Stories from Tuesday, February 22, 2000

Last week we visited the most popular sites among Web surfers. These sites averaged between 14.6 million and 35.4 million different visitors every month. Not bad. This week, let's take a spin through some of the most-visited news, information and entertainment sites. The numbers aren't quite as impressive, but they still average between 8.6 million and 3.8 million different visitors every month...

Has your student created a culinary delight in class lately? Rosemary Sullivan and her class of second graders at St. Vincent de Paul School made edible insects recently. The class project was a review of science lessons about insects and spiders, said Sullivan, who is in her first year teaching...

Delia Parrish stared at the gray waves that splashed around the boat and sent up fountains of spray. Although it was early afternoon on this late February day in 1942, the sky was as dark as twilight. It looked like a storm was coming. Eleven-year-old Delia was the only passenger on a white mail boat called the Pelican, which bumped through the rough water as it pulled away from the little town of Atlantic, N.C. ...

When the Cape Girardeau City Council and staff consider capital improvements, they must balance the number of projects and the money available. Projects that have defined revenue sources generally make it through the budgeting process, said City Manager Michael Miller...

The relationship between police and doughnuts is highly exaggerated, said 17-year-old Matt Proffer. "Being a policeman is not about getting doughnuts," said Proffer, who spent a day with Jackson's school resource officer, Rodney Barnes, earlier this month. "There's a lot of paperwork involved."...

Today the Southeast Missourian launches "Adventure on Ocracoke Island," a serialized adventure story that will be published 14 consecutive weeks in the Learning section of Tuesday's papers. It tells the tale of 11-year-old Delia Parrish, who left her Virginia home in the early days of World War II to stay with her aunt on Ocracoke Island, N.C. But all is not so safe and sound. It turns out that German submarines are waging war on ships not far from the island's shores...

State Rep. Mary Kasten hasn't been in the state capitol since the Missouri Legislature convened nearly two months ago. Instead, she has remained in Cape Girardeau tending to her seriously ill husband, Cape Girardeau City Councilman Melvin Kasten. Kasten, a Republican, is finishing her final term in office. She has kept up with House committee work via telephone calls and faxes to her legislative assistant in her capitol office and fellow lawmakers...

Vicki Abernathy found collecting signatures for the American Diabetes Association's Petition for the Cure campaign both encouraging and scary. It was encouraging so many people, 11,500 in Cape Girardeau County, wanted to sign the petition urging Congress to appropriate more money to find a cure for diabetes, a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life...

BENTON -- Rick Walter wants Scott County to be a safer place to live, especially for families. Walter announced Monday his plan to file for Scott County Sheriff. Filing for county offices opens next Tuesday at 8 a.m. Other statewide office and primary candidates can also file on that day. The filing period closes March 28 at 5 p.m...

While many Americans feel they are overregulated by government, there is some comfort to be taken from the layers of bureaucracy that attempt to ensure our safety in public places and on public transportation. Whenever we get on an elevator, we do so with some confidence that the elevator will take us up and down without concern for snapped cables or other life-threatening malfunctions...

To the editor: I would like to send a personal response to the letter from Mr. Harrell that appeared in your paper Feb. 18 regarding the vote for the Chaffee school levy increase. I currently serve on the Chaffee Board of Education and have for the past seven years. ...

When Missouri voters turned down Proposition B last April, there was a clear divide over the issue of concealed weapons. Voters in rural areas generally favored the proposal that would have allowed individuals over 21 years old to apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The plan was opposed in the state's two urban areas...

To the editor: I want to thank state Sen. Peter Kinder for introducing Senate Bill 931, which would improve funding for deaf and hard-of-hearing children served by local schools. The hearing for this bill is 2 p.m. Wednesday before the Senate Education Committee. The chairman of that committee is Senator House, whose phone number is 800-526-8437 for those educators or families of deaf or hard-of-hearing children who would like to voice their opinion on the bill...

I KEEP hearing about this George Bush's home state is Texas. He's no more from Texas than I am, but I've probably lived there longer than he has. He's from a little town in Maine called Kennebunkport. Like Stephen King, the writer. They both have the same amount of chance of being the next president...

To the editor: Now that you have heard the incorrect stories about the Reform Party from the media, maybe you would like to hear the truth. What information they spit out came only from the Russ Verney/Pat Buchanan group. Jack Gargan, the Reform Party's chairman, is still the chairman. ...

SIKESTON -- Tory Meyr scored 13 of his team-high 25 points in a decisive second quarter as the fourth-seeded Jackson boys defeated fifth-seeded Farmington 70-58 in a first-round game in the Class 4A, District 1 Tournament Monday night. Jackson, which improved to 14-12, advances to semifinal action where it will play top-seeded Poplar Bluff 6 p.m. Wednesday...

With one week left in the regular season, it's a two-horse race for the Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball championship. And that's exactly the way the OVC race went last year as well. Defending champion Murray State, which has won or shared 10 of the past 11 regular-season titles, is in first place at 13-3...

PARK HILLS -- Fourth-seeded Perryville rolled over fifth-seeded Arcadia Valley 60-30 to advance past the first round in the Class 3A, District 2 Tournament Monday. The Lady Pirates will face top-seeded Park Hills Central at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the semifinals...

Harold Weber of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Feb. 21, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

ANNA, Ill. -- Funeral for Cyril "Sandy" Copeland of Anna will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home in Anna. The Rev. John Cripps will officiate, with burial in Anna Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 5 p.m. Wednesday. A Masonic service will be held at 7:30...

FREDERICKTOWN -- Clarence Barth, 91, of Fredericktown died Sunday, Feb. 20, 2000, at Mineral Area Regional Medical Center in Farmington. He was born Feb. 16, 1909, at Yount, son of Conrad and Agnes Franke Barth. He and Eula Robinson were married May 10, 1930. She died Aug. 20, 1983...

Wayne Griffin, 55, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Feb. 20, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born May 1, 1944, in Essex, son of D.L. and Essie Prince Griffin. Griffin moved to Cape Girardeau in 1987 from California. He had worked at Cape Electrical Supply Inc...