STRICTLY BUSINESS: ESICAR'S MEATS SHIPPED ALL OVER U.S. AND THE WORLD

Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman have more than having been presidents in common -- they had the opportunity to taste bacon or ham from Cape Girardeau.

Meat from Esicar's Old Hickory Smokehouse has been sent to customers throughout the U.S. and to foreign countries.

Esicar's, which is observing its 60th anniversary this year, was founded by the late Edgar A. Esicar when he purchased his first market here in 1934.

The Illinois native was familiar with the meat industry; he had been associated with Kroger and A&P supermarkets for a number of years, serving as a meat manager and teacher for A&P.

When Mueller's Market became available in Cape Girardeau, he purchased the store, which included a packing-house facility. That was in 1934.

Sixty years, two locations and three generations later, Esicar's Old Hickory Smokehouse continues to thrive as a specialty meat business.

Blake Esicar, the third-generation owner of the business, said, "We've been at this location for more than 40 years, since 1951."

The late Edgar Esicar founded the business at 411 Broadway when he bought the Mueller's. During the early years, a number of hogs and steers were slaughtered.

In 1943, Esicar's moved to 313 Broadway, where it operated a meat market and grocery store. In 1951, the business moved to a new building on North Kingshighway, where it operates today.

Edgar Esicar died in 1977, but his sons and grandson continue to operate the business in the same way: producing country hams, bacon and sausage. "Basically, we cure the meat the way the farmers used to cure it," explained Esicar.

Before refrigeration, farmers by necessity packed meat in salt to preserve it. Since Esicar's cures meat, it doesn't need refrigeration. "We can ship our bacon any place in the United States and the world any day of the year," said Esicar.

Esicar's has become so well known that letters find their way to the business despite the name being badly misspelled. One letter simply was addressed to: "Bacon, Cape Girardeau, Mo." And it got there.

Esicar said a lot has changed over the years in the meat business, but the process of producing country hams and bacon remains the same. Bacon is still stacked and cured. Hams are packed in salt for two months in a curing cooler. The salt is then scrubbed off, and the hams are hung to continue curing for another three to six months.

"We can salt down 1,800 hams at a time and 4,000 slabs of bacon," said Esicar. It takes six or eight months in all to produce a good country ham, he said.

Esicar's already has started preparations for the busy Christmas season.

Hams and bacon are smoked in a hickory-fueled smokehouse. From July to mid-January, the fire never goes out, said Esicar.

The salt-cured, smokehouse process draws moisture out of the meat; a 20-pound ham will shrink by two-and-one-half to three pounds, he said.

Esicar still chuckles about publicity from the "Case of the Purloined Porker" in 1988. A concrete sow, weighing more than 300 pounds, was stolen from in front of the store by members of a university fraternity and was held "hostage" for 32 days. It was returned, only a little worse for the wear.

"We got sympathy cards," Esicar recalled.

Construction is under way on a Hampton Inn near the Route K-Interstate 55 interchange in Cape Girardeau.

The three-story, 82-room, hotel will be a block south of the Drury Suites and is targeted for opening in June. Both properties are owned and operated by Drury Inns Inc., headquartered in the St. Louis area.

It brings to three the number of new motels that are expected to open in the immediate vicinity next year, adding 204 rooms to the area's lodging facilities. That will bring the total number of area motel rooms to about 1,100.

MidAmerica Hotels Corp. President Dan Drury announced plans in late May to construct a three-story, 78-room, minisuite hotel near Mount Auburn Road and Route K, with a March opening date.

Drury Southwest Inc. of Cape Girardeau announced recently that a 44-room motel will be constructed near Highway 61 and Interstate 55 near Fruitland, with a projected opening in June. Groundbreaking was held recently for that hotel, which will include single rooms and suites, said David Poe, operations director for Drury Southwest.

The Hampton Inn here will provide 82 standard rooms and will feature a complimentary continental breakfast.

"We're proud to add the Hampton Inn brand to the ever-growing Cape Girardeau area," said David Ziegler, regional manager. "There is an increasing demand for hotel accommodations in Cape."

The Hampton chain has more than 400 hotels coast-to-coast. It is observing its 10th anniversary this year.

Drury Inns Inc. owns and operates more than 60 Drury, Pear Tree, Thrifty and Hampton inns hotels in 11 states. The company this week also announced that construction is under way on a 78-room, Bavarian-style Drury Inn hotel in Frankenmuth, Mich. Drury Southwest is the developer, Dennis Vollink is construction manager and Byron Foust is architect.

While Missouri waits, the casino beat goes on in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Gambling industry officials from 29 states recently converged on the Mississippi Gulf Coast at Biloxi for the first annual Southeastern Gaming Expo, which featured casino owners, state legislators, Indian tribal officials, land developers and others interested in learning more about the industry.

Mississippi Lt. Gov. Eddie Briggs welcomed conference attendees and Bill Boyd of the Boyd Gaming group, headquartered at Las Vegas, was a key speaker.

Meanwhile a few miles north in Mississippi, two casinos, Hollywood and Sheraton, opened, and a few miles west, Boyd Gaming made preparations to open its latest casino in the New Orleans, La., area.

In Missouri, casino industry officials are waiting and watching as the Show-Me state prepares for a possible Nov. 2 election on games of chance, the slot-machine issue.

Four casino operations have opened in Missouri, but are limited to games of skill. The result is no slots. The first two operations -- the Admiral at St. Louis and Riverfront Station at St. Charles -- opened in Missouri over Memorial Day weekend. Operations at St. Joseph and Kansas City have since opened, but attendance and receipts have been disappointing.

To date, combined attendance on the Missouri boats has totaled about 1.3 million people, with receipts of about $25 million.

Nine floating casinos in nearby Illinois attracted more than two million visitors in one month, with receipts totaling more than $77 million. More than two-thirds of July gross receipts, $51.7 million, were from slot machines, with about a third, $33.1 million, from table games.

Players Casino at nearby Metropolis, Ill., attracted more than 139,000 visitors in July, for an average of 4,487 per day. Casino Queen of East St. Louis continues to attract big numbers, with more than 413,000 visitors in July, a daily average of 13,325.

Meanwhile, the latest casino to open in Tunica County, Miss., about 215 miles south of Cape Girardeau, is Hollywood, one of nine casinos currently operating in Tunica County.

Hollywood, which includes a hotel, casino, and restaurant, is unique in that it offers a spectacular collection of movie memorabilia and props to reinforce the Hollywood theme.

Movie displays include the famous Batmobile from the 1989 production of Batman; the Cobra race car driven by Elvis Presley in the movie "Spinout;" the 2,900-pound Steerman Biplane from the 1959 classic movie "North by Northwest;" and Arnold Schwartzenegger's helicopter from the movie "True Lies."

The Hollywood Casino Corp. also owns and operates a riverboat casino at Aurora, Ill.; the Sands Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., and the Sands Hotel and Casino Beach Resort in San Juan.

Sheraton also recently opened a casino in Tunica County. Three more openings are scheduled soon: Circus-Circus, Aug. 29; Horseshoe Casino, Sept. 26; the new Lady Luck Olympia Casino and Hotel, Aug. 18.

Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall, a Boyd Gaming operation in Tunica County, is already looking at expansion of its hotel, which now has 200 rooms. The hotel will be expanded to more than 500 rooms.

Sam's Town provides the largest complex in Tunica County. The 400,000-square-foot complex offers a hotel, four restaurants, nine lounges, a large, western retail store, dance hall and a 94,000-square-foot casino.

Boyd Gaming will operate a $52 million riverboat gambling casino and land-based parking garage and restaurant at Cape Girardeau.

Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport flight boardings for Trans World Express continue to increase. July boardings were 604.

More than 2,208 boardings have been recorded over the past four months.

June boardings were 563, up 42 from the record 521 in May.

Boardings topped the 500 mark in April, at 510, which was the highest total in more than four years.

To date, enplanements are up 24 percent over last year.

A recent TWE promotion revealed some interesting statistics. Passengers were asked to participate in the promotion, which indicated that Chicago was the No. 1 passenger destination from Cape Girardeau and Kansas City was second.

People from 27 states flew into Cape Girardeau. Those states included New York, Washington, Michigan, Texas, North Carolina and Hawaii.