Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 5

Heraldd? Review In The Workplace Monday, November 23, 2009 Business Achievements are paid announcements BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS WATER COOLER fed Earl elected national funeral group treasurer DECATUR Randall L. Earl, CFSP, vice president and MUSIKMITK Jfcwr Qzce Coach co-owner of Brintlinger and Earl Funeral Homes, was elected as treas urer of the National Funeral Directors Association dur funeral director for more than 40 years and has served as president of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association, president of International Order of the Golden Rule, chairman of the Funeral Service Credit Union and board chairman of the Museum of Funeral Customs. The National Funeral Directors Association is the world's leading funeral service association, representing more than 10,200 funeral homes in the United States and internationally. Earl ing its 2009 International Convention Expo, held in Boston, Mass Earl has been a licensed How to place a Business Achievement Submit your Business Achievement to the Herald Review by loggingontowww.herald-review.combusinessachievement. Click on "Submit Your Business Achievement." Fill out the customer information form.

Create your own announcement and attach your photos. Business Achievements run in the paper every Monday and will be displayed online for 30 days from the date of publication. The deadline to be considered for inclusion in the following Monday's print edition is 5 p.m. Wednesday. Business Achievement costs are: $12 per column inch (about 35 words).

There is no extra charge to appear online. An abbreviated listing for Business Achievements with a Macon County connection will appear in The Business Journal. $10 for a one-person, half-column photo. $20 for a one-column photo. $45 for a two-column group photo.

Add color to any photo for $48. Photos will be cropped to standard sizes. Business Achievements are intended to be weekly listings that celebrate honors and activities of area employees and businesses and the move of area workers into different jobs or retirement. Business Achievements are edited to conform to Herald Review and Associated Press style. Questions should be directed to Scott Perry at sperry or 421-7976.

For a Business Achievement form visit us online at: Curiosity needs to be curbed Messamore establishes chiropractic practice DECATUR Dr. Todd Messamore has returned to his School and Millikin University graduate, had been practicing chiropractic in Southern California since 2003. His office hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, 10 a.m.

to 6 p.m. Thursdays, 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays and by appointment. For more information or to make an appointment, call hometown and established Messamore Family Chiropractic Ltd. at 1533 N.

Water St. Dr. Messamore, a St. Teresa High Messamore The Associated Press SMOKE-FREE ALLIES: The strongest American advocates for smoking bans in public venues are the newest Americans, one study said. Immigrants and their children were most likely to approve of smoke-free spaces, according to an analysis of data from the U.S.

Census' Current Population Survey from 1995 to 2002. Over those years, 75.7 percent of foreign-born U.S. residents supported a smoking ban in at least four types of public space, while 59.1 percent of U.S.-born Americans with U.S.-born parents did so. Of the total population, 61.6 percent said they would support a ban in at least four of the six public venues listed, which included bars, restaurants, offices, hospitals and indoors sports venues and shopping malls. Americans overall have become increasingly likely to support smoking bans in public places.

"It is surprising that most of the immigrants had stronger attitudes," said study author Theresa Osy-puk. But immigrants were much less likely to be smokers than U.S.-born residents, she said. According to the World Health Organization, smoking is more prevalent in the United States than in most of Africa; southeast Asia, excluding Indonesia; and Latin America, including Mexico. Mexico is the most common country of origin for foreign-born Americans. It's also possible that immigrants were more often in smoke-heavy environments than U.S.-born residents because of their occupations or where they spent their free time, Osy-puk said, and so supported a ban on smoking.

The report will be in the January issue of the American Journal of Public Health. MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE When plans pf! tbjfrh i -M i i 1 How do you respond to colleagues who ask a lot of personal questions? Recently, I had to take vacation on short notice to care for my sick daughter-in-law. Before I left, my coworkers kept asking where I was going and whether my husband was going with me I managed to dodge the questions, but their nosiness caught me off guard. How should I handle this? People vary greatly in their willingness to share personal information. Some are intensely private, while others happily prattle on about every detail of their lives.

When these two types work together, misunderstandings often arise. lb prevent conflict, highly inquisitive folks need to get a grip on their curiosity, and extremely reserved people must learn to deflect inquiries politely. One useful technique is to answer honestly, but briefly. For example, an appropriately vague reply to questions about your "vacation" might be "Oh, we're not going anywhere. I'm just taking time off to do some things at home." If pressed for details, simply say you're not doing anything interesting, then change the subject.

You must realize, however, that "where are you going?" is a normal response to any mention of vacation. In fact, people headed for exciting leisure destinations might be offended if no one inquired about their plans. If you had been taking sick leave, that would be an entirely different matter. Co-workers should never ask prying questions about a colleague's illness or family difficulties. We have a boss who doesn't act like a boss.

Although he listens to our suggestions, he never follows through with them. He seems hesitant to involve upper management in any issue. This is driving us crazy, so your advice would be appreciated. Unfortunately, you seem to be working for a wimpy manager. Because these timid souls are chronically anxious, they avoid any action that might become controversial or attract executive attention.

To overcome this inertia, you will need to reduce the fear factor. One approach is to solicit support before presenting a proposal to your boss. If influential people seem to favor the idea, his participation will seem less risky. When the stakes are high, you must clearly convey the hazards of doing nothing. If you can convince him that inaction is the more dangerous course, your manager's resistance to change may suddenly disappear.

To accomplish results, you may have to assume some risk yourself. When your manager's hesitation presents a roadblock, consider the time-honored tactic of "asking forgiveness instead of permission," which simply means acting first and advising management later. Obviously, this strategy requires good judgment. A less risky alternative is to send your manager a heads-up e-mail. For example: "I wanted to let you know that I'm planning to meet with the marketing department Wednesday unless I hear otherwise from you." If your boss really hates conflict, he might just be too wimpy to disagree.

Marie G. Mclntyre is a workplace coach and the author of "Secrets to Winning at Office Politics." Send in questions and get free coaching tips at www.yourofficecoach.com. Mm if aJj Associaiea Press pnoios John Piper, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade studio vice president, holds a Pillsbury Doughboy balloon model while talking about the process of designing a parade balloon from conception to inflation at the design studio in Hoboken, N.J. TOP: Parade balloon models hang all over the studio A thousand and one loose ends need to be tied to make it work JSk ML OBOKEN, N.J. (AP) The scene -A 1 i RACE-BASED HIRING: Managers race has had a "significant" effect on the race of employees, according to a study of personnel data from a U.S.

retailer over 30 months. The study looked at whether the race of a store's manager affected that of the employees hired at the store The most significant tendency, the study said, was that white, Hispanic or Asian managers tended to hire fewer African-Americans than African-American managers did. The study tracked 100,000 employees at more than 700 stores belonging to one unidentified chain from February 1996 to July 1998. The report found that replacing an African-American manager with a white, Hispanic or Asian manager resulted in the hiring of fewer African-American employees. The percentage of new workers who were African-American under the nonblack managers dropped to 17 percent.

Under the previous African-American manager, newly hired employees had been 21 percent black. The regional and ethnic makeup of the community that a store was in affected hiring as well, the report found. For example, in the South, replacing an African-American manager with a nonblack manager led to a bigger drop in the proportion of African-Americans among new employees than in the rest of the nation. In regions that were at least 30 percent Hispanic, the study said the proportion of new workers who were Hispanic dropped from 59 percent to 48 percent after a white manager took over from a Hispanic boss. The share of employees hired who were white increased.

One explanation of the racial pattern in hiring could be the effect of "social Managers tended to hire people who lived near them. If the managers lived in segregated neighborhoods, that would affect hiring. The study also found that white employees were more likely to quit their jobs if a black manager replaced a nonblack manager. jmtn Piper shows clay model sculptures while talking about the process of designing a parade balloon. The balloons start as a pencil sketch and then are turned into a full-color rendering.

Those are converted into three-dimensional designs, built on a 1:24 scale using a steel frame covered with clay. That's the last chance to make any changes, Piper explains. Approved designs then are poured into silicon molds and hardened. Those molds are emptied to become negative-space models; there are always two one kept white with all the technical drawings marked with inflation and deflation points, and weight and balance notes, and the other a color version so everyone will know what the balloon actually will look like. It's a nine-month process, according to Piper, who boasts that in his 29 years working on the parade, he's never not had one fly, although the square SpongeBob Squarepants and gangly Kermit the Frog were touch-and-go for a while.

After the parade each year, the balloons, floats and assorted accessories head back to the former Tootsie Roll factory that acts as parade central. Deflated balloons are stowed in colorful bags, ranging in size from a jumbo load of laundry to a king bed. Piper and his team gather the day after Thanksgiving at the studio for their own feast. He'll watch a recorded version of the parade on TV, and then start thinking about the next year. around him in a vast industrial space looks like Santa's Workshop, but John Piper, the man behind Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, compares organizing the annual extravaganza to planning a huge holiday meal with a lot of trimmings.

He needs to serve up something for the traditionalists as well as those seeking a little variety; he needs to include old friends and invite new ones to the party. This year, Santa Claus gets his first new float in 40 years, and the new balloons are Sailor Mickey, the parade's fourth incarnation of Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man, Ronald McDonald and the Pillsbury Doughboy. It's the second version of Spider-Man that will fly through the streets of New York on Thanksgiving Day and the third Ronald, this one with enormous feet on speed skates that posed Piper with more than a few technical challenges. Sometimes Piper invites for a return engagement a balloon character or a float theme that had taken a break but might click with a new audience, he explains. Snoopy has been the most popular character over the years, boasting six versions.

Personally, Piper would like to bring back Underdog, but there hasn't been an occasion for that. Still, he can't pick a favorite. "I love them all. If I had my way, we'd have a parade every week and fly them all." He adds: "The thing that surprises me about all of them (the balloons) is that everyone has their own favorite. Back to the meal, everyone likes the whole dinner but everyone has a favorite dish." Popularity isn't the only factor in keeping or losing a balloon, said Piper; some are retired because they're no longer fit to fly and there are corporate partnerships to be considered.

There also are the par ade's old standbys, such as the clowns and the marching bands, that Piper compares to the brown-and-serve rolls on the table that everyone loves, and the meal wouldn't be complete without, but aren't the headline-grabbers. The only litmus test for any of the elements is that it can bring a smile to someone's face, Piper said. "We've taken on the role of gatekeeper to the holiday," he says. The Macy's parade tradition started in 1924 and took a break only during World War H. (The balloons actually were dismantled and the materials used in the war effort as the light aircraft called dirigibles.) Then and now, it's the retailer's employees and their friends and family members who put on the bulk of the show, including the balloon handlers who, in the offseason, practice cial training flights..