Overheard

Aurora-based Mayse Automotive Group is expected to close this week on its acquisition of Springfield’s Infiniti dealership, 3500 E. Sunshine St. The Vincel family currently owns the Infiniti line, which shared a lot with Vincel Buick until January 2006. At that time, the Vincel family sold its Buick franchise to Thompson Pontiac-GMC-Cadillac-Saab, 1555 E. Independence St. Mayse Automotive General Manager Matt Mayse said the group doesn’t plan to immediately carry anything other than Infiniti at the East Sunshine Street lot.

GBE in Wall Street Journal

Mount Vernon-based Gulfstream Bioflex Energy LLC and its Springfield attorney Bryan O. Wade made The Wall Street Journal’s March 23 cover story, “Ethanol Reaps a Backlash in Small Midwestern Towns.”

The story looked at the battles between ethanol production companies and residents of the towns where plants have been proposed in Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas and Wisconsin. Opponents say the ethanol plants hurt groundwater supplies, cause heavy truck traffic, raise safety concerns and pollute the air.

“This is not about water,” Wade told The Wall Street Journal, in reference to a citizens’ group’s lawsuit against GBE. “This is about a group of people who simply do not want an industrial facility near their homes.”

Liberty Bank Mediation

Michele Osborn and Springfield-based Liberty Bank are scheduled to go into mediation April 19. Former financial adviser Osborn alleges her ex-supervisor, Phil Wannenmacher, manager of Liberty Investment Services Inc., discriminated against her and sexually harassed her from February 2003 until she resigned in February 2006. Osborn and her attorney, Denise Anderson of Kansas City, filed a charge of discrimination with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last April. The two sides decided in February to enter mediation even though EEOC is still conducting its investigation.

Rolling into Kansas

Trolley’s Downtown Bar and Grille on Jan. 22 opened a location in Overland Park, Kan. The original Trolley’s opened about four years ago at 107 Park Central Square in Springfield. The new location is a 7,000-square-foot stand-alone building, nearly twice as big as Springfield’s Trolley’s, according to partner Steve Warlick. The owners – Warlick, Rich Branham, Aaron Buerge and Ryan MacDonald – expect annual sales of $4 million in Overland Park. They also have interest in opening locations in downtown Kansas City and St. Louis.

Hotel-Motel Newsletter

The Springfield Hotel-Motel Association was scheduled to start a quarterly newsletter at the end of March. Called the SHMA Inn-Sider, the newsletter is available to all SHMA members. Members can submit news to wordsperswade@aol.com.[[In-content Ad]]