Stories from Tuesday, February 27, 1996

FROHNA -- East Perry Lumber Co. started its annual spring planting early this year. The Frohna-based sawmill, which annually produces up to 12 million board feet of kiln-dried, finished lumber -- mostly red and white oak, poplar and ash -- established its own hardwood timber farm in East Perry County a quarter century ago...

While supportive of turning St. Vincent's Seminary into a museum and cultural center, Bob Steinberg believes that to successfully raise the needed funds the vision needs to be as defined as the amount of money sought. "I think if you want to raise money you have to have specific reasons and not just say you want to fix this building," said Steinberg, one of more than 50 people who attended a public meeting Monday night at the seminary...

JACKSON -- It seemed most people liked the idea of a secure juvenile center in Cape Girardeau County. Of about 40 county residents recently surveyed about what they thought, two-thirds indicated they wanted the facility here. But three times the number of people who completed the surveys prepared by the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association signed a petition opposing the center. ...

The federal government has ruled out a two-block area of historic homes in downtown Cape Girardeau as a site for a new courthouse. The General Services Administration has begun to re-evaluate other blocks in the downtown area. The Happy Hollow area, a former dump west of City Hall, is one of the sites being studied, a federal official said Monday...

B-U-G-S B-U-N-N-W. Becca, our 4-year-old, meticulously announced each letter as if it were an invited guest to a ball. "What was that last letter?" I asked. Becca showed me the bottle of vitamins with Bugs Bunny on the label. "That's a Y not a W," I advised her...

For U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, 1995 proved to be his best off-election year fund-raising effort since he was first elected in 1980. The Friends of Bill Emerson, 8th District Republican's campaign committee, reported raising $222,954.26 last year. The committee ended the year with $223,199.54 on hand...

POPLAR BLUFF -- House Minority Leader Mark L. Richardson will seat re-election to the Missouri House of Representatives. Richardson, 44, was first elected to the 154th District seat in 1992 and has been minority leader since 1994. He was the Republican candidate for speaker of the House in 1995 and 1996...

Pending state legislation would allow Cape Girardeau County to retain its county coroner rather than have to hire a medical examiner when the county goes first class. As of Jan. 1, Cape Girardeau County becomes a first-class county, which will bring about several changes in the way business gets done...

Regular K103-FM listeners might notice a format change today -- country music mixed with pleas for donations -- but it should be a familiar change. For more than 10 years the "Country Cares for St. Jude Kids" Radiothon has been heard on radio stations across the country. It begins at 6 a.m. today on KEZS/K103-FM radio and features country music, celebrity endorsements and pledge appeals from St. Jude patients...

Since the day I consistently misspelled the word "shining" in a freshman English class, I have usually sought to display the broadest possible tolerance for the mistakes of others. This understanding of human frailty has extended to the boundaries of the third floor of the Missouri Capitol where, I must constantly remind myself, 197 human beings are doing their dead level best to enact sensible, needed and hopefully error-free statutes of the land. ...

A community survey and series of public meetings should provide ample input for the Cape Girardeau Board of Education to devise a blueprint for the next five years. The board will meet in a study session Monday to begin the next phase of its strategic planning. Curriculum, finances and buildings will no doubt be part of that process...

U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson has a reputation of being a fighter. Since 1980, he has fought for constituents and issues important to Southeast Missouri. But Emerson is waging a personal battle as well against lung cancer. The eight-term congressman is gearing up his re-election campaign. Several months of chemotherapy haven't cramped his drive. His only limitation has been on travel during the treatment...

Why is the tobacco industry trying to deprive your local government officials of the right to enact laws concerning the sale and distribution of tobacco products? This is exactly what legislation proposed in Senate Bill 831, sponsored by Sen. Bill McKenna of Barnhart, and House Bill 1247, sponsored by Rep. O.L. Shelton of St. Louis, would do...

Billy Howard, 60, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Feb. 26, 1996, at his home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Lorberg Funeral Chapel.

Funeral service for Walter Schlichting of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Revs. Doyle W. Randol and William E. Fish will officiate. Burial will be in Lindsey Cemetery at McClure, Ill., with graveside rites by Carroll P. Foster VFW Post 3455 in Anna, Ill...

Daughter to Shawn Edward and Dana Rae McClain of Charleston, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 11:37 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, 1996. Name, Emily Grace. Weight, 7 pounds 7 ounces. First child. Mrs. McClain is the former Dana Galemore, daughter of Deanna Carlisle of Charleston and Jerry Galemore of Colorado. She is a dental assistant for Dr. Ron Peterson. McClain is the son of Gary McClain and Paula McClain of Sikeston. He is an administrative manager with Bob Ralph Distributing Co...

Melvin S. Kistner, 85, of Cape Girardeau, died Monday, Feb. 26, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

SIKESTON -- Marc Clinton Boes, 24, of Sikeston, died Sunday, Feb. 25, 1996, at his home. He was born April 28, 1971, in Sikeston, son of Randy Wayne and Iritta G. Hensley Boes. Boes was a 1989 graduate of Sikeston High School. He was employed at Inter Tech Inc., and previously was a warehouseman at Malone and Hyde...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Graveside service for Mary Crawford of Mounds will be held at 1 p.m. today at Spencer Heights Cemetery. The Rev. Ronald Copeland will officiate. Crain Funeral Home at Tamms is in charge of arrangements. Crawford, 88, died Sunday, Feb. 25, 1996, at Meridian Manor Nursing Home...

Funeral service and burial for Juanita "Susie" Kuettle of Duluth, Minn., was held Friday in Duluth. Kuettle, 74, died Monday, Feb. 19, 1996, in a Duluth hospital. She was born Nov. 18, 1921, at Indian Creek, daughter of Pearl and Jeffie Abernathy Sides. She and Robert Kuettle were married in 1945. He died in 1987...

DEXTER -- Funeral service for Georgia Mae Davis of Dexter will be held at 9 a.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Chapel in Dexter. Pastor Ken Krippner will officiate, with burial in Lake Charles Memorial Park Cemetery in St. Louis. Davis, 75, died Saturday, Feb. 24, 1996, at Dexter Memorial Hospital...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Fred Constant Jr. of East Prairie will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie. The Rev. David Dowdy will officiate, with burial in Dogwood Cemetery. Constant, 66, died Sunday, Feb. 25, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, following an extended illness...

More than 2,000 students were named to the fall semester Dean's List at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Area students making the list were Gary W. Barker, Molly G. Bass, Jerri L. Carter, Laura Clark, Courtney J. Goldsmith, Angela K. Grissom, Marcy D. ...

The City of Roses Charter Chapter of the American Business Women's Association is offering a $500 scholarship to Southeast Missouri State University. The deadline for application is March 15. Students interested in applying must maintain a 2.5 grade-point average, fill out an application form and include a current transcript...

Bonnie Essner, an eighth-grade student at St. Augustine School in Kelso, recently won the local round of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 1996 Spelling Bee. Students at the school competed in the spelling bee. Fourth-grader Katie Ressel was the winner at the primary level...

Three area students were recently awarded a Regents' Scholarship to attend Southeast Missouri State University for 1996-97. The scholarship is given to high school seniors who earn a score of 27 on the Enhanced ACT or graduate in the top 10 percent of their class...

Two professors and two students from Southeast Missouri State University last month attended a board of directors meeting for the State Council-International Reading Association. Amy Krieger and Erin Haney represented the university's first student council of the International Reading Association. Drs. Ann Porter Gifford and Susan Spellman also attended...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Efforts to send Gov. Mel Carnahan a bill increasing Missouri speed limits ran into a blockade Monday created by a state senator opposed to the bill. Sen. Danny Staples had hoped to get his speed limit bill passed and sent to Carnahan, who said he is ready to sign it into law...

Loud noises, unusual smells and an occasional explosion aren't uncommon in Kathy Wright's classroom. Wright teaches chemistry at Cape Girardeau Central High School. She also teaches advanced placement classes. "In chemistry, there are many different things that occur which would not in other classes," she said of the lab experiments and demonstrations...

Jackie Wiseman, left, and Candace Smith, right, students at May Greene School, discussed the books they read with Roberta Conner, a school volunteer. The students will take a computer test on the books. People with big hearts are contributing their free time to help teach the children of Cape Girardeau by volunteering in area schools...