Stories from Thursday, January 15, 1998

To the editor: Thank you so much for the Y.E.L.L. grant given us for use in our classroom. We really appreciate the work you do for us in helping us to become better students for tomorrow. Our class ordered a set of chapter books to be used in the classroom along with the study guide and worksheets. It will take us into another world. God bless you and the work you continue to do for the schools in this area...

Cape Girardeau's Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend approval of a special use permit for a dog grooming business on William Street Wednesday night. The applicants, Susan and Stephen Engelmann and Laurie Swain, had originally sought to rezone the property at 1608 William from R-2 single family residential to C-2 general commercial...

"Each time he would hit a note, it was just like there was not going to be another one -- so I'll take care of this here, and milk this one as long as I can. So each time he touched that (note) it was like touching a lady, you know; this is it!." -- Blues legend B.B. King on the playing of guitar legend Django Reinhardt...

Jo Ann Ruess had just decided to add theater classes to the curriculum at her Academy of DanceArts. Jennifer Birk, back in Southeast Missouri after three years of performing in the MUNY's 1st Stage children's theater in St. Louis, phoned looking for work...

Planning efforts so far by the Missouri Department of Transportation to find the best way to route traffic from the Highway 34-72 junction west of Jackson into the Cape Girardeau area have shown a definite willingness to listen to new ideas. As a result, efforts by the Chamber of Commerce and Cape Girardeau's Planning and Zoning Commission have paid off. ...

Last week, Cape Girardeau's sheriff and presiding commissioner were on the stump promoting the new jail that is in the works. Speaking at the Jackson Rotary Club, the two officials reviewed both the need for the new facility and the financing for it...

To the editor: I am writing to urge you to help promote a national motor vehicle inspection law similar to the one Missouri has. My family and I have only been residents of Missouri for 11 months. In that time, we have had both our vehicles inspected twice. Each time certain faults were found...

To the editor: I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kim McDowell and the Y.E.L.L. committee for awarding a Y.E.L.L. grant to the Cape Girardeau Public Library. The grant money will be used to entice our teen-age readers to participate in the Summer Reading Club...

To the editor: Regarding the Alabama court case that barred religious activity from public schools: One of the points of that decision involved an assistant principal saying the Gideons passing out Bibles on a high school campus and allowing a coach to pray before football games were coercive and violated an individual's right to freely choose his own religion. The Alabama Supreme Court agreed that these acts were coercive, and it barred those actions by the school...

To the editor: Someone contacted Speak Out to voice agreement with a letter of mine which was published in this space Jan. 2. This region being the way it is, I thank the person for what will no doubt turn out to be a rare instance of approval of my probably unpopular opinion. ...

"Shake, Rattle and Roll," the song that made Bill Haley and the Comets famous, sounds like "haba haba haba haba" in Norwegian. But the melody and the "Oh yeah" part are very familiar. Accompanying himself on guitar, Norwegian band-music composer Geir Knutson played "Shake, Rattle and Roll" along with a Land of the Midnight Sun version of "Home on the Range" Wednesday afternoon at Jefferson Elementary School...

Frank Kellum doesn't view the U.S. Taxpayers Party of Missouri as a third party, but rather a new one. For Kellum, a retired Air Force colonel from St. Louis, the distinction isn't just semantics. Kellum is state coordinator for the fledgling party. He believes the party can be a factor in elections...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Roland Burris Wednesday expressed confidence that he would win the Democratic nomination in the March 17 primary election. Burris, who announced his candidacy in August, is one of four major Democratic candidates in Illinois. Another is U.S. Rep. Glen Poshard...

His license plate read "BBQ WOW," a slogan that captured Charles E. Knote's enthusiasm not just for barbecue but for life. Knote, 76, died Wednesday, Jan. 14, 1998. He was founder of Cape-Kil Pest Control and active in the community. Friends may call Friday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Chapel. Memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church with the pastor, the Rev. Brendan Dempsey, officiating...

Jan. 15, 1998 Dear Jay, Our new year has begun with a broken dishwasher, an ailing pickup truck and a furnace that turns itself off in the middle of these frigid nights. As my mom always says, "If it's not one thing it's something else." My vision of domestic bliss is a month in which all the gifts of the technological age actually work as designed. ...

It was great to get a big road win at Tennessee State on Tuesday night. We had a total team effort and it paid off with the 60-59 victory. Kahn Cotton had his most complete game of the season at Tennessee State. He ran the break, kept us in our offense and had eight rebounds. It was his best game of the year and played a key role in our victory...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee State gained a huge measure of revenge Wednesday night with a 73-39 victory over the Southeast Otahkians. Southeast beat Tennessee State earlier this season at home, but the Otahkians scored just 13 points in the second half of the blowout...

Kris Buchheister is a confident coach as she prepares to enter her first season in charge of Southeast Missouri State University's perennially strong women's gymnastics program. The Otahkians had an impressive run of success under Bill Hopkins, who resigned in June after coaching the program for 18 seasons. Southeast went 388-171-1 under Hopkins, including six Division I regional appearances...

Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach Gary Garner preaches that he wants the Indians to take things one game at a time. That being said, Garner did enter this critical week for his Indians with a definite overall goal in mind. The plan: win at least two out of three games this week, with all the contests being played on the road...

CHAFFEE -- Fourth-seed Delta scored on a last-second shot by Amanda McDaniel to rally past top-seeded Scott City 40-39 in the Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament semifinals Friday night. Delta (11-2) plays for the tourney championship tonight at 8 against second-seed Kelly (10-3). The Lady Hawks beat No. 3 Scott County Central 71-53 earlier in the evening...

Jason Owen School: Cape Central Class: Junior Sport: Swimming Coach: Dayna Powell Week report: Owen remained undefeated in individual competition with two outstanding meets last week. Tuesday in a 98-88 loss at Fort Zumwalt South, Owen won the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.13) and 100 backstroke (59.66). ...

Daughter to Kermit Wayne Hughey and Heather Jean Bernhardt of Hiram, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 6:59 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, 1998. Name, Dakota Rose. Weight, 5 pounds 4 ounces. Second daughter. Ms. Bernhardt is the daughter of Don and Melba Bernhardt of Cape Girardeau. She is employed at Broadway Burger King in Cape Girardeau. Hughey is the son of Roger Smith of Hiram and Jim and Sherry Hester of Cape Girardeau. He is employed at Green's Enterprises Sawmill in Hiram...

Funeral Mass for Melvin Sylvester Moore of Jonesboro, Ark., was held Monday at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Jonesboro. Burial was in Holy Cross Cemetery. Moore, 73, died Friday, Jan. 9, 1998, at St. Bernard Hospital in Jonesboro. He was born July 10, 1924, at Fredericktown, son of William Henry and Mauda E. Jansen Moore. He and Bettye Jane Kalkbrenner were married Jan. 20, 1945...

MARBLE HILL -- Allen Holloway, 38, of Marble Hill died Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1998, at his home. He was born June 14, 1959, at Cape Girardeau, son of Harold and Juanita Crader Holloway. Holloway was a 1978 graduate of Woodland High School. He than began working as a mechanic at the former Compass-Strack Equipment (now Crown Equipment Co.) in Jackson. He was a member of Harmony Congregational Methodist Church...

CHAFFEE -- Carl E. James, 82, of Chaffee died Wednesday, Jan. 14, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 15, 1915, in Bollinger County, son of Lorance and Elizabeth Eaker James. He and Elsie C. Moore were married July 1, 1939...

ULLIN, Ill. -- Olga Irene Hopper, 89, of Ullin died Wednesday, Jan. 14, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 28, 1908, at Pulaski, daughter of Edward and Essie Curry Rives. She married Ernest "Nip" Hopper, who preceded her in death...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Kathleen W. Willis, 76, of East Prairie died Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1998, at East Prairie Nursing Center, following an extended illness. She was born June 2, 1921, at Lilbourn, daughter of Perry and Donie Myers Ward. She and Floyd B. Willis were married July 5, 1941. He died March 8, 1979...

ANNA, Ill. -- Robert T. "Tom" Coleman, 51, of Belleville died suddenly Monday, Jan. 12, 1998, in Washington, D.C. He was an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. Coleman was born Oct. 3, 1946, in Carbondale, son of Robert A. and Mary Hinkle Coleman. He attended school in Anna, received a bachelor of science degree from the University of Alabama in 1968, and received a juris doctorate from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1971...

Funeral service for Imogene D. Moore, 250 Barberry, will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Donnie Ford will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Friends may call at the chapel from 3-8 p.m. today. Moore, 83, died Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center...

Benny Lee Wise, 56, of Deer Lodge, Mont., died Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1998, in Deer Lodge. He was born Aug. 24, 1941, in Cape Girardeau, son of Lee Bell and Cora Alice Johnson Wise. He and Julia A. Stokes were married Sept. 5, 1970, in Cape Girardeau. Wise formerly worked on the railroad. He was supervisor of Watco Inc., Montana Division...

Anne Ophelia Merkler, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1998, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Jan. 18, 1918, at East Prairie, daughter of Elgin C. and Henrietta Grissom Davis. She and Frank C. Merkler were married Dec. 27, 1941, in Charleston. He died in August 1979...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Bertha Manriquez, 55, of East Prairie died Wednesday, Jan. 14, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. McMikle Funeral Home at Charleston is in charge of arrangements.

DEXTER -- Two people suffered serious injuries Wednesday when two vehicles crashed at the intersection of Highways 60 and 153 about eight miles east of Dexter. Justin McKinnie, 15, of Essex and Brenda Boon, 57, of Dexter were taken to Dexter Memorial Hospital after the 3:26 p.m. accident...

PERRYVILLE -- Wilma J. Richardson, 84, of Perryville died Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1998, at Perry Oaks Healthcare Center. She was born April 13, 1913, at McBride, daughter of Martin Van Buren and Nellie Corinne Pratte Williams. She and Noel Edward Richardson were married in 1936. He died in September 1973...