Stories from Tuesday, April 20, 1993

To the ~Editor: As students at Central High School, we understand that teachers are the cornerstone of education. Excellent teachers are invaluable; they produce excellent students. Whenever one of these teachers is about to lose the opportunity to use his gift and touch the minds and hearts of students, we feel compelled to act. ...

A verdict has been returned in the Rodney King beating ~trial, Part II, and Los Angeles is not ablaze. Let us be thankful for this considerable favor. While Los Angeles is 1,800 miles away from our region, the impact of the King arrest and the subsequent trials of the police officers who beat him has been felt here, casting shadows on the credibility of law enforcement authorities and heightening racial tensions. ...

Bill Emerson is the U.S. representative from Missouri's 8th District. In recent weeks, we have witnessed on the television screen and through newspaper headlines the serious nature of crime and violence in our nation's cities and rural communities. These incidents further illustrate the need to implement stiffer penalties for those convicted of breaking the law...

Alan R.P. Journet teaches ecology at Southeast Missouri State University. From January to August this year, he is on sabbatical leave in Costa Rica studying aspects of tropical forest ecology. Perry was abandoned. Of course, she fell out of a tree first. ...

Beginning in mid-July, when a 911 call for emergency medical service is received by the central dispatch center in Cape Girardeau, a fire department pumper engine with medically trained and equipped firefighters will respond at the same time the ambulance is en route...

A lecture on homophobia originally scheduled for tonight at Southeast Missouri State University will be presented Thursday night instead. The lecture will be given at 8 p.m. Thursday in the University Center Ballroom. It was rescheduled due to a conflict with a concert tonight by the group Restless Heart...

The American Red Cross blood will host two drives this week. Today, Delta High School is sponsoring a blood drive from 1-5:30 p.m., in the high school band room. Zalma High School PTO is sponsoring a blood drive Friday from 2-6 p.m. in the high school cafeteria...

The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau was expected to crest today at 40.3 feet, 8.3 feet above flood stage and its highest level in almost seven years. On Monday, the river here reached 40 feet, the first time it has done so since Oct. 15, 1986, when it was at 40.8 feet...

JACKSON - The Jackson Board of Aldermen voted Monday night to authorize a street improvement project which will re-pave five blocks of West Adams from Oklahoma eastward to High Street. The project, scheduled to begin later this year, is similar to the West Main Street improvement in which the old pavement was removed and replaced with new concrete...

SCOTT CITY -- Tom and Charlotte Kanupp came to the Scott City Council Monday with a slight problem: They'd mistakenly built their porch and swimming pool on a cemetery. "We want to ask about buying some land from you," Charlotte Kanupp told the council...

JACKSON - The board of directors of the Cape Girardeau Area Recruitment Association voted Monday to hire an executive director. If the person accepts the position, he will start working June 1. The board did not reveal the name. "We have offered it to a gentleman and will give him time to say he will definitely take the position," said Cape Girardeau Mayor Gene Rhodes, chairman of the board...

At the urging of the local NAACP, the Cape Girardeau City Council next month will consider whether the city needs public housing, an issue that's proven contentious in the past. Michael Sterling and Debra Willis used a recent renter-landlord dispute in the city as an example of why stricter housing regulations are needed in Cape Girardeau...

Raffle tickets for the Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive Quilt are available at $1 each. The quilt, assembled with the help of the 15 communities involved in the scenic drive, will be raffled off in conjunction with the drive, which will be held Friday and Saturday...

The president of the Cape Girardeau chapter of the NAACP will participate in a federal pilot program designed to provide an "early warning system" regarding civil unrest. The NAACP president, Michael Sterling, said, "This all came about after the Rodney King (riot) incident last year."...

Bob Corbett, former chairperson of the Department of Philosophy at Webster University in St. Louis and current president of People to People, Inc., will speak on "Haiti and the Ethics of American Foreign Policy" tonight here. The speech will begin at 8 p.m. in Crisp Hall Auditorium on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University...

Anna M. Schonhoff, 90, of Cape Girardeau, died Monday, April 19, 1993, at Chateau Girardeau Health Care Center. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Wesley Tidwell, 81, of Millersville died April 19, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born May 16, 1911, near Union City, Tenn., the son of Noke Tidwell and Ethel Ledbetter Tidwell. He married Ella Uhl on July 11, 1943. She survives. Also surviving are two sons, Rick Tidwell of Millersville and Dale Tidwell of Fredericktown; five sisters, Naomi Bryant of Plymouth, Mich., Alean Hagans of Union City, Tenn., Mamie Lee Kindell of Fulton, Tenn., and Thelma Edelman and Henrietta Tidwell, both of Poplar Bluff; four grandchildren and two great-grandsons.. ...

HERCULANEUM -- Eliza Stalcup Boyer, 89, formerly of Sikeston and a resident of Herculaneum, died April 19, 1993, at Jefferson memorial Hospital in Crystal City. She was born Sept. 6, 1903, in Carmi, Ill, to the late Jacob E. and Vesta Sutton Griffin...

Ruby J. Wagoner, 74, 138 Garden Lane, died Sunday, April 18, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Aug. 12, 1918, at Oran, daughter of John and Daisy Campbell Mason. She and Elmer Wagoner were married Dec. 16, 1939, at Bloomfield. Wagoner was a member of Free Will Baptist Church...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Gorman of Kansas City, Liberty Hospital in Liberty, 2:06 p.m. Saturday, April 10, 1993. Name, Paige Marie. Weight, 9 pounds 4 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Gorman is the former Tina Heisserer, daughter of Don and Wilma Heisserer of Scott City. She is a speech therapist in North Kansas City School District. Gorman is employed by Farmland Industries, and is the son of Doris Gorman of Kansas City, and the late William Gorman...

About 65 area high school students will get a first-hand look at local government Friday as part of Optimist Youth in Government Day. The students will handle various positions from mayor to fire chief in the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, and circuit judge to assessor in Cape Girardeau County government...

The featured guest on "University Conversations" Sunday will be Martin Jones, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Southeast Missouri State University. The 30-minute program can be seen Sunday evenings on local cable access Channel 5 at 7:30. Jones and moderator Jim Biundo will discuss the college and the importance of a liberal education...

SCOTT CITY - The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority has entered into an agreement with Cape Fleeting, Inc. that leases water frontage along the slackwater harbor for barge fleeting. The announcement was made by Mysie Keene, chairman of the port's board of commissioners. She pointed out that the lease involves 2,580 feet of water frontage...

Students in the Cape Girardeau Public Schools may find their grandparents in the classrooms Friday, and even in their lunchrooms. Friday is Grandparents Day, an annual event that allows grandparents to visit the schools their grandchildren attend. "We also invite grandparents to stay for lunch if they like," said Richard Bollwerk, director of elementary education. "It is a good opportunity for them to spend some time with their grandchildren."...

Linda Springs, a "Color Me Beautiful" makeup consultant, will be guest speaker at the Professional Secretaries International (PSI) monthly dinner meeting tonight. The PSI group will be observing "Secretaries Week" during its meeting, to be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Drury Lodge...

Second Lt. Michael Lance Goodin recently received his silver wings at his graduation from undergraduate pilot training, Class 93-06, at Columbus Air Force Base, Mass. Goodin is now a pilot for the Air Force, where he was given the honor of receiving regular Air Force status...

Mark Rose of Cape Girardeau recently received his Eagle Scout Award, Boy scouting's highest honor. Rose is the son of Claude and Mildred Rose. He is a member of Troop 2 and the Grace Methodist Church. Rose has held several positions is his troop, earning his God and Country Award in 1990. He was tapped for Order of the Arrow in 1991 at Camp Lewallen...

MARBLE HILL -- Susan R. Eckerle, a senior at Woodland High School, was named a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship competition. Eckerle's selection was based upon the results of her Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), her community service and academic potential. She will receive one of only 2,000 scholarships awarded nationwide by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation...

SCOTT CITY -- The Scott City High School is sponsoring a meeting Thursday to discuss various types of financial aid available to finance post-secondary education and training programs. The meeting, which will be held in the Scott City High School library, begins at 6:30 p.m. Students in grades 9-11 and their parents are invited...

JACKSON -- The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital will host its annual "Wheels for Life" Bike-A-Thon Saturday at the Jackson City Park. Founded by the late Danny Thomas in 1962, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is the largest childhood cancer research-treatment-education center in the United States. The Memphis, Tenn.,-based hospital freely provides area doctors and hospitals with assistance in diagnosis and the latest information for treatments and procedures...

WICKLIFFE, Ky. The Wickliffe Mounds Research Center will host a Native American Woods Walk Saturday and Sunday at Wickliffe, Ky. Victoria G. Fortner, a ceremonial leader of Shawnee descent, will lead the groups of Wickliffe Mounds visitors on a guided tour of the site and grounds, pointing out various plants and discussing their traditional uses among Native Americans...

A Southeast Missouri State University student was initiated into the Theta Theta chapter of the Order of Omega. Jennifer Mabrey, daughter of Norma Welch and Gary Mabrey, was inducted into the Greek honor society. She is a sophomore at the university, majoring in physical education. Mabrey is a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority...

The medical cable television program, "Ask Your Doctor," will have a special call-in segment Thursday to answer questions about mitral valve prolapse. Dr. Allen L. Spitler will field questions about heart health starting at 8 p.m. Thursday on cable channel 5...

A member of the faculty of the University of MissouriKansas City Conservatory will present a guest cellist recital tonight. Robert Battey will present the concert at 7:30 p.m. in Old St. Vincent's Church in Cape Girardeau. The event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Southeast Missouri State University music department...