Stories from Thursday, June 25, 1998

The same booming economy is having another consequence nationwide, and that is a manpower pinch in the armed services. The U.S. Navy is facing a shortfall of 7,000 sailors this year. This is the first for the Navy since the advent of the all-volunteer force 25 years ago. ...

A booming economy has its characteristics, good and bad. We have become used to rates of unemployment so low that they haven't been seen for nearly 30 years. Unemployment rates have fallen in 96 of Missouri's 114 counties this spring. Statewide, the figure dropped from 4.5 to 4.2 percent...

THIS IS in regard to the person or persons who took the flower hanging baskets from the downtown area. Just to make a comment first. They did look extremely good, and I wanted to give my thanks to the downtown area and to Debbie Naeter who was putting those up. ...

Madison Blankenship posed for a photo that artist Judi Brey used to create her portrait. There are artists, and there are considerably fewer people who can claim to be professional artists. Judi Brey is one. The Cape Girardeau resident is a portrait painter who works in her south-facing studio most days from 9:30 a.m. to about 5 p.m. and sometimes late at night...

Cape native Charles Brame is the author of "Honestly Abe." When he stands before the crowd with his thumbs tucked in his vest pockets and his bearded chin jutting out, Charles Brame seems less like a 20th century actor and educator and more like the man he is portraying -- President Abraham Lincoln...

Gov. Mel Carnahan will be in Southeast Missouri today for events in Sikeston and New Madrid. At noon, Carnahan will attend the dedication of the 200,000-square-foot, $35 million expansion of the Good Humor-Breyer's plant in the Sikeston Business and Technology Park...

About 25 members of the SEMO Amateur Radio Club will join thousands of participants across North America this weekend in the Amateur Radio Relay League's Field Day. Amateur radio operators will set up on the hill in Cape County Park North. The event will run from 9 a.m. Saturday to about noon Sunday, and the public is invited...

Summer is officially here, and so is the heat. Temperatures in the low-to-mid 90s and heat indices over 100 degrees are letting people know that it is not spring any more. Ryan Presley of the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., says a ridge of high pressure over the eastern and central United States is causing the heat, and will continue to do so throughout the remainder of this week and into the next...

The fire at 612 Northview began Wednesday morning around 9 in the closet of the master bedroom, spreading quickly to the ceiling where it inched toward the window. It was seeking more oxygen, more fuel to keep burning. Then, as the glass windows shattered with the heat, the fire turned and made its way toward the door and down the hallway. Sometimes the flames seemed to flow on the ceiling like water cascading across rocks in a stream...

State highway officials are developing a new alternative for a proposed Highway 34 bypass that would minimize impact on the Stonebridge and Briarwood Estates areas of Cape Girardeau. DawnRae Clark, project manager for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said the state is working on rerouting the southernmost alternative, which it calls Alternative 9 or Segment T, of the proposed bypass from Jackson to Cape Girardeau...

Howard Tooke umpired Babe Ruth and Connie Mack League games in Cape Girardeau for about 10 years and was a Cape Girardeau city councilman and mayor even longer. Those are jobs fraught with controversy and short on thanks. "They thank you when they win," he says, smiling and remembering back to the baseball games and all the political battles...

Increased interest in lottery games translated to nearly a 10 percent increase this fiscal year in lottery proceeds to public education in Missouri. The Missouri Lottery Commission announced Wednesday it has exceeded the previous year's proceeds to public education for the sixth consecutive year. The departments of Elementary and Secondary Education and Higher Education have received $147,134,560 in lottery proceeds this fiscal year compared to $134.2 million last fiscal year...

June 25, 1998 Dear Leslie, If disco had an anthem, it was K.C. and the Sunshine Band's unforgettable ode to banality "Get Down Tonight." "Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight." A good barometer of a culture or an era is the quality of the music it produces. The '70s imbibed air...

It has certainly not been a good last two days for Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team. Cape headed to Chaffee Tuesday night with plenty of momentum but dropped a doubleheader. Then Wednesday night, playing at home in non-district action against Creve Coeur, Ford & Sons lost two more games, falling 7-2 and 11-5...

After a disappointing freshman season at Jefferson College, Ben Arbeiter was hoping to make amends and earn a Division I baseball scholarship. Mission accomplished. Arbeiter, a former baseball star at Cape Girardeau Central High School, wound up having a banner sophomore season at Jefferson College and he recently signed a letter of intent with Southern Illinois University...

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - Women's soccer will be a championship sport in the Ohio Valley Conference this fall after a vote by league presidents Wednesday. Only five of the league's 10 schools currently have teams, which will compete for the inaugural title starting this fall. But league officials say Southeast Missouri is expected to add the sport next year with nine schools fielding teams by 2000...

The Cape Girardeau Commerce Bank Babe Ruth White Sox used just nine hits to beat Jackson 21-10 in seven innings Wednesday at Cape Central. Commerce Bank scored 17 runs in the second inning to take control and improve to 8-7 overall. Jonathon Caldwell had two hits, including a three-run double, and hurled 1-2/3 innings of relief for the win. C.J Logan also had two hits, including a three-run homer in the second. Matt Brandt added two hits...

Herman Campbell and Jeff Koehler teamed up to win the SEMO Horseshoe Association tournament held Saturday at Scott City Park. Carl Reddick and Richie McClain finished second and Brad Miller and Janie Raines took third. Sunday at the Jackson Knights of Columbus, Irv Vandeven and Kevin Schlimme claimed top honors. Genard Rehkop and Virgil Schreckenberg placed second and Lachelle Cook and Sheila LeGrand finished third...

Four members of the Scott City High football team won most valuable player awards during a recent camp the Rams attended at William Jewell College in Liberty. Claiming MVP awards were Lance Amick (quarterbacks), Jason Bickings (receivers), Brandon Delrosa (defensive linemen) and Jeremy Mouser (linebackers)...

WARE, Ill. -- A Kennesaw, Ga., woman was killed Tuesday afternoon when her car ran off Route 3 and overturned. Janet Sue Mason, 48, was northbound on Route 3, about 2.5 miles south of Ware, when the accident occurred at 3:20 p.m., according to Illinois State Police...

Funeral for Nellie E. Simpher of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10 a.m. today at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel, with the Rev. Richard Rolwing officiating. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery. Simpher, 97, died Tuesday, June 23, 1998.

Amos L. Patterson, 92, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, June 23, 1998, at Missouri Veterans Home. He was born March 7, 1906, in Lacey Springs, Ala., son of Henry and Minnie Lenox Patterson. He and Julia Peters were married Oct. 23, 1945, in Verviers, Belgium...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Clifford R. Bright, 53, of East Prairie died Wednesday, June 24, 1998, at his home, following an extended illness. He was born Sept. 19, 1944, in Mississippi County, son of Richard and Emma Myers Bright. He and Carolyn S. Guinn were married Dec. 18, 1983...

PERRYVILLE -- Alice M. Leimbach, 61, of Perryville died Tuesday, June 23, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 6, 1936, at Frohna, daughter of Paul Henry and Emma Richter Weber. She and Ellis Rudolph Leimbach were married Feb. 11, 1956. He died March 21, 1993...

ALTENBURG -- Funeral for Bertha F. Bremer of Altenburg will be held at 10 a.m. today at Young and Sons East Perry Chapel. The Rev. Ahlert J.C. Strand will officiate, with burial in Trinity Lutheran Cemetery. Friends may call at the chapel from 9 a.m. until service time...

GRAND CHAIN, Ill. -- Joint graveside service for Ruth Bartleson, 94, and Mary Ruth Jarka, 72, both of Elgin, will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Masonic Cemetery in Grand Chain. The Rev. William Gordon will officiate. There is no visitation. Wilson Funeral Home in Karnak is in charge of arrangements...

JACKSON -- Luellen Ayers, 76, of Jackson died Wednesday, June 24, 1998, at her home. She was born July 29, 1921, at Allenville, daughter of Eugene and Ethel Wise Hurst. She and O.B. "Bud" Ayers were married Jan. 17, 1946. He died Jan. 23, 1996. Ayers had lived in Jackson since 1980, and was a member of New McKendree United Methodist Church...

Daughter to Eddie DeWayne and Sherri Lyn Cook, Marble Hill Route 1, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:09 a.m. Friday, June 19, 1998. Name, Pleasant Lyn. Weight, 6 pounds 11 ounces. First child. Mrs. Cook is the former Sherri Floyd, daughter of William E. Floyd and Caroline A. Floyd of Marble Hill. She is a secretary at Diana's Boarding Home. Cook is the son of Gordon E. Cook and Diana F. Cook of Marble Hill. He is self-employed with Eddie's Excavating...

ADVANCE -- An Advance woman suffered moderate injuries in a one-vehicle accident on Route NN Wednesday afternoon. Irene Lawson, 79, was in good condition Wednesday night at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Lawson was southbound on Route NN when her 1994 Buick ran off the roadway and struck a utility pole, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol...

SIKESTON -- B.J. "Jack" Smith, 72, of Sikeston died Wednesday, June 24, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Sept. 25, 1925, in Canalou, the son of John and Alpha Vaughn Smith. He married Wilma I. Barnes on May 18, 1946, at Canalou. She survives of the home...