Stories from Tuesday, February 3, 1998

BENTON -- Rhonda Evans, a math teacher at Kelly High School, uses many of the principles she teaches students in her algebra, geometry and trigonometry classes when coaching extracurricular activities. Evans, who is in her fifth year at Kelly, also coaches cheerleading and the softball team. She has also coached the Sikeston Swim Team for the past eight seasons...

Cybertip: The February Beginning Internet classes are already filled, but registration is already under way for March. Two classes will be offered: March 9 from 7-9 and March 18 from 1-3 p.m. The cost is $10. For more information, contact Peggy or Joni at 335-6611...

The Missouri Department of Revenue expects to mail out tax refund checks to Southeast Missouri residents the week of Feb. 23. Refund checks for taxpayers with zip codes ranging from 63367 to 63937 will be mailed that week. Cape Girardeau area taxpayers can expect to receive refund checks about the middle of the week, said Revenue Department spokeswoman Kay Dinolfo...

The Cape Girardeau City Council turned down two special-use permits for businesses in residential areas Monday night. In other action, the council accepted funding for construction of a rail spur to serve BioKyowa Inc.'s expansion. The council rejected applications for special-use permits for construction and operation of a dog-grooming business at 1608 William and for operating a business office with non-resident employees at 1531 Mississippi. Both locations are in solidly residential areas...

Construction of a $350-million, 850,000-square-foot expansion to Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co.'s plant north of Cape Girardeau will start any day. A verbal approval for a long-awaited air permit has been received by P&G. "This is the permit we have been waiting on," said Mike Jennewein, human-relations manager at P&G. "We've been hoping that we could start construction by early February. With this permit we're ready."...

When Dr. Michael Cobb, chairman of the physics department at Southeast Missouri State University, was in the fifth grade, he got a telescope as a Christmas gift. "I was growing up in the middle of the Space Age," Cobb recalled. "I was very excited to have the telescope."...

Girardeau George made a brief appearance at his familiar abode along Route W Monday. But he didn't stick around long. George, the area's most famous ground hog, sniffed the air, saw his shadow at dawn and disappeared a few moments later into his burrow...

The May Greene School gym was filled with barefoot boys and girls doing plies Monday afternoon. "Plie means to ...?" Ruby Streate asked. "Bend," the children shouted in unison. "What language is it?" "French," they said. When she teaches schoolchildren dance moves, Streate is most interested in showing them something about living in the world...

When voters approved Cape Girardeau's half-cent transportation sales tax in 1995, Perryville Road was at the top of the list for improvement. On Monday city officials gathered to mark the official start of the Perryville Road project. Mayor Al Spradling III called the groundbreaking "the kick-off of what I feel was the reason for the Transportation Trust Fund."...

Commissioner Robert Watson, national commander of the Salvation Army, is still a little uncomfortable being head of America's favorite charity. "It's a little embarrassing to have that title," he said. "But we pray that God will help us live up to the trust and confidence you have in the Salvation Army."...

Dutchtown, the small community often besieged by big floods, took a step toward solving those problems Monday when it became incorporated as an official town. Dutchtown residents are interested in a levee to protect the town and traffic along highways 25 and 74...

I had always liked being the oldest child in my family until recently. Events in the past week have caused me to reconsider my stake. Oldest child syndrome has hit. Being the oldest child brings with it an abundance of duties and responsibilities. I had known this information for some time now, but I was quickly reminded when my mother announced she'd be having outpatient surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome later in the week...

To the editor: On behalf of all the students of St. Vincent de Paul School, I want to thank you for offering the Southeast Missourian newspaper staff, equipment and materials to us in the project recently completed by our seventh graders. The students in grades two to eight enjoyed reading the articles written by their friends in seventh grade, and the seventh graders themselves were very excited to see their writing in print beside their pictures. ...

Strikes led to less coal demand WHEN THE Kerr-McGee coal miners get laid off, they can spend their idle hours in the local taverns talking about the good times they had going on strike every time their contract expired thereby pricing their product out of the market...

As with any set of figures, statistics about taxation in Missouri tend to get fuzzy unless great care is taken to explain which numbers are being used -- and why. That certainly is the case in a recent flurry of reports around the state regarding the tax burden on Missourians. ...

When House- and Senate-passed versions of a bill creating a temporary nuclear waste dump in Nevada goes to a conference Committee, it will be debated against the backdrop of an all-out effort by that states' two U.S. senators to scuttle the legislation. They don't want nuclear waste from all over the country, and they are working hard to convince communities across America that there is a genuine threat to public safety in transporting the stuff...

To the editor: I wanted to take a moment and address the recent pay increases for law enforcement officers in the sheriff's office. The taxpaying citizens of Cape Girardeau County deserve the best return on their tax dollars, and it's up to those of us who are elected to see they get it. ...

To the editor: The Jan. 22 editorial, "Medicare misinformation is confusing," was more confusing that the issue you addressed. You suggest the United Seniors Association mailing informing Medicare patients of the change in law "appears to be incorrect." You further state the number of affected patients is very small...

To the editor: Have you noticed the trees in Jackson lately? Winter is a perfect time to appreciate their structure. You can't help noticing the graceful strength and mysterious look of thriving wood unless, of course, you are distracted by those trees with amputated limbs, mutilated tops and distorted trunks. ...

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University's Indians might have played a better half of road basketball in recent years. Then again, maybe they haven't. In a dominating, nearly flawless performance, the Indians outscored Austin Peay 50-28 in the second half Monday night to post a surprisingly lopsided 81-57 victory in front of 2,357 fans at Dave Aaron Arena...

Scanning the box score after Southeast Missouri State's game against Morehead State Monday night, Otahkians coach Ed Arnzen struggled to find desirable numbers. "It was not a well-played ballgame by either team," Arnzen noted. But ultimately, just one figure was significant for Arnzen: 82-74, the score in Southeast's overtime win against the Ohio Valley Conference's cellar dweller...

CHARLESTON -- Fourth-seeded Cape Central defeated fifth-seeded New Madrid 55-33 in a first-round game in the Charleston Girls Invitational Tournament Monday night. Katie Dougherty led the Lady Tigers with 16 points and teammate Kim Aslinger contributed 15...

Graveside service for A.J. Blanton of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11 a.m. today at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Ellsinore. The Rev. Don Stephens will officiate. Friends may call at McSpadden Funeral Home in Ellsinore after 9 a.m. Blanton, 71, died Saturday, Jan. 31, 1998, at his home...

THEBES, Ill. -- Robert Stanley Shafer, 77, of Thebes, died Sunday, Feb. 1, 1998, at Ratliff Care Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was born Feb. 8, 1920, at Illmo, Mo., son of Issac Newton and Allie Koonce Shafer. Shafer was a retired farmer. Survivors include two nieces, Elizabeth McCoy and Cindy Hickerson of Thebes; four nephews, Edward Shafer of Alto Pass, Jim and Larry Shafer of Cape Girardeau, and Donald Shafer of Wickliffe, Ky...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Beulah Effie Mathis of Montgomery, Ala., will be held at 11 a.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel in East Prairie. Aubrey Wilson will officiate, with burial in East Prairie Memorial Park Cemetery. Mathis, 96, died Friday, Jan. 30, 1998, at the home of her daughter...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Hillmond Ray Belyew of St. Louis will be held at 10 a.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Sikeston. The Rev. Leland Mooney will officiate, with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery at Charleston. Belyew, 80, died Friday, Jan. 30, 1998, at Christian Hospital Northeast in St. Louis...

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Floyd James Berry, 78, of Evansville and formerly of Chaffee, died Monday, Feb. 2, 1998, at St. Mary's Hospital. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee.

PERRYVILLE -- Rosalind Dorothy Moore, 83, of Perryville died Sunday, Feb. 1, 1998, at her home. Moore was born Oct. 19, 1914, in Perry County to Otto and Mary Lindinger Stuebner. She married Melbourne C. Moore on Dec. 25, 1940. He died May 13, 1983...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Lee Roy Sullivan, 72, of East Prairie died Sunday, Feb. 1, 1998, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. Sullivan was born Oct. 2, 1925, at Pulaski, Ark., son of Guy Samuel and Eunice Sullivan. Sullivan was a retired farmer who had lived in Mississippi County most of his life. He belonged to the First Baptist Church of Campbell...

PERRYVILLE -- Hazel M. Skaggs, 80, died Sunday, Feb. 1, 1998, at Perry Oaks Health Care Center. She was born March 17, 1917, at Oran, daughter of Lonnie and Ester White Tucker. She and William O. Skaggs were married March 17, 1943, at Herculaneum. He died Jan. 1, 1995...

Elmer E. Weber, 79, of Lincoln, Neb., died Sunday, Feb. 1, 1998, in Lincoln. He was a native of Wittenberg. Weber owned and operated Triangle Sheet Metal, Plumbing and Heating 32 years. He was a member of the Lions Club, and St. Paul Lutheran Church in Sidney, Neb. He served as chairman of the church council and church trustee...

Harold Andrew Keene, 80, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Feb. 2, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born May 15, 1917, in New Madrid, son of Andrew Eugene and Jenny Gardner Keene. He and Mildred Lucille Tisher were married Sept. 18, 1937, in Clinton, Ky. She died July 30, 1997...

ORAN -- Funeral service for Otto L. Schlosser of St. Louis was held Jan. 29 at Buchholtz Spanish Lake Mortuary in St. Louis. Burial was in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis. Schlosser, 88, died Monday, Jan. 26, 1998, at Christian Home in St. Louis. He was born Jan. 18, 1910, at Oran, son of August and Katie Schlosser. He and Thelma Bles were married Oct. 18, 1933...

CYPRESS, Ill. -- Maudie Smith Mecum, 82, of Marion, formerly of Cypress, died Sunday, Feb. 1, 1998, at Marion Memorial Hospital. She was born March 28, 1915, in Metropolis, daughter of Joseph and Birdia Harmon Spurlock. She first married Wayward Smith, who died in 1965. She later married Norwood Mecum...

ANNA, Ill. -- Oley M. Toler, 89, of Anna died Monday, Feb. 2, 1998, at Union County Hospital. He was born Nov. 12, 1908, in Anna, son of Monroe and Flora McNeill Toler. He and Opal Pearlene Hileman were married Nov. 11, 1931, in Dongola. Toler retired in 1975 as assistant director of the Kane County Youth Center with the state of Illinois. He was a member of Mission Chapel Baptist Church...

ALTO PASS, Ill. -- Maggie H. Harris, 94, of Alto Pass died Monday, Feb. 2, 1998, at Life Care Center in Valparaiso, Ind. Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home in Alto Pass is in charge of arrangements.

Daughter to Kenneth Darren Voelker and Brandi Leigh Fincher of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 4:20 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, 1998. Name, Emily Leighanne. Weight, 6 pounds 2 ounces. First child. Ms. Fincher is the daughter of Bobby Fincher of Rome, Ga., and Margaret Mitchell of Daisy. Voelker is the son of Kenneth Voelker of Jackson and Vickie Hurst of Cape Girardeau. He is employed at Eastern Missouri Industries...

Kelli Sue Grantham, daughter of Kirby Ray and Deborah (Debbie) Thomas Grantham passed away Sunday, Feb. 1, 1998 in the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau as the result of a single car accident. She was 15 years old, born June 17, 1982 in Cape Girardeau, MO. Kelli is survived by her parents of Oak Ridge, one brother, Thomas Grantham and one sister, Kara Grantham both of the family home in Oak Ridge...

JACKSON -- Shane Anderson, a Jackson native who previously taught tennis pros in Atlanta, Ga., has been named the city's first-ever parks and recreation director. Anderson, 35, was introduced to the Board of Aldermen at Monday night's meeting. The 1980 Jackson High School graduate also graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a bachelor's degree in recreation and a master's degree in administration...