Stories from Friday, September 10, 1993

For the last decade, a word charged with sharply differing meanings to different people has entered the public debate. That word is wetlands. Mention wetlands to an environmentalist or conservationist, and you will get a speech about the vital importance of lowland marshes to a healthy ecosystem. (No informed person disputes this.) The environmentalist's speech will usually be accompanied with alarms that we have suffered the loss of a vast amount of wetland acreage...

Pack rat. Put in print that way, it seems a horrible self-description, yet one people embrace for an almost universal, if not life-threatening weakness. People hate to part with their stuff. We supposedly live in a disposable society. How then do you explain self-storage businesses? If ours is a throwaway culture, why are there so many garage sales?...

The voice on the telephone identified herself as JoAnn Zywicki, and in a vague way I knew I had heard it before. "I'm a resident of New Jersey and the mother of Tammy Jo Zywicki, whose dead body was found in your state," the caller said. Then she went on to explain the details: Tammy was killed en route to her college in Iowa, abducted along Interstate 80 in Illinois and transported, presumably in a semi-trailer, on I-44 in Missouri to a spot near Mt. Vernon in Lawrence County...

This is "Century Month" for bicyclists who participate in the weekly Velo Girardeau Bicycle Club rides. "Rides for the month of September include quarter-century (25-mile), half-century (50-mile), metric-century (62-mile) and century (100-mile)," said Pat Boyd, a club spokesperson...

JEFFERSON CITY -- The Missouri Conservation Commission has approved hunting seasons and bag limits for ducks, coots and geese. The state will be divided into the same three zones for duck season as last year. Exact zone boundaries are shown in the "1993-94 Missouri Migratory Bird Digest." That pamphlet will be available around mid-October from permit vendors and Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) offices...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Canada Goose hunting dates in Illinois' South Zone, which includes the Southern Illinois Quota Zone Alexander, Jackson, Union and Williamson counties and the Rend Lake Quota zone Jefferson and Franklin counties will be Nov. 27-Jan. 16, or until quotas have been reached in the two areas...

Nearly $500,000 in airport improvements are slated for this fall and early next year, thanks to a state block grant awarded recently to the city of Cape Girardeau. Airport Manager Randy Holdman said the $484,789 grant is the first installment on a Missouri Highway and Transportation Department aviation division program. The program will fund improvements totalling $3.14 million at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport...

Sportswear and lingerie were hawked at the Southeast Missouri State University Center Thursday by a Lenexa, Kan., company that regularly travels the campus circuit in search of sales. The company, Clothing Concepts, held a "warehouse" sale from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom...

Volunteers for the annual YELL for Newspapers campaign are poised and ready to hawk newspapers Tuesday morning. Businesses and civic groups have staked out corners for the annual YELL for Newspaper campaign in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City...

The Historic Preservation Commission of Cape Girardeau hopes a state grant will enable it to draft a blueprint for local preservation efforts. The city council has signed off on the grant application to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Historic Preservation Program...

JEFFERSON CITY - State Rep. Mary Kasten said Thursday she believes a pretty good flood relief plan will be ready by the time legislators gather for a special session next week. "I think we have made a lot of good progress," said the Cape Girardeau Republican, who serves on a special subcommittee of the House and Senate budget committees looking at ways to pay for flood costs...

The 138th annual SEMO District Fair will mark the third anniversary of the use of pepper mace by Cape Girardeau police officers. "It's one of the best tools offered to law enforcement personnel in a long time," said Officer Roger Fields. "It's a viable alternative to the use of force in a situation which could become threatening to myself or others in the area."...

Tryouts for the Bicentennial musical "Lou-ee" will be held Sunday and Wednesday at the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts, 100 Broadway. The musical, written and composed by David Kaempfer, depicts highlights in the life here of Cape Girardeau founder Louis Lorimier, the city's founder...

ANNA, Ill. -- Three males were seriously injured Thursday afternoon in a one-car accident on Old Route 51, two miles north of Anna. A spokesman for the Illinois State Police said that at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday, a car driven by Ronald Young, 16, of Cobden, Ill., swerved to miss another vehicle in the roadway, ran off the road, went airborne, flipped end over end, struck a tree and finally landed in a nearby yard...

Private family service for Judith Leigh Salazar of Visalia, Calif., was held this week in California. Salazar, 39, died Friday, Sept. 3, 1993, in a traffic accident in Visalia. She was born Aug. 4, 1954, daughter of Donald C. and Shirley Fulton Jenkins. She attended Alma Schrader School and was a graduate of Central High School...

MATTHEWS -- Funeral service for William Kenneth Rudisill of Matthews will be held at 4 p.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Sikeston. The Revs. Don Heitmen and Ed Pangburn will officiate, with burial in Matthews Cemetery. Rudisill, 62, died Tuesday, Sept. 7, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston...

SCOPUS -- Lucille "Toots" Tallent, 74, of Scopus, died Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1993, at her home. She was born Aug. 9, 1919, at Scopus, daughter of Henry A. and Jennie Jones Tallent. Tallent was a retired supervisor with Department of Economic Security in Arizona. She was active in the Senior Citizens Center, Bollinger County Historical Society, and member of Scopus United Methodist Church...

SIKESTON -- William H. Paylor Sr., 66, of Sikeston, died Thursday, Sept. 9, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Sept. 23, 1926, in Lamar, Ark., son of Clyde Alben and Birdie Oakley Paylor. He and Mary Dumey were married June 1, 1946, at Sikeston...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Dirnberger of Chaffee, Missouri Delta Medical Center at Sikeston, 5:19 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 2, 1993. Name, Mitchell John. Weight, 6 pounds 14 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Dirnberger is the former Sherry Acey, daughter of Pansey Acey of Chaffee, and the late Lester Acey. She is a shipping clerk at Thorngate Ltd. in Chaffee. Dirnberger is a tile setter with Drury Co. He is the son of Anna Dirnberger of Kelso, and the late Harold Dirnberger...

A dedication and open house for the Cape Girardeau Senior Center's new building is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday. The center is located at 921 North Clark and was opened in July. Following a flag ceremony outside, a ribbon will be cut by Russel Faust, president of the board, Glenda Hoffmeister, executive director of the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging, and Mayor Gene Rhodes...

A grand jury this summer investigated former Cape Girardeau city manager Gary Eide, but returned no charges against him concerning financial activities while he was city manager of Salem, Ore. Eide resigned as city manager of Salem in April amid an Oregon Justice Department investigation of that city's financial procedures, including his travel expenses...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department will place "no parking" signs around the Arena Park area beginning today, for the safe flow of traffic entering and exiting the area. The signs will be enforced beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday. Any vehicles parked in a "no parking" or "restricted parking" area will be towed at the owner's expense...

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral service for Lela Muriel Hester of Scott City will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Church of the Nazarene in Cape Girardeau. The Rev. William Burke will officiate, with burial in Lorimier Cemetery there. Friends may call at Amick-Burnett Funeral Home in Scott City from 3-9 p.m. today, and at the church Saturday from 12:30 p.m. to service time...

His publicity material describes Charlie Daniels as the king of Southern country rock music. If true, his blend of hard-working-man values and back-40 growl, and his band's racheted-up boogie groove have made it so. Now pushing 60, Daniels is flush with opinions about the way things ought to be, touring to support a new album unblinkingly titled "America, I Believe in You," and as independent as a bear...

The Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau will meet Monday at 7 p.m. in the Chateau Girardeau activity room. Patrick Steele, a professional preservationist who spoke at the March meeting about his work at the warehouse at 11-15 S. Spanish, will speak about a grant he is writing, "Cape Girardeau Preservation Focus."...