Stories from Tuesday, May 28, 1996

Red Letter Communications (RLC) of Cape Girardeau has acquired RV Productions of Cape Girardeau. Jim Riley, RLC president, announced the acquisition last week. RLC, a full-service advertising agency, will retain the full staff of RV, a design company specializing in logos and graphics for print, computer media and specialized clothing lines...

American National Insurance Co. has opened an office at 100 S. High, Suite 2 in Jackson. Yana D. Burgfeld is agent at the office. American National provides a full line of insurance, including auto, home, life and health, and specializes in business group insurance...

John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, has been elected to the Missouri Small Business Development Centers statewide advisory board. Mehner joins 21 other small business representatives, bankers and politicians on the board, which provides advice and counsel to the state's development centers, including the one at Southeast Missouri State University...

They wore bright slickers and huddled together under umbrellas, waiting for the Olympic flame to roll into town. People of all ages, races, nationalities and classes lined roadways Monday in Cape Girardeau and Perry counties. It seemed everyone had Olympic fever and wanted to catch a glimpse of the torchbearers as they ran by...

PROTECTING YOUR PET: Microchips can now be placed in any poet and be identified nationwide. Products on the market can control the flea population and render ticks unable to bite. Heartworm medicines are important for your pets Advances in the medical treatment available for pets have increased in recent years, veterinarians say, and those advances are expected to continue...

Suddenly, it's stop-and-go traffic time. You didn't make it outside the metropolitan zone in time and you're stuck in traffic. What to do! If you're like the majority of drivers caught on congested roadways, you'll sing along with music from the car radio, tape player or CD, taking time to eat snack or drink a beverage...

Ag-Cat Corp. of Malden has signed contracts with Pan Malaysian Aerial Applicators Sdn. Bhd. of Selangor, Malaysia. The contract establishes a new Ag-Cat distributorship that will sell and service Ag-Cat aircraft throughout the Asian Pacific Rim countries, from Japan, south to Indonesia and east to India...

A three-day Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association (IGGVA) conference will be held in Southern Illinois Tuesday through Thursday. The conference, to be held at Alto Pass Vineyards and Giant City Park near Makanda, will feature workshops, tastings, banquet and auction of Illinois wines and specialty items from throughout the state...

Spartech Corp. has announced a significant increase in its results for the second quarter and first six months of its fiscal year, ending May 4. Net earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 1996 were $4.8 million, or 19 cents per fully diluted share, a 21 percent increase from the $3.9 million, or 16 cents per fully diluted share, reported during the same period last year. Sales were up, from $64.4 million during the second quarter of 1994, to $95.4 million for the same quarter this year...

Thousands of people cheered when the 1996 Olympic flame arrived in downtown Cape Girardeau Monday. But Kevin Leathers couldn't begin to describe how he felt. Leathers started the relay as the first local person to light a torch with the flame. Thirty-two runners selected by either the United Way or Coca-Cola carried the flame in Southeast Missouri...

Even the weather seemed to pay homage to the arrival of the Olympic torch in Cape Girardeau Monday. On a rare stormy Memorial Day in Southeast Missouri, as many as 2,000 people gathered at the steps of the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau to view the passing of one of the world's oldest symbols of peace...

From higher speed limits to tougher regulations on grain dealers and commercial feed, Southeast Missouri lawmakers pushed through a number of bills in the 1996 session of the General Assembly. But few actually make it through the session. "We have about 1,500 bills introduced each year. We generally pass about 150 of them," said Mark Hughes, communications director for the Missouri Senate...

Monday, the Missourian asked children what they thought of the Olympic torch and its passage through the area. Blake Jones, 5 "The Olympics are the people who play the games. The torch is so everyone would know there is an Olympics." Tayler Williams, 5...

Son to Gary James and Kimberly Kay Monteith Jr. of Charleston, Southeast Missouri Ho pital, 6:36 a.m. Saturday, May 18, 1996. Name, Jacob Boyd. Weight, 9 pounds 11.4 ounces. First child. Mrs. Monteith is the former Kimberly Boyd, daughter of Jerry and Sheila Boyd of Bertrand. She is a medical social worker with Tip of Illinois Home Health in Cairo. Monteith is the son of Gary and Carolyn Monteith Sr. of Burfordville. He is employed at Lone Star Industries in Cape Girardeau...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Dock Toler, 92, of Dongola died Monday, May 27, 1996, at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale. Arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Dongola.

CHARLESTON -- Savannar Rosalee Smith, 86, of Charleston died Monday, May 27, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Nov. 1, 1909, in Centerville, Tenn., daughter of Joe and Babe Campbell. She was married to Irvin Smith, who preceded her in death...

PERRYVILLE -- Funeral service for Amelia M. Brown of Perryville will be held at 10 a.m. today at Post Oak Methodist Church. The Rev. Julius Mills will officiate, with burial in the church cemetery. Friends may call at Young and Sons Funeral Home from 6:30-8 a.m...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Mildred Smoot, 86, of Dongola, died Saturday, May 25, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 1, 1909, in Dongola, daughter of Jesse and Louella Montgomery Casey. She and Lowell C. Smoot were married Jan. 4, 1933. He died Jan. 15, 1976...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Blanche Mable Clymore, 103, of Tamms, died Sunday, May 26, 1996, at Hillview Health Care Center in Vienna. She was born Aug. 13, 1892, in Monticello, daughter of Thomas and Francis Drake Pettit. She married Joseph Beverly "J.B." Clymore, who died July 23, 1957...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Graveside service for Lenna L. Williams of Cairo was held Monday at Calvary Cemetery in Villa Ridge, with Dr. Larry L. Potts officiating. Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo was in charge of arrangements. Williams, 85, died Saturday, May 25, 1996, at Daystar Care Center in Cairo...

Ina B. Warren, 79, 1751 Dunklin, died Sunday, May 26, 1996, at her home. She was born April 1, 1917, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Julius and Reva Seabaugh Bollinger. She and Charles A. Warren were married Jan. 21, 1936, in Cape Girardeau. He died Aug. 18, 1991...

David Lawrence Farrow, 30, of Cape Girardeau, died Saturday, May 25, 1996, at his home. He was born Aug. 4, 1965, in Cape Girardeau, son of Ivan and Swan Crites Farrow. Farrow was a graduate of Central High School and attended Southeast Missouri State University...

BENTON -- Loretta K. Harris, 70, Benton Route 1, was found dead Sunday, May 26, 1996, at her home. She was born Aug. 16, 1925, in Owensville, daughter of Abner N. and Ella Nora Rector Pritz. She and Raymond Harris were married April 15, 1951, in St. Louis...

Lydia S. Meier, 92, 1911 Woodlawn, died Monday, May 27, 1996, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Aug. 4, 1903, at Tilsit, daughter of Henry C. and Bertha Nagle Ahrens. She and William A. Meier were married Jan. 27, 1926. He died April 15, 1985. Meier was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church at Tilsit...

Funeral service for Robert Golden Camden of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Spencer Chapel in Bunker. David Broggs and Rick Pitchford will officiate, with burial in North Lawn Cemetery. Camden, 87, died Saturday, May 25, 1996. He was born March 2, 1909, at Bunker, son of George Henderson and Lillie Bell Brooks Camden. He and Beulah Estep were married July 24, 1937...

Robert W. "Capt. Bob" McEwing, 79, 1009 Dearmore, died Saturday, May 25, 1996, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. He was born Feb. 22, 1917, at Chaffee, son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Hart McEwing. He and Mary Ann Ferriell were married Oct. 28, 1950, in Cape Girardeau...

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral service for Marie Louise Prindle of Scott City will be held at 11 a.m. today at St. Denis Catholic Church in Benton. The Rev. Normand Varone will officiate, with burial in Guardian Angel Cemetery at Oran. Friends may call at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Benton after 8:30 a.m...

ANNA, Ill. -- Sarah Jane Witowich, 7 months, died on arrival Saturday, May 25, 1996, at Union County Hospital. She was born Oct. 11, 1995, in Cape Girardeau, Mo., daughter of Pastor Michael D. and Mary Jane Bellish Witowich of Anna. Survivors include her parents; a sister, Elizabeth; maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Bellish of Indiana, Pa.; paternal grandparents, Nick and Dorothy Witowich of Ambridge, Pa., and great-grandmother, Doris Stumpf of Creekside, Pa...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Joseph "Wilson" Burris of Perks, Ill., will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel in East Prairie. The Rev. Sue Miller will officiate, with burial in Dogwood Cemetery. Burris, 73, died Saturday, May 25, 1996, at City Care Nursing Home in Anna, Ill...

JACKSON -- After a year of research and planning, the Jackson Board of Education knows what it needs to improve the district -- new buildings. The school board is expected to approve a $7.8 million bond proposal tonight. The board meets at 7:30 at the Middle School Library...

Monday's rain led to the cancellation of several outdoor Memorial Day events. Among them was the Joint Veterans Council's annual Memorial Day Ceremony at North Cape County Park. Chairman Ron MacCubbin said the event had been conducted in light rain before, but Monday's downpour, coupled with tornado warnings, made the ceremony inadvisable...

As this year's school term ends, hundreds of thousands of children all over Missouri are returning home, holding grade cards that will either delight or infuriate their parents, the folks who must foot the bill for many months of work, study and learning...

The Olympic torch run provided a perfect backdrop for area Memorial Day celebrations. The torch activities brought together not only this community, but drew people from many other surrounding cities and states. The trek of the torch across the United States will bring it within a two-hour distance of 90 percent of the U.S. ...

Teacher tenure has been a long-debated perk of education. Dr. Bill Atchley, who has served the past year as president of Southeast Missouri State University, believes higher education will eventually boot out the tenure system. He thinks tenure will be replaced by shorter-term contracts, which will bring a more direct bearing on performance...