Stories from Wednesday, January 30, 1991

CAPE GIRARDEAU - From the year Christopher Columbus landed in the New World in 1492, ships have played an important role in the history of this country, especially in times of war. The ships used by Columbus were small and mere toys compared to modern vessels, especially those taking part in crisis in the desert the eighth war this country has been engaged in fighting during the 20th century...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Four Southeast Missouri State University students from Cape Girardeau have been named to the 1991 edition of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Jeana L. Johnson, Michael Christopher Stone, Corey J. Muench and Johnda R. Boyce were among the 23 Southeast students selected as national outstanding leaders...

The 1980 population of the city was listed at 26,287. The latest census figure, for 1990, was 27,033. (CORRECTION RAN 1-31-91, PAGE 4A) CAIRO, Ill. Cairo, like many other Southern Illinois cities and villages, figures there was a miscount somewhere in the 1990 census...

MORLEY -- Kindergarteners and World War II veterans, toddlers and high school seniors, parents and teachers stood together waving American flags and showing support for the men and women serving in the Persian Gulf during a ceremony at Scott County Central Schools Tuesday...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Val~entine greetings, containing everything from scripture to jokes and candy to Kool-Aid mix, are on their way to U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf. About 20 youngsters, from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade at the Cape Christian School in Cape Girardeau, made a trip to the post office Tuesday to mail five packages containing valentine greetings...

JACKSON -- Races will take place for two of the four Jackson aldermanic wards and for the city collector's office in the April 2 municipal elections. Races also have developed for two, two-year seats and a one-year unexpired seat on the Jackson R-2 Board of Education...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Missouri Secretary of State Roy Blunt is urging legislators to pass a law limiting contributions candidates for public office can receive from individuals and political action committees. Blunt said it is important to reduce the impact of PACs and special-interest groups on campaigns. Those contributions tend to give incumbents a big advantage and also leave a conception among people that elected officials are controlled by special-interest groups, he said...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Two Cape Girardeau men were arrested Monday after being indicted by a Cape Girardeau County grand jury on drug charges, Cape Girardeau Police reported Tuesday. Also indicted on a drug charge was a Charleston man who was already in custody at the Mississippi County Jail in Charleston on an unrelated charge, police said...

SN. Erik Harper USS Shreveport LPD-12 FPO New York, NY 09587-1714 (CORRECTION RAN 1-31-91, PAGE2A) SN. ERIK N. HARPER U.S. NAVY Seaman Harper is the son of Barbara Harper of Cape Girardeau. He graduated from Meadow Heights High School in 1987 and attended Cape public schools through the eighth grade...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Clarence H. Blattel, 76, of Wappapello, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Tuesday, Jan. 29, 1991 at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 24, 1914, in Kelso to the late Louis and Bertha Compas Blattel. On Jan. 2, 1942, in Advance, he married the former Clara Ladine Kern...

CHARLESTON -- John Frank "Johnny" Norville, 57, of Redding, Calif. and formerly of Charleston died Sunday at the Redding Medical Center. He was born Nov. 20, 1933 in Ridgely, Tenn. to Della Boyer Tatum, who survives of Anniston, and the late Samuel Augusta Norville...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Woodrow F. (Woody) Warren of Sikeston was held Tuesday at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Larry Rouse officiated, assisted by the Rev. Raymond Myrick. Burial was in Garden of Memories Cemetery. Warren, 77 years old, died Sunday, Jan. 27, 1991, at Sikeston Health Care Center...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Ira (Buster) Hill of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. Pat Hogan will officiate, with burial in Garden of Memories Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 5 p.m. today. Hill, 78 years old, died Monday, Jan. 28, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

VANDUSER -- Funeral service for Ross J. Boley of Vanduser will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Morley Church of Christ. Woodrow Phillips will officiate, with burial in Forest Hills Memorial Gardens near Morley. Friends may call at Amick-Burnett Funeral Home in Oran after 4 p.m. today...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Funeral service for former Madison County Prosecuting Attorney John W. Reid II of Fredericktown will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the United Methodist Church. The Revs. Don Kuehle and Shelby Barnhart will officiate. Friends may call at the funeral home after 5 p.m. today...

CANALOU -- Funeral service for Johnny Lee Layton of Canalou will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Sikeston. The Rev. Kelly Tolbert will officiate, with burial in New Morley Cemetery at Morley. Friends may call at the funeral home after 5 p.m. today...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral service for Frank N. Forbey of Charleston will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston. The Rev. Gerald Collier will officiate and burial will be in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Charleston. Mr. Forbey died Tuesday at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was 86...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A merchant says he is giving away yellow-ribbon bows in hopes that people will put them on their vehicle antennas to show support for U.S. military personnel in the Middle East. Mike Redfearn, owner of Party Palace, Town Plaza, said he plans to give away at least 5,000 bows...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A majority of faculty and graduating seniors surveyed at Southeast Missouri State University said they would prefer commencement exercises be held the weekend after final exams. Currently, commencement exercises are held the weekend before final exams. But Southeast's Student Government has called for the change, arguing that it's difficult for seniors to study for final exams when their weekend is taken up with commencement activities...

In a movie called "Lost in America," Albert Brooks played an advertising executive who, ticked at an office slight, gives up a lucrative job for early retirement, Winnebago dinners and self-discovery. Within weeks, the open road proves unfriendly and, due to some bad fortune (his wife loses the family savings at a roulette table), the Brooks character finds himself at an Arizona employment office, looking for work, though in a finicky way...

The pulse of a community can often be monitored by the health of its business and industry. By that measuring stick of success, Southeast Missouri can feel prosperous. According to the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission, 217 businesses opened their doors last year in the seven-county region served by the agency. An additional 29 businesses expanded in the region...

JACKSON - Bonnie Ourth believes that teaching is an important career. "Without teachers," Ourth explained, "there would be no doctors, lawyers, nurses, engineers, etc." Ourth teaches sixth grade at Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Jackson. She has taught there for 13 years, but the road she took to get there began as a part-time career...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Notre Dame High School will administer a placement test Saturday to eighth grade students interested in attending the school. The test will be given from 8:30 to 9:15 a.m. at the school, 1912 Ritter Drive. While students are taking the test, parents will meet with the principal who will provide information about the school...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A workshop on storytelling will be held Feb. 7, sponsored by Workshop on Wheels. The program, "Once Upon a Time," will be held at Minor Baptist Day Care in Sikeston beginning at 7 p.m. Tonya Merritt will teach preschool teachers about creative storytelling and expressive language. The participants will be shown techniques on how to be at ease while storytelling. The presentation will conclude with several demonstrations of stories, materials and resources...

Among the clippings enclosed in my Christmas mail was another tickler by humorist Dave Barry, whom readers have met before in the guise of Mr. Language Person. Barry writes for Knight-Ridder newspapers, and sometimes conducts or pretends to conduct question-answer seminars through his column. This time around, he included a question we doubt was more than 50 percent authentic: "When should I say between and when should I say amongst?"...