Stories from Monday, October 9, 1995

Stand back computer junkies and students, area businesses are surfing the net, too, the Internet that is. No longer is the Internet for the electronic exchange of ideas reserved for students at educational institutions that can afford the service. Area businesses are arriving on the electronic scene and using the net in a variety of ways...

Edward Lowe was no stranger to the Cape Girardeau area. Many remember the day in 1989 when Lowe and his wife, Darlene, wheeled into Cape Girardeau in their motor home. The motor home was loaded with cats. Lowe, inventor of Kitty Litter, then in his mid-60s, delivered the cats to a new feline research and development facility at 300 Airport Road...

She spent the past two years in a strange country, where everything from the diet to the language were foreign to her. But Sister Jeanne Goessling can't wait to go back to Kenya. Goessling has been a missionary to the African nation for the past two years, teaching in a secondary school and helping African women in their relatively new roles as Catholic nuns...

The summer vacation season is past, but tourism is thriving this week in Cape Girardeau. About 100 people are here for a statewide tourism educational retreat. The three-day event, sponsored by the Missouri Travel Council and the Missouri Division of Tourism, began Sunday...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "In light of the Cape Girardeau Schools Vision Planning sessions, What improvements would you suggest for the Cape Girardeau School District?" Margaret Lents, Cape Girardeau "Another school for K-6 or a middle school."...

THIS IS regarding the Cape Central Junior High eighth grade football Cubs. To the coaches, you have a lot of talent out there. Maybe you need to re-evaluate. Some of those kids have four years' experience in Cape's youth league football and know what they can do and are not being given the chance. ...

IN THE end the only judgment that counts is the judgment of God and Jesus Christ. IN THE O.J. Simpson trial, I think the judicial system did a really sloppy job. It took them a whole year to figure out O.J. Simpson was innocent. They should have been out trying to find another suspect. The jury took four hours to decide their verdict. That is really sloppy...

A Southeast Missouri man was injured in a one vehicle accident Sunday afternoon in Cape Girardeau County. Harold Michael, 36, of Kennett was seriously injured when the motorcycle he was driving ran off the road and struck a tree, said the Missouri State Highway Patrol...

SIKESTON -- Sarah Ellen Kappler, 96, of Sikeston died Saturday, Oct. 7, 1995, at the Miner Nursing Home. She was born May 27, 1899, in Lyon County, Ky., the daughter of John David and Ethyl Perry Wissmann. She married Andrew Kappler on March 2, 1917, in Oran. He preceded her in death...

FARMINGTON -- Bessie E. Wilt Amsden, 91, of Flat River died Saturday, Oct. 7, 1995, at Camelot Nursing Center in Farmington. She was born Sept. 11, 1904, at Coffman, the daughter of John and Annie Simpson Perry. She first married Andrew A. Wilt, who preceded her in death. She later married Chessie Amsden, and he also preceded her in death...

I stand in opposition to affirmative action, not for its high-sounding goals or for what it once stood for. I oppose affirmative action for what it has become today. affirmative action as it is practiced constitutes nothing more than government group preferences for politically designated social victims. As race-based and gender-based preferences, affirmative action is wrong in and of itself, and I stand in absolute opposition to it...

Cape Girardeau's public school system has embarked on an alternative high school program that should gear up this month. The program represents a cooperative effort to help troubled students and families. The school district, Community Caring Council, the local office of the Missouri Division of Youth Services and local court representatives all worked together to set up and fund the school...

The Republicans in Congress want to bring federal spending under control. Among the programs slated for reductions is the federal student loan program. The current proposal on the table would save $10.4 billion over the next seven years. Southeast Missouri State University's financial aid office entered the political fray by financing an ad in the student newspaper. ...

Now that Case No. BA-0970211 in Superior Court in beautiful downtown Los Angeles has been heard, we will have our final exam on this historic event. Will the bailiff please distribute the test, which is multiple choice, to the members of the jury. You are cautioned against sharing your answers with the juror sitting next to you. ...

Agenda Monday, Oct. 9 6 p.m. Vocational-Technical School, 301 N. Clark, Room 214 Action items Approval of Secretary of the Board Report for 1995-96 Transportation of students living within a mile of school Bus addition Non-action items HealthNet Blue open enrollment...

The American Heart Association, Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center are sponsoring Heart Walkers, a 16-week indoor walking program. The program is offered without charge at the Southeast Missouri State University Recreation Center and at Main Street Fitness Center in Jackson, where the charge is $1 per person per week...

Southeast Missouri Hospital will hold a Freedom From Smoking class starting Oct. 12. Designed by the American Lung Association, the seven-week course will meet from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the community room at Southeast Hospital. For more information, call the hospital's Fitness and Wellness Center at 334-9355...

PERRYVILLE -- Perry County officials are using a satellite system to map roads in connection with its implementation of an emergency 911 system. The Global Positioning System, a military satellite navigation system, is pinpointing exact locations for the 911 mapping...

Renew Auto Care opened recently at 1502 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau. Robert "Bo" Hutchins and Brian Bowles are owners of the new business. Hutchins and Bowles, who combine for more than six years experience in the auto detail business, provide complete auto cleaning and detailing. They also provide pinstriping...

The Downtown Merchants Association will meet Oct. 24, at 5:30 p.m. The monthly meetings area held at the Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant. Chris Hutson is president of the association.

Changes in tax legislation, with special emphasis on farm and retirement situations, will be the focus of the Oct. 30 Farm Income Tax School at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau. Dr. Mike Hardin, a tax specialist from the University of Oklahoma, and Sarah Lossau, tax law specialist with the Internal Revenue Service, will conduct the daylong classes, starting at 8 a.m...

ST. LOUIS -- Anheuser-Busch has introduced its newest ice beer in the Washington market. Busch Ice joined Bud Ice, Bud Ice Light and Natural Ice in the company's ice-beer lineup. Anheuser-Busch, the world's largest brewery, said consumer demand for ice beers has been strong...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- First Union Corp. and First Fidelity Bancorp. shareholders overwhelmingly approved a proposed $5.4 billion merger. In one of the largest bank deals in history, Charlotte-based First Union and First Fidelity, which is based in both Philadelphia and Newark, N.J., will create a banking company with $126 billion in assets and 2,000 offices from Connecticut to Florida...

The Royal N'Orleans Restaurant, at Broadway and Lorimier in downtown Cape Girardeau, is under new ownership. John and Jerrianne Wyman of Merriwether Investments Inc. started operating the restaurant Oct. 1. The Wymans are only the third owner of the Royal N'Orleans Restaurant, established in the historic Old Opera House in the mid-1950s by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Barnhouse. Dennis Stockard acquired the property and restaurant in 1987...

A new Dollar General Store will open in Cape Girardeau Thursday. The store will be the third for the Nashville-based chain in Cape Girardeau. Dollar stores currently operate at 20 N. Spanish in downtown Cape Girardeau and at 64 Plaza Way Shopping Center...

St. Francis Medical Center recently opened its Center for Health and Rehabilitation at 28 S. Mount Auburn Road. The building, which previously housed the Human Performance Center, and later the HealthSouth rehabilitation facility, has been completely renovated and expanded to 16,000 square feet...

Ruby Tuesday Restaurant will open in Cape Girardeau Oct. 17. The restaurant will be part of Auburn Park, a commercial retail complex near the intersection of Mount Auburn Road and William Street. Nathan H. Downing, who previously worked at the Paducah, Ky., Ruby Tuesday, is general manager of the Cape Girardeau restaurant...

Total construction activity in Missouri was up 3 percent in August, and up 8 percent for the year. The F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market, reported August construction at $528,815,000, up from the $511,841,000 for August 1994...

JACKSON -- Pocahontas Lumber and Hardware Inc. has a new look. The company, at 410 W. Independence in Jackson, will celebrate its "New Age of Ace" look Wednesday through Saturday. with special grand opening activities. Pocahontas Lumber, founded almost 50 years ago in Pocahontas, became affiliated with Ace Hardware in 1974. A decade later, in 1984, the company expanded to its current 15,000 square feet of retail space...

Procter & Gamble has donated $500 to the Cape Girardeau Parks Development Foundation to be used improvements of Capaha Lagoon. The donation was made through Procter & Gamble's volunteer grant program. Through this program, employees or retirees of P&G may apply for grants for specific projects in which they are personally involved...

Richard Kinsey has joined Optioncare as director of marketing. Kinsey, who has 13 years experience in the health-care industry, received his nursing degree from Southeast Missouri State University. He worked at Southeast Missouri Hospital nine years, and received his registry in invasive cardiovascular technology while working in the cardiovascular services department...