Stories from Wednesday, June 11, 1997

To the editor: In response to your editorial supporting drilling for lead in Mark Twain National Forest, I am writing to clarify some points you omitted. Mark Twain National Forest is a safety zone around headwaters of the Eleven Point River and Greer Spring. ...

Now that schools are out for the summer, area churches are offering activities and religious training through Vacation Bible School. VBS typically lasts a week, but there is probably an opportunity to attend at various churches every week in June, July and early August...

Traffic on Normal Avenue will be rerouted beginning today to allow for replacement of a utility tunnel at Southeast Missouri State University. Construction work is expected to last three months. The south side of Normal between Henderson and Pacific will be closed to traffic. Two-way traffic will be routed on the north side of Normal through July, said university project manager Don Neumeyer...

When Scott and Melissa Rose were married in 1995, they had a dream: to have a safe home of their own to raise a family in. The hardworking couple recently realized their dream, but only after rejection, a lot of persistence and a little help. June 7-14 is National Homeownership Week...

Procter & Gamble Co. has awarded nine of its 128 P&G Fund Scholarship Program scholarships to children of Cape Girardeau P&G employees. The fund provides recipients with a renewable four-year award between $1,000 and $4,000 for an accredited college or university. Winners are selected based on academic achievement, leadership skills, accomplishments outside the classroom and recommendations...

A dozen not-for-profit organizations in Southeast Missouri -- including eight in Cape Girardeau County -- received computer systems Tuesday. ETHIX, a St. Louis-based Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), presented computers to representatives of the groups during a reception at Southeast Missouri...

Last week's flash flooding provided a stark reminder of what could have been without the Cape LaCroix Creek flood control project. On May 31, about 4 inches of rain fell in just a few hours, and fast-rising waters overflowed drainage ditches and creeks. The Cape LaCroix Creek and Walker Branch drainage channels along Kingshighway were filled to the brim late that night...

Sales tax revenues in the city of Cape Girardeau have not kept pace with last year. March sales tax figures fell 3 percent, and April was down 8 percent from 1996. The decline is puzzling. All around us, retail and commercial business seems to be booming in Cape Girardeau. A number of new stores have opened, including Sam's Club and Goody's...

NOW THAT the United States Postal Service is involved the novelty clothing business, what's next? Fast food and plastic figures? OH WE have the double standards. This lieutenant in the Air Force was forced to resign because they took her personal life into it and she was forced out of her career. ...

We in the newspaper business are aware we'd better be careful of what we write or that we might have to eat or correct our remarks. It's one thing to have a different opinion. That's rather common with anyone who states clearly their personal opinion. It's another thing to mistate, take out of context, etc. someone else's opinion...

When Ruby Youngquist of Malden cites her reason for wanting the newest Missouri prison in her community, she could be speaking for all of those who are interested. "We need jobs," said Youngquist, executive director of Malden's Chamber of Commerce. "We need jobs desperately here. It's just a fact of life."...

More than 270 area youth are getting physical this summer as participants in the National Youth Sports Program being held at Southeast Missouri State University. NYSP is a summer sports academy co-sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Department of Health and Human Services at the university. The national program was developed to give low-income and underprivileged youths a safe and structured recreational environment...

Enrollment in Cape Girardeau kindergarten classes will be the luck of the draw for some students next fall. Seventy-one kindergarteners are already enrolled in Charles C. Clippard Elementary School's two kindergarten classes, 21 more students more than the school can handle. Principal Stan Seiler recently informed parents in the district that a lottery process will decide which students will be reassigned to a different school within the district...

At its meeting tonight, the Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission could recommend allowing double-wide mobile homes in residential neighborhoods under certain circumstances and requiring sidewalks in all subdivisions with homes on lots of less than three acres...

What kind of sadist would give a speeding ticket to a disheveled woman in tears? After years of speeding with reckless abandon, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper took the wind out of my sails. Permanently. By the time I finish paying a $165 speeding ticket and another $75 or so for traffic school, the little old ladies whose heads barely stick up over the steering wheel -- they have a fairly large representation here in the Sunshine State -- will fly by yelling, "Outta my way, sucka!"...

JACKSON -- Special needs programming and capital improvements dominated the agenda items addressed during the Jackson Board of Education meeting Tuesday evening. The board also learned of overcrowding in several schools that could require the hiring of additional faculty members for the coming year...

The Southeast Missourian asked people how they felt about workers taking a company-sanctioned 20-minute nap during the work day. Amie Runnels: "I think it's a great idea, but I don't think it would ever work. Being a cosmetologist, you barely have a chance to get lunch with people coming in and out, and you never know what to expect during the day."...

The city of Jackson and the Missouri Department of Transportation have reached an agreement to improve the intersection of Highway 61 North and Route D in Jackson. MoDOT will redesign the intersection including signals, install the signals and re-strip the intersection. ...

Cape Girardeau Board of Education president Dr. Ferrell Ervin will be celebrity guest conductor for the Municipal Band Concert tonight at the Capaha Park Band Shell. The 8-o'clock concert is free, but guests are advised to bring lawn chairs. Ronald Nall is director, and Mike Dumey will provide special musical entertainment...

EAST PRAIRIE -- The East Prairie Tourism Council has a dream that visitors will come to their town to see the sights and spend some money. Richard Henson gave a motivational speech to about 40 people Tuesday at a tourism forum in East Prairie telling them that having the dream is the first step...

Several antique automobiles and motorcycles will be displayed on Main Street during Riverfest '97 this Friday and Saturday. Riverfest organizers said this is the first year for the motorcycles to be displayed. Exhibitors have registered their vehicles from across the state...

Southeast Missouri golf fans can get their first closeup look at a professional golf tour event when the Sikeston BootHeel Golf Club host the NGA/Hooters Professional Golf Tour Thursday through Sunday. The Hooters Tour, the No. 3 men's professional golf tour in the country behind the PGA and Nike tours, will be making its first ever visit to the area with the $100,000 KFVS-12 Golf Classic. The Sikeston stop marks the midway point of the 22-event Hooters Tour...

PADUCAH -- The Cape Ford & Sons Senior American Legion team dropped a 12-2 decision to Paducah Tuesday night in eight innings. Paducah, who pounded 10 hits in the game, scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to end the game via the 10-run rule. Ford & Sons, which had four hits and four errors in the field, fell to 5-2 this season...

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department will sponsor the 10th annual Capaha 5,000-meter Classic/Chidren's One-Mile Run July 12. Registration begins at 7 a.m. at Capaha Park. All ages are welcome to participate. Registration fee: 5K ($7.35 preregistered, $8.40 late); one-mile ($4.20, $7.35 with a T-shirt)...

Vernon A. Harrison, 74, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, June 9, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born April 17, 1923, in Harrisburg, Ill., son of J.T. and Minnie I. Carnell Harrison. Harrison was retired from McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis. He was a member of Disabled American Veterans Post 16 in Cape Girardeau, and Masonic Lodge Pride of the West 179 AF&AM in Webster Groves...

FARMINGTON -- A memorial service for Judith Ann McDaniel of Jefferson City will be held at 7 p.m. today at Jefferson City High School, with the Rev. Harvel Sanders officiating. A service will also be held at 7 p.m. Friday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Farmington...

SIKESTON -- Gloria D. Lewis, 47, of Sikeston died suddenly Saturday, June 7, 1997, at her home. She was born Nov. 8, 1949, in Clarksdale, Ark., daughter of Rubur and Mable Rogers Valentine. Lewis had lived in Missouri since 1955. Survivors include three sons, John Lewis Jr. ...

Son to Kevin Paul Porter and Delina Michelle Dudley of Glen Allen, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 7:20 p.m. Friday, April 25, 1997. Name, Joshua Vahn. Weight, 9 pounds 2 ounces. First child. Ms. Dudley is the daughter of Pat Dudley and Jim Dudley of St. Louis. Porter is the son of Drucilla Robinson of Arcadia, La., and Dwight Porter of Kansas City. He is employed by Cannon Express...

ANNA, Ill. -- Funeral service for Ethel Mae Duncan of Anna will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Hileman and Parr Funeral Home in Jonesboro. Burial will be in Jonesboro Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. today. Duncan, 73, died Monday, June 9, 1997, at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale...

Eleven members from P.E.O. chapters in Cape Girardeau attended the Missouri State Chapter meeting Saturday and Sunday in Columbia. They are: Martha Maxton of Chapter BI; Margaret Miller of Chapter CX; Louise Taylor, Marilyn Prill and Norma Jones of Chapter DJ; Mary Miller of Chapter EY; Laurie Schnieder of Chapter FY; Margaret Pind of Chapter GF; Sandy Hastings of Chapter JN; Joan Gohn of Chapter LA; and Brenda Johnson of Chapter LY...

JACKSON -- The quarterly meeting of the Cape County FCE Council was held June 5 at the University of Missouri Extension Center in Jackson. Opal Collins of Kage Club gave the devotional. Lois Seabaugh introduced Lisa Sheffer of Option Care, who presented the program on health care outside the hospital setting...

This Sunday is Father's Day, a day when we pay tribute to dads everywhere. It's a day sacred to manufacturers of bad ties, a day when, according to AT&T, collect calls soar to record levels, and a day to reflect on all the things our fathers used to say to us as we were growing up...