Stories from Friday, August 29, 1997

To the editor: The Missouri General Assembly will reconvene for the purpose of casting its final vote on Senate Bill 275. This is the bill that passed in both the House and Senate banning partial-birth abortion. Overriding the governor's veto will require a two-thirds majority. ...

Anyone born before or during the baby-boom generation is aware of the tsunami effect on schools: Elementary classrooms swelled in the early 1950s, followed by overflowing high schools and overcrowded colleges and universities. Then there was a dramatic drop in students, resulting in empty classrooms, abandoned schools and struggling college enrollments...

In the wake of a recent hearing in Cape Girardeau by the Joint Interim Committee on Desegregation, there certainly is no clear vision of the future of school funding in St. Louis and Kansas City when court-ordered state payments for desegregation programs come to an end...

I'M CALLING in response to divorced fathers and their rights as being a parent. I think it's a travesty of justice that a person's ability as a parent should be judged solely in his or her gender, and I find that to be truly evident in our present justice system. ...

It was like Christmas, only bigger. During the 16-day United Parcel Service strike, the U.S. Postal Service delivered more than 9 billion pieces of mail. The day the strike hit, the nation's post offices suddenly found more than 1 million pounds of mail in the system. That's more than at Christmas, postal officials report...

Taxpayers in the Cape Girardeau School District will pay $3.38 per $100 assessed valuation for school taxes this year. The Board of Education set the rate at a special meeting Thursday. The tax rate reflects increases from two measures voters approved in April and is a 50-cent increase from the tax levied last year...

New outreach services that include transportation and ex parte assistance will help the Safe House for Women's domestic-violence shelter assist more Scott County victims of family violence. Scott County is the second-largest client base for the Safe House in Cape Girardeau. ...

Cape Girardeau County is among a number of counties in Missouri that decided not to make the names of sex offenders public Thursday. Other area counties opting not to release the records include Bollinger and Perry. Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle instructed the sheriff not to release the names of offenders. ...

OK, so it's just a dream brought on by digestive juices while munching lunch on the immaculate courthouse lawn. There is a calmness, on a humid summer day, that lingers over the tidy green space occupied by the Common Pleas Courthouse on the hill overlooking downtown Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau's program to repair sidewalks and curbs will take a break soon. Its $139,000 contract with Kelley Construction has been almost fulfilled. Workers will finish up the contract by repairing the sidewalks on Lorimier, Spanish, Fountain and Themis streets close to downtown. After that is done, the city will study what to do next, said Brian Strickland of the city's engineering division...

After a smooth start Wednesday, Cape Girardeau schools generated a little confusion Thursday by dismissing classes early because of the heat. Classes could be dismissed early again today, depending on temperatures. The decision will be made at midmorning...

Even though it's a week early, high school football fields all over Missouri will be lit up tonight with exciting gridiron action. Prep teams will be decked out in their game uniforms for battle against other opponents, but the games won't count against their 1997 records...

Brett Detering, Anna-Jonesboro High's first-year head football coach, says his players certainly don't carry the look of a program that has been struggling for nearly a decade. The Wildcats, who earned an Illinois state championship in the mid-1980s, have gone just 10-53 over the past seven years, including consecutive 1-8 seasons...

Ron Woods, Cairo High's eternally optimistic football coach, says this just might be the season that the Pilots finally get over the hump with a winning record. The Pilots have struggled mightily in recent years, going a combined 14-47 since 1990. But they had one of their most successful seasons in some time last year with a 4-5 record, including a 3-4 mark in the Black Diamond Conference...

Unless a last-minute hitch develops, the city of Cape Girardeau is poised to pay $150,000 for the former Boatmen's bank at Broadway and Main. Final approval could come as early as Tuesday's City Council meeting, said David Hodge, senior vice president and Southeast Missouri/Illinois regional executive for NationsBank, the property's owner...

BENTON -- Funeral service for Wayne Diamond of Benton will be held at 1 p.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Benton, with the Rev. Dale Huff officiating. Burial will be in Unity Baptist Cemetery. Diamond, 82, died Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1997, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston...

KARNAK, Ill. -- Nina Davis, 57, of Karnak died Wednesday, Aug. 27, 1997, at Massac Memorial Hospital in Metropolis. She was born April 5, 1940, in Karnak, daughter of John and Stella Sexton Vanmeter. Davis was a member of Karnak United Methodist Church, Karnak Civic Club, and was active in the American Arthritis Foundation. She was a veteran of the U.S. Army...

James William Lawrence, 82, 1872 Marietta, died Thursday, Aug. 28, 1997, at his home. He was born July 24, 1915, in Cape Girardeau, son of Alfred and Mary McCartney Lawrence. He and Gladys Kielhofner were married July 13, 1946, at Chaffee. Lawrence worked at Florsheim Shoe Co. 25 years, and was a clerk with U.S. Postal Service 23 years, retiring in 1980...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Esther Vancil Largent of Sikeston will be held at 10 a.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Fred Leist will officiate, with burial in Stanfield Cemetery at Clarkton. Largent, 81, died Wednesday, Aug. 27, 1997, at the General Baptist Nursing Center in Campbell...

SCOTT CITY -- Lydia Bertha Miller, 95, of Scott City died Thursday, Aug. 28, 1997, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 19, 1901, at Kelso, daughter of Adolph and Whilimena Peetz Sprenger. She first married Karl W. Eifert Oct. 8, 1922. He died May 9, 1943. She later married Jesse Miller Sept. 6, 1953. He died March 1, 1977...

Joseph LeRoy "Joe" Bertling, 66, of Mooresville, N.C., died Wednesday, Aug. 27, 1997, at Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville. He was born April 21, 1931, in Cape Girardeau, son of Walter and Arnetta Oberbeck Bertling. He and Carmen Quamme were married Sept. 1, 1956...

Son to Van and Jodee Mitchell of Jefferson City, St. Mary's Hospital there, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 1997. Name, Mason Leon. Weight, 3 pounds 12 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Mitchell is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Givens of Jackson. Mitchell is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Merlin Mitchell of Springfield. He is youth pastor at First Assembly of God Church in Jefferson City...

The Alumni Association of Southeast Missouri State University has selected five alumni and a Southeast professor to receive the university's annual alumni and faculty merit awards. The six will be honored during the annual merit award dinner at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10, in the Show Me Center...

Winners have been announced in the fifth annual Cape BBQ Fest, held Aug. 22 and 23 in Arena Park. The barbecue competition was sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Committee, and 29 teams competed. A panel of judges scored the meats in the areas of appearance; taste, aftertaste and doneness; and tenderness, juiciness and texture. They will look for lean meat with an emphasis on low fat...

While Labor Day is the holiday on most people's mind this week, Bruce Watkins, superintendent of Cape County Park, says things are looking a lot like Christmas. He is compiling a waiting list for people and organizations who want to participate in the annual Holiday of Lights display at the park. This year, the park will reach its maximum number of displays, 150...