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Features

[NOV. 8, 2001]  The Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce kicked off a special one-week membership drive yesterday with a breakfast session at the chamber offices. The goal of the campaign is to add 30 new members to the chamber’s roster, an additional 10 percent of the current membership.

Members picked up packets of material, chose the five prospects they would call on, and treated themselves to homemade donuts or scrambled eggs before starting out on the 2001 "Proud to be a Member" campaign.

Executive Director Bobbi Abbott said this is the first organized membership drive the chamber has had for about four years. "We thought this was a good time to touch base with businesses that are not members and let them know we’d like to have them come on board," she said.

One important reason for becoming a member of the chamber is the opportunity to network with other business people in the community, Abbott said. The chamber offers many activities, such as the 3rd Wednesday Morning Mixers at Al’s Main Event, which feature different speakers each month addressing a timely topic in the community.

Another get-together opportunity is provided by the After Hours Mixers sponsored by individual chamber members. This gives a particular business the chance to host a gathering and show other chamber members new products and new services available.

"This activity brings people into a business that might not normally come in," Abbott said.

The annual golf outing and the office professionals luncheon are among many other networking opportunities.

Another reason for chamber membership is that the chamber advocates for business-friendly local, state, national and global legislation; assists with small business startups; initiates and participates in work force development ventures; and works to attract new businesses and retain existing ones, Abbott said.

For example, the chamber recently initiated a letter-writing campaign to Illinois Gov. George Ryan on behalf of the Lincoln Developmental Center, urging the governor to keep the facility open. From 75 to 100 letters were sent to Springfield during this campaign, Abbott said.

Recently the chamber also worked with the city of Lincoln on an ordinance to govern bed-and-breakfast businesses in the city. In addition, Abbott said, the local chamber has the opportunity to become active on the state level, promoting legislation friendly to small businesses, because the state chamber is now bringing local groups on board as affiliates.

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One of the programs many businesses particularly like is the Chamber Bucks gift certificate program, Abbott said. As a gift on Christmas, a birthday or any other occasion, Chamber Bucks give the recipient the chance to shop in more than 60 chamber member businesses. The gift certificates are purchased at the chamber and redeemed at the participating businesses, which then bring the certificates back to the chamber for reimbursement.

There is no guessing, because all participating businesses are listed on the back of each certificate. Certificates can be purchased in denominations of $5, $10, $25 or in any combination.

This "one size fits all" gift program is so popular that the chamber is issuing between $60,000 and $75,000 in gift certificates each year, Abbott said. She emphasized that there are no "hidden costs" to these gift certificates, as the chamber does not charge an administration fee but absorbs all costs as a service to its members.

The chamber also serves as an information center for the community, she said. Business guides, maps, brochures, phone books, restaurant guides, information about special events such as the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival, and information about tourism are all available in the chamber office.

"We will have about any information anybody could want," Abbott said.

At the end of the membership drive, on Tuesday, Nov. 13, between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m., chamber members will reconvene for a more formal reception — wine and cheese and hors d'oeuvres made by members — to celebrate their campaign.

Anyone who would like more information may call the chamber office at 735-2385.

[Joan Crabb]

Choose your investment adviser carefully
[NOV. 8, 2001]  Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White has announced that a former stockbroker was sentenced to nine years in prison for defrauding three Illinois residents of over $1 million.

"Protecting Illinois investors from fraud is one of my top priorities," White said. "This sentencing sends a clear message that stockbrokers who prey on our senior citizens will go to jail."

An investigation by White’s Securities Department and a prosecution by the U.S. attorney’s office resulted in the sentencing of John R. Whitlow, 51, as well as an order to pay restitution of $628,654. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud, money laundering, engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity, and making and filing a false income tax return.

Whitlow owned and operated an insurance and securities business known as Central Illinois Financial Services, located in Bloomington. He defrauded three senior citizen clients of over $1 million dollars by having two clients grant him financial powers of attorney and having another client appoint him as the trustee of her life insurance trust. After receiving these financial powers, Whitlow proceeded to withdraw money from each of the client’s accounts and spend the money for personal or business use. Two of the victims are now deceased.

In 1996, the Illinois Securities Department audited Central Illinois Financial Services and Whitlow. Based upon that audit and an investigation, the department revoked Whitlow’s securities salesperson registration in Illinois.

This case was investigated and prosecuted by the cooperative effort of the secretary of state’s Securities Department, the U.S. attorney’s office, the Criminal Investigative Division of the IRS, the Postal Inspection Service and the Illinois State Police.

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Tips on how to protect your investments

Before picking a stockbroker or making any investment, Secretary of State Jesse White urges investors to consider the following:

•  Is the stockbroker or the person selling the investment registered with the Illinois Securities Department? Call the Illinois Securities Department at 1 (800) 628-7937 and 1 (888) 231-1175 (Spanish-speaking assistance) to find out. If they are not, they may be operating illegally.

•  Has the stockbroker given you written information that fully explains the investment? Make sure you get proper written information, such as a prospectus or offering circular, before you buy. The documentation should contain enough clear and accurate information to allow you or your financial adviser to evaluate and verify the particulars of the investment.

•  Before granting a power of attorney to your stockbroker or investment adviser or appointing them your trustee, have the documents reviewed by your attorney and ensure that you completely understand all the power and authority you are granting by signing a power of attorney or appointing a trustee. You may want to consider possible alternatives to a stockbroker, such as a relative or family member.

Secretary of State White’s Securities Department regulates the offer and sale of securities in Illinois, providing for the protection of investors and the maintenance of a fair and orderly securities marketplace. Illinois requires that all securities dealers, salespersons and investment advisers and their securities offerings be registered with the department unless exempt by law. The department enforces standards of conduct among those registered to conduct securities business in Illinois as well as dealing with consumer allegations of fraud or improper practices in the securities marketplace. Anyone who believes he or she has been a victim of securities fraud should contact the department at 1 (800) 628-7937 and 1 (888) 231-1175 (Spanish-speaking assistance).

[News release]

[NOV. 7, 2001]  Main Street Lincoln and the city of Lincoln have unveiled the design of this year’s official Christmas ornament.  As announced during Historic Preservation Week, the 2001 ornament will feature the Lincoln Public Library.  Library director Richard Sumrall said, "We’re happy to be part of the Lincoln City Ornament series and celebrate one of Lincoln’s most historic architectural treasures."

Third in the series, the ornament is 24 karat gold over brass and will be enclosed in a blue velvet presentation case with the city seal embossed in gold on the cover.  The limited edition ornaments will have a numbered certificate of authenticity including information on the history of the building and a miniature version of the proclamation naming it the official city ornament. Their cost is $15. 

Ornaments may be reserved now through Nov. 15 at a 10 percent discount when paid in advance.  To reserve ornaments, stop by the Main Street Lincoln office on the second floor of Union Planters Bank, 303 S. Kickapoo, or the Lincoln Public Library, 725 Pekin St., to pick up a form.   Forms with checks can be mailed to the Main Street Lincoln office.  Purchasers of last year’s ornaments received a preregistration form in the mail and will have the first option on continuing their numbered series.

Ornaments will be available for pickup around Thanksgiving and also for retail purchase at selected locations downtown. 

A limited number of last year’s ornaments, the second in the series, featuring Lincoln City Hall, are available for $20 each. 

Also available for holiday giving is a full-color tapestry pillow featuring an aerial view of the Logan County Courthouse.  The back of the pillow will be dark green fabric.  The pillow is being made in the United States by Riddle and Cockrell, the same company that made the woven afghans previously available. Currently, a picture of the pillow can be seen in the Main Street Lincoln office, and an actual sample will be available soon.  Pillows are $29.95 each.

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The popular Logan County Christmas tree will grace the front of Christmas cards this year. A color photograph of the giant Christmas tree and the stained glass dome of the historic Logan County Courthouse will be on the front of the cards.  The inside sentiment is, "A wish for a warm, wonderful holiday season and a bright New Year."  

Marlin Roos took the picture at the 2000 Festival of Trees. Jan Schumacher, Festival of Trees chairman, commented, "The photograph was so picture perfect, it was a natural for a Christmas card."  Cards will be sold in packages of 10 for $7 and will benefit the Abraham Lincoln Healthcare Foundation and Main Street Lincoln. They are currently available at the Main Street office and will also be available at the Festival of Trees in the Logan County Courthouse from Nov. 23 through Dec. 2.  

For further information on any of these items, call Main Street Lincoln at (217) 732-2929.

[News release]

[OCT. 30, 2001]  An office supply store that allows you to buy in bulk, stores excess products for you and delivers as you need them? That store is Glenn Brunk Stationers of Springfield, and it is coming to Lincoln.

Company president Edward D. Stanfield says, "The customer drives the bus." One example of what he means is free delivery of even a single item and placement of products wherever the customer wants, even if that means each box of paper goes to a different room. Other services include installation of office furnishings, 24-hour-a-day ordering from the Internet site and service by sales representatives.

Stanfield said he hopes to open a Lincoln store by the first of the year. His son Ed Stanfield Jr. has begun looking at Lincoln locations. The senior Stanfield said he is seeking a downtown site: "We are more of a traditional company, and I want to be in a traditional location."

He said Lincoln struck him as a "small but independent town" with much good-sized business for its size. The first step, taken in July, was to join the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce and to contact Mark Smith, director of economic development. Since then Glenn Brunk sales representatives have secured a number of accounts in Lincoln.

Stanfield expects to hire one to three employees here, beginning with someone to operate the store. "In Lincoln I envision more products and more depth" in the retail store than in Springfield, he said.

At first deliveries will be made from Springfield, and bulky products bought by Lincoln customers may have to be stored in the Springfield warehouse. Eventually Stanfield hopes for on-site storage and a driver based in Lincoln. "The intent is to be a local company in Lincoln," he said.

Glenn Brunk Stationers’ motto is "Providing the best customer service for 42 years." One aspect of this is knowing products and their relative differences. For example, Stanfield asked, why sell three different staplers? "Each has a particular niche," he said, and Glenn Brunk salespeople have to be able to explain what they are. "We’re not the grocery store," he explained. "We survive because of service."

Stanfield, who worked as an adult rehabilitation counselor for 10 years, is proud of being the only retail agent in Springfield for replacement toner cartridges remanufactured by United Cerebral Palsy. Both disabled and non-disabled people participate in rebuilding the cartridges, which are fully guaranteed; the cartridge will be replaced or money refunded if it fails while it still contains toner.

Stanfield said there is a huge difference between remanufactured cartridges and older ones that were refilled and then leaked or did not work. United Cerebral Palsy has a cartridge analyzer that tells what components need to be replaced. The rebuilt cartridge is then reanalyzed to make sure it passes before it is boxed. Stanfield said the analyzer can even predict future failure so a component can be replaced before it fails. "There is no down side to it," he said. Prices are one-half to one-third off retail; the cartridge is "as good as or better than" new; and proceeds go to programs for disabled children and adults.

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The Glenn Brunk store at 2222 S. Sixth St. in Springfield is surprisingly small for a company that sells office furniture as well as supplies. Stanfield said he furnishes individual offices or whole buildings but "most of the work is done in our customer’s office" using catalogs and computer modeling. Furniture brands offered include HON, Creative, Indiana Desk, National (a division of Kimball Industries), LUI and DMI. Some ready-to-assemble furniture from Bush, O’Sullivan and Sauder is available, but Glenn Brunk delivers it assembled.

The business also offers repaired scratch-and-dent office furniture. Stanfield buys it from wholesalers sight unseen, refurbishes it and sells it at 40 percent of the retail price. Just now, he said, he is long on lateral files.

The business was founded in 1955 by Glenn and Mary Brunk. Mr. Brunk was a former combat medic who landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day. The Brunks began business from their garage, offered only one product — billing machine ribbons — and installed them free. Stanfield said the installation was a major factor because the ribbons went "deep in the bowels of the monster machines." The business moved first to Fifth Street and then to its current location on Sixth Street, next door to Gallagher’s steakhouse.

After Glenn died in 1972, Mary Brunk ran the business. In 1988 she hired Malinda Stanfield as bookkeeper, then office manager, and in 1997 the Stanfields bought the business with the provision that the name not change. Ed Stanfield, who had managed copier dealerships, made the shift from the hardware to the supplies that go in it. He said it has been "an absolute howl ever since."

All three Stanfield sons work in the business. Ed Jr. is a sales representative, Joe is a delivery driver, and Bill, a Champaign resident, works on his day off. Glenn Brunk Stationers also employs two other sales representatives, another driver and a bookkeeper. Ed Stanfield Sr. is president, and Malinda Stanfield is secretary-treasurer.

The company stocks a larger variety of paper rolls for such machines as cash registers and credit card machines than anyone else in Springfield, Ed Stanfield said. As with other bulky products, Glenn Brunk will store excess rolls for the customer. Each customer has a separate skid in the warehouse, and employees can easily see when one is running low. Among products in the warehouse are Willamette Industries boxes made in Lincoln and Sphinx paper for a business that requires paper made in a union mill.

The company sells in quantities ranging from individual envelopes and notepads to reams and skids of paper. Orders are placed twice daily, delivered at 2 a.m., opened and repackaged for customers, with drivers on the road by 9 a.m. Stanfield said he envisions a similar procedure for the Lincoln store.

[Lynn Shearer Spellman]

[OCT. 2, 2001]  Lincoln’s annual Christmas parade will be in downtown Lincoln on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 7 p.m. "May Your Days Be Merry and Bright" is the theme for this year’s parade, co-sponsored by the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce and the city of Lincoln.

The chamber is accepting entries from businesses, industry, governmental agencies, schools, civic and not-for-profit groups, and religious, youth and charitable organizations. There is no charge to enter, and cash prizes will be awarded.

The evening parade features marching bands, lighted floats and vehicles, and military marching units. Groups are encouraged to use motorized vehicles in an attempt to reduce the number of walking entries. "We’re also looking for a business or a group to sponsor the Santa Claus float," says chamber director Bobbi Abbott. "The parade’s final entry is the Santa float, and it needs to be impressive!"

Interested participants may call the chamber of commerce at 735-2385 or e-mail chamber@lincolnillinois.com for an entry form or further information.

Announcements

[OCT. 29, 2001]  The Lincoln branch of A.G. Edwards & Sons will host a seminar entitled "Tax Reform and Your Investment Strategies" seminar on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. and on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 10 a.m. The program will be at Heartland Community College, 620 Broadway St. in Lincoln.

Financial consultant Tom Kissel will speak on the new tax measures and how they affect individual investors. His discussion will address changes in the tax code pertaining to income taxes, education savings, retirement savings, and gift and estate taxes.

The seminar is free for anyone to attend; however, seating is limited.

For more information on the seminar or to make reservations, please contact Brittney Van Fossan, financial associate, at A.G. Edwards. The phone number is 732-3877, or call toll free (800) 596-0014.

[News release]

The Chamber Report

The Chamber of Commerce is a catalyst for community progress, bringing business and professional people together to work for the common good of Lincoln and Logan County.

Bobbi Abbott, Executive Director

Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce

303 S. Kickapoo St.

Lincoln, IL 62656

(217) 735-2385

chamber@lincolnillinois.com
www.lincolnillinois.com

Honors & Awards

Main Street Corner News

Main Street Lincoln

303 S. Kickapoo

Lincoln, IL 62656

Phone: (217) 732-2929

Fax: (217) 735-9205

E-mail: manager@mainstreetlincoln.com

Job Hunt

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Employers, you can list available jobs by e-mailing ldn@lincolndailynews.com. Each job listing costs $10 the first week, $20 for eight days to three months. There is a limit of 75 words per announcement.

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