Stories from Friday, May 8, 1998

To the editor: As few years ago my mom gave me an old shoe box filled with memos from my childhood she wanted me to have. Inside the box were photos of me as a child, pictures of various animals I had for pets and other little trinkets and things I had given her over the years. The shoe box contained memories of practically my entire childhood. I have rummaged through that old shoe box many times and could almost tell you every item inside without removing the lid...

Our former Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, once stated, "If a disease were killing our children in proportions that accidents are, people would be outraged and demand that this killer be stopped." He said this because there are more children killed because of unintentional injuries than all childhood diseases combined...

The Cape Central High School choirs will present a pops concert Friday, May 15, at 7 p.m. Admission is $2. Money goes to help support choral activities at the school. The junior varsity choir, women's and men's ensembles, along with the chamber choir, will be featured on the program...

Wonder what that quilt your grandmother left you is worth? How about the quilt you just bought or labored over for months? This weekend, quilt fans have a chance to find out. Thelma L. Stone, a certified quilt appraiser, will at the Show-Me Quilts show in Cape Girardeau. Stone of Chaffee is one of just two appraisers in Missouri qualified to give both market and insurance values for quilts and quilted textiles...

Christy Sprengel, left, a nutritionist for the Women, Infant and Children program at the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, checked Ranada Lowe's weight during her monthly visit to the center. Ranada Lowe looked at a sonogram of a classmate's baby during WIC class...

Taxpayers pay the bills for government at all levels, but they rarely know all the details of how their money is being spent. Some taxpayers take an interest in one governmental body or another -- like a city council -- and attend the meetings in an effort to stay informed. Some go to legislative sessions in their state capitals, particularly when there are bills of particular interest...

The senseless killings by students in our schools has focused sympathy, concern and alarm on the nation's youths. Answers aren't easy to come by. But as a recent incident showed, mayhem in schools is not reserved for youngsters. A sheriff's deputy in Buffalo, N.Y., killed his estranged wife and wounded an aide at a school attended by the couple's children...

To the editor: Recently I visited Calavaras Big Tree Park while vacationing in California. Being a native of the Southern Illinois-Southeast Missouri area, I was in complete awe of the huge redwood trees. While walking down one of the paths, we spotted a hulking mass of what had once been a magnificent redwood tree. ...

To the editor: In Missouri, we continue to celebrate the significant drop in violent crimes committed. Tough legislation and concerted efforts by law enforcement to target dangerous felons for sterner sentences have put more bad actors behind bars. Whereas the police, the highway patrol, the sheriff and the marshal are armed in the community when the criminals are apprehended, the correctional officers who supervise these felons throughout their sentences are not. ...

Lola Meier smiled broadly as Annie, a standard poodle belonging to Carla Karr, put her paws on Meier's lap and started licking Meier's fingers. "I had chicken for lunch," Meier explained. "She's probably just licking off the grease." As she begins to talk about the dogs that have been brought to visit her in her room, Meier, a resident of Heritage Gardens nursing home in Jackson, speaks of the dogs like she's talking about old friends. ...

A rabies alert for Cape Girardeau County was lifted this week, a county health official said Thursday. But animal owners still need to make sure their pets are protected against the usually fatal disease by getting them vaccinated. That was the message at Thursday's annual rabies clinic in Cape Girardeau...

Final clearance sales will start today in the nation's Venture stores, including those in Cape Girardeau's West Park Mall and at Paducah, Ky. The Cape Girardeau Venture store will close, but few details were known Thursday about its closing. A spokesperson at West Park Mall said a date for its closing had not been mentioned, but it could happen by August. Employees have been given 60-day notices that it will close...

The Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday approved a capital improvements spending package that includes $1 million for construction of the Cape Girardeau vocational-technical school. That amount falls short of the $1.65 million the House approved last month. Still, state Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said he was pleased with the funding arrangement...

Members of the Cape Girardeau education and business communities came together to celebrate the art of teaching Thursday at the Chamber of Commerce Educators of the Year banquet. This was the fifth year the chamber's education committee has sponsored the event to recognize honorees for excellence in elementary and secondary education and administration. For the second year, the chamber's university relations committee also honored a fourth individual for excellence in university education...

My wife and I are to the point that we don't like many wrinkles in our routine, but once in a while we get a jolt or two. If someone asked me to describe my life, I would say that I have been very fortunate and very lucky, but on the whole I consider myself ordinary...

With the American flag whipping in the wind and the sound of church bells tolling in the background, more than 100 people gathered on the steps of Cape Girardeau City Hall to pray for the nation. The communitywide noon prayer service was just one of several National Day of Prayer observances in Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri Thursday...

The banking scene is changing, but Commerce Bancshares Inc. isn't for sale, said David W. Kemper, chairman, president and chief executive officer of the St. Louis-based company. Kemper Thursday discussed banking and the economy during a luncheon of area businessmen and women. The luncheon was held by Kemper and Cord Polen, Commerce Community Bank president at Cape Girardeau...

A story by Jean Bell Mosley, longtime columnist for the Southeast Missourian, appears in the May issue of the national inspirational magazine Guideposts. The story, titled "More Than I Bargained For," relates Mosley's childhood encounter with a girl named Stella who taught her a lesson about giving your best...

Southeast Missouri State University baseball coach Mark Hogan certainly had the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament pegged right. Prior to Thursday's start of the six-team event at Capaha Field, Hogan said the tourney looked as balanced as he had seen it...

Seven runs in two games against the pitching staff with the nation's lowest earned run average was more than Southeast Missouri State University softball coach Lana Richmond expected. But it wasn't enough. DePaul, the Mid-Continent Conference champion, swept an NCAA play-in doubleheader before 305 fans Thursday afternoon in the last games at Parker Field...

In a high school makeup game that involved three schools, Cape Central defeated Jackson 14-10 at Notre Dame High School. Due to heavy rains, the game, originally slated for Wednesday at Jackson City Park, was shifted to Notre Dame, the most playable field in the area...

Vivian LaMar, 83, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, May 7, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born March 2, 1915, in Arkansas, daughter of George and Catherine Lincoln Welker. She and Charles C. LaMar were married Sept. 15, 1946, in Cape Girardeau. He died Feb. 4, 1985...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Richard Layton, 79, of East Prairie died Thursday, May 7, 1998, at his home. He was born Feb. 7, 1919, in Advance, son of Joe and Lillie Smith Layton. He and Genevieve Sain were married in March 1944. She died in 1971. He later married Frances Hood in 1973, who died in 1988. He and Lela Lawson were married in 1990...

GOREVILLE, Ill. -- Emma Martin, 75, of Goreville died Wednesday, May 6, 1998, at Marion Memorial Hospital. She was born May 23, 1922, in Lovelaceville, Ky., daughter of Arthur and Edith Morehead Meredith. She married Walter B. Martin. Martin had been a cook at Meridian School. She was a member of Mounds Assembly of God Church. She was formerly of Mounds...

E.J. Showmaker, 78, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, May 6, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born July 4, 1919, in Charleston, son of Fred and Lucille Ponder Showmaker. He and Catherine Duenne were married Aug. 29, 1943. Showmaker lived in Charleston most of his life, moving to Cape Girardeau in 1977. He was a farmer and landowner in Missouri and Illinois, retiring in 1985...

ANNA, Ill. -- Don W. Kirt, 66, of Anna died Wednesday, May 6, 1998, at Union County Hospital. He was born Feb. 2, 1932, in Bena, Minn., son of William Louis and Adeline Marie Kramer Kirt. He married Dorothy Dillon. Kirt served 23 years in the U.S. Army, retiring in 1969. He was a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, and received the Bronze Star...

Memorial service for Marvin "Gene" Lear of Mason Neck, Va., will be held May 16 at Pahick Church in Alexandria, Va. Burial will be in Pahick Cemetery. Lear, 77, died Saturday, April 18, 1998, at his home. He was born Aug. 20, 1920, in Bollinger County, son of Elijah and Elta Lear. He married Jean Clark, who preceded him in death...

CHAFFEE -- Beulah Agnes Simmons, 88, of Chaffee died Thursday, May 7, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 29, 1909, at Delta, daughter of Charley and Rosie Jane Welker Surface. She and Leo Daniel Simmons were married March 3, 1928. He died April 18, 1997...

Son to Randy James and Carolyn Jean Davis of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 7:33 a.m. Friday, May 1, 1998. Name, Benjamin Joseph. Weight, 9 pounds 5 ounces. Second son. Mrs. Davis is the former Carolyn Hopen, daughter of Betty Hopen of Cape Girardeau, and the late James J. Hopen. She is a coordinator at Clas Computers. Davis is the son of Evelyn Davis of Jackson, and the late Bob Davis. He is a captain with Jackson Fire Department...

Emily Rena Schenimann, 19, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, May 7, 1998, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. She was born Oct. 16, 1978, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of John and Carol Heider Schenimann. Schenimann attended Nell Holcomb School where she played basketball four years, and was a graduate of Jackson High School. She was a member of FFA and was listed in Who's Who in American High Schools...

BLOOMFIELD -- Jane Diana Robey, 86, of Bloomfield died Thursday, May 7, 1998, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter. She was born April 20, 1912, at Avert, daughter of Thomas and Emma Anna Weaver Hammonds. She and Curtis Robey were married Nov. 1, 1930. He died Nov. 8, 1997...

JACKSON -- Otis M. Orrell, 77, died Thursday, May 7, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born July 31, 1920, at Jackson, son of Willis L. and Leona M. Slinkard Orrell. He married Edna "Marie" Conley on April 18, 1938. She survives...