Overheard

A couple of unknowns about Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s outgoing Board Chairman Mike Briggs were revealed during the Jan. 26 annual meeting: He’s a harmonica-playing Detroit Tigers fan. The chamber board and staff recognized Briggs’ year of service – with a little help from Detroit’s chamber – by presenting Briggs with Tigers tickets and apparel, and a certificate for a tour of Comerica Park, which he’s never visited. He plans to brush up on his harmonica skills using another gift – lessons for a year. He also received a golfing certificate for the course of his choice around Springfield. To St. Louis Cardinals fans who bring up the 2006 World Series in which the Cardinals defeated his Tigers, Briggs replies, “We’ll get you next year.”

Also during the meeting, Chamber President Jim Anderson welcomed 2007 Chairwoman Ann Marie Baker, who gave an introductory speech, in which she related the community’s connectivity to City Utilities’ power plants – a much more valued possession lately – to that of the chamber’s role of connecting to the business community.

O’Reilly’s Hotel Business

Springfield Business Journal has learned that attorney Tim O’Reilly, son of Charlie and Mary Beth O’Reilly, purchased Hawthorn Park Hotel in September. The 10-story hotel and conference center on the northwest corner of Glenstone Avenue and Kearney Street operated as Sheraton Hawthorn Park Hotel until December 2005. O’Reilly, who formed O’Reilly Hospitality LLC in August, is seeking permission from Hilton Hospitality Inc. to convert the hotel into a Doubletree property. If he’s unsuccessful, O’Reilly said he’ll likely sell the hotel. Since the acquisition, O’Reilly appointed Kansas City-based Noble Hospitality Inc. to manage the property.

Former SBJ Marketer

Stan Coffman, a former vice president of marketing for the Springfield Business Journal, is adding a new title to his publishing company. Coffman’s Lebanon-based Ozarks Farm & Neighbor, a monthly farming newspaper, is launching an Arkansas publication. Starting in March, Prairie Grove, Ark.-based Ozarks Farm & Neighbor-Arkansas will be mailed to more than 8,000 farmers in 15 northern Arkansas counties. Ozarks Farm & Neighbor was founded in 1998 and has a monthly circulation of 14,000 in 22 southwest Missouri counties.

Slice of Nice

Among the many acts of goodwill following the area’s historic ice storm Jan. 12–14, are these stories:

• The American Red Cross Greater Ozarks Chapter has served more than 72,000 hot meals and opened 28 shelters to almost 1,200 local residents.

• Rib Crib Bar-B-Que provided lunch to a City Utilities storm crew outside the Calvary Temple Assembly of God Church at Grand and Campbell avenues. “We hope that other area restaurants will think along the same lines and take a day to provide a meal to these crews,” says Mike Treadwell of Treadwell Enterprises, Rib Crib’s parent company.

• Convoy of Hope has distributed 292,000 pounds of its own water, nonperishable food, and personal hygiene kits and has managed another 125,000 pounds of water for the Springfield/Greene County EOC/National Guard.