Southwest Missouri News

Branson

$7.9 million in building permits issued

The city of Branson reports that there were 20 new commercial construction permits, including landscaping, issued for the month of March, totaling $7.9 million.

Among the permits issued was a 30-unit condo for Surrey Grand Crowne, valued at $3.8 million; The Oaks Retirement Center, valued at $1.9 million; three new permits with construction values of $312,000 each for Cedar Ridge at the Woods; and the Palace View Clubhouse, valued at $462,000.

Construction values for the first quarter of 2000 were $19.9 million.

March unemployment drops slightly

According to the Missouri Department of Economic Development, unemployment rates for Stone and Taney counties went down in March. The March unemployment rate for Stone County was 13 percent, compared to 16.3 percent in February and 17.3 in March of 1999.

The March unemployment rate for Taney County was 11.1 percent, down from February's 15.2 percent, and the March 1999 rate of 14.9 percent. The state unemployment rate for March was 3 percent.

Welk Resort targets younger audience

The Welk Resort & Champagne Theatre has embarked on a new billboard campaign to appeal to long-time Welk fans, as well as to the younger generation rediscovering big band entertainment, according to the theater's advertising agency Kohnke Hanneken Inc., of Milwauke, Wis. The new ad campaign, with 15 billboards around Branson, focuses both on the Welk Show 2000: A Century of American Music, and directional information.

"Because of our location, set well off the Branson strip,' the Lawrence Welk Resort & Theatre can offer the area's only hotel/restaurant/theater complex. But because of our location, our new ad campaign is ... also directional in nature," said Dan Lennon, director of marketing for the Welk Resort, in a press release.

The theater complex is located on Missouri Highway 165 south of Branson.

"Our walk-in traffic is higher than last year. That's the only way you can tell how billboards are working," Lennon said.

This is the fourth year Kohnke Hanneken which also developed advertising campaigns and strategies for the YMCA and the Milwaukee Brewers among other clients has represented the Welk Resort & Champagne Theatre, Lennon said.

"They are young guys in their thirties who specialize in traditional clients ... that they put a real contemporary edge on to appeal to a younger group," he said.

The billboards include retro photos from the Lawrence Welk TV show along with lines such as: "The Girls Next Door, Now Just Down the Street" referring to the Lennon Sisters; "More Brass Than the Pentagon" recognizing the Lawrence Welk Orchestra and "You Can Feel the Energy from Here" referring to entertainer Jo Ann Castle's piano performances.

Carthage

Justin's first quarter earnings up 64%

Justin Industries Inc. announced that first-quarter profits were up 64 percent, setting a record for the company.

Net income for the first quarter of fiscal year 2000, which ended March 31, came to $9.32 million, compared with $5.66 million for the same period one year earlier.

The company also reported net revenue of $124 million for the first quarter, compared with $112 million one year ago, an increase of more than 10 percent.

Earnings per share came to 36 cents in the first quarter of 2000, compared with 22 cents last year.

"Significant gains were realized in both of our businesses, Acme Building Brands and Justin Brands," said John Roach, chairman of the board of Justin, in a prepared statement. "Record brick sales for the first quarter pushed Acme's profits to new highs for the period, while new product introductions and sales through additional distribution channels generated a 17 percent gain at Justin."

Roach said improved earnings resulted from "strategic initiatives" the company announced in 1999.

Last year, Justin, which is based in Fort Worth, Texas, closed two of its five boot plants in Texas and moved production from one of those plants to Cassville. Justin has another plant in Carthage that is also part of its bootwear division.

Justin runs a brick plant at Weir, Kan., and a sales location east of Joplin that are part of its Acme Building Brands.

The three local plants and the sales location employ several hundred people.

Joplin

MSSC to add $12 million facility

Construction costs for a new health and sciences building at Missouri Southern State College are estimated at $12 million, according to a report given to the MSSC Board of Regents April 21.

The state has committed $294,000 for planning the 78,000-square-foot building that is to be three stories tall. College officials expect to receive $10 million in state funds for construction. It must raise $2.4 million from local sources.

Plans call for the building to house the kinesiology, respiratory therapy, dental, radiology, nursing and psychology programs. The building is to be located between Hearnes Hall and Robert Ellis Young Gymnasium.

If the state releases construction money by July, construction could start in October.

Plans call for the building to be ready for students in the fall semester of 2002.

In addition to the health and sciences building, MSSC is working on an addition to Spiva Library, and plans are in the works for a new dormitory and food court at Billingsly Student Center.

Eagle-Picher on board for NASA mission

The Power Systems Department of Eagle-Picher Technologies, which is based in Joplin, played a role in another NASA mission. Employees at the company's plant in Colorado Springs, Colo., manufactured the cells and assembled the battery for a recent spacecraft.

The nickel cadmium batteries were built for the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration, or IMAGE, mission, which was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California March 25.

When fully developed, the spacecraft will be the largest man-made structure in space, 180 feet longer than the height of the Empire State Building.