Stories from Tuesday, November 19, 1996

1. In September 1995 the capital city of the world's most populous country was the site of the World Conference on Women. Name this East Asian capital city. 2. The city that is the center of the Jewish religion is also holy to Christians and Muslims. Name this city in the Middle East...

SCOTT CITY -- Scott City might have an answer to its $60 million gaming boat question from the Missouri Gaming Commission by December, Lady Luck Midwest region vice president Michael A. Hlavsa said. Hlavsa addressed the Scott City Council and about 20 members of the community Monday at the council's regular meeting. He said almost all of the paperwork has been completed and turned in to the commission and all that is left is to wait...

Contractors who build new homes in Cape Girardeau won't have to worry about a tougher smoke-alarm code. The 1996 version of the BOCA Code -- a standard for construction in the United States -- required new homes to have smoke alarms in every bedroom. Each alarm had to be wired to a separate electrical circuit and have a battery back-up...

Jo Ann Emerson's congressional staff members know they have jobs. But at this point they can't count on getting paid. The staff can't be paid until Emerson's special election victory is officially certified by Missouri's secretary of state., Lloyd Smith, Emerson's chief of staff, said everything from the monthly salaries to reimbursements for travel expenses are on hold until the election results are certified...

BENTON -- The Scott County sheriff's office has a new tool to assist in emergency calls and to track various other calls, including pranks. Sheriff Bill Ferrell said all calls to the sheriff's office are monitored by Caller I.D. The identification mechanism covers all six department lines...

On Nov. 2, Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity chapters throughout the United States and Canada collected 753,323 pounds of food for needy families. The Lambda Chi Alpha chamber at Southeast Missouri State University contributed to the record-breaking project. The chapter collected 4,973 pounds of food from neighborhoods near campus. The food was donated to local charities...

Monica Joy LaVanchy, 11, of Jackson had original poetry published in Forever and a Day, an anthology of poetry compiled by the National Library of Poetry. Her poem is entitled "Free as the Wind," and is about a wild horse. LaVanchy is a fifth-grade homeschooler. In addition to poetry, she enjoys sewing, drawing, reading and crafting...

The Cape Girardeau Public Library is celebrating National Children's Book week with programs Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, students in grades six and up can participate in Mind Melt, a quiz show in Jeopardy form, starting at 4 p.m. The program is free, but registration is required. All entrants will receive prizes, and refreshments will be served...

Erin Vogt of Jackson is one of the top 12 finalists in the 1997 Athlete of the Year program, sponsored by 'TEEN magazine. She is in the running to be the Athlete of the Year. Vogt was selected from more than 10,000 girls who entered the contest. Now in its eighth year, 'TEENs Athlete of the Year program seeks to recognize outstanding athletes who demonstrate leadership and sportsmanship qualities in addition to good academic standing...

Cybertip: Missouri deer firearms season started Saturday and closes Nov. 26. For those who can't get out into the woods or those who prefer to stay dry and warm, the Internet offers virtual hunting experiences. Deer hunters will find lots of information at...

Registration is open for the 1997 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Spelling Bee. Letters have been mailed to principals in schools serving students grades kindergarten through eight. The St. Louis bee serves counties in Southeast Missouri and Alexander County in Illinois...

Meagan Fornkahl, a student at Hawkins Junior High School in Jackson, and Jessica Bailey, a student at Scott City, were among 21 students from Missouri selected to attend the 1996 Primary Care Resource Initiative for Missouri and the Missouri Rural Area Health Education Centers Chemistry and Physics Academy...

Vicki Nenninger, a math teacher at Oran High School, received an Outstanding High School Teacher Award from the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Nenninger was nominated for the award by former student Gennifer Owen of Oran, who is a freshman majoring in agriculture economics at Missouri...

Twenty-four new members were inducted to the Southeast Missouri State University chapter of Psi Chi, the national honor society in psychology. Inductees are Joe Armistead, Laura Breeden, Rebecca L. Congo, Cathryn Criddle, Nancy A. Dickerson, John Dunkman, Norma Jean Emily, Kristin Frolich, Dinia R. ...

To the editor: It is often called peer pressure. It seems to make it more legitimate or acceptable if others may be following a certain pattern of behavior. At times it may be done almost subconsciously. It may be just a fad, such as buying a certain style of clothes simply because others are wearing them. We soon learn that just because others may be following a custom doesn't necessarily make it good or even desirable...

News that a staff sergeant at Southern Missouri's Fort Leonard Wood was court-martialed and given a dishonorable discharge for sexual misconduct adds to sad stories of more widespread rape and assault at the Army Ordnance Center at Aberdeen, Md. As the military has been forced into sexually integrated units, throwing 18-to-25-year-old men and women together under difficult circumstances, a certain amount of untoward fraternization might have been expected...

In the aftermath of another election year, there is plenty of noise about the need for what is called campaign finance reform. As they consume lots of this noise, Americans are supposed to forget that many of the so-called problems of financing campaigns are the residue of past "reforms."...

Some Arkansas news you might have missed ... courtesy of our Blytheville/Osceola newspaper connections. 1. WAL-MART, for the first time within its home state, is facing major zoning obstacles with two proposed super centers (Conway and Jonesboro). They love the retailer but not proposed sites near subdivisions...

Schools everywhere will celebrate National Geography Week through Saturday, but there are many people who are unaware of everything the subject actually consists of. Some people think geography is the study of the earth. Well, yes, in the broadest sense of the study, it is...

Jackson schoolteacher Pat McClard knows that teaching is learning. She thinks that even as you give students new information, they are giving you new experiences in patience, tolerance and humility. "I hope I have made a positive difference in the lives of some of the children I have taught," said the fourth-grade teacher. ""I have certainly learned from them."...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Eleven Democrats will gather here next month to elect the next president of the United States. If you thought the task was completed Nov. 5 by more than 2 million Missouri voters, then you have forgotten your sixth-grade civics lesson about America's Electoral College...

Cable TV subscribers in the Cape Girardeau and Carbondale, Ill., areas could find themselves in the dark when it comes to CBS television next year. Under a 1992 federal law, cable companies can't carry over-the-air channels without the permission of those stations...

More than 35,200 workers are employed in Cape Girardeau County. That total could swell to 36,000 over the next 30 days as retail businesses start boosting their payrolls in anticipation of a strong selling season. Despite a big influx of new retail stores and low unemployment, there appears to be no shortage of holiday workers in Cape Girardeau...

A master plan for the Cape Girardeau School District, more than a year in the making, was approved Monday by the Board of Education. "It's been a long time coming," board member Terry Taylor said as the motion was approved. The plan had been unveiled officially at the October board meeting. It outlines a 10-year plan for new buildings and program changes in the school district...

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education has appointed a committee to redraw the lines that determine which elementary school children attend. The committee is being asked to develop two proposals, one for each of two phases of the district's newly approved master plan...

Does anyone know where I can find a good Webster's Wife-to-English translation book? Love is a strange and magical place to live. It's comforting and exciting all at the same time, kind of like a church at Christmas time. While it seems a million miles from any place I've ever been, no other place has ever quite felt as much like home to me...

Educators nationwide are celebrating 75 years of excellence Nov. 17-23 during American Education Week. The event was first sponsored by the National Education Association and the American Legion Dec. 4-10, 1921, after more than a quarter of U.S. World War I draftees had been declared illiterate and 29 percent physically unfit...

Craig MacFarlane, a blind athlete and motivational speaker, will visit two schools and a civic club meeting Thursday. MacFarlane, who has been blind since he was 2, has won more than 130 medals, including 103 gold medals, in downhill snow skiing, water skiing, golf and track and field. The 32-year-old athlete also plays several musical instruments and has recorded an album. A book about his life is slated for release this year...

A penny saved just might be a pizza earned for students at St. Mary's Cathedral Grade School. The class that collects the largest amount to donate to leukemia research by Friday will win a pizza party courtesy of Domino's Pizza. "I got involved because my father died of leukemia when I was in the sixth grade," said Mary Burger, sixth-grade teacher and program coordinator at St. Mary's. "I saw an opportunity to do something for leukemia and I jumped on it."...

A sculpture crafted by a Cape Girardeau doctor will be dedicated Wednesday at Southeast Missouri State University. The ceremony is scheduled for noon in the sculpture garden just north of the Art Building, where the piece by Dr. Jean Chapman, an allergist, will be permanently displayed...

Carol Koehler will present "Gifts from the Garden" at 7 p.m. Dec. 3, at the Cape Girardeau Public Library. During the program, she will share ideas on a variety of gifts that can be made from plants, including picture frames, potpourri, vinegar, dry-flower arrangements and wreaths...

Representatives of the Cape Girardeau Police Department graduated 350 students with honors Monday after they completed a gang-resistance course. Seventh-graders at Louis J. Schulz School received diplomas from Cape Girardeau police officer Ike Hammond and Cpl. Charlie Herbst. Hammond and Herbst were the instructors for the nine-week Gang Resistance Education and Training course...

SIKESTON -- Barbara Greer, 65, formerly of Valencia and Palm Desert, Calif., and Sikeston, died Friday, Nov. 15, 1996, at Rancho Mirage Health Care Center in Palm Springs. She was born May 8, 1931, at Belle, daughter of Robert Logan and Winifred Hulen Guthrie. She and Bill Greer were married Nov. 22, 1949. He died Nov. 9, 1979...

JACKSON -- Maud Friedrich, 97, of Jackson died Monday, Nov. 18, 1996, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born April 30, 1899, near Oak Ridge, daughter of Phillip and Catherine Richter Kasten. She and V.C. Friedrich were married May 6, 1923, at Jackson...

CHARLESTON -- Mable Turner, 79, of Charleston died Thursday, Nov. 14, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Feb. 12, 1917, in Charleston, daughter of R.J. and Ethel Turner Sutherland. Turner was a member of Trinity Church of Deliverance, member of the Mother Board, and retired church secretary...

PERRYVILLE -- Louise Buff, 96, formerly of Perryville, died Monday, Nov. 18, 1996, at Merkle-Knipprath Nursing Home in Clifton, Ill. She was born Jan. 1, 1900, in Perry County, daughter of Francis Marion and Nancy Ann Upchurch. She and Barney Bert Buff were married April 14, 1920. He died June 2, 1975...

ANNA, Ill. -- Victor McDonald of Anna died Monday, Nov. 18, 1996, at his home. Friends may call at Crain Funeral Home in Anna from 6-8 p.m. today. Funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Larry Shacklee officiating. Burial will be in Anna Cemetery, with graveside rites by Carroll P. Foster VFW Post 3455...

Sandra L. Hente, 50, of Culver City, Calif., died recently at her home. She was born April 27, 1946, in Santa Monica, Calif., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Hasch. She and Martin J. Hente, formerly of Cape Girardeau, were married Dec. 26, 1971. Survivors include her husband; a daughter, Kristin Hente of the home; two sons, Jonathan and Derrick Hente of the home; her parents of Atascadero, Calif.; three brothers, Kevin and Neal Hasch of Atascadero, and Kelvin Hasch of Monmouth, Maine...

Claud M. Turner, 77, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Nov. 17, 1996, at Fountainbleau Lodge. He was born Nov. 6, 1919, at Essex, son of James R. and Ruth McMullin Turner. He and Alta Cook were married Oct. 16, 1942, at Sikeston. Turner was a sales representative at Auto Tire and Parts 50 years, retiring in 1988. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II...

Son to Christopher James and Julie Anne Adams of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:02 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, 1996. Name, Nathan Christopher. Weight, 10 pounds 3 ounces. Second son. Mrs. Adams is the former Julie Hitt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Van Hitt of Jackson and Mr. and Mrs. David Nausley of St. Louis. She is employed by Jackson R-2 School District. Adams is the son of Vickie Knderle and Jay Adams Sr. of St. Louis. He is employed at Ruby Tuesday...

DEXTER -- Funeral service for Michael C. Brown of Dexter will be held at 11 a.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Chapel in Dexter. The Rev. Bryan Johnson will officiate, with burial in Hagy Cemetery. Brown, 38, died in a car accident Saturday, Nov. 16, 1996, near Cairo, Ill...

PUXICO -- Jerry Stewart, 48, of Puxico died Sunday, Nov. 17, 1996, at his home. He was born June 20, 1948, in Poplar Bluff, son of Carl and Wanda Young Stewart. Stewart lived in the Poplar Bluff and Puxico areas all his life. He was a self-employed truck driver. Stewart was a member of American Legion, charter member and first president of Eagles Aerie 466 at Wappapello. He served in Missouri National Guard...