Stories from Thursday, May 23, 1996

To the editor: A recent editorial in an eastern daily praised the new look in required college courses which pretty well eliminated traditional requirements in English and American literature as well as studies of serious music and art. "Not much to be found in these," the editor believed. "Let them study things relevant to the present age and need."...

Statistics on vehicle-train accidents in Missouri and Illinois show an alarming number of motorists involved in such accidents last year didn't stop at railroad grade crossings. Even more disturbing is the fact that almost 10 percent of those involved in the 103 vehicle-train accidents in Missouri in 1995 actually drove past crossing gates trying to beat oncoming trains...

The three Meadow Heights Board of Education members who voted against accepting results of a ballot recount that favorably changed the outcome of the district's bond proposal did little more than keep alive the chaos that has overrun the school district at Patton...

DURING THE Reagan/Bush years, the press paraded the homeless before the cameras for the country and the world to see. Where are these homeless now? Are these homeless working all those jobs Bill Clinton claims he's responsible for? I don't think so. Was it that big a problem, or was it created for the press to use?...

A Baptist minister's daughter, Charlene Peyton makes no secret of her love for gospel music. It shines through in everything she plays. Even her music students at Clippard Elementary School know the difference between "Farmer in the Dell" played Peyton-style and the same song played the usual way...

SIKESTON -- It's a warm May day, but not too warm, and author Robert Vaughan sits on the back porch of his old, brick home near downtown Sikeston. He receives guests there, cordless phone in hand should publishing or production company execs call. His pace is calm and comfortable -- an interview with Vaughan is more like a chat between acquaintances...

If the city of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri State University have their way, the road to progress will go through a corner of Dr. L. Taylor Bahn's back yard. That doesn't sit well with Bahn, whose 1000 N. Henderson home is on the north side of the Henderson-New Madrid intersection...

An end to state-funded desegregation in the Kansas City public schools system would be three years and $314 million away under a plan unveiled Wednesday by state and school district officials. Gov. Mel Carnahan and Attorney General Jay Nixon were on hand at a news conference in Kansas City to announce a three-year payment plan that will end state-funded desegregation payments to the school system...

Countdown to the arrival of the Olympic flame has people in Cape Girardeau scurrying to get everything in place, especially the 32 torch-runners who have just learned of their routes. Kevin Leathers was chosen the first torchbearer to carry the flame from a Union Pacific cauldron car. He will carry a torch from Themis Street up the Common Pleas Courthouse steps...

Last year, Missouri taxpayers welcomed news about tax refunds due under the Hancock Amendment. But the refunds will be costly: The state will pay $1.4 million to issue them. The state each year can collect only 5.6 percent of Missourians' combined personal income based on the two previous years. The formula was set out in the Hancock Amendment, added to the state constitution in 1980...

May 23, 1996 Dear Leslie, The world we come eyeball to gnat with often confounds, offering beauty in the smashed rock, terror in the limpid pool. And yet some days it resonates with sanity, with sense beyond the senses. Last week, our city celebrated its first and I'll bet first annual Random Acts of Kindness Week. ...

JACKSON -- A Cape Girardeau County man was recognized Wednesday by the Oklahoma Legislature for his efforts in Operation Hay Lift, which sent thousands of bales of hay to farmers who lost hay in prairie fires that swept Oklahoma this year. Gerald Bryan, University of Missouri Extension specialist in Jackson, received the citation during a University Extension open house in Jackson Wednesday...

The success of Sikeston's Weed and Seed program is bringing Gov. Mel Carnahan in for a visit today. Weed and Seed, which is a process of "weeding" out the criminals and "seeding" in community programs, kicked off in Sikeston last summer as a state test program. Utilizing state and federal funds, local police administrators have been able to hire in new officers, increase salaries, bring in additional equipment and open a substation in the Sunset neighborhood...

Shaun W. Carlile, 31, of Raleigh, N.C., died Friday, May 17, 1996, in Raleigh. He was born July 31, 1964, at Bentwaters Air Force Base, England, son of Dianne Mullens Carlile. He and Laura Beth McNeely of Cape Girardeau were married Sept. 5, 1992. A graduate of Central High School, he was an honor student and ran track. He was named Athlete of the Year and won the Lou Muegge Award during his senior year...

PERRYVILLE -- Melvin D. Niswonger, 65, of Perryville, died Tuesday, May 21, 1996, at his home. He was born Dec. 25, 1930, in Cape Girardeau, son of Pink and Ella Welker Niswonger. He and Elta Lydia Blandford were married Aug. 9, 1952. She died April 10, 1995...

BELL CITY -- Lois M. Coleman, 69, of Bell City, died Wednesday, May 22, 1996, at her home. Morgan Funeral Home in Advance is in charge of arrangements.

CHAFFEE -- Opal Bond, 85, of Chaffee, died Wednesday, May 22, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 12, 1911, at Kerrville, daughter of Robert Andrew and Mary Evangeline Fulbright Moore. She married Cecil Bond, who died March 7, 1983...

PERRYVILLE -- Virginia Averil Statler, 56, of Perryville, died Wednesday, May 22, 1996, at her home. She was born Sept. 18, 1939, at Perryville, daughter of Chester F. and Elsie Stout Horn. He and Richard L. Statler were married Oct. 11, 1958. Statler had been a nurse's aide in local nursing homes. She was a member of Whitewater Presbyterian Church...

Son to Jared and Mary Brant of Blue Springs, Truman Medical Center East in Kansas City, 6:39 p.m. Thursday, April 18, 1996. Name, Jared Courtney II. Weight, 1 pound 5 ounces. First child. Mrs. Brant is the former Mary Russell, daughter of Ella Russell and Lawrence Russell of Cape Girardeau. Brant is the son of Clarence and Carolyn Brant of Blue Springs. He is a mechanic...

ORAN -- Velma Eftink of Oran died Wednesday, May 22, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete with Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Oran.

Cape Girardeau County treasurer Bill Reynolds has fond memories of friendships formed at College High in the 1940s. "We had mostly rural people as students," said Reynolds. "It was a small school with small classes and everyone got to know everyone. As a result, those friendships have lasted all these years."...