Jayson Jewelers Ltd. and Ervin's Metalsmiths Inc., is named to fill the vacancy left by Jim Sexton, former St. Francis Medical Center president and chief executive officer, who left Cape Girardeau in January to become president and chief executive officer of North Iowa Mercy Health Center and Network in Mason City, Iowa.

8. Walgreens will offer 24-hour pharmacy service at its Cape Girardeau Store, starting next week. A pharmacist will be on duty 24 hours a day.

12. The cause of a fire Saturday at the Cape Girardeau Sears store, 2102 William, is under investigation by the Cape Girardeau Fire Department. The fire was reported at 12:20 a.m. The sprinkler system and alarm at the retail store were activated. Water and fire damage was contained to the warehouse area.

12. Downtown living is making an impressive comeback in Cape Girardeau. A nationwide trend is luring a diverse population singles, couples, retirees back downtown to Main Street. And, in Downtown Cape Girardeau, that means upscale loft dwellings, second-floor apartments which overlook the Mississippi River, and a new four-family condo. Aquamsi Bluff Townhouse, a four-family condominium, is expected to be ready for occupancy in the 200 block of South Spanish this fall. It is the first new residential structure in the immediate downtown area in almost a quarter-century, when new apartment buildings went up in the 100 block of South Lorimier, the 100 block of South Spanish and 400 block of Themis.

12. The Southeast Missouri State University World Trade Center satellite office is rededicated at Dempster Hall. Following the rededication ceremony, a panel discusses international business and its impact on the local economy. Panel members include Robert Frueh, director of the St. Louis World Trade Center; Bruce Adair, chairman of the St. Louis World Trade Center Advisory Board; Norma Thomas, a trade center member; Kohta Fujiwara, Biokyowa president; and Paul E. Widelin, M&W Packaging U.S. Inc. president.

14. The number of planes that flew into or left the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport was on the rise in the first few months of 1999. Plane traffic at the airport increased by about 15 percent over the same period last year. From January to March, 4,582 planes arrived or departed at the airport. That number was 3,953 for the same period during 1998. During March, the total number was 2,113 compared to 1,432 for 1998. The number of passengers for Trans World Express was 585 for the year so far, but passenger totals did not include shuttle flights for Procter & Gamble employees. With the addition of an airplane manufacturer at the airport, more activity at the airport is expected. The city hopes to finalize a lease agreement with Zenair of Canada Ltd. by the end of April. The airplane manufacturer would eventually employ 100 people at its plant.

16. Rust Publishing, a family-owned subsidiary of Rust Communications of Cape Girardeau, purchases the N.E.W. Vernon County Record in Nevada, Mo. Most of the content of the twice-weekly newspaper is being absorbed into the Nevada Daily Mail/Herald newspaper.

17. Mr. K's Food Center closed Friday, but doors reopen today for a liquidation sale. Less than six months after opening the city's largest grocery supermarket, operators of the 60,000-square-foot store closed, citing financial reasons.

18. A major supplier of home building and home improvement products everything from PVC plumbing pipe to concrete-coated nails celebrates its 50th year in business this week. Pocahontas Lumber & Hardware at 410 Highway D in Jackson has been family-owned for half a century, but the firm actually dates to 1889, when it was started in Pocahontas as Landgraf and Keininger.

21. JACKSON Doors to the second Wal-Mart Supercenter in Cape Girardeau County open. The newest Supercenter, a 112,000-square-foot store on East Jackson Boulevard, includes 36 general merchandise departments. It has a full-line grocery store, vision center and pharmacy. The store opens about 16 months from the time plans were announced in late 1998. It more than triples the space of the other Wal-Mart operation in Jackson.

26. As Dave Bedan sees it, Missouri's chip mills could ravage forests in Southern Missouri. Bedan serves on Gov. Mel Carnahan's advisory committee that is studying the overall effects of such mills on the state's forests. The committee is scheduled to issue a report to the governor in December. Bedan wants the state to adopt some forestry practice standards and require loggers to be licensed and trained. Chip mills, he says, encourage "cut and run kind of forestry like we had 100 years ago." But Steve Galliher, a forester and procurement manager for Willamette Industries' chip mill at Mill Spring, says the business turns low-value trees and sawmill waste into wood chips.

26. Housing construction is up in Cape Girardeau, surpassing both state and national percentages in increase over building of a year ago. The city's Division of Inspection Services reports that construction of single-family homes rose slightly over 1998 totals during the first quarter of 1999. That increase came despite one of the slowest January construction starts in the past five years. Housing construction in Cape Girardeau, with only one single-family home start and a duplex start in January, has rebounded. Apartment units were about even, with 18 units during January, February and March 1998, compared to 15 units this year.

26. Just Kids! Learning Development Center, a day-care operation with two locations in Jackson, will establish a day care in Cape Girardeau next month. Donnie Harris, owner of Just Kids!, says a third Jackson location is being planned on Highway 25 South. A possible site is also being considered at Fruitland. The Cape Girardeau facility, to be established in the building that previously housed the Missouri Employment Division at 6 Girardeau Court, will be a state-licensed day care. It will be open 24 hours a day Monday through Saturday.

26. Cape Electrical Supply Co. of Cape Girardeau has opened a store in Murray, Ky. Southfork Electrical Supply is the company's 12th location. Cape Electrical Supply employs more than 90 persons. The list of stores includes facilities in Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Poplar Bluff, West Plains, Park Hills and Arnold, all in Missouri; Paducah and Murray in Kentucky; Marion and Carbondale in Illinois; and Dyersburg, Tenn.

26. Mid-America Title Loans will open its 68th location at 1000 N. Kingshighway in the 1,976-square-foot building that formerly housed Auto-Stop Auto Sales. The business, headquartered in Georgia, specializes in offering loans on car titles. The company has locations in a number of states, including Missouri, Illinois, Georgia, Kansas and Alabama. Other Missouri offices are in St. Louis, Joplin and Springfield.

26. Cars Etc. Inc. has opened its third pre-owned car dealership in Cape Girardeau. Cars Etc., at 412 S. Kingshighway, also has dealerships at Sikeston and Charleston. Sarah Craig is president of the company.

26. McLeod USA Publishing, a directory publisher, will establish a Southeast Missouri operations office at Lorimont Place in Cape Girardeau. The lease brings occupancy at Lorimont Place Ltd., a 90,500-square-foot development on South Mount Auburn Road, to 93 percent.

26. Missouri's first ethanol plant is under construction. Groundbreaking for the plant was held recently at Macon. The plant will process about 5 million bushels of corn annually to produce about 15 million gallons of ethanol.

27. Grand-opening activities at the new ShopKo Stores Inc. store at West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau will be held this weekend, but area consumers have already had an opportunity to see ShopKo merchandising strategy at work. ShopKo opened last weekend and will remain open in what store officials describe as a "soft opening." Customers visiting the new store this weekend will have a chance to win some big prizes during the grand opening, and some charitable organizations will also be winners.

27. Walt Wildman has been named director of the Cape Girardeau operations of East Missouri Action Agency. Among the agency's best known programs are Head Start, subsidized housing, family planning, employment and training, and emergency services. The agency's central office is in Park Hills. Cape Girardeau is the largest local office. It is slated for expansion, especially in the job training area. About 30 persons work out of the Cape Girardeau office, including 20 who work with Head Start. Fulton expects employment in the office to be at 40 this summer.