TICKETS READY FOR ANNUAL CHAMBER EVENT FEB. 5

Small Business of the Year and the Rush H. Limbaugh awards will be presented during the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting-dinner dance next month at the Show Me Center.

Entertainment, dinner, introduction of new officers and other special presentations -- including the Go-Getter Award -- are among activities scheduled for the Feb. 5 event. A social hour will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. with a buffet dinner at 7 and awards presentation and program at 8. Dancing will start at 9.

Tickets are now available. Cost is $25 per person, and tables of eight are available. To make reservations and for additional information, call the chamber office at 335-3312.

The Cape Girardeau chamber, with more than 1,200 members, is the state's largest chamber in cities of 50,000 and under population. The local chamber is third in total membership in Missouri, behind Kansas City and Springfield.

Bart Ozbun, vice president and financial counselor-in-charge of the local Merrill Lynch investment office, will take over as the new chamber chairman. He follows Doug Groesbeck, manager of the Southeast Missouri district for AmerenUE, formerly Union Electric.

A number of new faces also join the chamber board this year. The new chamber board members and officers will officially be welcomed at the annual meeting.

Two prestigious awards will be presented at the event: the Small Business of the Year Award and the Rush H. Limbaugh Award.

The first Small Business of the Year Award was presented in 1992 to Advance Business Systems. The annual award is presented by the Small Business Committee of the chamber. The 1998 winner was Johnson Communications Service Inc. (JCS/Tel-Link).

Other previous winners: Horizon Screen Printing & Promotional Products, 1997; Hutson Furniture, 1996; Ford Groves, 1995; KBSI Fox 23 TV, 1994; and Bluff City Beer Co., 1993.

The business award is for small businesses that employ 50 or fewer employees. The business must be locally owned and in business at least five years.

A big business award is presented in the fall.

The late Rush Limbaugh was a practicing attorney for more than 75 years in Cape Girardeau and was the first recipient of the Limbaugh Award.

Others winners include longtime radio and television station owner, the late Oscar Hirsch; businessman and former mayor Howard C. Tooke; businessman Harry Rediger; businessman Charles Hutson; businessman Joe Gambill; businessman the late J. Hugh Logan, businessman Paul Ebaugh; and last year's winner, Gene Huckstep, businessman and civic leader, who died in 1998.