Stories from Friday, October 22, 1999

One of the characteristics that sets the human race apart is its constant striving for extremes. Once a runner completes a mile in four minutes, every other serious runner starts training to run the mile in under four minutes. The highest mountains have been conquered by climbers, so they look for diffent, more challenging and decidedly more dangerous routes to the top. and so on...

To the editor: Once again, Kathleen Parker has written about domestic violence. She appears to be obsessed with this topic. Her line of reasoning, if you can call it that, always seems to be that domestic violence isn't really a big problem nad that the statistics about these cases are inflated...

To the editor: I read with interest the report that Missouri's chip mill industries are appealing to the Missouri Supreme court to obtain relief from rules and regulations imposed on them by the Department of Natural Resources. It is unfortunate, indeed, that the behavior of these industries is such that regulations are necessary. ...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so everyone might not appreciate the development of the plaza, complete with flowing fountain, between Academic Hall and Kent Library on the campus of southeast Missouri State University. Beauty is too often sacrificed in our tax-supported surroundings. For many years, some of our grandest edifices and most beautiful spaces were public buildings and parks. Religion supplied churches, synagogues and mosques that overwhelmed our human senses...

Last April I served as the Medical Director for a mission trip to Jamaica. After a long journey by narrow windy roads into the rural area of the Blue Mountains, we set up a clinic in a 150 year-old church and saw about 1200 patients in four days. Unfortunately, at the sunset each day we had to turn away many hundreds of people who had often walked several miles on the steep mountain roads only to wait all day long in the hot Jamaican sun. ...

To the editor: when one thinks of hometowns, generally the thought comes to mind of a friendly, everybody-knows-one-another atmosphere. There is always a smile with the greeting from the merchants as you enter their place of business. there is that pulling together of a community when someone needs that extra help due to sickness or disaste,r or having a good time when special occasions are planned for...

Lydia Bolo says the exercising she has done during her pregnancy has helped keep her in shape and helped with her breathing. She said she didn't exercise when she was pregnant with her first three children. But with the twins she is expecting now, due Nov. 30, she has been walking 20 to 30 minutes most days and working out with light weights...

Nearly 5,000 elementary, middle and junior-high-school students from Southeast Missouri cheered and shouted with delight during HealthSouth's Go For It! road show Thursday at the Show Me Center. The event resembled everything from a rock concert to a sporting event, with audience aerobics thrown in for good measure. ...

The first confirmed case of influenza this fall was reported to the Missouri Department of Health's Southeast District office this week, but an official there says it doesn't necessarily mean the flu season is here."It was a 30-year-old Cape County resident," said Sue Tippon, the communicable-disease coordinator for the state health department's Southeast District office in Poplar Bluff. ...

Bo knows what it takes to be a champion. Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson told more than 5,000 Southeast Missouri schoolchildren Wednesday that he might not be alive today if he had listened to people who told him what he couldn't do. Instead, he overcame a severe stutter and a history of fighting, bad behavior and low grades to become a successful professional football and baseball player...

It was Mr. Golf on the the line, and he wanted a good reason to visit Cape Girardeau. So I gave him one. Or two. Arnold Palmer called this week. At least the fellow on the phone said he was Arnold Palmer. I naturally assumed it was Arnold Palmer. The Arnold Palmer...

Washington Elementary School has been sold to Southeast Missouri State University for use as a storage facility. The sale was announced Thursday afternoon by the Cape Girardeau Public Schools. The university paid the schools $30,000 for the building and also will provide the schools with a 10-year commitment for use of Houck Stadium, the first five years for free...

Southeast Missouri Weed and Seed still doesn't have access to its nearly $700,000 annual budget, despite having a new executive director in place for nearly a week. Members of the regional Weed and Seed board anticipate the release of the grant money sometime next week, after a visit by representatives of the national crime fighting initiative's Washington, D.C. ...

The March of Dimes will sponsor its third annual Chefs Auction Saturday night at the Osage Community Centre to raise money for the support of programs to prevent birth defects. For the auction, designed to appeal to fine diners, area restaurants have donated "dining experience" packages. Among the packages to be auctioned...

A benefit will be held Saturday night for a Jackson man awaiting a lung transplant. Dwayne Cox of Jackson has pulmonary hypertension, a genetic condition that prevents the veins in the lungs from fully developing."The veins in my lungs are too small and don't carry enough blood," said Cox, 38. He said when he exerts himself with physical activities, his body can't get enough oxygen and he blacks out...

Missouri Goodwill Industries has returned to Cape Girardeau. A crowd of more than 250 were on hand for the grand-opening of Goodwill's full-line retail operation at 250 Silver Springs Road .The new, 9,500 square foot store was packed with merchandise for Thursday's 10 a.m. Cape Girardeau opening...

There are three basic entities which give personality to Leopold, a tiny one-road village in Bollinger County. The Catholic church. The school. And the volleyball team. Leopold's Lady Wildcats won their 20th game of the season Thursday night, a 15-7, 11-15, 15-5 victory over Notre Dame, spoiling the Lady Bulldogs' senior night...

Anyone who is a backer of Jackson football this season has Oct. 29 marked on their little wallet-sized schedules. One week from tonight is when quite arguably the two best teams in Southeast Missouri, Jackson and Poplar Bluff, hook up in what figures to be the large-school Game of the Year in these parts...

If you're a Cape Central fan looking for some hope heading into the Tigers' game at Poplar Bluff tonight (7:30 kickoff) here it is. In its last four games, Central has allowed 89 points. In that same span the Mules, the preseason favorite to win the Class 5A, District 1, have allowed 123...

Southeast Missouri State University's volleyball team will enter a big homestand as the fourth-ranked team in the most recent District VI rankings. Wisconsin-Milwaukee is ranked first in the district, followed by Cincinnati, Houston and Southeast. Two other Ohio Valley Conference teams are also in the top 10: Austin Peay at No. 7 and Eastern Illinois at No. 10. The ranking are released by the American Volleyball Coaches Association...

JACKSON -- Jackson improved its record to 24-6-1 with a 15-10, 15-8 victory over Scott City Thursday night. Jackson's Andrea Koeper was unstoppable once again by recording 20 digs, 10 kills and three blocks. Jackson's Melinda Burnett added nine service points and three blocks; Casey Randol had 18 assists; Marci Myracle added 10 digs and four kills; Jennifer Mesey pounded 11 kills; and Emily Unverferth led the defense with 10 digs...

Ken Whitlock from Cape Girardeau hit his first hole in one Wednesday at Kimbeland Country Club. Whitlock aced the 90-yard hole No. 12 with an 8-iron. Vern Sander witnessed the shot.

The Kohlfeld Scorpions Rugby Club took second place in its own Bootheel tournament held Saturday at Arena Park. Fort Campbell slipped past the Scorpions 15-14 in the finals. Kohlfeld had beaten Southern Illinois University 24-15 in its first game. In the championship against Fort Campbell, the Scorpions trailed 12-0 at halftime but rallied for a 14-12 lead behind long runs by Alan Kloss and Marc Harris. But Fort Campbell came back with a three-point penalty goal...

Ask any football player from Scott City. Ask any football player from Malden. They'll tell you: Chaffee isn't a walkover anymore. But the relentless Red Devils (3-4) -- who have played surprisingly well this season, especially when considered an underdog -- will be against huge odds again this week as it takes on St. Vincent in the first of three games in the Class 1A, District 1...

ZALMA -- Raymond B. Northern, 55, of Zalma died Wednesday, Oct. 20, 1999, at the family home. He was born July 31, 1944, at Miner, the son of John Wesley and Mary Ida Wilson Northern. He married Patricia Ann Waggoner. She survives. He was a retired building engineer for the Amtrak railroad...

Raymond Irving Mehner, 68, of Crestview, Fla., died Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999, at West Florida Regional Medical Center in Pensacola, Fla. He was born Aug. 30, 1931, at Longtown, son of Lonnie and Velma Smith Mehner. He married the former Karla Lips. Mehner was retired after 23 years as communications technician with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad in Memphis, Tenn...

David P. Kaempfer, age 74 of Cape Girardeau, passed away Thursday, October 21, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Mr. Kaempfer was born August 31, 1925, in Cape Girardeau, the son of William C. and Theora Kaempfer. On August 31, 1975, he married Mary Jo Pratt Ludwig...

JACKSON -- Joseph "Joe" S. Dollinger, 75, of Jackson died Thursday, Oct. 21, 1999, at the Jackson Manor Nursing Home in Jackson. Arrangements are incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.