Stories from Monday, January 19, 1998

Timothy J. Schwent has joined the certified public accounting firm of Schott and Van De Ven. Schwent, a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University with a degree in business administration, has been a certified public account since 1976. He has experience in industry as a chief financial officer, human resources manager and as vice president of administration...

"You have the winning number. ... It's down to a 2-person race for $11,000,000." That was enough to prompt me to open the envelope. Inside, the news got even better. "You and one other person in Missouri were issued the winning number, MT708658963. Whoever returns it first can win it all."...

A new pharmacy will open next month in the Healing Arts Center, 3250 Gordonville Road. The Healing Arts Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy, will honor all major insurance cards and will fill prescriptions from all area physicians. Jeff Smith will manage the pharmacy. Smith, a graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Pharmacy School, has been pharmacy manager at Kmart for 17 years. He is a member of the national, state and county pharmacist associations...

Computer Resource Group, a computer sales and service center, has moved to Jackson. The company, owned by Wade Smith and Mike Stause, has signed a lease with Maevers Management Co. of Jackson for facilities at 502-E W. Main St. The company, formerly at 2851 Independence in Cape Girardeau, was founded about a year ago and serves a number of school districts in the Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois area. The company also provides Internet access through an Internet access service...

Tally-Heisserer Chiropractic Clinic has opened at 2911 Beaver Creek Drive. Anne Heisserer, a graduate of Logan College of Chiropractic at Chesterfield, is owner of the new clinic. She worked at a chiropractic clinic in Nashville, Tenn., prior to returning to Cape Girardeau...

Glik Stores has expanded into Michigan. Glik Stores, headquartered in Granite City, Ill., has acquired six retail stores from Dancer. Two of the Dancer stores -- at Rockford and Fremont, Mich. -- will open as Glik's stores in early March. Three more stores -- at Allegan, Whitehall and Ionia -- will open as Glik Stores in April...

The Audiology Center of Southeast Missouri will open this week at Lorimont Place, between West Park Mall and Doctors' Park. The new audiology practice was formed recently by Steve Brown and Cathy Willen, who were formerly associated with Dr. Richard Martin...

CHAFFEE -- Mean Gene's Hamburger was introduced at Rhodes 101 at Chaffee last weekend. The hamburger restaurant -- a franchise division of Orion Food Systems -- opened Saturday inside the station/convenience operation. Appearing at the grand opening celebration was Gene Okerlund, a professional wrestling announcer...

MALDEN -- National Discount Floral Supply has opened in the Malden Industrial Base. The company, which offers balloons, stuffed animals and other basic floral supplies, is owned by Aerial Bouquet of Piggott, Ark., and employs 20 workers. Cord Suftin is owner of the business, and Roger Stokes is manager of the Malden facility...

JACKSON -- Tinnin & Terry Designs, a business that does machine quilting and personalized sewing such as appliques, monograms and lettering, has opened at Jackson. The buisness, owned by Donna Terry and her mother, Annalee Tinnin, offers personalization of jackets, sweatshirts, quilts and other items...

Missouri's November construction activity was down more than 30 percent from November 1996. November totals were at $298,378,000, compared to the $458,175,000 during November 1996, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market. Dodge, which issues monthly totals in its Dodge Report, also publishes Sweet's Catalog Files...

The Advertising and Marketing Professionals of Southeast Missouri will hold a special preview party to display 1997 "Addy" award entries from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the University Center Main Ballroom on the Southeast Missouri State University campus...

Despite a strong economy and rising financial markets, 23 insurance companies were taken over by state regulators last year, according to statistics compiled by Weiss Ratings Inc., a provider of ratings and analyses on the insurance industry. In all, insurance company failures were up 200 percent from 1996 when only eight companies failed...

A new Drury Inn & Suites Hotel has opened in Charlotte, N.C. The new, 143-room hotel is the first Drury Inns Inc. development in the Charlotte area. The new business provides 20 to 25 jobs to the area. Joel Vickery is general manager of the hotel. Vickery was previously assistant manager of the Drury Suites Hotel in Cape Girardeau and has been member of Drury Inns Inc. management team for two years...

The Pulaski-Alexander Soil and Water Conservation District will hold its 50th annual meeting Jan. 29, at Shawnee Community College near Ullin, Ill., starting at 6 p.m. Two awards will be presented -- to Eichhorst Farm, which was selected as Conservation Farm Family, and Jerry Willingham, selected for the GoodYear Award...

Publishers Associated to Gain Economy (PAGE) Co-Op now includes newspaper in all 50 states, with the recent addition of the Miami News-Record in Miami, Okla. The Southeast Missourian is a part of this national purchasing cooperative. The PAGE milestones reached in December included the 300th daily newspaper and the 500th PAGE member...

The Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission's January meeting was held at the Malden Industrial Park last week. Reports were presented by a number of committees and groups, including the executive director's report by Leon Steinbrueck...

I had just started school when Charles Lazarus decided his father's bicycle-repair shop needed to change. He went to his bank, borrowed $2,000 to go with the $2,000 he had saved, converted the shop to a children's furniture store and laid the foundation for the largest toy retailer in the world. Over a 10-year period, 1948 to 1958, he went from startup to three stores with the third being the pattern for Toys "R" Us...

Debbie Wills, right, cleaned a kitchen range as Janet Craig mopped the floor. Both work with Peerless Cleaning Service. Carol Coomer applied some elbow grease to the bathtub shower. It's a note most husbands are familiar with: -- Change sheets. -- Put dishes up...

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce is taking reservations for the chamber's annual meeting and dinner dance. The event, to be held at the Show Me Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus Jan. 30, will start with a social hour at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 and dancing at 9...

New Country Hearth Inn signs are appearing in three Southeast Missouri areas. Buckhead American Corp. has acquired Hatfield Inns LLC at Sikeston, Dexter and Caruthersville and are in the process of making the changeover to Country Hearth Inn. Buckhead acquired a total of eight Hatfield Inns. Five of the sites were in Kentucky -- Litchfield, Lebanon, Harrodsburg, Central City and Bowling Green...

The grades are in on the state of public education in the United States; Missouri and Illinois had little cause to celebrate. Quality Counts '98, an annual report issued by Education Week magazine and Pew Charitable Trusts, analyzed data from government and private sources, including policy-makers, business leaders and educators...

Poverty looks remarkably similar on paper in St. Louis City and Hayti school districts, but some officials say the difference is in the enrollment numbers. Hayti, which enrolled fewer than 1,000 students last year, is a rural district in Pemiscot County, one of the poorest counties in the state. The St. Louis City district consists of 108 different school buildings; the city was recognized in Education Week magazine this month as one of the 10 worst cities for child poverty in the nation...

Although she was given Cape Girardeau's Martin Luther King Jr. Award in 1994, retired schoolteacher Juanita Spicer is reluctant to compare herself or her work to the life and work of Dr. King. Spicer is one of only seven people given the award since it was established in 1992. Her understanding of the award is that it is given to a person whose life reflects some of the themes spoken of and lived by King...

CHAFFEE -- Polio gave James Stubbs the fight of his life. It also have him a lifetime of memories: Bathing in soothing 90-degree waters in Warm Springs, Ga. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 52nd birthday celebration, which included a giant, six-foot cake...

Premiums paid by Missouri residents enrolled in HMOs decreased by nearly 8 percent across the state in 1996, according to a report by the Missouri Department of Insurance. And Southeast Missouri had one of the lowest percentages in the state for HMO enrollees, according to the report...

My friend Tina has decided to become a blonde. Tina, like me, has very dark brown hair with a few gray strands blended in for good measure. Tina's gray can be attributed to her two kids. Mine, I think, is a pre-emptive strike. I'm just worrying in advance...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "Who do you think will win the Super Bowl?" Jessica Piepenbrock, Jackson "I think that Green Bay is going to win because they are a more dynamic team. They play together better than the Broncos. They won last year and they want it bad again this year."...

A Vietnam war hero from Dexter will become only the third Army Medal of Honor recipient to have a ship named after him. That is an extraordinary occurrence, one the surviving family of Lt. George Kenton Sisler can be proud of. The honor will be bestowed at a special ceremony next month when U.S. ...

Cape Girardeau County officials will offer the Missouri Conservation Commission a deal it can't afford to pass up when the commission meets here Jan. 22. Representatives of county government, the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association and Southeast Missouri State University will propose that a nature center be built in Cape Girardeau County's North County Park. There are good indications that the conservation commission will approve the plan...

To the editor: On Jan. 2 a letter of mine was published in this space. The thesis was that various governmental slogans and mottoes implying a general belief in religion were false, because many citizens do not hold such a belief. The Rev. Walter J. ...

To the editor: Will the Liberty Bell cease to let freedom ring? In the United States -- where democracy has been more than just a theory, where freedom has played such an important role in shaping the world around us -- before our very eyes we are watching our freedom being taken away. ...

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Otahkians will carry an added dose of confidence when they close out a stretch of three straight road games tonight at Tennessee-Martin. The tipoff for the Ohio Valley Conference contest is set for 7 p.m. at Skyhawk Arena in Martin, Tenn...

BLOOMFIELD -- Bell City is the No. 1 seed for the annual Stoddard County Conference boys basketball tournament that begins today at Bloomfield High School. The Cubs have a 10-5 record. Dexter is seeded second, with Woodland third, Bloomfield fourth, Puxico fifth, Richland sixth, Bernie seventh and Advance eighth...

SCOTT CITY -- Host Scott City is the top seed -- by virtue of a coin flip -- for the annual Scott-Mississippi Conference boys basketball tournament that begins Tuesday at Scott City High School. The Rams (14-1) and Kelly (13-2) tied for the No. 1 seed, but Scott City won the coin flip...

DEXTER -- Edna Niswonger Warlen, 90, died Friday, Jan. 16, 1998, at the Blue River Care Center in Kansas City. She was born June 16, 1907, near Doniphan, daughter of Abraham Lincoln and Fannie Loftis Lorey. She and Joseph O. Niswonger were married Jan. 28, 1924. He died Jan. 15, 1963. She and Clarence M. Warlen were married in 1970. He died in 1980...

JACKSON -- Tony A. Caruso, 83, of Jackson died Saturday, Jan. 17, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Oct. 19, 1914, at Venice, Ill., son of Lawrence and Mary Simino Caruso. He married Vera Brinker on Jan. 13, 1940, at St. Louis. Caruso worked at the small arms ammunition plant in St. ...

ORAN -- Dorothy Bryeans Bowman, 80, of Oran died Saturday, Jan. 17, 1998, at Chaffee Nursing Center. She was born July 25, 1917, at Oran, daughter of Fred L. and Lucy Alice Smith Sturgeon. She was a retired schoolteacher who taught in both the Oran and St. Charles public schools...

Leneta L. Buchheit, 86, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Jan. 18, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Dec. 30, 1911, at Biehle, daughter of Joseph and Julia Schemel Hotop. She and Albert J. Buchheit were married Oct. 4, 1932, at Biehle. He died Feb. 18, 1985...

ADVANCE -- Inez M. Henley, 84, of Advance died Saturday, Jan. 17, 1998, at her home. She was born Feb. 21, 1913, at Brownwood, daughter of James William and Minnie Bell Morse Duffey. She and James Albert Henley were married Jan. 13, 1931, at Brownwood. He died Sept. 15, 1976...

PERRYVILLE -- Robert "Gene" Brown, 43, of Perryville died Saturday, Jan. 17, 1998, at Kaskaskia Island, Ill. He was born Nov. 11, 1954, at Perryville, son of Robert L. Brown Sr. and Velma Elder Brown. He and Christy Michaud were married June 14, 1977...

Gary Lane Tisdale, 63, of Scott City died Sunday, Jan. 18, 1998, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Arrangements are incomplete at the Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.