Stories from Monday, October 20, 1997

Closet Turn-A-Round opened recently at 1031 Broadway in Cape Girardeau. The business, owned by William Ramsey, buys and sells "affordable used clothing," for men, women and youngsters. Lynn Beard, of Cape Girardeau, is manager of the new business. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m...

Ford Motor Co. has reported that its third-quarter earnings climbed 64 percent from a year ago as strong car and truck sales in the United States helped it beat Wall Street expectations. The nation's second biggest automaker earned $1.12 billion, or 93 cents a share, in the July-September period, up from $686 million, or 57 cents a share, a year ago. Sales for the quarter were $36.1 billion, compared with $34 billion a year ago...

Commerce Bancshares Inc. announced record earnings of $34.2 million for the third quarter, ending Sept. 30, an increase of 11 percent over the same period in 1995. Per-share earnings were 91 cents, up 12 percent from the 81 cents of last year. The return on assets for the quarter was 1.39 percent, and the return on equity was of 14.6 percent...

Ralph Sharp used a plucker to cut a hole in the cigar wrapper so the cigar will draw when it is smoked. Demi Moore, one of the most glamorous and highest paid actresses in the movie industry, says she likes the flavor and taste and enjoys the smell of cigars...

Bruce's Hickory Smoke Barbecue has opened at 1027 Broadway in Cape Girardeau. The new restaurant, which specializes in takeout orders, is open from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. "Although we specialize in carry-out orders, we do have six tables here," said Pam Burger, one of the owners...

A Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce (SACC) promotional item has earned statewide recognition for the second year in a row. The SACC's 56-page color brochure, designed to package and highlight the Sikeston-Miner area's assets, received the 1997 Marketing award presented by the Missouri Economic Development Council during the recent MEDC Conference at Columbia...

Chaffee Medical Arts will open this month. Dr. Stephen P. Whistler, a Perryville native, and a general practitioner, will open the new clinic at 401 N. Main Street in Chaffee. Appointments are currently being accepted for the clinic. Whistler, who has been in the medical field since 1967, is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University and University of Missouri-Columbia Medical School...

Want some mind-boggling figures? Look at what's happening on the United States gambling scene. Casino gambling annually attracts more than 125 million visitors to tables and slots in the U.S. About 15 million of those visitors boarded gambling riverboats in Illinois in 1995, and again in 1996...

Kirt Cochran of Cape Girardeau, has joined Missouri Farm Bureau Federation & Affiliated Companies as an agent in Cape Girardeau County. Cochran has completed a two-week training session on life, accident/health and property and casualty insurance. Cochran works out of the local Farm Bureau office at 406 W. Washington in Jackson...

UARCO Inc. is closing its Kennett plant. UARCO, headquartered at Barrington, Ill., a manufacturer of stock paper products, employed about 120 people. The Kennett factory will close in mid-December. UARCO, who cited economic reasons for the closure, opened the Kennett facility in 1980...

NationsBank reported a 26 percent increase in net income during the third quarter, to $788 million, or $1.11 per common share. Net income for the first nine months of 1997 rose to $2.26 billion, or $8.13 per common share, compared to net income of $1.74 billion and $2.91 per share during the first nine months of 1996...

The Entrepreneurial Agriculture in the North Delta conference will be held Nov. 13, at the Family Living Center at Dyer County Fairgrounds in Dyersburg, Tenn.. The conference is sponsored by the Delta Land and Community with cooperation from extensions services, USDA-Rural Development and USDA-NRCS from regions of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas...

Fastenal Co. sales were up during the third quarter of 1997. Net sales for the period were $105,551,000, compared to sales of $76,212,000 during the same period of 1996. Fastenal, a national distributor of threaded metal products and related construction supplies, reported quarter earnings of $11,224,000 up from the $8.7 million sales during the same period in 1996. Earnings per share increased from 23 cents to 30 cents...

Dr. C. John Ritter Dr. C. John Ritter admits there were days during his recent mission to Mozambique when he wondered just what he had gotten himself into. Ritter, who retired earlier this year from his Cape Girardeau medical practice, spent three months in the African nation as a Methodist volunteer-in-mission at Chicuque Rural Hospital on Mozambique's eastern coast...

The Woolly Worms are mostly brown this year -- that's good. The persimmon seeds carry spoon designs -- that's bad. So -- what is winter going to be like in Southeast Missouri? Only time will tell if the winter of 1997-98 is going to call for snow boots or sno cones...

Not only women were in attendance at the Heartland Women's Show held during the weekend at the Show Me Center. More than 7,000 men, women and children attended the two-day event sponsored by KFVS-12 TV and JCPenney Co. KFVS local sales manager Tim Roth said the event, which is in its sixth year, has grown every year...

If wedding bells ring in Cyberspace, is anyone there to hear them? Ready for another Internet weirdo story? A friend of mine ran off with some guy she met online two weeks before she was supposed to get married. There I was, naively helping plan a bridal shower, complete with all the lingerie jokes and dollar sandwiches, when I got a call from said friend's sister...

It is becoming increasingly clear that Missouri's first-ever 15-year plan for highway improvements needed some kind of administrative oversight to keep is from becoming the mess it has turned into. Missouri State Auditor Margaret Kelly's office recently found a lot of problems with how the Missouri Department of Transportation managed the plan...

The State Office of Administration estimates that the 15-year highway plan is headed for a $14 billion shortfall over its life span. But rather than recommend that the transportation department get a handle on the plan, a governor's commission suggests more taxes to help bail it out...

To the editor: This letter is in response to the question of pressing charges against the owner of the downtown store that was recently robbed. It is disturbing to note the displeasing attitude toward law-abiding citizens that our country has adopted...

To the editor: Many of us remember the dedication of the bridge over the Mississippi River to East Cape Girardeau. It was quite an event, and it seemed a pleasure to walk across the bridge to get to Illinois. The old ferry became obsolete. Today, we are looking forward to the new bridge under construction...

To the editor: I am writing to urge your opposition to HR1964 (the Communications Privacy and Consumer Empowerment Act), which would ban radio scanners capable of reception of the commercial mobile radio services, and to HR2369 (the Wireless Privacy Enhancement Act), an even more repressive bill...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked Franklin Elementary School children, "What costume are you going to wear on Halloween?" Hannah Seesing, Franklin School "Esmerelda. The girl in Hunchback of Notre Dame." Kaylee Little, "A princess. Because she has brown hair."...

7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20 City Hall Public hearings -- Hearing to consider the request for a special use permit for Jackson Senior Garden Apartments at Lot No. 6, of Green Meadows Fourth Subdivision, under the provision of Section 29-21 (Community Unit Plan), as submitted by Mr. Chad Hartle...

PERRYVILLE -- Hubert V. Richardet Sr., 71, of Perryville died Friday, Oct. 17, 1997, at his home. He was born June 22, 1926, in Perry County, son of William J. and Rosa Stortz Richardet. He married Rita Winschel Sept. 9, 1950, at Perryville. She survives...

PERRYVILLE -- Aubrey L. 'Pete' Denton, 87, of Perryville died Saturday, Oct. 18, 1997, at Gracemont Care Center in Perryville. He was born March 5, 1910, at Poplar Bluff. He and Muriel E. Denton were married. She died in 1984. He is survived by a number of nephews and nieces...

NEW HAMBURG -- Cyril Earl "Bill" Brucker, 78, of New Hamburg, died Saturday, Oct. 18, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 17, 1919, in Oran, the son of Michael and Emma Scheeter Brucker. On Aug. 8, 1950, he married Florence Kluesner in Chaffee...

Anna L. Brink, 91, of Canton, Minn., died Saturday, Oct. 18, 1997, at the Green Lea Manor Nursing Home in Mabel, Minn. She was born Dec. 16, 1905, in Lanesboro, Minn., the daughter of Thomas and Ingeborg (Lee) Thompson. On Nov. 3, 1935, she married Frank Brink in Preston, Minn. He preceded her in death on Dec. 3, 1969...

Helen Goll Hutson, of Cape Girardeau, died Saturday, Oct. 18, 1997, at her home. She was 86 years old. She was born May 6, 1911, in Lutesville, the daughter of Dr. Charles and Estella Goll Farrar. On Aug. 22, 1934, she married Glenn Hutson in Cape Girardeau. He preceded her in death June 18, 1994...

MURPHYSBORO, Ky. -- Claudia Elnora Bodkin, of Jackson County died Saturday, Oct. 18, 1997, at Jackson County Nursing Home in Murphysboro. She was 94 years old. She was born Dec. 8, 1902, in Trennon, Tenn., the daughter of Dick and Effie Goodman McKnight. She married Robert Bodkin on Dec. 5, 1919, in Fruitland, Tenn. He preceded her in death Jan. 24, 1969...

JACKSON -- Roy E. McIntyre of Jackson died at his home Sunday, Oct. 19, 1997. He was 73 years old. He was born Aug. 8, 1924, at Cape Girardeau, the son of Jessie and Lora Crites McIntyre. On Oct. 3, 1942, he married Dorothy James. She survives. He worked in the paint department for General Motors in St. Louis for 30 years before retiring in 1983. He was a member of the UAW Local No. 25 of St. Louis. He moved to Oak Ridge in 1979 and to Jackson in 1983, and he was of the Baptist faith...

ANNA, Ill. -- Roberta Cerny Wiggs, of Lick Creek, died Saturday, Oct. 18, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was 78 years old. She was born Nov. 13, 1918, at Anna, the daughter of Sylvester and Lona Clutts Cerny. She married Claude Wiggs on Dec. 12, 1934, at Jonesboro. He preceded her in death on Oct. 8, 1989...