Stories from Tuesday, August 24, 1999

JACKSON -- Kyle Mabuce, a history teacher at Jackson Junior High School recently returned from a one week National History Day Summer Institute at the University of Maryland, north of Washington, D.C. Mabuce was the Missouri representative to the institute, and one of only 24 participants selected...

The William E. and Joan Meyer Scholarship has been endowed through the Southeast Missouri University Foundation. The agriculture department at Southeast Missouri State University along with friends of William Meyer made gifts totaling $10,000 to endow the scholarship...

ST. LOUIS -- Slip down the conveyor belt slide, and the bigger you are the faster you go. Crawl through the hollowed-out sycamore tree to the giant treehouse. Walk through the belly of a whale. Wherever you go at the City Museum in downtown St. Louis, you are sure to find people at play...

Call me old-fashioned. I like a good mystery that depends on the twists and turns of the plot -- not the blood and gore. August would have been the 100th birthday of the late Alfred Hitchcock, who created some of the most spine-tingling movies of his time. ...

A group of concerned citizens has vowed to embark upon a program that has been successful all across the country -- the Main Street Project. "The downtown didn't fall apart overnight," said John Bry, executive director of Main Street Columbus in Columbus, Ind. "It is not going to be restored overnight either."...

A phone conversation with an 11-year-old Alabama boy has confirmed Anne Wright's belief that a part of her son, who died more than a year ago, lives on. Wright spent several hours Saturday on the phone with Jacob Whitehead of McCalla, Ala., and his mother, Donna Whitehead. Jacob was the recipient of the liver donated from Wright's son Jacob, 33, who in July 1998 died after falling from a car in Arkansas...

BENTON -- Classroom space is limited in the Kelly School District, and school officials want patrons to tell them what to do next. Questionnaires were sent to district patrons last week seeking solutions to the lack of space for the district's 1,056 students...

Come Saturday, it won't just be bad manners to pass a funeral procession. Except on interstate highways, it will be against the law in Missouri. Senate Bill 270, sponsored by Sen. Steve Ehlmann, R-St. Charles, requires pedestrians and motorists to yield to a funeral procession. Police and other emergency personnel don't have to yield...

Blank pages line the notebooks. Pencils are sharpened. All the pens still have their caps and are full of ink. It is time for students to head back to school -- elementary, high school and college students around town head back to the classroom this week...

RARELY HAVE I been so irritated as I was at the "Time to post sign at White House" caller. This individual doesn't seem to understand. This was an act between two consenting adults. I don't believe in it, but that's exactly what it was. It has nothing to do with him looking for little kids. You're a sick person. You really are...

A dustup over the teaching of evolution in Kansas received national attention earlier this month. The Kansas State Board of Education, by a 6-4 vote, approved a set of standards that makes no reference to evolution, the theory that humans evolved from earlier species over millions of years...

It stands still as "one of the greatest adventure stories in American history." So says Jim Denny, a historian with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, speaking of the 1804-05 expedition of explorers Merriwether Lewis and George Rogers Clark. ...

To the editor: Having just read Tony Hall's recent article, "Hospital helicopter lands on Broadway," I am compelled to bring to your attention that his article contains several references to comments made by me in a telephone interview with him that were not only distorted, but taken out of context. ...

Bud Eley, Southeast Missouri State University's all-time leader in rebounding and blocked shots, has gone a long way to play professional basketball. The 6-foot-10 Eley, the 1999 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and also the league's Male Athlete of the Year, recently signed a contract with the Istanbul team of Turkey's top league...

The biggest swimming meet of Jon Younghouse's athletic career is just about upon him. Younghouse, a Cape Girardeau Central High School graduate, will compete this week in the Pan Pacific Championships in Sydney, Australia. A senior-to-be at the University of Texas, Younghouse qualified for the prestigious meet by finishing second in the 400 freestyle at last year's U.S. Summer Nationals...

The sport of baseball recently afforded Cape Girardeau's Chris Stanfield, Rob Carr and Bobby Wunderlich a rare opportunity to not only compete on the field but also visit part of the world they may never have a chance to experience again. Stanfield served as one of the coaches while Carr and Wunderlich were two of the players on the USA Athletes International 15-16-year-old team that recently took part in an international tournament in the Netherlands...

Cape Central's girls softball team opened its season with a 7-0 victory over Perryville Monday at Arena Park. While Casi Childers was limiting Perryville (0-1) to one hit, Cape Central's offense was pounding out 10 hits. Dionna Webb, Ashley Voerg, Amber Voerg and Ashlie Foutch all had two hits. Amber Voerg and Foutch each finished with two RBIs...

BERTRAND -- Clara Lanell Kellett, 82, of Bertrand died Monday, Aug. 23, 1999, at Bertrand Nursing Facility. She was born Sept. 15, 1916, in Abbeville, Miss., daughter of James Moore and Margaret E. Hines Jamieson. She and F.H. Kellett were married Nov. 15, 1935...

McCLURE, Ill. -- Ella Mae Matlock, 90, of McClure died Sunday, Aug. 22, 1999, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was born Oct. 12, 1908, in Alexander County, daughter of Joseph and Mary LaPlante Rudluff. She and James Matlock were married April 7, 1923, in McClure. He died Oct. 14, 1972...

PERRYVILLE -- Anton T. "Tony" Wibbenmeyer, 73, of Perryville died Monday, Aug. 23, 1999, at his home. He was born Dec. 25, 1925, at Apple Creek, son of Stephen T. and Regina Ponder Wibbenmeyer. He and Merle A. Emmendorfer were married June 1, 1948. Wibbenmeyer had been a maintenance worker with Perry County Highway Department. He was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, American Legion, and Veterans of Foreign Wars...

ANNA, Ill. -- Graveside service for Lester C. Strange will be held at 10 a.m. today at DeSoto Cemetery. The Rev. Dennis Fager will officiate. Military rites will be conducted by Marion VFW Post. Hileman and Parr Funeral Home in Jonesboro is in charge of arrangements...

Son to Thomas Tyrone Holloman and Angela Rose Bennett of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 4:53 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13, 1999. Name, Kobe Lane. Weight, 7 pounds 9 ounces. First child. Ms. Bennett is the daughter of Dale and Debbie Bennett of Auxvasse. She is a student at Southeast Missouri State University. Holloman is the son of Deloris Holloman of Portageville. He is a pre-paid legal associate...

SCOTT CITY -- Vincent J. Jackson, 75, of St. Louis died Saturday, Aug. 21, 1999, at his home. He was born Sept. 2, 1923, in Scott City, son of Clarence and Alma Hoffman Jackson. He married the former Margaret Schiwitz. Jackson was a truck driver many years at Missouri Pacific Trucking Co. He was a member of St. Simon the Apostle Catholic Church, and AARP Shrewsbury Chapter...