Stories from Wednesday, February 6, 1991

In his younger days, before he became an elder statesman of American literature, Kurt Vonnegut hacked out a living like all upstart writers. One of his short stories, he admitted with a grimace later, found its way into Ladies' Home Journal. The story was based on an afternoon he spent with his bride-to-be. "Shame, shame, to have lived scenes from a woman's magazine," Vonnegut conceded...

(alternate title: The air is reeking with "wrecking" for "wreaking") Lake Superior State University at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., has released its annual list of abused and overused words and expressions, based on submissions by the public from newspapers, radio, television, and their own conversations. I note with some satisfaction that a number of offenses banned by the group have been on my hit list for years...

Southeast Missouri State University has long been a leader in business education. Now, the university has embarked on a new business venture: a technology park. The university hopes to attract small, light manufacturing companies that will forge an alliance with higher education in terms of student internships, research and much more...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Southeast Missouri Postal Customer Council is conducting a 1991 postal rates conference today at the Show Me Center. The conference is one of a series of semi-annual meetings. Seminars are scheduled on rate information for first through fourth class mail and special services. Automation guidelines for each section will be discussed. Those attending can bring a sample piece of their mailings to test it for the automated process...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Romance but Didn't Know Who to Ask" is the topic of the January Woman of the '90s luncheon. The luncheon will be held at noon Friday at the St. Francis Information Center. The center is in the Heartland Plaza in Jackson...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Property tax relief is expected to be one of the hottest issues during the 1991 Illinois legislative session says John R. Davis. "Many small business owners feel that property taxes are the most unfair taxes of all," said Davis, state director of the Illinois/National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), during a visit here recently...

GORDONVILLE -- Three people, including an 8-year-old girl, were injured Tuesday when a Jackson R-2 school bus and a car collided head-on on Route OO five miles west of Gordonville. Twelve students ranging from elementary to high-school age were aboard the bus when the accident occurred at 4:05 p.m. The 8-year-old, Ronna L. Cook of Whitewater Route 1, was the only student injured...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- City officials next month will seek an $800,000, two-year grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development to rehabilitate low-income housing in south Cape Girardeau. City Code Inspector Steve Williams said the city will apply for the funds through the state's Community Block Grant Development Program (CBGD). The program previously was used to rehabilitate four neighborhoods in northeast and southeast Cape Girardeau...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Area commercial and business loan customers will realize immediate benefits from the lower prime interest rates. The rates were chopped from 9.5 to 9 percent this week after the Federal Reserve cut its discount rate from 6.5 to 6 percent Friday...

JACKSON -- A combination of low voter turnout and greater-than-expected opposition led to the narrow defeat Tuesday of a proposal to annex 345 acres of land into the city of Jackson. Because it has been defeated twice, the proposal cannot be resubmitted to voters for at least two years...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Student senators at Southeast Missouri State University ousted Mike Hartsook as Student Government president Monday night, apparently marking the first such impeachment in the school's history. "We've had presidents resign before, but to my knowledge there has never been an impeachment of a Student Government president," said Bob Beodeker, Student Government adviser...

POPLAR BLUFF - Voters defeated by a wide margin a tax levy increase for the Poplar Bluff School District Tuesday. The no votes totaled 4,320 while there were 1,831 yes votes counted. District officials had asked voters to raise the school tax levy to $2.66 per $100 assessed property valuation. The rate remains at $1.51...

SPEC. CLARENCE BAHNER, U.S. ARMY Spec. Bahner is the son of Alice Bahner of Cape Girardeau. He attended Cape Central High School before enlisting in the Army in March, 1989. He is married to Lee An Bahner, who lives in Cape Girardeau with the couple's 18-month-old son, Kyle...

JIM PENDER Occupation: Head custodian, Louis J. Schultz School. The best part of my job is: "The variety of tasks." What do you do in your spare time?: "Attend auto races, family outings church activities, house fix-up and fix-it projects." The book I'd recommend is: "The Bible."...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Local support for the U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf war continues to surface in a variety of ways. Southeast Missouri State University mailed off a video tape Monday to Glenn McFadden and other local members of a Naval Reserve fleet hospital stationed in the island nation of Bahrain, located in the Persian Gulf...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Satellite educational programming is coming close to being a reality for the Nell Holcomb R-4 School District. On Tuesday a 10-foot satellite dish went up at the Nell Holcomb Elementary School on Highway 177 north of Cape Girardeau. By the end of this week, the dish should be on line, said Doyle Parmer, owner and operator of Dutchtown Electronics, which is installing the dish and receiver equipment...

CHAFFEE - The city of Chaffee Real Estate Committee has recommended that the city not appeal a judge's decision that allows an organization to construct a building addition that would block an alleyway. The recommendation came at the Chaffee City Council's Monday night meeting. The council took it under consideration...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Cape Girardeau County's gross regional product is expected to be the same this year as last, an economist at Southeast Missouri State University said. Dr. Bruce Domazlicky, associate professor of economics, said growth in Cape County is likely to be affected by a sluggish forecast for the Gross National Product, the nation's measure of the production of goods and services. The GNP is expected to show almost no growth in 1991...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Private funeral service was held recently for Harold E. Niebuhr of Austin, Tex., at Harrell Funeral Home there. Niebuhr, 81 years old, died Tuesday, Jan. 29, 1991. He received a B.A. degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin, master's in education from Southwest Texas State University at San Marcos, and Ph.D. in educational psychology from East Texas State University at Commerce...

SIKESTON -- Service for Ira S. ("Rip") Fenimore will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church in Sikeston, with Rev. Charles E. Buck officiating. Burial will be in Sikeston City Cemetery. Friends may call after 5 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Hubert Caldwell, formerly of East Prairie, will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at McMikle Funeral Chapel in Charleston. The Rev. Lewis Stone will officiate, with burial in Dogwood Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home Thursday from 9 a.m. until time of service...

DELTA -- Funeral service for Lanson Lanpher of Delta will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee. The Rev. Kenneth Martin will officiate, assisted by the Rev. Bob Bradford. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery near Arbor...

FLAT RIVER -- Mrs. Ethel Dannenmueller Hood of Flat River and formerly of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Jan. 30, 1991, at Thomas Dale Nursing Home in Fredericktown. She was 80. She was born June 13, 1910, daughter of Louis and Mary Drury Dannenmueller of Kelso. In November 1933 she married Irvin L. Hood at Flat River. He preceded her in death in May 1989...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- On Thursday, about 50 Boy Scouting volunteers will visit Cape Girardeau businesses soliciting contribution's for Friends of Scouting. Paul Potthoff, Boy Scouts Shawnee district finance chairman, and John Mehner, Cape Girardeau community captain, are organizing the blitz day...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Ben Kight, a member of the Southeast Missouri District Fair Association board of directors, was recently elected president of the Missouri Association of Fairs and Festivals. Kight was among representatives from the SEMO Fair attending the 46th annual convention of the statewide organization. The convention was held in Columbia Jan. 25-26...

SCOTT CITY - William Wilthong liked athletics so much as a young boy that he became a teacher and coach so he could continue to be involved in it. Wilthong is the head football and baseball coach at Scott City High School. In addition to his coaching duties, he also teaches physical education and driver education...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Rush H. Limbaugh award will be presented at the Cape Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting and dinner dance Friday at the Show Me Center. "This marks the third year for the `Rush H. Limbaugh Sr.' award," said Linda Minner, of the chamber...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Make no (broken) bones about it, Scott County Central high basketball coach Ron Cookson is glad to have point guard Winai Estes back. Estes, who had been out for seven games with a stress fracture in his leg, scored 14 of his career-high 29 points in a key opening period as the Braves turned back Notre Dame 88-63 at Notre Dame Tuesday night...

JACKSON -- Mark Thompson had the best shooting game of his high school basketball career on a night when Cape Central's Tigers desperately needed it. Thompson, a 6-foot senior guard, hit eight of nine shots from the field, including four-for-four on 3-point attempts, and scored 21 points to help Central rally past host Jackson 69-66 before a large and vocal crowd Tuesday night...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team has finally made the national rankings. That became official Tuesday afternoon when the NCAA Division II poll was released. The Otahkians, 18-3 and winners of eight straight games, checked in at the No. 16 slot...

Editor's note : Southeast Missouri State continues its six-game home stand with a conference meeting against Missouri Southern tonight. Both teams are in the hunt for postseason playoff berths. The month of February is upon us and it is time for the good basketball teams across the country to stand up and be counted...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Missouri Southern coach Robert Corn can trace a 2-5 tailspin to an unlikely source - the free throw line. "We've been having problems with our free throws ever since we went 13-of-27 in the game against Southeast Missouri (Jan. 16)," recalled Corn, whose squad will meet Southeast at the Show Me Center tonight at 7:30 p.m...

PATTON -- The Panthers of Meadow Heights allowed Zalma just 17 first-half points and went on to a big rout of the visiting Bulldogs Tuesday night. Kevin Garland scored 27 points and Brad Barks 24 as the Panthers improved to 7-12. Chris Conrad added 13 points, Terry Bollinger had 12 and Justin Conrad 10...

BELL CITY -- Bell City gave Dexter all it wanted before the visiting Bearcats pulled out a 10-point victory Tuesday night. Dexter, 17-3 overall and a first-place 7-0 in the Stoddard County Conference, got a game-high 30 points from Matt Pruitt. He hit five 3-pointers...

ADVANCE -- Advance erupted in the second half for a home-court victory over Woodland Tuesday night. The Hornets trailed 29-24 at halftime but they broke out in the second half, outscoring the Cardinals 26-12 in the third quarter and 20-12 in the final period...

DELTA -- Five players scored in double figures for Delta as the Bobcats picked up a big victory by slipping past visiting Richland Tuesday night. Robbie Seay and Neil Hester each scored 14 points for Delta. Tony Martin and Chandler Blackstone both had 12 while Ron Kielhafner added 11...

CHARLESTON -- Charleston's Blue Jays got back on the winning track Tuesday night with an easy 27-point win over visiting Poplar Bluff in SEMO Conference play. Charleston, now 15-5 overall and 2-2 in conference, broke open a close game with a 16-7 second quarter to go up by 14 at the half. The Jays really opened thing up in the fourth period by outscoring the Mules 21-8...

LEOPOLD -- Playing some of its best defense of the year, Chaffee came away with a 10-point win over host Leopold Tuesday night. Jim Cliff came off the bench to score 18 points while guard Benji Spane hit for 16 as the Red Devils improved to 3-14. "We played good defense. That was the key to the whole game," said Chaffee coach Kent Mangels. "Benji Spane shot the ball real well for us tonight and Jim Cliff came off the bench and did a super job."...

OAK RIDGE -- Perryville held off a late Oak Ridge rally in the fourth quarter and came away with a 55-41 road victory Tuesday night. The Pirates, now 12-8, placed three players in double figures, including inside force Eric Weinkein, who led all scorers with 14. Steve Eggemeyer had 13 and Chris Wibbenmeyer 12...

SCOTT CITY -- Kelly High's boys basketball team wrapped up second place in the Scott-Mississippi Conference by beating host Scott City 68-54 Tuesday night. The Hawks, now 12-10 overall, wound up league play with a 6-1 record. Scott City, also 12-10 overall, fell to 5-2 in the conference. Scott County Central won the Scott-Miss title...

High School Rankings By The Associated Press Here are the rankings of the four classes of Missouri high school basketball teams as determined by a poll of Missouri Sports Writers and Sportscasters. BOYS 4A 3A 2A 1A GIRLS 4A 3A 2A 1A MDNMMDNMMDNM...

COLUMBIA -- Lee Dorroh of Hayti has been named winner of the 1990 Premier seed Grower Award during the recent University of Missouri Ag Science Week. Dorroh, who holds bachelor's and masters degrees from MU has been in the seed producing business since 1954. The award was presented by the Kansas City Chamber of commerce during the annual meeting of the Missouri Seed Improvement Association...

COLUMBIA -- Gordon Kempf of Kansas City has been named Missouri Tree Farmer of the Years. Kempf is president of the Northern Nut Growers Association and operates an 111-acre tree farm in Bates County. Also honored during the recent Tree Farm Day in the program at the University of Missouri was Southeast Missouri Tree Farmer of the Year, A. C. King, of Poplar Bluff...

COLUMBIA -- David M. Haggard of Kennett, has been named Alumnus of the Year by the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. Haggard farms 2,300 acres, raising wheat, corn and soybeans, and operates a seed business in the Bootheel area...

COLUMBIA -- Missouri Director of Agriculture Charles E. Kruse will issue a "State of the Industry" address during the Missouri Pork Conference and Trade Show which will be held here Feb. 28-Mar. 1. Kruse will report on the findings of an ad hoc committee which was appointed in early December of 1989 to look into the pork industry...

KENNETT -- Making plans for Missouri watermelons will be the focus of a meeting to be held at the Fishhook Restaurant here Feb. 18. "Research and promotion, marketing and production will be among the items discussed at the one-day session," said Hank DiCarlo, extension horticulturist, who is coordinating the event...

JACKSON -- A dozen people have been elected to the Cape Girardeau County Extension Council. Mack Wilson, Mrs. John (Ellen) Lorberg, Lawson Burgfeld, Chris Weiss, Steve Birk, Ted J. Williams, Larry Quade, Becky Heuer, Ralph L. Ford, Shirley Aufdenberg, Karen McLane and Tim Sievers will join 11 members of the council who are continuing their terms...

PERRYVILLE -- The first Heartland Farm Safety Day, sponsored by the Farm Safety Council of Perry County, Perryville FFA, and the Perry County Missouri University Extension Council, will be held here Feb. 18. "Tractor and Equipment Safety" will be discussed by Dave Baker, extension safety and occupational health specialist, who will discuss prevention techniques during the morning session. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Here in the Cape Girardeau-Jackson area, as elsewhere in the United States, the national banner is flying high. Large numbers of yellow ribbon decorate buildings, homes, trees, posts, doorways and residents wear bows of the ribbon pinned to their clothing...