Stories from Tuesday, May 24, 1994

The following letters were written by advanced placement students in a junior English course at Sikeston High School. They are in response to a previous letter to the editor in the Southeast Missourian (A modern solution for teenage pregnancy, May 6). Some of the letters have been edited for length...

Mel Hancock preserves a spot in Missouri's history not only as a congressman but as the man who led the charge 14 years ago to limit taxation in the state. In the years since the Hancock Amendment became an attachment to the Missouri Constitution and a bane for any office holder looking for more money to spend, the Springfield resident has seen his defining work weakened by court decisions, dodged by savvy lawmakers and sometimes ignored with an in-your-face defiance. ...

Here is a recent column, which appeared in the Daily Dunklin Democrat, Kennett, Mo. A very interesting constitutional amendment probably will be on your November election ballot. Rep. Larry Thomason (D-Kennett) has sponsored and guided a bill through the legislature that would create a 22-member commission to set salaries and benefits for legislators, judges and statewide elected officials, to be known as the Missouri Citizens' Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials. ...

With plain-speaking candor, Gene Huckstep commands respect. You never hear a "maybe" from the lips of Cape Girardeau County's Presiding Commissioner. And when he makes a decision, 10 mules couldn't pull him out of it. You always know exactly where he stands...

The death last week of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis took from our midst an elegant lady and an American icon. The first First Lady to have been born in the 20th century (just 31 years old when her husband became President), she was a radical departure in appearance and style from the matrons who preceeded her. However one regards the politics of the family Jacqueline Bouvier married into, that she was a lady of remarkable character seems indisputable...

Tammy Wilcox is afraid to allow her child to play in Indian Park. "I don't come down to this park, because I don't think it's safe enough for me, let alone my child," she said at a special Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting at Indian Park Monday. "I leave for work early in the morning and find all these beer cans and broken bottles that are laying in the street from the night before...

You get what you pay for. Southeast Missouri State University President Kala Stroup certainly thinks so. Since coming to Southeast four years ago, she has overseen pay raises designed to make faculty salaries more comparable to those at other public, regional universities nationwide...

The Four Seasons Audubon Society of Southeast Missouri will meet Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. at Cape Girardeau Public Library. Butterflies and moths of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois will be discussed by Jean Graber, Illinois Natural History Survey...

As consumers, we are constantly being warned. Warning labels are everywhere. Toy manufacturers are particularly fond of such labels. My daughter Rebecca has a blue, Little Tikes van that carries this warning: "Ride-on toys should not be used on hills, thoroughfares, steps or any type of incline. To prevent injury, shoes should be worn at all times. Please remember, only one rider at a time."...

Monday's attempts to capture fish in Jackson's Rotary Lake before the lake is drained this week for renovation were, at first, less than successful thanks to a thick layer of algae that covers the surface of the lake. Missouri Department of Conservation (DOC) fisheries management personnel used electrical shocking equipment mounted in a small boat to stun the fish so they could be netted, captured and placed in surrounding lakes...

Bicycle enthusiasts are invited to participate in the second annual Riverfest Midnight Ramble, set for June 10 just after midnight. The theme for this year's ramble is "Family Fun Without the Sun." The ramble, coordinated through the Riverfest Association and the Velo Girardeau Bicycle Club, attracted 200 riders last year. Organizers hope to attract as many as 400 riders this year...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Construction will start next month on a $7 million-plus prison work camp here. River City Construction of Benton, Ill., was low bidder for the work camp, which will be built about two miles northwest of Tamms, site of a $60 million super maximum prison. A ground-breaking will be held at 2 p.m. on June 1...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Mark Bowyer of Jonesboro, Ill., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:53 p.m. Friday, May 13, 1994. Name, Caitlyn Ariel Weight, 8 pounds 4 ounces. Mrs. Bowyer is the former Lori Barnhart, daughter of Dorris L. and Andrea Barnhart of Jonesboro. She is a teachers aide at Lincoln Elementary School in Anna, Ill. Bowyer is a farm hand with Norman Brothers in Sidell, Ill., and is the son of Ralph and Ann Bowyer of Markleville, Ind...

Clyde T. Grable, 88, of Little Rock, Ark., died Sunday, May 22, 1994, in Little Rock. He was a retired street car and bus driver for the Capital Transportation Company. Grable was a member of the Markham Street Baptist Church. Survivors include three sons, James D. ...

ANNA, Ill. -- Marion "Dink" Parks, 85, of Anna, Ill., died Sunday, May 22, 1994, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 8, 1908, at Ullin, Ill., son of Willis and Eva Cantrell Parks. He married May Kearney, March 22, 1927...

Memorial service for Ian Patrick McBride of Dallas, Texas, will be held at 3 p.m. today at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The family will receive friends at the family home, 1236 Normal, from 4-7 p.m. today. It was incorrectly reported in Monday's Missourian that friends could call at the funeral home...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Kenneth R. Butler of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel, with Pat Hogan officiating. Burial will be in Blodgett Cemetery. Butler, 59, died Sunday, May 22, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

WILSON CITY -- Jessie Brown, 70, of Wilson City, died Thursday, May 19, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Aug. 6, 1923, in Luxora, Ark., son of Levi and Lizzie Medley Brown. He and Florence Crenshaw were married May 30, 1944...

Funeral service for V. Vernon Volkerding, Sena Fawn Drive, will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Stephen McDougall will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery at Jackson. Friends may call at the funeral home from 5-9 p.m. today...

PERRYVILLE -- Larry "Scotty" Scott, 63, of Perryville, died Sunday, May 22, 1994, at his home. He was born May 27, 1930, in Burlington, Iowa., son of Joseph W. and Verlee P. Bryant Spangler. He and Cheryl A. Grindstaff were married July 18, 1969. Scott was manager/owner of American Beauty Shows. He was a member of St. Louis Scottish Rite, Shriners, Masonic Lodge 670 AF&AM, VFW Post 4282, Moolah Shrine Temple and St. Louis Showmen's League...

Richard Glen Claar, 16, of 419 S. Lewis, died Monday, May 23, 1994. His body is at Ford and Sons, where arrangements are incomplete.

She was born May 12, 1901, in Broomfield, Ark., daughter of Robert and Delle Rose Jones. Morgan was formerly of Bloomfield. Survivors include a son, Ted Morgan of Las Cruces; two daughters, Joyce Mathenia of Sacramento, Calif., Edna Meyer of St. Louis; two brothers, Max Jones of Whittier, Calif., Burl Jones of Canalou; two sisters, Tess Bibler of Russellville, Ark., Clara Branch of Hector, Ark.; eight grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Graveside service for Ellouise Melton of Louisville, Ky., will be held at 10 a.m. today at IOOF Cemetery in Charleston. A memorial service will be held at 7 tonight at St. Matthew's Baptist Church in Louisville. Melton, 70, formerly of East Prairie and New Madrid, died Sunday, May 22, 1994, in Louisville...

BLOOMFIELD -- Donald Lynn Latham, 11, of Bloomfield, died Sunday, May 22, 1994, at Children's Hospital in St. Louis, following a drowning accident at Wappapello Lake Saturday. He was born Feb. 18, 1983, at Poplar Bluff, son of Donald and Peggy Rounsaville Latham...

Longtime American Legion baseball manager John "Doc" Yallaly believes baseball teaches mental toughness. Longtime Capahas manager Jess Bolen believes the game teaches children how to work together with others. Truman Smith, another veteran baseball coach, believes the sport teaches young people responsibility and respect for authority...

SCOTT CITY -- Craig Schnurbusch looked for a profession that allowed him to feel good about accomplishments at the end of each day. He found teaching. He's been feeling good about what he does for 15 years. Schnurbusch is a learning-disabilities and behavior-disorders teacher at Scott City High School, working with students in grades seven through 12...

Amy Statler, a student at Meadow Heights High School, has been named a U.S. National Award winner in science. The United States Achievement Academy recognizes less than 10 percent of all American high school students. Statler was nominated for the award by Judy Slinkard, a science teacher at the school...

Notre Dame High School teacher Linda Kennedy has been awarded a fellowship by the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in the 1994 program of summer seminars for school teachers. Kennedy will be a fellow in the seminar titled, "The American Documentary Movement of the 1930s: Lorenz, Wright, Evans, Agee, Dos Passos and Steinbeck."...

Nancy Birk, a student at Southeast Missouri State University, has been named a Collegiate Scholastic All-American by the United States Achievement Academy. The scholars must earn a 3.3 or better grade-point average. Only scholars selected by a school official or other qualified sponsor are accepted...

Two local students, Jill and Kay Miller, both graduates of Thomas W. Kelly High School near Benton, recently attended a conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Child Welfare League of America. The conference dealt with issues relevant to the welfare of children with an emphasis on health care and welfare reform...

Students from Southeast Missouri displayed their best performance ever at the Missouri Student Mathematics state finals sponsored by the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Among winners were two first-place finishers from Jackson: Clint Ressel, sixth grade, who won first place in estimation and computation; and Michael Williams, sixth grade, who won first place in concepts. Williams also won fourth place in problem solving...

Ryan Hagedorn, son of Richard and Doris Hagedorn of Cape Girardeau, has qualified for the spring semester dean's list at Enbry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. Hagedorn, a senior, recently received his commercial rating as a pilot. He will serve an internship this summer with TWA in St. Louis and return to the school in the fall...

Evelyn Blanchard, a senior at Meridian High School in Mounds, Ill., received an award from the National Society Daniel Chapman Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Daughters of the American Revolution recognition recipients are selected on the basis of leadership, dependability, service, good citizen and patriotism...

Heather Brown, Jeramy Hamilton, Marcus Hughes, Christina Lance, Valencia Marshall and Dimonah Sims, all freshmen at Meridian High School in Mounds, Ill., will participate in the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Medprep program July 10-Aug. 16...

Southeast Missouri State University Museum will offer a summer program of adult education classes. Classes are designed for continuing education and pleasure, not for college credit. All courses are offered on Saturday mornings and last for four to six weeks...

Linda Lou Moore of Paragould, Ark., was recognized recently as the outstanding alumna of the communicative disorders program in the College of Education at Arkansas State University. Moore earned her bachelor's degree at Arkansas State and her master's degree at Southeast Missouri State University. Most recently she was a speech pathologist at Arkansas Methodist Hospital in Paragould...

Christy L.Wetzel of Cape Girardeau is one of 50 students named a Presidential Scholar at Southwest Missouri State University for the 1994-95 year. Wetzel, a Central High School graduate, was among approximately 250 applicants for the scholarship. The Presidential scholarship program provides student fees, books, and room and board. Presidential Scholars are ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class with a score of 30 or above on the American College Test (ACT)...

Vicky Lynn Logan, formerly of Cape Girardeau, graduated cum laude from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn. on May 14. She was selected the outstanding student in the business administration major during a recent awards ceremony and was selected for membership in the honor societies of Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi. Logan is a 1974 graduate of Central High School and is the daughter of Bob and Dorothy Seabaugh and wife of Craig Logan...

Jeremy French, a 1994 graduate of Advance High School, has been awarded a $1,000 college scholarship by the Cargill Foundation. The scholarship is one of 250 awarded by the Cargill Foundation to 1994 high school graduates from U.S. farm families in 46 states. This year's scholarship program attracted 2,536 applicants...

Diane M. McKee, assistant professor at Southeast Missouri State University, graduated with a doctorate in institutional management with a doctoral minor in nutrition from Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas. She teaches in Southeast's department of human environmental studies and has recently developed a program in food service and hospitality management...

It has been almost two months since the April election that resulted in a change in membership of the Board of Education. The dynamics of the governing board of the school district were literally changed by the election. Gwen Bennett, who chose not to seek re-election, was replaced by newcomer Bob Fox, who has begun with the enthusiasm and dedication of most newly-elected members. ...