Stories from Saturday, April 22, 2000

On Easter morning, when church attendance increases dramatically, two typically well attended Cape Girardeau church buildings will be empty. First Assembly of God and Lynwood Baptist are celebrating Easter in arenas. "In the past, we were at the Arena Building on Easter," said Gary Belcher, minister of music at Lynwood. "But we got as many as we could in there last year. The Show Me Center is the next sized place."...

One minute you're carefree, driving an ATV down a gravel road on a sunny day. The next thing you know, people are using a chain saw to make you fit into a waiting ambulance. Driving a friend's ATV outside Zalma Thursday afternoon, Michael Jansen turned his head for a moment and when he turned back to the road ran over a downed tree branch. Five feet long and two inches in diameter, the branch rode a front wheel up into the 19-year-old's right shin, impaling it...

Could Cape Girardeau really protect itself from invading marauders? Southeast Missourian editor Joe Sullivan believes the city should be on its guard, what with the planned invasion by the Time Warner Empire next week. Time magazine will host a community forum Wednesday as part of a series of stops along the Mississippi River. Sullivan thinks the magazine's visit will torpedo the town's good image by focusing on negative publicity generated by last summer's melee on Good Hope Street...

Copyright 2000 Southeast Missourian A Catholic organization may donate or loan a collection of rare books, paperweights and art pieces to Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus museum. The collection is housed in the library at St. Mary's of the Barrens in Perryville. Among the rare books are 150 Bibles, including a first-edition King James Bible and part of a 15th century Gutenberg Bible. The collection also has manuscripts dating back to the 12th century...

PERRYVILLE -- A new board to manage county tax funds designated for the handicapped has been appointed by the Perry County Commission, but its existence is already being contested. The three-member commission named nine people Thursday to serve on the county's Senate Bill 40 board, which is in charge of appropriating nearly $190,000 annually to the sheltered workshop, group homes or other handicapped-related services...

Southeast Night at Busch Stadium has topped the 1,000 ticket mark. Organizers are hoping more than 1,500 from Southeast Missouri attend the Cardinal game at Busch Stadium on Saturday, June 3. The game begins at 7:10 against the Cleveland Indians. The event is co-sponsored by the Southeast Missourian and Southeast Missouri State University...

Life is clear and matter-of-fact to a toddler. They know what they understand, and they know that understanding is always only another question away. Sometimes that question is "Why?" There can be no more hated word in the universal language of parenthood than that word out of the mouth of a child...

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan has been chosen to coordinate the distribution of $2.4 million in federal funds to law enforcement agencies around the state trying to combat production of methamphetamine. The money comes the Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services program...

One of the unfortunate myths of our popular culture is that Christianity is a superstition whose beliefs are incompatible with reason and will not stand up to scrutiny. As Easter approaches, let's take a look. To begin, let's dispel this notion that Jesus never asserted his own deity. ...

Legitimate expense or golden parachute? Determining which was the aim of Missouri Auditor Claire McCaskill when she reviewed 14 contracts from seven of Missouri's universities. Of the 14, only three were singled out for comment, including Dr. Dale Nitzschke's contract as chancellor at Southeast Missouri State University...

The Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents has chartered a middle school for at-risk sixth, seventh and eighth graders in St. Louis. Will this solve all the educational problems facing public schools in the city of St. Louis? Not entirely...

I went to see the Vietnam Memorial Wall. I had to go. I don't much think I wanted to, but I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Vietnam was a war that most of us would like to forget. We have the sneaking suspicion in the backs of our minds that we were somehow responsible and that seeing the wall might prove it...

To the editor: I desire to comment on your front-page article April 16 regarding fuel-tax money siphoned off roads. I am no longer a petroleum marketer, but as a member of the Oil Jobbers of Missouri Association we tried to bring this issue up a number of times. ...

To the editor: Many thanks to David Limbaugh for his April 18 column. He has managed to demonstrate my prior observations concerning the misrepresentation of Karl Marx more eloquently and gracefully than I could ever hope to. Before proceeding with this, however, I would be remiss if I did not also thank Karl Mindeman for his letter of the same day. ...

Southeast Missouri State University golf coach Carroll Williams believes his team has a shot at winning the Ohio Valley Conference championship -- but Williams can't help but think about what might have been. The Indians finished second in last year's OVC meet and expected to return most of their key players...

The old adage in baseball is that good pitching stops good hitting most of the time. Never was that more in evidence than Friday afternoon, when Southeast Missouri State University's Indians and Morehead State's Eagles hooked up in an Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader at Capaha Field...

Fresh off a 5-0 win over the University of Missouri, Southeast Missouri State University's softball team will return to Ohio Valley Conference play today. Austin Peay will provide the opposition for the Otahkians in a 2 p.m. doubleheader at the Southeast Softball Complex...

The Southeast Missouri State University men's and women's track teams will host Tennessee-Martin in a dual meet at 12:30 p.m. today at the Abe Stuber Track & Field Complex. A number of unattached individuals and individual entries from other college teams will also compete in the non-scored meet...

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team has announced the signing of Christine Rathke, a 5-foot-7 senior guard from Franklin High School in Franklin, Wis. Rathke was named honorable-mention all-state in Wisconsin after she averaged 19.1 points per game while shooting 46 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range as a senior...

Graveside service for Delbert P. Farrow of Henley will be held at 2 p.m. today at Lindsey Cemetery in McClure, Ill. Freeman Mortuary in Jefferson City is in charge of arrangements. Farrow, 79, died Thursday, April 20, 2000, at his home. He was born April 6, 1921, in Cape Girardeau, son of Claude and Laura Lee Ward Farrow. He and Betty L. Gregory were married July 19, 1963, in Cape Girardeau...

ESSEX -- Mary Evelyn Lankford, 87, of Essex died Friday, April 21, 2000, at Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Center in Dexter. She was born Aug. 2, 1913, in Essex, daughter of Charles and Nellie Miles Ellis. She and Bryan Lankford were married Nov. 5, 1932, in Essex. He died Dec. 3,1990...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral for Blanche Edwards of East Prairie will be held at 1 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie. Burl Britt will officiate. Graveside service will be at 3:30 p.m. in Zion Cemetery near Columbus, Ky. Edwards, 89, died Thursday, April 20, 2000, at East Prairie Nursing Center...

SHOOK -- Funeral for William Arvel Norton of Shook will be held at 10 a.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Puxico. The Rev. Rudy Pittman will officiate. Burial will be in Richmann Cemetery near Wappapello. Norton, 87, died Thursday, April 20, 2000, at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis...

Daughter to Tracy Nicole Crowden of Chaffee, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 9:03 a.m. Tuesday, April 4, 2000. Name, Tamera Dale. Weight, 6 pounds 4 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Ms. Crowden is the daughter of Donna and Dale Hobeck of Delta. Son to Marcus Eric Johnson and Wendy Lee Edwards of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 2:26 p.m. ...

Five Charleston men who were arrested on cocaine trafficking charges will be held without bond, the U.S. Attorney's office said. There are no guarantees that the defendants would appear in court or that the community would be safe if they were released on bond, said Lewis M. Blanton, U.S. magistrate judge...

JACKSON -- Funeral for Fred Brown Clippard Sr. of Jackson will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home. Dr. Brian Anderson will officiate. Burial will be in Russell Heights Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. Sunday. A Masonic service will be held at 7...