Stories from Monday, December 4, 2000

This "Financial Focus" column is prepared by Edward Jones Investments, with headquarters in St. Louis and local branches in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. When you think about investment risk, what comes to mind? For many people, it's the chance of immediately losing money when their stock drops in value. Of course, that is one type of investment risk -- but it's not the only type...

Nancy Bishop, assistant nurse manager with Southeast Hospice and a service nurse manager with Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau, has been certified as a hospice and pallative nurse (CHPN). She completed examination requirements through the National Board of Certification of Hospice and Palliative Nurses...

Glenn N. Graham has been named executive director of the Perry County Industrial Development Authority. Graham's appointment was announced last week by Oliver Bachmann, president of the development authority. Graham begins his work Jan. 2. Graham is taking an early retirement from TG-Missouri, a Perryville, Mo., manufacturer, where he served as plant manager...

Holly A. Thomas, a CPA with Schott & Van de Ven, Certified Public Accountants, has completed a Missouri Society of CPA class on "What Every CPA Should Know About Life Insurance Products and Planning." Topics of the training session included insurance planning and evaluation, assessment of alternatives and tax related consequences...

Cara L. Detring, president of Preferred Land Title Co., in Farmington, Mo., has been installed as president of the American Land Title Association, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C. Detring has served on the group's board of governors for seven years. She is the first woman to be selected as the group's president in its 93-year history...

AT&T Corp. announced Tuesday the appointment of a new president to run its core telephone and network service operations while chief executive C. Michael Armstrong focuses on the company's sweeping breakup plan. David Dorman, 46, is being promoted to the post from his current role as chief executive of Concert, an international joint venture between AT&T and British Telecommunications that focuses on business customers...

Dr. Shanon Kirchhoff, alternate delegate of the American Dental Association, attended the annual continuing education meeting in Chicago recently. Kirchhoff is involved in all aspects of continuing education through the American Dental Association and the American Association of Orthodontists...

Santa Claus is finding more room in his bag of toys as tiny electronic gadgets continue to be at the top of holiday wish lists. And he's probably realizing that the good little girls and boys asking for them aren't that young at all. More people -- adults and children alike -- are choosing electronic gifts this holiday, especially since technology has become less expensive, said Jeffri Baldner, store manager at Circuit City in Cape Girardeau...

Bill Gates went to court again this week to prevent his company from being broken into three companies. I have touted Microsoft's virtue of being one big company and have often had worries about a breakup. If it broken up, communication will not exist between the three companies by order of the court. That will mean trouble, because even being one company does not guarantee that everyone communicates effectively...

Michele Strokoff has joined Hutson's Fine Furniture in Cape Girardeau as a design consultant. Charles Hutson, president of the company, recently announced the addition if a full-service design center to the Broyhill Showcase Gallery at the downtown store...

Consumer confidence fell in November to its lowest level in a year, and the nation's factories reported a sharp drop in demand in October further signs of continued slowing in the once red-hot U.S. economy. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that orders for big-ticket manufactured goods fell 5.5 percent last month, led by a big decline in orders for airplanes and the biggest plunge in orders for primary metals in almost two years. ...

Westvaco Corp., a manufacturer of paper, packaging and chemicals, has reported increased fourth-quarter and year-end sales and earnings for fiscal 2000. Westvaco, with headquarters in New York, reported that sales reached $1 billion during the fourth quarter, with earnings of $78.9 million, or 78 cents a share, up 37 percent from earnings of $57.6 million, or 58 cents a share a year ago...

Fifty bison will be sold during a special Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Areas sale Wednesday. The sale will help thin the heard and maintain optimum habitat. Nineteen bison will be sold from the south bison range and 31 sold from the elk and bison prairie area. The animals will be sold in one lot at each location...

The Bootheel Irrigation Conference and Trade Show will be held Friday at Rone Hall at the University of Missouri Delta Center in Portageville. Regular sessions begin at 8 a.m., with introductory remarks by John Gardner, the university's associate dean for extension...

Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel Inc., 829 N. West End Blvd., Cape Girardeau, provides nine pamphlets, to assist grieving people during the holidays, including "You and Your Grief During the Holiday Seasons" and "Helping a Friend in Grief." Also available are "Helping Children Cope with Grief," and Helping Dispel 5 Common Myths About Grief." The holiday season is often among the most difficult times for people who have experienced the death of a loved one. ...

The fourth annual Entrepreneurial Agriculture Conference will be held at the Ramada Inn in Sikeston Friday. The conference will focus on value added enterprises for farmers in the Delta Region, which includes Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee...

Walter Wright went in for a yearly checkup Oct. 17 never expecting to be taken in for heart surgery that same day. "I told the doctor I had trouble breathing when I laid back," Wright said, recalling how the doctor ordered him to be tested on a treadmill. The troubling results led to an X-ray and, ultimately, surgery for the 74-year-old...

Patrick and Lisa Kirchhoff never dreamed they'd be living in the shadow of a 300-foot cellular telephone tower erected 70 feet from their home. The Kirchhoffs and their children, Peyton, 9 months, and Kendra, 6, live atop a hill on County Road 635 just north of Cape Girardeau...

Lottery players in Cape Gir-ardeau County spent more than $4 million on scratch off and other games of chance last year. Players in Scott County chipped in about $2.6 million. School officials in both counties, however, would be hard-pressed to say what type of return they've received on the investments from their communities...

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Several changes relating to city employees and political activities will be discussed during the Cape Girardeau City Council meeting tonight. City officials will consider changing the city code to bring it in line with state personnel laws about employees running for political office, making contributions to political parties and working at election polls...

BENTON, Mo. -- Cape Central's freshmen boys basketball team improved to 4-0 with a 56-28 win over Kelly Saturday. Michael Brown scored 17 points, followed by Mitch Craft with 15. In the eighth-grade game, Central (3-1) won 58-15 behind 25 points by Lorenzo Braxton...

ITTA BENA, Miss. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team will look to break a three-game losing streak tonight when the Otahkians take on host Mississippi Valley State in a 7 o'clock tipoff. The Otahkians (2-3) are coming off a 61-60 home setback to Lipscomb Wednesday night. MVSU is 0-2...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- The annual Chaffee Lady Devils girls basketball tournament tips off today with three games. Top-seeded Kelly plays No. 8 East Prairie at 5:30 p.m., followed by No. 4 Oran vs. No. 5 Chaffee at 7 and No. 2 Sikeston vs. No. 7 Portageville at 8:30...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The 29th annual Sikeston Invitational boys basketball tournament will begin today with three games, including a contest between defending Class 3A state champion New Madrid County Central and Cape Girardeau Central. Top-seeded New Madrid and No. 8 Cape Central square off at 5:30 p.m., followed by No. 4 Blytheville (Ark.) vs. No. 5 Doniphan at 7 and No. 2 Sikeston vs. No. 7 Kennett at 8:30...

At least one area woman was injured because of icy roads this weekend, the Missouri Highway Patrol reports. Janet Randolph, 47, of Perryville, Mo., was taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau after losing control of her van near Oran Saturday night...

Josephine Dunger, 78, of Scott City, Mo., died Sunday, Dec. 3, 2000, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- Mark Dover Jr., 72, of Mound City died Sunday, Dec. 3, 2000, at his home. He was born Oct. 2, 1928, in Mound City, son of Mark and Mildred W. Hayes Dover. He and Kathryn "Kitty" Beavers were married Nov. 29, 1952, in Sikeston, Mo...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Roy P. Hornberger, 56, of Perryville died Friday, Dec. 1, 2000, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born Aug. 3, 1944, in Perry County, Mo., son of Hubert C. and Elta Nelson Hornberger. He and Mary A. Cairns were married July 13, 1973...

Erwin A. Dreyer, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Dec. 3, 2000, at his home. Friends may call from 4-8 p.m. Tuesday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel in Cape Girardeau. Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, with the Rev. Paul J. Short officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery...

ALL I have to say about this election business is this will be the last presidential election I will ever vote in. I have never seen anything like it in my life if Bush and the secretary of state will not let all the votes be counted. There are too many Americans being left out. ...

Viewpoints about doctor-assisted euthanasia depend largely on whether you are healthy or whether you are suffering a long, painful death. Last week, the lower house of the Dutch parliament voted 104-40 to legalize euthanasia under strict guidelines. The upper house is expected to approve the measure early next year...

When the Missouri Department of Transportation got around to telling the public about its plans for Interstate 70, the main east-west highway link between the state's two largest urban areas, the numbers were staggering. MoDOT said it favors turning the four-lane interstate into a six-lane highway for the 200 miles between Lake Saint Louis, Mo., on the western edge of the St. ...

To the editor: During the past weeks we've been reading and hearing: "Count them by hand, then we'll know for sure." But counting votes by hand isn't as certain as counting marbles in a jar. Consider a pint jar filled with marbles. The problem is simple. ...