Stories from Wednesday, June 14, 2000

A yew shrub is dying because of drought stress. Drought stress has killed this pin oak tree. Recently a friend and I were discussing things that needed to be done around our homes. He said that he had finally found someone to remove a dead pin oak that stood about 40 feet tall and was 18 inches in diameter. He thought that the tree died from the drought that occurred last fall and winter. He said he just didn't realize that a tree that large would suffer from drought...

Hot and dry days lend themselves for picnics outside or dinners on the deck. Bratwurst on the grill and German potato salad as a side dish would be a great start to planning your menu. This week we have several more salad recipes to share with you. We had some shy readers who did not include their names, but we appreciate the submissions all the same...

JACKSON, Mo. -- A new Avenue of Flags needs to be included in any plan to relocate the war memorial to make room for a nature center in Cape Girardeau County Park North, veterans told project architects on Tuesday. About 15 people attended a meeting in the County Administrative Building, including all three members of the County Commission. The meeting adjourned to the park where representatives of veterans groups and the architects viewed the memorial and looked at the proposed relocation site...

BENTON, Mo. -- Southbound traffic on a portion of Interstate 55 will continue to be limited to one lane for perhaps a couple of more days as a gasoline spill cleanup is completed, said a Missouri Department of Natural Resources official. Only the passing lane is open near mile marker 77 just south of Benton while soil testing and road repairs are finished, said the official, Eric Sappington, an environmental specialist with DNR...

A California communications company has filed an application seeking Federal Communications Commission approval for a low-power television-transmission tower in Cape Girardeau. MS Communications of Los Angeles filed the request for a permit to construct the tower. It was filed through the law firm of Moir and Hardman of Washington...

PATTON, Mo. -- Students attending summer school at Meadow Heights got an unexpected day off Tuesday after lightening struck a control panel at the school. Superintendent Duane Schindler said bad weather Monday night caused an electrical failure at the school. Maintenance staff arriving for work early Tuesday found the district's private well inoperable. After some research they learned a control panel that powered the well had been struck by lightening and destroyed...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- When speeders get stopped on the roadways, it often leads law enforcement officers to other crimes and warrants for arrest. A Perry County deputy got the same result from a Tennessee man driving too slow. Deputy Jason Kelley gave this account:...

BENTON, Mo. -- A New Madrid man has been arrested and another is being sought, suspected of numerous crimes in Scott County, the sheriff said. Jack D. Terry, 18, of Parma, has been charged with two counts of stealing, burglary and first-degree tampering with a car, Sheriff Bill Ferrell said...

JACKSON -- With just over two weeks left in its fiscal year, the Jackson School District will likely finish with slightly higher balances than were projected. The district ends its fiscal year June 30. Drafts of school district budgets are adopted at the beginning of the fiscal year, then finalized in late fall. Budget revisions are then made throughout the year as needed to reconcile how money is spent with the itemized budget...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- More than 50 churches will be represented in a "Spread the Fire" rally this week. The rally, which will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at First United Methodist Church, is part of the preparations for a Celebration 2000 event. Nearly 600 people attended a similar rally in April that served as an encouragement to event organizers...

Southeast Missouri Hospital officials are studying proposals from two air ambulance firms interested in acquiring LifeBeat, the hospital's air medical service. Southeast Administrator James W. Wente said Air Evac and Mercy Air, a subsidiary of Air Methods, both approached the hospital with the concept of developing a regional, community-based air ambulance network...

DEXTER, Mo. -- It all started with a dream to build the perfect computer system. Although the dream has not become a reality, the idea has firmly taken hold. Not yet old enough to legally drink, teens Brandon Campbell and Adam South have started their own computer business in Dexter...

The Missouri Mentoring Partnership has been allocated an additional $40,000 in Youth Opportunity Program tax credits for employers of youth in the program. "Our program has been growing in leaps and bounds," said Marge Sullivan, MMP director. "About a year and a half ago, we wrote for a grant and were given $125,000 a year in tax credits; in its first year, it was very successful," she said. "We see it as a way to thank our corporate sponsors."...

COLUMBIA -- Neal Boyd of Sikeston, Mo. had no idea a school hallway Pavarotti parody would someday lead not only to a genuine appreciation for the Italian singer, but a national championship as an opera singer himself. A lyric tenor and recent graduate from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Boyd captured first place at the National Collegiate Artist Voice Competition of the Music Teachers National Association in Minneapolis, Minn., with a 40-minute program featuring 12 selections...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Temperatures at Bent Creek Golf Course may have been in the lower 90s, but a handful of 15- and 16-year-olds were comfortable in the mid-70s Tuesday. Three youngster in the 15-16 age division shot 74s and two others shot 76s in the first round of the St. Francis Heartland Junior Classic...

SENATH, Mo. -- The Ford & Sons American Legion team from Cape Girardeau suffered a doubleheader sweep at the hands of Dunklin County Tuesday night, losing the opener 7-1 then falling 10-0 in the nightcap. Garrett Broshuis suffered the loss in the first game, a contest which was tied 1-1 going into the sixth inning. In six innings, Broshuis allowed seven runs, six earned, on nine hits, a walk and four strikeouts...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- A memorial service for Margaret Gladys Speth of Marble Hill will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at First Baptist Church. The Rev. Fred Ritter will officiate. Burial will be in Rosewood Cemetery in Palmyra, Neb. Speth, 71, died Wednesday, May 31, 2000, at Smith County Memorial Hospital in Carthage, Tenn...

ANNA, Ill. -- Delorse Eubanks, 61, of Anna died Monday, June 12, 2000, in Jonesboro. She was born Feb. 20, 1939, in Anna, daughter of Lee and Flora Connell Davis. She married Frank Eubanks. Survivors include her husband; four daughters, Cricket Velasques and Crystal Bonill of Jonesboro, Debbie Cormack of Anna, Tiny Diaz of Cobden; five sons, David Eubanks of Anna, Bill and Shawn Eubanks of Cobden, Frank Martin of Jonesboro, Raymond Eubanks of Alton, Iowa; and a stepdaughter, Darlene Tipton of Cobden.. ...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Funeral for Jimmie Dale Burkett will be held at 11 a.m. today at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston. The Revs. Dolan Rogers and Bob Medlock will officiate. Burial will be in IOOF Cemetery. Burkett, 85, died Monday, June 12, 2000, at Miner Nursing Center...

Son to Christopher Michael and Carla Jane Brown of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:41 a.m. Wednesday, June 7, 2000. Name, Jacob Michael. Weight, 7 pounds 1 ounce. First child. Mrs. Brown is the former Carla Scherer, daughter of Karen Penrod of Jackson and David Scherer of Cape Girardeau. She is employed at Lowes Home Improvement in Cape Girardeau. Brown is the son of Wayne and Susan Brown of Perryville. He is employed at Wieser Honda in Cape Girardeau...

MINER, Mo. -- A Southeast Missouri man was injured Tuesday morning when his truck ran blew a tire. Jerry Dorris, 37, of Wappapello was moderately injured in the accident that happened at 10 a.m. on Interstate 55, six miles north of Miner. He was taken by ambulance to Missouri Delta Medical Center for treatment...

The joint Jackson-Cape Girardeau future annexation planning committee recently met at the Osage Centre in Cape. The committee was formed as a result of the first joint Jackson-Cape council meeting. The work between the two communities since then has resulted in a nonbinding flexible corridor being created between I-55, Route K and Highway 25 that will serve as a guideline for future requested annexations for both of our growing communities. ...

Today is Flag Day, a nearly forgotten commemoration between two big holidays: Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Happily, we don't forget Flag Day holiday in Cape Girardeau County, where Boy Scout troops go to the trouble of placing American flags along major thoroughfares in our communities and where countless patriotic citizens fly Old Glory from their homes and businesses as well...

There is a relatively new animal making news in political circles this year called "the 527s." Those reformers who are constantly trying to shut down speech in our political campaigns -- and who want to ban and restrict certain kinds of speech of which they don't approve -- are training their sights on these groups...

To the editor: After being displace for many years, Israel regained part of its original homeland in 1948. Now, many nations and the United Nations are attempting to persuade Israel to bring peace in the Middle East by relinquishing parts of its homeland to the Palestinians...

To the editor: As one of the 11 individuals who attended a recent Jackson Board of Education meeting, let me shed some light on the group in attendance. First, let me express that all who were present desire a fine school for the Jackson district. Second, opinions were voiced that were intended to assist the board in how the bond and levy issues might best succeed. This is hardly being against the issue...

To the editor: I am really concerned. I wanted to go shopping to buy Microsoft software, an assault rifle, cigarettes and whiskey and put my purchases on a Mastercard. Does this mean Janet Reno and her Justice Department will come looking for me? R. SCOTT MATTTHEWS JR...