Stories from Monday, September 9, 1996

Sept. 17 Postal Service Classification Reform seminar, Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office, 1267 N. Mount Auburn Road, 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. sessions. Sept. 25 "TimeQuest" time management program, 8:30 a.m., Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office, sponsor a "TimeQuest" program at the Chamber office...

An independent investment banking firm has named American Family Mutual Insurance Co. one of the top 50 property-casualty insurance companies in the United States. The Ward Financial Group, based in Cincinnati, placed American Family on the prestigious 1995 Ward's 50 Benchmark Group "for achieving outstanding financial results in the areas of safety, consistency and performance over the past five years."...

Cellular phone companies around the nation absorb about $1 billion in fraudulent phone calls annually. To help defray those costs, Ameritech Cellular is introducing a new form of cellular phone protection. The CloneBuster is a new program that tracks customer usage and service patterns without using a PIN number. It will be phased in through Oct. 31 as PIN numbers are gradually removed from accounts...

Westvaco Corp., a major manufacturer of paper, packaging and specialty chemicals, today reported fiscal 1996 third-quarter and nine-month sales and earnings. Sales for the third quarter ended July 31, were $758 million, an 11.3 percent decrease compared to the year earlier period. Sales for the first nine months were $2.3 billion, down 5.6 percent from the first nine months of fiscal 1995...

Cameron Insurance Cos. was presented the Top Partner Award at the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents' annual convention held at the Marriott's Tan-Tar-A Resort, Osage Beach. "When MAIA feels that a company has demonstrated outstanding commitment to and support of the agency system, the Top Partner award is given," said Charles T. ...

Withers Broadcasting has announced a format change for KAPE 1550 AM from a hot talk radio station to adult standards music during the day and talk radio in the evenings. It has been three years since there has been an adult standards station in the Cape Girardeau area, and research has shown that there is a great demand for this type of music...

The Small Business Development Center at Southeast Missouri State University will be conducting counseling sessions for area small business people and people planning a business ventures. The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available Tuesday, Sept. 19, from 9-11 a.m. at the Malden Chamber of Commerce, 607 N. Douglas...

Barbara England of Malden has been appointed as marketing consultant for KUGT AM 1170, Christian radio station in Jackson, announced Larry Dunger, owner of KUGT. England was previously general manager of the Christian radio station and marketing director of Broadcast Cablevision in Malden...

Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. has received Dun and Bradstreet's highest ranking of financial strength. The ranking was a part of Dun and Bradstreet's annual analysis of credit and financial information on companies throughout the United States. Consolidated was one of only a few U.S. agricultural companies to receive D&B's "1" ranking, indicating "strong" financial condition...

Willie Mae Walker shopped for clothing for her grandson Quitman Magbriar, 4, at the Teen Challenge Thrift Store at 10 N. Sprigg St. Several styles of used men's ties can be found at the Teen Challenge Thrift Store. One way people have found to stretch their paychecks is to shop for clothing at consignment shops and thrift stores...

The 1997 Midwest Forest Industry Show will be held at the Show Me Center, Sept. 27 and 28. The show is the largest forest industry machinery and equipment exposition in the Midwest and is sponsored by the Missouri Forest Products Association in Jefferson City...

1. Cold Reading. The telephone psychic throws out a list of possibilities and waits to hear which one gets a response. For example, he or she may say~, "Some people call me for advice about love." If there is no response, the psychic moves to another popular topic, like finances or jobs. When the person responds to a topic, the psychic works from there...

Angie Shown goes to work every day but she never leaves her home. Her office is also her bedroom, dining room and kitchen -- part of a tiny Cape Girardeau apartment. The walls are covered in bizarre artwork, some of it her own. The shades are drawn. A television flickers in the corner. A friendly cat of unknown breeding moves from the couch to the bathroom and back to the couch...

Turn on the television after 11 p.m. and they are inescapable. Former stars of stage and screen smile at viewers, all the while hawking telephone psychic networks. If the stars don't win you over, there are plenty of testimonials from average folks who loved their free chats with telephone psychics...

A horse is a horse, of course, of course ... Maybe not. To judges at the Eighth Annual SEMO District Fair Horse Show, some of the four-legged creatures were better than others. About 400 horses in 19 classes pranced through part of Arena Park on Sunday. While none were like the famed television horse Mr. Ed, the top 10 in each class went home with ribbons...

"YELL day is so much fun. It's 200 people standing on street corners in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City selling papers the old-fashioned way -- they hawk them," Kim McDowell, YELL coordinator for the Southeast Missourian, said. YELL, or Youth Education Literacy and Learning, is in its sixth year of raising funds for literacy programs in Southeast Missouri. ...

Writing stories about telephone psychic networks wasn't easy. There were a lot of people to interview -- people who felt very strongly about the subject one way or the other and could talk for hours. But there was a payoff: free psychic readings at the newspaper's expense...

Some friends and I were lounging outdoors at a local drinking establishment the other night when someone noticed it was only 8 o'clock and dark already. "I guess summer's over," he said, regretfully. I always have mixed feelings at the end of summer; I love fall and I hate hot, humid weather, but after fall comes winter, and I don't like cold. There's something addictive about summer, something lazy and warm and sensual, like a cat stretched out asleep in the sun...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Virginia Long, 84, of Cairo died Sunday, Sept. 8, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 26, 1912, the daughter of Holly and Emma Rosier Marchildon. Long was a retired deputy county clerk in Alexander County. She served as an election judge for many years. She was a member of St. Patrick's Catholic Church and was an active member of St. Theresa Circle 331 of the Daughters of Isabella...

AGGRESSION MUST be stopped with a sledge-hammer blow. America should not be the world's policeman. Instead, we should be the world's moral leader. This may sound like insane politics to some, but it is the right thing to do. YES, MR. Dole has been divorced. ...

Regardless of how many times we ignore the problem of illegal drug use by America's young boys and girls, the awful truth reappears as frightening reality in report after report. America has waged "war" on drugs for so long that the sobriety struggle has become almost trite and without meaning. Public officials, whether in Washington or Jefferson City, call for budgets that are so inadequate they barely fund even the half-hearted efforts now being made by most of society...

After years of anticipation, work finally is under way on construction of a Mississippi River bridge to replace the span at Cape Girardeau that has carried countless numbers of travelers between Missouri and Illinois for seven decades. The work, which began Wednesday, isn't that noticeable. ...

Once again residents of Cape Girardeau County and parts of Scott County will be called upon to contribute to the Area Wide United Way campaign, which last week embarked upon its 43rd fund-raising effort. What an effort it has been: United Way has raised $8 million for the many local agencies it has supported since the campaign began. That is a sizable sum that has gone a long way in providing services to countless numbers of people over the years...

To the editor: It is a shame that Missouri doesn't have a governor like Alabama has. The governor of Alabama, along with the Alabama Board of Education, has rejected $18 million of federal money (which is nothing more than a bribe using taxpayers' money) to fund Goals 2000...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "What do you enjoy most about the SEMO District Fair?" Blake Ervin, Cape Girardeau "I like the rides, the games -- in general the fair is just really cool." Percy Hubbard, Cape Girardeau "People ... walking around looking at the people. The food is always too good."...

NASA astronaut and Southeast Missouri State University alumna Linda Godwin will speak at the school's Sept. 18 Common Hour program. Godwin's presentation, sponsored by the president's office, is scheduled for noon to 1:15 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom. The event will be the fourth in a series of university "Common Hour" programs this year...

Southeast Missouri State University will dedicate its new business building at the corner of New Madrid and Henderson on Sept. 16. Robert A. Dempster Hall, home of the Donald L. Harrison College of Business, will be dedicated at 1:15 p.m. Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan will deliver the keynote address at the dedication. A reception and tours of the building will be held after the ceremony. The public is invited and shuttle service will be provided from the Show Me Center...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- A 16-year-old Mounds boy was killed early Sunday morning in a single-car accident in Pulaski County. Terry G.V. Forbes, 16, was killed when the vehicle he was driving left the road as he was southbound on Illinois 37 in rural Pulaski County...

PERRYVILLE -- Adolph W. Baer, 81, of Perryville, died Saturday, Sept. 7, 1996, at the Perry County Nursing Home. He was born July 8, 1915, in Biehle, son of Joseph and Anna Meyer Baer. He married Trula Schnurbusch on Oct. 12, 1940. He was self-employed in the trucking business and was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Paul Lindsey Winders, 79, of Cairo died Sunday, Sept. 8, 1996, at the Veteran's Affairs Medical Center in Marion. He was born Oct. 29, 1916, in Caruthersville, Mo., son of Lawrence and Maggie Tate Winders. He was a member of the Cairo Baptist Church, was an army veteran of World War II and was a retired self-employed service station operator. He owned the Winders Service Station in Cairo for many years...

COBDEN, Ill. -- David L. Basler, 29, of Cobden, died Saturday, Sept. 7, 1996, in an automobile accident south of Ware. He was born July 27, 1967, in Carbondale, son of Louis Jerry and Carol M. Arnold Basler. He was a member of the Immanuel Baptist Church in Cobden...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Bessie May Smithson, 91, died Saturday, Sept. 7, 1996, at the Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky. She was born Dec. 31, 1904, in Beulah, Ky., daughter of Will Simpson and Cora Belle Weatherford Hayden. She moved to Cunningham, Ky., from East Prairie, and was a member of the Cunningham First Church of God...

JACKSON -- Carrie E. Talley, 85, of Jackson died Saturday, Sept. 7, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born March 26, 1911, in Sedgewickville, the daughter of Malachi and Ali Statler Statler. She married Harry L. Talley on Dec. 18, 1933. He died June 16, 1991...

PERRYVILLE -- The Rev. Donald L. Berkbigler, 62, of Perryville died Saturday, Sept. 7, 1996, at St. Mary's Health Care Facility. He was born Nov. 11, 1933, in Perryville, the son of Walter Joseph and Opal Mary Henderson Berkbigler. Berkbigler received his ordination for the Catholic priesthood from St. Mary's Seminary in Perryville, where he received his undergraduate degree in philosophy in 1956. He received his master's degree in chemistry from Southeast Missouri State University in 1971...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Gordon Wright, 64, of Dongola, died Sunday, Sept. 8, 1996, at his home. He was born Jan. 29, 1932, son of Green Martin and Effie Mae Davis Wright. He married Nina Newman in Jonesboro on June 5, 1954. He was employed at Bunny Bread and worked construction until 1980. He was a member of the Lockard Chapel Baptist Church...