Stories from Monday, December 11, 1995

WICKLIFFE, Ky. -- Westvaco, a major manufacturer of paper, packaging and specialty chemicals, will invest another $80 million in its Wickliffe, Ky, complex. Westvaco officials announced recently that construction will get under way early next year on a facility to make activated carbon...

Cape Girardeau's Board of Education will talk behind closed doors at today's board meeting about the impact of resignations by the superintendent and high-school principal. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in room 214 of the Vocational-Technical School. Other parts of the meeting are open to the public...

Holiday merchandise is abundant at the shop, including these pins. Other accessories include scarves, earrings and necklaces. Anderson says knitwear isn't just for casual days anymore. With the right coordination and accessories, it works for the office...

Target loves Christmas -- and for more reasons than the upsurge in sales the holiday season traditionally precipitates. For the fifth consecutive year, Target will brighten the holiday season for more than 10,000 non-profit agencies, including schools, children's hospital, senior citizens home, libraries and others. This year, Cape Girardeau will share in Target's holiday generosity...

As the Christmas shopping season wears on, retailers had hoped for record sales over the weekend. Many expected the frigid weather and snow to boost holiday sales. And they did. Shoppers returned to the stores Saturday and Sunday after a hiatus Friday when about 4 inches of snow blanketed Southeast Missouri...

Although violence doesn't pose an overwhelming threat in area schools, administrators across the region support a push for tougher state laws to decrease school violence. "It has not been a serious problem at Schultz but I could see in years to come it becoming more of a problem," said John Eck, principal at Louis J. Schultz School in Cape Girardeau. "We live in a rural area and don't have those kinds of problems, but the potential is there."...

Diabetes has almost robbed Mrs. O of her eyesight, yet she remains determined to live independently as long as she can. Mrs. O is in her 80s, but she decided she would learn the skills needed to take care of herself once her eyesight is gone. She lives alone and has for many years. Her grown son and daughter live close by and help when they can...

Between shopping and cooking and decorating and visiting friends and family, the holidays can be so hectic that sometimes it is easy to forget the meaning of Christmas. Toy Box, sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian, offers families a chance to share their good fortune with underprivileged children in Cape Girardeau...

MARBLE HILL -- Melodie Armstrong just got to town, but she has singlehandedly doubled Bollinger County residents' access to health care. Armstrong is now the second doctor practicing in Bollinger County, which has a population of 11,200. She is joining forces with Dr. John Englehart, who for many years was the county's only doctor. Both practice at Cross Trails Medical Center in Marble Hill...

You can learn a lot about a person from their underwear drawer. Of course, credit reports, criminal records and background security checks will give you much more specific information, but leather and lace can be equally revealing. So to speak. You can tell when my friend Debra's in a new relationship because she starts buying the good stuff -- actually, I suppose you could consider it the bad stuff, since it consists of tiny amounts of lace and lots of elastic -- instead of the usual six-packs of floral cotton bikini briefs.. ...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Hiram F. Ethridge, 89, of Clinton, Iowa, and formerly of Cairo, died Sunday, Dec. 10, 1995, at the Clinton Retirement Center. He was born Kuttawa, Ky., on July 3, 1906, to Fred and Mary Tolar Ethridge. He was married to Catherine Ethridge, who died in 1983...

BROWNWOOD -- Donald Ray Robinson, 43, of Brownwood died Sunday, Dec. 10, 1995, at his home. Arrangements are incomplete at Morgan Funeral Home of Advance.

PERKINS -- Stephen S. Calliotte, 35, of Perkins died Saturday Dec. 9, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born July 28, 1960, in Sikeston to Elmer and Alfrieda Bumgardaner Calliotte. He worked at Delta Fertilizer Supply Co. of Delta...

DEXTER -- Nellie M. Shaner, 90, of Dexter died Sunday Dec. 10, 1995, at the Dexter Nursing Center. She was born Sept. 15, 1905, at Fruitland to Charles and Idyll Davis Noland. On April 2, 1927, she married Lawrence W. Shaner, who died Jan. 18, 1985...

KELSO -- Elizabeth Amanda Martin, 91, of Kelso died Sunday, Dec. 10, 1995, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Oct. 11, 1904, at Fenton, daughter of Mathias and Margaret Fuchs Godefroid. She and August Frank Martin were married Nov. 24, 1920. He preceded her in death Aug. 14, 1986...

Congressional retirement announcements are coming so often that they can hardly find enough rooms for the swan-song press conferences. At most recent count, no fewer than 12 U.S. senators and a couple of dozen congressmen and women have announced their plans to depart Capitol Hill rather than stand for re-election. The number of Senate retirements, in particular, is the highest since the pivotal election of 1896...

As he prepares to begin his 16th year in Congress next month, Rep. Bill Emerson is in the thick of the various budget and other battles currently raging in Washington. Little thinks like lung cancer and chemotherapy treatments don't seem to be holding him back from presiding in the speaker's chair and other vigorous duties...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "How will you celebrate Christmas this year?" Kim Hurt, Cape Girardeau "I'm going to my dad's and then to my boy friend's mom and dad's, and then we open gifts." Brad DeWitt, Essex "Spend it with my family and take it easy with my kids, mainly, making them happy for Christmas."...

JACKSON -- Dr. Howard Jones goes to work as Jackson Public School's superintendent around 7 or 7:30 a.m. His nights are spent going to school functions or on work brought home. He even talks about school in his sleep. "My wife thinks she's going to get some juicy tidbit," Jones said. "But apparently I only say things like, `We need to change that policy.'"...

Construction is under way on the Bavarian-style Jackson Drury Inn and Suites hotel nine miles north of Cape Girardeau at Interstate 55 and U.S. 61. The 80-room, four-story hotel is patterned after the Drury Inn in Frankenmuth, Mich., and boasts the same Bavarian theme and decor. Half of the rooms are two-room suites...

Connie Copsy, left, of AAA Travel, presented a Disney lithograph to Elaine Lannom, who the prize during the recent Southeast Missouri Hospital Showcase. Allen Trovillion has joined Metro Lighting Supply Inc., 361 S. Plaza Way, as an outside-lighting sales consultant...

Potential buyers have until noon Friday to make a sealed auction bid on the 85,320-square-foot building in Cape Girardeau that formerly housed Central Hardware. "We will open the bids after the Friday noon deadline," said David J. Hyman, managing broker and senior vice president of Benjamin E. Sherman and Sons, which is selling the property of Spirit Holding Co. The property is being offered for auction with the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court...

Southwestern Bell has made a $1,000 investment in the Southeast Missouri State University Small Business Development Center. The funds will be used to further develop international trade and help businesses tap into the global marketplace, said Buz Sutherland, the center director...

The Small Business Development Center will conduct counseling sessions in four areas this month. The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available Dec. 20 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office. The counseling sessions (about one hour) are free. Call (314)-335-3312 for appointment...

Total construction activity in Missouri was up 10 percent in October and the year. The F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market, reported total construction for October at $548,340,000, up from the $499,357,000 totals for the same month in 1994...

Elder-Beerman Department Store at University Mall in Carbondale, Ill. will remain open. Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. plans to close 102 stores as part of the company's reorganization, including 68 of its Margo specialty apparel shops and 32 El-Be Shoe stores...

D&K Wholesale Drug Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, has acquired 50 percent of Pharmaceutical Buyers Inc. of Boulder, Colo. The acquisition agreement also gives Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. 30 percent of PBI and leaves 20 percent with the founders of the company, J. David McCay and Robert E. Korenblat...

The Better Business Bureau of Greater St. Louis, which serves Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois, has moved to 12 Sunnen Business Park, Suite 121, off Big Bend Blvd in St. Louis. The BBB was previously in the Merchant's Exchange Building on Oakland Ave...

Ford Motor Co. will offer new side-impact air bags on all of its cars and light trucks within two years. Ford is the first of Detroit's Big Three to commit to the additional safety devices designed to protect against deadly head and chest injuries. In making its announcement, Ford officials say that although frontal collisions are more common, side impacts often result in more serious injuries...

Caroline S. Brown, a registered art therapist, has opened a private practice. Brown, of Jackson, has worked with design and implementation of the Art Therapy programs at Clermont Mercy Hospital in Cincinnati, Valley Institute of Psychiatry at Owensboro, Ky.; DePauw Hospital in St. Louis and Cottonwood Residential Treatment Center in Cape Girardeau...

Krone Marketing Group, 1917 Robin Hood Circle, pharmaceutical representative and executive distributor of VAXA Nutraceuticals International Inc., is offering VAXA's latest product, Ultra CitriSlim. The product, a medical weight-loss formula, was developed and perfected by a California neuroscientist and researcher at VAXA...

Ogborn Bookkeeping and Tax, 1843 Caroline in Cape Girardeau and Route 3 North in Olive Branch, Ill., has been appointed an AgriPlan/BizPlan provider in Cape Girardeau and Olive Branch. AgriPlan/BizPlan allows qualifying self-employed farmers and small-business owners to deduct 100 percent of their health insurance premiums and uninsured medical, dental and vision care expenses...

American manufacturing slowed for a fourth straight month in November in its worst performance since June, according to a survey of manufacturers. The National Association of Purchasing Management of New York said recently that U.S. factory output declined at a slightly faster rate than in October. Economists said the report suggested manufacturing remains sluggish...