Stories from Thursday, March 13, 1997

Jennifer McClure, left, and Holly Pritchard played recorders. The mediums of music, art and dance will be celebrated during the second annual Children's Festival of the Arts Friday. More than 250 elementary and middle school students from throughout Southeast Missouri are expected to participate in the free event. The festival will take place at 7 p.m. in Academic Auditorium at Southeast Missouri State University. Susanna Baylon, a news reporter for KFVS-TV 12, will host the evening's events...

City officials plan to cut the ribbon and officially open the Osage Community Centre at 4:30 p.m. April 15. Half an hour later the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce plans to host the center's first event: Business After Hours. The building at Kingshighway and Mount Auburn Road is nearly finished. ...

ST. LOUIS -- A study of industrial job growth in Missouri and six other Midwest states by the Federal Reserve Bank points to increases in the state's rural areas and declining rates for metropolitan regions. Among the seven states served by the 8th District Federal Reserve Bank, Missouri led its neighbors in industrial employment increases from 1984 through 1994...

A Southeast Missouri State University committee said Wednesday it will revisit the issue of whether the school's athletic teams should keep their Indian and Otahkian nicknames. But the committee also decided to move ahead with efforts to recommend a mascot to university President Dr. Dale Nitzschke by semester's end...

Boatmen's Bank will close its downtown Cape Girardeau branch effective at the close of business June 12. The facility at 100 Broadway has housed banks ever since it was built in 1956. Boatmen's acquired the building in 1989. Local Boatmen's president Jim Limbaugh said the company isn't abandoning the area...

If the proposed alternative looks good, members of the Cape Girardeau Cable TV Advisory Commission will recommend allowing TCI Cablevision to abandon its commitment to convert the city's cable television lines to fiber optics. Three representatives of the city plan to travel to Hartford, Conn., next month to see whether the alternative TCI proposes is as good as the cable company claims...

March 13, 1997 Dear Pat, House guests arrived Sunday, so DC and I spent Saturday cleaning the house. It's the American way. This event is always a hyperbolized ordeal for us. For me because I am a slob who loves tidiness, Oscar Madison and Felix Unger in the same body. For DC because she can't bear to part with anything and can't find enough places to put all her collectibles, be they Fiestaware dishes or rubber bands or seed packages...

Just what our country needs: another exclusive, by-invitation-only organization. You're only eligible for membership is you haven't slept in the Lincoln Bedroom. President Clinton's excuse for aggressive fund-raising tactics is that Democrats needed the money. Well, at least beggars, panhandlers and thieves now have a new patron saint...

It was more than a little disappointing to see the U.S. Senate come within one vote of adopting a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. It was much more disappointing, however, to see Democrats claim that a balanced-budget amendment would somehow jeopardize Social Security...

Nearly everyone has an opinion about cloning, so here's ours in a nutshell: If it looks like the world is ever going to run out of sheep, perhaps we ought to permit scientific duplicates. Or if the sweet song of a mockingbird can be replicated into the vocal cords of an operatic soprano, have at it. Or if the determined grit of crabgrass can be sold over the counter in daily doses, OK by us...

To the editor: The new Art Academy at Southeast Missouri State University caught my attention as being one of the finest means of offering art education to our young generation today who have desires and images to express but are at a loss in knowing how to express them, especially without being offered this fine opportunity...

Laugh, it's good for you. Ever laughed so hard you were left out of breath? That's because continuous laughter is an aerobic activity. Ever feel drained of tension and somewhat euphoric after a really good laugh? That's because laughter releases endorphins, the same chemical that produces a "runner's high" after strenuous exercise, into the blood stream...

SIKESTON -- Circuit Judge Tony Heckemeyer says he may run for Congress in 1998. The 58-year-old Sikeston Democrat has served as circuit judge for Scott and Mississippi counties for 17 years. Heckemeyer said some members of his family aren't thrilled about the idea. But the judge hasn't been shy in talking up the race: He told a Sikeston High School class recently that he was interested in running for the 8th District congressional seat...

CHARLESTON -- More than 50 people are scheduled to voice their opinions on the recent firing of Charleston High School principal Joe Forrest at tonight's school board meeting. The meeting will be held at the Board of Education office at 7:30 p.m. The list of scheduled speakers includes current and former teachers and administrators, parents and other community members...

About 2,000 regional teachers are expected for the annual Southeast Missouri District Teachers Association meeting March 21 at the Show Me Center. The number of attendees will be down considerably from past years because fewer schools close for the event...

Revenge is a powerful motivational tool and Wednesday night at the Cape Central Fieldhouse, the East Carter County Redbirds got theirs. East Carter made just one field goal in the final quarter, but sank 12-of-16 free throws in the final two minutes of the game to hold off the Scott City Rams 63-56 in a 2A sectional...

POPLAR BLUFF -- Scott County Central's girls basketball team couldn't recover from a first-quarter deficit and lost its Class 1A sectional game Wednesday at Poplar Bluff High School 62-53 to Bunker. Bunker led 21-12 after one quarter. From there the teams played to a 41-41 draw...

First-year East Carter County coach Steve Williams based his approach to the fourth quarter -- a stalling offense early in the period with a slim lead -- on a season's worth of experience. But his Lady Redbirds' inexperience -- which at its most obvious was an 0 for 5 performance from the free-throw line in the final period -- nullified the move, making it look less than optimal to more than one viewer...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Reba Dow of Jackson will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson. The Rev. O. David Griffin will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. Friday...

Shirley Beatrice Bishop, 78, 805 N. Henderson, died Tuesday, March 11, 1997, at the Lutheran Home. She was born July 21, 1918, in Cape Girardeau County, daughter of Sherman and Floy Abernathy Dillingham. She and Earl Leasure were married March 19, 1937, in Cape Girardeau. He died in 1994. She married Darwin Bishop Jan. 21, 1950, in Piggott, Ark. He died in 1967...

Edna Marion Waldron, 88, died Tuesday, March 11, 1997, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Dec. 6, 1908, at Bloomfield, daughter of Thomas Baker and Minnie Moore Baskerville. She and Leonard V. Waldron were married Nov. 1, 1936, at Malden. He died June 21, 1991...

Mildred Amelia Moore, 89, 2525 Boutin, died Tuesday, March 11, 1997, at Heartland Care and Rehab Center. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Drury Southwest plans to build a four-story retail and office building at the southeast corner of Mount Auburn Road and William Street next to West Park Mall. The Cape Girardeau City Planning and Zoning Commission gave the project the go-ahead at its meeting Wednesday night. The City Council must give its approval befroe construction may begin. The council will hold a public hearing on it Monday at 7 p.m...

Son to Virgil Dewayne and Jane L. Lix, Benton Route 1, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:42 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, 1997. Name, John Paul. Weight, 9 pounds 4 ounces. Third child, second son. Mrs. Lix is the former Jane Glastetter, daughter of Louis and Anna Glastetter of Benton. She is production supervisor at St. Francis Medical Center. Lix is the son of Willard and Geraldine Lix of Okeechobee, Fla. He is a driver with Auto Tire and Parts...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Dr. Marshall Evans Burrell, 72, of Dongola died Wednesday, March 12, 1997, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky. Friends may call at Crain Funeral Home in Dongola from 5-8 p.m. Saturday. Funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home...

MARBLE HILL -- Carlin G. Lincoln, 36, of Des Arc died Tuesday, March 11, 1997, in Piedmont. He was born Nov. 4, 1960, in Ste. Genevieve, son of Linus J. and Genevieve Phelps Lincoln. He and Catherine Needham were married Feb. 14, 1991. Lincoln was a member of Des Arc Volunteer Fire Department...

MARBLE HILL -- Glen Elledge, 69, of Marble Hill died Tuesday, March 11, 1997, at Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 5, 1927, at Lutesville, son of the Rev. Clarence and Ada Angel Elledge. He and Melba L. Long were married July 19, 1952...

OLMSTEAD, Ill. -- William "Bud" Holmes, 69, of Olmstead, Ill., died Monday March 10, 1997, at Union County Hospital in Anna, Ill. He was born Aug. 11, 1927, son of Julis and Nora Simmons Holmes, in Tunnell Hill. He married Elsie Watson and she preceded him in death...