One of the things that kept Barton County perking during the 1980s and early 1990s was its diversified economy. The city had a strong manufacturing base, thanks to O'Sullivan Industries and Thorco, a strong retail base, and a strong agricultural base.
The recent shenanigans involving the operation of O'Sullivan Industries and its million-dollar CEO Bob Parker have Barton County residents hoping that this pillar of the manufacturing segment is going to continue to be the area's chief employer.
President Bush's announces that farm subsidies will be severely cut as part of his budget request to Congress could severely damage the agricultural base.
U. S. Department of Agriculture statistics indicate that during the years between 1995 and 2003, Barton County farmers received $59,316,861 in farm subsidies, including $5,384,975 in 2003. The largest amount, thanks to disaster subsidies, was $12,179,007 in 2001. And this is despite the fact that none of the top 749 recipients in the state in 2003 come from Barton County. The top Barton County recipient that year with $75,748 was John Gardner Farms, Inc., which received $869,285 between 1995 and 2003.
The only other Barton County farming concern in the top 1,000 in 2003 was Crabtree Brothers in Liberal at $65,811.
Other area counties were not affected as much as Barton County, but still received large amounts of money, according to USDA statistics. Jasper County received $33,494,146 between 1995 and 2003, with $2,991,312 in 2003, Newton County farmers received $12,399.53 in the nine-year period, including $1,241,555 in 2003. McDonald County received $2,337,921 between 1995 and 2003, including $353,897 in 2003.
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In an effort to bring customer service and accountability to the Department of Revenue's contract license offices, Governor Matt Blunt named new operators for each of them today, including former State Representative Bubs Hohulin in Lamar, and John Putnam in Carthage.
According to a news release from the governor, Blunt required prospective agents to "submit a business plan demonstrating their commitment to meeting the needs of Missouri citizens." These plans included details on financial responsibilities and office operations, the news release said.
Agents will be required to keep the offices open on Saturdays.
Agents for other contract offices will be announced at a later date, according to the news release.
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Nexstar COO Duane Lammers was in Joplin Tuesday and his 30-minute infomercial about the alleged abuses of cable TV and the wonders of satellite will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on KSNF AND KODE.
Nexstar CEO Perry Sook told Radio & Television Business Report in its February issue that his stations may never return to the Cox and Cable One systems it has cut off. He terms the loss of ad revenue by the Nexstar stations as "fairly inconsequential," saying it has only been about a third of what had been expected. "There have been some cancellations, but in a company that does a quarter billion dollars in ad revenues, it has been merely a six-figure number," Sook told the magazine. "When you compare that to what is at stake, which would be getting paid from every wired home in our universe, obviously the fight is worth fighting."
Sook told the magazine the cable systems have been hurt far more than the Nexstar stations. He said if his company were to receive 25 to 30 cents per subscriber per month for its signal that it would make more than $20 million extra per year.
Sook is scheduled to be profiled in the March issue of the magazine.
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La-Z-Boy's quarterly report showed sales up, operating margin down, and another ode to the joys of outsourcing.
Though the company's press release, as expected, touted the $26 million increase in net sales, operating margin was down from 5.3 percent last year to 3.9 percent during the most recent quarter.
No mention of outsourcing was made in the news release, but it was there in black and white in the company's filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. "During the first quarter of fiscal 2004, we announced the closing of three of our casegoods group manufacturing facilities," the SEC filing said. "This action was the result of underutilization of certain manufacturing facilities as we transitioned to more foreign-sourced products in order to be competitive with imported furniture."
The filing noted that 480 jobs were lost as a result of that move, though it said 75 other jobs had been created. La-Z-Boy CEO Kurt Darrow has said in published interviews, including one in the Aug. 11 Toledo Ohio Blade that the company would continue to send as much of its production as possible overseas to increase profit margins.
One area of La-Z-Boy that is safe for the time being is the upholstery area, including the plant at Neosho because Chinese facilities are not ready to take on that kind of work. Darrow indicated he would keep an eye on the Chinese plants to determine when they would be ready.