Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and major highway construction on the east side of town, the business climate in Jackson has been thriving in 2020, according to a report presented last week to the Jackson Board of Aldermen.

Jen Berti, vice president of the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce, updated the board on the status of more than a dozen businesses that have either established or expanded in Jackson so far this year.

The list included:

Mary Kay Cosmetics senior sales director Jana Jateff recently earned the use of her 28th free car with the company. Pictured here, from left, are Jateff sales unit members LaDonia Beggs and Chanel Tucker, Adam Sparks of Coad Chevrolet, Jateff, and Jateff sales unit member Darla Beggs. Jateff has been with Mary Kay 38 years.Submitted

• Sappington Pro Outdoor — The business relocated early this year into the former Ashley Furniture building on East Jackson Boulevard, more than tripling its square footage.
• Harps Food Store — Formerly Country Mart at the intersection of Jackson Boulevard and Hope Street, new owner Harps Food Stores recently completed the store's rebranding and has indicated several enhancements are in the works for the business.
• SEMO Crawfish Co. — The restaurant at 3582 E. Jackson Blvd. opened its doors in June next to Rhodes 101.
• Best Western Plus — The new four-story hotel on Old Orchard Road near the Center Junction interchange of Interstate 55 and U.S. 61 (East Jackson Boulevard) opened in July.
• Domino's Pizza — The new Domino's at 2370 E. Main St. opened in late August.
• Scooter's Coffee — The drive-through coffee business at 601 E. Jackson Blvd. opened in August just east of the Town House Inn.
• The Man Cave Haircut & Shave — This new business opened in late August at 1335 Old Cape Road.
• Seed & Sow Growth Co. — Offering personalized tutoring, online learning support and small group instruction, this business opened in September at 131 W. Main St.
• Machos Tacos — This new eatery opened in late September at 515 W. Main St.
• Sounds of Mind Counseling — Offering individual, couples and group therapy services, this counseling business opened in September at 810 E. Jackson Blvd.
• Lorenz & Lorenz — A Jackson office of this law firm recently opened at 2480 E. Main St.
• Blazin' Car Wash — Scheduled to open in early 2021, this car wash is under construction along East Jackson Boulevard behind Century 21 Realty.
• DB's Barbecue — Located just west of Jackson on Highway 72, DB's is slated to open in early 2021.
• Fuel — This food, beverage and live entertainment venue will open at a date to be determined on West Main Street next to Ford and Sons Funeral Home.
• KCoe Isom — Construction is underway for KCoe Isom's new offices on East Main Street.
• Saint Francis Healthcare System Primary and Urgent Care — Saint Francis has broken ground for this new medical facility at 2130 E. Jackson Blvd.

"When you add up the number of new jobs created by the businesses that have recently opened in Jackson, you're looking at least 140 new jobs," Berti told the aldermen.

"In addition, Jackson has seen an 11% sales-tax growth this year," she commented, and said that as a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, she is able to build relationships with "decision makers" of retailers the Jackson chamber would like to recruit to the community.

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Highway commission awards paving contracts

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission awarded a pair of pavement resurfacing contracts last week in the Southeast Missouri region:

• A $6,773,481 contract to Apex Paving Co. for resurfacing of Interstate 55 from Interstate 57 to Highway 77 in Scott County.
• A $6,849,999 contract to Magruder Paving LLC for resurfacing of U.S. 61 from Route OO in Ste. Genevieve County to Highway 177 in Cape Girardeau County.

Additional information, including timelines and impacts to traffic, will be released before the start of construction.

TRC opens registration for upcoming classes

Registration is now open for winter and spring classes at Three Rivers College for new and returning students at all the college's locations.

Online and on-site registration will continue through Dec. 9 for the winter session and through Jan. 15 for spring semester classes at the college's Poplar Bluff, Missouri, campus as well as its Southeast Missouri locations in Sikeston, Dexter, Kennett and Cape Girardeau.

Winter session classes begin Dec. 10 while spring semester courses are slated to start Jan. 19.

More information about classes, financial aid and available courses may be found on the college's website, www.trcc.edu.

Veterans Day special at Sport Clips

More than 1,800 locally-owned Sport Clips Haircuts franchise locations will recognize members of the military Wednesday, Veterans Day, when the company will donate $1 for each haircut to support scholarships for service members and veterans.

The "Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarships" program is in partnership with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and has raised nearly $8 million for military scholarships, helping more than 1,750 veterans with educational expenses needed for their civilian careers.

Some locations, including the Sport Clips at 3019 William St. in Cape Girardeau in front of West Park Mall, will also offer free haircuts on Veterans Day to service members and veterans with valid military identification.

McD’s offering free meals for veterans

Locally-owned McDonald’s restaurants will observe Veterans Day on Wednesday by offering free menu items to veterans of the U.S. military.

Participating restaurants will offer veterans one of three options Wednesday — a sausage biscuit and hash brown, a McChicken sandwich and small order of fries, or a McDouble sandwich and small order of fries.

The offer is valid at both McDonald’s locations in Cape Girardeau as well as the McDonald’s restaurants in Jackson, Perryville, Benton, Sikeston and most other Southeast Missouri locations, and dozens of other locations throughout Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky and Southeast Indiana.

Drive-in honoring veterans Wednesday

The Rock ’N’ Roll Drive-In at Blomeyer will offer free large popcorn orders to all active and veteran military members, with military ID, attending Wednesday night’s showings of “Grease” and “American Sniper.”

In addition, The Mattress Guys will conduct a drawing for a pair of mattresses at the drive-in Wednesday night.

Gates open at 5 p.m. with movies starting at 6:15 p.m. Tickets are available at www.rocknrolldrivein.com.

Deserving people to receive furnishings

Big Sandy Superstore’s 25 locations, including Hutson’s Furniture in Cape Girardeau, are accepting nomination letters through Nov. 30 for the company’s Homes of Hope for the Holidays program.

The company will provide a houseful of furniture, appliances and mattresses to deserving individuals chosen by a committee from each community where a Big Sandy store is located. In total, more than $175,000 worth of merchandise will be donated to the chosen recipients.

“Every Superstore location will be involved in choosing a worthy local family to receive a very valuable gift this Christmas season, hope, as we fill their house full of furniture,” Big Sandy Superstore CEO Robert VanHoose Jr. said.

Nomination letters may be submitted online, and more information may be found at www.bigsandysuperstore.com/homes-of-hope-for-the-holidays.

Awards & Recognitions

Brooke DeArman

Brooke DeArman, assistant director of international student services at Southeast Missouri State University, has received the Most Innovative International Initiative Award in Region IV of the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors (NAFSA) Association of International Educators.

She was recognized for the national anthem performance videos she produced during the spring 2020 semester.

Understanding how international students might feel especially isolated when the university fully transitioned to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March, DeArman, who earned a degree in instrumental performance at Southeast (as well as several postgraduate degrees at several universities) decided to apply her musical abilities to support Southeast's international students.

She and her husband, Ken DeArman, who graduated in May from Southeast with a degree in trombone performance, recorded quartet and quintet arrangements of all national anthems of the university's foreign students. They performed, recorded and posted 63 anthems over 62 days on the International Education and Services at Southeast Facebook page.

Greg Wymmer, chairman of NAFSA's Region IV, said the award "recognizes someone who has done something outstanding, innovative or creative, someone who has given hours to a project, someone who has an idea that could be adapted elsewhere and has potential to impact students or international education profoundly in a very positive manner. We were impressed with DeArman's national anthem project and thought it was a great way to support international students."

"Many students told me it was nice having a piece of home to turn to when they felt homesick," DeArman said. "It also gave them something to look forward to each day as they knew I would be posting a new video and they wondered if their anthem would be next."

She said there were competitions to see which anthem could generate the most views.

"They (the international students) started sharing the videos with their friends and families back home. Before we knew it, one video might have 22,000 views in less than two days," she said. "The project made us all feel more connected and we all learned something about each other."

People on the Move

Michelle Ramsey

Michelle Ramsey has been appointed executive director of the Community Counseling Center Foundation, succeeding Mary Burton, who retired earlier this year. Ramsey's appointment became effective last month following a vote by the foundation's board of directors.

Ramsey joined the foundation in May 2019 as senior development officer and has been interim executive director since March. She brings 25 years of marketing, sales, public relations and not-for-profit fundraising experience to the position.

Before joining the Community Counseling Center, Ramsey was a regional development officer for Lutheran Family & Children's Services in Cape Girardeau.

As the foundation's executive director, she is responsible for all aspects of fundraising events, campaigns, donor solicitations and corporate sponsorships. She also oversees the recruitment and development of foundation board members.

Ramsey is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in mass communications with an emphasis in public relations and a double minor in marketing and promotion management.

She is a member of numerous civic organizations and currently serves as board vice president of the Southeast Council of Philanthropy and has held membership in the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

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Michael Toeniskoetter

Michael Toeniskoetter has recently been named director of Discovery Playhouse. 502 Broadway in Cape Girardeau.

Toeniskoetter, also known as "Mr. Mike The Science Guy," joined Discovery Playhouse about four years ago and served as the facility's programs director before being named director.

In addition to his work with Discovery Playhouse, Toeniskoetter is a surgical technologist, specializing in brain and spine services, at SoutheastHEALTH.

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Tony Robinson

Tony Robinson, superintendent of the Sikeston School District, has joined the Southeast Missouri Food Bank Board of Directors.

The food bank and school system have partnered in the food bank's Backpacks for Friday program, according to food bank CEO Joey Keys.

"Dr. Robinson has been very supportive of that program and understands the importance of access to adequate food for helping students perform in school," he said.

Robinson has also helped support a school-based food pantry and provided meals to students in the Jennings School District, where he worked as director of secondary education before joining the Cape Girardeau School District as deputy superintendent. He has been superintendent of the Sikeston district since July 2019. He is also a member of the Sikeston Regional Economic Development Corp. board, the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis.

Other food bank board members are chairman Marty Platz, vice chairman Roger Gilliams, secretary Danielle Poyner, Tiara Ross, Gary Elders, Frank Jones, Mark Avery, Julianna Montgomery Ford, Chris Conroy, Chris White and Keys.

Chamber Notes

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Discovery Playhouse, 502 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, to commemorate the facility's 10-year anniversary.

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The Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce’s November Business After Hours membership gathering is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday at Barrell 131, 131 S. High St. in Jackson. Masks will be required and social-distancing guidelines will be encouraged.

Business license applications

Michael Keith McKuin of Fisk, Missouri, has filed a business license application last week to operate Mike's Resale at 1246 Meadow Brook Lane in Cape Girardeau. Described as a business offering storage for merchandise pick up, the business is scheduled to open this week.

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John Tate of Cape Girardeau submitted a business license application to operate Another One Towing at 231 S. Ellis St. in Cape Girardeau. The business will offer "towing and roadside assistance to Missouri residents as well as contracted insurance companies."

Commercial building permits

Cape Girardeau's Inspection Services office has issued a commercial building permit to Nephrology Associates of Cape Girardeau for construction of a nephrology dialysis facility on a 1.35-acre tract at 140 West Drive in Cape Girardeau. The single-story commercial building has an estimated construction cost of nearly $2.8 million.

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A building permit was issued for the complete remodeling of a commercial building at 811 Broadway owned by Restoreme LLC. Construction cost for the project is estimated at $1 million.

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A.G. Jones Properties LLC has received building permits for the construction of a two-story, four-unit town house at 2035 Walden Pond Way and a two-story, five-unit apartment building at 2020 Walden Blvd., both in the Waldon Park Phase One development. The projects have estimated construction costs of $420,000 and $55,000, respectively.

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A commercial building permit has been approved for renovation of suites 103 and 106 of a building at 2031 Cape LaCroix Road in Cape Girardeau owned by Arcis Properties LLC of Chesterfield, Missouri. Cost of the remodeling project is estimated at $100,000.

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A building permit has been issued for interior remodeling of a building owned by Grace Works LLC at 121 N. Water St. in Cape Girardeau, future location of Many Good Things Brewing. Estimated cost of the remodeling is $90,000.

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