Stories from Monday, January 6, 1997

James W. Wente, administrator at Southeast Missouri Hospital, is new chamber board chairman, succeeding Dennis Marchi, manager of Schnucks Food and Drugs. Marchi will remain an ex-officio on the board for one year. Other new officers of the chamber include Doug Groesbeck, Union Electric, chairman-elect; Howard Meagle, KFVS Television, vice chairman; and Jay Knudtson, Boatmen's Bank, treasurer...

The new facility for Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield has opened on Siemers Drive. A new "speculative shell building" is available for sale or lease at 4901 Nash Road by the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association. It's been a good year for the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, the City of Cape Girardeau and the immediate area...

Thumbs up: Every employee at the New Madrid Power Plant will receive a "safety day off." Employees at the Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI) plant have worked one full year without a "lost-time" accident. The AECI awarded the special day off in recognition of this significant safety achievement...

Edward Jones Investment has been recognized by two national magazines. The St. Louis-based financial-services firm scored No. 1 in Registered Representative magazine's 1996 survey of the nation's top eight financial-services companies and made its third appearance on the "Forbes 500" list of the 500 largest private companies, based on revenues...

Dates have been established for the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's Business Expo '97. The annual Expo offers businesses a chance to meet consumers, create or expand mailing lists, conduct customer surveys, introduce new products and visit with other businesses...

Home-based businesses continue to thrive in the United States. Home businesses have been described as the growth industry of the 1990s and now make up a $60 billion enterprise. More than 70 percent of home-based businesses are service operations, but many are making apparel, decorating cakes, catering, creating crafts and/or customizing what they do best to customer requests...

DALLAS -- Tandy Corp. will sell off or close its 17 Incredible Universe consumer electronics stores, throwing in the towel on its concept of huge stores spiced up with neon and karaoke. Customers liked the stores, but the company needed more of them, said Tandy spokesman Martin Moad...

St. Francis Universal Health & Fitness will be the host for the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's Business After Hours, Jan. 21, at the health and fitness center, 505 S. Mount Auburn Road, behind the Holiday Inn Convention Center. The monthly meeting, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., is designed to unite chamber members in a relaxed atmosphere and encourage members to meet, mingle and make new business contacts. The chamber's membership committee sponsors the event...

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce will co-sponsor a "TimeQuest" program at the Chamber office, 1267 N. Mount Auburn Road, on Feb. 20. "TimeQuest," with Franklin Quest as co-sponsor, is a daylong seminar designed to provide principles for managing time. The seminar begins at 8:30 a.m...

The Small Business Development Center will conduct counseling sessions at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office Jan. 22. The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The counseling sessions (about one hour) are free. Call (573)-335-3312 for appointment...

Bart Car received 25-year award from John Tlapek, Auto Tire & Parts president. Joe Rozier has joined WorkForce as director of placement. WorkForce is a full-service employment company for both full-time and temporary jobs, with offices at 8 W. Ste. Maries in Perryville and at 119 E. Columbia St., in Farmington...

Cape Girardeau County led the region in crashes in 1995 but also in seat-belt usage. Cape Girardeau County ranked 11th in the state in speed-involved crashes and 14th in accidents involving drunk drivers. It ranked 10th in accidents involving drivers under 21 years of age and 11th in accidents involving drivers 55 years of age or older...

I noticed a theme while I was flipping through the sales brochures this weekend. Exercise equipment, diet shakes, diet pills, workout videos, workout clothes. They're all on sale. Of course, there's a reason for that. Does anyone out there not know someone who's resolved to lose a few pounds in 1997?...

I write with the deepest of fondness for a former official of the sovereign state of Missouri, the late Haskell Holman. For years, and what seemed like even more years, the departed Haskell Holman was the State Auditor of Missouri, elected by a majority of qualified voters in numerous elections in the heyday of Democratic supremacy in Jefferson City...

Cape Girardeau County's transition from second- to first-class status will be an effortless one, thanks to years of preparation by previous and current county commissions and county officials. Although no drastic changes took place when the move became official on Wednesday, being first class gives the county a lot of leeway in running county government. ...

Max Stovall, who was sworn in Tuesday as a county commissioner, will have the opportunity along with the other two county commissioners to see that Cape Girardeau County takes proper advantage of its new first-class status. In November Stovall, a retired contractor, won the commission seat from Joe Gambill, whom he almost defeated in 1994. Stovall was persistent, coming back to earn the right to represent Cape Girardeau on the commission...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "What New Year's resolutions are you making?" Marlen Osburn, Cape Girardeau "I'm going to walk more and eat less. That's it. Everything else is fine." Judy Farrow, Jackson, "I'm just going to slow down, not work so hard, take life a little easier and enjoy my family."...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee State's Tigers do not currently resemble the basketball team that was picked to finish second in the Ohio Valley Conference this year. Due to a variety of factors, the Tigers have only one player with any considerable previous experience in a TSU uniform...

Laura St. Ann Keller, 102, died Sunday, Jan. 5, 1997, at the Chateau Girardeau Health Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford & Sons Funeral Home.

ZALMA -- Roy A. Lingle, 83, of Zalma, died Saturday Jan. 4, 1997, at his home. He was born April 26, 1913, in Zalma, son of Guy and Bet Berrong Lingle. He had retired after working 35 years at the Lingle store in Zalma. He married Geneva Nichols on Jan. 8, 1932, in Arkansas. She died Dec. 5, 1985...

Harry W. Neace, 80, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Jan. 4, 1997, at Jackson Manor. He was born April 18, 1916, in Zalma, son of James and Cindy Jurdens Neace. He had been a buyer and had worked for a metal business. He married Virginia Casper on March 10, 1935, in Cape Girardeau. She survives...

SCOTT CITY -- Samuel J. Hitt, 90, of Scott City died Friday, Jan. 3, 1997, at his home. He was born Sept. 7, 1906, in Arbor, son of Walter and Alice Adkins Hitt. He was a retired operator on mills for the Marquette and Lone Star Cement Plant. He married Alfredia Beklund on Dec. 3, 1935, in Jackson. She survives...

FISK -- Raymond William Ziegert, 74, of Fisk died Friday, Jan. 3, 1997, at the Veterans Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He was born Jan. 29, 1922, in Chicago, son of William and Clara Ziegert. He had worked as a warehouse loader for Bowman Dairy. He married Mabel Olson on March 20, 1943, in Chicago. She survives...

ANNA, Ill. -- Offa Jane Speck, 83, of Anna died Sunday, Jan. 15, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born March 11, 1913, in Thebes to Claude and Nettie Copeland Benefield. She married Everett Speck in Anna on Dec. 24, 1933. He survives. She had worked for the International Shoe Co. in Anna...

ANNA, Ill. -- Ruth Dollar, 85, of Anna died Sunday Jan. 5, 1997, at Union County Hospital in Anna. She was born May 18, 1911, in Jonesboro, Ill., daughter of H.C. and Fannie Amanda Ellis Grear. She was a member of the Mount Moriah Lutheran Church in Anna...

URBANDALE, Ill. -- Mary C. Potts, 84, of Urbandale, Ill., died Sunday at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Sept. 11, 1912, in Ballard County, Ky., daughter of David and Emma Hawes Reeves. She was a retired cook for the Walker Towing Co. and a member of the Urbandale Community Chapel Church...

PERRYVILLE -- Edna M. Kelly, 82, of Perryville died Sunday, Jan. 5, 1997, at Perry Oaks Nursing Home. She was born Feb. 27, 1914, in Michigan, daughter of Charles and Lydia Curtis Strehl. She married Harold J. Kelly on July 14, 1979. He died March 20, 1985...

Martha Sue Millikan, 84, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Jan. 3, 1997, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Aug. 10, 1912, at Corsicana, Texas, daughter of James A. and Tommie Sue Breckeen Waller. She and Homer E. Millikan were married at Illmo on June 14, 1936. He died March 23, 1996...

Two area men were killed in separate automobile accidents Saturday. A Cape Girardeau man died Saturday night in a single-car accident on Cape Girardeau County Road 638. An Alto Pass, Ill., man died in a single-car accident Saturday morning near East Avenue in Anna, Ill...

Bradley D. Followell, 42, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Jan. 4, 1997. Arrangements are incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau.