Stories from Friday, December 29, 2000

Sherie Archer was excited about meeting her Big Sister Thursday morning but a little scared at the same time. "I was nervous because I didn't know what she'd be like," said Sherie, 9. As the day got closer, she got a little more nervous, said her parents, Debbie and Mike Lambert of Scott City, Mo...

Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top packed the Show Me Center, Liesl Schoenberger played Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, and the acclaimed David Parsons Dance Company hardly drew a quorum to Academic Auditorium during the year 2000. Aside from a John Anderson concert sponsored by the Missouri State Troopers Association, country music was missing from the Show Me Center in 2000. ...

Police officer Ike Hammonds chooses his milk and cookies carefully. He said his health depends on it. "If I do eat cookies, I'll try to drink skim milk instead of whole milk," said Hammonds, a corporal with the Cape Girardeau Police Department. A strict diet and exercise regimen is vital to Hammonds, who seldom knows what to expect on the job. His 14-year career as a Cape Girardeau firefighter before switching departments eight years ago had the same degree of unpredictability...

Calls to the state's child abuse hotline often are not properly received, documented and referred, putting abused and neglected children at risk, a state auditor's report released Thursday revealed. Out of seven regions in the state, the Cape Girardeau region ranks third in the number of fatalities linked to child abuse or neglect, the report said...

The first 2001 meeting of the Cape Girardeau City Council is postponed until Jan. 8 because of a conflict with New Year's Day. Additionally, the council changed the date of its second January meeting to the 22nd because of a conflict with Martin Luther King Jr. Day...

If I fill this last column of 2000 with odds and ends, you could conclude that I am cleaning off the top of my desk and organizing all the drawers and file cabinets that surround me. You would be wrong. I don't make a big deal about the change in years. Or centuries. Or even millenniums...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau County's road deputies will receive 10.5 percent pay raises, and other county employees will garner 7 percent raises under a 2001 budget the county commission approved on Thursday. Officeholders will receive 3.5 percent pay raises as called for in the county's annual pay plan...

Buh... oing. Boing. Perhaps the Nike commercial producers should've been taping the Cape Central-Notre Dame game Thursday night. The sixth-seeded Tigers shot 12 percent from three-point range -- including 0-for-10 in the deciding third quarter -- as No. 3 Notre Dame advanced to the semifinals of the University High Christmas with a 61-41 win over its Cape Girardeau rival...

Jordy Mixon wouldn't let his team lose. While his Charleston teammates were clanking shot after shot, Mixon -- an undersized post player -- battled and bumped, jostled and jumped for four quarters to keep his Bluejays from becoming the University High Christmas Tournament's biggest upset victim Thursday...

Bell City had no magic left as they were soundly defeated 78-47 by the Jackson Indians in the quarterfinal round of the University High Tournament on Thursday. Bell City, the 10th seed, was coming off a mild upset win over No. 7 Scott County Central on Wednesday. But getting by No. 2 Jackson was not to be...

EL PASO, Texas -- Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team bounced back from Wednesday's loss to Houston by beating Jackson State 72-63 Thursday night and finishing third in the Sierra Providence SunClassic Tournament. Host Texas-El Paso and Houston were still playing in the championship game as the Southeast Missourian went to press...

Scott County Central, Woodland, Kelly and Chaffee all bounced back with victories Thursday during the consolation quarterfinal round of the 56th annual University High Christmas Tournament being played at the Show Me Center. Scott Central, the No. 7 seed in the 16-team event, slipped past No. 15 Oak Ridge 61-57; No. 8 Woodland routed No. 16 Meadow Heights 71-52; No. 13 Kelly edged No. 12 Delta 65-62; and No. 14 Chaffee rolled past No. 11 Leopold 66-48...

Fifth-seeded Advance needed double overtime Thursday night to dispose of No. 4 Scott City 66-59 in a rematch of last year's University High Christmas Tournament final. The Hornets advanced to the semifinals where they will play No. 1 Charleston. Advance also beat Scott City at Scott City on Dec. 15 and has knocked off the Rams three times in its last four meetings...

PARK HILLS, Mo. -- The Perryville High boys basketball team pulled off a major upset Thursday night as the ninth-seeded Pirates stunned top-seeded Farmington 71-58 during the quarterfinal round of the Park Hills Christmas Tournament. Perryville, which improved its record to 5-3, will play fifth-seeded South Iron at 6 tonight in the semifinals...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Helen F. Watson, 87, of Cairo died Thursday, Dec. 28, 2000, at Daystar Care Center in Cairo. Arrangements are incomplete at Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo.

Daughter to David Robert and Roxie Lee Sindle of Morehouse, Mo., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 9:29 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2000. Name, Hailee Paige. Weight, 9 pounds 3 ounces. Third child, second daughter. Mrs. Sindle is the former Roxie True, daughter of James and Maxine True of Sikeston, Mo. Sindle is the son of Charles and Nadine Sindle of Bloomfield, Mo. He is employed by Drury Co. in Cape Girardeau...

JONESBORO, Ark. -- Ollie Walton, 77, of Jonesboro, died Dec. 2, 2000, in Jonesboro. He was born Aug. 13, 1923, in Flat River, Mo., son of Charlie and Emily Jane Cummings Walton. On July 8, 1950, he married Billie Waldrop in Osceola, Ark. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II. He was employed as a security guard at Pemiscot Memorial Health Systems before his retirement...

WEST POINT, Miss. -- Irene S. Schnaare Florreich, 74, of West Point died Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000, at TLC Personal Care Home in Starkville, Miss. She was born Jan. 8, 1926, near Olmsted, Ill., in Pulaski County, daughter of Werner and Josphine Holhubner Schnaare...

Charles Henry "Chick" Boyd, 75, of Cape Girardeau died 12:10 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Oct. 18, 1925, at East Prairie, Mo., son of Walker and Leona Milam Boyd. He married Jane Likens Oct. 1, 1949, in Cape Girardeau...

BELKNAP, Ill. -- Fred Whitmire, 74, of Belknap died Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000, at Terrace Health Care Center in Paducah, Ky. Whitmire was born Oct. 11, 1926, in Dahlonega, Ga., son of Frank and Mae Free Whitmire. He was a self-employed timber cutter...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Virgia Buchanan, 88, of Dexter died Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000, at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis. She was born Aug. 9, 1912, at Traskwood, Ark., the daughter of James Burke Moore and Suda Cowsert Moore. She married Ray Glenn on June 11, 1929, at Piggott, Ark. He died Sept. 28, 1953. She then married Ralph "Pug" Buchanan on July 7, 1962, at Dexter. He died Aug. 26, 1995...

Leon August Westrich, 75, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Dec. 28, 2000, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 10, 1925, in Kelso, Mo., son of Albert J. and Estella Enderle Westrich. He was married to Hermina A. Frank on Oct. 21, 1950, at St. Mary's Cathedral in Cape Girardeau...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Edith M. Fair, 78, of Cairo died Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Oct. 20, 1922, in Cairo, daughter of Lloyd and Minnie Fair Hafford. She was married to Floyd E. Fair. She was of the Methodist faith...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Freddie "Pete" Starks, 77, of Normal, Ill., died Sunday, Dec. 24, 2000, at Bromenn Regional Medical Center in Normal. He is formerly of Charleston and Buffalo, N.Y. He was born Nov. 3, 1923, in Hayti, Mo., son of Pleas and Lillie Harris Starks...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Finis J. Ladd, 86, of Sturdivant, Mo., died Thursday, Dec. 28, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 14, 1914, at Greenbrier, Mo., son of Finis E. and Cora Kinder Ladd. He first married Thelma Whitehead Jan. 9, 1934, in Parma, Mo. She died March 2, 1987. He then married Louise Stevens Dec. 4, 1988, in Puxico, Mo...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Christine Collins, 82, of Charleston died Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2000, at her home. She was born July 4, 1918, in Como, Miss., daughter of Gus Hollins and Minnie Blackmon. She was married to Cornelius Collins. He preceded her in death...

To the editor: Republican politicians and conservative pundits have become vocal in their appeals to senators and representatives to end the gridlock that has characterized recent years within the federal legislative bodies and, instead, to work toward bipartisanship in order that the people's business can go forward expeditiously...

It has been a long-standing practice in American politics for one party to use an icon of the other party to rile up support -- and, more importantly, attract campaign contributions. Republicans took in plenty by holding up Ted Kennedy as the poster boy of the Democrats. Now the Democrats have latched onto John Ashcroft as the worst representation of the nation's fate under the thumb of a conservative, pro-life, practicing Christian...

If you're one of those Cape Girardeau County taxpayers who wait until the last minute -- and there seem to be quite a few, time is running out. Taxes paid after midnight Sunday will incur a 7 percent surcharge. The county collector's office isn't open Saturday, Sunday or Monday, so there are basically only two choices:...

IN ANSWER to the item in Speak Out called "The law of love," I will defend my statement that the basis for all law and conduct in civilized society is the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were given as a law of conduct for all mankind. On the other hand, when Christ spoke, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and all thy soul, and thy neighbor as thyself," he was speaking to his followers. ...

To the editor: Everyone predicted the year 2000 would bring a catastrophe like the world has never seen. What do you call the recent presidential election? This has been something that has not happened for 200 years. More importantly, the whole world knew of it and responded...