Stories from Monday, May 15, 2000

Kevin Essner has received a promotion at Capaha Bank. John R. Abercrombie, president of the bank, announced Essner's promotion. He also announced a new member -- Jerry Lorberg -- to the Capaha Bank board of directors. Essner, a Kelso native, joined Capaha Bank in March 1992 as vice president and commercial agricultural loan officer. He is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University and is a member of both the Cape Girardeau and Jackson chambers of commerce...

Roger L. Tolliver, president and group manager at Commerce Bank in Poplar Bluff, is relocating to the same position in Cape Girardeau. Cord Polen, who was community bank president for Commerce Bank in Cape Girardeau has been named executive vice president of commercial lending for Commerce Bank in Springfield...

Lois Withers, certified nursing assistant at the Missouri Veterans Home here, has been named "Employee of the Year." Withers was one of 12 employees of the month selected by co-workers. Nursing Home Administrator Sam McVay announced the selection during the employee "Bingo Bash and Dinner" at VFW Post 3838 in Cape Girardeau...

Gloria Miller of Cape Girardeau has been certified as a registered play therapist-supervisor by the Association For Play Therapy. The certification required five years post-master's clinical experience, a minimum of 1,500 hours of play therapy, and 150 hours of direct instruction therapy...

Paul Keys, dean and associate provost at Southeast Missouri State University, and Jeanine Larson Dobbins, coordinator, Missouri Statewide Early Literacy Intervention Program at the university, were two of 49 Missouri business leaders recently selected for Leadership Missouri, a seven-month leadership enhancement program sponsored by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce...

Kindness is seen as an act of the heart. That's really a misnomer. Dr. Scott Gibbs, local brain surgeon, says it is an act of the mind. "Our capacity, empathy and compassion are brain functions," he said. The brain is born with these functions in varying degrees, but kindness is also very much a learned behavior...

A number of employees at Dana Corp.'s Cape Girardeau facility have received promotions. Penny Burnell, who joined Dana in August 1997, has been promoted to D Shift Cell Leader in Department 200. John Schiwitz has been promoted to D Shift Cell Leader in Department 144/145. He started with Dana in May 1996 in Department 200. He moved to Department 144/145 in April...

Jay Bond, of Edgewater Glass Co. Inc., recently attended industry educational and instructional seminars at the Independent Glass Association conference in Orlando, Fla. The importance of the windshield as a structural part of the total vehicle was the primary focus at the conference...

Ginger Reese and Chance Dowling are among 17 Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. employees who received "Excel" honors recently. "Excel" honors were presented during the Excel Ceremony at AECI Headquarters at Springfield. Reese, who has been at the New Madrid operations from its beginning, received AECI's highest honor, the "Distinguished Service Award." Reese worked for contractors and engineers building the first building at the site in 1969 and joined Associated in 1978 after the second unit building was completed. ...

Steven Fritzler of Cape Girardeau was honored recently during the Aid Association for Lutherans national sales and education conference at Point Clear, Ala. Fritzler, who has been with AAL 11 years and is an associate of the Michael Mickelson Agency of Independence, was honored for sales and service and for his support of AAL local volunteer groups...

David M. Plassman and Lonnie Lusk, accountants with Schott & Van de Ven, Certified Public Accountants, recently attended the Quick-Books training for Power User, Consultants and accounting professionals. The daylong seminar was held in St. Louis, and each certified public accountant received eight units of continuing education credits for completing the class...

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s first-quarter earnings rose sharply from a year ago, and the world's biggest retailer said it expects to maintain healthy sales and profit growth for the remainder of the year. The Bentonville, Ark.-based chain reported last week that it earned $1.326 billion, or 30 cents a share, for the quarter ended April 30, compared with $916 million, or 20 cents a share, a year ago. Last year's results include a 4-cent charge for a change in the company's accounting practices...

Duke Energy North America, a Houston, Texas-based company, is looking at the Calvert City, Ky., area for a $200 million, peak-energy power plant to generate electricity for sale to other utilities. The plant would create 250 construction jobs and eventually employ 15 people in high-tech jobs...

ShopKo Stores Inc. has announced earnings for the first quarter. Consolidated sales for the 13 weeks were $748.6 million, up 37.7 percent from the same period a year ago. Net earnings for the quarter increased to $1.8 million, compared with $500,000 a year ago. ShopKo's quarterly results include a $1.2 million special pre-tax charge related to its acquisition of Pamida...

For 28 years, Millie Turner of Cape Girardeau has been synonymous with Girl Scouting, first as a volunteer and then as a staff member. "She's really the spirit behind the Girl Scout office," says Denise Stewart, who heads up the Otahki Girl Scout Council...

Much has been written about the "sandwich generation" -- those people who, while still caring for their own children, are also forced to assume responsibilities, financial and otherwise, for their aging parents. If you're still a potential "sandwich" member, then you've got some serious issues to deal with. But you can make it easier for everyone involved if you do your planning early...

There was some good news and bad news on the Southeast Missouri business front last year. The good news was that more than 330 new businesses opened, and 30 expansions were reported.. The bad news? Almost 150 businesses closed. Actual figures show some 335 openings, with 173 closings, a net gain of 163 new businesses throughout a seven-county area included in the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission area...

Tuesday Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's "Business After Hours," Royal N'Orleans Restaurant, 5-6:30 p.m. Friday Jackson Chamber of Commerce, "Business Before Hours," Enchanted Gardens, 7:30 a.m. May 25 Chamber of Commerce's Business Breakfast, Holiday Inn, 7:15...

May Department Stores Co.'s first-quarter earnings dropped 1.7 percent from a year ago, though diluted earnings per share rose 2.9 percent and sales were up 3.5 percent. The St. Louis-based company said Monday it earned $120 million, or 35 cents a share, for the quarter ending April 29, compared with earnings of $122 million, or 34 cents a share, in the first quarter of 1999...

Hazel Jackson didn't think twice about taking on the responsibility of raising her great-grandson. After all, if she hadn't stepped forward when her granddaughter could no longer care for the child, there was no other family member who could take him in...

They are a thousand years old and were created by the Mississippians whose civilization once thrived north and south along these river banks. The paintings and carvings on stone often depict birds and serpents and, for some reason, feet. Pictures of two-legged and four-legged creatures also are found...

If you stop by one of the 17 sites of Rhodes 101 this week, expect a little extra kindness. Stores from Ste. Genevieve to Sikeston and the Rhodes Travel Center are participating in Random Acts of Kindness Week, and employees will pump gas, wash windshields, carry out groceries randomly, of course...

Monday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. City Hall, 401 Independence Study session at 5 p.m. Public hearing Consent ordinances (Second and third readings) New ordinances (First reading) Resolutions (Reading and passage) Other...

After Saturday's demoralizing doubleheader sweep at the hands of Southeast Missouri State University, it would have been easy for Eastern Kentucky to have its head down Sunday. Instead, the Colonels came out fighting and won their first Ohio Valley Conference regular-season baseball championship since 1989...

PIEDMONT -- A Southeast Missouri man was killed Saturday when he was thrown from his vehicle. Gary Lucks, 39, of Piedmont, died late Saturday night from injuries received in the accident. He was taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau where he died...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Bertha Robertson, 85, of Jonesboro died Sunday, May 14, 2000, at Union County Hospital at Anna. Friends may call from 5-8 p.m. Thursday and until service time Friday at Crain Funeral Home at Anna. Funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Dave Soucie officiating. Burial will be in Anna Cemetery...

NEW HAMBURG -- Marie Ida Glueck, 74, of New Hamburg died Saturday, May 13, 2000, at the Lutheran Home at Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 4, 1926, at New Hamburg, daughter of Leo Jacob and Emeline Josephine Urhahn Menz. She and Joseph A. Glueck were married May 14, 1951. He died Oct. 22, 1979...

DONIPHAN -- Mary Iva Whitley, 68, of Doniphan died Saturday, May 13, 2000, at Ripley County Memorial Hospital in Doniphan. She was born May 5, 1932, in Morehouse, daughter of Clarence and Dellia Capps Ray. She and Robert Whitley were married Oct. 9, 1951, at Piggott, Ark...

BENTON -- Luvina H. Hennemann, 81, of Benton died Sunday, May 14, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Aug. 4, 1918, at Uniontown, daughter of John and Anna T. Ponder Winkler. She and Ben Hennemann were married Nov. 24, 1936, at Applecreek...

PERRYVILLE -- Norma J. Blandford, 70, of Perryville died Saturday May 13, 2000, at her home. She was born Aug. 22, 1929, at McBride, daughter of Patrick and Lillian Anderson Esselman. She and Chalmer D. Blandford were married May 26, 1953. She was a retired stitcher for International Shoe and Prince Gardner and was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church...

Wray H. Whitener, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, May 14, 2000, at Fountainbleau Lodge. Friends may call from 10 a.m. to the 1 p.m. service time Tuesday at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel. Complete information will follow later.

GIPSY -- Claude R. Meador, 83, of Gipsy died Saturday, May 13, 2000, at the Advance Nursing Center. He was born Feb. 27, 1917, at Hiram, son of George and Jenny Hood Meador. He and Ruth Schanks were married Dec. 7, 1939, at Greenville. Meador was a retired sawmill operator and had been a merchant in Gipsy for 39 years. He was a member of the Pleasant Valley General Baptist Church and a member of the Zalma Masonic Lodge. He served with the U. S. Army during World War II...

GALATIA, Ill. -- Madge Tate, 83, of Galatia died Sunday, May 14, 2000, at Good Shepherd Nursing Home at Galatia. She was born May 24, 1916, at Saline County, Ill., daughter of Robert and Naoma Towle Tucker. She and George Ivan "G.I." Tate were married Oct. 18, 1936. He died March 16, 1999...

EVERY TIME I see pictures and hear stories about another flood, I'm reminded of what a doctor of drainage engineering said about the failure to have drainage systems of adequate capacity. You can't get 10 pounds of stuff in a five-pound sack. Everybody upstream will be doing what they can to get rid of their runoff as quickly as possible. ...

After Jackson School District voters on April 4 resoundingly rejected an operating-tax levy increase and bond proposal for additional operating funds and school improvements, they now learn that the school district is treading on shaky financial ground...

The flap over whether Delta should have a policeman will reach full circle if and when the small Cape Girardeau County community hires one. The Board of Aldermen first eliminated the police chief's position and decided not to hire a part-time officer who was to have assisted him. ...