Heard on the Street

1492. If you're reading this on Monday, it's because your Business Journal came, as usual, in Saturday's mail or you bought it out of a rack. Nothing came in the mail Oct. 11, Columbus Day. The U.S. Postal Service was set to close and no deliveries were made other than Express Mail. So, in fraternity with our friends at the post office, we celebrate the fact that the Earth is round. Here's to you, Chris.

NO. 6. Highland Springs Country Club has been ranked the sixth best golf course in Missouri by Golf Digest. The magazine undertakes the state and national rankings of courses every other year based on six criteria. Highland Springs was first ranked in Missouri's top 10 in 1991, two years after the Springfield course opened, and has remained there since.

DIVIDEND. Great Southern Bancorp has declared a 12.5 cent dividend per share for the third quarter. The dividend is payable Oct. 18 to shareholders of record as of Oct. 8. It's the 39th consecutive quarterly dividend payout, going back to Great Southern's conversion to a public company in 1989. As of Oct. 1 the company had repurchased 492,485 shares in its current buy-back plan that began in April 1998. There are now 7.56 million shares outstanding.

AWARD-WINNING. The city's improvement efforts on Park Central Square are no longer unrecognized. The Missouri Department of Conservation has singled the project out for a citation of merit. An Oct. 25 award ceremony in Jefferson City will confer the award on Joe Payne, Public Works operations supervisor. The improvements were a joint effort of the city, the Urban Districts Alliance and the Downtown Springfield Association. The citation was awarded after the project was submitted as part of the 1999 Missouri Treescape Awards Competition.

BONE UP. Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP will host an Annual Review of Recent Developments in Employment Law 7:30-9:30 a.m. Oct. 19 at the Tower Club. Dick Dorr, Virginia Fry, Bob Lawson, Eric Jensen and Charity Elmer, attorneys in the firm's Springfield office, will be among the speakers at the free seminar. The event is designed for labor and human resources professionals and will focus on legal issues and current trends that affect employers. Though there is no charge, reservations should be made by Oct. 13 by calling 268-4000.

CREDIT UNION DAY. The Springfield Chapter of Credit Unions will hold an awards dinner Oct. 21 to honor a volunteer of the year from each participating credit union. The awards dinner is the 14-member local chapter's contribution to the International Credit Union Day observance. We know it's International Credit Union Day (observed on the third Thursday of October for more than 50 years) because of a release from the Springfield chapter folks. We mention it here, frankly, because the release was accompanied by lots of M&M's, and there's nothing like chocolate to make a good impression.

BLUNT TESTIMONIAL. Unaccompanied by chocolate, and altogether unsolicited, was a release from our own Rep. Roy Blunt singing the praises of newspapers. "Long before there was an Internet, before cable, before television, even before radio, newspapers were the sole form of daily information about notable events in our society," the missive from Blunt begins. The treatise goes on to proclaim the importance of newspapers during the American Revolution and extol the virtues of the First Amendment. "I am a big believer in the power of newspapers," Blunt concludes. "Newspapers remain convenient, timely and a thought-provoking mainstay of information on daily American life." All true, and greatly appreciated.

SLICE OF NICE. A luncheon to benefit the local Boys and Girls Club will be 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 12 at the Kynion Boys and Girls Club of Springfield, 1381 E. Division. The cost is $5 and all proceeds benefit Boys and Girls Club of Springfield. Proceeds from past luncheons have paid for a learning center and renovations to the Kynion Unit. For more information, call 862-9249.

TWICE OF NICE. Bass Pro Shops is sponsoring the Missouri Department of Conservation's "Share the Harvest" program. Hunters can donate venison during archery and firearms deer seasons to charities that fight hunger. In Greene County, hunters can take deer they wish to donate to J&L Custom Processing in Walnut Grove and Turner Meat Processing in Fair Grove. Bass Pro will then pick up the processed meat and deliver it to Crosslines of Springfield. For more information, call Bass Pro Shops at 873-5000.