Southern Illinoisan from Carbondale, Illinois • Page 25

It Mil 111 Southern llli nois Homepage1' W1 The SoimifM Iuinoisan Sunday, September 17, 2006 Contact Us: james.bennettthesouthern.com 1C Briefly I I IS kn 1 i '1 From his own personal experience of graduating high school and not knowing a thing about stocks or a stock portfolio, he said it's never too early to start planning. "I want these kids to get a good head start on it now," he said. Three teachers from the business and technology classrooms at the high school have divvied students up into teams to participate in this game. By the end of the semester, whichever team has earned the most money ofTof its investment wins the game, said Gwen Poore, business teacher. The students, she said, spend some time each week researching companies and finding out which will yield the most bang for their buck.

"It's real life and pretty hands on, except they aren't investing their own money," she said. Not only are the students competing within their own classes, Poore said, SEE STUDENTS PAGE 2C BY KRISTEN CATES THE SOUTHERN CARBONDALE Hillary Patton seems to have picked the right stock. The 16-year-old has Invested her money in Charlotte Rouse, a clothing company, and is watching as it steadily increases. Her friends, classmates and teammates Zack Stewart and Adam Longueville have also chosen Harris Military Supplies, NetFlix and Sterling Construction as companies to which they've spread out the $100,000 they've received. No, these students didn't receive a big fat check.

It is mock money, being used to participate in a very real stock market game. Patton, Stewart and Longueville are just three of the more than 100 students at Carbondale High School who are participating in the Stock Market Game, sponsored by A.G. Edwards and Sons, financial consultant Jeff Rose. KRISTEN CATES THE SOUTHERN Students in Nick Carr's business class were using the Internet to research companies' stock market symbols as part of a mock portfolio they are creating to teach them more about Investing. NG FOR V-i If li Survey: Job market weak in region during fall 5, Kroger stores raise money for United Way with bikers 1 A' I III" Marion realty company wins award MARION United Country Southern Realty of Marion was among United Country Real Estate second-quarter President's Round Table Award Winners.

United Country Southern Realty is operated by owners John M. and Judy Grisley. Their office located at 801 E. De United Country is a national real estate franchise system specializing in residential, farm and ranch, commercial and recreational properties in rural America. It is headquartered in Kansas City, and has more than 570 franchises in 38 states.

WQWQ-TV to become The Heartland's CW' CAPE GIRARDEAU WQWQ-TV, formerly known as UPNThe Beat, will become The Heartland's CW network affiliate, beginning Monday with the start of the 2006-07 season. The announcement comes from Mike Smythe, Vice President and General Manager of WQWQ-TV and sister station KFVS12, both Raycom Media-, Inc. stations operated out of offices and studios in Cape Girardeau. The CW will incorporate The WB's former scheduling model, which consists of a 6 night, 13 hour primetime lineup including Monday through Friday nights from 7 to 9, Sunday nights from 6 to 9, Sunday afternoons from 4 to 6, Monday through Friday afternoons from 3 to 5, and "Kids' WB!" a five hour Saturday morning cartoon block. Together, the network will program 30 hours per week over seven days for its affiliated stations.

New public relations coordinator hired HARRISBURG RIDES Mass Transit has hired Carletta Prather to its management team. Prather, a longtime resident of Harrisburg, will serve as public relations coordinator and assumed her duties Sept. I.She previously was employed at Southeastern Illinois College for 1 1 years under the division of Community Education as a Community Outreach Supervisor. Prather is completing her bachelors degree in Workforce Education at Southern Illinois University in Carbondaleand will graduate in December. RIDES is located at 1200 W.

Poplar Street in Harrisburg. BY CALEB HALE THE SOUTHERN Autumn may not be the prime seasort for job seekers in Southern Illinois, according to the latest survey from market watch group Manpower Inc. The company, which specializes in the'employment service industry, recently released its fourth quarter outlook survey and found Carbondale-Marion area businesses are expf cted to have among the weakest hiring numbers in the nation October through December. The survey says only 17 percent of employers asked plan to hire more employees in the fourth quarter. Another 17 percent expect they will reduce their payrolls during that time period.

The overwhelming majority, 66 percent, expect to keep staffing levels the same. Manpower indicates the numbers are better than they were last year at this time but weaker than third quarter survey results, which found 37 percent of business asked would be hiring and only 10 percent reducing staff. While Carbondale-Marion falls at the lower end of the job market increase spectrum nationally, it's 17 percent showing falls in line with other Illinois areas, including Aurora, Bloomington, Decatur and Edgar County. The weakest projections for job market increases come from the Chicago O'Hare area with 3 percent, Kankakee County with 4 percent and Oakbrook with zero percent. Strongest showers are Chicago at 62 percent, Lake County at 43 percent, Mcllenry County at 41 percent and the greater Champaign area at 40 percent.

Overall, Manpower indicates U.S. employers will ome out of 2006 with about the samestrength in hiring it showed going into the year. caleb.hale(?thesouthern.com (618) 529-5454 ext. 5090 BY JOHN D. HOMAN THE SOUTHERN MARION Kroger stores in the region have put their money where their hearts are, coming forward with a $12,000 donation Friday afternoon to the United Way of Southern Illinois.

The funds were raised at the Sixth Annual "United Bikes" Motorcycle Run and Raffle held on Aug. 26. Kroger zone manager for Southern Illinois Dee Tanner said all 11 stores participated in the fundraiser, either by riding their bike on the designated trek (161 miles in all) or by selling raffle tickets and preparing meals for the bikers. "Since 2001, we have raised approximately $165,000 for United Way, and after our employee payroll deductions this fall, that figure should grow to about $185,000," Tanner said. Tanner noted that the poker run has grown from about 50 bikes the first year to 650 last month with better than 700 participants.

Entry fee for the run was $20 for a single rider or $30 per couple. The trek began in Du Quoin, wound its way to Murphysboro and then Giant City for lunch. Stops were also made in Anna, Harrisburg and West Frankfort before concluding at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds, where a steak dinner was served. Cash prizes were also provided by Kroger to the bikeremployee with the best and worst poker hands collected along the ride. Greg Hobbs of Rosiclare was the grand winner of the motorcycle raffle a 2006 custom Sportster from Campbell's Harley Davidson in Marion.

Store 1 mnrmirfi JtjextM 4fjf iiiiuiiuiiimiuiuiiuiujiuiullwiii.iu,'.yMuiiw nm.i i 1 CHUCK NOVARA THE SOUTHERN Riders in the Kroger Poker Run for the United Way collected more than 1 2,000 dollars for the United Way. officials also transported the and Becky Logan co-chaired the motorcycle to-and-from each fundraiser. Kroger store in the region to help promote the sale of raffle tickets. john.homanthesouthern.com Kroger employees Jim Clark (618) 351-5056 Coalition presses for improvement to inland waterways because of winters and floods," he said from his home in the Mississippi River city of Alton, 111. In its report, the coalition focused its attention on Illinois' 1,118 miles of waterways, on which some 116 million tons of commodities valued at more than $23 billion travel.

Nearly one-third is grain from the state's farms. After years of debate, the Senate in July 4 overwhelmingly approved an $11.7 billion Water Resources Development Act that would double the size of locks on the upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers, paring delays and speeding the shipment of grain and other crops to southern ports for export. Cheered by farm groups and barge operators, the measure also would reform how the Army Corps of Engineers justifies major water construction projects, imposing a new system of peer review over an agency scrutinized after the levee failures during last year's Hurricane Katrina. The Senate measure and a similar one handily approved last year by the House remain before a conference committee that must reconcile the two. news briefing on the group's report.

Blackshere chairs the coalition with Doug Whitley, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce's chief. "While there is public outcry about potholes and traffic tie-ups on our roads, there is no similar protest about problems affecting the waterways and the fact that these problems are not being addressed," the group's report reads. The coalition said high fuel costs make waterborne traffic increasingly attractive, suggesting one ton of cargo can be moved 514 miles by barge on a gallon of fuel compared with only 60 miles by truck or 202 miles by train. The Sierra Club's Jim Bensman panned the coalition's claims that it seeks a balance between environmentalism and the economic growth the lock-and-dam improvements may produce, saying trains are more ecological and suffer less disruption by weather. Pouring billions of dollars into river improvements for shipping would be unjustified, Bensman said.

"If you wanted to strike a balance, take the subsidies away from the most environmentally destructive mode, which is shut down regularly BY JIM SUHR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ST. LOUIS Navigational systems on the upper Mississippi River and other inland waterways are in dire need of upgrades vital to river users shipping everything from grain to coal and construction materials, an Illinois group of business and governmental interests says. In a position paper released Friday, the Transportation for Illinois Coalition voiced growing impatience over what it calls congressional gridlock on funding, noting that the last authorization bill came six years ago after being passed roughly every two years from 1986 through 2000. The group made up of business, organized labor, industry and governmental organizations said an estimated $500 million backlog in operations and upkeep on the upper Mississippi River illustrates "timely maintenance is being deferred." All but three of 37 locks on the upper Mississippi and Illinois waterway systems were built in the 1930s and 1950s, Illinois AFL-CIO president Margaret Blackshere said in advance of Friday's www.thesouthern.com SEE WATERWAYS PAGE 2C.