Stories from Friday, March 5, 1999

To the editor: The recent interest in Proposition B has led to various references to crime statistics associated with states with "shall issue," "discretionary issue" or "no issue" policies regarding concealed weapons. Some would like to suggest that reductions in violent crime in certain states are the result of "shall issue" laws. However, the statistical evicence can be interpreted otherwise...

This is the final article in a four part series on menopause and post-menopausal health issues. Bones -- there are 206 in your body and despite popular myth, bone is not a stony, dead material within our bodies that our soft parts cling to. It is a dynamic, living tissue. Think about it, everyone knows that when you break a bone it will usually heal. Bone continuously remodels its own architecture to bear the daily stresses imposed by exercise, work, injury and body weight...

The "Great Scout Event," featuring pinewood derby, raingutter regatta and space derby races, will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Osage Community Center. The event is sponsored by the Shawnee District of the Greater St. Louis Area Council, Boy Scouts of America...

How should Cape Girardeau be in 20 years? The Vision 2020 Strategic Planning Committee wants to know. The group is seeking input from civic clubs and organizations about the city's future. Vision 2020 members hope to schedule brainstorming sessions with the clubs and organizations soon. By reaching as many groups as possible, Vision 2020 will get a better picture of what people want, said Kathy Swan, chairman of the steering committee...

The 29th annual Lincoln Day dinner, sponsored by the Cape Girardeau County Republican Women, will be held at 6:30 p.m. March 13 at the A.C. Brase Arena Building. Tickets are $12 per person and can be purchased by calling 335-0033 or 334-6492. Rep. Steve Largent, R-Okla., will be the featured speaker...

The League of Women Voters will co-sponsor a Voter's Forum with the Southeast Missouri State University political science department at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium. Cape Girardeau school board candidates have been invited to participate. They are: William Bird, Bob Clank, Debra Mitchell Braxton, Marty Clay, Gary McIntire, Sharon Mueller, Andrew Ostrowski and Tina Trickey...

Bob Kuban and The In-Men, regular performers at Southeast Missouri State University events in the 1960s, will return to the university April 16 for a benefit performance on behalf of the Leroy Mason Scholarship Fund. The university's Golden Eagles Marching Band became nationally known during Mason's tenure from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s, performing for NFL games, the inauguration of former Gov. Warren Hearnes, for a Pro Bowl game and for Super Bowl V...

To the editor: It didn't work with alcohol. It didn't work with drugs. It won't work with guns either. prohibition, the war on drugs, gun control -- what's next? Political opinion? Religion? I've read the polls and the statistics for and against gun control. ...

In just the past week, there have been three announcements regarding industrial expansion and additional job opportunities in the Cape Girardeau area. Each of the announcements further bolster this area's position as a regional hub for jobs, education, health care and shopping...

IT SEEMS to me that those in favor of the right to carry concealed weapons cite reduced crime statistics as one of the reasons that they should be allowed to do this. My question is, how come in states with no right-to-carry laws the crime rate has also decreased? Could it be that crime is just decreasing anyway?...

Children with arthritis should not be isolated from other children of the same age. Watching a child go from a rambunctious, always on the move, 2-year-old to a first grader who is unable to climb a slide, play kickball or join a circle group on the floor is no easy task for any parent. Finding ways to get these youngsters to understand what is happening to their bodies may be even more difficult...

Missouri Secretary of State Bekki Cook won't seek re-election or run for any other public office next year. The 48-year-old Democrat from Cape Girardeau said Thursday that she will leave public office when her term ends in January 2001. But in a telephone interview from her Jefferson City office, Cook said she wouldn't rule out running for governor some day...

MARBLE HILL -- They aren't pushing agendas or asking for votes. The Bollinger County Christian Coalition simply wants people to be informed before they head to the polls. The coalition is hosting a candidate forum next week for school board candidates from the Leopold, Meadow Heights, Woodland and Zalma school districts. The meeting will be at 6 p.m. March 11 at the Senior Citizen Nutrition Center in Marble Hill...

A schools boundaries committee is still crunching numbers and checking student counts before making a final recommendation to the Cape Girardeau school board. The 15-member committee, made up of both parents and administrators from each building, has been asked to help draft a plan that would adjust current elementary school boundaries to make them more equitable racially. The recommendation likely will come next month...

I'm a reader too, and I have some things to say about cats on pills and TV's greatest moment. Sometimes you read amazing things in newspapers. A lot of them are true. There are Big Issues when it comes to print journalism. I don't want to trivialize those issues. I will say, however, that the people who put out newspapers try hard to separate facts from opinion. This quickly gets confusing, though, when a story reports -- factually -- what someone said, which is often that person's opinion...

BLOOMFIELD -- Several Scott City Rams were pressed into filling unfamiliar parts in the Class 2A, District 2 semifinal boys basketball game here Thursday night, but the role-swapping really didn't matter much. The injured Jon Beck played waterboy as his teammates -- foremost among them Ryan Weatherspoon -- occupied the limelight in top-seeded Scott City's 83-59 rout of No. 5 Puxico...

ORAN -- Scott County Central High's girls basketball team captured another district championship Thursday night -- but coach Semona Penrod said the Bravettes must pick up their defense if they're going to win more postseason games. The top-seeded Bravettes pulled away late from a stubborn Risco squad to knock off the No. 3 seed 73-51 in the finals of the Class 1A, District 2 Tournament...

BLOOMFIELD -- For the Kelly Hawks, the best things in life are free. And their donations at the free-throw line bought them a spot in the Class 2A, District 2 championship game. The Hawks (18-8) made 34 of 42 foul shots for the game and Notre Dame shot poorly from the field as No. 2 Kelly routed No. 3 Notre Dame 78-63 Thursday night...

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- After rain washed away Southeast Missouri State University's opener on Wednesday, the University of Evansville rained on the Otahkians' parade Thursday with a doubleheader sweep. Evansville used a seven-run fifth inning to win the opener 7-4 and then blanked Southeast in the nightcap 4-0...

Southeast Missouri State University's golf team will travel to New Orleans to compete in the New Orleans Classic Sunday through Tuesday. The Indians opened the season Feb. 21-22 by finishing second out of 20 teams at the Pizza Hut Classic in Jackson, Miss. Bryan Johnson led Southeast with a five-place individual finish...

The SEMO Horseshoe Association will hold its annual meeting Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Jackson Knights of Columbus Hall.

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Sam A. McGee, 69, of Jonesboro died Thursday, March 4, 1999, at Union County Hospital in Anna. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at the Lutz & Rendleman Funeral Home in Anna.

NEW MADRID -- William Watson "Junior" Masterson, 77, of New Madrid died Tuesday, March 2, 1999, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 22, 1921, at New Madrid, son of John W. "Jack" and Florence Lee Mast Masterson. He and Pearlene Nance were married Feb. 16, 1958, at New Madrid...

PERRYVILLE -- Calvin Clair Hook, 87, of Litchfield, Ill., died Wednesday, March 3, 1999, at St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield. He was born Oct. 1, 1911, in Perryville, son of John G. and Barbara Amberger Hook. He and Ethel Dora Turrentine were married Jan. 7, 1933, in Waterloo, Ill. She died July 31, 1997...

SIKESTON -- Madison Siebert Gadberry died Saturday, Feb. 27, 1999, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. She was born Feb. 27, 1999, in St. Louis, daughter of Jimmy L. and Sheila Siebert Gadberry of St. Louis. Survivors include her parents; paternal grandparents, C.L. and Janice Gadberry of Sikeston; maternal grandparents, Joe and Jan Siebert of Ste. Genevieve, Penny McBride of DeSoto; paternal great-grandparents, Cecil Gadberry of Sikeston and Beatrice Jackson of Dexter...

SIKESTON -- Graveside service for Michael Edrick Holmes of Sikeston will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Memorial Park Cemetery. Nunnelee Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. The infant was stillborn Wednesday, March 3, 1999, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

Harry D. Steelman, 89, of Dorsey, Ill., died Tuesday, March 2, 1999, at Anderson Hospital in Maryville, Ill. He was born May 30, 1909, in Greene County, Ill., son of Ira Franklin and Elsie Williams Steelman. He and Marie L. Campbell were married March 8, 1934, in Greene County...

PUXICO -- Sweetie M. Wallace, 88, of Puxico died Wednesday, March 3, 1999, at Lucy Lee Hospital in Poplar Bluff. She was born March 20, 1910, at Ash Hill, daughter of Francis E. and Rosie Jane Crawford Miller. She and Robert L. Wallace were married Oct. 30, 1926, in Corning, Ark. He died Dec. 14, 1979...

GORDONVILLE -- LaVerne McGuire, 68, of Gordonville died Wednesday, March 3, 1999, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. She was born Sept. 22, 1930, at Jackson, daughter of Maple T. and Eugie Snider Dalton. She and Roy "Bud" McGuire were married April 21, 1950...

JACKSON -- Mabel Hennecke, 87, of Jackson died Thursday, March 4, 1999, at her home. McCombs Funeral Home at Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

Son to Kenneth and Teresa Pemberton of Henderson, Ky., Welborn Baptist Hospital in Evansville, Ind., 4:23 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, 1999. Name, Clayton Matthew. Weight, 2 pounds 10 ounces. First child. Mrs. Pemberton is the former Teresa Conner, daughter of Larry and Dottye Conner of Henderson. She is a computer programmer. Pemberton is the son of Kenneth and Brenda Pemberton of Cape Girardeau. He is a financial adviser...

BURFORDVILLE - Mr. William "Bill" Nunn age 72 of Burfordville passed away Thursday, March 4, 1999 at the St. Francis Medical Center. Mr. Nunn was born July 7, 1926 in Bridgeport, Neb. the son of Jesse and Rachel Lamm Nunn. He married the former Erma Garvin June 22, 1946 and she survives...