Out of the Past

Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, of the 27th Senatorial District, is recipient of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce's Spirit of Enterprise Award; Kinder accepted the award recently during the chamber's 23rd annual Legislative Action Seminar at Lake of the Ozarks...

The third annual Reformation Fest is held in the afternoon at Old Hanover Lutheran Church; Dr. Charles T. Knippel, professor emeritus of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, is guest preacher; hymns are played on the old-fashioned reed pump organ in the church; Old Hanover School, a museum of Lutheranism, is open after the service, and a coffee and punch reception also follows the service...

A member of the Scott City Board of Education unexpectedly resigned from his position last month, saying, "I decided there weren't enough hours in the day"; the school board accepted Tom Anderson's resignation at last week's meeting. A train engineer was slightly injured and a load of soybeans destroyed yesterday after a truck owned by B&J Trucking was hit by a Burlington-Northern train; the train was traveling north about 9:15 a.m. ...

An agreement allowing Cape Girardeau County to house jail inmates at The Gibson Recovery Center is nearly final; inmates could be moved to the center at 1112 Linden in Cape Girardeau as early as mid-November; a contract with Gibson would alleviate overcrowding at the jail in Jackson; jail capacity is 65, and when the number of inmates reaches into the low 70s, they must be housed elsewhere...

Reductions in the size of the U.S. military have paid a dividend for regional law enforcement; taking advantage of a program to get rid of surplus equipment, the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department recently picked up two military helicopters free of charge; the department becomes the only law enforcement agency in Southeast Missouri to have its own aircraft...

A public hearing next month could prompt the federal government to steer clear of historic homes in choosing a site for a U.S. courthouse in downtown Cape Girardeau; significant opposition from property owners and residents would lead the federal government to look at alternative sites downtown, says Jim Ogden of the General Services Administration's regional office in Kansas City; Ogden also says federal budget cuts could halt the project; however, an aide to U.S. ...

After more than 30 years of helping the community, Les Crump has been recognized for his volunteer work; Crump was one of 10 people who received the Governor's Adult Leadership Award at the Missouri Community Betterment Conference; he was nominated by the Scott City Community Betterment Club...

A sales tax case involving the Southeast Missourian will be heard by the Missouri Supreme Court next month and could have a major impact on the state's newspaper industry; the case, Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian and Concord Publishing House vs. Director of Revenue, involves an appeal of a sales tax ruling; it will be argued Nov. 2 in the Supreme Court Building in Jefferson City...

Dr. George W. Westlake Jr. is the guest speaker at First Assembly of God Church as part of the church's 75th anniversary; Westlake was pastor at First Assembly from 1964 to the early 1970s; under his direction, the congregation relocated from South Sprigg Street to 750 Mount Auburn Road...

Allied Waste Management has been given the OK by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to close the former Jackson landfill and open a transfer station in town; DNR approved the closure of the landfill last week, clearing the way for Allied and Jackson to finalize a real estate deal that will enable the proposed transfer station to be built near the Jackson Industrial Park...

Some things may get better with age, but not school buildings; replacing Cape Girardeau's aging elementary schools and constructing new buildings were top priorities at a Vision Planning meeting last night; about 30 people attended the meeting at the Junior High School; it was the sixth community meeting conducted by the Vision Planning Committee...

Disobeying immoral laws -- if you can pay the price -- is Americans' duty, Dr. Walter Williams tells audiences at Southeast Missouri State University; Williams, an economist and syndicated columnist, tells two audiences -- a classroom and public lecture at Academic Hall -- that if he had his way, government would have an extremely limited role in society; Williams serves as chairman of the economics department at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and writes a weekly column published in 125 newspapers; he also has authored several books.. ...

The Cape Girardeau City Council balked last night at a Southeast Missouri State University plan to move the Henderson-New Madrid intersection project ahead of others on the transportation tax plan; the council tabled the issue at its study session after councilmen Melvin Gateley and Richard Eggimann said such a move would violate the city's promise to voters, who approved the transportation tax in an election in August...

Michael G. Miller hasn't had much time to think about his new job as Cape Girardeau city manager; he begins his duties today and will attend the City Council meeting tonight; he and his wife, Janice, just bought a home in the Northfield area and moved in the first week of October...

A farewell reception for the Stuart Cavcey family is held Sunday in the morning at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1820 Perryville Road; Karen Cavcey and children, Amanda and Morgan, will be joining her husband in Barbados, where he is a recreation center supervisor...

Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri State University give away 400 wire-mesh compost bins to encourage residents to compost leaves and other yard waste; residents also receive a free composting wheel with step-by-step instructions on home composting; the bins are an effort to educate people about composting and encourage them to turn yard waste into mulch...

The Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee is scheduled to decide next week whether to grant a request from Saint Francis Medical Center to purchase a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system; hospital officials have applied for a certificate of need to spend $1.65 million to replace the existing MRI unit; the lease on the current unit has expired...

A new concept in health care has been introduced in the Cape Girardeau area: Immediate Healthcare Inc., a walk-in doctor's clinic; the clinic opened yesterday at 1702 N. Kingshighway near the intersection of Lexington Avenue and Mount Auburn Drive; Dr. Robb R. Hicks, an emergency room physician, staffs the new clinic...

Officials say action taken last week by the Missouri Highway Commission created a win-win situation for Jackson, Oak Ridge and Cape Girardeau County; thanks to a recommendation by the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department, Jackson has been placed on the department's 15-year plan with Oak Ridge, a plan that could allow for interstate interchanges to be built near both towns after 1998...

A Federal Aviation Administration official has concluded that the control tower at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport is "mission essential"; that conclusion leaves city officials and airport advisory board members optimistic that the FAA will continue to fund the airport tower; the city expects a final decision from the FAA this month...

The Royal N'Orleans Restaurant, at Broadway and Lorimier Street in downtown Cape Girardeau, is under new ownership; John and Jerrianne Wyman of Merriwether Investments Inc. started operating the restaurant Oct. 1; the Wymans are only the third owner of the Royal N'Orleans Restaurant, established in the historic Old Opera House in the mid-1950s by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Barnhouse; Dennis Stockard acquired the property and restaurant in 1987...

The congregation of St. Andrew Lutheran Church celebrates the 38th anniversary of the church; at morning services, a quilt made by the Lutheran Women's Missionary League is used to illustrate "We are family -- the family of God." The Rev. Charles Dreyer, interim pastor at First Presbyterian Church, observes 35 years in the ministry; Dr. ...

Good Ol' Days are held in Jackson under a sunny sky; vendors turn out in droves and big crowds enjoy old-fashioned entertainment, such as pony rides, wool-spinning demonstrations and rail splitting; no one seems too disappointed that the most popular event on the program -- a fake robbery of Capital Bank -- doesn't materialize...

About 35 Union Electric Co. utility employees, most dressed in blue jeans, T-shirts and baseball caps, left Cape Girardeau yesterday for Birmingham, Alabama; they will help that state recover from wind and storm damage sustained Wednesday, when Hurricane Opal hit the Florida Panhandle; several area crews volunteered for the trip, but will be paid for their work; they will be restoring power and utilities in the areas hit by Opal, primarily in Alabama, where about 935,000 people are without power.. ...

An industry that made its appearance on the Cape Girardeau manufacturing scene a decade ago has been honored as the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's 1995 industry of the year; Spartech of St. Louis was recognized last night with the "Commitment to Excellence" award during the chamber's annual industrial appreciation dinner, held at the Show Me Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus...

The first of 15 community meetings to help the Cape Girardeau Board of Education set a course for the next five years will be held tonight at Franklin Elementary School; the meetings are being conducted by the Vision Planning Committee, a newly formed group charged with collecting information from the community and school district staff about the direction the school district should take...

Schools, homes and businesses emptied yesterday afternoon as people hurried to positions on streets near Jackson High School and the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse; 19 school bands from around the area made the short trip around downtown for the 51st annual Jackson Band Festival; the Jackson Junior High Band started the festivities; other groups followed, playing everything from traditional marches to Simon and Garfunkel tunes; the Jackson Senior High Band ended the parade, playing its traditional "Everything's Coming Up Roses.". ...

Clean up your mess, the Cape Girardeau City Council tells developers and contractors; the council unanimously votes to require them to clean the mud and dirt off of streets and control water runoff and erosion around their construction sites; violators could be fined from $100 to $500 per day...

The congregation of Christ Episcopal Church has purchased a five-acre tract northwest of Route W and Boutin Drive and plans to build a new facility; services were held at the site Sept. 17, followed by a picnic. The congregation of Third Street United Methodist Church celebrates Worldwide Communion Day with an outdoor service at Cape County Park South; a potluck dinner follows...

Prosecutors' offices in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties report a significant increase in the number of people making restitution on bad checks; the payments come after the results of a three-day sting operation were announced by Missouri's attorney general and the Cape Girardeau and Scott county sheriffs; many of the 101 people nabbed in the sting were wanted for passing bad checks...

A sting operation has led to the capture of 101 people who were being sought by law enforcement agencies in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties; the Cape Girardeau-based sting, dubbed Operation Lam Scam, was the fourth such sting operation in the state; the three-day operation involved a clandestine and elaborate scheme to lure people to an office on the pretense they would be given a check for $2,500...

A Cape Girardeau school district fund-raising foundation established in December 1993 has been revived with four former school board members at the helm; the four are Kathy Swan, Pat Ruopp, Lyle Davis and Ed Thompson; all either resigned from the school board or decided not to run for re-election this year; Steve Wright, a current school board member, also serves on the foundation board; board members will meet today to establish bylaws...

The Jackson Board of Education voted Tuesday night to unload its three-classroom school building in Burfordville, hopefully before the district has to pay winterizing expenses; the first classes met there in 1956, when three teachers instructed students in six grades; the class sizes slowly shrank and hit an all-time low last year, when one fifth-grade and one sixth-grade class met in Burfordville; this year, the rural building and its two acres are dormant...

Money is tight and its building is too small, but Southeast Missouri State University officials and state lawmakers have no intention of letting the Regional Crime Lab close; school officials met with state Reps. Mary Kasten, Joe Heckemeyer and Pat Naeger recently to discuss creative ways to pay for a new crime lab building; the lab serves about 45 law enforcement agencies in Southeast Missouri, including local offices of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, from an old house on the edge of the university campus.. ...

A man who has shown his love for the arts through the donation of his time is the newest recipient of the Otto Dingeldein Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts; the honoree, John Wiseman, is a longtime musician with the Cape Municipal Band who has been active in the River Heritage Museum, the Community Concert Association and the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri...

The annual Old McKendree meeting is held in the afternoon at Old McKendree Chapel near Jackson; guest speaker is Dr. Jack D. Montgomery, pastor of Huffman Memorial United Methodist Church of St. Joseph, Missouri; music is provided by the Liberty Men Quartet of Libertyville United Methodist Church...

Academic Search Consultation Service has been hired by the Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Regents to lead its search for a university president; the Washington-based, not-for-profit organization will charge $31,000 for its help in the search process, which is expected to take about five months...

The LifeBeat pilot at the stick when the helicopter crashed Wednesday morning in Union County, Illinois, says he "ran out of altitude" and hit the ground after flying into a fog bank; Bob Campbell, 41, of Cape Girardeau was attempting to return to the helipad at Southeast Hospital when the copter crashed, injuring the three-member flight crew; the team was responding to a traffic accident near Cobden, Illinois...

Cape Girardeau's Historic Preservation Commission is lending its support to residents of an historic downtown neighborhood fighting a government proposal to locate a new federal building in the area; meeting last night at City Hall, the nine-member commission unanimously agreed to send a letter opposing the idea to the regional representative of the General Services Administration...

After a year of trying to recruit a Cape Girardeau hospital, Humana Health Care Plans this week designated Southeast Hospital part of its managed-care network; Southeast didn't sign a contract and didn't have to agree to the designation. Keith Campbell, who hails from Panama City, Florida, is helping his crew construct a 60-by-120-foot ice skating rink for the Walt Disney World on Ice performances that will take place at the Show Me Center Friday through Sunday; Campbell works for Ringling Bros. ...

The Cape Girardeau City Council voted unanimously last night to approve the preliminary plat of The Capes Subdivision, after listening to objections from about 40 residents of the Sylvan Lane area; Mayor Al Spradling III said the council had no choice but to approve the preliminary plat; he said a Florida developer's plan to build 59 homes on a site on the southeast corner of Sprigg and Bertling meets the city's zoning regulations...

Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel recently opened in its new quarters at 829 N. West End Blvd., only the fourth site in the 85-year history of the Cape Girardeau business; the facility, built in the mid-1950s, previously housed First Christian Church and includes two chapels...

The Rev. Greg Dowd is the new pastor of Bible Missionary Church in Cape Girardeau; this is his first pastorate, although he has held several revivals while attending Bible Missionary Institute in Rock Island, Illinois; he and his wife, Rebecca, have a daughter, Lauren...

U.S. Rep Bill Emerson toured the SEMO District Fair yesterday, talking with Southeast Missouri farmers a day after introducing an alternative 1995 farm bill in Washington; he stopped by the Cape County Farm Bureau tent with his guest, John Greenway, a member of the British House of Commons; Greenway visited Emerson and the fair six years ago on official business; he's back this year on vacation...

Talk to a native Cape Girardean about the SEMO District Fair and he'll inevitably say two things: It always rains during fair week and it always turns cooler; this year's event has seen a few sprinkles and one brief downpour, but the weather is drawing people out, not keeping them home; advertising chairman Steve Engles says the first half of fair week was one of the busiest ever; when the fair closed Wednesday night, Engles estimated 52,500 people had visited so far; the attendance record stands at 115,816 in 1984.. ...

The Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission last night unanimously recommended the City Council approve plans for a residential subdivision despite opposition from nearby residents; commissioners said they had no choice but to approve the preliminary plat for the 28-acre site at the southeast corner of Sprigg and Bertling streets because it met all city zoning and subdivision regulations; after the meeting, commissioners said it is questionable whether the developer, DeHarder Real Estate of Satellite Beach, Florida, has the finances to proceed with what would be called The Capes Subdivision project.. ...

Apples are bigger, tastier and better in quality, but they might be fewer this fall; overall, the crop looks great in Illinois and OK in Missouri; the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Services predicts an apple crop of 32 million pounds, down from 56 million pounds in 1993...

Cape Girardeau city officials haven't decided on their next step in the wake of a judge's ruling that has dammed up efforts to build a dry detention reservoir; the ruling is almost certain to delay a key part of the Cape LaCroix/Walker Branch flood-control project, city officials say; Judge Michael Bullerdieck on Aug. 31 threw out a condemnation lawsuit brought by the city in its efforts to acquire land for a 157-acre detention basin east of County Road 620 and northwest of Route W...

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education says it is an honor for superintendent of schools, Dr. Neyland Clark, to teach courses at Southeast Missouri State University, and he hasn't violated his contract by doing so; Clark's university teaching schedule had been questioned by board member Dr. Ferrell Ervin; in other action, the board votes to refund Amy Randol $300 of the $700 she spent to investigate district financial records...

The Rev. Frederick Schmucker of Cape Girardeau will spend the fall term as an instructor in pastoral care at the Center for Evangelical Theology of the University of Klaipeda, Lithuania; Schmucker will serve as a Lutheran mission volunteer representing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America...

A group of Cape Girardeau leaders gathered yesterday to hear Mid-America Teen Challenge announce a three-year building fund campaign to raise more than $500,000 from the area, part of a $3 million statewide goal; the money will be used to improve deteriorated, outdated and overcrowded residential dorms and administrative offices at the 312-acre campus 5 miles north of Cape Girardeau...

About 75 people jammed into Julie and Jeff Briney's restored Fountain Street house last night to begin an effort to steer the planned federal building away from downtown blocks that contain several historic houses; the General Services Administration has expressed particular interest in the block bounded by North Lorimier, Themis, Fountain and Independence streets, reportedly because the topography allows for underground parking without a large amount of excavation...

The government doesn't want a battle to secure a site for a new U.S. courthouse in Cape Girardeau, says Jim Ogden of the General Service Administration's regional office in Kansas City; the GSA wants to deal with property owners who are willing to sell; preservationists are worried the government might buy up a downtown neighborhood that includes a number of historic homes and raze them for the 72,000-square-foot courthouse...

Dr. Bill Atchley settled in over the Labor Day weekend and promptly was greeted by a Cape Girardeau woman who told him she hoped he would "straighten up" Southeast Missouri State University; Atchley laughs when he tells the story, but the university's interim president makes it clear he won't just steer the same course as his predecessor, Dr. Kala Stroup; the 63-year-old Cape Girardeau native says he wants to improve rapport between the city and the university...

Labor Day weekend was long on labor and short on relaxation for about 100 volunteers and members of the SEMO District Fair Board who prepared for the fair's opening next week; the volunteers erected wood fencing around the perimeter of Arena Park, set up parking booths and built a concrete fence around the grandstand; the 140th annual district fair kicks off Sunday and continues through Sept. 16 at Arena Park...

Around 3,000 people participated in the two-day Black Family Reunion here, sponsored by the River Heritage Coalition for Minority Affairs; the weekend event featured a talent show, gospel concert, seminars, basketball games and a prayer brunch, ending Sunday with a fellowship picnic at Capaha Park; participants visited from the Bootheel, Northwestern Tennessee, Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky...

A service of consecration is held in the morning at the new La Croix United Methodist Church facility, 3102 Lexington Ave.; Bishop Anne Sherer preaches at the service. A new program titled "Roundtable" begins on KUGT Radio 1170 AM; the Rev. Scott Lohse, senior pastor at New McKendree United Methodist Church in Jackson, hosts the weekly, 15-minute pre-taped program; a rotating panel of area clergy will participate, offering insights and opinions...

Cape Girardeau officials hope to convince the Federal Aviation Administration to fund the regional airport control tower operation under a cost-sharing plan; city officials say that would be far better than losing federal funding entirely; the FAA currently reimburses the city for the $170,000 annual cost of operating the tower; under the cost-sharing plan, the FAA would pay the city about $145,000 annually for the tower operation...

Scheduling school would be a lot simpler if the Cape Girardeau School District's classrooms had air conditioning; but air conditioning the city's public schools would cost $4.5 million or more; business manager Steve DelVecchio says any project costing several million dollars would have to be part of a long-range plan; this week, the lack of AC forced officials to dismiss school early when heat indexes in some classrooms topped 100 degrees...