Stories from Wednesday, February 10, 1999

Believe it or not I often have customers asking for tomato plants at this time of year. I just laugh and tell them it's just a little too early. Greenhouse growers are just now beginning to plant them so that they will be ready by the end of March. In a way, many of these customers are not jumping the gun. They may have a small greenhouse or a well insulated cold frame. These structures allow them to start their garden a lot earlier than most of us...

Finally, Missouri can see light at the end of the tunnel in terms of court-ordered desegregation. In late January, a federal judge freed Missouri as a defendant in the Kansas City school desegregation case. The judge decided that Missouri has met its obligation to the school district...

The role of a leader: Leadership is the ability to convince people to follow a path they have never taken to a place they have never been -- and, upon finding it to be successful, to do it over and over again. For any business to be successful, the one ingredient that is not optional is strong leadership. ...

Nothing's free. Even Hancock Amendment tax refunds come at a price as far as the federal government is concerned. Missourians who itemized deductions last year on their federal returns must include a percentage of their 1998 Hancock tax refunds as taxable income on this year's tax returns...

Campus ministries at Southeast Missouri State University will celebrate Jesus Week beginning Thursday. Activities are planned for each day, including a special speaker Feb. 18. Events are sponsored by Baptist Student Union, Catholic Campus Ministries, Christ Campus Ministries and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes...

Al Hrabosky, the "Mad Hungarian" of the 1970s St. Louis Cardinals baseball team and a St. Louis broadcaster, will help the Boy Scouts kick off its annual fund-raising campaign Thursday. The Friends of Scouting campaign starts at 7:30 a.m. at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau...

To the editor: I appreciate and respect the feelings of Chris Layton and others who feel that the death penalty is wrong. However, they can't have it both ways. These same people argue until they are blue in the face that we should not allow any type of prayer in school because it violates the separation of church and state. ...

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson will serve on a special panel during the annual Rural Restoration Conference in Sikeston this weekend. She will be part of a four-member panel that will discuss issues pertaining to farm and private land use and other timely problems related to agriculture...

If you haven't had the chance to enjoy the unseasonably fine weather of the last few days, you had better take advantage of it quickly. With mostly sunny skies and afternoon temperatures in the 60s, it hasn't seemed at all like February. That could soon change...

When you get passed by a 60-year-old woman carrying a parasol, your future in competitive sports isn't looking too bright. It's nice to move nine hours from home and immediately meet someone from Cape Girardeau. Yep, one of the first co-workers I met here in Pensacola was Cape native Lesley Tritschler Conn, who doesn't mind waxing nostalgic about the Rush Limbaugh bus tour, Cardiac Hill and the infamous Purple Crackle. (She claims she never actually visited that last one. Right -- wink, wink.)...

Jreece Johnson, the Scott County Central High guard who rolled up a game-high 26 points Tuesday night, is unquestionably an accomplished basketball player. But at 5 feet 11, Johnson could do little to inhibit the mission of Notre Dame center Anthony Ressel, he of the 6-7 frame and 7 feet, 3-inch wingspan...

JACKSON -- Maybe it was the body paint. Whatever it was, Cape Central had just enough of it to hold off Highway-61 rival Jackson 67-66 in front of a flammable crowd Tuesday night. A pair of Central juniors -- center Ross Conner and guard Donnie McClinton -- hit all six of their free throws in the final 35 seconds of the game...

SCOTT CITY -- Scott City High senior guard Jon Beck sensed early Tuesday while at school that he would be participating in a special basketball game that night. "We've got a big rivalry with Kelly and I knew the crowd would really be into it," he said. "I was really looking forward to this game."...

This is one of those weeks that make college basketball the great game that it is. We play at Murray State Thursday night with a chance to tie for the league lead in the Ohio Valley Conference with only three regular-season games remaining. Win or lose Thursday night, we then face Tennessee-Martin in a regionally-televised game at 3 p.m. Saturday in Martin and the rivalry with Martin has been intense over the years...

A table tennis tournament will be held Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Perryville. For more information, call 788-2208.

Saint Francis Universal Health and Fitness Center will conduct a six week soccer conditioning camp for boys and girls. The camp is scheduled to begin Feb. 14 and will run consecutive Sundays for six weeks. Children ages 8 to 18 wanting to improve their speed, endurance, agility and balance are encouraged to participate...

The Jackson Boys Baseball League has announced its registration dates. Registration, for ages 6 to 18, will be held at the following dates and times in the Jackson City Hall Community Room: Feb. 27 (9 a.m.-4 p.m.), Feb. 28 (1-4 p.m.) and March 4 (6-9 p.m.)...

The Jackson Men's Softball League will hold an organizational meeting for the 1999 season at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 on the lower level of the Jackson Elks Lodge. There will be a $15 fee per player, with a $100 deposit due at the meeting. The league will start about the second week of April...

The Scott City Parks and Recreation Department will hold a youth league meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting is open to the public. Coaches applications will be available. For more information, call the Scott City Park Office at 264-3411...

ADVANCE -- Advance bolted to a 10-point lead in the first quarter and saw Woodland whittle but not totally overcome the deficit throughout the remainder of the game as the Hornets won 47-40 Tuesday night. Daniel Turner netted 12 of his game-high 20 points in the first quarter, which ended with Advance ahead 20-10...

A memorial service for Erica Lee Springer-Morales of Cape Girardeau will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday in Kingman, Ariz. Springer-Morales, 18, was found dead Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1999, in Union County, Ill. She was born Oct. 31, 1980, in Kennewick, Wash...

WILSON CITY -- Louise E. Brown, 83, of Wilson City died Sunday, Feb. 7, 1999, at Miner Nursing Center. She was born Oct. 10, 1915, at Thompson Bend, daughter of Ellis and Louise Gilmore Rush. She was married to Elliott Brown for more than 50 years. He died Nov. 23, 1987...

PATTON -- Graveside service for Hazel Florence Smith of Ventura, Calif., will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Patton Cemetery. The Rev. Stella Turner will officiate. Liley Funeral Home at Patton is in charge of arrangements. Smith, 84, died Monday, Nov. 23, 1998, in Ventura...

JACKSON -- Funeral Mass for Viola Estell Randol of Jackson will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Msgr. Edward Eftink will officiate. Burial will be in Russell Heights Cemetery. Friends may call at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home from 4-8 p.m. today. Parish prayers will be at 7...

JACKSON -- Rex Weldon Limbaugh, 65, of Jackson died Monday, Feb. 8, 1999, at his home. He was born June 4, 1933, at Scopus, son of Wilma Bridges Sander. He was reared by foster parents Wesley and Mollie Baker. He and Phyllis Reisenbichler were married Feb. 27, 1954, at Pocahontas...

JACKSON -- Lyman H. Dunn, 80, of Spartanburg, S.C., died Sunday, Feb. 7, 1999, in Spartanburg. He was born Sept. 30, 1918, at Gipsy, son of Elmer E. and Mildred Haddock Dunn. He and Dorothy Louise Pender were married Feb. 3, 1943. Dunn was a 1942 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II...

SCOTT CITY -- Marie Celeste Eikstetter, 84, of Scott City died Tuesday, Feb. 9, 1999, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Dec. 1, 1914, in Naicam, Saskatchewan, Canada, daughter of Sam and Letha Mary Freschett LaMonte. She and Martin F. Eikstetter were married Oct. 9, 1951, in West Point, Ill...

ANNA, Ill. -- John Smith, 46, of Anna died Saturday, Feb. 6, 1999, at Union County Hospital. He was born July 30, 1952, in Chicago, son of Wilbur and Lizzy Mary Robinson Smith. Survivors include five sisters, Catherine Vassar, Mary Dean, Wanda, Sandra and Doris Smith, all of Chicago; four brothers, Alvin, Calvin, Melvin and David Smith, all of Chicago...

SCOTT CITY -- Ricky Lewallen, 46, of Scott City died Tuesday, Feb. 9, 1999, at his home. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City is in charge of arrangements.

Daughter to Stephen Harry and Andlle Lee Naeter of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 11:54 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1999. Name, Emery Lee. Weight, 10 pounds 1 ounce. First child. Mrs. Naeter is the former Andlle Thomas, daughter of Donna Thomas of Nashville, Tenn., and Bruce Thomas of Cape Girardeau. She is a teacher at St. Augustine School in Kelso. Naeter is the son of Judi Naeter of Cape Girardeau and Bob Naeter of Franklin, Tenn. He is finance manager at Capetown RV Sales...

JACKSON -- Randy G. Smith, 47, of Jackson died Tuesday, Feb. 9, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 15, 1951, in Jonesboro, Ill., son of John and Georgia Linton Smith. He and Janice Marvel were married July 26, 1968, in Jackson...

The U.S. Postal Service issued its newest commemorative, first-class stamp Tuesday. More than 100 million of the Hospice Care stamps will be issued, and are now on sale at every post office in the nation. The stamp is being issued in recognition of the 3,000 hospice groups, 25,000 professionals and more than 100,000 volunteers who work with hospice programs...

I am sharing with the readers of this column -- a 125-year-old family tradition -- the passing on of Sarah Lucresia's cherished butter cake recipe. Sarah Lucresia Turner, the great-grandmother of Angie Holtzhouser, made her "Sweetheart Butter Cake" from a recipe brought to this country by her French grandmother...

Our family survived round one of the chicken pox, now we're just waiting for round two. I did get several things done at home while being in chicken pox house arrest, none of which was important like income taxes, scrap booking or cleaning. I read quite a bit in new cookbooks that I had not had a chance to even look through yet and caught up on some long overdue correspondence...