Stories from Friday, September 29, 2000

In the 33 years Dr. Donald Schulte has been teaching at Southeast Missouri State University, he cannot recall any student ever writing and directing a play for presentation on the Rose Theatre stage. Student direction and writing have been reserved for the Lab Theatre...

When Sally Taylor was 8, her mother gave her a journal she had kept in her teen-age years. Sally devoured the journal and learned something she needed to know about the act of expressing who you are. "It brought me to another place in life where I felt OK," Taylor said. "I had shared secret thoughts with her."...

Cape Girardeau doesn't have any control over how land directly outside the city limits is used, nor does it want any control, the city planner said. Questions have been raised at public meetings about how much control incorporated cities would have around city limits should Cape Girardeau County adopt countywide planning and zoning. The matter is to be decided at the polls Nov. 7...

Extra teaching supplies, general maintenance projects and new air-conditioning units at Central High School are on hold until two lawsuits holding up a $1 million state allocation for the new Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center are resolved, which likely won't happen before January...

Two Cuban officials hoping to import some of Missouri's agricultural bounty toured area farms this week, just days before a House vote on whether to allow U.S. farmers to export to Cuba for the first time since 1962. Fernando Remirez de Estenoz rode a monstrous milo threshing machine with a 30-foot cutting header in Scout County and a rice harvester in New Madrid County during stops in the area Wednesday and Thursday...

No one truly knows what lies ahead for Cape Girardeau as a community, but plenty of people are excited by the possibilities. A new strategic planning committee already has drafted an original plan for how to take Cape Girardeau through the next 20 years, but changes could be made. That committee, Vision 2020, will take its cues from the work Vision 2000 did but come up with its own unique goals...

Ongoing projects: The Broadway and Caruthers intersection will be closed Friday. Detours will be posted...

This has been a particularly hectic week, and I can't explain why. All I know is that by Tuesday I was driven to drink. Pepto-Bismol, that is. I am not one to take over-the-counter medication. Every time I do, the cure is worse than the ailment. But Tuesday I was ready to dance with witches if that's what it was going to take to get rid of the WWF wrestlers who were using my stomach for practice...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Four port authorities in Southeast Missouri are among the area agencies feeling the effects of a delay in state funding for capital improvement projects. Last spring the Missouri General Assembly appropriated $6.1 million for port authority improvements. Of that amount, more than two-thirds -- about $4.4 million -- is earmarked for ports in Scott City, New Bourbon, and New Madrid and Pemiscot counties...

The cause of a house fire on south Pacific Street Wednesday evening may never be known, a Cape Girardeau Fire Department spokesman said. About 7:50 p.m. firefighters received a call to respond to a house fire at 223 S. Pacific St., said Tom Hinkebein, shift commander...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- A Kaskaskia Island, Ill., attorney pleaded guilty Thursday to sex crimes involving boys in Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties, a spokesman for the Missouri Attorney General's office said. Alan D. Picou, 36, pleaded guilty to statutory sodomy, invasion of privacy and sexual misconduct, spokesman Scott Holste said. Picou had originally been charged with five felonies and a misdemeanor for relations that he had with two boys...

The Cape Girardeau county clerk's office sent out 207 ballots for the Nov. 7 presidential election this week, which marked the start of absentee voting. Patty Schlosser, election supervisor, said two already have been returned. Absentee voting began Tuesday, exactly six weeks before the election...

Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Regents could approve a charter school proposal when it meets at 2:30 p.m. today in the University Center Ballroom. The regents are expected to meet via a telephone conference call to act on a St. Louis neighborhood's application for a charter to operate an elementary and middle school near the Missouri Botanical Garden...

JACKSON, Mo. -- When the Jackson Marching Band Festival started in 1945, only six bands took the field. By 1961, the event had become so popular that concurrent festivals were spun off in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and Kennett, Mo. This year, 19 bands will perform in Jackson and a total of about 40 in the three cities combined...

DELTA, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau County's proposed planning and zoning regulations could prompt rural residents to incorporate into towns to avoid them, a leading opponent of the Nov. 7 ballot issue said at a meeting Thursday night. Whitewater, Mo., area resident Doug Flannery suggested new towns could pop up to avoid the regulations if voters approve county planning...

Cape Central cares more this year. The Tigers care more when they practice, they care more when they win and they care more when they lose. And that, as much as anything, is why Cape Central is so much better than it was last year. Central coach Lawrence Brookins said the Tigers took their 20-7 loss to Poplar Bluff hard this week. The Tigers believed they could beat Poplar Bluff, a team that Central hasn't been able to solve in recent years...

ST. LOUIS -- It wasn't the same Jackson team that ripped apart Dyersburg last week, but the Indians got the job done. Jackson (5-0) made some mental and physical miscues Thursday night but another spectacular game by Mario Whitney led the Indians to a 28-14 win over a tough Parkway North squad...

By his own admission, Southeast Missouri State University football player Joe Williams had a disappointing junior season. But he's making up for that in a big way this year. A senior safety from Baton Rouge, La., by way of California, Williams has 59 tackles in four games to rank second nationally in Division I-AA with an average of 14.75 tackles per game...

Thursday's game Jackson 28, Parkway North 14 Tonight's games (7:30 p.m. kickoffs) Graves County, Ky. at Cape Central Chaffee at Scott City Perryville at North County (7 p.m.) St. Pius at St. Vincent (7 p.m.) Fredericktown at Herculaneum (7 p.m.) Charleston at Malden...

The Cape Central Tigers and Graves County (Ky.) Eagles enter tonight's football game at Houck Stadium (7:30 kickoff) with something to prove. Not to the fans, the media or even to their opponents -- but to themselves. Central is coming off a disappointing 20-7 loss to Poplar Bluff, a game the Tigers think they should have won. And Central is still out to prove that it's one of the area's best teams despite a 2-2 record...

At this point, the Scott City Rams know not to look past anybody. At least they should. After a near upset loss to perennial doormat (albeit much improved) East Prairie and after Chaffee gave the Rams all they wanted in last year's game, it's doubtful that Scott City will be looking ahead to Park Hills, next week's foe...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Jackson, which has been the area's hottest high school boys soccer team in recent weeks, continued its strong play Thursday with a 2-0 SEMO Conference victory over visiting Notre Dame. "This was a big win for us," said Jackson coach Zack Walton. "We had a good possession game and our bench played extremely well."...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Lewis Eugene "Whitey" Morris, 73, of Cairo died Thursday, Sept. 28, 2000, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky. He was born Nov. 8, 1926, in Blandville, Ky., the son of Owen and Clara Stigall Morris. He was a retired fleet superintendent for Valley Line Co., in Cairo, a member of Cairo VFW Post 2649 and a veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving in WWII...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Funeral for Wanda Moore of Jonesboro will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hileman and Parr Funeral Home. Mark Laster will officiate. Burial will be in Jonesboro Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 6-8 p.m. today. Moore, 83, died Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000, at Carbondale Memorial Hospital in Carbondale, Ill...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Rhoda J. Green, 86, of Marble Hill died Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 22, 1914, daughter of Harve and Sarah Masters. She and Freddie Green were married May 14, 1932...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Mary F. Wilcox, 97, of Dexter died Thursday, Sept. 28, 2000, at Dexter Memorial Hospital. She was born March 11, 1903, at Dexter, daughter of Arthur and Anne Miller Wilcox. Wilcox was a lifelong resident of Dexter. She was a teacher at Dexter schools from 1922-27, and later taught at Gray Ridge schools until retiring in 1972. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church, where she was ordained an elder and was organist 35 years...

COBDEN, Ill. -- John E. Wilson, 79, of Marion, Ill., died Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000, at Marion Memorial Hospital. He was born May 26, 1921, in Herrin, Ill., son of John E. and Becky Orr Wilson. He and Vera Virginia Howard were married July 10, 1946. She died April 3, 1982. He later married Vanda James, who died July 4, 1997...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Lucy Belle Bradshaw, 77, of Jasper, Ga., died Thursday, Sept. 28, 2000, at Brian Center Nursing Home in Canton, Ga. She was born Dec. 26, 1922, in Sikeston, daughter of Clarence and Maggie Johnson Wyatt. She and Carl "Brad" Bradshaw were married April 7, 1949, in Clay County, Ark. He died July 29, 1976...

Daughter to Billy Ray and Cindy Jane Heisserer of Jackson, Mo., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 3:43 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2000. Name, Jane Marie. Weight, 7 pounds. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Heisserer is the former Cindy Bock, daughter of Larry and Shirley Bock of Jackson, and the late Jane Bock. She is a secretary at Cape Paint and Glass. Heisserer is the son of Bill and Betty Heisserer of Jackson. He is foreman at Sides Construction Co...

To the editor: My family and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people at the soccer field Sept. 23 who assisted in a medical emergency. It is gratifying to know what a caring community the residents of Cape Girardeau are. We are genuinely grateful for their assistance...

To the editor: I disagree with Jo Ann Emerson and the Republican Party on doing away with inheritance taxes and their negative thinking on the environment. They should quit telling people what they want to hear and tell them what they ought to hear...

I was honored to be elected as a delegate from our 8th Congressional District to the Democratic National Convention in August in Los Angeles. It was a wonderful experience. I appreciate the coverage of the convention by the Southeast Missourian, especially the work done by Mark Bliss and Marc Powers...

Not so many months ago, we predicted in this space that the nation's strategic oil reserves would become a political pawn in the closing weeks of this year's presidential campaign. Sure enough, Al Gore suggested last week in a campaign speech in Maryland -- in the middle of the geographic area most dependent on high-cost heating oil -- that President Clinton should release a portion of the reserves to cushion the blow of keeping warm this winter...

The recent stories about the treatment of animals on their way to be slaughtered would be amusing if they weren't so irritating. Organizations concerned about the humane treatment of animals about to become hamburger, chicken strips or pork barbecue are pressuring major restaurant chains, especially fast-foot outlets, to buy processed meat only from packing houses that conform to humane standards set by those concerned organizations...

THANKS TO Jim Wilhelm for his Sept. 22 letter to the editor. His example of what can happen to an area without planning and zoning is the very reason I have been in favor of it for Cape Girardeau County. I'm voting yes. I LIVE on the Missouri side, but I frequently drive over to the Illinois side to visit my sister. ...

To the editor: I am a homeowner in Cape Girardeau County. I live in a rural area because I choose to. I like rural life and know that being out near Whitewater has both advantages and disadvantages. Many of us out here in the western and southern parts of the county don't feel that we are well-represented by the County Commission. Why would we want to allow them more control over us and our property?...