Heard on the Street

OOPS!

The 10th Annual Dinner Auction of the Make-A-Wish Foun-dation of Missouri will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 13 at the Mid-America Cancer Center, 2055 S. Fremont. The date in the April 1 issue was incorrect, but it wasn't meant to be an April Fool's joke.

RING-A-DING

At 9:30 a.m. April 3, Jon Baker, chief executive officer of Decorize Inc., and Gaylen Ball, also of the company, were in New York City to participate in the opening bell ceremony at the American Stock Exchange. Their participation was in celebration of Decorize's March 8 listing on the AMEX. The duo were joined by Salvatore F. Sodano, chairman and chief executive officer of the AMEX.

WATCH THE ROAD

Week-long, aggressive-driving operations targeted at commercial vehicles will be held on Interstate 44 in Jasper, Lawrence and Greene counties. In Greene County, the operation will be held June 9-13. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, aggressive driving is a major concern of the patrol and of the general public. During the aggressive driving operations, members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, along with commercial vehicle officers, will concentrate on detecting violations that contribute to crashes. The officers participating in the operations will work 12-hour days in five-day increments. Funding for the operations was secured by the patrol from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program.

THE CHAMP

U.S. Sen. Kit Bond received the 2002 Distinguished Community Health Champion Award from the National Association of Com-munity Health Centers. He has received the award for six consecutive years. Bond said community health centers increase access to medical care for Americans who lack insurance and/or out-of-pocket funds. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Bond has worked to deliver federal funds to community health centers. His work to expand health-care access dates back to the early 1980s, when Bond served as Missouri's governor.

A GOOD DEED

The folks at Tuthill Transport Technologies, 2715 N. Airport Commerce, lent a helping hand in Charlotte, Mich.-based Spartan Motors Inc.'s efforts to donate an employee-built fire truck to the city of New York. Spartan is a customer of Tuthill's, and Tuthill provided the suspension for the truck. The company is among 75 donors who gave the warning lights, sirens, pumps, tanks and other components needed to build the new pumper truck, which already has been presented to the city of New York by representatives of Spartan Motors and Luverne Fire Apparatus, one of its subsidiaries.

GOTCHA!

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon reported March 27 that $40,000 was collected from seven businesses that violated Mis-souri's No Call law, bringing the total collected since the law began July 1, 2001, to $540,000. The fined companies were based in St. Louis County, New York, Texas, Arkansas and Illinois. The culprits must pay fines and obtain current copies of the No Call List and they must comply with the law. If they don't, they'll face stipulated penalties of $5,000 for each future violation. More than 931,000 residential telephone numbers are on the No Call List. The more than 2 million Missourians represented by those numbers surely enjoy eating dinner without having to jump up from the table and answer the phone.

SLICE OF NICE

The Victim Center will host its seventh annual Victims Are Our Business Breakfast, 7:15-8:30 a.m. April 23 at the Clarion Hotel, 3333 S. Glenstone. Bob Ash, EdD, founder of Life Les-sons, will speak at the event. Ash has provided training for more than 250 companies and organizations nationwide. Tic-kets are $40 per person or $320 for a table of eight. Proceeds from the breakfast will support crime victim services and prevention education for Spring-field and the surrounding area. For more information, call Nan-cy Berlin at The Victim Center. The Victim Center, located at 1041 E. Walnut, is a nonprofit United Way agency has been supporting crime victims via counseling, advocating rights and educating businesses and their employees who have been affected by violence since 1976.