Stories from Wednesday, March 27, 1996

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Marsha Eva Murray, 51, of Springfield died Tuesday, March 26, 1996, at Regency Nursing Center. She was born Dec. 17, 1944, in Hanford, Wash., to Waldo B. and Eva Mae Rocasi Miller. Murray was a member of the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the League of Women Voters and the University of Illinois Alumni Association. ...

To the editor: After reading what Marc Powers had to say about tradition, I want it to be known just what that tradition implies. The national anthem is a song about our flag, and that flag has a powerful meaning and symbolism. It is a symbol of the hundreds of soldiers and sailors who lie beneath Pearl Harbor, Leyte Gulf and Midway. ...

Susan Frain will present a slide show and discussion about the United Nations International Women's Conference in Beijing, China, Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Wesley House, 415 N. Pacific. Frain, who is employed at the Center for Health and Counseling at Southeast Missouri State University, attended the conference...

MORLEY -- The Scott County Central Board of Education hired a husband-wife team for its new high-school principal and elementary teacher during a recent board meeting. High School principal Jerry Crites will retire at the end of the school year. Stan Whitson will become high school principal June 30. He has 26 years of experience as an administrator in the Lesterville, Mountain View, Winfield and Greenville school districts...

CHARLESTON -- Annie, the red-haired orphan everyone loves, can be seen in the new Charleston High School musical "Annie Warbucks." It is the first musical performed since the Charleston Junior High School, which housed the auditorium, was destroyed by fire. The new auditorium, which is the site of "Annie Warbucks," was recently added to the high school...

BENTON -- Even though the majority of incumbents filed for office Feb. 27, some of their opponents waited until the deadline Tuesday to file. Jim Smiley was the eighth person to file for the 2nd District commissioner's seat. Incumbent Wayne Petitt also filed. His opponents are Robert Niederkorn, Charles Klueppel, Ben Evans, Joe Lee Michael, Bud Dock and David Coop Dirnberger...

PERRYVILLE -- The final day of election filings kept Perry County Clerk Randy Taylor busy Tuesday. Three people filed for public administrator in Perry County, bringing the total to eight primary candidates. They are Jim Taylor, Gerald E. Fallert, Daniel J. Hotop, Tammy Tarrillion, Samantha Schremp, Alice Bachmann, Sharon C. Hoff and Jim Newcomer, all of Perryville...

I WAS just reading here under "Funeral plan" in your Speak Out column, this person states that they drive Interstate 55 five times a week and that when the speed limit was 65, they set their cruise just a little plus 65. Now that the 70 mph is the speed limit, it says, "I set my cruise a little bit plus 70." And they say cars still pass them like crazy the same as they did when it was 65. ...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Until just a few years ago, most Missourians believed they lived in an environment that was relatively free of the pollutants caused by highly industrialized areas, mega-sized traffic patterns and deteriorating natural resources. Driving through miles of the state's seemingly undisturbed forest land, it was difficult to imagine that pollution could invade many of Missouri's free-running, clear-water rivers and lakes nor was it apparent even in such high-traffic regions as metropolitan suburbs. ...

The Cape Girardeau City Council has ranked what it has determined is the public's preferences for the site of a new federal courthouse. Topping the list is the old St. Francis hospital building (at Good Hope and Pacific streets), followed by the Happy Hollow area (next to City Hall on Independence Street) and the 400 block of Broadway...

The same kind of logic should extend to a proposed site for a Division of Youth Services juvenile detention center. Cape Girardeau County commissioners have taken an active role in the site-selection process in hopes of securing one of two 20-bed facilities in Southeast Missouri...

To the editor: I appreciate your to-the-point March 19 editorial on "Fiscal realities." If the voters will take an honest look at the candidates and then vote with their heads before their emotions, we can begin getting this thing turned around. Sadly, though, I feel this may not be the case. Any workable solutions that get to the heart of the problem and fix it are usually labelled as extreme by the opposition just to score political points with an uninformed electorate...

To the editor: The voters of Cape Girardeau County should be aware of legislation that would strip away their rights and set environmental justice back 50 years. This is being quietly ramroded through the legislative process at our own state Capitol (House Bill 945, Senate Bill 561 and Senate Bill 529) as well as many other capitols across this nation. ...

Charter members of the Teen Pregnancy and Responsibility Network remember the volatile meetings their group had 10 years ago. It was March 1986, when many people in Cape Girardeau County were comfortable believing the teen-agers in their midst weren't having sex. AIDS was considered a big-city problem and teachers talking about condoms in school was unthinkable...

ANNA, Ill. -- Thelma "Maxine" Shepherd Corzine, 78, of Harahan, La., formerly of Anna, died Monday, March 25, 1996, at Harahan Guest House. She married Laurel Bon Corzine, who died Jan. 14, 1996. Corzine was a member of Hickory Knoll Church of Christ...

CHARLESTON -- Rosie Sledge, 80, of Charleston, died Saturday, March 23, 1996, at Bertrand Nursing Facility. She was born Aug. 17, 1915, in Tupelo, Miss., daughter of Ozell and Mary Eckford. She married Jimmie Sledge, who died in 1967. Sledge was a member of Mercy Seat Missionary Baptist Church...

Robert O. "Bub" Coates, 87, 227 Pacific, died Sunday, March 24, 1996. He was born Sept. 12, 1908, in Delta, son of Jessie and Luttie Sides Coates. Coates was a cook with the Wabash Railroad 30 years, and retired from Bub's Bar-B-Q about nine years ago. He was a member of Second Baptist Church...

RISCO -- Funeral service for Veda Lee May of Risco will be held at 2 p.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Chapel in Parma. The Rev. Ray Rowland will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery at Malden. Friends may call at the funeral home from noon to service time...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Zelma Swanson Brown, 89, of Boynton Beach, Fla., formerly of Dongola, died Thursday, March 7, 1996, at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla. She was born June 1, 1906, in Dongola, daughter of Otto and Nora Verble Foster. Brown was a member of Lake View Baptist Church...

CAIRO, Ill. -- David L. Everett, 62, of Tullahoma, Tenn., died Monday, March 25, 1996, at Harton Hospital in Tullahoma. He was born in Cairo, son of Dave and Gertrude McClure Everett. He married the former Doris Fitzgerald. Everett retired as a riverboat repair supervisor with Bellaire Marine Co. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War...

Louise Rubel, 76, of Cape Girardeau, died Tuesday, March 26, 1996, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Feb. 21, 1920, at Oran, daughter of Harris and Daisy Lee Hooe Bizzell. She and Dan Rubel were married April 22, 1939, in Farmington. He died Feb. 28, 1990...

Efforts to help preserve the English language as we know it have received another welcome lift from Reader's Digest. For years, readers have delighted in the feature "It Pays To Enrich Your Word Power." The Digest has added another section, "The Verbal Edge," listing mistakes commonly made in spelling and usage. The editors highlight causes and cures. Radio and TV speakers, politicians, news writers, even educators could profit by the free lessons offered...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Ralph M. "Bones" Gentry of Jackson will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home. The Rev. John Ferguson will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 5 p.m. today...

JACKSON -- Milford L. "Pete" Acup, 53, of Jackson died Tuesday, March 26, 1996, at Heartland Care and Rehabilitation Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 14, 1943, in Alton, Ill., to Burford and Jewell Jones Acup. He married Shirley S. Tucker on June 29, 1974, in Sikeston. She survives...

ELECTION '96 Cape Girardeau County voters won't find many contested races on the ballots when they vote in the Aug. 8 primary. CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY Commissioner 2nd District Republican Democrat Commissioner 1st District Republican Public Administrator...

Edmund S. Muskie may be recalled as the man who lost a presidential nomination by choking up in public, but he was remembered on the day he died as strong and honest during his many years of public life. Muskie, the former secretary of state under President Jimmy Carter, died of heart failure early Tuesday, two days shy of his 82nd birthday. He underwent surgery last week in Georgetown University Hospital for a blocked artery in his leg, then suffered a heart attack a few days later...

Does your birth order affect what job you select? Does caffeine affect the growth of earthworms? Students at Kelso C-7 School in New Hamburg wanted to find out. So they developed a science fair project around those questions. Their creativity didn't surprise their teacher Angie Barger...

A few weeks ago, coworker and fellow columnist Heidi Nieland returned from an assignment a bit annoyed, and apparently it was all my fault. "Every time I go to do an interview this week," she said, "someone says, `Oh, Heidi, I really enjoy your column.'"...

The Jacksonian Charter Chapter of the American Business Women's Association is taking scholarship applications for the fall 1996 semester. To qualify, candidates must be a Cape Girardeau County resident and must maintain a 2.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. Applications must include a biographical statement on the applicant; be filled out in their entirety; and include a current transcript...

"Growth" and "change" are two words with significant meaning to the Jackson R-2 School District. As we cling fast to the valued traditions of excellence in education, we find ourselves facing many challenges as a result of the changes in the world. Sometimes we find that we long for the "good old days," when life was simple. ...

The Southeast Missourian asked people what they thought of the new Jackson City Hall. Leonard Sander: "I like the location of the building and the amount of space. It meets all the needs of the city, and it was an opportunity that I didn't think we would ever have."...

JACKSON -- The 1996 Multiple Sclerosis Walk will be April 14 at Jackson City Park. Registration will begin at 11 a.m. with the walk at noon. People from all over Southeast Missouri are invited to participate. Mary and Chad Meyer, a mother and son, have been selected to coordinate the MS Walk again this year. Their first walk was in 1990...

JACKSON -- Voters will go to the polls to elect school board members in Jackson next week, but they may return in August to decide on a bond issue for the school district. Superintendent Dr. Howard Jones presented a report from the facilities review committee that ranks the districts building needs...

Question: I have noticed that my dog has been drinking a lot of water lately. Is this any reason for concern? Answer: Increased water intake in dogs could be a symptom of diabetes, certain hormonal problems, or kidney disease. Any of these are potentially serious and early treatment is important...

Say recycle and some adults' eyes glaze, but for many children -- plus growing numbers of grown-ups -- it is a simple subject of serious concern. "A lot of kids are responsible for recycling at their house. It's their future and they know it," said Pam Sander, customer service coordinator for the City of Cape Girardeau Public Works Department, Solid Waste Division...