Stories from Saturday, November 25, 2000

OLD APPLETON, Mo. -- A flood took out the Old Appleton Bridge in 1982, knocked it sideways and pulled it beneath the trout-colored water in minutes, and the Old Appleton Bridge Restoration Committee has been trying to put it back together ever since...

The Taste Lounge's state liquor license has been suspended for seven days, effective Monday -- the latest event in the ongoing conflict between regulatory authorities and what has become Cape Girardeau's most heavily policed bar. The Missouri Department of Public Safety, Division of Liquor Control cited The Taste for two counts of failure to report an illegal or violent act, and two counts of failure to close...

Have you ever noticed that people seem to smile more just after Thanksgiving? In between the sale fights and the mad scramble for the last piece of sweet potato pie, there seems to be a lot of grinning going on. Some folks are smiling because of the presents they know will arrive in just a few shopping weeks, while others are anticipating the presents they'll be giving...

A 27-hole golf course under construction at Prestwick Plantation alongside Bloomfield Road in Cape Girardeau has been named Dalhousie Golf Club. The names "Prestwick" and "Dalhousie" are from Scotland, according to Cord Dombrowski of the Prestwick group, an authority on the history of golf and developer of a 900-acre links/residential community...

Mearlin Allen and his family didn't know they had friends in Knoxville, Tenn., until he had a heart attack. Some of the friends who saved his life and cared for his family while he was hospitalized last July were in Cape Girardeau Friday to present him with a plaque making him an honorary Knoxville firefighter...

Vandals deviated from the usual turkey and pumpkin pie holiday traditions by smashing the windshields of a bulldozer at the old St. Francis Hospital construction site this Thanksgiving. J.W. Strack, owner of Strack Excavating and Hauling, estimates the shattered front, side, and rear windshields means $1,000 out of his pocket. He said he plans to offer a $500 reward for any information leading to the conviction of the perpetrators...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- High traffic volume and afternoon rains created several accidents Friday, one resulting in the death of a 7-year-old boy. About 3:30 p.m. the Eakens family of Risco, Mo., was driving north on Interstate 55 near the Scott City, Mo., interchange. The 1995 Chevrolet driven by 26-year-old Robert Eakens crossed into the grassy median, slid sideways into the southbound lanes and was struck in the left side by a vehicle driven by Jami Walker of Charleston, Mo...

ST. LOUIS -- You know that thing they say about possession being nine-tenths of the law? That applies to football state championship games, too. Santa Fe (14-0) possessed the ball almost 20 minutes more than St. Vincent of Perryville (13-1) did as a bigger and more physical Chiefs squad defeated the Indians 12-0 in the Class 1A Show Me Bowl...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Heading into Friday's first-round game of the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament against Toledo, Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team figured to have a decided advantage at point guard. That's because running the Southeast offense this season is senior Michael Stokes, rated by The Sporting News as the nation's 16th-best point guard among more than 300 NCAA Division I schools, while manning Toledo's ship is true freshman Terry Reynolds. ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Gary Garner kept waiting for his Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball team to start playing at least halfway decent. But it never happened. And the result was the Indians' first loss of the young season, 59-43 to Toledo Friday afternoon in the opening round of the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament at Municipal Auditorium...

Josh Crowell's inaugural season as Cape Girardeau Central High School's wrestling coach did not go very well, but Crowell is expecting much smoother sailing in his second year. The Tigers, suffering from a lack of numbers that resulted in several forfeits during most meets, slumped to a 2-8 dual-match record in 1999 and they also failed to qualify a competitor for the state meet for the first time in 12 years...

The Jackson High School wrestling program has turned out consistently strong teams over the years and that trend figures to continue this season. "I think we'll be a typical solid Jackson team," said Steve Wachter, the Indians' seventh-year coach. "We maybe won't be an all-world powerhouse, but I think we'll be a solid team, pretty much like we've been in the past."...

DELTA, Mo. -- Nelle Rhodes Dalton, 87, of Delta died Thursday, Nov. 23, 2000, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 22, 1913, at Toga, Mo., the daughter of the late William and Ida Mae Overbey Rhodes. She was a homemaker and a lifetime member of the Whitewater United Methodist Church and Whitewater UMV. On Oct. 9, 1931, she was married to Leonard W. Dalton at Herrin, Ill. He preceded her in death Dec. 30, 1991...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Myrtle M. Nunnelee, 86, of Sikeston died Friday, Nov. 24, 2000, at Hunter Acres Caring Center in Sikeston. She was born April 30, 1914, in Sikeston, daughter of Felix Franklin and Lucy Perdew Rogers. She and John F. Nunnelee Jr. were married April 7, 1934, in Benton, Mo. He died Sept. 27, 1999...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Mildred E. Behler died Thursday, Nov. 23, 2000. Service for Behler will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Young & Sons Funeral Chapel. Burial will be in Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery at Perryville.

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- The Rev. Charles William Hovis, age 78, of Marble Hill died Friday, Nov. 24, 2000, at Eldercare of Marble Hill. He was born Nov. 28, 1921, at Birch, Mo, son of the late Mose and Mary Etta (Ode) Robbins Hovis. He was married to Anita Robbins Oct. 1, 1990, and she preceded him in death...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Edna Mae Doughty, 81, of Jonesboro, formerly of Alto Pass, Ill., died Thursday, Nov. 23, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was born April 7, 1919, in Union County, Ill., daughter of Charles Bert and Mollie Davidson Morgan. She and Jerry Doughty were married Dec. 21, 1939, in Jackson, Mo. He died July 31, 1971...

PARMA, Mo. -- Freda Woolf, 74, died Friday, Nov. 24, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 11, 1926, at Cardwell, Mo., daughter of Henry and Martha Jane Shultz Biggs. She was a former resident of St. Louis and Parma before moving to Malden, Mo., three years ago...

Elvin "Tiny" McCrite, 60, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Nov. 23, 2000, at St. Louis University Hospital. He was born Nov. 6, 1940, in Alexander County, Ill., the son of Farrell and Lucille Smith McCrite. He was married to JoAnn Banfield on Nov. 3, 1969, at Morley, Mo...

Lenno K. "Buntie" Murrell, 78, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Nov. 23, 2000, at Heartland Care & Rehab Center in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by Ford & Sons Funeral Home.

FROHNA, Mo. -- Judy K. Dreyer, 43, of Frohna died Thursday, Nov. 23, 2000, at St. Louis University Hospital. She was born April 30, 1957, at Frohna, daughter of Martin "Max" and Helen Roth Theiss. She and Keith Dreyer were married Sept. 4, 1993, in Frohna...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Bly V. Belk, 90, of Bertand, Mo., and formerly of Charleston died Friday, Nov. 24, 2000, at the Bertand Nursing Facility. He was born May 3, 1910, at Chaffee, Mo., son of William J. and Fannie Miller Belk. He and Penny Boitnott were married Aug. 14, 1939. She died June 5, 1984. He and Margaret L. Bell were married March 6, 1985...

Dr. Rawlins is missed DR. FRED Rawlins will be truly missed. He was never impatient but always reassuring his patients everything was going to be just fine. Our welfare and safety were his utmost concern. I'd like to thank his family for sharing him...

So, some of you are still buying into Al Gore's claim that he is fighting for the little people? Remember his speech following the Florida Supreme Court's decision trying to hand him the election by judicial fiat? Here is part of what Mr. Gore told us:...

It sounded like a good idea for Joe Maxwell to resign his state Senate seat and be appointed to his new post as Missouri's lieutenant governor on Nov. 15 instead of waiting to be sworn in next January. The lieutenant governor's position had been vacant since Roger Wilson was sworn in as governor following Mel Carnahan's fatal plane crash in October. The governor's death taught us how important it is to have someone else waiting to take the reins of state government...

The word "incubator" conjures images of warm, protected places for babies to stay until they gain strength enough to function in the world outside. So it's appropriate that places where fledgling companies are nursed to robust stature are called "business incubators."...