Stories from Saturday, August 5, 1995

One important lesson I've learned from being state auditor for the last 11 years is that sometimes you have to fight for your principles. As you may know, when I conduct audits around the state, I frequently ask taxpayers, government employees and other people to provide me with tips when I conduct an audit of a government office or agency. ...

The examination continues into alleged wrongdoing in the Meadow Heights School District in northern Bollinger County. A state investigator confirmed a disturbing suspicion: The names of at least 17 fictitious students were added to the rolls of about 550 students during two school years. These names padded the state appropriation to the district, perhaps to the tune of $34,000 a year...

"Ask Your Doctor" will air at 8 p.m. Thursday on cable access Channel 5. Guest speakers will be Dr. S. Kent Griffith and nurse practitioner Randy Naeger. The topic will be "What is a Nurse Practitioner?" The program is sponsored jointly by St. Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital, in conjunction with the Cape Girardeau County Medical Society and Channel 5...

Exercise physiologist Lynn Grant will be the guest speaker at the AWAKE (Alert, Well, and Keeping Energetic) support group at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the St. Francis Health and Education Center. For more details about this sleep disorder support group, call the St. Francis Sleep Well Center at 339-6900...

Members of a state commission studying the state's laws relating to the involuntary commitment of people with mental illness will hold a public hearing Tuesday in Cape Girardeau. Known as the McBride Commission, the panel was appointed in March by Gov. Mel Carnahan to look at ways to enhance existing laws in Missouri regarding civil involuntary mental illness treatment. The commission is holding meetings around the state to get public input...

The St. Francis Medical Center will sponsor a baby sitter training course designed to prepare young people for their first baby-sitting job. The course will be offered from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday in the St. Francis Health and Education Center...

"Self Care by Children," a free seminar for families who may be considering allowing their children to stay home alone for part of the day or after school, will be held in Jackson on Aug. 9. The program will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the community room at Main Street Fitness, 410 W. Main in Jackson. It is sponsored by Southeast Missouri Hospital's Jackson Outreach Services office and the University of Missouri Extension Services...

The Oncology Nursing Society-Southeast Missouri Chapter will meet Aug. 7 at Port Cape Girardeau restaurant. The topic is Navelbine. Jo Ann Vergnolle will discuss Navelbine. She is program coordinator of clinical trials in Greenville, S.C. The social begins at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting at 7 p.m...

Jamie Stout, a medical technologist at St. Francis Medical Center, showed how a specimen is picked up under the flashing red light in the lab. Todd Roth, phlebotomist, showed how he answers a call to the lab from a drive-up patient. "Welcome to Mc-St. Francis. May I take your order?"...

Now that it's August, I can resume my enthusiasm for sports. The June and July lull of baseball game after dreary baseball game seemed endless. It's not that I dislike baseball. It's just that I never really thought of it as much of a spectator sport. ...

With only a single-issue on Tuesday's election ballot, Harry Rediger worries about voter apathy. Rediger chairs the Planning and Zoning Commission and is one of the leading lproponents of the ballot maeasure, a five-year half-cent transportation sales tax...

MARBLE HILL -- A handful of people in Bollinger County would like to revive a proposal to create a recreational lake in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties. They have started a petition drive asking that voters have a chance to decide the fate of the lake...

Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce members attending the First Friday Coffee meeting reacted favorably to the proposed five-year transportation sales tax program. "The transportation sales tax is just a good effort to improve the community's infrastructure," said Jeff Krantz following a slide presentation that outlined specific projects the tax would fund...

My parents had a subscription to Reader's Digest about five years ago. Their home still features ancient issues in a bathroom magazine rack. I was flipping through a few of them the other day and ran across an article about common dreams and their meanings...

I APPRECIATE the Missourian's tolerance for differing views, but I'll tell you what. Some of opinions in the "Another View" column just keep getting kookier and kookier. Blant Hurt (a contributing writer for Arkansas Business) wrote a column Aug. 1 criticizing Webb Hubbell in part because "of the confused depths to which the moral ideal of self-sacrifice can lead an individual." Later, Hurt writes, "Any man who sees self-sacrifice as a moral ideal is doomed." Kind of like Jesus, huh? He continues by writing that "self-sacrifice is an irrational and impossible standard of conduct." Hurt has been reading too much Ayn Rand. ...

Four participants in the Cape Girardeau Public Library's summer reading program received bicycles. The winners are Laura Conupp, 13, William Golden, 10, T.J. Tyler, 8, and Ambria Web, 9. The library enrolled 1,281 children in the summer reading program and the RIF club. ...

PERRYVILLE -- Organizers of the 94th annual St. Vincent de Paul Parish Seminary Picnic say they expect people from everywhere for the long-standing event. It will begin today in Seminary Grove at Highways 61 and 51, featuring carnival rides for children and adults, handmade quilt bingo and live entertainment...

The past six days have been an adrenaline rush for Penny Bailey. After surviving on two hours sleep each day, she just returned to Missouri from a pageant where she was crowned Miss Wheelchair USA Tuesday. And as an engagement for her pageant platform, Bailey spoke to area high school students Thursday at the Team Spirit Leadership conference...

GORDONVILLE -- The Gordonville Volunteer Fire District Booster Club will hold a picnic today at the city park. Gates open at 10 a.m. There will be a horseshoe tournament, mud races and games. The mud races, scheduled at 12:30 p.m., are for four-wheel-drive trucks and ATVs, and participants should have preregistered...

State law enforcement agencies have a new high tech tool to help solve major crimes, thanks to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The patrol's violent crime support unit has been available to local law enforcement since Tuesday, the unit's coordinator, Van Godsey, told a group of law enforcement officers at the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department Friday afternoon...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. J. Russell Irwin of Lake St. Louis, 7:52 a.m. Wednesday, July 26, 1995. Name, Jacob Benjamen. Weight, 7 pounds 5 ounces. Third child, second son. Mrs. Irwin is the former Cynthia Holliday, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Holliday of Belleville, Ill. Irwin is a collection supervisor with Citicorp. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Irwin of Cape Girardeau...

JACKSON -- Carson Wagner, 85, of Jackson, died Friday, Aug. 4, 1995, at the home of a daughter. He was born Aug. 14, 1909, in Jackson, son of Alvin "Boots" and Bessie Lee Niblack Wagner. He and Margaret Macke were married July 1, 1931, in Jackson. Wagner operated the auto repair facility at Ford Motor Co. in Jackson many years ago, and had also been shop foreman at Brennecke Chevrolet. He was employed by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. in Jackson 34 years, retiring as agency manager in 1972...

PERRYVILLE -- The Rev. James Edward Wilson, 73, of Perryville, died Friday, Aug. 4, 1995, at St. Mary's Seminary. He was born Dec. 4, 1921, in Winnipeg, Canada, son of Joseph Albert and Marjorie Starr Wilson. Wilson entered the novitiate May 30, 1941, and was ordained into the priesthood June 12, 1949...

SEDGEWICKVILLE -- Erby Joseph Kiefer, 88, of Sedgewickville, died Thursday, Aug. 3, 1995, at Sedgewickville. He was born Oct. 17, 1906, in Perryville, son of Henry and Mary Robinson Kiefer. He and Esther Mary Propst were married March 25, 1929. She died Sept. 6, 1982...

Mary Lenora Brandon, 73, 812 S. Sprigg, died Friday, Aug. 4, 1995, at her home. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

PUXICO -- Graveside service for Virginia Fann of Puxico will be held at 10 a.m. today at Puxico Cemetery, with the Rev. Steve Smith officiating. Friends may call at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Puxico after 9 a.m. Fann, 67, died Friday, Aug. 4, 1995, at Lucy Lee Hospital in Poplar Bluff...

CHARLESTON -- Cederic C. Rodgers, 26, of Charleston died Wednesday, Aug. 2, 1995, from an automobile accident. He was born Nov. 6, 1968, at Charleston, son of Rozena Rodgers and Willie C. Jones. Rodgers was a 1987 graduate of Charleston High School and had attended colleges in Texas, Missouri and Illinois...