Stories from Wednesday, June 26, 1991

The diversity of Cape Girardeau's economy has been a real asset in the community's growth. One of the fastest growing segments has been medical service. Few communities of 35,000 can boast of a medical community like the one that has flourished in Cape Girardeau...

The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band will present its fourth concert of the 1991 summer season Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Capaha Park. Special entertainment for the program will be a jazz sextet lead by tenor saxophonist John Quinn. Other members of the group are Jerry Ford, trumpet; Terry Gockel, trombone; Bud Miget, piano; David Green, bass; and Darren Baker, drums. They will perform three jazz selections in the middle of the concert...

In Sunday's listing of area valedictorians and salutatorians, the top students from Kelly High School were listed incorrectly. Information provided by the school was in error. Daniel Eric Record is valedictorian and Melanie Urhahn is salutatorian of Kelly High School's class of 1991...

In conjunction with area Fourth of July celebrations honoring Desert Storm veterans, the Southeast Missourian newspaper will publish a Welcome Home section July 3 featuring photographs of Desert Storm veterans. Photos with name, rank and city will be included in the special section at no cost. Family members who wish for their service men and women to be included should deliver photos to the Southeast Missourian office, 301 Broadway, before Friday...

Workshop leader Janet Ghio of the University of Missouri-Columbia told participants of a recent Cape Girardeau workshop on career options for dislocated workers that job hunting is a "full-time job preferably 35 to 40 hours a week." The participants attending the University Extension workshop came from four counties in Southeast Missouri. ...

The increasingly endangered glades of Missouri will be the topic in focus at the Four Seasons Audubon Chapter of Southeast Missouri's Wednesday meeting. Mary Henson, of the Missouri Dept. of Conservation, will be the guest speaker at this month's program. According to Henson, glades are the closest habitat Missouri has to desert terrain. The drought tolerant plants found in glades are now being investigated as sources of bioengineered crop plants with increased resistance to drought...

When you visit your doctor, his or her primary attention is on your health. But the doctor also has a list of concerns in the back of his or her mind that include rising costs, lawsuits and AIDS. These issues are among topics being discussed at this week's American Medical Association meeting, which Cape Girardeau surgeon, Dr. Melvin C. Kasten, is attending...

At a time when Interstate 55 was under construction and much of Cape Girardeau's west side was farm land, a handful of local doctors had a dream of a multi-speciality medical complex. Doctors pursued that dream in the mid-1960s. "This was at a time when most of the doctors' offices were on Broadway and Sprigg and Pacific," said Dr. Charles P. McGinty, one of the founders of Doctors' Park...

Doctors' Park offers patients one-stop medical care in a campus-like setting. Ron Wittmer, president of Cape Girardeau Doctors' Park Inc., said the park plays a key role in the local economy and brings many people to town. Yet many people don't understand the size and scope of the 51-acre facility...

A 4-year-old needs a tonsillectomy. A middle-aged woman has been scheduled for a breast biopsy. A businessman must have a cyst removed. For each of the patients, Doctors' Park Surgery offers an option to a possible hospital stay. Doctors' Park Surgery, a same-day surgery center in Cape Girardeau, is celebrating its 15th year...

For 20 years, Doctors' Park has worked to become Cape Girardeau's medical neighborhood. The 51-acre medical campus, which brings doctors and medical support services together, is celebrating two decades of service to the region. Dr. Thomas Sparkman was recently re-elected chairman of the board at Cape Girardeau Doctors' Park...

Is there anyone among our readers who isn't familiar with "Brevity is the soul of wit?" For the record, it was Shakespeare who put these words in the mouth of a boring nobleman named Polonius, in Hamlet. Not that it matters. Harry Shaw, author of that excellent guide to problem words and expressions, wrote: "Brevity is more than the soul of wit: it is well nigh impossible."...

Leave it to that old Bolshevik Joseph Stalin to strike the right tone. He is credited with this quotation: "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic." His point is concise, well-made and affirmed countless times. Calamity en masse is abstract, hard to grasp. Typhoons, volcanoes and famine spill anonymous bodies around, yet they only become an indistinct portion of the cumulative mayhem...

JACKSON -- The hub of July 4 revelry in the area will be at Jackson, where a full day of activities are planned to recognize area troops who served in Operation Desert Storm and to celebrate the nation's independence. The Independence Day festivities will be sponsored by the Jackson Jaycees, local veterans groups and the United Way Desert Storm Task Force Committee...

Independence Day activities will unofficially commence this weekend with the Scott City Mid-Summer Festival and the Cairo, Ill. Riverboat Day. But most celebrations in the area will be held on the traditional July 4 holiday. Area holiday events include:...

A state administrative hearing is scheduled for October in the 16-month-old case of a St. Louis doctor accused of misconduct and negligence regarding abortions he performed in Cape Girardeau and St. Louis. An eight-count complaint filed by the State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts charges that the doctor, Bolivar Escobedo, negligently performed abortions; misused controlled drugs; operated an abortion clinic without a license; performed surgical procedures without a registered nurse, blood bank or adequate equipment on hand; and performed abortions without having surgical privileges at any Missouri hospital.. ...

JACKSON -- Bollinger County Presiding Commissioner Elwood Mouser has proposed to conduct a straw poll in Bollinger County to determine if voters there should be given the opportunity to vote on whether they want a recreational lake. His proposal was made at a meeting Tuesday night of the Cape Girardeau-Bollinger County Lake Committee, the county commissions of both counties, and other interested people...

MARBLE HILL -- Law enforcement officials in Marble Hill hope a bill endorsed by the Senate last week will have an impact on the condition of state highways in Bollinger County. The bill calls for Missouri to receive an increase in federal highway aid of $754 million over the next five years, bringing the yearly share of state highway money from $275 million to about $429 million...

ADVANCE -- Four members of a Dudley family were killed Tuesday in what police said is the worst automobile accident in Southeast Missouri this year. The four were fatally injured when the vehicle they were in was struck head-on by a dump truck. The Missouri Highway Patrol identified the victims as the driver of the vehicle, Joe Dodson, 27, of Dudley; his wife, Mary Dodson, 37; and her daughters, Julie Garrett, 10, and Tonya Garrett, 17, all passengers...

CAMMIE ELFRANK Occupation: Cosmetologist at Special Effects Birthplace: Port Angeles, Wash. Current home: Cape Girardeau The best part of my job is: "Meeing different people. I enjoy working with all my clients." The book I'd recommend is: "Any Stephen King book."...

JACKSON -- A 35-year-old Jackson businessman and city aldermen will lead the Jackson Chamber of Commerce in 1991-92. Paul W. Sander of 619 Donna Drive was installed as chamber president during its installation banquet Monday. Sander owns and operates Southeast Missouri Specialties and Sports, Inc. He was elected earlier this year to a third two-year term on the Jackson Board of Aldermen...

DELTA -- The Missouri Highway Department will be spreading and oil and aggregate mixture on about five miles of Route P in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties. The work is scheduled to begin Thursday and completion is expected in a week, weather permitting...

JACKSON -- Seven members of the Senior Services Board, who will screen requests for funds from a 5-cent property tax for senior citizen programs, have been appointed by the Cape Girardeau County Commission. The board will decide on the allocation of the tax money, about $220,000, that will be generated annually. Voters approved the tax increase by a 281-vote margin in April...

Cape Girardeau Public Schools saved about $25,000 by bidding its insurance contract for next year. At a special noon meeting Wednesday, the Board of Education awarded the contract to W.E. Walker Co., which submitted a bid of $164,675. The company had been providing the district's insurance...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Shoemaker of Sikeston, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 7:33 a.m. Tuesday, June 18, 1991. Name, Stephen Blake. Weight, 6 pounds 12 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Shoemaker is the former Debra Watson, daughter of Earl and Shirley Watson of Sikeston. She is an executive secretary with Malone and Hyde. Shoemaker is a letter carrier with Sikeston Post Office, and is the son of Glenna Garrison of Sikeston...

Funeral service for E.D. "Red" Gannon, 2423 S. Sprigg, was held Friday at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel. The Rev. Don Ford officiated, with burial in Garden of Memories Cemetery at Sikeston. Gannon, 70, died Wednesday, June 19, 1991, at his home...

STEELVILLE -- Catherine E. Breuer, 87, or Steelville died Tuesday, June 25, 1991, at the Gibbs Care Center in Steelville. She was born Feb. 25, 1904, in Steelville. Survivors include her husband, James I. Breuer; a daughter, Peggy Ann Capshaw of Cape Girardeau; a granddaughter, Cathy Lee Macier of Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; and three great-grandchildren...

Bridges are indispensable in our modern world. The bridge at Cape Girardeau is so much a part of our life we can not imagine how it would be without it. Regardless of the time of day or the season of the year, it is beautiful to view against a background of sky, clouds, and changing light of day or night. ...