Stories from Saturday, November 15, 1997

To the editor: In recent days we have heard discussions about "soft money," which usually means that someone is looking for favors or special treatment. Similarly, one can receive undue credit at times even when totally undeserved and unsolicited. I recall a time in Lima, Peru, when a woman who was of Japanese descent but a U.S. ...

The Christmas season tradition of sealing your letters and Christmas cards with a Christmas seal was begun by a young woman in 1907. Although perhaps long forgotten, or never known, Emily Bissell responded to the personal need of many patients at that time that were suffering from tuberculosis. ...

Phi Alpha Honor Society of Social Work Students has organized a week of activities to raise awareness of hunger and homeless issues in Cape Girardeau Nov. 16 through 22. The activities are part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, sponsored annually by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness and the National Coalition for the Homeless...

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson says it will take more than federal dollars to win the war on drug trafficking. "The fact of the matter is that the drug problem has to be fought from every level of society, from the federal government to state governments to local governments to our churches and our communities and our families," she said Friday...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Board of Aldermen meeting scheduled for Monday night has been rescheduled for Nov. 24. The meeting date was changed because it conflicts with the Jackson High School football team's state playoff game Monday at Parkway Central High School...

In its 21st year the Great American Smokeout, which will be held Thursday, is changing its focus as a one day event to the first day of a continuing process for quitting smoking. The annual event sponsored by the American Cancer Society is being observed by a number of other organizations in the area as well...

Since my last letter, I have spent several days traveling and exploring two sections of England which include part of the south and southwest as well as my own East Anglia. For a small island no bigger than Georgia, Great Britain encompasses a surprising variety of geographical regions. There are the soft, rolling hills of the south and west that flow into the flat, fertile plains of East Anglia fringed by long, broad beaches...

The hold-harmless provision of Missouri's 1992 Outstanding Schools Act has not lived up to its name for the Cape Girardeau School District. The district is one of several in the state that haven't appreciably benefited from the $310 million bonanza of the act...

Nine-foot-tall hair trees? Haircuts by blindfolded stylists? Twin girls woven together with 10 feet of hair? A fund raiser on tap tonight in Jackson is nothing less than novel. The Style Stop Impact salon is hosting "The Collection Theatre" at 7 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall...

To the editor: On behalf of the City of Roses Festival Committee and the Cape Girardeau Musicians Guild, we thank you so much for your support and encouragement during this year's festival events. An undertaking of this kind is only possible when everyone works together. Whether it's money, materials, manpower or musicians, the amount of work involved is mindboggling, and your willingness to help out made it so much easier for the rest of us...

Most of the nearly 400,000 deer hunters in Missouri will take to the woods today, the first day of the state's 11-day firearms deer season. Enforcing the laws that govern hunters will be the 170 conservation agents in the protection division of the Missouri Department of Conservation...

President Clinton continues to ignore federal campaign finance laws, U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond said Friday. The president is scheduled to attend a fund-raiser in St. Louis Monday for Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's Senate campaign. Nixon hopes to unseat Bond...

More than two dozen states have laws similar to a proposed Cape Girardeau ordinance that would prohibit minors from possessing tobacco products. The ordinance, which is being crafted and advanced by the city's Youth Advisory Council, would both stiffen penalties against tobacco sales to minors and make it illegal for minors to possess tobacco within the city limits...

The majestic "V" of Canada geese flying south is a trusted sign of autumn. Every September, somewhere in Southern Illinois, flocks of geese form their familiar "V" while hunting for a corn, sorghum or soybean field, a lake or farm pound, in the first migration from the north...

It doesn't really matter how many times you perform the ceremony or recite the passage if you don't know what it means. You never really think about faith until yours is questioned. I recently had a conversation with a friend about the doctrine of the African Methodist Episcopal church in which I was raised. My friend wanted to know what made the AME church different from other denominations and why I continued to be a member...

The Area Wide United Way has reached 70 percent of the 1997 campaign goal of $550,000, with employee campaigns conducted at Southwestern Bell Telephone, Sears, Venture, and Famous-Barr. The United Way has collected $385,099. Campaigns at Cape Girardeau public schools, Drury companies, St Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital have experienced significant increases in their efforts. ...

Southern Illinois University might have an unimpressive record, but the Salukis have certainly not played unimpressive football this season. And that fact has not been lost on Southeast Missouri State University coach John Mumford entering today's 1 p.m. game at Houck Stadium...

(Home games in CAPS) Dec. 8 TENNESSEE STATE 7 p.m. Jan. 19 at Tennessee-Martin 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at Tennessee Tech 7 p.m. Feb. 11 BELMONT 7 p.m. Feb. 16 TENNESSEE-MARTIN 7 p.m...

A memorial service for Ernest E. Miner of Cape Girardeau will be held at 3 p.m. today at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel. The Rev. John Gregory will officiate. Friends may call at the chapel from 1:30 p.m. until service time. Miner, 81, died Thursday, Nov. 13, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

SIKESTON -- Nedra Joan Benoist, 68, of Farmington died Wednesday, Nov. 12, 1997, at Camelot Nursing Center in Farmington. She was born Dec. 4, 1928, in Sikeston, daughter of Lion and Irene Erdman Schroff. Benoist had been a secretary for the New Mexico Education Department...

ADVANCE -- Funeral service for Georgia F. Long of Advance will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Morgan Funeral Chapel. Burial will be in Morgan Memorial Park. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4:30-8 p.m. today. Long, 83, died Thursday, Nov. 13, 1997, at her home...

PERRYVILLE -- Donald Joseph Hayden, 70, of Perryville died Thursday, Nov. 13, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 10, 1926, at Brewer, son of Lon L. and Lunette Brewer Hayden. He and Jo Ann Lurk were married July 21, 1956...

PERRYVILLE -- John Joseph Lurk, 86, of Perryville died Thursday, Nov. 13, 1997, at Perry County Nursing Home. He was born Aug. 20, 1911, at Ste. Genevieve, son of Joseph and Bridget Kiefer Lurk. He and Edna Niswonger were married in November 1933. She died Oct. 11, 1965. He then married Oma M. Warren Sept. 30, 1966, in Perryville...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Geneva L. Bush, 73, of Kansas City, Kan., died Friday, Nov. 14, 1997, at Shawnee Mission Hospital, following a brief illness. She was formerly of East Prairie. Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie is in charge of arrangements.

Daughter to Troy Lynn and Julie Ann Petzoldt of Frohna, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, 1997. Name, Claire Christine. Weight, 7 pounds 7 ounces. First child. Mrs. Petzoldt is the former Julie Ponder, daughter of Norbert and Antonia Ponder of Apple Creek. She is a registered nurse at St. Francis Medical Center. Petzoldt is the son of Marvin and Aileen Petzoldt of Frohna. He is employed at East Perry Lumber Co...

PERRYVILLE -- Herbert Mac Nelson, 87, of Perryville died Friday, Nov. 14, 1997, at Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 10, 1910, at Cedar Fork, son of Mac A. and Eunice M. Hudson Nelson. Nelson was a 1928 graduate of Perryville High School. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy...