Some businesses eligible for disaster recovery help

So now we're a disaster area.

Last week, Cape Girardeau, Scott and Stoddard counties were added to Bollinger County as areas that suffered enough damage in the March 18 and 19 storms and flooding to make individuals and businesses eligible for recovery help. There are 35 counties in Missouri that have been given the disaster designation.

For businesses, that means there's help at hand not just for physical damages caused by water but also to help offset business disruptions caused by the weather. The U.S. Small Business Administration can make loans of up to $1.5 million to small businesses, at a rate of 4 percent with terms as long as 30 years, to provide working capital in the event of economic injury.

Like any federal disaster recovery program, there are restrictions. The key restriction on the economic injury loans, as opposed to SBA loans to recover from physical damage, is size. I thought as I was writing this that finding out how big was too big to be considered small would be an easy fact to find, given the all-knowing, all-seeing power of Google to bring answers to our fingertips.

Well, I did eventually find the answers, but there is no simple standard. For physical damage, there is no size limit on the business to obtain a loan. But the loan amount is restricted to the loss that is not otherwise covered by insurance and may be used to replace damaged real estate, equipment, inventory and fixtures. Some of the money can be used to protect property in the future.

For a business hoping to make up an economic loss, size limits kick in.

The size limit for retailers is based on annual sales. For example, a children's clothing retailer is considered small with sales below $6.5 million; a family clothing retailer is small with sales below $8 million.

For most manufacturers and wholesalers, the size limit is based on the number of employees. For most manufacturers, the limit is 500 workers. For wholesalers, in most cases the limit is 100.

Like the physical damage loans, the economic injury loans are limited to amounts that are not covered by insurance, such as business interruption coverage, or which cannot be covered by other means, such as help from subsidiaries or affiliates.

And the borrower must offer collateral to the extent that is possible, according to a fact sheet available at the SBA Web site, www.sba.gov. "SBA will not decline a loan if you don't have enough collateral, but requires you to pledge what is available," the fact sheet states. "That usually consists of a first or second mortgage on the damaged business real estate, or best available if you don't have real estate."

Be ready to provide a personal financial statement when applying. The SBA requires principals in the business to personally pledge repayment and provide collateral in some instances.

• Tax help: The IRS and the Missouri Department of Revenue have announced extensions for filing certain types of tax returns and information for businesses in counties that have been declared disaster areas.

The April 15 deadline for income tax filing at both the state and federal level has been pushed back to May 19 for people living in the 35 counties declared eligible for individual assistance. The state extension also applies to corporate tax returns, financial institution tax returns, balance due payments for 2007, estimated payments for the first quarter of 2008 and extension requests.

The federal extension applies to a wide variety of filing, tax payment and certain other time-sensitive acts due between March 17 and May 19. For details, check with the IRS Web site, www.irs.gov.

In addition, the IRS is offering a chance to claim losses in excess of insurance coverage as a deduction. If you have already filed for 2007, you can file an amended return and claim the loss. You can also add it to the return you are in the process of preparing for 2007 or wait until filing for 2008 to claim the deduction.

• Back in business: The famed bacon and hams of Esicar's Old Hickory Smokehouse will return early this summer, perhaps by the first week of June, according to new owner Jack Whisnant.

The smokehouse at 1157 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau will now be called Old Hickory Specialty Meats, but all the old favorites, and a few new offerings, will be on hand, Whisnant said. He's hired Scott Koch, an Esicar's employee for 21 years, to help him.

Whisnant is the 26-year-old son of Mark and Patricia Whisnant, owners of Fruitland American Meat.

"I felt this was kind of an historic business and location, and it was something I have wanted to do, to open my own retail store, for a while," he said.

While Esicar's made its reputation on smoked bacon and hams, Whisnant said he's going to add fresh meats, including beef, to the traditional pork offerings.

"We are going to try to open in the first week of June, with a full complement of products, a full complement of the smoked products and we expect to have quite a bit of the fresh meat," Whisnant said.

Blake Esicar decided to close the family business last year because he was 56 and unwilling to continue to endure the long hours required to prepare 2,000 hams and 4,000 slabs of bacon for shipping at Christmas. The meat shop had been a Cape Girardeau fixture for 74 years.

Whisnant realizes that it may take time to establish his reputation as a successor, but he wants past customers to give him a chance. He'll do a mailing to the Esicar's customers to announce the business, he said.

"Esicar's has a reputation built up over 70 years," he said. "I would hope the former customers would give me a chance at their business. We are doing the products the exact same way as they did them. All of them, we are going to be doing what they were doing."

• National recognition: The Continental Wound Center, 310 S. Silver Springs Road, recently received certification from the Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine Society, becoming the 86th practice in the nation to gain the designation. The practice, which has been in operation since March 2006, won the certification on the first try, said Dr. John Mackel, one of the principals in the practice.

Dr. Laura Holmes of the practice is the only board certified hyperbaric medicine physician in the region and one of eight in the state, Mackel said, and all the registered nurses and respiratory therapists on staff are board certified as well.

The UHMS represents the people most expert in the use of high pressure oxygen for treating patients, Mackel said, and is the most stringent certification process a practice like the wound center can undergo. "We are real proud," he said.

In hyperbaric medicine, the patient is put in a chamber of pure oxygen pressurized to twice the normal atmospheric levels.

• New craft store: Handmade crafts, wood ornaments and cloth baby books are among the offerings at Purple Trail, a new craft store at 18725 Highway 177 in Fruitland. Opened by Dottie Lashley, who has had a booth in the flea markets at the intersection of Highway 146 and Highway 3 in McClure, Ill., Purple Trail will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The decision to open a retail store was a natural next step, she said, and much closer to her home.
• New florist: Bella Flora, owned by Jerry Griffith, Terry Jones and Lolita Hayes, has opened at 101 N. Main St. The new florist shop will feature designs by Hayes, who has 25 years' experience as a floral designer. The business will offer both fresh and silk flowers, along with plants, home decor and other items. In a statement, Hayes said the store will aim to provide "fresh, innovative and affordable design ideas." Hours are Monday through Saturday, opening at 8 a.m. and closing at 5:30 p.m. weekdays and 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

From the news release file:

n The Crossroads and West Broadview Centre, both owned by Sandy Donley, got a landscaping makeover from Peaceful Valley Nursery of Cuba, Mo. Donley said the new design is low maintenance with lots of color.

• Technology and Networking/ASC, 2751 Thomas Drive, was awarded a spot in the AT&T 2007 Circle of Excellence as one of the top 10 percent in data sales for the Southwest region, which includes Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma. It is the third year in a row and the fourth time in the last five years the company achieved the honor, manager Jim Bauer told me in an e-mail.
• Element 74, a Cape Girardeau Web site and database firm, was awarded a contract from the Missouri Association for Community Action to develop a new Web site to offer news, calendar items, legislative updates and communication about the association, president Chris Edmonds announced.
• Crown Hospice has purchased an office building at 2858 Professional Court, broker Tom Kelsey of Lorimont Place Ltd. announced. The hospice, which "provides a special way of caring for patients facing end of life decisions," according to their Web site, www.crownhospice.com, will move from leased space at 1353 N. Mount Auburn Road within 30 to 60 days, Kelsey said. Lorimont Place Ltd. had the 4,000-square-foot building listed on the market for $329,900.
• AT&T will make a $60 million statewide investment in wireless infrastructure to bring higher-speed data transfer to more locations in the state. The move will add 40 new cell sites, with enhancements to Southeast Missouri area, especially the Highway 67 corridor, the company said.

Rudi Keller is the business editor for the Southeast Missourian. Contact him at rkeller@semissourian.com or call 335-6611, extension 126.