Stories from Monday, October 23, 2000

John Clifton, Cape Girardeau County deputy coroner, attended a Missouri Coroners and Medical Examiners Association training seminar recently in Jefferson City, Mo. A number of topics were discussed during the two-day session, including sudden infant death syndrome, occupational deaths, DNA evidence collection and conducting a coroner's inquest...

Larry and Tana McLaird and Jack and Cathy Connell, have been recognized for sales by Premier Designs Inc., of Dallas Texas, which provides a high fashion line of women's jewelry. The McLairds recently won a trip to Toronto, Canada, for becoming designers in the company. ...

Lisa Hunt, Cape Girardeau County deputy public administrator, recently received a certificate of achievement, during the Missouri Association of Public Administrators conference at West Plains, Mo. Association president Carmen Hayden presented the certificate to Hunt...

Four members of Southeast Missouri Hospital's nursing staff have been selected to serve as mentors under a new learning program offered through the Missouri League for Nursing. Selected were Karen Hendrickson, assistant administrator and nurse executive; Gwen Thoma, director of educational services; Susan Lewis, nurse manager of medical progressive care; and Maggie Schuch, nurse manager of the cardiothoracic intensive care unit and surgical progressive care...

David Coleman has joined Jones & Thomas Inc., Decatur, Ill., as a copywriter. Coleman of Cape Girardeau had served as copywriter for Red Letter Communications, an advertising agency based in Cape Girardeau. He also served as producer for the nationally syndicated television show, "Gardenpower."...

Larry McCain has joined the sales staff at D-Mart Homes in Fruitland, Mo. McCain has four years experience in manufactured home sales.

Everything from addax to zedonks and angora goats to zebu will be available for sale during the two-day Mid-America Animal Sales, to be held at Fruitland Livestock Auction barn, 7505 Highway 61 North, Friday and Saturday. As many as 450 to 500 animal buyers and sellers are expected in Cape Girardeau County this weekend for auction, which starts at 9 a.m. both days...

Pavestone Company is one of more than a dozen employers which will have representatives at the Career Job Fair, to be held at the Show Me Center today from noon to 7:30 p.m. Pavestone, headquartered at Dallas, Tex., is a leader in the nation's landscape product industry, and is the nation's largest producer of interlocking concrete paving stones and retaining walls...

D Mart Homes at Fruitland, has received an award for "Outstanding Customer Satisfaction" from Champion Home, one of the largest makers of manufactured homes in the United States. The award is a result of an independent survey commissioned by Champion Homes, which showed D Mart Homes with a nearly 100 percent customer satisfaction rate...

The Holiday Inn at Cape Girardeau and the Holiday Inn Express Hotel at Paducah, Ky. have won Bass Hotels and Resorts 2000 Torchbearer awards. The two operations, owned and operated by Midamerica Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Cape Girardeau, were among properties selected from the more than 3,000 Holiday Inn hotels for maintaining high standards of excellence in product quality hotel operations, guest services and profitability...

Ameristar Casinos Inc., has announced it will buy two Missouri riverboat casinos from Station Casinos Inc. for $475 million. Ameristar will sell the Reserve hotel-casino in Henderson, Nev., to Station for $70 million. The acquisitions of the riverboats in Kansas City, Mo., and St. Charles, Mo., are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The Nevada deal is expected to close late this year or early next year...

Johns' Produce, a poultry facility in Southeast Missouri at Campbell, has closed its processing facility, resulting in the loss of 76 jobs. The company, plans to continue its trucking operation, hauling processed chicken products for area companies...

The Vibe Studio, L.L.C. has opened in downtown Cape Girardeau. Nathan Sides recently purchased the facilities of Riverside Recording Studio at 45 N. Main, side entrance on Themis St., and will offer pre-production planning, original song composition, tracking, mixing and mastering for the music industry...

Tara Thomas of Cape Girardeau has won a cruise to the Bahamas in the Mary Kay Model Makeover contest. Thomas' consultant was Angie Stanfield, a member of the Jana Jateff Unit of Mary Kay Cosmetics in Cape Girardeau. Jateff sponsored the contest.

Holly A. Thomas and Howard J.. Poston, of Schott & Van de Ven, Certified Public Accountants, recently attended the sales and use tax conference in St. Louis. The daylong seminar covered the latest sales and tax issues. Thomas, a member of the Missouri Society of CPAs, and Poston, a staff accountant, are graduates of Southeast Missouri State University...

A number of business representatives will be on hand for the Career Job fair, to be held today at the Show Me Center on Southeast Missouri State University campus. The Career Fair, open to anyone, will be held from noon to 7:30 p.m. Some of the participating employers are A/O Employment Services, Associated Sheet Metal Inc., Bankers Life & Casualty, Lee Rowan, Missouri Department of Transportation, Missouri Division of Workforce Development, Nordenia, U.S.A., Pavestone Company, St. ...

Advanced Pest Control has moved into larger quarters at 821 Progress in Cape Girardeau. "We needed more room," said Gene Schuessler, owner of the termite and pest control business, which offers commercial and residential service. The pest control business is observing its 20th anniversary...

Although the Nash Road Industrial Park is just over 40 years old, it is far from complete.The park has more than 25 industries and businesses in a complex south of Cape Girardeau, alongside Nash Road and near Interstate 55. Those businesses provide employment to more than 1,500 workers...

Karla Kiefner, decorative artist and owner of My Painted Garden, has received professional certification offered by internationally known artist Donna Dewberry. Kiefner is one of 1,100 artists nationwide who have acquired the certification. Kiefner is displaying some of her artwork at Picadilly's, a gift shop at the Crossroads, a retail and professional complex at Independence and Kingshighway, this month, where she is demonstrating her technique as "Artist of the Month...

Tim Gutwein of Jackson, Mo., has joined the Cape Girardeau office of A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., as a financial consultant. Gutwein, a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, has four years experience. Prior to joining Edwards, he was an investment representative with Edward D. Jones...

Maybe Big Brother isn't watching you now, but it's likely that someone is. Surveillance cameras are used as a means of reducing theft and crime in stores, schools, shopping malls and even city streets. They've become so popular that their use has become a national issue...

JACKSON, Mo. -- The Jackson Board of Education doesn't have just one plan for addressing building needs at the district's junior high and high school campuses: It has four. However, only one of the plans -- largely developed by architect John Dudley with input from district staff in 1999 -- includes a cost estimate anywhere near the $6 million bond issue voters will be asked to approve to fund an addition to R.O. Hawkins Junior High School when they go to the polls Nov. 7...

Cape Girardeau motorists shouldn't worry yet about whether a camera is recording their traffic violations. The City Council will delay its discussion on automated red light enforcement until its Nov. 6 meeting. A representative from Nestor Traffic Systems, the company that sells the automated red light equipment, is expected to give a presentation to the council then...

Ongoing projects:...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Northbound traffic on Interstate 55 between Benton, Mo., and Scott City, Mo., and traffic on the Mississippi River bridge in Cape Girardeau will be slowed for repairs this week. Pavement repairs are being made and traffic speeds will be reduced to 45 miles per hour in the work zone on Interstate 55 between Exit 80 and Exit 89. The area will be marked with signs, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation...

The Larry Gibbons family has made gathering walnuts a profitable family tradition, but the profit margin may be slimmer this year. Walnut production is a bit of a mystery. Some trees bear a few nuts every year with a major flush of nuts every third or fourth year. Others bear only every second or third year...

Monday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. Council chambers, City Hall, 401 Independence Study session at 5 p.m. Public hearings n Public hearing regarding the city's past performance in carrying out a 1999 Innovative Grant under the Community Development Block Grant Program for removal of asbestos and demolition of the old St. Francis hospital at 801 Good Hope St...

The League of Women Voters of Southeast Missouri will sponsor a candidate forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Glenn Auditorium at Dempster Hall on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. The mass communications and political science departments will be co-sponsors...

The Heartland Women's Show continues to draw crowds for its pricing game and exhibits and offers women a trade show specifically for them, organizers said. About 7,500 people attended the show Saturday and Sunday at the Show Me Center. The event is sponsored by KFVS-TV Channel 12...

Cape Girardeau Monday, Oct. 23 Firefighters responded to the following calls Saturday: At 8:34 p.m., medical service at 710 N. Spanish St. At 11:46 p.m., medical service at 230 Mill St. Firefighters responded to the following calls Sunday: At 12:52 a.m., medical service at 243 Barberry...

GRAND CHAIN, Ill. -- Erma Darnell, 79, of Grand Chain died Sunday, Oct. 22, 2000, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky. Arrangements are incomplete at Wilson Funeral Home in Karnak, Ill.

Viola C. Dannenmueller, 90, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Oct. 20, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center after a short illness. She was born July 17, 1910, daughter of Victor C. Bollinger and Clementine E. Hahn Bollinger. She was married to Leon J. Dannenmueller on Nov. 28, 1935, in Benton, Mo. He preceded her in death Aug. 30, 1996. The Dannenmuellers lived in Benton until 1967, when they moved to Cape Girardeau...

Irene C. Steeg, 83, formerly of Jackson, Mo., died Saturday, Oct. 21, 2000, at Fountainbleau Lodge in Cape Girardeau. Funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Chapel, with the Rev. John H. Rice officiating. Burial will be at Russell Heights Cemetery in Jackson...

ULLIN, Ill. -- C.J. Egner, 84, of Ullin died Sunday, Oct. 22, 2000, at Parkway Manor in Marion, Ill. Arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Ullin.

CAIRO, Ill. -- Ruby Hagey, 90, of Cairo died Sunday, Oct. 22, 2000, at Daystar Care Center in Cairo. She was born Jan. 3, 1910, in Buford, Ga., daughter of Noon and Lilly Edwards Bagby. She worked as a nurse's aide at St. Mary's Hospital in Cairo for many years...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Dolores Ann Domma, 66, of Baton Rouge, died Friday, Oct. 20, 2000, at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. She was born Aug. 21, 1934, at Baton Rouge, the daughter of Nicholas Charles and Lillie Call Domma. She taught at St. Mary's School in Cape Girardeau during the 1950s. She retired after 30 years as an employee of South Central Bell telephone. She was a member of St. Gerard Majella Catholic Church and the Ladies Altar Society...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Jack D. Mitchell, 75, of Sikeston died Sunday, Oct. 22, 2000, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Sept. 24, 1925, in Scott County, Mo., son of Liston and Iva Hutchason Mitchell. He and Mary I. Stucker were married on Dec. 24, 1948, in Osceola, Ark...

Jesus Sides, 19, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000, of a gunshot wound. He was born July 5, 1981, at Cape Girardeau, son of Sylvia Sides and Ricky Cotner. He attended Cape Girardeau Public Schools. Survivors include his mother and father, both of Cape Girardeau; a son, Morte V. Sides of Cape Girardeau; three brothers, Abdul Sides, Brooks Sides and Solomon Sides, all of Cape Girardeau; maternal grandmother, Marilyn Sides Morrison of Cape Girardeau...

DELTA, Mo. -- Four people were injured Sunday when a driver ran through a stop sign in Delta and hit another vehicle. The accident happened at 8:15 p.m. Sunday on Route N when a vehicle driven by Joseph Parks, 28, of Chaffee, Mo., failed to stop at a stop sign and hit another vehicle driven by Jerry Nix, 51, of Delta, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported...

ANNA, Ill. -- Chloe Miller, 57, of Anna died Saturday, Oct. 21, 2000, at City Care Center in Cobden, Ill. Arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Anna.

THE DEMOCRATS' war on poverty did not destroy poverty. It destroyed the inner-city family system. It is time for a change. DURING THE third and final presidential debate we saw yet another Al Gore. Would the real Al Gore please stand up? IF PEOPLE vote for Governor Carnahan, I assume that the new governor would appoint his wife, Jean Carnahan. I know Jean Carnahan. She is wonderful. I deeply deplore his death, but I would be thrilled to have Jean Carnahan be our new senator...

There are a good many folks in Southeast Missouri who were born at St. Francis Hospital when it was near the downtown area. Now, after 125 years of serving the community -- and while the old hospital building is being demolished to make way for an apartment complex -- St. Francis Medical Center is gearing up for a new obstetrics unit...

Folks from Southeast Missouri have been surprised from time to time, while visiting some far-off place, to read or hear some news about a tragedy back home: a tornado or a flood or a bizarre murder. Seeing news about our hometown when we are thousands of miles away puts a strange perspective on what otherwise would be fairly routine news...