Stories from Tuesday, September 10, 1996

Cecelia Marie Kluesner of Cape Girardeau recently graduated with honors from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She earned recognition for an Academic Achievement Award for overall grade-point average and was honored for placing on the National Dean's List. Kluesner graduated with degrees in health care specialties...

Sherry Thompson, a fourth-grade teacher at Cape Christian School, recently attended the Summer Seminar at Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Fla. Pensacola Christian College is the center for design of the A Beka school curriculum, which is used in about 10,000 Christian schools in America and worldwide...

After just six hours in a classroom filled with kindergartners, Cheryl Hendershott had an unforgettable experience. Hendershott teaches at Franklin Elementary School. Students had been learning the daily routines, classroom rules, how to get lunch and where to line up after recess when they finally had time for hands-on activities...

It was 7:15 a.m., and the 30 or so Renaissance students in Julia Howes Jorgensen's class weren't quite awake. Despite the few minutes of missed shut-eye, the Cape Central High School students thought it was important to make the Friday-morning meeting. They were there to talk about YELL -- Youth, Education, Literacy and Learning. The special YELL newspaper, sold for one day each year, raises money for area literacy programs...

"Reading is a complex process and some kids don't take to it readily," said Linda Robert, a reading recovery teacher-leader at Clippard Elementary School in Cape Girardeau. "We teach a love of reading, and many kids become fluent readers." Robert works with teachers in 28 school districts in Southeast Missouri. She helps implement a first-grade intervention program called "Reading Recovery." Robert says the program is not remedial -- it is for children who are struggling in reading and writing...

More than 200 area volunteers gathered at 54 street corners in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City last September and sold YELL editions of the Southeast Missourian to passing motorists. The newspaper "hawkers," after weeks of planning, sold the newspapers for about three hours, starting at 6 a.m...

The following is a list of the Adult Basic Education classes held in the area. Classes are offered free of charge. Cape Girardeau, Adult Learning Center, Cape Vo-Tech, 301 N. Clark, Room 113. Open: 7:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday...

Children in the first through third grades won't be voting in this fall's presidential election, but they can vote for their favorite author-illustrator of young children's picture books in the Show Me Awards. The awards, sponsored by the Missouri Association of School Librarians, lets Missouri children determine who the award will go to by letting them vote on their favorite books...

Right: Sherry Thomas, left, of Oak Ridge bought a YELL newspaper from Steve Nenninger, a Jackson Rotary Club member, last year outside Schaper's IGA in Jackson. Unlike other diseases and illnesses, there aren't too many warning signs for illiteracy...

Numerous Jackson organizations are working to make the YELL program a success because the program helps Jackson. "Jackson money stays in Jackson. Usually the schools and both libraries get grants from that," Valerie Tuschhoff, YELL organizer, said. YELL has mobilized 15 organizations to help eliminate illiteracy in Jackson...

John R. Eck My favorite book of all times is Hero Stories for Children written in the 1920s. The book came from the old German School near my home when it was closed due to consolidation in the 1960s. One story about Alexander the Great described his boyhood in Greece up until his death at an early age as he was about to conquer the "known" world of his time. ...

Three volunteers at the Cape Vo-Tech working with GED and ABE (Adult Basic Education) share in their own words why they like to tutor these students. By Alberta Loos Simply said: Tutoring leads to fascinating experiences. It's rewarding having an elderly man admit, "When I sit with my friends now I don't just have to act like I'm reading the newspaper. I can pick up the paper and really read it now. It's changed my life."...

Missouri's school librarians annually present the Mark Twain Award to the author of the best children's book as judged by students. But the real reward goes to the students themselves, who are encouraged to read. "It is a good program," said Sandy Cook, librarian for Washington and Alma Schrader elementary schools in Cape Girardeau...

Organizations in Scott City, Cape Girardeau and Jackson that promote literacy can apply for YELL funding through the Area Wide United Way. Deadline for applying for the funding is Oct. 15, said Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the local United Way chapter. Applicants should contact the chapter to be sent an information packet on the program...

Charles William Haugland of Cape Girardeau has just had original poetry published in "A Tapestry of Thoughts," a treasury of today's poetry compiled by The National Library of Poetry. The poem is entitled "Dreams." The National Library of Poetry seeks to discover and encourage poets by sponsoring contests that are open to the public and by publishing poems in widely distributed hardback volumes...

The search has begun for the nation's top youth who best exemplify community service by volunteering to make their communities better places to live by the second annual Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Over the next two months, middle-level and high schools throughout the United States will have an opportunity to select their most community-minded students and nominate them for statewide and national recognition...

Parents Without Partners Chapter 519 has scheduled an orientation for prospective new members at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 19 at the Community Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau. Also, the chapter will sponsor a public dance "Shake, Rattle and Roll" Saturday, Sept. 21, 8:30 p.m. at the VFW Hall, North Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau. Music will be played by Larry Miller's Sound System...

It's easy to tell a child to get a book and read. The hard part is getting him to do it. Even harder is convincing him to like it. Those simple facts form the basis of the reading acceleration program at May Greene Elementary School in Cape Girardeau...

YELL funding created "an air of enthusiasm and excitement" for one grant recipient last fall, and organizers hope that mood will continue for all recipients this year. Volunteers will be out in full force today in Jackson, Cape Girardeau and Scott City to sell special YELL (Youth, Education, Literacy and Learning) editions to benefit local literacy programs and the Southeast Missourian's Newspapers in Education initiative...

Cybertip: If you want to surf the net but don't have a computer, visit the Cape Girardeau Public Library. It has two public access Internet terminals, which can be used free of charge. Beginners need to take half-hour Internet introduction classes, offered four days a week...

The first day of school is anything but routine, but Nick Ellis was surprised to find a letter waiting for him when he arrived on the first day of classes. Ellis, a sixth-grade student at Kelso C-7 School in New Hamburg, received a letter from Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar during his summer vacation...

Erica Danielle Robbins, 10, has been selected as a finalist for the 1996 Pre-Teen Missouri Scholarship program. She is the daughter of Bill and Kim Robbins of Marquand. The contest will be held Sept. 20-22 in Jefferson City. The event is open to girls age 7 to 12 based on their academic records and honors...

Steve Vogelsang knows how important the Area Wide United Way is to his life. Vogelsang, who was born with polio and spinal meningitis, has benefited from the organization's support to VIP Industries. Agencies like VIP Industries have "painted a brighter tomorrow" by helping serve community needs and provide quality health and human service programs. Many of them receive funding through the annual fund-raising campaign at the United Way...

Halloween should be a spooky but safe adventure for children. Sun-Maid wants to hear about the Halloween adventures of children in second, third or fourth grade. The "Glowing Goblins" story and coloring contest is open to students in second through fourth grade who submit a 250-word or less story and illustration about a Halloween adventure...

YELL grants have helped its recipients by giving them the money to buy books, videos, newspapers and other learning aids that they wanted but didn't have the money to buy before. In 1995, YELL distributed four grants in Jackson. Jackson Public Library was one of those grant recipients. It received $500 and had put that money to good use by purchasing math and English books to help people prepare for the GED test...

The American Legion Brown Twitty Post 595 will sponsor a Miss American Legion pageant. It will be held in conjunction with the New Madrid Fall Festival. The pageant will begin at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Dixie Theater in New Madrid. To compete in the pageant, contestants must be single, never married and between the ages of 16 and 21...

Peggy Whaley may have the tastiest job at the SEMO District Fair. She has judged food entered in the fair's 4-H competition for more than 30 years. Monday morning and into the afternoon, Whaley sampled pinches of cookies, muffins, pancakes, beef jerky and an assortment of other delicacies prepared by youngsters involved in 4-H clubs from St. Louis through the Bootheel...

Street corners in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City will be flooded with activity this morning when more than 100 YELL volunteers, dressed in aprons and waving flags, begin hawking newspapers to passers-by. Special editions of the Southeast Missourian will be sold from 6-9 a.m. today as part of the YELL literacy project...

The Area Wide United Way knows how to stretch a dollar. With a $1 donation each week, the United Way gives local agencies a financial boost. A $1 donation could help six children with speech therapy at the Southeast Missouri Easter Seal Society or buy a month's supply of formula for a newborn baby through the Lutheran Family and Children's Services...

When Benjamin Franklin wrote the only two things in life that are certain are death and taxes, he obviously hadn't taken the fair into consideration. Despite his comments to the contrary, I could tell by the look in my son's eyes that he wasn't much impressed with Ferris wheels and corn dogs. At 4, he already possessed that strained expression grown-ups maintain at the fair each year...

Since April the fate of school desegregation in St. Louis has been in the lap of a special mediator. Now William H. Danforth, former chancellor of Washington University, is raising sticky issues that he says need to be resolved before the real job of ending massive state funding can start in earnest...

Motorists on their way to work today will see a familiar sight: A couple of hundred volunteers hawking the Southeast Missourian's special YELL edition to raise funds for literacy programs. This is the sixth year for the special Youth Education Literacy and Learning project. ...

To the editor: Frankly, I suspect the latest Iraqi war crisis is as phony as Hillary's pregnancy. Remember when Hillary was talking about getting pregnant at the start of the campaign? How could we not re-elect this romantic, loving couple about to have a second child? Of course there was never much chance of Hillary conceiving, since I also suspect the co-presidents have a marriage that's about as intimate as the first couple in the movie "Dave."...

Besides reading more of the Bible lately, primarily because of my church activities, I've recently listened to audio tapes of Bill Bradley's book "Time Present, Time Past" and ED ROLLINS book "Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms," both of which are interesting but disillusioning...

To the editor: To all the Republicans in Missouri and other states: Is it not time to give Mr. Dole the credit he deserves? On television they said even the Republicans don't think the 15 percent tax cut can be done. Why not? As everybody knows, Mr. Clinton promised us a big tax cut. And what he did was raise taxes...

Paul Lanpher and his son, Rus Lanpher, have completed their 1996 early-corn harvest. "We finished up late last week," said Paul Lanpher. "The harvest was much better than expected." The Lanphers raise about 500 acres of corn in the Advance area. "We still have a few late-corn acres left," said Lanpher...

Animal intake at the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri broke record after record this summer. Jhan White, animal shelter director, said 1,673 animals were dropped off at the shelter in June, July and August. The average total for those three months is only 1,200...

Cape Girardeau residents tired of litter and stray dogs can prepare for better days ahead. This summer, the police department hired its third nuisance abatement officer. Like the others in his department, Scott Eakers will collect strays, handle dog bite calls, write summonses for out-of-control yards and complete countless other tasks...

Dr. Dale Nitzschke grew up listening to his mother read the weekly newspaper in their small hometown of Remsen, Iowa. "It was the source of all knowledge," said Nitzschke, Southeast Missouri State University's president. "A couple of my brothers still get the paper today," he said...

The Riverside Regional Libraries have been doing their part in bringing reading alive for hundreds of children in Scott and Cape Girardeau counties. This was the first year Riverside has been a recipient of YELL funds, and they used that money to enliven and enhance the children's reading center, library director Jeff Roth said...

The Cape Girardeau Elks Lodge and the Veterans of Foreign Wars post may lose their right to sponsor bingo games. The Missouri Gaming Commission ruled last week that the two groups violated state bingo laws and decided to prohibit them from holding bingo games for five years, said Eddie Mueller, commander of VFW Post 3838...

MARBLE HILL -- Graveside service for Lucille E. Dames of Marble Hill will be held at 1:30 p.m. today at Crader Cemetery near Marble Hill. The Rev. Michael Woods will officiate. Friends may call at Liley Funeral Home in Marble Hill from 10 a.m. to noon...

Lois R. Hagan, 87, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Aug. 30, 1996, at Chateau Girardeau. She was born July 2, 1909, in Laramie, Wyo., daughter of Dr. Francis J. and Isabella Holder. She and Richard C. Hagan were married June 19, 1940, in New York City. He died July 18, 1996...

BLOOMFIELD -- Oscar Clarence Reynolds, 73, of Bloomfield died Sunday, Sept. 8, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 25, 1923, at Swinton, son of Jonah and Stella Sloss Reynolds. He and Linda Adkison were married in October 1965...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Adelaide Beadles, 81, of Benton, Ky., formerly of Cairo, died Monday, Sept. 9, 1996, at Riverfront Health Care Facility in Paducah, Ky. She was born Jan. 13, 1915, in Independence, Mo., daughter of Frederick and Madge Zimmerman Wheeler. She married Robert A. Beadles, who died in 1989...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Norbert A. Stadelbacher, 64, of Jonesboro, died Sunday, Sept. 8, 1996, at the home of a daughter in Anna. He was born April 7, 1932, in Cobden, son of Leo and Geraldine Treece Stadelbacher. Stadelbacher was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and Carroll P. Foster VFW Post 3455 in Anna. He was a veteran of the Korean War...

Daughter to David Wayne Mills and Edna Jean Youngman of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 5:51 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996. Name, Escaughta Starline Decota. Weight, 7 pounds 13 ounces. Sixth child. Ms. Youngman is the daughter of the late Phil Harris of Chaffee. Mills is the son of the late Jerry Mills of Belleville...

Funeral mass for Romanus John Halter, 19 S. Benton, will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Mary's Cathedral. Msgr. Richard Rolwing will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park, with graveside rites by VFW Post 3838. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel from 4-8 p.m. today. Parish prayers will be at 7:30...

"When you're reading, your mind is being exercised," said Ann Randolph, youth services coordinator at the Cape Girardeau Public Library. Reading Is Fundamental, or RIF, is a national program that encourages children to read. It's sponsored and funded by YELL -- Youth, Education, Literacy and Learning...

The gymnasium at the Salvation Army is one of the attractions for children to visit after school. Twelve organizations received funding through the 1995 YELL campaign. The Edward M. Spicer tutorial program at St. James AME Church in Cape Girardeau used its $900 grant to purchase a computer and programming to help students with word recognition and language skills...

Cape Girardeau Central High School students have a new textbook delivered daily for their current events class. Jane Womack, who teaches Contemporary Issues at the high school, said the Southeast Missourian provides much of the curriculum material for the course...