Stories from Tuesday, December 1, 1998

Herb Jones and Dr. Jennie Cooper have received the annual Faculty-Staff Recognition Awards at Southeast Missouri State University. Jones, area coordinator in the office of residence life, received the Outstanding Staff Recognition Award. Cooper, a professor of English, has been named the Faculty Recognition Award recipient...

A lot of people think the Internet is just fun and games, but we continue to be amazed at the number of incredibly useful sites on the Web.Sometimes when you are working on the Internet, the terms give you a headache. C/Net has a site called "What Is," which helps you figure out what all those terms mean...

Lori Meyer, physical education and health teacher at L.J. Schultz Middle School, wants her students to find activities they enjoy to carry throughout their lives. "My background is slightly unique in that I not only have a degree in education from Southeast Missouri State University, but I have a degree in recreation too," Meyer said...

Martika Nation is a shy first-grader in Carol Reimann's class at Clippard Elementary School. Though she's not outspoken about many things, what she wants to be when she grows up is already decided in her mind. "I want to be a coach just like my P.E. teacher, Coach Williams," said Martika confidently. "I really like him and his class is a lot of fun. I like playing and learning stuff."...

Kim Aggert put the ball over the net during a recent game against Murray State. Senior Kim Aggert received flowers from coach Cindy Gannon. Coach Cindy Gannon, right, was interviewed by Jay Goff on a local radio station. Being a coach is more than wearing a whistle and shouting orders to players. It requires a rigorous schedule, including travel to and from games, recruiting promotions and community involvement...

The Cape Girardeau City Council made it clear Monday that it will support a university proposal to save the River Campus project. More than 140 people packed a meeting room at the Osage Community Centre for a public forum on the project's future. Sentiment was unanimously in favor of salvaging the joint effort between the city and Southeast Missouri State University to build a visual and performing arts center on the former St. Vincent's Seminary site...

The Missouri Department of Transportation's new five-year road improvement plan isn't saddled with more projects than funding, says the agency's chief financial officer. The official, Pat Goff, initially said Monday that the plan was "over-programmed." Several hours later, he said that wasn't the case...

The unseasonably warm weather doesn't make it feel much like the start of December, but the final month of the year has arrived. November has been warmer than normal, said local climatologist Dr. Al Robertson. For the month, temperatures averaged 49.5 degrees. Historically, the average is 46.7 degrees...

I went shopping over the weekend. Unlike the rest of the holiday bargain hounds, I wasn't shopping for gifts but a new outfit for myself. And I quickly came to a conclusion: Finding the perfect outfit is difficult for all but a few women -- mainly those who wear a size 3 dress...

Southeast Missouri State University's plan to build a polytechnic building remains on hold over a tax-refund lawsuit. University President Dr. Dale Nitzschke said Southeast won't proceed with the project until it can be assured it will receive the $5.6 million in state money budgeted for the project...

The Holocaust will be discussed Wednesday at a Common Hour presentation at Southeast Missouri State University. Roger A. Ritvo, vice chancellor of academic and student affairs and a professor at Auburn University in Montgomery, Ala., will speak at 12:30 p.m. in Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium...

JACKSON -- Only two issues that arose at a public hearing last month for the new Jackson Comprehensive Plan need to be settled before the city's Planning and Zoning Commission votes on whether to adopt the plan. The commission will discuss the matters, both of which concern the routing of streets, at a study session beginning at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall...

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- Home and business owners will be lighting up for the holiday season in the village of East Cape Girardeau. East Cape Girardeau has been beautifully decorated for the Christmas holidays during the past few years, said Carolyn Thomas, village clerk. So this year the village will conduct its first annual Christmas decorating contest...

If you really want to enjoy yourself as well as bolster your intelligence image, dig out all those forecasts on how the Nov. 3 election would turn out. The next time Missourians build a gigantic stadium, let's remember to attract a football franchise that will attract fans who don't care whether the team wins or loses...

What are Missourians to make of it all as we read continuing developments about the 15-year highway plan we embarked on in 1992? That plan was scrapped last month by the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission. Let us try to sort out what we now know of this amazing story:...

To the editor: The Nov. 19 letter from S.L. Hodge about the Founding Fathers' not foreseeing automatic weapons and implying that, therefore, modern firearms are somehow outside the scope of constitutional protection is almost a form letter of the liberal editorial writers guild. ...

To the editor: What a sad, sick, pathetic man the president of the United States has become. He is a man willing to use his wife, child, employees, Cabinet members and supporters to hold on to office. He is a many without the guts to stand up and tell the truth. ...

THERE ARE still honest people in this world. I lost a very valuable ring in Ryan's Steakhouse. I immediately called them the next morning at 8 o'clock. They told me they had found the ring. The server by the name of Amy had found it. She could have kept the ring. I would never have known where it went. But instead, she called me, told me where it was and that it was safe until I picked it up. I want her to know how much I appreciate knowing that there are still honest people in this world...

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians will certainly not have the luxury of easing into their Ohio Valley Conference schedule. The Indians open OVC play this week with two games -- both on the road and both against teams picked to be among the league's top three finishers...

Notre Dame High's Bulldogs will play the first official basketball game in the new school's gymnasium tonight. And it figures to be a special christening because the Bulldogs will take on arch rival Cape Girardeau Central. The tipoff is set for about 7:30 p.m., after the junior varsity contest that begins at 6...

Southeast women basketball players Paula Corder and Pam Iverson were honored by the OVC for their play this past week. Corder was named the OVC Player of the Week and Iverson was awarded the OVC Rookie of the Week. Corder, a junior college transfer from Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, averaged 19 points in three games last week. ...

ST. LOUIS -- Behind 17 points by Kim Aslinger, Cape Girardeau Central High's girls basketball team won its season opener Monday, a 45-33 victory over Francis Howell in the round-robin Oakville Tournament. "We didn't play very well," said new Central coach Darrick Smith. "We were a little nervous at first, but we played pretty well in the third and fourth quarters."...

ST. LOUIS -- Hunter Grantham of Jackson and Kara Schilli of Ste. Genevieve both placed first in their age divisions of the state finals of the NFL Gatorade Punt, Pass & Kick competition held Sunday at the TWA Dome. The finals of the competition were held at halftime of the St. Louis Rams-Atlanta Falcons game...

KELSO -- Werner Lawrence Ressel, 93, of Kelso died Sunday, Nov. 29, 1998, at Jackson Manor in Jackson. He was born May 21, 1905, at Kelso, son of Theodore and Mary Ann Diebold Ressel. Ressel had been owner and operator of Ressel's Cash Store. He was a member of St. Augustine Catholic Church...

Pearl F. Bevill, 91, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Nov. 29, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Jan. 3, 1907, in Cairo, Ill., daughter of William and Anne Rice Franklin. She and Albert L. Underwood were married in 1923 in Cairo. He died in 1925. She and Howard H. Bevill were married April 30, 1937, in Cairo. He died in February 1978...

GRASSY -- James Abner Shiverdeck, 90, of Grassy died Sunday, Nov. 29, 1998, at his home. He was born April 7, 1908, at Cascade, son of James W. "Bud" and Christina Swezzy Shiverdeck. He and Winnie H. Talley were married May 4, 1934. She died Feb. 3, 1997...

Milton Rabey, 61, of Parma died Monday, Nov. 30, 1998, near Parma. He was born April 15, 1937, in Heber Springs, Ark., son of Hyle and Gladys Carr Rabey. He and Joyce Wood were married Oct. 1, 1965, at Lilbourn. Rabey was a retired farm laborer, and member of the Church of God. He had lived in Parma 45 years...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Harry Edwards Windland, 85, of Glen Carbon died Sunday, Nov. 29, 1998, at Rosewood Care Center in Edwardsville. He was born May 28, 1913, in Mounds, son of Harry Jefferson and Mary Edwards Windland. He and Roberta C. Griffith were married in 1938. She died in 1996...

CHARLESTON -- Erlene DeField, 78, of Charleston died Monday, Nov. 30, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born April 22, 1920, at Senath, daughter of George M. and Lula Jane Akers Dye. She and Gerald H. "Jelly" DeField were married Jan. 1, 1939. He died May 2, 1991...

JACKSON -- Geneva Marie Schwartz, 74, of Jackson died Monday, Nov. 30, 1998, in the Emergency Room at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Oct. 11, 1924, in Jackson, daughter of Lloyd and Ruby M. Christy Hitt. She and Vincent Schwartz were married June 25, 1942, in Cape Girardeau...

Daughter to Charles David and Lisa Ann Brown, 1613 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:16 p.m., Friday, Nov. 20, 1998. Name, Natalie Ann. Weight, 5 pounds, 1 ounce. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Brown is the former Lisa Ann Patterson, daughter of Ronnie and Shirley Patterson of New Madrid. She is a home daycare provider. Brown is the son of Eugene and Francis Brown of Kewanee. He is manager of an oil company...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Carl Stanley Britt, 90, of Victorville, Calif., died Thursday, Nov. 26, 1998, at Desert Valley Medical Hospital in Victorville. He was born Feb. 25, 1908, in Columbus, Ky., son of G.L. and Maggie Hayes Britt. He married Willie Forrester, who died Nov. 9, 1985...