Stories from Saturday, November 4, 2000

History helped shape the congregation and community of First Baptist Church of Cape Girardeau into the fellowship it is today, but it also provides a new hope for future generations. The church will commemorate its 166-year history with a special "Heritage and Hope" service at 9:30 a.m. ...

JACKSON, Mo. -- A Jackson man charged with abducting a 4-year-old girl, sexually abusing her and leaving her in the driveway of a rural Cape Girardeau County house faces the possibility of six life sentences. Samuel Joseph Farrow Jr., 23, told investigators he kidnapped Lacy Evans from her bedroom in a trailer in Scott City, Mo., early Thursday morning, Sgt. Eric Friedrich of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department wrote in a probable cause affidavit...

A former newspaper reporter with experience in downtown revitalization is Cape Girardeau's first Main Street program manager. Catherine E. Dunlap, of Jacksonville, Ill., will start in her new position Nov. 13, the same time the new Main Street office opens at 111 Independence downtown...

The ceremony designating the future site of a new Central High School "Tiger territory" was filled with the enthusiasm of students and memorial tributes to the Cape Girardeau School District's former schools. More than 100 people were on hand as school staff, students and Cape Girardeau Board of Education members took part in the groundbreaking ceremony for the high school...

The Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center will offer a limited number of flu shots Monday morning to senior citizens and other residents classified as being at high risk. About 1,300 doses of the influenza vaccine will be available at senior citizen centers in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Delta from 9 a.m. until noon. The health department will bill Medicare for eligible recipients. A $5 donation is requested from others to offset some of the cost of the vaccine...

Scott City residents will vote Tuesday on whether the city should issue $2.24 million in bonds to help pay for a new water treatment plant and replace inadequate waterlines. Erika Glock, Scott City administrator, said that without the bond revenue, the city will be unable to make needed improvements to its water system...

The Southeast Missouri Honor Orchestra will give a public performance this afternoon. The orchestra is composed of 48 top high school string players primarily from Cape Girard-eau and Sikeston. One musician from Jackson and another from Ad-vance are members of the orchestra...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A state appeals court has reduced the felony conviction of one of the men charged in connection to the June 1999 altercation between police and nightclub patrons in the Good Hope area of Cape Girardeau to a misdemeanor. Dimtri Bell had been found guilty by a New Madrid County jury of interfering with the arrest of Kenneth Campbell near the Taste Lounge during the early morning hours of June 11, 1999. ...

Sharon Kirchhoff was at the Cape Girardeau Public Library Friday searching for answers to her questions about possible health risks associated with the cellular telephone communications towers that seem to be blooming everywhere in the region. Her immediate concern is a tower going up about 60 feet from her son's house along County Road 635 north of Cape Girardeau...

Two similar assaults in the vicinity of Capaha Park that occurred this week are believed to involved the same suspects, police reported. Both incidents involve three men and a woman asking for a ride to a nearby gasoline station, after which they assault the driver and hijack his car, Cpl. Kevin Orr said...

The Interactive Community Calendar, which is available on semissourian.com, is a "clearing house of information," says Jon K. Rust, executive vice president of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian Newspaper. Rust, guest speaker at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee, held at the Show Me Center, Friday demonstrated the calendar, and how it can be used...

KRCU will broadcast a special one-hour "Election 2000" show Sunday. Guests on the public affairs radio show will be Rick Althaus, professor of political science at Southeast Missouri State University, and Mark Bliss, a reporter for the Southeast Missourian newspaper...

Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team will get its first test against outside competition tonight -- and coach Gary Garner can't wait. Garner's Indians will take on Team Reebok from St. Louis in a 7 p.m. exhibition game at the Show Me Center. It will be the first of two exhibition contests for the Indians prior to the Nov. 17 season opener against Truman State...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- When you have a running back who runs a 4.43 40-yard dash and your longest running play came from your quarterback on a busted play, you know it wasn't your night. It definitely wasn't Jackson's night. Poplar Bluff's spirited and speedy defense pinned Jackson running back Mario Whitney to just 30 yards on 19 carries as the Mules upset No. ...

The Notre Dame High School boys soccer team will be facing one of the state's top squads in tonight's sectional playoff game. But that's something the Bulldogs should be used to by now. For the third consecutive season, Notre Dame will play St. Mary's of St. Louis in a Class 1A-3A sectional contest, set for a 6 p.m. start at the Anheuser-Busch Conference & Sports Center in Fenton, Mo...

Southeast Missouri State University guard Antonio Short will miss the Indians' first three games -- only one of them a regular-season contest -- after being suspended. Short's suspension will include two exhibition games, tonight against Teem Reebok and Nov. 11 against the Dreambuilders. He will also miss the regular-season opener Nov. 17 against Truman State. Short will be allowed to practice with the team during the suspension...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- The Scott City Rams, seeking a three-peat as Class 2A, District 2 football champion, were denied by the Charleston Bluejays 34-21 on Friday night. Charleston (4-6) advances to the sectional round where it will face Malden while Scott City concludes its season at 7-3...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- There is no denying that Hayti's Indians have made major strides this season. But there is also no denying St. Vincent's Indians when it comes to the Missouri high school football playoffs. St. Vincent captured its fifth consecutive playoff berth Friday night as the Indians scored with under two minutes left to rally past visiting Hayti 22-16 to win the Class 1A, District 1 championship...

Eastern Illinois was brought back down to earth a bit last Saturday, but the Panthers are still having an impressive turnaround football season. Today, Southeast Missouri State University will look to derail the high-flying Panthers when the squads hook up in a 1:30 p.m. Ohio Valley Conference game at O'Brien Stadium...

The Otahkians of Southeast Missouri busted loose for 53 second-half points as they debuted with a 78-74 exhibition victory over the Goldstar Basketball Club Friday night at the Show Me Center. Eleven players found the scoring column for Southeast, which trailed 36-25 at halftime...

RICHMOND, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's volleyball team moved a step closer to an undefeated conference season Friday night with a sweep of Eastern Kentucky. Southeast improved to 13-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference with its 15-5, 15-9, 15-12 victory. The Otahkians, who are 17-8 overall, have just three more conference games remaining...

Opportunity knocked and presented an offer Cape Girardeau Country Club pro Jack Connell just couldn't refuse. After 20 years on the job, Connell vacated his position on Friday to assume the role of director of golf at Prestwick Plantation, a 27-hole golf course currently under construction in Cape Girardeau...

Two district championship teams will be among a large contingent of local runners participating in the Missouri Cross Country Championships today in Jefferson City. Perryville's and Kelly's boys teams will be leading the local charge when eight 3.1-mile races will be held on the rolling terrain of Oak Hills Golf Course in Hough Park...

MORLEY, Mo. -- Funeral for Ophia "Peggy" Birdine Coy of Morley will be held at 2 p.m. today at New Life Christian Center Pentecostal Church. The Rev. Don Russell will officiate. Burial will be in New Morley Cemetery. Friends may call at the church from noon until service time...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Charles R. Hammock, 78, of Van Buren, Mo., formerly of Sikeston, died Thursday, Nov. 2, 2000, at St. John's Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. He was born June 22, 1922, in Belgreen, Ala., son of Charlie and Lula Mitchell Hammock. He and Gloria Whited were married March 21, 1945...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Gary Cletus James, 55, of Perryville died Friday, Nov. 3, 2000, at his home. He was born Dec. 29, 1944, in Bell City, Mo., son of Cletus Henry and Effie Mae Long James. Mr. James was a veteran of the U.S. Army and a member of the AARP...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Jessie Lee Burciaga, 92, of Jackson died Thursday, Nov. 2, 2000, at Jackson Manor. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel in Cape Girardeau is in charge of arrangements.

Edna Harwood, 75, of Florida died Thursday, Nov. 2, 2000, at Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach, Fla. She was born March 12, 1925, in Canalou, Mo., daughter of James and Thelma Lacey Presson. She and Thomas Harwood were married in 1943 in St. Louis. He died April 24, 1996...

MALDEN, Mo. -- Robert Paul Sneddy, 54, of Malden died Friday, Nov. 3, 2000, at his home. He was born Sept. 15, 1945, in Washington, Mo., son of John Cordell and Dorothy Grace Tabor Sneddy. He and Sandra Kay Jones Asher were married June 3, 1986, at Malden...

Mildred B. Rhyne, 89, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Nov. 2, 2000, at the Lutheran Home. She was born March 31, 1911, at Oran, Mo., daughter of William and Anna Wagner Besel. She and Frank Rhyne were married May 13, 1941, at Poplar Bluff, Mo. He died Dec. 17, 1946...

ANNA, Ill. -- Mildred L. Lazenby, 71, of Anna died Friday, Nov. 3, 2000, at her home. She was born April 8, 1929, in Alto Pass, Ill., daughter of Willie and Ida Marie Richards Hurley. She and Lester S. Lazenby were married Aug. 25, 1945, in Anna. He died Dec. 21, 1968...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Pauline Hinton, 71, of Charleston died Friday, Nov. 3, 2000, near Charleston. She was born Nov. 11, 1928, in St. Louis, daughter of Louis William and Lura May Hughes Achter. She and J.W. Hinton were married Nov. 23, 1946. Hinton lived in Mississippi County most of her life. She had worked at Brown Shoe Co. and also owned and operated Pauline's Beauty Shop, retiring in 1967. She was a member of Elm Street Baptist Church...

Southeast Missourian1 Son to Wayde Allen Kimbel and Margaret Eunice Vandergraph of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 12:53 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2000. Name, Derek Wayde. Weight, 6 pounds 11 ounces. Ms. Vandergraph is the former Margaret Voyles, daughter of the late Ruby Voyles of St. Louis. Kimbel is the son of Jim Kimbel of Cape Girardeau and Clayetta and Dale Smith of Apopka, Fla...

Two Cape Girardeau men were arrested Friday after allegedly beating and sexually assaulting two other men, police said. Arrested were: George C. Pongrass, 52, of 1015 Bloomfield Rd., Apt. 8; and Rusty L. Glasener, 35, of 1026 Bloomfield Rd. According to the victims' testimony, they had gone to an apartment in south Cape Girardeau to watch television on Thursday, Cpl. Kevin Orr said. The victims, ages 45 and 47, were brothers, Orr said...

To the editor: Election Day is near, and you would think according to the polls that only Al Gore and George Bush exist. Even worse is the idea that the U.S. Senate race is between John Ashcroft and a dead man. This Election Day does not have to be about which of the two evils you will chose from. There are other choices. And as much as the two greater evils would like you to think you don't have another choice, you do...

To the editor: Every year on Jan. 22, the anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court decision condemning 40 million U.S. babies to death, Al Gore has defiantly attended the NARAL luncheon and rally and been the featured speaker. Each year he has defended a women's right to abortion throughout all nine months of her pregnancy in a rip-roaring speech. ...

To the editor: Are you one of the undecided voters? What are you undecided about? Are you undecided about the right of a woman to choose an abortion procedure not endorsed by the American Medical Association, or the right of the unborn to be born? A Social Security system that is slowly dying, or a plan that guarantees current benefits and improves future benefits without escalating payroll taxes? A man who frightens and divides people, or a leader who unites and inspires confidence? A man who believes every tax dollar sent to Washington is to be spent by the government, or a leader who realizes that tax revenue is the people's money? A man who refuses to get us away from the barrel that OPEC is holding us over, or a leader who will use environment-friendly technology to increase domestic oil production.. ...

To the editor: I am a member of the Builders for Tomorrow Committee for Thomas W. Kelly High School. I would like to see the district update the school to stay with the times and to give our children an opportunity to excel. We need to pass a $4.9 million bond issue to build a new high school...

To the editor: I'm a student at R.O. Hawkins Junior High School in Jackson. Lately, I have been hearing many negative comments about our character and behavior. I have even heard a person go so far as to say we don't deserve to enjoy the benefits of better learning that the bond issue would bring. I couldn't believe that -- especially in Jackson, a community known for the quality of its education -- anyone would want to deprive us of the right to learn...

One of the great things about our society is that our laws apply equally to the great and small. But so far that doesn't seem to be the case of a tax imposed last year by Dutchtown officials. The tax in this tiny incorporated area with a total of 50 registered voters apparently violates state statutes. So far, no official action has been taken against the board or county officials who allowed the tax to be collected and sent the money to Dutchtown...

Southern Illinois University students in Carbondale, Ill., have blown it. They had five years of booze-free Halloweens to think about the right way to celebrate -- you know, the way most people do it. Most people dress up in some silly costume and enjoy spending time with their friends. Others stay at home and greet trick-or-treaters. The fuddy-duddies among us turn off the lights, sit in the dark and wait for it to be over...

PEOPLE IN Cape Girardeau are concerned about the installation of cameras to record traffic violations. This idea is probably very appealing to the majority of law-abiding citizens. However, even you are subject to mistakes. Parents may want to consider that they, not their child, would receive a ticket if the child is driving the car at the time of the violation. Not only is Big Brother watching, but he is also judge, jury and executioner. I wonder where it will end...

To the editor: Many Missouri counties have land-use regulations that have been used effectively in many parts of the United States. There is always opposition and people willing to use any and all methods to defeat their implementation. Now we have a lawsuit which can be described as a publicity stunt. ...