Stories from Monday, July 13, 1998

A new power generation plant is planned for Southeast Missouri. A Stoddard County site near Idalia is one of the sites being considered for a 100-megawatt power plant being planned by Associated Electric Cooperative Inc., headquartered at Springfield...

The Jackson Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Tour will be held Thursday, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. The annual tour starts at the Jackson High School Gymnasium about 8:45 a.m. The group will split into two groups and will alternate in visiting the Jackson High School Science Building and the new Notre Dame High School building during the morning session. Following lunch in Jackson City Park, the groups will visit the BBL Building and Jo Ann's Green House...

The Missouri Housing Development Commission has made a conditional commitment with Holigan Homes of Missouri Limited to finance 50 single-family lots west of Sikeston. The commitment means that MHDC will loan Holigan Homes $595,000 at 7 percent interest, said Richard Groes, executive director of MHDC...

Illinois tourism revenues have reached record levels for a 12th consecutive year. Tourism revenue reached a record $19.5 billion in 1997, up 6.5 percent from 1996, according to a U.S. Travel Center study. "Statistics show that our tourism promotion efforts through the 1990s are paying off," said Gov. Jim Edgar...

Dave Vaughn is the new manager at Hobby Lobby, 217 S. Kingshighway. Vaughn, a Missouri native, is a graduate of Missouri Southern College at Joplin, with a degree in marketing management, and has been with Hobby Lobby for two years. He started with the company at Nacogdoches, Texas, and was most recently manager of a Hobby Lobby Creative Center in Richmond, Ind...

Mercantile Bancorporation, headquartered in St. Louis, announced it has completed the purchase of Firstbank of Illinois Co., a $2.2 billion multi-bank holding company, headquartered at Springfield, Ill., and CBT Corp., a $1 billion multi-bank holding company headquartered in Paducah, Ky...

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., a multi-station radio and TV broadcast company headquartered in Baltimore, has announced it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Max Media Properties L.L.C. The $252 million deal was announced in December; the final deal was completed July 7...

The Small Business Development Center will conduct counseling sessions at Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Perryville this month. The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available July 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office. The counseling sessions (about one hour) are free. Call 335-3312 for appointment...

C.J.'s Gift, Gardens and Gourmet has opened at 1914 Independence. The new business, owned by Carolyn Neal, includes a number of gift items -- baskets, lamps, collectible statues, picture frames -- along with items for the garden, including fountains, and a variety of gourmet foods...

A new Amoco service station opened recently on Route K near Interstate 55. A new building is under construction on Rust Avenue. It will house a company that converts factory vehicles into sports cars, and/or, beef them up into "muscle" vehicles. An alteration permit has been issued for a downtown building to house a lounge at Main and Independence...

Nancy Moreton had a picture in mind when she headed to the pool with her daughter, Catherine, and friends. "My brother is a professional photographer in Kansas," Moreton said. "I'd seen the stop-action pictures he takes, and I wanted to try it." But, Moreton, who lives in Cape Girardeau, is an amateur. "I knew I'd have to take a roll of film, get it developed and try again."...

Expansion of Missouri's Medicaid program is putting the Caring Program for Children, a private, non-profit health care foundation, out of business. The Caring program, established in 1987 by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri to provide free health care for children whose families could not afford private health insurance, will shut down in October, said executive director Lee B. Michelson...

Construct a new building and they will come ... the building inspectors, that is. With so many new construction projects, this year is turning out to be one of the busiest for the Cape Girardeau Division of Inspection Services. "There's a lot of building going on," said Rick Murray, inspection services director for the city...

Nearly 5,000 spectators crowded along the runways of Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Sunday afternoon for the closing day of the Cape Regional Air Festival. Airport manager Bruce Loy said he was thrilled by the size of Sunday's crowd and the positive comments that he had received from those attending the festival...

Whenever a new building is constructed in Cape Girardeau it requires a permit. And the permits require a fee. Permit fees are based on square footage for new buildings. For remodeling, fees are based on cost with fees set consistently for a number of items...

I baked bread the other day. Before you get too impressed, let me add that I used a bread machine to bake the bread. The machine does all the work. All I had to do was dump in the flour, water and yeast. And two hours later, presto! Fresh-baked bread, and I didn't have to work up a sweat, either by kneading the dough or firing up the oven...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "What is your favorite part of the Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival?" Tyke Thrower, Jackson "The stunts and the guy Wayne Handley who just got done. That's pretty neat." Bev Wiedefeld, Jackson "I like all of it. I like the jets. The hornet is what they were doing when we first came in. It was great. I like all of it though it's pretty exciting."...

A battle is brewing over whether slot machines should be allowed on riverboat casinos that sit in artificial basins off the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Voters on Nov. 3 will decide the question, which will be posed in the form of a constitutional amendment...

With all the changes taking place in the former Soviet-bloc countries since the downfall of communism and all of the expertise available on how to implement changes, it says a lot for Southeast Missouri that a group of 20 Ukrainian agriculture officials would come here to learn...

To the editor: Recently in Speak Out I read criticism of doctors who charge too much for their services. I agree that medical charges are enormous and often beyond our means. Think for a moment, though, what we would do should a serious illness strike. To whom could we turn? Our only alternative is a doctor...

Several businesses in Southeast Missouri will not be able to sell liquor because the state has temporarily suspended their licenses. Officials from the Missouri Division of Liquor Control have suspended the licenses of 10 businesses for up to seven days for violating state liquor laws...

The McDowell Capahas have won six National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional championships in the 1990s. But none of those titles came any easier than the one they captured over the weekend at Capaha Field. Plowing through an extremely watered-down field, the Capahas wrapped up their second consecutive Mid-South Regional crown by routing the Pine Bluff (Ark.) Braves 18-4 Sunday night. The contest was stopped after seven innings by the 10-run mercy rule...

JACKSON -- Chaffee's Junior American Legion baseball team rallied for six runs in the seventh inning Sunday then got a game-ending home run from Adam Seyer in the eighth to beat Sikeston 9-8 and claim the District 14 Tournament at Legion Field. Chaffee, the defending district champion, won all three of its tourney games to improve its overall record to 28-14. Chaffee now advances to Thursday's zone tournament in St. Louis...

ORAN -- Walter F. "Jack" Masters Sr., 81, died Sunday, July 12, 1998, at his home. He was born Jan. 17, 1917, at Marquand, son of Henry and Ollie Dudley Masters. Masters was a veteran, serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was a retired shoe cutter for the Florsheim Shoe Co. at Chaffee...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Katherine L. Womack, 58, of Jonesboro died Saturday, July 11, 1998, at her home. She was born July 19, 1939, in McClure, daughter of Lester Gilbert and Violet Mary Johnson Smithey. She and Ralph Womack were married on Feb. 15, 1957, in East St. Louis...

MCCLURE, Ill. -- Beatrice Lucille Hafer, 62, of Summerville, S.C., died Saturday, July 11, 1998, at Charleston Hospital in Charleston, S.C. She was born Dec. 21, 1935, at Bradley, Ill., daughter of Phillip and Irma Mae Alexander Ashline. She was married to Ronald D. Hafer Sr...

ADVANCE -- Lillian M. Davis, 90, of Advance died Sunday, July 12, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Morgan Funeral Home in Advance.

Mary Langston, 78, of Livona, Mich., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Saturday, July 11, 1998, at St. Mary's Hospital in Livona. Arrangements are incomplete at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel in Cape Girardeau.

Two Jackson women were injured Sunday morning after a head-on collision a mile north of Fruitland. Mary Amos and Elizabeth Wessell both received moderate injuries and were taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital after a two-vehicle accident shortly before 10 a.m. Sunday morning...

Ruby M. Zimmerman, 90, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, July 11, 1998, at Fountainbleau Lodge in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 19, 1908, in Bollinger County, daughter of Oscar and Julia Celestine Dennis Loyd. She and Charles Zimmerman were married June 3, 1946, in Arkansas. He preceded her in death...