Stories from Thursday, July 23, 1998

Ashley Jones of Jackson painted an ocean beach scene. Julia Rodenas of Jackson showed her mixed-media magic garden. Four young painters -- including John Free, 7, who donned an old blue dress shirt backward as a sort of painter's bib -- are daubing shades of azure tempera, filling in the sky in a landscape they had drawn in pencil...

WAPPAPELLO -- A Benton man drowned Wednesday while swimming with his family at Lake Wappapello, the Missouri Water Patrol said. Daniel E. Byrd, 64, drowned at People's Creek Swim Beach at the lake in southeast Missouri. After the family arrived about noon, Byrd walked directly into the lake. About 15 minutes later, the family was unable to locate him. No one saw him in distress or heard any cries for help, the patrol said...

The "Mighty Oak" is still mighty. Despite some people's concerns that more than the normal number of oak trees are dying, foresters and other tree specialists say it's no more than usual. A giant oak tree crashed into a Cape Girardeau home earlier this year...

Few residents sought refuge from the sweltering heat Wednesday in emergency shelters set up by the American Red Cross in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. Two shelters in Cape Girardeau and another in Jackson opened Tuesday and are scheduled to remain open today...

A few weeks before his death, Drug Enforcement Agency special agent Stacy Sims received a commemorative poster signed by the DEA's director. It called Sims a "DEA Hero." His parents, family and co-workers agree. "I always told him that he was my hero," said his mother, Gayle Gorham of Jackson. "He was his daddy's hero and his brother's hero. Because of him and what he has gone through, he made all of us better people."...

Cape Girardeau's Historic Preservation Commission wants to seek state funding to apply to the National Register of Historic Places for a downtown historic district. Commissioners also decided Wednesday night to seek state funds for an in-depth survey of the residential area surrounding downtown Cape Girardeau to identify historic properties...

July 23, 1998 Dear Jay, News arrives that a daughter named Mattie has made you a dad for the fifth time. Congratulations to you and Loree, whose saintliness has long been whispered among your friends and must now be proclaimed. Fatherhood suits you as well in spite of your love for motorcycles, bloody sports and the occasional hopped up beverage. You will teach your children well one way or another...

Did you know it snowed Tuesday? According to the National Weather Service's Web site, Cape Girardeau experienced three hours of light snow Tuesday afternoon. It wasn't a joke; it was a computer glitch. Weather readings in Cape Girardeau are taken by automated instruments. The gauges that measure temperature and dew point broke Tuesday morning. The instrument that checks the sky conditions was still working...

MAYBE I have become skeptical, but it's hard for me to believe that Gene Copeland is innocent. From national to local government, illegal acts have taken place. And now Copeland expects us to believe he is innocent. Copeland's former campaign worker has pleaded guilty, so something suspicious did take place. It's my belief that Copeland knew what was going on in 1996, and that is how he got elected to 19 consecutive terms...

For most residents of Cape Girardeau County, getting from here to there is taken for granted, thanks to widespread automobile ownership. But there is a sizable segment of the county's residents that must rely on other means of transportation for a variety of reasons: They don't feel safe driving any more, their eyesight is failing, they can't afford a car or they are physically limited...

In many respects, the annual YELL fund-raising effort will look very much the same this year as it has since its founding in 1991. But instead of being jointly sponsored by the Southeast Missourian and the Area Wide United Way, the program to raise funds for youth education literacy and learning will be overseen by a new YELL Foundation that has been formed. The Yell Foundation is in the process of obtaining not-for-profit tax status, which means contributions will be tax deductible...

To the editor: Having grown up in Cape, I was home recently for a visit and read your July 17 article stating "the risk of getting any disease from the bites of mosquitoes and ticks is very small." Add to that the tendency that people often adopt the "it can't happen to me" philosophy, and readers may not take adequate precautions or educate themselves to the symptoms of both early and undiagnosed late Lyme disease...

To the editor: The campaign commercials of U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond are clearly trying hard to convince us that the senator stands for all that is reasonable. What they don't tell us as they try to create the apple-pie-and-motherhood image is that Bond has one of the poorest records in Washington when it comes to protecting human and environmental health. It is for this reason that Bond has received harsh criticism from organizations such as the Sierra Club...

To the editor: Back in March, Bill Gates of Microsoft testified before a congressional committee that if automobiles had enjoyed the same gains in productivity that computers have achieved in the last 10 years, then we'd all be driving $25 cars that get 1,000 miles to the gallon. ...

To the editor: Upon President Clinton's return from a historic visit to China, debate about renewal of China's Most Favored Nation status, or now more appropriately called Normal Trade Relations, is bound to heat up. As this debate begins to brew, Farmland Industries Inc. ...

New Bethel Church of Cape Girardeau is putting on a fund-raising youth basketball clinic Friday. But this won't just be your ordinary hoop clinic. The guest will be Rick Mahorn, a longtime veteran of the National Basketball Association who -- if and when the current lockout ends -- will be entering his 18th NBA season...

As host of last year's Junior American Legion Mid-States Regional, Chaffee parlayed an automatic tournament berth into a stunning regional championship. This year, Chaffee will have to earn its way into the regional -- which is as far as a Junior Legion team can advance -- by winning the five-team state tournament which starts today in Ballwin...

Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons and Chaffee both recorded bounce-back victories Wednesday night as the District 14 American Legion baseball tournament continued at Capaha Field. Second-seeded Ford & Sons, which had been run-ruled by Jackson in Monday's tourney opener, came back with a vengeance by eliminating sixth-seeded Van Buren by way of a 19-2, run-rule destruction...

PERKS, Ill. -- Billy Joe Long Sr., 61, of Perks died at 3:34 a.m. Wednesday, July 22, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Born March 26, 1937, in Salem, Ky., he was the son of Arthur Eugene and Mary Leona Sharp. He married Mary Jean Meyer on July 9, 1980. She survives in Perks...

PERRYVILLE -- Mary R. Hinshaw, 77, of Perryville died Wednesday, July 22, 1998, at her residence. She was born Aug. 31, 1920, at Winchester, Ind., the daughter of Elbried and Hazel Overander Engel. She married Paul Hinshaw on Oct. 7, 1939. She had been a secretary at BBL in Biehle. She was a member of the Friends Church in Lynn, Ind...

SIKESTON -- Annie Mae Williams, 95, of Sikeston died Friday, July 17, 1998, at her home. She was born June 25, 1903, in Yazoo City, Miss., daughter of Will and Lizzie Mitchell Nelson. She married John W. Williams, who died in May 1974. Williams moved to Missouri in 1959. She was a member of West End Missionary Baptist Church and its Missionary Society...

Graveside service for James Ross Shade Sr. of St. Louis will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Fairmount Cemetery. The Rev. Roger Christiansen will officiate. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel from 11 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Friday. Shade, 83, died Monday, July 20, 1998, at his home...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Graveside service for Charles Alfred Miller will be held at 10 a.m. today at Oak Grove Cemetery. The Rev. Marvin Overby will officiate. McMikle Funeral Home at Charleston is in charge of arrangements. Miller, 75, died Tuesday, July 21, 1998, at Crowley Ridge Care Center in Dexter...

BERNIE -- Jimmie Joe McGowan, 63, of Bernie died Tuesday, July 21, 1998, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter. He was born Sept. 18, 1934, in Black Oak, Ark., son of John Raymond and Iola Laverne Wilson McGowan. He and Darlene Cooper were married June 5, 1959, at Bernie...

MARBLE HILL -- Andrew Michael McClard, 18, of Marble Hill died Tuesday, July 21, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was injured in a one-vehicle accident in Bollinger County. He was born June 9, 1980, in Cape Girardeau, son of Michael E. and Catherine E. Peters McClard...

PUXICO -- James H. Placher, 88, of Pacific died Wednesday, July 22, 1998, at the home of a daughter in DeSoto. He was born Oct. 15, 1909, at Kinder, son of Jesse H. and Mary Bell Hay Placher. He and Verda Cox were married Nov. 27, 1935, at Puxico. She died April 18, 1998...

SIKESTON -- George Philip "Phil" Melrose, 68, of Sikeston died Wednesday, July 22, 1998, at his home. He was born July 6, 1930, in Rector, Ark., son of Herbert and Clara Garrett Melrose. He and Mildred "Middy" Neislein were married June 20, 1953, in St. Louis...

Daughter to Derrick Lewis Foulks and LaShunda Jean Moore of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:20 a.m. Thursday, July 16, 1998. Name, Ty'Jeanai Rhonielle. Weight, 6 pounds 11 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Ms. Moore is the daughter of Calvin Payne and Ruth Moore of Cape Girardeau. Foulks is the son of Rhonda Ikeard and Calvin Ikeard of Paducah, Ky. He is employed at Port Cape Girardeau...

Dawn Marie LeDure, age 29 of Pataskala, OH passed away Tuesday, July 21, 1998. She is preceded in death by her grandparents, Richard and Evelyn Palmer. Dawn is survived by her husband of 7 1/2 years, Neil Donald LeDure, a daughter, Morgan Layne; her parents, Donald and Jane Gulasa of Dayton, OH; sister, Amy Lynn (Brad) Hunt; brother, Donald Gulasa Jr. ...