Stories from Thursday, November 5, 1998

To the editor: In response to the Oct. 26 article about the doctor slain by a sharpshooter in his home, I am outdone by the people who call themselves Christians. Reflecting on a quote in the story given by the Rev. Donald Spitz: "We as Christians have a responsibility to protect the innocent from being murdered the same way we would want someone to protect us."...

Her mother thought her precociously talented high school daughter was learning art so she could become a fashion illustrator. But Lucia Autorino Salemme didn't draw the skinny, angular models fashion illustration requires. "They were all like Old Master drawings," says the 79-year-old Salemme, whose work now is represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the Chicago Art Institute...

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson will travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina, today for a weeklong conference on global warming. Emerson will be a member a bipartisan congressional delegation that will attend the conference. More than 168 nations will be represented at the conference, which will discuss efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions as outlined at the 1997 conference in Kyoto, Japan...

Dana Corporation's Spicer Axle Division at Cape Girardeau has taken on a new name. "The Dana Corporation name and diamond logo will remain," said Dave Blanchard, manager of the plant at 20-75 Corporate Circle. But in place of the current Spicer Axle Division will be Spicer Light Vehicle Axle Division...

Some 1,400 tons of leaves will be raked, vacuumed and trucked away from Cape Girardeau neighborhoods during the annual leave pickup program that begins Monday and runs through December. Tim Gramling, assistant public works director, explained that leaves are collected for lots of practical reasons. "Leaves are a big menace to most property owners," he said. "They are looking for a way to get rid of the leaves."...

Cape Girardeau educators will offer a lesson in school finance to the public during a seminar Tuesday. "A Crash Course on School Finance" will be presented at 6 p.m. in the Central Junior High School cafeteria. The Cape Girardeau School District Community Teachers Association is sponsoring the event, which is free and open to anyone...

The federal judge who is in charge of school desegregation in Kansas City doesn't appear to have the patience of his predecessor, U.S. District Judge Russell Clark, who virtually ran the school system from the start of the case until 1997. U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple isn't very pleased with the continuing effort to turn the district back over to local control. He is so upset, in fact, that last week he threatened to put the district in receivership...

More than 90 traditional Native American performers are coming from as far away as Oklahoma, Texas and South Dakota to participate in Saturday's second annual SEMO Powwow. More than 3,000 people attended last year's event, a celebration of traditional Indian culture that offers music, dancing, food and opportunities to learn more about the region's history...

If the decision about Missouri's riverboat casinos that aren't on a river -- the boats-in-moats issue -- had been left up to voters in the 8th Congressional District, there would have been a far different result than the 55 percent statewide voter approval of Amendment 9 in Tuesday's balloting...

To the editor: To prove that I read the Southeast Missourian, to applaud Jeffrey Jackson's column and his reminder to think again of Dante, to argue a bit with the writer -- all are good reasons for sending a letter. The world would be less anguished if we spent more time reading Dante and less watching "Oprah." For thousands of years, poets and psalmists expressed our own joys and griefs, poets like Homer and David and Tennyson. ...

More than 80 percent of respondents to a recent survey support the creation of a Lutheran high school in Southeast Missouri. Members from 14 regional Lutheran congregations completed the survey, circulated to judge the level of interest in developing and funding such a school. Of the respondents, 787 said a Lutheran high school is needed, while 168 said one is not...

The R/B River Explorer will dock at Cape Girardeau's riverfront today. The floating hotel and touring vessel, owned by RiverBarge Excursions of New Orleans and propelled by a towboat, is one of the largest passenger boats on the inland waterways. The vessel is made up of two 295-foot barges and custom built to include a floating hotel-resort. It can carry 198 passengers...

Nov. 5, 1998 Dear Pat, Until DC, the idea that you could love a building seemed foreign to me. They were made of bricks and concrete but had no heart and soul, I thought, nothing to love. But I cringed whenever my parents even talked about someday selling their house, the place I called home. And after moving back to Cape Girardeau from California early this decade, I often walked the downtown streets looking at the fine old houses, wondering if someday one would be called home. Now it is...

The Wesley House, a United Methodist student center at Southeast Missouri State University, will host a craft sale to benefit Ten Thousand Villages. The sale will be held Nov. 11-13 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Wesley House, 415 N. Pacific. Items for sale include folk art, holiday heirlooms, toys, baskets, pottery and jewelry. All proceeds benefit the Ten Thousand Villages artisans around the world...

Southeast Missouri State University will celebrate Veterans Day with a special flag ceremony. University President Dr. Dale Nitzschke will join the university's Air Force ROTC unit in a special flag ceremony at 6 p.m. on Nov. 11 in front of Academic Hall...

Six students from Franklin Elementary School won Southeast Missouri State University's poster contest. Area students who entered were asked to design a "Remember to Vote Nov. 3" poster. The six winners were Alexis Wicks, fourth grade; Mallory Rhodes, second grade; Stephen Gilhaus, fourth grade; Michelle Stanfield, fourth grade; Brittany Rhodes, fourth grade; and Audrey Stanfield, fifth grade...

Southeast Missouri State University senior Janelle Quigley was able to continue her brilliant cross country season by winning Saturday's Ohio Valley Conference Championships. And as a result, Quigley has been honored as the OVC Female Runner of the Year -- the first time any Southeast cross country athlete (male or female) has gained the league's top award...

The 1998 Southeast Missouri State homecoming brought many alumni and present members of the university together in a variety of functions. Our game with Middle Tennessee State was competitive and entertaining but ended in a disappointing 21-19 loss...

It won't count on his team's record, but Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner figures tonight's exhibition opener against the Dreambuilders will still be extremely important. With just a little more than a week left to go before the season opener, Garner knows that the Indians' two exhibition games will go a long way toward determining just how sharp Southeast is to begin the campaign...

When Woodland High faces El Dorado Springs Friday morning in its opening match in the Class 2A state volleyball tournament, coach Tammy Brock will preside over the Lady Cardinals in a noticeably reserved manner. Brock, who is recuperating from giving birth to a son, turned over the reins to Southeast Missouri State University students Emily Johnson and Charity Huff in the second week of this season. ...

Sarah Booth School: Woodland Sport: Volleyball Co-coaches: Tammy Brock and Emily Johnson This season: Booth, a 5-foot-7 junior and three-year starter, is among Woodland's leaders in most categories, with 155 spike kills, 200 digs and 17 blocks. Booth also is an accomplished figure skater who has attended the Junior Olympic trials...

Craig Knoth School: Cape Central Sport: Football Coach: Jerry Dement This season: Knoth, a 6-foot-2, 275-pound senior lineman and three-year starter, has 46 tackles, three fumble recoveries and four sacks this season at defensive tackle. On offense, the 1997 1st-team all-SEMO Conference selection is the Tigers' most dominant blocker. ...

It's looking more and more like Tennessee State's football Tigers just might be a team of destiny this season. The Tigers trailed Ohio Valley Conference leader Eastern Illinois 21-0 at halftime last weekend in Charleston, Ill. -- but rallied to pull off a stunning 27-21 victory...

No playoff hopes rest on the game. No conference title or even traditional rivalry. But Chaffee's matchup with Ste. Genevieve Valle tonight gives the improving Red Devils a chance to play one of the state's most storied programs at a time when they have a better chance to compete...

CHARLESTON -- Hubert F. Morris, 96, of Charleston died Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998, at Miner Nursing Center. He was born Oct. 26, 1902, in Johnson County, Ill., son of Amos and Alice Jones Morris. He married Mable Moon Aug. 31, 1924. She preceded him in death...

SIKESTON -- Vina Franklin, 64, of Sikeston died Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Oct. 5, 1934, in Mississippi County, daughter of William and Enna Drury Crisel. Franklin lived in Mississippi County most of her life. She had been a waitress at area restaurants, retiring in 1997. She was a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church...

OAK RIDGE -- Kenneth W. Lang, 43, formerly of Oak Ridge, died Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998, at Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Services of Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 6, 1955, in Cape Girardeau, son of William and Gladys Sewing Lang. Lang was a bricklayer many years, and had been a truck driver for Danny Gilder Co., retiring in 1990 because of ill health. He was a member of Zion United Methodist Church at Old Appleton...

ALTENBURG -- Emma L. Steffens, 94, of Altenburg, died Wednesday, Nov. 4, 1998, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born July 10, 1904, at Farrar, daughter of Ernst and Magdalena Roth Koenig. She and Ferdinand Steffens were married June 12, 1927. He died Nov. 26, 1994...

JACKSON -- Edgar O. Jones, 86, of Jackson died Wednesday, Nov. 4, 1998, at Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 24, 1912, at Dexter, son of Columbus J. and Dora Rufner Jones. He and Kathleen Rhodes were married in 1939. Jones was plant manager at National Lead Co. in Fredericktown from 1953-60. He was employed by Western Electric/AT&T from 1960 until retiring in 1977...

JACKSON -- Funeral for Fred R. Wilkinson of Jackson will be held at 11 a.m. today at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson. The Revs. John Goff and Ronald Collier will officiate. Entombment will be later in Wisconsin Memorial Park Mausoleum and Cemetery in Milwaukee...

ULLIN, Ill. -- Larry Eugene Gibbons, 55, of Dublin, Ohio, died Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998, at Grady Memorial Hospital in Delaware, Ohio. Crain Funeral Home at Ullin is in charge of arrangements.

Daughter to Jesse J. and Marla K. Sproat of Farmington, Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Crystal City, 1:51 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1998. Name, Jessica Laura Christine. Weight, 9 pounds ounce. First child. Mrs. Sproat is the former Marla Sitze, daughter of Jerry and Polly Sitze of Glen Allen. She is a home base supervisor at Jefferson County Head Start. Sproat is the son of Alyce R. Sproat of Hot Springs, Ark., and the late John C. Sproat. He is a police officer with Festus Police Department...

ANNA, Ill. -- Kathleen Pearman, 64, of Anna died Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998, at the Union County Hospital. She was born Aug. 3, 1934, at Miller City, Ill., daughter of Claude and Martha Haynes Rivers. She and Raleigh Pearman were married Dec. 22, 1949, at Mound City...