Heard on the Street

LOT SALE. The vacant lot on the east side of the 600 block of Boonville is under contract to Al Scott, owner of the adjacent building to the south, the former flea market and once-nascent Boonville Brewing Company. Listing agent Mark Snow, of Follman Properties, said Scott plans to use the land in conjunction with development of the building. The land is owned by MRAC Inc., a subsidiary of Lucent Technologies and the former owner of Solid State Circuits. The closing is tentatively set for June 15. Snow said Scott plans a restaurant in the first floor front of the building and office space in back and on the second floor.

BIG FISH. The Marlin Company has landed the Foodservice Division of Borden Foods Corporation. The Springfield marketing and advertising agency is the division's agency of record. Borden makes R&F and Prince brands of dry pasta, as well as the Classico line of pasta sauces, among other product lines. Borden Foods Corporation is an affiliate of Borden Inc., based in Columbus, Ohio.

DISTINGUISHED. Among the honors bestowed at the May 3 Law Day luncheon, Bill Clampett was presented the Distinguished Attorney Award. The retired partner in Daniel, Clampett, Powell & Cunningham LLC was admitted to the bar in 1950 after graduating from the Washington University Law School. He came to Springfield and worked for Judge A.P. Stone before joining the firm of Walker & Daniel, where he became a partner in 1955. Clampett was president of the Greene County Bar Association in 1960 and a Missouri Bar Trustee 1982-87. As heated as the fray in court might have gotten over the years, it never approached the battlefields of Europe, where Clampett served in combat during World War II. And though other awards were presented at Law Day (Ken Reynolds and Ruth Bamberger won the Equal Access to Justice Award and the Liberty Bell Award, respectively), none of their recipients shuttled the Business Journal's managing editor around as an adolescent or put up with him carousing in the basement through countless weekend nights. Congratulations, Mr. Clampett, a distinguished attorney and exceptional man.

SEPARATE WAYS. Three of the four partners in Prudential Team Realty were bought out by the remaining partner Dan Newberry, ending the four-year partnership. Among the other three, Bob McCroskey has revived Bob McCroskey Real Estate, the one-man shop he had before Prudential Team Realty. McCroskey said he still had his old signs and phone number, so up went the signs on the properties he owns, manages and represents.The 23-year veteran of the commercial and residential real estate business reports a number of deals in the works, including some earth shakers. Let's hope they happen and you get to read about them here first.

RATES UP. City Utilities' Board of Public Utilities will hold a public hearing on a rate increase for natural gas and electric at 3:30 p.m. May 20 in its second-floor board room. The proposed natural gas rate would increase that cost by $1 per month beginning December 1999. The commodity charge, which is the amount customers pay for each unit of gas used, would increase slightly beginning in April 2000. That increase will amount to about $1.15 per month, which will make the total increase, as of April 2000, about $2.15 per customer, on average. On the electric rate side, changes are proposed for the rates charged for outdoor lighting. The increases, ranging from 40 cents to $1.25 per month, are to cover CU's costs for providing maintenance and electricity to the lights. Another change that will not affect rates is that large customers' demand charges could be unbundled to show generation, transmission and distribution components. The board heard the measure at its April 29 meeting and will vote on whether to approve the increase at its May 27 meeting. The measure will be sent to City Council for its consideration if the board votes to approve.

SLICE OF NICE. Reading is Fundamental (RIF) will hold a fund raiser 9 a.m.-3 p.m. May 15 at the Price Cutter parking lot at the corner of Grand and Kansas Expressway. The public is invited to bring used books to exchange for an equal number of other people's books. The charge is $2 per person or $5 per family to swap an unlimited number of books. Untraded books may be donated for resale to a used book store, and a receipt will be available for tax deductions. RIF is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to provide first and second grade students with more than 15,000 free books throughout the school year. The local chapter of RIF raises approximately $10,000 per year to purchase these books.

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