Stories from Thursday, August 20, 1998

Chris Scherer usually spends part of his day giving music therapy at Southeast Hospital. This Saturday he'll be trying to make a different crowd happy. Scherer is one of a number of performers slated for Saturday's "Wailing in the Woods" festival. Saturday's day of music, crafts and other activities will take place at the Black Forest Villages north of Cape Girardeau...

Barbecue teams from throughout the region will compete this weekend for the right to become known as the best backyard chefs around. The sixth annual Cape BBQ Fest will be held Friday and Saturday at Arena Park. The event is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce agribusiness committee...

From left, are Lori Prewitt, Megwyn Sanders, Anna Ruggiero, Ellen Dillon and Kim Westrich perform a scene during dress rehearsal for the musical comedy "Nunsense." Though "Nunsense" is an inspired musical romp that does for Catholicism what Monty Python did for the Holy Grail, you certainly don't have to be Catholic to spend the night in the throes of a prolonged belly laugh...

FARRAR -- Ronnie Lorenz just can't get his stubborn mule Lily to jump, but she is the only one of the seven on his Perry County farm that won't perform on command. Lorenz has tried every trick in the book -- from hazers to rewards -- to get the mule to jump. Hazers are people who stand behind the mule to encourage it to jump by waving hats, clapping or yelling. Even with that kind of commotion, Lily won't cooperate...

BLOOMFIELD -- A state veterans cemetery will be put in Bloomfield adjacent to a new Stars and Stripes Museum and Library that is under construction in this Stoddard County community. The cemetery is one of two veterans cemeteries being developed in Eastern Missouri. The other will be in Randolph County. Sites for the two cemeteries were announced this month...

Cape Girardeau's largest surgical group, Cape Girardeau Surgical Clinic Inc., has notified Blue Cross Blue Shield that it will leave the HealthNet Blue provider network Oct. 1. Sarah Holt, clinic administrator, said the physicians opted to leave because HealthNet Blue was originally developed as an insurance product to be sold through a joint venture between MedAmerica HealthNet and Blue Cross Blue Shield in 1994. ...

St. Francis Medical Center officials attempted Wednesday to allay fears of a group of Catholics worried that the proposed affiliation with Southeast Missouri Hospital would lead to loss of the medical center's Catholic identity. St. Francis president and chief executive officer James Sexton and members of the medical center's board of directors met with a group of 10 people who represented the concerns of many area Catholics...

Aug. 20, 1998 Dear Mike, Thanks for the letter. I didn't know your daughter was interested in journalism. If I had known, I would have warned you that she may fall in and out of love with it over and over again. Lots of people leave disenchanted with the hours, the pay, the diurnal pressure to produce, and sometimes with the frustration at not being able to remake the world like you do the front page every day...

I JUST want to thank the people who were driving their white Volkswagen when I was at Cape Rock Park and ran out of gas. It was late, and these folks went out of their way. They said they would go get some gas. Obviously they had to go all the way across town to do this, and I don't know too many people who would do that. On top of that, when they brought the gas, they refused payment. Those are the kind of folks that bring Cape Girardeau to the place where we want it to be...

The judge in Jonesboro, Ark., looked at two boys standing in his courtroom, ages 12 and 14, and said: "Here the punishment will not fit the crime." The judge was about to hand out the severest punishment possible under the law for murder by a juvenile: detention in a juvenile center until age 21 -- or sooner, if juvenile authorities determine otherwise...

For Leonard F. Sander, service was a way of life. He served Cape Girardeau County for more than two decades as commissioner and circuit clerk. Sander may have passed on, but his contributions to the county will long be remembered. As a commissioner, Sander was frugal with taxpayer dollars and committed to improving county roads and bridges. ...

To the editor: Several years ago, Dr. Frank Nickell of the Southeast Missouri State University history department conceived the idea of a spring drive through the historical areas to the north of Cape Girardeau ending in the Black Forest for a craft show. He put one notice in a magazine describing the drive. Frank said he got calls from coast to coast and border to border. Each call included the question: "Can we see the river?"...

To the editor: After reading many doctor-related articles, I decided to throw in my two cents in this public controversy. The public seems to disregard the fact that doctors are no different than any other legitimate business. We live in a free country, and doctors are as free to do business as anyone else. ...

To the editor: No doubt I will not be the first to point out the transcriptionists error in the lead Speak Out comment of a recent edition. I. Ben Miller (not Ivan) was a prosperous dairy farmer who developed an outstanding recipe for ice cream which I believe Midwest Dairy bought. ...

To the editor: No. 3: I don't know anything about the issues ... who can read that stuff anyway. CAROL POOLE Jackson...

Aug. 31 is the deadline for Cape Girardeau's historic preservation grant application. Brian Driscoll, chairman of the city's Historic Preservation Commission, is putting the finishing touches on the grant now, he reported at Wednesday night's commission meeting...

Jeff Shaw's football career at Southeast Missouri State University has certainly come full circle. Shaw was a standout option quarterback in high school who signed with Southeast to play that position. But by the time he got to Cape Girardeau in 1994, the coach who had recruited Shaw left and plans of running an option attack never quite materialized...

If Southeast Missouri State University's football Indians are able to turn in a successful season this year, then they will have certainly earned it. That's because the 1998 Indians are facing what appears to be one of the most challenging schedules in school history...

SIKESTON -- Funeral for James M. "Jim" Young of Sikeston will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. The Revs. Ralph Marshall and Victor Marshall will officiate. Burial will be in Blodgett Cemetery at Blodgett. Friends may call at the chapel from 9 a.m. until service time...

JACKSON -- Richard M. Hines, 39, of Columbia died Monday, Aug. 17, 1998, in Columbia. He was born April 11, 1959, in Kansas City, son of William C. and Connie Thomason Hines. His father was formerly of Jackson. Hines attended Guliver Academy in Coral Gables, Fla., and Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington...

ESSEX -- Sherrill Lynn Preston, 34, of Essex died Monday, Aug. 17, 1998, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter. She was born July 8, 1964, at Hayti, daughter of Charles and Betty Gaskin Freeman. She and Rory Preston were married Nov. 4, 1994, at Essex...

PERRYVILLE -- Debra S. Weber, 41, of Perryville died Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1998, at her home. She was born Oct. 22, 1956, in St. Louis, daughter of Daniel and Flora Jacoby Stein. She and Ken Weber were married Dec. 31, 1982. Weber was a registered nurse at Ste. Genevieve Care Center. She was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church and Lutherans for Life...

Funeral for Victoria Ann "Vicki" Klassen of Newton, Kan., will be held at 10 a.m. today at Petersen Funeral Chapel in Newton. The Revs. Christian Tirre and Joyce Homes will officiate. Private burial will be in Newton. Klassen, 76, died Monday, Aug. 17, 1998, at HCA Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kan...

Kole Robert Forester died Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1998, at Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis. He was born earlier that day at Southeast Missouri Hospital, son of Robert Dean and Mary Ann Lane Forester of Cape Girardeau. Survivors include his parents; paternal grandparents, Ron and Sharon Livingston Forester of Cape Girardeau; maternal grandparents, Larry and Mary Templin Lane of Tampa, Fla.; paternal great-grandmother, Geretta Livingston of Pevely; and maternal great-grandmother, Carol Templin of Tampa.. ...

CHARLESTON -- Atha Lee Horton, 68, of Chicago Heights, died Saturday, Aug. 15, 1998. She was born April 30, 1930, in Clarkton, daughter of Starling and Bea Bertha Hudson Horton. Horton lived in Charleston most of her life, moving to Chicago Heights about a year ago...

BLOOMFIELD -- Hazel Allen, 86, of Bloomfield died Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Watkins and Sons Funeral Home at Dexter is in charge of arrangements.

Daughter to Donald and Lauren Presson of St. Louis, 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, 1998. Name, Kimberly Mary. Weight, 7 pounds 8 ounces. Mrs. Presson is the daughter of Linda Green and Karen and Mike Westerheide of St. Louis. Presson is the son of Don and Janet Presson of Cape Girardeau...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Authorities were still searching Wednesday night for an 82-year-old man who walked away from a health care facility in Cobden Tuesday night. The Union County Sheriff's Department Search and Rescue team began looking for the man, an Alzheimer's patient, Wednesday morning in wooded areas near Cobden...

SCOTT CITY -- Wayne C. "Buddy" Fiesler, 87, of Cocoa Beach, Fla., died Sunday, Aug. 16, 1998, at Plano Medical Center in Plano, Texas. He was born Aug. 18, 1910, at Flat River, son of Emil and Lillian Mae Arbuthnot Fiesler. He and Geneva "Sissy" Clark were married Dec. 2, 1939, in Cape Girardeau. She died July 2, 1956. He later married Ila Hollyfield Sept. 20, 1958. She died March 7, 1983...