Southwest Missouri News

Carthage

Leggett & Platt earnings mixed

Leggett & Platt Inc. reported first-quarter earnings were mixed, with some signs of improvement in the residential part of its business, but the commercial side remained weak.

First-quarter sales came to $1.02 billion, down from $1.05 billion during the same period last year.

Net earnings came to $58.2 million for the quarter ending March 31, compared with $48 million a year ago. Earnings for the quarter came to 28 cents per share, compared with 23 cents a year ago.

Total sales for residential furnishings increased from $521.6 million in the first quarter a year ago to $530.8 million this year. Commercial furnishing sales were down from $245.5 million in 2001 to $202 million in the first quarter this year.

During the quarter, Leggett & Platt also acquired two businesses in the United Kingdom that make inner springs. The two businesses should add $16 million a year in revenue, the company said.

The company said it is anticipating sales growth of $30 million to $80 million in the second quarter, consistent with historical trends.

That, combined with cost-cutting im-provements, lower interest and more, could lead to earnings of 30 cents to 35 cents per share, compared with 25 cents in the second quarter one year earlier.

Earnings for the full year were projected at $1.15 to $1.35 per share.

Joplin

Eatery named small business of year

The Joplin Area Chamber of Com-merce recently named Granny Shaffer's Family Restaurant the 2002 Small Bus-iness of the Year.

The annual award recognizes and promotes the outstanding contributions of small business to the economy and overall progress of the Joplin area.

Granny Shaffer's was selected from 18 businesses nominated by chamber members. The restaurant has been a favorite in Joplin for 29 years by providing "comfort food" and meeting facilities.

The company employs 20 full-time and 27 part-time people. Granny Shaffer's provides 250 to 300 school lunches every day to local schools. Recently the company opened a 4,000-square-foot banquet center enabling it to provide services for weddings, receptions and large business meetings.

Granny Shaffer's participates in the efforts of Habitat for Humanity, United Way, Ronald McDonald House, Life-Choices, Humane Society, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and several area Project Graduations.

Restaurant offers buffet, sports bar

Geppetto's Pizzeria and Pub opened April 8 in Southside Mall at 32nd Street and Range Line.

The restaurant, owned by Brian and Shawna Miller, has a sports-bar atmosphere, offering pizza, sandwiches, appetizers, chili, soup and spaghetti. A buffet is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. The specialty is chicken alfredo pizza.

The 156-seat restaurant has about 20 part- and full-time employees. It has a meeting room for large parties and business conferences.

Chamber, volunteers help students

The Joplin Area Chamber of Com-merce and the Joplin School District have improved the reading abilities of 100 students.

Teaching Reading to Every Kid TREK is a collaborative effort between the chamber, the school district and the community to help third and fourth graders who are having difficulty with math and/or reading.

One hundred community volunteers went into the schools every week for 20 weeks and offered one-on-one time with the students. A baseline test was given to the students in October and two follow-up tests were done to track students' progress.

"This program has in two quarters been able to produce a year and a half of gains, which means the children in the program advanced on the average about one grade level," said Dr. Jim Simpson, superintendent of the Joplin School District.

The Joplin Area Chamber of Com-merce has plans to double the number of volunteers for the next school year.

Recruiting volunteers will begin in the summer months while schools are tracking which students need the most help.

Reeds Spring

Students win award for recycling

During an afternoon meeting with students from Reeds Spring, Southwest Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt praised their recycling efforts that earned them President Bush's national Environ-mental Youth Award.

Students James May, Amber Spohn, E.J. Watkins and science teacher Mike Collins received the award April 18 from President Bush and Environmental Protection Agency Director Christine Todd Whitman for efforts to recycle lunchroom waste into compost.

"We can all learn from the students in Reeds Spring about their commitment to protect our environment," Blunt said. "It is the care and effort demonstrated by local citizens and groups that can have a profound impact on our natural surroundings. The students in Stone County have proven again that, with some hard work and some good ideas, many solutions to our environmental concerns can be found close to home."

The R' project at Reeds Spring High School is a state-of-the-art, no-discharge organic composting system used to dispose of cafeteria wastes. Food and paper waste from the cafeteria is mixed with grass, leaves, wood chips and other organic materials from schools in the Reeds Spring school district and composted in a 40-by-80-foot building, known as the Big Green Machine.

The self-contained compost unit takes 28 days to turn its concoction of paper, cardboard and food wastes into a marketable compost.

The project was started with a $100,000 grant submitted from the Reeds Spring biology class to the Missouri Department of Natural Re-sources; the school district provided $37,500. The Reeds Spring school district has made up their cost of the project in saving by recycling 96 percent of cafeteria waste and sending less trash to the landfill.

The national Environmental Youth Awards are presented annually to projects judged from each of the EPA's 10 administrative districts.

Branson

Project targets grass, weeds

As part of the continuing effort to "Keep Branson Beautiful," the Branson Public Works Department is reminding residents to keep a close eye on the grassy areas of their properties.

The growing season is in full swing and the beautification effort depends on residents who maintain their properties. The city ordinance states that vegetation must be kept below seven inches on public and private property including property in the right-of-way and sidewalks. Vegetation means all weeds, grasses and noxious weeds such as poison ivy, poison oak, ragweed and kudzu.

This ordinance, which was passed in 1988 and amended in 1999, applies to developed property where there is a structure of any type. Woodland meadows, natural forests, extremely steep terrain, or undeveloped lots larger than three acres are required to be cut back five feet from the street or sidewalk.

A code-enforcement officer will notify the property owner if grass and/or weeds are allowed to reach heights above seven inches. If, after seven days, the vegetation has not been cut, the city will have the work done and a lien for the cost of the work will be placed on that property.