Business Briefs (May 3)

Century 21 franchises honor agents at annual banquet

SIKESTON -- Several agents at Century 21 Premiere Realty and Century 21 Ashland Realty were recently honored by the St Louis Regional Broker's Council at their annual awards banquet. The ceremony honored agents and offices based on their productivity and quality of service during the last year.

Recognized for over $1,000,000 in sales were: Howard Alexander, Cheryl Parker, Vicki Stroud, Cathy Trentham, Herman Uelsmann, Michelle Starrett and James Seyer from Ashland Realty. From Premiere Realty, Stacey Comstock, Sue Guess, Myrna Johnson, Linda Lester, Larry Lindsey, Beth Naile and Samantha Cooper also achieved $1,000,000 in sales.

The Award of Excellence was awarded to Kim Baker and Patty Main from Ashland Realty and Faye Walborg from Premiere Realty for achieving over $3,000,000 in sales for the year.

The coveted Master's Emerald status was achieved by Mike Leible from Premiere and Dana Leming from Ashland for achieving over $4,000,000 in sales.

The Gold Team from Premiere Realty was recognized for being the number 2 Team in volume and the number 1 team in units sold for 2014.

Overall, the franchise was honored as the number 2 producing franchise in the region in both sales volume and units sold. Tim Merideth is the broker/owner for the franchise.

Bay Dollar joins Self Insurance Agency

Bay Dollar

Bay Dollar

SIKESTON -- Self Insurance Agency recently welcomed Bay Dollar to their team. Dollar was born and raised in Sikeston, the son of David Dollar and Rosetta Whitten. He is the youngest of three and has eight nieces and nephews. He graduated from Sikeston Senior High and went on to study at Southeast Missouri State where he received a bachelor's in marketing management. A newlywed; he married his wife Morgan Henley, a Jackson native, in September. They reside in Cape Girardeau with their cat, Darego.

Call Dollar at (573) 471-3347 or 800-899-3347 to help serve your insurance needs.

Sikeston printer hones business skills at national conference

SIKESTON -- Mike Moll, owner of Moll Printing Co. recently returned from the annual National Print Owners Association (NPOA) Spring Conference which drew print shop owners from across North America and from several foreign countries. The annual event is an intensive two-day series of seminars, presentations, and workgroups designed to help printing business owners improve their operations to better serve their communities.

Among the areas of emphasis at this year's conference was improving financial controls, understanding and utilizing new digital technologies, customer service, adding new services such as large format printing and signage or mailing services, marketing new and traditional services, and building brand awareness. Conference sponsors included printing industry heavyweights such as Xerox, Ricoh, FastSigns, and EFI.

"It was a very worthwhile event," said Moll. "In my opinion, the expertise of the presenters and panelists and the technical and industry knowledge brought to the table by the industry suppliers made this the most valuable industry conference of the year. I hope to use what I learned to better serve my own customers."

From its grass roots inception three years ago, NPOA has grown from 19 founding members to more than 400 print shop owners, making it the fastest growing association in the printing industry. Along with the annual conference, it provides its members with proprietary studies and surveys on technology, pricing, business operations, and many other topics. It also offers an on-line discussion forum for print shop owners to share ideas and solutions to common problems.

New Madrid County coroner and deputy coroner attend classes

JEFFERSON CITY -- George DeLisle (Coroner) and Ralph Barnwell (Deputy Coroner) attended the Missouri Coroner and Medical Examiner Conference April 6-8 in Jefferson City.

While there they learned about new technology used at death scenes and attended classes for death investigations, courtroom investigative protocols and investigating auto crashes. All courses taken furthers their abilities on conducting scientific, systematic and thorough death scene investigations for our county.

DeLisle also attended classes for a week at the St. Louis University, Medicolegal Death Investigator Course. The purpose of this training was to teach individuals to fill a critical role in medicolegal offices. There investigators learn to develop the essential facts regarding the death scene, medical history, and other information that assists the Medical Examiner/Coroner in the determination of a person's cause and manner of death. He received extensive training on forensic odontology, forensic anthropology, forensic toxicology, gunshot wound fatalities, explosion-related deaths, drownings, suicide determinations, blunt head trauma, child maltreatment, infant deaths, blood splatter interpretations, asphyxia deaths, fire related deaths and electrocutions.

All classes were beneficial in aiding with the death investigation process. New Madrid County Coroner's Office continues to strive and maintain a professional working relationship with all law enforcement agencies to ensure that the deceased, their family and the investigation is done with the upmost care and respect.