BART OWNER HONORED WITH BUSINESS AWARD

Ray Duffey, owner of Bootheel Area Rapid Transportation (BART), a transportation service between the Southeast Missouri/Southern Illinois area and St. Louis Lambert Airport, has received the Sam Walton Business Leader Award.

Duffey is the second annual recipient of the award in Cape Girardeau and one of more than 1,000 business leaders in the nation to be honored by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., headquartered in Bentonville, Ark. He received the award during the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's "Business After Hours" session, held at the Cape Girardeau Country Club Tuesday.

Duffey, and partner John Marek founded BART in 1987, with a single van making a run from Cape Girardeau to Lambert Airport.

Duffey acquired sole ownership of the business two years later, when Marek relocated to an area where he started a similar service.

BART now has several vans, which operate out of the Cape Girardeau, and the Carbondale area in Southern Illinois.

The company is headquartered at 2900 Kage Road and dispatches all its vans from the Cape Girardeau office.

The majority of BART trips are still to the St. Louis airport, but more people are using the services for business trips to St. Louis. BART averages seven trips a day to St. Louis from Cape Girardeau.

Duffey was recommended for the award by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce.