Stories from Thursday, October 26, 1995

To the editor: About one year ago the announcement was made that, in the Western Hemisphere, the United States is second only to Haiti in the poorest record of immunizations for children 2 years old and under. Closer to home, an Aug. 11 report from the Missouri Bureau of Immunization shows that the immunization levels from public clinics of Missouri's 2-year-old children are the lowest in the nation. ...

Reductions in the size of the U.S. military have paid a dividend for regional law enforcement. Taking advantage of a program to get rid of surplus equipment, the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department recently picked up two military helicopters free of charge...

Journey Magazine, Southeast Missouri State University's student literary magazine, will celebrate its 30th anniversary with staged readings today. The readings, in which current and former students will read selections from the past three decades, are scheduled for 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. in Grauel Lab Theatre Room 303. A reception will follow the 4 p.m. performance. Each performance is expected to last about 30 minutes...

PERRYVILLE -- Teen-age pregnancy isn't paramount in Perry County but it could be prevented completely with a new sex-education program in Perryville schools. Eighth-grade students at the junior high school will participate in the "Children Not Having Children" program next spring...

A former quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs today will announce his candidacy for the 1996 Republican gubernatorial nomination. State Sen. Bill Kenney of Lees Summit will make the announcement during a fund-raising event in Kansas City. He joins Missouri Auditor Margaret Kelly in seeking the Republican nomination...

The bright blue United Nations flag joined the Missouri and U.S. flags in front of Academic Hall on Wednesday to mark the 50th anniversary of the peace-seeking organization. Members of the Model U.N. organization at Southeast Missouri State University sponsored the flag-raising, conducted the day after United Nations Day...

The Amabile Piano Quartet will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Old St. Vincent's Church in downtown Cape Girardeau. The quartet is composed of performers from different parts of the U.S. The members are accomplished soloists and professors who come together three times a year for tours that might range from Cape Girardeau to a chamber series in Washington, D.C...

"Arsenic and Old Lace," a comedy about two elderly women who think killing people is their calling, will be presented Nov. 3 and 4 at the Central High School Auditorium. The play will be performed at 7:30 both nights. Tickets are $2 for students and $3 for others and will be available at the door...

Wandering ghosts and goblins looking for something to do this weekend have a plethora of spooky activities for their consideration. Besides the traditional haunted houses, area businesses and organizations are offering everything from dinner to hay rides with a Halloween theme:...

Why did Gov. Mel Carnahan, whose Senate Bill 380 did more to accelerate the move toward outcome-based education in Missouri than any single measure, suddenly join the ranks of OBE opponents? Could be any one of several reasons. My guess, though, is that he and his advisers are watching this year's most interesting election: the race for governor in the Commonwealth of Kentucky...

Q. When is a mobile home hunting shack worth $50,000 and dirt field paths worth $100,000? A. When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is trying to justify rebuilding levees damaged in the record Missouri floods of 1993. The Columbia Daily Tribune in mid-Missouri reported that the corps routinely overvalued property that the rebuilt levees were supposed to protect...

In an increasingly violent society, it isn't surprising that violence sometimes erupts in public school systems. Thankfully, incidents like the one in St. Louis earlier this month -- a substitute teacher collapsed and died after struggling with a 9-year-old boy -- remain the exception...

To the editor: The Missouri Division of Family Services, along with the Cape Girardeau County Child Abuse and Neglect Council, recently sponsored a child abuse/neglect conference which was held at the Holiday Inn. Approximately 250 people attended this conference, including DFS staff, law enforcement and juvenile officers, foster parents, educators, counselors, university students and many others who work with or are interested in children...

SCOTT CITY -- With a brush and a bucket of yellow paint, Gary Poyner is helping the environment, the city and himself at the same time. Poyner, 16, is painting storm drain covers throughout the city with an environmental message to keep Missouri's streams clean...

Although legislation died in Washington last year, health-care reform is "alive and well," the president and chief executive officer of the National Business Coalition on Health said here Wednesday. Business and industry are responsible for a "conservative revolution" in health care as they demand increased quality and lower costs from providers, said the coalition CEO, Sean Sullivan...

Administrators are too restrictive with school newspaper content, said some aspiring journalists attending a student press association meeting Wednesday. About 325 student journalists from 21 area high schools converged on Southeast Missouri State University to attend the 22nd annual Southeast Missouri Student Press Association meeting, which brought experts and students together to promote better school newspapers and yearbooks...

Southeast Missouri State University's interim president says he isn't here for the long haul, but he won't rule out staying longer than a year. The interim president, Dr. Bill Atchley, commented Wednesday prior to meeting in private with the Board of Regents to select members for a presidential search committee...

Oct. 26, 1995 Dear Patty, As I write this, our new puppies Hank and Lucy are peacefully sleeping at my feet, which is not only a Saturday Evening Post scene but a rare one. Usually they're tussling over a pair of DC's pantyhose or nipping at each other's ears and paws, or trying to shinny up the side of our bed, or tearing the foam insulation away from the air conditioner, or whining because one of us has left the room, or relieving themselves when and where you least expect it, or climbing inside the dishwasher, or yelping because I've forgotten once again that puppies most often are found beneath your feet.. ...

I THINK the idea of the floodwall mural is great. However, I noticed some of people on it have the same type of nose, and that nose makes Rush look like a different person. I noticed him in particular because I'm a Rush fan, and then I observed the others...

It's safe to predict that hospitals will change in the 21st century, Bradley Engel says. Just how they'll change and what their role will be is anybody's guess, said Engel, a health-care consultant with William M. Mercer, Inc.'s Chicago office. "The only thing that I can predict with a great deal of confidence is that they're going to change and continue to change," he said at Wednesday's "Moving Ahead with Managed Care" seminar, sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Business Group on Health...

MARSTON -- Araie Evans, 95, died Sunday, Oct. 22, 1995, at her home in Marston. She was born March 31, 1900, at Dyersburg, Tenn., daughter of Ollie and Allie Beth Fitzgerald Johnson. She was a member of the Lily of the Valley Freewill Baptist Church at Point Pleasant and the mother board there. Evans was a resident of Missouri for 80 years...

Wanda Louise Moore, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Oct. 25, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Funeral Chapel.

PERRYVILLE -- Oliver R. Katt, 71, died Tuesday, Oct. 24, 1995, at the Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born March 9, 1924, at Menfro, son of Theodore and Esther Rodewald Katt. He married Orreal E. Heise on Oct. 30, 1949, at Perryville. Until his retirement, he worked as a maintenance engineer at Perry Oaks Health Center. ...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Henry Floyd Klepper, 69, of Alto Pass, Ill., formerly of Tinley Park, died Wednesday, Oct. 25, 1995, at The Abbey in Carbondale. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home in Anna, Ill.

CAIRO, Ill. -- Clara Mae Kerley, 83, of Cairo, died Tuesday, Oct. 24, 1995, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky. She was born June 11, 1912, in Ballard County, Ky., daughter of Stirling and Laura Dyke Apperson. She married Elmer Kerley. Kerley was a cook more than 20 years at the former St. Mary's Hospital in Cairo. She was a member of Gospel Assembly Church in Paducah, and attended its mission church in Cairo...

MAKANDA, Ill. -- Fannie "Frances" Oliver, 80, of Makanda, died Wednesday, Oct. 25, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Sept. 6, 1915, in Makanda, daughter of Charles Jacob and Ida Mae Elliott Lirely. She and George Oliver were married Dec. 22, 1934...

DUTCHTOWN -- Elmer Jerome Obermann, 60, of Dutchtown, died Wednesday, Oct. 25, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Amick-Burnett Funeral Home at Chaffee is in charge of arrangements.

Son to Thomas and Carolyn King, Perryville Route 7, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 2:06 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2, 1995. Name, Vincent Thomas. Weight, 8 pounds 6 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. King is the former Carolyn Pohlman, daughter of Leon and Nancy Pohlman of Perryville. She is employed at Buchheit Inc. King is employed at Loyd Slinkard Painting Inc. He is the son of Joseph and Barbara King of Perryville...

SIKESTON -- Laura Mae McGee, 87, died Tuesday, Oct. 24, 1995, at the Clearview Nursing Center in Sikeston. She was born Aug. 5, 1908, at Lawrenceburg, Tenn., daughter of Leon McFarren and Francis White Nolley. She and William T. "Tommie" McGee were married Dec. 7, 1931, at Lawrenceburg. He preceded her in death April 17, 1976...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri's farmers have become a vital part of an effort to enhance the economy through increased export sales, says a just-released report by the state Department of Agriculture. Farmers in the state now account for $1 of every $5 in goods exported to some 169 countries each year, supplying a variety of crops and livestock that range from cotton to tobacco, from poultry to rice...