Stories from Monday, May 10, 1999

Holly Thomas, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with Schott & Van de Ven, recently attended a continuing education class sponsored by the Missouri Society of CPAs. Thomas completed the course, "Current Developments in Federal Taxation," which focused on recent changes in the Internal Revenue Code, court cases and IRS ruling...

Wives of Missouri Veterans Home residents Lyncare at Lynwood Baptist Church Community Caring Council Union Planters Bank Kelly Elementary School in Benton ECHO Program Prepare Program Jana Jateff Mary Kay Unit Marvels & Legends Kagmo Electric Motor Co...

Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL) has been listed on the 1998 "Fortune 500" list of the nation's largest companies for a fifth consecutive year. Fortune Magazine's annual ranking, which was released in late April, listed AAL at 461. Fortune listed AAL's total 1998 sales at $3.2 billion...

Carol Daniel, a registered nurse, recently completed recertification requirements for her status as a Certified Occupational Health Nurse-Specialist (COHN-S), from the American Board for Occupational Health Nurses. Daniel is vice president of Daniel Safety Management Inc., 114 Silver Springs Road, Suite 209, in Cape Girardeau...

B. J. Crader and Sandy Harper, paraoptometrics at Regional Eyecare Center, recently completed a self-study course for Optometric Assisting. Crader and Harper received 24 hours of continuing education clinic, and qualified for the American Optometric Association Assistant's Test at St. Louis. They are members of the American Optometric Association Paraoptometric Section...

Senior Airman May Dow has been assigned to the U.s. Air Force recruiting office in Cape Girardeau. Dow is a recent graduate of the Air Force Recruiting School in San Antonio. Prior to her assignment here, Dow was stationed with the 81st Comptroller Squadron at Keesler Air Force Bass, Mississippi, where she worked as a financial services specialists...

Sheryl Whorton, of Cape Girardeau, recently won $10,000 in the scratch-off game of Missouri Lottery's "Payday." Whorton, said a lottery spokesman, purchased her winning ticket at Storey's Food Giant, 1120 N. Kingshighway. "Payday" is a $1 Scratchers game that offers four chances to win on a single ticket...

The Small Business Development Center will conduct counseling sessions at Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Perryville this month. The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available May 19, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office. The counseling sessions (about one hour) are free. Call 335-3312 for appointment...

First National Bank, headquartered at Sikeston, has reached a milestone. Troy Wilson, chief executive officer and president, announced recently that the bank had achieved $500 million in assets, making it one of the top three independent banks in Missouri...

The Louis World Trade Center scored the highest ratings possible in three of six categories to receive quality certification from the World Trade Centers Associations. The St. Louis Center tops in trade information services, trade educaiton service and trade mission. The center finished high in business services, tenant service and conference facilities...

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. and Chevron Corp., have announced a definitive agreement for Kinder Morgan to purchase all of Chevron's shares of Plantation Pipe Line Company, for approximately $124 million in cash. Following the transaction, Kinder Morgan will own 51.17 percent of Plantation. Exxon Pipeline Company, an affiliate of Exxon Corp., owns 48.83 percent of Plantation...

Hobby Lobby is in the process of doing away with Sunday hours. Twenty-four stores, including Cape Girardeau, started closing on Sunday last weekend, bringing the total number of Hobby Lobby store now closed Sunday to 103, out of a total of 192. The Sunday closings started in February of 1998, when a commitment by the company was made to implement the Sunday closing company-wide...

ShopKo Stores Inc., headquartered in Green Bay, Wis., has donated $10,000 to assist in relief efforts for those who area recovering form a tornado which struck the Wichita, Kan. area Monday. The donation will be divided between the American Red Cross of Wichita and the Salvation Army of Wichita, who area provided services including meals and housing to victims, as well cleaning supplies...

The Southeast Missouri Port Authority had its biggest year ever in 1998, with 579,881 tons of freight passing through the port, more than doubling the 229,668 tons of 1997. A lot of that increase was due to Consolidated Grain & Barge Company, which opened a new grain facility at the port site in 1998...

Falcon Cable TV has announced the launch of its 9th annual campaign to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. During this month, Falcon is offering new customers cable installation for $10 and current customers cable upgrades for $10, with 100 percent of the proceeds designated to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. To date, Falcon and the communities it serves have raised more than $2.1 million to help fight Cystic fibrosis...

Most every day, Tonia Lane can be found working at Alma Schrader Elementary School. But the hours she volunteers are strictly a labor of love. The teachers and staff were so impressed with Lane's efforts they recently nominated her for an Area Wide Volunteer Recognition Award...

Sales of new homes rose 2.1 percent in March, the first increase in four months. The Commerce Department said that new home sales rose in March to an annual rate of 909,000 sales, with the strength coming from a 24 percent surge in sales in the West, where sales experienced a 24 percent jump, the largest one-month gain for that region since March of 1995.Analysts said continued low mortgage rates and strong consumer demand fueled by the low unemployment levels were keeping new home sales near the record level hit last November.. ...

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. It's always gratifying to see people benefit from investing in the stock market -- but a 10,000 percent return? That's what a group of eighth-graders achieved in merely three months of stock investing...

Chuck Gudermuth popped in the SADI office in Cape Girardeau last week and immediately the requests began. Jean Bland, who works in the office, asked if he would replace the water bottle. "It's too heavy for me to lift," she explained. Gudermuth took off the empty bottle and lifted the new one into place...

Finding new talent and voices for Christian music wouldn't have been difficult if you attended Godstock '99. Nearly 40 singers and 13 bands performed during the three-day event, and many of those bands will enter a national talent search for Christian musicians...

Is there gold in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis vault? How many checks clear the bank daily? Where do counterfeit bills go? How much money is shredded daily? These might be trivia questions about the Federal Reserve System of the United States, but the federal central banking system isn't trivial. It has been an important link to the nation's banking industry during the past 65 years...

Some kind acts are planned and others are really random. When tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma and parts of Kansas last week many people offered help for the victims and families left without homes. Wal-mart wants area residents to help fill a semi-trailer with disaster relief items as the fourth annual Random Acts of Kindness week gets under way. The trailer is parked near the store off Route K until Friday...

Early in the 20th century, builders in Cape Girardeau chose an architectural style popular in the Southwest and Florida to reflect the city's Spanish heritage dating to the days of founder Don Louis Lorimier. The first of these Spanish revival buildings was the Southeast Missourian building at Lorimier and Broadway...

GRASSY -- Amid sounds of children splashing nearby in the Castor River and the crunch of gravel underfoot, about 60 people took communion Sunday morning during an outdoor worship service at Arrowhead Campgrounds. Pieces of torn bread circulated in colorful plastic bowls while ushers, some dressed in shorts, T-shirts and sandals, passed bowls filled with grape juice. The bread represented Christ's body; the juice his blood...

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and to time build, a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."...

Manager Tony La Russa autographed T-shirts for Shaun Cothran,left, and Quentin Kelley. Tyler Sanders, left, and David Goehman watched the Cardinals during batting practice. Andrew Fornkhol, left, and Zack DeBoe watched as Alberto Castillo practiced batting...

While a proposal by state Rep. Bill Foster and nine House colleagues to ban alcohol from the Missouri Capitol is presumably full of good intentions, the measure really isn't something the Legislature should concern itself with. The bill introduced by Foster, R-Poplar Bluff, received a hearing in February before the House Miscellaneous Bills Committee, which didn't report it out of committee and won't with the session winding down. Foster says he will file it again in the next session...

The Cape Girardeau Rotary Club last week paid tribute to a longtime Cape Girardeau resident, John L. Blue, during a banquet named in his honor. The John L. Blue Academic Excellence Banquet sponsored by the club honored the top 10 percent of the city's graduating high school students. Blue, a former president of the club, and his wife, Mary, are both Paul Harris Fellows, representing a significant dedication to Rotary International and its ideals...

To the editor:People are very concerned over the tragedy in Columbine High School. My opinion is we lost control of our schools and kids when we took prayer out of the schools. We are allowed to talk about killing people and blowing things up, but we cant talk about Jesus in schools.People need to wake up and give our kids the right guidance in school and at home. To me and a lot of other people, that includes religion in our schools and homes.JOYCE TAYLORCommerce...

IT IS just past tax time. On purpose, during 1998, I earned less money than I did in 1997. You ask: What kind of idiot would try to earn less instead of more? Well, to this idiot, it was satisfying to have to pay less in taxes. I was able to escape a little bit of the never-ending appetite of the IRS, Congress and our president. ...

To the editor: Upon seeing Peter Kinder's picture in the Missourian May 4, I felt an overwhelming urge to slap his self-righteous face. The urge quickly passed, but the image still remains: the belligerent stance, hand on hips, face a mask of furious indignation. ...

MURRAY, Ky. -- The Murray State Racers scored five runs in the first inning Sunday and Southeast Missouri State University couldn't recover as the Indians dropped the Ohio Valley Conference game 8-4. Southeast fell to 24-24 on the season and 13-7 in the OVC. Murray State improved to 28-22 and 11-10...

PERRYVILLE -- Lora Jordan, 91, of Perryville died Sunday, May 9, 1999, at the Perry County Memorial Hospital. Jordan was born Aug. 28, 1907, at Marquand, daughter of John Henry and Shaby Moore Myers. She and Daniel W. Jordan were married July 30, 1925...

Thaddeus J.R. Bullock, 82, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, May 8, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Bullock was born May 7, 1917, at Holcomb, son of James Ruffin and Florence Preslar Bullock. He and Ruby U. Michel were married Sept. 2, 1942, at Benton...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Esther K. Grammer, 86, of Jonesboro died Friday, May 7, 1999, at the City Care Center in Cobden. Grammer was born April 11, 1913, in Union County, daughter of Silas and Delia Nicolaides Leach. She and Charles Grammer were married June 13, 1931, at Cobden...

MATTHEWS -- Zola Lee Cannon, 88, formerly of Sikeston died Saturday, May 8, 1999, at the Sell Rest Home in Matthews. Cannon was born Dec. 13, 1910, at New Madrid, daughter of Jack Robert and Jessie Ann Tanner Lomax. She married Hadie Cannon Jan. 4, 1930, at New Madrid. Cannon was a member of the Miner Baptist Church...

COMMERCE -- Katherine Savannah Beardslee, 82, of Commerce died Sunday, May 9, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Beardslee was born Oct. 4, 1916, daughter of Effie Knight and Lawrence Pobst Sr. She and William P. Beardslee were married July 18, 1942, at Commerce...

ANNA -- Mildred Cunningham Webb, 91, of Anna died Saturday May 8, 1999, at the Union County Hospital at Anna. Webb was born June 5, 1904, at Nashville, daughter of Ralph and Nora Opp Rhine. She married Carl R. Cunningham in 1925 at Elkville. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Anna. Webb was also a member of the Tuesday Tea Club...

Eppie Jennings Allison, 93, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, May 8, 1999, at Chateau Girardeau Health Care Center. She was born March 31, 1906, at Troy, daughter of E.M. and Willie Archer Jennings. She and Raymond D. Allison were married May 16, 1929, at Troy...

Agenda Special meeting of the Board of Education Cape Girardeau School District noon, May 10, 1999 Board of Education Office Action Items: Approval of Consent Agenda items: Personnel. -- Award contract for Clippard renovation. -- Approve contract for sale of vocational house...