Stories from Friday, March 1, 1991

To The Editor: Here we go again. Another test of American courage and resolve. And, if I didn't know better, I'd swear American televised news media moguls are once again determined to undermine everything we're trying to accomplish. Take a closer look at what they're doing...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Nominations are now being accepted for the fourth annual Southwestern Bell Telephone Volunteer Awards. This community-wide award program recognizes volunteers who serve Cape Girardeau County. Awards will be presented at a luncheon April 25. The categories are youth/young adult, 25 years of age and under; adult, ages 25-59; senior adult, 60 years of age and older; and group or organization...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The 12th annual Central High School Jazz Festival Saturday features performances by 22 area bands and a professional jazz trombone player. The festival includes competition all day and a concert in the evening, said Ronald Nall, director of bands at Cape Central High and coordinator of the event...

A colleague told me his nephew was born on the day fighting began in the Persian Gulf War. He wondered if the infant would one day look back at a newspaper for his date of birth and be amazed by the monumental events that took place. It's an interesting thought. Obviously, Jan. 16, 1991, will be etched on a lot of American minds. To those who fought and their loved ones left behind, the day will carry a Pearl Harbor-type remembrance...

It is ironic that one of Missouri's most peaceful hollows could cause such an uproar. Greer Spring, a natural wonder in Oregon County, has managed. The spring and 6,900 acres around it are at the center of a lingering political controversy. Legislation has again been introduced in the U.S. ...

To the Editor: CNN is keeping Peter Arnett in Baghdad to broadcast propaganda for Saddam Hussein, who wants to (1) undermine our morale and (2) disrupt the coalition by inflaming the Arabs against us. If Arnett were not helping him, Saddam would pull the plug on him instantly. CNN should pull the plug. If you support our troops, write or call Ted Turner and tell him you will not watch CNN until he pulls Arnett out of Baghdad. Write to One CNN Center, Atlanta, Ga., 30348, or call 404-827-1500...

To the Editor: On behalf of the Spirits of St. Louis Cycling Club and the Human Performance Center, I would like to thank the Southeast Missourian for the excellent article entitled "Wheels of Fortune." The story, written by Bill Heitland along with photos by Fred Lynch, was an excellent depiction of amateur bicycle racing in the United States...

To the Editor: On behalf of the musicians, board, and staff of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra I would like to thank the people of Cape Girardeau for their warm hospitality during the symphony's recent "America's Musical Spirit: Concerts for Missouri" tour...

To the Editor: Our former senator, Thomas Eagleton, had a good article in the paper Sunday: "The Cancer in the Legislature." Here is the cure: 1. Limit the tenure of office of both houses to two six-year terms, with the election of the legislature staggered thereby allowing a continuous legislative body...

MARBLE HILL -- A lack of review by the Bollinger County Commission and county clerk's office was responsible for allowing Sheriff Januar Peters to misappropriate more than $5,000 in county funds between January, 1988 and July 1990, a state audit report says...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The city's Golf Course Advisory Board Thursday recommended the City Council maintain the current management structure at the Jaycees Municipal Golf Course and not hire a professional course manager. Some council members, particularly Al Spradling III, earlier this month criticized the board for "stalling" on a recommendation and said the golfing season would start before a decision on the matter was made. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Candidates vying for seats on the Cape Girardeau Board of Education spoke about their ideas for improving the school district. The one-hour forum Thursday night was sponsored by the Washington Elementary School PTA and the Cape Girardeau CTA...

S.SGT. JULIE NISWONGER U.S. AIR FORCE S. Sgt. Niswonger is the wife of M. Sgt. Robert Niswonger, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dallas Niswonger of Jackson. She is the daughter of Clarence Haines and Ellen Andrews of Coshocton, Ohio. She enlisted in the Air Force in 1980, and completed basic training at Lackland AFB in Texas. She is a graduate of Technical Fuel Maintenance school...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Incidental fee rates and room and board charges for fiscal year 1992 will be on the agenda when the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents meets today. The open session of the meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Party Room at the University Center...

JACKSON - The location where drivers examinations are given in Jackson will change, beginning Monday. The drivers exams had been given at City Hall. Starting Monday, they will be given at the Jackson National Guard Armory, according to Robert L. Hente, exam supervisor...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The winter of 1990-91 will go down in the record books as a wet and warm one, said Dr. Al Robertson, professor of earth science at Southeast Missouri State University. Meanwhile, the 30-day weather outlook for March calls for cooler-than-normal temperatures and near normal amounts of precipitation...

GORDONVILLE -- Funeral service for Mrs. Althea R. Elfrink of Gordonville Route 3 will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Jackson. The Rev. Stephen Schneider will officiate, with burial in St. John's Cemetery at Leopold...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral service for Mrs. Lucinda Crenshaw Harris of Wilson City will be held at noon Saturday at Holly Grove Baptist Church in Wyatt. The Rev. Belafae Johnson will officiate, with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery. Friends may call at Sparks Funral Home from 5-8 p.m. today...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Ray L. McNeely of Jackson Route 4 will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Keith McNeely will officiate, with burial in Pleasant Hill Cemetery at Fruitland. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. today...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Mrs. Christena Mae Robinson of Sikeston will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Marvin Graham will officiate, with burial in New Morley Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 5 p.m. today...

DELTA -- Funeral service for Carmon S. Smith of Adams, N.Y., was held Wednesday in Adams. Piddock Funeral Home there was in charge of arrangements. Smith, 69 years old, died Monday, Feb. 25, 1991, in Adams. He was born July 29, 1921, in Delta, son of Charles and Lucresia Mahaffey Smith. He married the former Margaret Cowen...

DELTA -- Funeral service will be held today at 2 p.m. for Henry L. Hurst, 75, of Delta, who died Wednesday, Feb. 17, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Service will be at the Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee. Officiating will be Rev. Charles Kohlbaker. Burial will follow in Forest Hills Memorial Cemetery...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A steering committee is still seeking state funding for a regional veterinary diagnostic laboratory in Southeast Missouri. "Members of our committee meet every year with the governor or his aides to encourage support for a diagnostic facility at Cape Girardeau," said Gail King, a member of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee. "We're certainly not giving up the fight."...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Beverly Foster, 35, of Clearlake Oaks, Calif. and formerly of Cape Girardeau, was killed Feb. 19 when she was struck by a van while walking along a Clearlake Oaks highway. Ms. Foster was born Feb. 16, 1956 in Cape Girardeau, the daughter of the Richard J. Bollinger of Lower Lake, Calif. and the late Betty Brady Probst. She moved with her family from the Cape Girardeau area in 1957...

WAPPAPELLO -- Dates for some special events during the recreation season at Lake Wappapello have already been established. April 13-14 Annual Blackpowder Rendezvous, including blackpowder rifle and tradegun shooting, tomahawk and knife competition, sponsored by Indian CReek Longknives of Poplar Bluff...

POCAHONTAS -- The Pocahontas 4-H Club recently received an award for its work in the "Adopt-A-Stream" program. The club, which has adopted a portion of Shawnee Creek in North Cape County, was one of four recipients in the state to receive an award from the Conservation Federation of Missouri during the Rivers and Streams Conference held at Columbia last month...

COLUMBIA -- Peter Gros, co-host of "Wild Kingdom" will highlight the 55th annual meeting of the Conservation Federation of Missouri this weekend. Gros, who is a consultant on wildlife hand-raising programs and enclosure designs for various West Coast wildlife parks and zoos, will have with him some of the wild creatures he has introduced to "Wild Kingdom" viewers...

WAPPAPELLO -- The Wappapello Lake stage will be lowed one foot below normal conservation pool, to 353.7 National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) between March 8 and 12. "This date could change if heavy amounts of rainfall and incoming river flow occurs," said Michael McClendon, of the Corps of Engineers. "Currently, we're planning an inspection of the gatehouse, dam and dike structures between March 8-12."...

PERRYVILLE -- Construction of a new fishing dock and paved parking lot is expected to get under way here in late spring or early summer, at Perry County Community Lake. Frank Ryck, acquisition land development supervisor with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the new dock would be a 12 x 16-foot, floating dock to be located at the end of a rock jetting which will extend about 20 feet into the lake...

COLUMBIA -- Turkey calling, bear hunting, deer hunting, and bow fishing seminars will highlight the Missouri Deer Classic, to be held here March 16-17, at the MId-Way Expo Center. Manufacturers, vendors, outfitters and others will display their wares during the two-day show...

JEFFERSON CITY -- When the siren sounded at 6:30 a.m. today, thousands of Missouri anglers cast their lines into cold Missouri waters in four state park streams hoping to hook and net a trout. Today is "Trout Day" in the show me state, and the scene is no different from preceding years when thousands of anglers line up, almost elbow-to-elbow in their first-day quest for the elusive trout...

CHARLESTON -- Liz Anderson, a co-owner and co-editor of the Enterprise Courier Newspaper here, will be honored as Conservation Communicator of the Year during awards ceremonies to be held Saturday at the Conservation Federation of Missouri annual meeting at Columbia...

FREDRICKTOWN -- Participants from Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Wisconsin and Illinois area expected for the Missouri Whitewater Championship races will be held on the St. Francis River near here, March 16-17. "This date is tentative," said D. Greg Brown, race chairman. "The possibility of water levels being too high, or too low, could cause the race to be postponed until the following weekend, March 23-=24. A decision will be made March 14...