Stories from Sunday, May 18, 1997

There is a story of a helpless war orphan who was adopted by a Colorado family. The first night with his new family he desperatley clung to his mother, terrified of a new situation because he could remember his past experience of horror and constant fear...

Never bet on horse races or legislatures, but if you have to make a choice, bet on the horses. Helped along by a sea of newsprint, broadcasts and video tape, this year's session of the Missouri General Assembly came to its regular constitutional end -- and what a blessing it was. Lawmakers are often at their worst, or if you prefer, their best, when the final bell is about to sound and they are at the point of physical and mental collapse...

I'M CALLING concerning the mascot change at Southeast Missouri State University. For years we've been known as the Indians and Otahkians. I think it's a shame that that's going to change. I don't understand why we just don't change our image as the mascots, maybe learn a little more about the Indians and make it more realistic. I don't think it's disrespectful to the Indians if we do it that way...

25 years ago, 1972 Jackson R-2 School District officials have received some good news; remaining brick for new elementary school should be available to contractor by June 1, and school should be ready to occupy by Oct. 1; two weeks ago district received word that there could be as much as a five-month delay in getting brick...

More than 3000 people are expected at this weekend's Black Forest Villages 7th Annual Craftfest. The festival will be held today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year the Wild West Shows have been combined with the Craftfest to give people more reasons to come out to Black Forest Villages on County Road 638...

Kindness overflowed in Southeast Missouri last week. It was all part of the second annual Random Acts of Kindness Week sponsored by the Southeast Missourian. Some were small kindnesses: a wave, a smile, a shoulder to lean on, a friendly ear, a helping hand. Other organizations, churches and businesses went all out for their neighbors last week...

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson told Southeast Missouri State University graduates Saturday that they'll be disappointed if they fail, but doomed if they don't try. "In America, we have choices," Emerson said. "We can choose to go to college and get degrees, then get a job and pursue our dreams. The choice of education will enable you to have many more opportunities that you would not have had otherwise."...

Boom boxes blared with contemporary Christian calypso music and floats, trucks, cars, vans and people on foot stretched for three city blocks Saturday morning in the 1997 March for Jesus. Participants from 25 denominations in Cape Girardeau began the march at May Greene School and then continued from North Sprigg Street to East Good Hope and on to the Common Pleas Courthouse on Lorimier Street...

Whether it's former teachers, students and their parents, co-workers or friends discussing Frank Ellis, all have the same basic opinion about him. They all love him. Ellis will be the principal at Washington Elementary School after current principal Barbara Blanchard retires this summer, and many people believe he'll do a good job of replacing his much-respected predecessor...

The road to Missouri's transportation future could be paved with a gasoline tax hike. "It is going to be a hard, hard sell," said Jay Wunderlich, executive director of the Taxpayers Research Institute of Missouri. The institute is a division of Associated Industries of Missouri, a statewide business group based in Jefferson City...

Barbara Blanchard remembers well the first day she came to Washington Elementary School. A tiny 7-year-old stood on the front steps of the school holding tight to her mother's hand. With her stood principal Raymond Sheets and first-grade teacher Mary Wilson. They were deciding if young Barbara would be allowed to enroll. She had missed the first 15 days of school with chicken pox. Sheets wasn't sure this little girl could catch up with her classmates...

I spied it on the kitchen floor just the other day: a petrified pretzel near the dishwasher. Those kinds of things just don't happen on the pages of those architectural magazines. Of course, you won't find kids in those homes either. You won't find toys spilling out all over the floor in those glossy photos. Still life is about the only life in those pictures...

Cape Girardeau preschoolers will have a better chance to avoid injury in a fire following a fire prevention workshop for about 100 of their teachers. Cape Girardeau is one of eight communities in the nation to have received the educational program sponsored by Bic...

You're not sleeping, you're gaining weight, feeling tired and have lost interest in your favorite activities. You cry for no apparent reason. You may have depression. Depression can describe a normal human emotion of sadness, blues, dejection, the dumps, gloom or it can go beyond an emotion and become a disease...

So, what in the name of Houck Field House really is happening with Southeast Missouri State University's basketball program? We can only speculate, because -- as has been the case for the past couple of months -- nobody is willing to say much on the record, other than Thursday's four-paragraph statement announcing the firing of 16-year coach Ron Shumate amid an NCAA investigation...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team appeared to have everything going its way Saturday as the Indians made a bid for their first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament berth. But Tennessee Tech's Golden Eagles had other ideas...

Cape Girardeau Central High School will hold a variety of sports camps this summer. All the camps, to be conducted by coaches of the respective sports, will be held at Central High, except for the soccer camps that will take place at Shawnee Park. For information on any of the camps, call the Central High athletic office at 335-8467...

POPLAR BLUFF -- Cape Girardeau Central High's track program continued its district domination here Saturday with lopsided victories during the Class 4A, District 1 Meet. Central's boys won their fourth consecutive district title while Central's girls captured their third straight district crown. The meet featured 11 teams...

Have you ever wondered what southeast Missouri's lowland region looked like around the time the dinosaurs became extinct? It may be hard to imagine, but the area known as the Bootheel was once an upland of at least the same height as the bordering Ozark hills...

Tryouts for Junior and Senior American Legion and Senior Babe Ruth baseball teams will be held today, rain or shine, at Cape Central High School beginning at 1 p.m. For more information, contact Ron Michel (334-6681) or Chris Stanfield (335-6251).

Scott City High School will hold its summer basketball camp June 2-6. Session 1 is for boys entering grades 3-6 while session 2 is for boys entering grades 7-9. The campers will meet for 2 1/2 hours each day. The cost is $25, which includes a camp T-shirt...

One of the state's premier all-around high school athletes -- who just happens to live in Cape Girardeau -- is taking her skills to the junior-college level. Cape Girardeau Central senior Nichole Thiele recently signed a letter of intent with the ultra successful women's basketball program at John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill...

Universal Health & Fitness Center, Real Rock 99.3 and Taco John's are sponsoring a 4-on-4 sand volleyball tournament Sunday, June 1. Cost is $50 per team, with all squads guaranteed two games. There will be souvenirs, food and drink and cash prizes...

Universal Health & Fitness Center is offering a "Sand Bash '97" sand volleyball extravaganza that will include leagues and tournaments. Real Rock 99.3 and Universal Health & Fitness are sponsoring the events, which feature a 6-on-6 league and a 4-on-4 league...

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department will hold a four-person sand volleyball tournament Sunday, June 8, at Arena Park. Entry fee is $57.75 per team. T-shirts and team plaques will be awarded to the top three teams. For more information, contact Lance at the Parks and Recreation office a 335-5421 or 334-2859...

Notre Dame varsity soccer coach Brad Wittenborn will conduct a soccer camp for boys and girls entering Grades 1-6 June 2-6 at the high school. Youth entering Grades 1-2 will meet 8-9:30 a.m. each day while those entering Grades 3-6 will gather from 10-11:45 a.m...

The Cape Youth Baseball League will hold an umpire clinic today at 1 p.m. at Field No. 6 at Arena Park. Anyone interested in umpiring youth league baseball should attend.

SCOTT CITY-- Janet Lucy Matty, 56, of Scott City died Friday, May 16, 1997, at her home. She was born Aug. 17, 1940, at Charloroi, Pa., daughter of Michael David Debnar and Virginia Regina Lucas and Michael G. Baciak, her stepfather, all of whom preceded her in death...

Elberta Laverne Schaefer, 84, died Saturday, May 17, 1997. She was born July 11, 1912 in East Prairie, daughter of Chester and Addie Speck Lucas. She and Herman Schaefer were married Jan. 28, 1937 in Cairo, Ill. He survives. Schaefer was a homemaker and worked at Southeast Missouri State University for a short period of time. ...

ANNA, Ill. -- Barbara L. Bigler, 90, of Anna died Saturday, May 17, 1997 at Union County Hospital in Anna. She was born on May 9, 1907 in Anna, the daughter of Frank M. and Mary Basler Bigler. She was a retired Registered Nurse from the former Anna State Hospital and a lifelong member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Anna...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Rosie B. Johnson, 93, died Friday, May 16, 1997, in the East Prairie Nursing Center. She was born on July 31, 1903, in Mississippi County, the daughter of William and Zora Benson Walker. She married Garland Johnson. He preceded her in death...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. - Norman L. Bauer, 58, of Olive Branch died Friday, May 16, 1997 at his home. He was born Oct. 29, 1938 at Miller City, Ill., the son of Earl and Florence Martin Bauer. Bauer was retired from the United States Air Force. He was a member of the First Southern Baptist Church in Cairo...

ROLLA -- Cecilia A. Elfrink, 76, of Rolla, formally of St. Louis, died Saturday, May 17, 1997 at the Rosewood Nursing Home. She was born Nov. 25, 1920 in Advance as Cecilia Martin. She was married to Theodore J. Elfrink. He preceded her in death. She was a homemaker and was active in various charity and church activities...

Harriet Loraine Friese, 44, of Cape Girardeau, died Saturday, May 10, 1997 at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Dec. 24, 1952 in Cape Girardeau, the daughter of Oda Albert and Bernice Barbara Hellman Friese. Survivors include her parents of Oak Ridge; four brothers, Allan Friese and Dale Friese both of Oak Ridge, Glenn Friese of Friedheim, and Claude Friese of Jackson; two sisters, Darlene Friese of Oak Ridge and Beverly Johnston of Pocahontas...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Charles L. Myers, 79, of East Prairie died Saturday, May 17, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 17, 1917, near East Prairie, the son of Charles and Bertha Vineyard Myers. He married Opal Wilburn on April 25, 1946. She survives...

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Ethel M. Anthony, 88, of Bloomington, died Saturday, May 17, 1997, at the Care Center in Bloomington. She was born on Sept. 8, 1908 at Clarksville, Ark., the daughter of Walter Lee and Tennessee Pearson Russell. She and Lee Anthony were married on Nov. 17, 1932. He preceded her in death...

MOREHOUSE -- Ronn Gosnell, 38, of Morehouse, died Friday, May 16, 1997, at St. Louis University Hospital from injuries he received in an automobile accident. Morehouse was serving as the Morehouse police chief after being elected to the position in April...

MARBLE HILL -- Anna Belle Hart, 81, of Sturdivant, died Thursday, May 15, 1997, at the home of a daughter. She was born June 13, 1915, at Pocohontas, Ala., daughter of Andrew and Samantha Millwood Mincy. She married Ceil Andrew Hart, who preceded her in death...

Daisy Mae Smith, 63, 1101 Bloomfield, died Saturday, May 17, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Sept. 24, 1933, at Clarksdale, Miss., daughter of George and Mary Holton Davenport. Smith was a homemaker. Survivors include three sons, Venice "Jack" Thomas Johnson of Decatur, Ala., Larry Lee Smith and Richard Smith of Cape Girardeau; four daughters, Betty Mosley, Michelle Smith and Everlene Johnson of Cape Girardeau, and Katherine Johnson of Springfield, Ill.; two sisters, Alene Austin of Eugene, Ore., Katherine Jean Smith of Tennessee; 15 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.. ...

Surf's up at SEMissourian.com. Come on in, the water's fine. You can find the site at: http://www.semissourian.com After about a month of testing, the Internet site of the Southeast Missourian newspaper is ready for a formal launch. SEMissourian.com, the site's name and Internet address, combines entertainment with information, said Joni Adams, managing editor and director of the web project...

The staff of SEMissourian.com wants to share its excitement about the potential of the Internet. The staff will offer three public training sessions on the World Wide Web in the coming weeks. The first meeting on Thursday, May 29, will introduce beginners to the Internet, including an explanation of what the Internet is and how it works. ...

I forget all about the sweet locust tree during the year when it is not in bloom, but comes a morning in May, I step outside and, oh, the heavenly odor! Immediately I know what has happened. The tree isn't mine, and not readily visible from my daily viewpoints, otherwise I would have been watching the development of the blossoms and anticipating the perfume. ...