Stories from Monday, August 14, 2000

Gretchen Moore of Jackson, optometric technician at Regional Eyecare Center, has recently become registered with the National Contact Lens Examiners and is now a certified contact lens technician. She is capable in assisting with fitting all types of contact lenses, follow up visits and contact-related eye problems...

Research and extension specialists from the University of Missouri, University of Arkansas and Southeast Missouri State University will discuss research and recommendations concerning rice varieties, herbicides and rice insect and disease control at the ninth annual Missouri Rice Field Day, Wednesday at the Missouri Rice Research Farm, west of Malden...

A reunion of former Jackson Hosiery Mill employees and their spouses will be held Aug. 26 at Delmonico's Restaurant in Jackson. The reunion starts at 11 a.m., with lunch at noon. Additional information is available by calling Betty Strack, 243-4979, or Inez Knott, 243-4008...

A fish farming seminar will be held at Shawnee Community College, this month. Steve Killian, executive director of a new fish processing plant under construction at Pinckneyville, will be guest speaker at the seminar, to be held Aug. 22, in the college's River Room...

The nation's unemployment rate held steady at 4 percent in July, near a three-decade low, as a revival in manufacturing helped soften the blow from a loss of 290,000 temporary Census jobs, the Labor Department reported. Private economists said the unemployment report should lessen the threat of a seventh Federal Reserve interest rate increase...

Debra Rhodes has joined Orthopaedic Associates of Southeast Missouri, P.C., as assistant administrator of personnel and patient relations. Rhodes, who is a registered nurse and holds a B.S. in nursing, has previously worked as a nurse manager, director of nursing and orthopaedic nurse. Before her nursing career, she worked in management...

Leslie Michael, formerly of Commerce, Mo., and a 1987 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, has been honored by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for "outstanding assistance to the East St. Louis and Vicinity Interior Flood Control and Restoration Project."...

Tim Sievers has been promoted to senior vice president at Commerce Bank in Cape Girardeau. Sievers' promotion was announced recent by Roger Tolliver, president of the bank here. Sievers, of Jackson, has 18 years experience in banking and has been with Commerce bank eight years...

Soona Soto has joined Mid-America Transplant Service (MTS) as a donor program/ family services specialist. Soto previously worked at St. Francis Medical Center. She has also worked as an organ procurement coordinator in California. MTS, headquartered at Springfield, is an organ procurement organization and services a wide area of Missouri, Southern Illinois and northeast Arkansas...

Travis Goode has received a promotion at Dana Corp.'s Cape Girardeau facility. Good has accepted the position of cutter grind cell leader, C-Shift. He joined Dana in September 1990 as a cell technician in Dept. 500. He moved into cutter grind in August 1994...

When Emma Burton mentioned her tomatoes hanging from a clothesline, it piqued my interest. Tomatoes? Clothesline? "Yeah," she said. "I'm raising upside-down tomatoes, hanging from a clothesline." I wanted to know more. I've been off the farm now more than three decades, and the last time I raised tomatoes, they were grown in the ground...

Red Lobster has announced that Lonnie Griggs, general manager of Red Lobster in Cape Girardeau, has been named to the company's all-star roster known as the Diamond Club. The Diamond Club Award is presented to Red Lobster general managers who achieve exceptional business success and demonstrate outstanding guest satisfaction results during the company's previous fiscal year. ...

This "Financial Focus" column is prepared by Edward Jones Investments, headquartered in St. Louis. Jones includes branches throughout the nation, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson. A 401 (k) plan is great -- but you have to be careful when it's time to withdraw the money...

Steve Sharp, Scott Payne and Rick McIntyre have received recognition of their attainment of Senior Master Technician level in the service center at Ford Groves in Cape Girardeau from Ford Motor Company. "Ford Groves is one of the few dealerships in the nation to have three technicians at the master level," said Tom Messerly, Ford Motor Company representative. ...

Things are still happening along a four-mile stretch of former Missouri Highway 74 in South Cape Girardeau. Construction continues on a 93,890 square-foot facility for Jim Wilson Inc., at 2007 Southern Expressway. Charter Communications purchased property in the park for an expansion structure...

Connie Brown, CPA, audit manager with Schott & Van de Ven, has completed the certification to be designated as a Certified Valuation Analyst. The designation comes after 40 hours of classes with the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts, a proctored exam and a graded case study. In addition, she completed 64 hours of specialized work with the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts and received a Certificate of Education Achievement in Business Valuation...

Melvin J. Van de Ven, partner at Schott & Van de Ven, Certified Public Accountants, recently attended the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants National Accounting and Auditing Advanced Technical Symposium. He attended lectures on how technology and marketing issues will reshape accounting and auditing procedures. The future of the reporting process was discussed with a presentation on the new computer language called Extensive Financial Reporting Mark-Up Language...

Sharon Stanley of Cape Girardeau has joined Prudential's Cape Girardeau office, located at 1020 North Kingshighway, as a representative serving the insurance and financial services needs of clients. She is active with Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce and is a Leadership Cape Girardeau 2000 participant...

Students returning to classes this month will see physical, curriculum and personnel changes at a number of area schools. One of the major changes this year is the opening of a new high school. Saxony Lutheran High School will open Aug. 21 in classrooms at St. Andrew Lutheran Church at Cape Rock Drive and Kingshighway. It will be the first Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod high school in the area...

Fewer people are looking for careers in law enforcement, which has caused turnover to increase and the number of applications to shrink at the Cape Girardeau Police Department, according to Chief Rick Hetzel. During the past five years, the department has seen a turnover of more than 10 percent of its uniformed officers each year. Some leave for other law enforcement agencies, others find higher paying jobs in private industry and some retire...

Judi Brey feels like the pavement is encroaching on what little grass and landscaping is left around the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. Brey and about 70 of her neighbors along Henderson Avenue are opposed to the university's plan to remove existing tennis courts and build a parking lot between Woodland and Hillcrest drives...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- A 57-year-old woman who was found slain last week had a romantic relationship with one of the men charged with her murder, police said. Charles "Scott" Biggs, 31, had been in a relationship with Willie Mae Vasquez since last year, Sgt. Rick Sheren said...

The Southeast Missouri State University's men's and women's track teams should be ready for runs at the Ohio Valley Conference indoor and outdoor titles with the announcement of another strong recruiting class. Southeast coach Joey Haines has announced seven new recruits -- all from the high school ranks -- for his women's squad that won OVC indoor and outdoor championships last season...

The two girls fast-pitch softball teams from the Benton, Mo., area had different results as they opened Babe Ruth World Series play Sunday. The 16-under Heartland Heat, competing in Milleville, N.J., defeated the New Jersey state champion 5-0 behind a one-hitter by Marissa Essner. The Heat will continue in pool play today...

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. -- Missouri State American Legion baseball champion Dunklin County is just one victory away from a berth in the American Legion World Series. Dunklin County slipped past the Louisiana state champion 7-6 Sunday night in the semifinals of the Mid-South Regional Tournament...

ULLIN, Ill. -- Sam R. Frans, 77, of Mounds, Ill., died Sunday, Aug. 13, 2000, at the Veteran's Affairs Medical Center in Marion, Ill. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Ullin.

ORAN, Mo. -- Raymond Earl Taholski, 55, of Oran died Saturday, Aug. 12, 2000, at Beverly Health and Rehab in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 27, 1944, at Eustis, Fla., son of Mary Wade and Robert Taholski. He served in the U.S. Army and had been employed as a line worker at Cline Plastics in Baraboo, Wis...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Noah Lee Ergle, 77, of Sikeston died Saturday, Aug. 12, 2000, at his home. He was born March 9, 1923, at Fall City, Ala., son of Arthur E. and Savanna Horton Ergle. He and Lueanna Cagle were married July 6, 1941, in Double Springs, Ala...

Louise N. Palmer, 86, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Aug. 12, 2000, at Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Center. She was born Sept. 20, 1913, at Bell City, Mo., daughter of Elijah and Laura Adcock Kelso. She and Leonard Palmer were married Sept. 21, 1929, at Bowling Green, Ohio. He died July 30, 1980...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Mary Jean Wilkerson, 35, of Sikeston died Sunday, Aug. 13, 2000, at her home. She was born July 8, 1965, at Hayti, Mo., daughter of Everett E. "Gene" Morefield and Mary F. Burke Morefield. She and Tim Wilkerson were married March 16, 1991...

Cape Girardeau firefighters battled an early morning blaze Sunday that caused extensive smoke damage to a home but caused no injuries. Firefighters received a call at 4:36 a.m. that a home at 763 Cedar Lane had caught fire. A smoke detector in the home awakened the occupants...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. 00 Irma F. Steffens, 74, of Perryville died Saturday, Aug. 12, 2000, at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. She was born June 2, 1926, at Farrar, Mo., daughter of Joseph and Katherine Mahnken Meier. She and Norman H. Steffens were married Jan. 25, 1948, at Perryville...

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- Wendell Redenbeaux, 84, of St. Charles died Saturday, Aug. 12, 2000, at Clay West House in St. Charles. He was born Jan. 28, 1916, at Windsor, Ill., son of Dallas and Sylvia McClain Redenbeaux. He and Mabel L. Reynolds were married April 12, 1947...

Mary Elizabeth Brown, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Aug. 11, 2000, at Beverly Health and Rehab. She was born Dec. 22, 1914, at Cape Girardeau, daughter of Francis G. and Malinda M. Clark O'Howell. She and Frank S. Brown were married Sept. 3, 1932, at Cape Girardeau...

MATTHEWS, Mo. -- Joseph B. Pace Sr., 74, of Matthews died Saturday, Aug. 12, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born July 3, 1926, in Lakeland, Fla., son of Sam T. and Elizabeth Bryan Pace. He and Alma Wallen were married Jan. 26, 1962, at St. Louis...

William C. "Bill" Loveless, 78, of Dexter, Mo., died Saturday, Aug. 12, 2000, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 31, 1921, at Lavalle, Mo., son of Edward and Bessie Minehart Loveless. He and Juanita Asher were married Oct. 28, 1946, at Piggott, Ark...

ORAN, Mo. -- Annie Rose Miderhoff, 85, of Oran died Sunday, Aug. 13, 2000, at her home. Arrangement are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Home in Oran.

I ENJOYED Kathleen Parker's column in Sunday's paper. She is reasoning why both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney did not serve active duty in Vietnam. I agree with her assessment. But why did she not write this article when every veteran group active and retired military were lambasting President Clinton on his military record? I remember during the Kosovo conflict, Republicans would say President Clinton does not have the authority to wage a war, referring to his lack of active military experience. ...

No one wants to rain on the parades of our two presidential candidates, particularly since both political parties are expert in creating spectacles designed to make every voter feel good, but unless Bush and Gore begin to speak out soon, there's a very good chance voters will hear little about the most important issue in this year's campaign. The omission should not surprise us, since any parade marshal will go to great lengths to eliminate entries that are no crowd-worthy...

Cape Girardeau County will issue $4.7 million in bonds to speed up construction of the Missouri Department of Conservation nature center in Cape Girardeau County Park North, and the department will pay back the county over 10 years. The department can't enter into long-term financial agreements, and If the county were to wait until the agency had the money to build the nature center, the project could be delayed for years, says Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones...

Two Southeast Missouri State University educators have come up with a plan in the fight against methamphetamines by writing a proposal for a grant to fund anti-meth education of third-graders. The plan, announced last week at a press conference at the university attended by Gov. ...

To the editor: I would like to say thank you to Jim Drury. I look around at Cape and the surrounding area at all the progress, and I think God that there is a man with a vision, a man of means -- how else could the town have prospered the way it has?...