Stories from Wednesday, April 1, 1998

To the editor: It is very disturbing to see children killing anyone or anything. It is terrifying to think that they could even think to get a gun or knife and end a life. What is even more terrifying is that everyone is so quick to put the blame on this person or that law. The blame goes to our country as a whole...

Five Cape Girardeau County school districts will fill vacancies on local boards of education when voters go to the polls April 7. But only two school districts -- Cape Girardeau and Jackson -- will have contested races. Voters will elect two candidates to serve three-year terms on local school boards. Decision-making will be easy for voters in Delta, Nell Holcomb and Oak Ridge, because only two candidates are competing in each race, meaning there are no contests...

ADVANCE -- Seats on the boards of the Advance schools and the Stoddard County Health Center will be awarded in Tuesday's election. John F. Johnson Jr., Carl D. Ritter Jr. and Mike Scott are running for the two open seats on the Advance Reorganized School District Board of Education. The terms are each for three years...

MARBLE HILL -- Voters in Woodland School District will elect two new members to the school board Tuesday. Six candidates are running for two seats on the Woodland Board of Education. The winners will replace retiring board members Gary Lutes and Linda Tipton...

Ambrose Bierce has defined an April fool as "the March fool with another month added to his folly." Mark Twain went even further when he declared, "The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year." Both of these observations, perhaps, hit a little too close to home, for after all, as Wilson Mizner reminds us, even a person who's always professing he's no fool "usually has his suspicions." Today, April Fools' Day, is the day when those suspicions may be realized. ...

PERRYVILLE -- Diane Edwards of Brewer has filed as a Democratic candidate for state representative in the 155th District. Edwards, who describes herself as a community activist, wife and mother, hopes to unseat Republican state Rep. Patrick Naeger of Perryville...

WHERE DID kids get guns? They get them from their own home. The school board should make up a list of questions for parents to sign when they enroll their children in public school. The list should ask how many guns and the serial numbers are at home. Are they locked up where your kids can't get to them? Will you be responsible for your children as long as they are in public school? Parents are going to have to be responsible for their children...

I knew Missouri's public school teachers had good fringe benefits, but last week's discovery of a $1.1 BILLION overstatement of their pension fund's value also informed me of just how good their retirement plan is. After 30 years of service, a teacher currently can retire at age 60 and receive 69 percent of his or her final average salary. A bill speeding through the Legislature was going to increase the retirement pay to 75 percent...

Affirmative action has long been hotly debated across the nation. In a misguided effort to make up for outrageous inequities of the past, the government has embraced preferential treatment on the basis of gender and race. But that too weighs down the scales of equality and fair play...

Sometimes when high courts make rulings, people just scratch their heads. Common folk may wonder: What does it all mean, and how did the court come to such a convoluted decision? Not so with a recent decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals (Eastern District), which was astutely written by a former Cape Girardeau resident, Judge Stanley A. Grimm...

Voters Tuesday will find only two contested races on the Cape Girardeau City Council ballot: a rematch from 1994 in Ward 1 and two neighbors vying for a vacant seat in Ward 3. In Ward 1, incumbent James "J.J." Williamson Jr., 46, of 117 Centennial Drive and Frank Stoffregen, 44, of 223 Capaha Trail are competing a second time for a four-year seat on the City Council...

For the first time in four years, state Rep. Mary Kasten will face opposition in her bid for re-election in District 158. The Cape Girardeau Republican will face Cape Girardeau lawyer and Libertarian David Rosener in the November election. Rosener represented Regina's House of Dolls strip-tease club in its legal battles with the city in 1995 and 1996 over the city's efforts to restrict adult businesses...

Historic preservation makes good financial sense, says the man who will draft Cape Girardeau's historic-preservation plan. Philip Thomason, who has contracted with the city to draw up the plan identifying potential historic districts, said historic preservation "really is the planning strategy of the next century."...

SCOTT CITY -- For the people of Scott City who daily fight traffic on Interstate 55, a proposal for a new road connecting the city to Cape Girardeau comes as welcome news. As a result, nearly 50 people from Scott City and the surrounding area attended Tuesday's open-house session at Scott City Hall to review 15 proposed routes for the new road...

Main Street is an action-oriented program that is helping revitalize downtowns across the nation, says Karen Bode Baxter, a consultant who admits to a near evangelical belief in its merits. Bode Baxter provided a two-hour-long outline Tuesday night of how the program works and could be started in Cape Girardeau. A group of about 30 downtown business people and other residents attended the informational program at the Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant...

Motivation is the premise behind a program that has been bestowing free books to students at four Cape Girardeau elementary schools for the past 10 years. Three times each year since 1988, the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) Program has enabled students at Franklin, Jefferson, May Greene and Washington elementary schools to visit their school library with their class to each choose a book from some 100 titles for their very own. ...

Three years ago Cliff Politte was looking forward to a summer of pitching for the Capahas of Cape Girardeau and considering which four-year college to transfer to after he finished junior college. Today, at 12:40 p.m., Politte will make his major-league debut at Busch Stadium when he starts for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Los Angeles Dodgers...

Delta High's dynamic duo of Garrett DeBrock and Shawn Kinder carried the Delta basketball team to its first district title since 1976 and a first-ever berth in the Class 1A Quarterfinals. Fittingly, the two seniors were named among the state's best as members of the 1997-98 All-State Basketball Team selected by Missouri sportswriters and sportscasters. Class 1A and 2A teams were released today with the 3A and 4A teams to be announced tomorrow...

Registration for the 1998 Cape Girardeau Girls Softball League will be held April 4 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Venture Court in West Park Mall. For more information, call Rick McDonald at 334-3043 weekdays after 6 p.m.

The seventh annual Youth Catch and Release Fishing Derby will be held May 16 at Capaha Park Pond. Children ages 1 thru 15 are invited to test their fishing skills. The event is free to all participants. There will be many door prizes, including rods and reels, tackle boxes and other fishing equipment. Some bait will be provided but participants are encouraged to bring their own bait and fishing equipment...

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department is now accepting teams for upcoming 6 on 6 and 4 on 4 sand volleyball leagues. The cost of each league is $101 per team. Games for the 6 on 6 league will be played Monday evenings and the 4 on 4 league will be held Tuesday evenings. The leagues are tentatively scheduled to begin June 1-2...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Southeast's golf team placed 13th in the 18-team field at the Pepsi/SMS Challenge Men's Golf Tournament held at the par-72 Highland Springs Country Club. Arkansas State defeated Iowa State on the first playoff hole to claim the championship. Both teams finished the two-day, three-round competition at 920...

JACKSON -- Notre Dame's Jonathan LeGrand and Cliff Seratti tied for medalist honors Tuesday at Bent Creek Golf Course, shooting 42's over nine holes to lead the Bulldogs to a 171-208 dual victory over Bloomfield. "It was pretty soggy out there, but our guys handled (the conditions) pretty well," said Notre Dame coach Chris Janet. "We shot our best score of the year so far so they must have handled it pretty well."...

MEMPHIS -- The Kohlfeld Scorpions Rugby Club split a pair of games in Memphis last weekend. The Scorpions defeated Old No. 7 Rugby Club 32-20 on Saturday and lost to the Rugby Club on Sunday. In Saturday's victory, the Scorpions lost John Mancini with a broken leg. The Scorpion scorers included Dan Grimm, Walter Denton and Alan Kloss...

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team will play a pair of nine inning games today at Capaha Field against McKendree College and Missouri Baptist. The Indians will face McKendree (6-8) at 2 p.m. A make-up game will follow at 6 p.m. against Missouri Baptist. The two teams were originally scheduled to play March 10 but the game was canceled due to cold weather...

Richard D. "Gus" York, 45, of Wood River died Monday, March 30, 1998, at St. Anthony's Hospital in Alton, Ill. He was born Feb. 11, 1953, in Cape Girardeau, son of James E. and JoAnn York Sr. He and Janet S. Schiwitz were married Dec. 25, 1973, in Rockford, Ill...

SIKESTON -- Dorothy E. Guter, 86, of Sikeston died Monday, March 30, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Aug. 2, 1911, in Latrobe, Pa., daughter of Joseph M. and Estella Durnham Ransel. She and Richard G. Guter were married Nov. 6, 1935, in Latrobe. He died Jan. 25, 1983...

PERRYVILLE -- Theodore R. Busch Sr., 57, of Perryville died Tuesday, March 31, 1998, at his home. He was born July 22, 1940, at St. Marys, son of John Ray and Lucille Mowry Busch. He and Mattie C. Heaps Helms were married Nov. 3, 1994. Busch was a retired truck driver and timber worker...

CHARLESTON -- Amanda Rodgers Butler, 78, of Charleston died Saturday, March 28, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Dec. 5, 1919, in Bernard, Miss., daughter of Willie and Verla Harris Moore. She and Bryant Rodgers were married in 1939. He died in 1972. She later married Evie Butler in 1974, who died in 1982...

Marshall Ayers, 51, of Springfield, Ill., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Tuesday, March 31, 1998, at Cameron. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Son to Jeffrey and Diana Wahl of Independence, St. Joseph Hospital in Kansas City, 6:48 a.m. Monday, March 23, 1998. Name, Jarad Killian. Weight, 8 pounds 11 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Wahl is the former Diana Killian, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Killian of Cape Girardeau. She is employed by Matrix. Wahl is the son of Rita Wahl of Cape Girardeau and the late Charles Wahl. He is employed by Aggreko...

The Southeast Missourian asked people about a bill in the Missouri House that would change the annual state vehicle inspections to every two years and the cost from $7 to $14. Dale Seabaugh: "I think they should keep it the way it is. I think it keeps a lot of bad vehicles off the road."...

JACKSON -- The Sander family has been selling hardware on the city square since 1936, the year "Gone with the Wind" was published. They intend to stay in the business Albert Sander started. His grandson, Jim Sander, along with wife, Judy, and son, Randy, now run the store. Randy's son, Stetson, 5, and daughter, Kelsey, 6, are considered "the next generation."...

The Sikeston High School class of 1989 is seeking alumni for planning in the 10-year reunion. Organizers would like to hear from graduates or those with an address of graduates. An organizational meeting is scheduled for April 8 at 7 p.m. in Sikeston. Graduates wishing to help organize the reunion should call 573-472-2037 or 573-641-3061 for additional information...