Stories from Friday, May 15, 1998

To the editor: I know you can't cover everybody on your 100 ways to be kind, but I would like to add a couple more. When you give a friend or stranger cookies or cakes, remember where it came from: the farmer. My husband gets up at 5:30 a.m. to work at his 40-plus-hour-a-week job at a local heating and air conditioning company to help pay to keep the farm going. ...

As a neurosurgeon I am often faced with managing life threatening head and spine injuries and I have learned, firsthand, that the time between injury and medical care is critical. Vital pre-hospital care followed by treatment at an appropriate medical center is often the difference between life and death or short term hospital care and lifetime disability. ...

Caring students All students at Orchard Elementary School, grades one through three, are holding a loose change drive as a Random Acts of Kindness project. A week of kindnessSouthwestern Bell Wireless employees are planning a week of kindness. They will collect canned goods for the needy and hand out lollipops to children all week. ...

Brandon Wendel doesn't think his volunteer work is anything special or out of the ordinary. "I know a lot of people who do it," he said, not looking for any special recognition. Wendel, a 16-year-old sophomore at Jackson High School, has volunteered at Southeast Missouri Hospital since the summer of 1996. He has contributed more than 360 hours of service between June 1996 and January 1998. In 1997 alone, he volunteered more than 250 hours...

You can find her busily working in the gift shop or delivering pharmacy supplies at St. Francis Medical Center. Fran Rediger of Cape Girardeau enjoys her life of service. This energetic hospital volunteer has amassed more than 5,347 hours of service since joining the auxiliary in 1992...

JACKSON -- After 10 years of marriage, Gilbert and Jeanette Leimer still do everything together. The American Red Cross, the Jackson Senior Center, St. Francis Hospital and the Jackson Food Pantry reap the benefits. The Leimers volunteer time at all those organizations...

MEMBERS OF Congress, the federal government, all politicians have used and abused the word "minority." There is no such thing in this country. It is and always has been the individual. There is no such thing as a minority group in my view. It simply depends upon the person, the individual. The politicians use that for their own self-gain. So does the federal government...

It is either an indication that all the legislation fit to pass already has been adopted by the Missouri Legislature or that our elected officials are wasting their precious last days of the session on frivolous ideas. Take your pick. Consider the bill that was debated in the Missouri House Tuesday -- a mere three days before the constitutionally mandated date for adjournment -- that would allow private ownership of slot machines. ...

There was something of a tempest in a teapot last weekend in Jefferson City. Pressing business (see the editorial above) required the Missouri Senate to schedule an extra session Sunday evening starting at 6 o'clock. But wait a minute. Sunday was Mother's Day. Three of the 34 senators are women. And the three women are all Republicans. They protested the meeting on the day set aside to honor mothers. They said it was a deliberate insult by the leaders of the Democrat-controlled Senate...

To the editor: This letter is in response to the May 11 article, "Curb service: City, county study public transportation options." With the information provided in the article, I have done some evaluating on my own. Following are the figures that I have arrived at in my evaluation...

Smiles, laughter and a bunch of cupcakes were shared Tuesday when a group from the Cape Girardeau Senior Center visited their neighbors at the Christian School for the Young Years. Senior Center volunteers baked cupcakes for the preschoolers in honor of Random Acts of Kindness Week, but the two groups often visit each other with such presents in hand. ...

The manager of Cape Girardeau Regional Airport wasn't thrilled to learn Missouri Senate action on a measure to provide more state funding for airports around the state was being held up Thursday night by a filibuster on a controversial desegregation bill...

The River City Yacht Club was nearly filled Thursday night with people merrily laughing at the last episode of "a show about nothing." The outcome of the final "Seinfeld" show, a closely held secret, landed Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer in prison for "criminal indifference." They were found guilty of witnessing a crime and, appropriately given the show's near-neurotic ambivalence toward everything, doing nothing to prevent it...

Gene Huckstep, whose leadership helped mold Cape Girardeau County government into one of the most well run in the state, died Wednesday night at his Cape Girardeau home. He was 69. He had suffered from poor health in recent years. Cape Girardeau County commissioners on Thursday ordered all county flags lowered to half mast in memory of Huckstep. The flags will remain at half mast through Saturday...

Perhaps you would be so kind as to write down any particular problems you have had with our byways and highways. Thanks to my reliable brown car, I rarely notice potholes. You know the car I'm talking about. It is held together with duct tape, which, as far as I'm concerned, holds the world together...

Thirteen-year-old Demetrius Harris walked around Capaha Park at noon Thursday proudly carrying around the hand radio of Cape Girardeau police chief Rick Hetzel. "If they call for number one, that's you, right?" Harris asked the chief. The chief nodded...

Do you know a hero? Today is the last day to nominate a special man, woman or child for special recognition at Six Flags of St. Louis during Super Heroes Days, July 11-14. The contest is co-sponsored by Six Flags and the Southeast Missourian newspaper...

A Cape Girardeau boy was in critical condition Thursday night after being injured in an accident near Cairo, Ill. David W. Merritt Jr., 6, suffered major injuries when the car in which he was a passenger was struck in the rear by a tractor-trailer on Illinois Route 3 at U.S. 51. He was taken by LifeBeat helicopter to Southeast Missouri Hospital, where he remained Thursday night...

A Touch of Grace Herb Shop has added a coffee shop to its operation and will hold an open house Saturday. The coffee shop, featuring gourmet coffee and tea, opened recently at 119 Themis, adjourning the herb shop, which opened in January of 1997 at 117 Themis...

Several years ago, Joe Lasley honed his skills in the long jump and softball throw events and advanced to compete at the state Special Olympics competition. Although he had fun and worked hard, Lasley didn't qualify for the national competition. While he has competed in local Special Olympics meets faithfully, he never returned to state level competition...

Southern University baseball coach Roger Cador hopes his team will be able to overcome a long layoff. Southeast Missouri State University coach Mark Hogan acknowledges that the layoff probably won't be beneficial to the Jaguars, but he expects the Indians to be facing an extremely talented squad...

Another stellar athletic season at Southeast Missouri State University was celebrated Thursday night. Approximately 900 athletes, coaches, parents and Southeast Booster Club members were on hand at the Show Me Center for the 1998 Southeast Booster Club Athletic Awards Banquet...

PERRYVILLE -- Cape Central kept chugging toward the 20-win mark Thursday with a seventh-inning rally to defeat Perryville 8-6. Trailing 6-5 in the top of the seventh, the Tigers scored three runs and Travis Klipfel pitched another scoreless inning of relief for the win. Central pounded three home runs to improve its record to 18-6 overall...

Son to Christopher Stanley and Kelly Jean Jenkins of Oxford, Miss., Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford, 2:07 p.m. Friday, May 1, 1998. Name, Jameson Christopher. Weight, 7 pounds 7 ounces. First child. Mrs. Jenkins is the former Kelly Hill, daughter of J.T. ...

Gene E. Huckstep died May 13, 1998 at the family home in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was born July 30, 1928 in Cape Girardeau, Mo., the son of Albert and Marie Siebert Huckstep. He and Betty Jane Hargis were married Aug. 21, 1946 in Jackson, Mo. He was a graduate of Cape Central High School and served in the U.S. ...

BLOOMFIELD -- Edith Eileen Triplett, 78, of Bloomfield died Wednesday, May 13, 1998, at her home. She was born Aug. 28, 1919, at Gray Ridge, daughter of Ernest Pearl and Ada Lame Black. She and Joseph Russel Triplett were married May 2, 1936. Triplett had lived at Bloomfield since 1945. ...

MILLERSVILLE -- Glen Dayton Stroder, 68, of Millersville died Wednesday, May 13, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born July 13, 1929, at Burfordville, son of Linus and Ida Mae Ervin Stroder. He and Maggie Cathcart were married Sept. 24, 1955...

DEXTER -- Lula Edith Vaughn, 82, of Dexter died Wednesday, May 13, 1998, at Vintage Villa Nursing Home. She was born Nov. 14, 1915, in Booneville, Miss., daughter of Freddie Oscar and Rosa Isabella Strange Eaton. She and Howard Earl Carpenter were married March 20, 1933. He preceded her in death. She married William Henry "Bill" Vaughn in April 1975. He died Oct. 1, 1993...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral Mass for Mary Bea Burton of Charleston will be at 7 p.m. today at St. Henry Catholic Church. The Rev. Rich Lause will officiate. Private burial will be Saturday in Calvary Cemetery. Friends may call at the church from 3:30-6:30 p.m. today...

DEXTER -- Funeral for Jimmy "Jim" Robertson of Dexter will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Rainey Funeral Home. The Revs. Dan Sitze and Don Cooper will officiate, with burial in Hagy Cemetery. Robertson, 64, died Wednesday, May 13, 1998, at his home...