Stories from Monday, September 21, 1998

Westvaco Corp., a major manufacturer of paper, packaging and chemicals, reported third-quarter and nine-month sales and earnings, recently. Westvaco, which includes a paper processing facility at Wickliffe, Ky., reported sales at $728 million the third quarter, down just 1 percent from the same period in 1997. Third-quarter earnings were $31.7 million...

When Judith Anne Lang decided to open a gift shop on Main Street 3 1/2 years ago, she was told it wasn't a wise move. "Someone said, `you don't want to open a business downtown, it will fail,'" recalled Lang. Fortunately, Lang wasn't deterred by the gloomy talk...

Michael Tanner Furnishings opened its new, 9,000-square-foot store in Cape Girardeau last weekend. Michael Rust, a veteran in the furniture business, is targeting customers who want "good fashion, good quality and good prices." "We'll be reaching out to consumers with high-end attitudes and middle-income budgets," said Rust. "We want to offer fashion at reasonable prices."...

This "Financial Focus" column is prepared by Edward Jones Investments, headquartered in St. Louis. Jones includes branches throughout the nation, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson. Like guests at a buffet reception, today's investors can choose from a wide financial menu. Some of these dishes will agree with them, and others may not. But those who choose a variety will be more satisfied than those who select only one or two options...

Agriculture is one of the most hazardous industries in the United States. In 1997, the death rate of 21 per 100,000 farm workers was second only to the mining industry. Some 710 workers died, and more than 150,000 were permanently disabled by injuries on U.S. farms and ranches...

The Finch-Temples Insurance Agency and Van Weelden-Riley Insurance, both of Cape Girardeau, have formed a new and separate corporation. The new corporation -- Finch-Temples-Van Weelden-Riley LLC (FTVR) -- has contracted with the Charles Crane Agency in St. Louis, to be a satellite office in Southeast Missouri...

Austin Acquisitions, professional real estate investors which opened operations two years ago, is adding private investors to its list of clients, in the business of buying and selling notes on residential and commercial property. Holding notes is a good investment for anyone, says Austin Acquisitions owners Ross and Cynthia Austin...

POPLAR BLUFF -- The Boat Shop Inc., opened recently at 818 Peach St., in Poplar Bluff. Owned by Brad and Pam Hattett, the new business offers sales and service for new and used boats.

POPLAR BLUFF -- Construction is under way on the new headquarters building for First Community Bank at 2911 N. Westwood Blvd. in Poplar Bluff. The new headquarters will be a two-story, 27,000-square-foot building.

ORAN -- David's Food Mart opened recently in Oran. David Gelsheimer, who has 20 years experience in the grocery business, recently purchased the grocery store at Railroad and Shelby streets, from Tim White. The grocery store will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily...

Mid-South Tractor Parts at Sikeston, a source for replacement parts, has adopted a new name -- Worthington Ag Parts. The name, said Jim McCall, manager of the Sikeston site, is a companywide effort to be recognized as the nation's single largest source of ag replacement parts...

The Internal Revenue Service will hold a special "Problem Solving Day" in Cape Girardeau Oct. 7, at the IRS office at 137 S. Broadview. Local taxpayers may stop by the office any time from noon to 6, or by appointment, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. During the open house, taxpayers will have an opportunity to meet with IRS employees...

The Southeast Missouri Restaurant Association will hold its awards dinner Oct. 7, at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau. The social hour starts at 6 p.m., with dinner to follow at 7. Reservations are available by contacting Paula Valle, Family Inn, P. O. Box 464, Ste. Genevieve, Mo., 63670, telephone, (573)-543-2280...

The Shaw Group, a division of Shaw Management Corp., headquartered in Belleville, Ill., which assists people in Social Security disability and railroad retirement disability claims, recently observed its 10th anniversary at its Cape Girardeau office...

Michael Sterling and Curt Gaddis were guest speakers at the recent Cape Girardeau Area Personnel Association meeting and discussed prepaid legal services. CAPA meets monthly. The next meeting will be held Oct. 21 at Drury Lodge. The annual CAPA fall conference will be held Nov. 18 at the Drury Lodge...

The Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission held its September meeting last week. The Commisison, which previously met monthly, will meet bi-monthly. The six meetings throughout the year will rotate as to sites, to include meetings in each of the six counties...

E.C. Barton and Co., headquartered in Jonesboro, Ark., has purchased 74 West Building Supply and Home Center in Cape Girardeau, from Herb Annis and Gary Helwege. Niel Crowson, president and chief executive officer of E.C. Barton, announced the purchase of the Cape Girardeau company Tuesday. The 74 West Building Supply and Home center at 4680 state Highway 74...

Roger K. Hamm of Chaffee has joined the MFA Oil Co. of Jackson as a truck driver and salesman. Hamm has more than 26 years experience in sales and delivery of oil and fuel products. Linda Hopen Shelton has joined Coldwell Banker Hamilton Realty as a sales associate...

School administrators still are awaiting final results from the first mandatory round of state tests taken by students last spring. Local administrators were less than enthusiastic about the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) results they received earlier this month. MAP, the state's new performance-based system, was created and administered by CTB-McGraw Hill...

Hundreds of spectators packed into Cape Girardeau's Capaha Park Sunday to view some of slickest automobiles in all of Southeast Missouri. The vehicles were on display at the 21st annual Car Show sponsored by the River City Rodders. The show is held every year in Cape Girardeau's Capaha Park on the Sunday following the SEMO District Fair...

The flashing lights of the amusement rides were gone, as were the excited laughter, squeals and screams from those who braved the rides. The smells and the taste of the corn dogs and funnel cakes had already faded, and the songs of Willie Nelson were but faint echoes as workers braved the heat and humidity on Sunday afternoon to complete as much as they could of the arduous task of tearing down and cleaning up after the end of the 143rd annual SEMO District Fair...

A Cape Girardeau professor who traveled the state last year speaking on behalf of a vanishing artifact of American history -- the barn -- will receive the Missouri Humanities Council's highest award. Dr. Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University, and four others will receive the Acorn Award during a ceremony Oct. 14 at the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City...

Missouri's soybean crop is forecast at a record high this year. The projected yield of soybeans, according to the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service, is about 38 bushels an acre from 5.1 millions acres. That translates to 193.8 million bushels, a 5 percent increase over last year. But the going rate for a bushel of beans now is $4.93, down from $6.46 a year ago...

Not too long ago, my buddy Sondra called and demanded to know how hurricanes are named. Personally, I would think a newlywed would have other things to think about, but I guess everyone's interested in the weather. According to my research (which involved typing "hurricane names" into my favorite Internet search engine and hitting "enter"), the National Weather Service maintains lists of names for Atlantic/Gulf Coast storms and for Pacific storms spotted near Hawaii...

7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21 Study session 5 p.m. Public hearings -- A public hearing on the necessity to improve Missouri Street from Mississippi Street to Scott Street. -- A public hearing regarding the necessity to make certain sewer improvements in Lateral Sewer District No. 14-M-2 and certain lots in Lateral Sewer District No. 14-R-1, Lakeshore Drive area...

Three people were killed early Sunday morning in a one-vehicle accident on Main Street in Perryville. Benjamin DeClue, 24; his brother Tate DeClue, 27; and Jenny Buchheit, 19, all of Perryville, were killed in the accident at 1:45 Sunday morning. The accident occurred on Main Street, two-tenths of a mile from Highway 51...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, Who do you think will win the home run race and how many will they have?" Pete Dennis, Oran: "I think Big Mack will. He's the man. He's got the cannons on him. Sixty-nine. I don't know, it's a good number." Brian Johnston, Farmington:...

To the editor: President Clinton's actions while in office are under intense scrutiny now that the Starr report is public. But Mr. Starr's report only substantiates Clinton's legacy of chronic abuse of presidential power and moral deficiency exhibited in his environmental and private-property policies. ...

A similar accomplishment has taken place up the road at McClure, Ill., where a group of citizens pooled resources to secure a public library. More than 1,500 book titles are on the shelves of the new McClure Library in the Baptist Mission building on Market Street, and the library is sure to grow. It has been many years since McClure had its own library...

Unique not only best describes a new hands-on museum at Egyptian School near Tamms, Ill., but the way it was put together as well. The brainchild of teacher Jackie Meadows, the Wham Bam Doodle Hands-On Museum of Natural Science and Resources occupies two classrooms in the elementary school, home of Southern Illinois' only public school-based museum...

Over the years it has been my good fortune to have friends who seem to sense when I need their help the most, often surprising me by supplying just the right information at the right moment. I am happy to report that some of my friends have, as in times past, come through with specialized information and counsel that only they could supply...

To the editor: Everyone has heard the expression, "What goes around comes around." Well, Nixon helped to persecute a lot of people along with McCarthy in the late 1940s. Sure enough, about 30 years later, even though he deserved what happened to him because of Watergate, at the time I am sure that he and many of his friends thought he was being persecuted...

SIKESTON -- Beatrice McCormick, 95, formerly of Sikeston and a resident of Miner Nursing Center, died Friday, Sept. 18, 1998, at the nursing center. She was born Aug. 21, 1903, at Point Pleasant, daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Jessie MacElley Allen. She and D.D. "Dick" McCormick were married in 1920. He died in 1956...

MARBLE HILL -- The Rev. Quinton Robins, 78, of Marble Hill died Saturday, Sept. 19, 1998, at his home. He was born Nov. 27, 1919, at Bessville, son of Earl and Vallie Thomasson Robins. He and Mabel Avanda Fulton were married on Sept. 3, 1938. She died Jan. 18, 1994. He and Ruth M. Littlejohn were married June 14, 1997...

SCOTT CITY -- Hazel B. Estes, 87, of Scott City died Sunday, Sept. 20, 1998, at her home. She was born March 19, 1911, at Cape Girardeau, daughter of Ezra and Elizabeth Roe Cowan. She and Floyd Noel Estes were married July 29, 1926, at Jonesboro, Ill. He died Dec. 25, 1996...

PERRYVILLE -- Jenny Lynn Buchheit, 19, of Perryville died Sunday, Sept. 20, 1998, from an automobile accident in Perryville. She was born Sept. 11, 1979, at Cape Girardeau, daughter of William Pannier and Cindy Buchheit. She worked for Sabreliner Corp...

SCOTT CITY -- Samuel Harvey Pace, 79, of Scott City died Sunday, Sept. 20, 1998, at his home. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

Vern B. Dost, 68, of Fort Pierce, Fla., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, Sept. 18, 1998, at his home. He was born in Oak Ridge. He lived in Florida for the past 34 years and was a heavy equipment operator. For the past eight years, he worked for the Charles Redi Mix Concrete Co. in Fort Pierce...

MARBLE HILL -- Edna Jewell Gilder, 69, of Marble Hill died Saturday, Sept. 19, 1998, at St. Louis University Hospital. She was born Sept. 24, 1928, at Lutesville, daughter of Lewis and Edna Johnson Mansker. She and Wesley Gilder were married April 15, 1995...

KARNAK, Ill. -- Verna Hickerson, 88, of Karnak died Saturday, Sept. 19, 1998, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at Wilson Funeral Home in Karnak.

ADVANCE -- Janet D. Clark, 39, of Mauldin, S.C., formerly of Advance, died Friday, Sept. 18, 1998, at Greenville, S.C. She was born April 20, 1959, at Advance, daughter of Curtis and Lela Summers Wallace. She was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Survivors include two brothers, Charles W. ...

ADVANCE -- Lucille A. Price, 77, died Sunday, Sept. 20, 1998, at Lucy Lee Hospital in Poplar Bluff. Arrangements are incomplete at Morgan Funeral Home in Advance.

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Richard Arlan Vernon Wilson Sr., 43, of Dongola died Saturday, Sept. 19, 1998, at Union County Hospital in Anna. He was born Dec. 5, 1954, at Anna, son of Paul Vernon and Florence Stevenson Wilson. He and Estelita Lmoste Zoilo were married Dec. 23, 1975...

Julia Andrews Tillis, 95, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Sept. 16, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Sept. 3, 1903, at Yazoo City, Miss., daughter of Willie and Josephine Andrews. She was married to Curtis Tillis, who preceded her in death...