Stories from Wednesday, December 6, 2000

As the holiday season approaches, I understand that one of the things on Martha Stewart's to-do list is installing plumbing in her gingerbread house. That would be just like her. But, frankly, I would expect running water to be included in her gingerbread house kit, which also contains plans for a Palais des Poulets based on Martha's chicken coop and retails at $68. At that price, I'd have to look into time-shares...

If you are still wondering what to do with leftover turkey, I have a recipe for you to try. Get a package out of the freezer and try a turkey divan recipe shared by Joan Weeks of Cape Girardeau. When she found herself with more turkey than she knew what to do with, Weeks looked up several recipes and then "did her own thing." The recipe for the week is turkey divan "her way."...

OTTAWA, Ill. -- A Scott City, Mo., man accused of murdering a woman and then dismembering her body can't be sentenced to death or life in prison under Illinois law since the killing was not "heinous," a LaSalle County prosecutor said. When the trial of Richard G. Meyer, 42, begins Monday, the LaSalle County state's attorney's office will seek a sentence of 20 to 60 years in prison, said Brian Towne, first assistant state's attorney. It is the maximum the law allows in Meyer's case, Towne said...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- Leslie Menz is lucky to be alive, let alone a successful college student. But the 24-year-old Menz will graduate from Southeast Missouri State University Saturday, having overcome three strokes from a blood clot in her brain that put her into a coma last year...

A fire Tuesday at Havco Wood Products caused minor damage and no injuries. The fire at the plant near Nash Road and Interstate 55 about 5:30 a.m., started inside a conveyor belt that carries sawdust, battalion chief Steve Niswonger said. The fire was extinguished in a few minutes, but firefighters spent time digging through the sawdust to be sure the fire was out, he said...

ULLIN, Ill. -- Bird counters will be in the wilds this month to participate in the 100th Christmas Bird Count from Dec. 18 to Jan. 5. The Cypress Creek Wildlife Refuge will be the first area count on Dec. 18. The annual bird count was started in December 1900 as a protest to the traditional "bird shoot."...

A honor roll GRADE TWELVE Chad Allen, Thomas Barber, Dawn Berkbigler, Natalie Bohnert, Jamie Brown, Tyler Buchheit, Andrea Buerck, Jennifer Crowder, Christina Degenhardt, Ray Dickmann, Valerie Duvall, Lindsay Ernst, Melanie Evans, Aaron Golchert, Dana Holmes, Chad Huber, Cori Hudson, Jennifer James, Matthew Johnson, Angela Kahmke, Michael Kassel, Katherine Keller, Ryan Kutz, Kimberly Manche, Jamie Martin, Kevin Martin, Gregory Meyer, Johannah Miesner, Nathaniel Moore, Bradley Neathery, Nicole Payne, Rachel Riehn, Melissa Riney, Michael Schmidt, Terry Schneier, Crystal Thieret, Jeremy Thieret, Adam Tiehes, Julie Triller, Jonathan Tucker, Michael Verseman, Natalie Walter, Beth Weinkein, Candice Wideman, Bethany Winschel, Carrie Womack.. ...

Some 1,840 school-age children in Cape Girardeau County and Scott City live in poverty, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The census bureau produced the estimates to help the Department of Education determine how to distribute funding in the Title I program, a federal early-intervention program that provides funding to individual school districts to assist children from poor households. ...

For the third straight year, St. Vincent senior kicker Derek Kutz has been named to the Class 1A all-state team, which was released today. Kutz was the only player in the immediate area to be named first team in classes 1A-3A. The 4A and 5A all-state lists will be released Thursday...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Doniphan eliminated Cape Central from the Sikeston Invitational basketball tournament on Tuesday with a 67-47 consolation victory over the Tigers. Cape Central, which dropped its first-round game to New Madrid on Monday, fell to 1-3 on the season...

Tuesday night will be a night first-year Notre Dame coach Darrin Scott will never forget. And the reason has nothing to do with his Bulldogs giving highly touted Dexter all it could handle in a 79-63 loss at Notre Dame High. Just an hour before game time, Scott's wife, Jana Kay, gave birth to a baby girl, Madison...

For all that Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team has accomplished over the past few seasons, one order of unfinished business kept gnawing at the Indians -- a failure to measure up against regional rival Southern Illinois. In three previous years under coach Gary Garner, the Indians had lost three times to the Salukis by an average of 17 points. ...

William "Bill" Finley, 69, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2000, at the Lutheran Home. He was born Oct. 7, 1931, at Randles, Mo., son of Thomas Richard and Mary Jane Husk Finley. He and Lorene Walton were married Sept. 4, 1948, in Piggott, Ark...

Son to Robert and Sarah Ingram of St. Charles, Mo., St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake St. Louis, Mo., 1:34 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, 2000. Name, Quinn Alexander. Weight, 6 pounds 5 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Ingram is the former Sarah Mueller, daughter of Donald and Jackie Mueller of O'Fallon, Mo. She is employed at Express Scripts in Earth City, Mo. Ingram is the son of Ann Ingram of Oran, Mo., and the late Jim Ingram. He is employed at Spencer Masonry in St. Louis...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Charley J. Durham, 91, of Marble Hill died Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Aug. 9, 1909, at Lowndes, Mo., son of George M. and Pheraby Ritchey Durham. Durham was a retired public school teacher. He was a member of Lowndes Methodist Church, past member of Zalma Masonic Lodge and Order of Eastern Star...

Paul H. Hanf, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Dec. 4, 2000, at Missouri Veterans Home. He was born Feb. 11, 1915, at Avert, Mo., son of Henry and Frances Schearf Hanf. He and Grace Fornkohl were married Jan. 14, 1939, in Cape Girardeau. She died July 6, 1987...

Paul L. Sims, 71, of Creal Springs, Ill., died Sunday, Dec. 3, 2000, at his home. He was born June 29, 1929, in Williamson County, Ill., son of Harry and Ivy Cutsinger Sims. He married Anna Mae Blackwell. Sims was a retired farmer. Survivors include his wife; a son, Jeff Sims of Creal Springs; three brothers, Carl "Johnny" and Charlie Sims of Cape Girardeau, Michael Sims of Marion, Ill.; a sister, Carolyn Fitzpatrick of DeSoto, Mo.; and five grandchildren...

Fieldon Burge Miller, 55, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Dec. 4, 2000, at his home. He was born April 12, 1945, in Cape Girardeau, son of Fieldon M. and Irene Burge Miller. Miller was a graduate of Central High School. He won the national and regional science fair award for physics in 1964. ...

To the editor: State Sen. Peter Kinder believes a governor of Missouri has no authority to appoint a lieutenant governor if that office is vacant. For support, he quoted a statute, which was quite familiar to me, in his Nov. 26 column. I believe, however, that a governor does have that authority, and I earlier quoted in the Southeast Missourian a section from the Missouri Constitution which supported my view...

To the editor: On Nov. 7. Gov. George W. Bush was the winner. Al Gore got his original recount of the votes in Florida. After that, the shenanigans should have ended, but liberal spinsters, partisan judges and Democratic canvassing boards got this mess drawn on long enough to split the nation right down the middle...

It's hard to imagine that it's been more than a year since Elian Gonzalez was plucked out of the ocean by a couple of fishermen. It started as the perfect Thanksgiving story for Americans: The boy from Cardenas, Cuba, was rescued off the coast of South Florida. His mother drowned in her quest for freedom -- her final act apparently lashing her son to the inner tube that saved his life after a boat carrying 14 people sank...

The residents of the upscale St. Louis suburb of Town and Country, Mo., have more to worry about this holiday season than the neighbor's Christmas party. The town is overrun with deer. While the sight of deer in the neighborhood is exciting to some, it's irritating to motorists who have run into a deer. And the animals trample the lush lawns and gardens...

I truly hope I'm wrong about this, but I have come to conclude that Al Gore's perpetual post-election tantrum is just a prelude to the next four years. Democrats, I'm afraid, are just getting warmed up for their Four Years War. Yes, they are trying to change the outcome of the election, even though they know it's a long shot. ...

THE REPUBLICANS are up to their old tricks: win by any means even if it means stealing from the citizens. Al Gore clearly won the country and Florida. The Republicans are scared of a recount because they know the thousands of uncounted votes are for Gore. ...

To the editor: Watching the animated figures at the local mall with my kids this past weekend got me wondering about the Hutson Furniture Co. display my family used to take me to see when I was their age. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up the semissourian.com Web site and there was a picture of this year's display...