TELEPHONE BOOK PUBLISHER FOLDS, CITES FLAT SALES

JACKSON -- Falconbridge Publications Inc. has ceased operations.

"We ran out of money," said Gregory Lee Dullum, president of the now defunct company which previously published telephone directories in St. Francois County, Sikeston, Dexter and Poplar Bluff areas.

Dullum, in letters to more than 200 advertisers, explained that "this business has failed.

"Because of economic conditions, we are unable to print the telephone directory in which you have bought advertising," he said. "There is no money or property at present that can be used to refund payment you have made."

The bulk of advertisers are in the Poplar Bluff area, including one business which had made payment of $1,700.

The Falconbridge company, which was established in 1992, published a total of eight directories, but sales for the 1996 directors "were flat," said Dullum.

"Office expenses -- payroll and rent -- were taking all of our income," he said.

"We made every effort to secure financing," said Dullum. "We talked to every bank between Jonesboro, Ark., and St. Louis, Mo. Our efforts have been fruitless."

Dullum added that the company had three or four directories ready to be printed, but did not have money to print them.

Some workers had worked without salary, said Dullum.

After three months of attempting to raise cash, "we decided to shut down," he said. "With no assets and no money there was no reason to file bankruptcy. We talked with our attorney, filed our final tax papers and just shut down."

Dullum and Jim McReynolds, vice president of the company, previously worked for Midwestern Directory Co. Inc. of Cape Girardeau, which previously published directories for a number of Southeast Missouri communities.

When Midwestern quit publishing directories in other locations, and concentrated on Cape Girardeau, Dullum and McReynolds founded Falconbridge Publications Inc.

"We had an agreement not to compete with Midwestern in Cape Girardeau," said Dullum. "We published our first directory in the Sikeston area."

Since then, Midwestern Directory has closed, and a new company, Southeast Missouri Directories, recently published a 1996 directory in the Cape Girardeau area.