Stories from Friday, September 19, 1997

There is no doubt that the relocation of a portion of Route J in northern Cape Girardeau County to accommodate a major expansion of the Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co. plant was an inconvenience for some nearby residents. But the good news is that this project was coordinated by the Missouri Department of Transportation so that it was started and completed in just over a month. ...

For all the criticism, some government officials are able to think creatively about problems and come up with smart decisions. This was the case when the Missouri Department of Transportation agreed to lend money to Illinois for that state's share of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge across the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau...

I THINK the hazing issue has gotten out of hand. Verbal abuse shouldn't be a form of hazing. Physical abuse, yes, but verbal abuse, no. Like the recent caller stated, the young man should have joined the Marine Corps. I do not condone foul language, but what do you expect out of a bunch of fraternity guys? And the university did not take his side on it. They are following hazing guidelines that are enforced by the government...

CHAFFEE -- The price was right for Michelle Whistler of Chaffee, but so far the product has been slow in arriving. Michelle said she is a lucky person after winning a 1997 Mercury Tracer on The Price is Right game show in June. Michelle, 27, and her sister, Ann Whistler, got together Thursday to watch the show for the first time since their return...

JACKSON -- A fund-raising effort to benefit the family of victims in a seven-car crash last week near Gordonville is being coordinated by Country Mart in Jackson. Three members of Stan Roth's family were injured in the crash. One-year-old Whittney Roth died Wednesday at Children's Hospital in St. Louis while her mother, Ruth Roth, is being treated for major leg injuries at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau...

ALTENBURG -- The board governing the "Best Little Fair in the Land" has taken steps to make sure traffic is under control this year when the East Perry County Fair gets in full swing today and Saturday. The traffic jams in Altenburg for the East Perry County Fair last year resulted in cars sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic Saturday afternoon in what may have been the biggest traffic jam ever in that little town...

Over the first two weeks of the high school football season, the Cape Girardeau Central Tigers have used their team speed to race past their opponents for easy wins. The Tigers won't be able to do that tonight when they face the equally quick Blytheville (Ark.) Chickasaws on the road. Central enters undefeated with a 2-0 record. Blytheville is 1-1 after a 26-7 win last week against Poplar Bluff...

JACKSON -- Southeast Missouri Crime Stoppers has caught on in a big way. When the group approved a $250 payout Thursday night at its monthly meeting at Jackson City Hall, total reward expenditures since June were raised to $1,400 since. And, if the organization can locate another person, it may give out more reward money this month...

Five members of the Joint Committee on Corrections have reminded Gov. Mel Carnahan that the proposed state prison site at Charleston was the top choice of the committee. The reminder came in a letter to the governor Wednesday. The letter stated that the Charleston site was the top choice at a meeting of the 12-member committee earlier this summer...

Cape Girardeau will be on television in Senica, Slovakia. Three television journalists from that town are spending four days here to learn about the way people participate in the running of the city. They are incorporating what they learn into a documentary...

It takes a get-together every half-century or so to undesscore the plain truth that good values are still alive and well. Right off, let me say that I made a big mistake in telling you in previous columns that last Saturday's reunion at Shady Nook School was the first-ever such get-together...

Southeast Missouri State University's volleyball team was admittedly not nearly at its best Thursday night. But it takes a lot more than a sub-par night by the Otahkians for another Ohio Valley Conference team to knock them off. Playing at home for the first time this season -- and also playing their first OVC match -- the Otahkians continued their domination of league foes by beating Middle Tennessee State 15-2, 15-12, 15-13 in front of 575 fans at Houck Field House...

Improvement is showing everywhere but on the scoreboard for the Chaffee Red Devils football team. Last week at Gosnell, Ark., the Red Devils rolled up 469 yards of total offense, but had five turnovers in a 38-18 loss. It was Chaffee's 20th loss in a row...

JACKSON -- Some of the state's elite high school girls softball teams will gather at the Jackson City Park for Saturday's annual Jackson Invitational. The tournament will feature 16 teams, including all the area squads, a few from Illinois and many of the best from other parts of the state, including St. Louis...

FARMINGTON -- Six was the number for Notre Dame's soccer team Thursday. Six players scored as the Bulldogs beat Farmington 6-1 and improved to 6-1-1 on the season. Tommy Wencewicz, Ryan Fenwick, Jason Garner, Mark Behrle, Zach Miller and Cory Elfrink each scored...

BERNIE -- Pearl Lee Drews, 69, of Bernie, died Thursday, Sept. 18, 1997, in Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. She was born Dec. 21, 1927, the daughter of Joseph Oiler and Dell Sweet Ogelvie in Bernie. On Dec. 8, 1948, she married Robert E. Drews in Pigott, Ark., and he died Jan. 9, 1989...

PERRYVILLE -- Funeral Mass for Myrtle M. Heberlie will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Vincent's Catholic Church. The Rev. Kevin Fausz will officiate, with burial in Mt. Hope Cemetery. Friends may call at Miller Family Funeral Home from 5-9 p.m. today, and Saturday from 6:30-9:50 a.m. The parish wake will be at 7 tonight, and the rosary will be recited at 9 a.m. Saturday...

MATTHEWS -- Meta Faye Powell, 58, Matthews Route 1, died Thursday, Sept. 18, 1997, at Sells Rest Home. She was born Oct. 6, 1938, at Matthews, daughter of Omer and Elsie Rushing Sutton. Survivors include a son, John Powell of Matthews; her parents of Matthews; two brothers, Joe Sutton of Matthews, Greg Sutton of Sikeston; a sister, Judy Hannan of Trezevant, Tenn.; and a grandchild...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Alfred Herbert McCutchen, Sikeston Route 2, will be held at 1 p.m. today at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston. The Rev. Greg Dickerman, a nephew, will officiate. Burial will be in Dogwood Cemetery near East Prairie. McCutchen, 75, died Wednesday, Sept. 17, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...

PERRYVILLE -- Myrtle A. Davis, 86, of Perryville died Wednesday, Sept. 17, 1997, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born Sept. 7, 1911, in Perry County, daughter of Ira and Anna Brewer Heinbokel. She and Ray M. Davis were married Sept. 25, 1933. Survivors include her husband; two sons, Jerry Davis of Perryville, Jimmie Davis of Boca Raton, Fla.; a sister, Irene Duvall of Perryville; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren...

A Texas man is dead and two of his friends in intensive care after the car they were riding in collided with a tractor-trailer on Interstate 55 near Sikeston. According to Missouri Highway Patrol officials, James F. Fox, 27, of Rockport, N.Y., was heading north on Interstate 55 at 5:15 a.m. when he failed to make the exit turn for Interstate 57, pulled onto the shoulder and started backing up. The truck jackknifed and blocked both northbound lanes...

CHAFFEE -- Claude E. Sullinger, 87, of Chaffee, died Thursday, Sept. 18, 1997, at his home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete with Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee.

MALDEN -- Funeral service for Bessie Mae Whitehorn of Malden will be held at 2 p.m. today at Bradshaw Chapel in Malden. The Rev. Gene Lancaster will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park at Malden. Whitehorn, 88, died Tuesday, Sept. 16, 1997, at Lucy Lee Healthcare System in Poplar Bluff...

PERRYVILLE -- John D. Besand, 46, of Perryville died Wednesday, Sept. 17, 1997, at his home. He was born Dec. 22, 1950, at Perryville, son of Wilbert S. and Irene M. Unterreiner Besand. He and Patricia Galeski were married June 30, 1973. Besand was a 1969 graduate of St. Vincent's High School, and 1988 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University...

CHARLESTON -- Marie Gillespie, 73, of Charleston died Tuesday, Sept. 16, 1997, at the home of a daughter in Milwaukee, Wis. She was born in October 1923, daughter of J.R. and Fannie Gillespie. Gillespie was a member of Mercy Seat Baptist Church. Survivors include four sons, David Thompson of Milwaukee, Charles and Lester Gillespie of Charleston, Terry Gillespie of Sikeston; four daughters, Bobby Thompson, Marie Gulley and Earnestine Gillespie of Milwaukee, Peggy West of Calumet Park, Ill.; a brother, Clem Gillespie of Plainview, Texas; a sister, Gladys Clark of East St. ...

Funeral service for Whittany Mae Roth of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Hanover Lutheran Church, with the Rev. Jeff Sippy officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson from 4-8 p.m. today, and Saturday at the church from 9 a.m. to service time...

Daughter to Donald Jay and Vickie Lea Seyer of Oak Ridge, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 10:23 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 11, 1997. Name, Candice Jade. Weight, 6 pounds 9 ounces. Fourth child, third daughter. Mrs. Seyer is the former Vickie Ahrens, daughter of George and Lavern Ahrens of Oak Ridge. Mr. and Mrs. Seyer are employed at Havco Wood Products. He is the son of Charles and Wanda Seyer of Cape Girardeau...

SIKESTON -- Harbert Raymond Western, 69, of Sikeston died Wednesday, Sept. 17, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 8, 1927, in Katyville, Tenn., son of James David and Carrie Carlyle Western. He and Ruth E. Shaw were married Dec. 20, 1945, in Charleston...

LILBOURN -- Funeral service for Virginia Vanover Thompson of Lilbourn will be held at 1 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel in Sikeston. The Rev. Ronnie Collier will officiate, with burial in Garden of Memories Cemetery. Thompson, 78, died Wednesday, Sept. 17, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...

PERRYVILLE -- Regional sex offender specialist Melva Tucker said her job with the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole hasn't changed much since the state's version of Megan's Law went into effect Aug. 28. Tucker is one of only three regional sex offender specialists in the state. She supervises the treatment of individuals in Southeast Missouri and makes sure they are in an appropriate sexual offender treatment program as required by law...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Board of Education approved a change order Thursday night that clears the way for contractors to begin work on a bigger and better South Elementary School than was previously designed. The original design for the school included 18 elementary classrooms grades kindergarten through four, as well as a computer lab, oversized gymnasium, and special services room for gifted and special education classes. ...