Stories from Thursday, May 1, 1997

The poetry of the Book of Genesis and John Milton's "Paradise Lost" is sung to Joseph Haydn's dramatic orchestral music in "The Creation," the latest in an impressive array of oratorios to be under taken by the Southeast Missouri State University Department of Music...

Bird watchers have plenty to watch at the St. Louis Zoo's new Bird Garden. Visitors follow a winding pathway to six large aviaries, a spacious walk-through aviary and a shaded pavilion overlooking a meadow of white-naped cranes. They cross a footbridge over a meandering stream and waterfall. The area is landscaped with reflecting pools and beds of flowering plants...

The Missouri Department of Transportation is working with an engineering firm and a federal agency to speed the development of an alternate route between Scott City and Cape Girardeau. Dawn Rae Clark Fuller, transportation department project manager, said initial studies of traffic patterns in the two cities will be coordinated through Environmental Science and Engineering Inc. and the Federal Highway Administration...

The A+ program at Cape Girardeau Central High School lived up to its name this week when it earned top scores during a state evaluation. The Cape Girardeau School District was designated an A+ school, one of 27 school districts in the state to earn the rating...

The Cape Girardeau Civic Center is out of money, but it's not out of hope. The Center's board of directors met Wednesday morning to find a way to tide it over until the local institution can get more stable funding from grants or the United Way. The most pressing concerns are upcoming utility and insurance bills...

A survey by state Rep. David Schwab has added a spark of life to a controversial Bollinger-Cape Girardeau County lake that was declared dead in the state Senate earlier this month. Schwab conducts a yearly survey of his constituents to gather information on issues affecting them. For the first time he included a question about the proposed, much-debated 7,700-acre lake...

Members of the Cape Girardeau County Planning and Zoning study committee are looking at ways to make planning and zoning rules palatable to voters. "Nobody likes regulations," said John Dudley, chairman of the planning and zoning study committee. "But in this day and time something is needed."...

May 1, 1997 Dear Pat, When a fledgling reporter in Northern California, I read the Los Angeles Times mainly to see what another reporter named Charles Hillinger was up to. He was the Times' version of Charles Kurrault, roaming the West in search of the unusual...

Southeast Missouri State University officials aren't ready to start building a technology center just yet. First, the school must get the $5 million for the project. The Missouri House Budget Committee added the project to the budget Tuesday, along with money for 26 other higher education building projects on other campuses and two new prisons...

The Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents has hired J. Wayne Davenport of Little Rock, Ark., as vice president for university advancement. Davenport also will serve as executive director of the Southeast Missouri University Foundation. He will begin his $94,000 job May 12...

To the editor: Every Saturday morning at 6 a.m. I never fail to turn on my television to watch "Perspective," a favorite program of mine. I am sure there are others who feel the same. On April 25, I was surprised and pleased to see Trinity Lutheran Church and school represented...

Anyone who has visited the northern reaches of the Black River in the Missouri Ozarks near Lesterville knows about the spectacular natural beauty of the area. The clear river flows over gravel and twists through the forested hills. The views can be breathtaking almost any time of the year...

The power of prayer is widely recognized in these parts. The recent annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast in Cape Girardeau drew hundreds of participants to the Show Me Center. Today, another special day of prayer will be observed throughout the nation. It is the National Day of Prayer. First declared by President Harry Truman in 1952, the national observance has since been endorsed by the governors of every state...

To the editor: President Clinton has chosen well. Gen. Colin Powell has chosen well, especially Powell. He has chosen to head the administration's child welfare and volunteer endeavor. This hopes, among other things, to express the government's legitimate role in inspiring the private sector and society as a whole to a nonpartisan effort to address national concerns...

To the editor: On any given day, you'll find quite a few farmers and retired people visiting at the Scopus Post Office and store. Most of us are keeping up with the local gossip here in northern Bollinger County. It's almost like reading a local paper, only on a smaller scale...

A head-on collision in Pulaski County Tuesday morning put an Olmstead man in Southeast Missouri Hospital with chest and arm injuries. According to the Illinois State Police, Randy Livesay was driving his car north on Mikkan Road at 8:30 a.m. climbing a steep hill three miles west of Illinois Route 37 near Olmstead when it collided with a southbound car driven by Marita Garrett of Villa Ridge near the crest of the hill...

If Southeast Missouri State University's softball team can duplicate Wednesday's performance against St. Louis University in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament which begins on Saturday, the Otahkians are in for an easy weekend. Southeast dominated visiting St. Louis Wednesday at Parker Field, sweeping both games of the doubleheader without allowing a run...

B.J. Windhorst had hit only one home run previously this season. But his second of the campaign was a big one as it decided Wednesday night's in-state battle between the University of Missouri and Southeast Missouri State University at Capaha Field...

Cape Girardeau Central's baseball team got a feel for just how balanced the Class 4A district tournament should be this year in its 4-3 win in eight innings at home against Farmington on Wednesday. Central led 3-2 entering the seventh inning before the Knights scored a run to send the game into extra frames...

PERRYVILLE -- After Wednesday's offensive explosion, Notre Dame's baseball team figures to at least have its hitting ready for its key district game against Scott City today. Notre Dame pounded 17 hits -- some aided by the day's ferocious wind -- and beat Perryville on the road 15-13...

MCCLURE, Ill. -- Mary Hodge, 79, of McClure, formerly of Cache, died Wednesday, April 30, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 3, 1917, at Grand Tower, daughter of Hugh and Mary Summers Burton. Survivors include her husband, Cecil Hodge...

ADVANCE -- Pauline L. Bland, 97, of Advance died Wednesday, April 30, 1997, at Advance Nursing Center. She was born Oct. 8, 1899, in Edwardsville, Ill., daughter of Prokup and Barbara Sedlacek Habada. She and Joe Bland were married April 26, 1933, at Jackson. He died Dec. 13, 1990...

DEXTER -- Funeral service for Barbara Louise Taylor of Dexter will be held at 2 p.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter. The Revs. Terry Barber and Christian Garrett will officiate, with burial in Triplett Cemetery near Dexter. Taylor, 62, died Tuesday, April 29, 1997, at Dexter Memorial Hospital...

PERRYVILLE -- Harvey C. Zahner, 89, of Perryville died Wednesday, April 30, 1997, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born Feb. 19, 1908, in Perry County, son of Isidore W. and Ida H. Huber Zahner. Zahner was a rancher; member of St. Vincent's Catholic Church and a 3rd Degree member of Knights of Columbus...

CHAFFEE -- Reba Lois Nance, 91, of Chaffee died Wednesday, April 30, 1997, at her home. She was born March 30, 1906, in East Prairie, daughter of John Sherman and Allie Morris Burns. She and Harold Robert Nance were married Dec. 5, 1924. He died July 11, 1981...

Everette D. Fry, 92, of Bokeelia, Fla., died Wednesday, April 30, 1997, at his home. He was formerly of Cape Girardeau. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

MCCLURE, Ill. -- Walter Enke, 73, of McClure died Wednesday, April 30, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson, Mo., is in charge of arrangements.

ANNA, Ill. -- Cleo Frances Davis, 80, of Anna died Wednesday, April 30, 1997, at her home. She was born June 23, 1916, in Jonesboro, daughter of William and Nellie Brown Hileman. She and Donald D. Davis were married June 23, 1935, in Anna. He died Nov. 22, 1986...

The King House Restaurant will reopen today after having been closed Tuesday by the Cape Girardeau County Health Department. County inspectors closed the restaurant after recording 19 critical and 19 non-critical violations of state regulations. The violations were mainly procedural problems -- employees not washing their hands before handling food, storing some food items in cardboard boxes, some chicken stock was left out overnight and tongs were used to dispense noodles after the instrument had been left out overnight.. ...

BENTON -- Leona Caroline Dannenmueller, 88, of Benton died Wednesday, April 30, 1997, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 3, 1908, at New Hamburg, daughter of William and Lucia Grojean LeGrand. She and Theon Dannenmueller were married Oct. 16, 1928. He died Aug. 5, 1990...

Son to Aaron J. and Connie J. Wilson of Burfordville, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:20 p.m. Friday, April 25, 1997. Name, Adam Dewitt. Weight, 8 pounds 6 ounces. First child. Mrs. Wilson is the former Connie Frazier, daughter of Eugene and Gladys Frazier of Cape Girardeau. She is a teacher at Early Childhood Center. Wilson is the son of June Wilson of Biloxi, Miss. He is a driver/dock worker with ABF Freight System...

Memorial service for Ann Abbott of Cape Girardeau will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at Evangelical United Church of Christ. Anyone who would like to provide memorabilia may do so. Abbott, 68, died Saturday, April 19, 1997, at Vencor Hospital in St. Louis...