Heard on the Street

INVEST TO INVEST CHECKS IN

Last fall, approximately 80 investors decided they would pledge stock donations to the Boys and Girls Clubs to be turned over in a year with the profits. At the three-quarter mark, investor Ed Smith, of the Invest to Invest Group, said his pledge of $1,000 of O'Reilly Automotive stock has more than doubled, leading the pack of investments in 60 companies. "This was a little project thought of by Jack Stack," Smith said. "It's turned into a little bit of a contest." Each week the investor group gets an update from Stack on how the stocks are doing. Smith said that to his knowledge, the O'Reilly company was the only firm with headquarters here whose stock has been pledged by one of the investors. Around Oct. 5, when the one-year period is over, the winner will received a prize and recognition at a project-ending party. Even the loser gets a booby prize, Smith said. SBJ will check back in three months.

USE ETHANOL, HOLDEN URGES

Missouri fuel pumps which dispense gasoline with a known animal carcinogen, MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), a gasoline additive, will have to say so on their labels after Aug. 28. Gov. Bob Holden on June 28 signed legislation which is the first step to banning the additive, which is being studied to see if it is a human cancer-causer as well, according Fred Stemme, of the Missouri Corn Growers Association. Nationwide, MTBE has been criticized for polluting drinking water MTBE gives water a turpentine smell. Missouri's Department of Natural Resources has detected it in at least 37 Missouri drinking water wells, three in this area. One of those three is a private well, one is in a closed-down business in Miller and the other is in Bois D'Arc at Hood's Service Station. The well at Hood's is being replaced, according to the DNR Web site. Placed in gasoline to reduce engine knocking, MTBE is an oxygenate like ethanol, but ethanol is clean burning, according to Gary Marshall, Corn Grower's Association president. Eleven other states have restricted or prohibited MTBE in fuel.

MULTILINGUAL DOMAIN ACCESS

Internet users can now reach Web site destinations by typing domain names with characters used in their own languages on Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher. Until recently, most of the domain names registered were in English, according to a news release from ItsYourDomain.com, a domain name registrar in Schaumburg, Ill. The firm is helping to promote Verisign Global Registry Inc. as it joins in the registration of non-English domain users. Sebastian Rusk, of ItsYourDomain, said his firm became a leader in the multilingual arena in November 2000 by signing up more than 25,000 internationalized domain names in its first day of business. With Verisign's announcement that more than 350 languages are supported by the registry, the Internet is "now open for business" to the tens of millions of people around the world who don't speak English, according to James McKenzie, Its YourDomain president.

To view a demonstration of the technology without use of special plug-ins or browsers, go to www.itsyourdomain.com/idn.php.

JORDAN VALLEY FIREFALL

Eventually, growth and expansion at the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport will likely displace Firefall, the Springfield community fireworks festival, according to Aviation Director Rob Hancik. But Hancik said by the time that happens, he expects Jordan Valley Park will be in a position to accommodate the event, which draws thousands to the city. This year's Firefall was the 20th to be held in Springfield.

SLICE OF NICE

If you'd like to float the James River, then eat brisket and turkey drum sticks, hear Big Smith and buy something cool at a silent auction, you can do it all for only $10 July 21 in Galena. The event is to raise funds for the James River Basin Partnership, said Diana Sheri-dan, executive director of the not-for-profit-JRBP. Co-sponsored by the Ozark Mountain Paddlers, the "big party" caps a week of half-day floats from 8 a.m. to noon July 16-21 de-signed to clean up the river and promote clean water, Sheridan said. Follow signs through the square to Y-Bridge Park, where area business-donated food will be on hand for a barbecue dinner. The silent auction starts at 4 p.m., Big Smith at 7 p.m. Auc-tion items will include $2,000 worth of "stuff" from Bass Pro, Sheridan said, as well as over-night stays at Kimberling Inn, and Big Cedar Lodge. For more information and to locate canoe rental businesses in the area, call JRBP at 417-836-8877.