Stories from Friday, August 23, 1996

Who could help but be touched by the story of a gorilla who rescued a 3-year-old boy after he fell onto the concrete floor of the gorilla exhibit at a zoo in a Chicago suburb? There is something about this kind of action that ennobles animals in the minds of the superior animals, human beings...

Litter along city streets and rural highways is a problem as old as roadbuilding. Efforts to curb unsightly trash from our byways, such as the one just launched by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's beautification committee, can go a long way in reducing the problem...

ISN'T IT strange how distrust, destruction, dishonor and even death have victimized those around Bill Clinton? AS FAR as these buffoons giving out advice and their cheap opinions on why not to vote for Bill Clinton, they all need to get a life. I'm behind Clinton all the way, and if he did a little womanizing in his time, I say variety is the spice of life. As for Bob Dole, he is way past his time...

Shannon Rogers, 21, has been in a sorority for three years and she has never been hazed. "I believe those were isolated," she said of two hazing occurrences in Southeast Missouri State University's Greek history. Earlier this year, Christina Wooden was hazed after pledging Alpha Kappa Alpha. Four members have pleaded guilty to physically and mentally hazing her as an initiation into the sorority...

In a bid to recapture the spirit of his 1992 bus tour, President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore will travel from Cape Girardeau southward through Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee during their two-day bus tour that starts here Aug. 30. The president's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Gore's wife, Tipper, will accompany the campaign caravan...

Barbara Blanchard still gets nervous and excited about the first day of school. And she's been in the classroom for more than 30 years as an educator in the Cape Girardeau School District. "Every year it's something new," she said. "I get excited. It's like a renewal." Blanchard is principal at Washington Elementary School...

On a hot and muggy day, the old brain can concoct satisfactory explanations for just about anything at all. Odd little things can make a big impression. Whatzisname Ripley made a fortune collecting little things that made a big impression. In these dog days, it isn't always easy to come up with stuff to make you, kind readers, say. "Wow!" But I have a few interesting tidbits...

JACKSON -- Cape Girardeau County commissioners will ask the state to look for ways to solve erosion problems along Hubble Creek. Commissioners voted Thursday to request a watershed plan from the Missouri Natural Resources Conservation Service. The request will be made through the county's soil and water commission...

The Cape Girardeau County Republican Central Committee has endorsed Jo Ann Emerson for the 8th District congressional seat. The committee endorsed Emerson at a meeting Tuesday in Cape Girardeau. Committee members are backing Emerson in the general election. They also want her to be the Republican nominee in the special election...

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' April 30 conversation with Southeast Missouri State University criminal justice students will be shown Saturday on C-SPAN. The hour-long program will begin at 6 p.m. on cable television channel 20. Thomas spoke to students in Crisp Hall Auditorium on the afternoon of April 30 prior to an evening speech at the Show Me Center...

The new Missouri state junior fiddle champion, 12-year-old Liesl Schoenberger of Cape Girardeau, usually practices four or five hours a day but admits she's been spending some time on the phone lately. Liesl has been away so much this summer -- on a performing tour to Europe, a month-long music camp in Indiana and most recently at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia -- that she has lot of catching up to do with her friends...

Lorene Marie Niemeier, 76, 2989 Boutin, died Wednesday, Dec. 21, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Dec. 11, 1919, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of John Martin and Della Ernistine Koehrer Haman. She and Rudy Albert Niemeier were married Aug. 16, 1942, in Cape Girardeau...

SIKESTON -- Forrest L. "Slim" Catlett, 75, of Brooksville, Miss., died Wednesday, Aug. 21, 1996, at his home. He was born March 8, 1921, in Cherry Valley, Ark., son of John Rayford and Sarah Frances Clifton Catlett. He and Ruth Reece were married April 27, 1946, in Morehouse...

SCOTT CITY -- Wilma Laverne Adams, 78, of Scott City died Wednesday, Aug. 21, 1996, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born April 27, 1918, daughter of William H. and Lilly Doughty Downs. She and James "Holly" Adams were married March 8, 1941, in Cape Girardeau...

SIKESTON -- John F. Kaiser Sr., 78, of Sikeston died Thursday, Aug. 22, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Jan. 10, 1918, in Brooklyn, N.Y., son of William and Carollynn Ludwig Kaiser. He and Anne M. O'Reilly were married Oct. 28, 1945, in Brooklyn...

CHAFFEE -- Ruth Ann Sullinger, 49, of Salem, Ore., died Wednesday, Aug. 21, 1996, following an extended illness. She was born Nov. 11, 1946, daughter of Mary and Eurial Hedger. She married Cletus Sullinger in 1962. She was formerly of Chaffee. Survivors include her husband; a daughter, Sandy Crosby of Idaho; three sons, Scott and Michael Sullinger of Arizona, Bobby Sullinger of Oregon; three sisters, Della Eggiman of Florissant, Shirley Stanley of Oran, Jan Hedger of Arizona; two brothers, John Hedger of Washington, Marvin Hedger of Minnesota; and five grandchildren.. ...

HOWARDVILLE -- Andrew Mosby, 69, of Howardville died Monday, Aug. 19, 1996, at his home. He was born May 16, 1927, in Sikeston, son of Tommy and Mary Mosby. Mosby was an alderman at Howardville, and member of Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Marston...

Daughter to Michael W. Scott and Saundra S. LeGrand of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 2:13 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, 1996. Name, Ashlee Marie. Weight, 8 pounds. Fourth child, second daughter. Ms. LeGrand is the daughter of David LeGrand and Maria LeGrand of Jackson. She is employed at M&W. Scott is the son of Michael W. Scott Sr. and Mary of Jackson. He is employed at Dana Corp...

Funeral service for Warren Steven Hastings, 2111 Woodhaven, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. A commital service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Johnson Funeral Home in Whittington, Ill., with burial in Shiloh Cemetery at Whittington...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Nellie L. Hodges Frey, 78, of Cairo died Wednesday, Aug. 21, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 2, 1918, in Cairo, the daughter of the late Liston and Jennie Crippen Hodges. She was a member of the Cairo Senior Citizens Club...