Stories from Thursday, August 13, 1998

To the editor: People want to have the last work whether in clothes, fashions, inventions or automobiles. It is only natural that the last work makes one feel superior. Sometimes we are so convinced that we are right that we don't want to hear any contrary point of view. Only when the last word is found or real proof discovered and a QED stamp of approval that the answer is valid are we satisfied. Many times we accept the easy answer which seems to solve a problem but may not be the last word...

Cape Girardeau's Planning and Zoning Commission will recommend granting a zoning change for a new apartment building downtown. The commission voted unanimously Wednesday night to grant the request of Charles and Judith Hutson to rezone 238 S. Spanish St. from M-1 light industrial to R-4 multiple family residential...

Rubye and Donald Kraft grew up in Cape Girardeau County, then had government careers that took them around the globe. They also were collectors, of anything from Victorian silver to military memorabilia to fine furniture. After retiring in 1975, they returned to Cape Girardeau because they still had family and properties here. Rubye operated an antique store in downtown Cape Girardeau for a number of years but no longer...

The dance in a multiplicity of forms will be presented to local audiences at Southeast Missouri State University during the coming year. Those will include a performance and workshops by the Miami City Ballet Oct. 21-22, a return engagement by the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe from St. Louis Feb. 1-6 in observance of Black History Month, and a stop by the groundbreaking Cleveland Ballet Dancing Wheels...

Missourians displayed little interest in the primary election last week. How long will it take for someone to propose combining the primary with the Powerball lottery? Sociologists say Americans are becoming increasingly separated from each other. Well, at least we all share losing at Powerball...

Tolls have been used to pay for roads and bridges since the early days of this nation. Pioneers heading into the vast areas beyond the Eastern Seaboard often found that the only route cutting through the wilderness was a toll road. In more recent times, some of the country's busiest highways have kept pace with ever-increasing demand by charging tolls...

Each time there is a tragedy like the killing of to officers in the U.S. Capitol, there is widespread concern that something like this could happen at other public buildings around the nation. In the case of the Capitol, as with so many other important public buildings, there have been attempts to provide some sense of security by using armed guards, X-ray machines and metal detectors. Often, the mere fact that such scrutiny is in place has been enough to thwart mayhem in the making...

To the editor: A Speak Out caller recently asked what motivated people to go to work each day. I don't know about the rest of you, but at the top of my list would by my tyrannical wife. I have feigned sickness, said I'm too old to continue working, told her that the worth of a human being has nothing to do with the fact that he/she works for a living, and so forth...

BENTON -- Shared learning experiences will cross county lines this fall when students in six school districts enroll in interactive video classes. Teachers and school administrators involved in the Scott-Miss ITV Consortium will complete training exercises today in preparation for their first interactive classes this fall. ...

Retta Miller believes in angels and in what they represent -- the power that comes from helping others. Miller, vice president of marketing for Union Planters Bank in Cape Girardeau, is one of 100 people who volunteer time to raise money for the Area Wide United Way. On Wednesday, Miller participated in a tour of four of the 25 local agencies and programs funded by United Way...

It's almost time to YELL. Since 1991, the Southeast Missourian has coordinated the publishing and distribution of the special newspaper to be sold by volunteers in the old newsboy hawking style. The 1998 YELL, or Youth Education Literacy and Learning campaign, will get under way in the early morning hours of Sept. 15. Volunteers in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City will man street corners at about 6 a.m. on that day and hawk special-edition newspapers until they run out...

Cape Girardeau lawyer David Rosener won't be hustling for votes this fall. He has withdrawn as a Libertarian candidate for state representative for District 158 because he says he first wants to put his life in order. Rosener said Wednesday that he also needed to devote his time to representing his legal clients...

Parents, educators and others believe collaboration is the key to combating youth violence. About 30 people attending a youth-violence seminar at Southeast Missouri Hospital Wednesday night agreed that youth violence is unpredictable because no single cause makes a youngster more prone to violent action...

Aug. 13, 1998 Dear Mr. and Mrs. N., DC and I were delighted to attend your 50th wedding anniversary. I especially liked the home movies playing on the large TV screen. I didn't know David, Mary Dee and John when they were that young, but the steps to your front door are as familiar to me as my own...

CHICAGO -- Citing concerns that metal alloy bats work too well, the NCAA changed the rules Wednesday to make them perform more like traditional wooden bats. Advances in design and metallurgy in the 1990s have led to bats that send the ball rocketing into the field. That, critics say, has destroyed the character of the college game and put fielders in jeopardy...

Gary Garner is basically a small-town guy with simple tastes who likes running the show. Those were among the major reasons why Garner has decided to remain in Cape Girardeau as Southeast Missouri State University's head basketball coach. Garner, who had been having discussions with the Chicago Bulls about joining the six-time NBA champions as an assistant coach, elected to withdraw his name from consideration for that job...

Although he was not that happy with the overall conditioning, Southeast Missouri State University football coach John Mumford was generally pleased after Wednesday's opening of full-squad workouts. But Mumford realizes what transpires over the first three days of practice -- which is limited to light contact in shoulder pads and helmets -- won't count nearly as much as what happens beginning Saturday. That's when full-contact, full-pad workouts begin...

CHAFFEE -- Jesse W. Hutson, 50, died Wednesday, Aug. 12, 1998, at the Veterans Medical Center in Marion, Ill. He was born Nov. 1, 1947, in Cape Girardeau, son of Woodrow and Luella Warren Hutson. He was a mechanic for Havco Wood Products Inc. in Cape Girardeau...

SEDGEWICKVILLE -- Velma L. Slinkard, of Sedgewickville, 79, died Wednesday, Aug. 12, 1998 at her home following an illness. Liley Funeral Home in Patton is in charge of arrangements.

PERRYVILLE -- Funeral Mass for Lorene E. Kiefer of Perryville will be held at 11 a.m. today at St. Vincent's Catholic Church. The Rev. Alphonse Hoernig will officiate, with burial in Mt. Hope Cemetery. Friends may call at Young and Sons Funeral Home from 6:30-10:40 a.m...

SIKESTON -- Burley H. Alford, 82, of Sikeston died Tuesday, Aug. 11, 1998, at his home, following an extended illness. He was born Sept. 25, 1915, in Blytheville, Ark., son of Jimmy and Annie Mae Wicker Alford. He and Wilma Neil were married June 20, 1944, in Blytheville...

JACKSON -- John W. Reitman, 81, of Jackson died Wednesday, Aug. 12, 1998, at his home. He was born Oct. 19, 1916, at Burfordville, son of Herman L. and Lula Summers Reitman. He and Ruby Mae Francis were married Aug. 31, 1940. Reitman moved to Jackson in 1961 from a farm near Burfordville. He worked at the former Pevely Dairy, Robinson Lumber Co. in Cape Girardeau, was an independent freight worker and retired from Missouri Pacific Freight Lines in 1972...

JACKSON -- Brenda Turner, 51, of Jackson died Tuesday, Aug. 11, 1998, at her home. She was born Nov. 11, 1946, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Ben and Sybil Carmack Kimbel. She and Jim Turner were married Feb. 5, 1987. Survivors include her husband; a son, Dan Wilkens of Jackson; a daughter, Julie Kinder of Jackson; three stepsons, David Turner of Jackson, Dennis Turner of Peoria, Ill., Douglas Turner of Marion, Ill.; and a stepdaughter, Karen King of Jackson...

HOWARDVILLE -- Charles Wesley Hamilton, 59, of Howardville died Sunday, Aug. 9, 1998, while in Jackson, Mich. He was born Nov. 10, 1938, in New Madrid, son of Willie B. and Ophelia Grant Hamilton. Hamilton was a graduate of Howardville High School. He was a member of Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Lilbourn...

Daughter to Christopher Harold Swader and Shirley Dawanna Clark of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:25 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1998. Name, Tyra Latrice. Weight, 5 pounds 2 ounces. Third child, second daughter. Ms. Clark is the daughter of Martha Clark of Cape Girardeau. She is employed at Jose's Beauty Salon. Swader is the son of Nancy Swader and Vernon Swader of Cape Girardeau. He is employed at Chan's Restaurant...

Robert Charles Brown Sr., a longtime resident of Cape Girardeau, Mo., died Monday August 10, 1998 at St. Francis Hospital in Cape. The son of W. W. (Cap) and Inez Spalding Brown, he was born March 27, 1928 in Cape ounty. He married Dorothy J. Whitson on June 30, 1946 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau...