Stories from Saturday, January 11, 1997

To the editor: The passing away of Miss Laura St. Ann Keller will leave a void in the lives of all who knew and loved here. She was truly a very remarkable woman. She was not only a good teacher and businesswoman, she was a great neighbor and friend...

Crime Stoppers works, and it will work for Cape Girardeau. This national crime-fighting program offers cash to tipsters for information leading to arrests and indictments. The key to its effectiveness is widespread community involvement. The growing grass-roots interest in Cape Girardeau is just the push this program needs to get rolling. Cooperation with police is also imperative, and Cape Girardeau law enforcement officials have been extremely supportive of starting such a program here...

I'M ALSO a University of Florida alumnus who has waited over 20 years to see the Gators win the national championship. I'm as thrilled as David Angier but I wish he could have done a College of Journalism and Communications proud by using a more finely termed phrase than "the living snot." It's a bit rough to take, especially at breakfast...

So, you've resolved again to get into shape and lose weight this New Year. It's not unusual. Losing weight is one of the most common New Year's resolutions. But how do you work it so you don't have to make this resolution again next year? Gerry Salter, a physical therapist at St. Francis Medical Center's Center for Health and Rehabilitation, said most people who make it past the first six months of an exercise program will continue that program through their lifetime...

Strong northerly winds coupled with bitterly cold air turned the snow-covered state into a big deep freeze Friday, and little letup can be expected soon. The National Weather Service issued a wind chill advisory Friday, cautioning people against temperatures of zero or below Friday night. With gusty winds, the wind chill in the Cape Girardeau area was expected to make it feel like minus 15 to minus 30 degrees...

Fox Sports Midwest canceled plans to blackout St. Louis Blues hockey games on the local cable television system after striking a deal with Tele-Communications Inc. Friday, a TCI official said. Blues fans watching Thursday night's game against the San Jose Sharks were surprised to see a crawling message on the screen informing viewers that after Jan. 15, Blues games on Fox Sports Midwest would be blacked out on TCI cable systems...

The day after Christmas was anything but a holiday for Ronald Yersak. His attic burned and his bathroom flooded. Then the 60-year-old Dexter man went to the post office, where the news was much better: He had been invited to attend President Clinton's inauguration...

The last time Dr. Charles I. Rankin visited Cape Girardeau, he addressed the school board about inequalities in the public schools system. This year he will address the public about rededicating lives to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. Rankin will be guest speaker at the 12th annual Dr. ...

Kara Stokes of Cairo, Ill., didn't think she was spending that much money on Christmas gifts while she was shopping ... until she got her credit card bill for nearly $500. "That's much more than I had intended to spend," Stokes said. "It didn't feel like that much because I was putting it on my credit cards."...

Have you ever hurt yourself in a way that sounds much nicer than it actually is? Like stubbing your toe. The word stub is much too benign and does nothing to describe the agony of running a toe straight into a solid object, like a wall. Maybe they should call it gnashing your toe, that sounds a little more like it...

POPLAR BLUFF -- A two-vehicle traffic accident on Highway 60, about six miles east of Poplar Bluff resulted in the death of a 61-year-old Poplar Bluff man Friday morning. Killed was William Phillips. The accident occurred about 11 a.m., said the Missouri State Highway Patrol, when Phillips' vehicle, traveling east, attempted a U-turn and was struck on the driver's side by a car driven by Richard Stephens, 36, also traveling east...

Residents of Advance, Frohna, McClure, Pocahontas, Olive Branch, Marble Hill and other uncrowded municipalities take note. Tonight on "A Prairie Home Companion," host Garrison Keillor will invite you to enter a talent contest. The contest has one requirement: Entrants must live in a small town...

The Four Seasons Audubon Society of Southeast Missouri will have a dinner meeting at 6 Wednesday evening at Port Cape Girardeau. Neal Young, graduate student at Southeast Missouri State University, will present a slide program on "Savannahs and Their Plants and Animals."...

The Environmental Protection Agency has rescheduled a hearing on the Missouri Electric Works cleanup project for Jan. 21. It will be from 4-7 p.m. at the Victorian Inn in Cape Girardeau. The EPA had scheduled the hearing for Thursday night but canceled it because of the winter storm...

Southeast Missouri State University junior Theresa Haug of Bonne Terre has been selected to take part in a Washington Center seminar titled "Campaign '96: The Inauguration." The seminar will take place against the backdrop of the inauguration of President Clinton for a second term...

Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach Ron Shumate has an old theory about what it takes to be a contender for a conference championship. "You have to win all your games at home and steal a few on the road," says Shumate. Even though it's still extremely early in the Ohio Valley Conference season, so far the Indians are right on Shumate's schedule...

With Cape Girardeau Central High's star seniors Nathan Owen and Lavelle Lewis on the bench for a good portion of the game, it was a perfect opportunity for someone to take his turn in the spotlight. Enter Brian Hodges. Hodges, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, scored a career-high 22 points to lead Central to a 69-56 win over visiting SEMO conference opponent Kennett Friday night...

BENTON -- Notre Dame High's boys basketball team played its first game without leading scorer and rebounder Dirk Dirnberger Friday night. Considering that Kelly has been playing extremely well, it didn't figure to be a good combination for the Bulldogs...

JACKSON -- Justin Keen and Jeff Walter, a pair of 6-foot-5 juniors, combined for 47 points as Jackson High's boys basketball team rolled past visiting Poplar Bluff 75-52 Friday night. The Indians, who improved their record to 10-4, got 27 points from Keen and 20 from Walter...

Starting off a three-game homestand by losing to the team picked to finish last in the league was certainly not what Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team had in mind. But that's the situation the Otahkians find themselves in entering tonight's 7:30 game against Eastern Kentucky at the Show Me Center...

MARBLE HILL -- Lenard "Steve" W. Garner, 67, of Advance, died Friday, Jan. 10, 1997 at John Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. He was born Sept. 1, 1929, at Sank, Mo., son of Jonah and Myrtle Angel Garner. Garner was a farmer, and a member of the General Baptist Church...

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- Jeanette Beck, 65, of Mound City, Ill. died Friday, Jan. 10, 1997, at the Daystar Care Center in Cairo. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by Barkett Funeral Home in Mound City.

BENTON -- Funeral service for Mildred Dick of rural Benton will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Shelby Funeral Chapel in East Prairie. Dolan Rogers and Ted Wimberley will officiate, with burial in IOOF Cemetery near Charleston. Friends may call at the chapel after 1 p.m. today...

Funeral service for Paul Hendrickson of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11 a.m. today at Cotrell Funeral Home in Poplar Bluff. The Rev. Jeff Bralley will officiate, with burial in Kinsey Cemetery near Poplar Bluff. Hendrickson, 78, died Wednesday, Jan. 8, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

ADVANCE -- Barbara Joan Cobb Lynn, 57, of Advance died Friday, Jan. 10, 1997, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter. She was born June 5, 1939, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Howard Ivan and Lois Myrtle Davis Cobb. She and Danny Lynn were married Sept. 27, 1969, at Chaffee...

JACKSON -- Lula Sachse, 90, of Jackson died Friday, Jan. 10, 1997, at Jackson Manor. She was born Oct. 24, 1906, in Cape Girardeau County, daughter of Conrad and Frances Crites. She and Henry A. Sachse were married April 23, 1927. He died Oct. 25, 1995...

SIKESTON -- Regina F. Meyer, 78, of Marathon, Fla., died Tuesday, Jan. 7, 1997, at her home. She was born Oct. 25, 1918, in Carbondale, Ill., daughter of Rex and Dola Cook. She married Paul C. Meyer, who died Dec. 25, 1989. A longtime resident of Sikeston, she and her husband owned and operated The Elite Shop and Wagner-Meyer Men's Store in downtown Sikeston many years...

Wilma Brady, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Jan. 10, 1997, at Ratliff Care Center. She was born Aug. 5, 1917, at Flat River, daughter of Shelby David and Gertrude Wigger Aubuchon. She and James F. Brady were married Aug. 1, 1941, in Shreveport, La. He died Feb. 27, 1995...

CHARLESTON -- Mary Blanche Holifield, 85, formerly of Charleston, died Friday, Jan. 10, 1997, at Bertrand Nursing Facility. She was born July 15, 1911, in Derby, Ind., daughter of Oscar and Ida Frances Stowe Alvey. She and Amos William Holifield were married in 1933. He died Jan. 25, 1968...

Funeral service for the Rev. Clarence Edward Fleshman of Cape Girardeau will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel. The Revs. Harold Fleshman and Bill Ross will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Friends may call at the chapel from 2-5 p.m. Sunday...

SIKESTON -- John Lawrence Ward, 78, of Sikeston died Wednesday, Jan. 8, 1997, at John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. He was born Aug. 9, 1918, at Matthews, son of Perry and Dona Myers Ward. His wife Amy preceded him in death. Ward was a member of Henry Meldrum American Legion Post and VFW Post in Sikeston...

Son to Kelly Don and Traci LeAnn Presson of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 10:43 a.m. Friday, Dec. 13, 1996. Name, Jacob Wayne. Weight, 4 pounds 5 ounces. First child. Mrs. Presson is the former Traci Tice, daughter of Rosa Tice of Kennett, and the late Gary Tice. She is secretary at First Assembly of God Church in Jackson. Presson is the son of Barbara Presson of Kennett and Tyrone Presson of Manila, Ark. He is youth pastor at First Assembly of God Church in Jackson...

Paul H. Lasater, 88, of Cape Girardeau, died at his home Friday, Jan. 10, 1997 Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by Ford and Sons Funeral Home.