Stories from Tuesday, February 6, 2001

If you think your young kids are on the Internet a lot, it may be not-so-subliminal messages from your television set. I have noticed that a growing number of television shows -- especially those aimed at children -- are encouraging the youngsters to play along or join the message boards on the Internet. Their prize? The child's online name may be displayed on the television screen...

Editor's note: This is an installment of Jean Bell Mosley's book "Wide Meadows" that was first published in 1960. Dad was always full of plans and projects. Once he took a look at the old kerosene lamps and said, in the broad expansive manner he employed when launching his many and varied campaigns for the betterment of his family, "These old lamps have to go." His white hair swept back neatly from his forehead and his stance was like Washington crossing the Delaware as he stood there in the old kitchen surveying the lamps. ...

About every American boy who has stood in a sandlot, tightly gripping a bat and viciously kicking at the dirt, has had the dream -- hitting a home run off of his favorite professional pitcher. For Cape Girardeau pharmacist Bob Pritchard, well past his sandlot days, the pitcher is Bob Gibson. And he might make his dream a reality when he and nine other Cape Girardeau residents attend a St. Louis Cardinals Legends camp this week in Jupiter, Fla...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Southeast Missouri State University would see a slight drop in its operating budget next year under Gov. Bob Holden's proposed state budget. Holden's recommendation calls for the university to receive $50.44 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Under the governor's proposal, the appropriation for Southeast would drop approximately $10,000 from the current fiscal year, a decrease of less than one-thousandth of a percent...

Little wonder that the World Wrestling Federation is the event most likely to finally sell out the Show Me Center. Sheryl Crow couldn't do it, and she's a multi-Grammy winning, Missouri-born vocalist. "Porgy and Bess" certainly won't. But you get grown men in spandex tights with names like Val Venis, and you've got a crowd...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Jackson will begin collecting fees up front for reviewing commercial and industrial building applications and plans. The Jackson Board of Aldermen approved the change in city procedure at Monday's night's meeting. Previously, the city collected the fees at the time the project began. The reviews often require the evaluation by the city's planning and zoning official, the city building inspector, the fire chief and the flood plain inspector...

JACKSON, Mo. -- In the coming weeks, Jackson police will watch carefully to see if drivers are buckling up. The Jackson Police Department has received a $2,000 grant from the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program as part of a statewide effort to increase safety belt use. Agencies in 20 counties are participating in the STEP grant program...

A Cape Girardeau County man has been charged with striking his 11-year-old son over a period of three days last week. The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department reported Eric Schwepker kicked the boy, struck his toes with a claw hammer and hit his buttocks with an aluminum baseball bat...

JACKSON, Mo. -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission has hired a transit consultant to assist the county's new transit authority in improving transportation services. The consultant, Cornelius Henry of Cape Girardeau, will be paid a maximum of $7,500 over the next six months. He will be paid a consulting fee of $20 an hour...

JACKSON, Mo. -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission hopes Public Administrator Phyllis Schwab's caseload increases soon so the county can generate revenue from fees to help offset the cost of her $42,458 salary. The commission met Monday with Schwab, who was elected in November and who began her duties Jan. 1...

Hoping for insight from an upcoming city-commissioned study of the police department, officials voted to delay an ordinance to make it legal to install video cameras at a Cape Girardeau intersections to deter red light runners. Two councilmen, Matt Hopkins and Hugh White, Monday night voted against the delay, preferring instead to proceed with making the video cameras legal...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Work continued Monday on a long-range plan to help Jackson school officials make a list ranking the district's needs for the next five years. Some 70 people worked in small groups during the second in a series of meetings held at the middle school. Educational consultant Al Rowe of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, led school patrons and school staff members in conversations designed to evaluate the district's mission and devise concrete goals for the district's future...

U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel has sentenced a Cape Girardeau man to two years in prison on a federal gun charge and accepted guilty pleas from two people in drug cases. James O'Connell, 46, was sentenced to prison on Monday for being a convicted felon in possession of firearms...

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- It's been almost a month, but the sting of a Jan. 9 home loss to Tennessee Tech probably hasn't completely worn off for Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team. Today, the Otahkians will try to gain a measure of revenge for that earlier 80-79 overtime setback when they face the host Golden Eaglettes in 5:30 p.m. Ohio Valley Conference tipoff at the Eblen Center...

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Based on what has happened to them at home so far in Ohio Valley Conference play, Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians probably don't mind hitting the road as they attempt to revive their fading hopes of an upper-division league finish...

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Cape Central found even quarters to its liking Monday night as it defeated New Madrid County Central 64-47 in girls basketball action. "When we played good defense, they couldn't score on us," said Central coach Mark Ruark, "and when we didn't hustle on defense, they could."...

Son to Floyd and Pamela Blue of Odin, Ill., St. Mary's Hospital in Centralia, Ill., 10:44 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 28, 2001. Name, Matthew Charles. Weight, 8 pounds. Fourth child, first son. Mrs. Blue is the daughter of Leonard and Edna Kluesner of Chaffee, Mo. Blue is the son of Floyd and Glenda Blue of Chaffee...

Ronald Michel, 57, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Feb. 5, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

UNIONTOWN, Mo. -- Harold C. Hitt, 80, of Uniontown died Monday, Feb. 5, 2001, at his home. He was born Jan. 6, 1921, at Gordonville, Mo., son of Ernest and Myrtle Baugh Hitt. He and Mildred Ackman were married Nov. 23, 1976. Hitt worked at the former International Shoe Co. in Cape Girardeau, at Strack Brothers Construction, the former Wesley Hitt Construction Co. and worked at Southeast Missouri Hospital 14 years, retiring in 1983...

STURDIVANT, Mo. -- John Earl DeGroot, 74, of Sturdivant died Monday, Feb. 5, 2001, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter, Mo. He was born Dec. 4, 1926, at Fulton, Mo., son of William and Agans Gillispie DeGroot. He and Doris Williams were married June 5, 1948, at Broseley, Mo...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Mary Helen Carson, 83, of Tamms died Monday, Feb. 5, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Jones Funeral Home in Tamms.

John Sissom, 81, of Olive Branch, Ill., died Monday, Feb. 5, 2001, at his home. Arrangements are incomplete are Crain Funeral Home in Tamms, Ill.

KARNAK, Ill. -- Mary Virginia Jarrett, 86, of Paragould, Ark., and formerly of Karnak, died Sunday, Feb. 4, 2001, at St. Bernard's Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro, Ark. She was born July 12, 1914, in Karnak, daughter of Hosea and Anna Russell Eastwood. She married Jack Jarrett...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Mamie Reynolds, 86, of Cobden died Monday, Feb. 5, 2001, at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale, Ill. She was born Feb. 17, 1914, at Charleston, Mo., daughter of Richard and Nellie Vangilder Darnell. She married Alonzo Reynolds, who died in 1951. She and Earl David Reynolds were married June 30, 1958, in Corinth, Miss. He died Oct. 16, 1972...

MOREHOUSE, Mo. -- Donald L. Greer, 57, of Morehouse died Monday, Feb. 5, 2001, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter, Mo. He was born March 14, 1943, at Morehouse, son of Clyde William and Ollie Hester Taylor Greer. He and Lavada Tarrants were married Sept. 1, 1962, at Morehouse. She died Aug. 10, 1988...

Sue Myres, 74, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Feb. 5, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born June 12, 1926, at Horville, Mo., daughter of Shannon Brown and Ona Million High. Myres retired as a presser from Thorn gate Ltd. She was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and its Ladies Council...

Funeral for Ruth M. Snyder of Cape Girardeau will be held at 2 p.m. today at Caldwell Memorial Chapel in Park Hills, Mo. The Rev. Willard Snyder will officiate. Burial will be in Hillview Memorial Gardens Cemetery near Farmington, Mo. Snyder, 76, died Saturday, Feb. 3, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Millard Franklin Aldridge, 87, died Monday, Feb. 5, 2001, at Wentzville Park Care Center in Wentzville, Mo. He was born Aug. 3, 1913, at Wolf Lake, Ill., son of Thomas L. and Anna Hale Aldridge. He and Lela Louisa Tripp were married July 8, 1948. She preceded him in death...

To the editor: It came as no great surprise to me that Sen. Jean Carnahan voted against John Ashcroft as our new attorney general. After all, Ashcroft holds strong Christian beliefs and convictions against abortion. Our late Gov. Mel Carnahan held more liberal convictions on abortion and went so far as vetoing a Missouri bill that would have prevented partial-birth abortions...

To the editor: I am so proud of this newspaper and the coverage it provides. I was pleased to see the coverage concerning the movie "Left Behind." My family had an opportunity to view this movie prior to its appearance on the big screen. I wish to encourage you to see the movie. ...

It is easy for Americans -- who have seen in just one generation the conquering of dread diseases like smallpox and polio -- to forget that much of the world's population doesn't have access to U.S.-style health care. In Africa, AIDS is so prevalent in some countries that health and government officials simply can't see any feasible medical solution...

Much of the clamor over John Ashcroft's nomination as attorney general has died down now that he has been confirmed. Trent Lott summed up Ashcroft's ability to serve ably. In response to questioning from PBS' "NewsHour" anchor Jim Lehrer, the Senate majority leader put in crystal-clear perspective Ashcroft's position on some of the laws he now is expected to enforce:...

As if George W. Bush didn't have enough problems, his dad keeps telling him how to be president, and his mother worries about some of his new friends. FBI statistics indicate the nation's crime-rate decline may be ending now that professional football players have more time on their hands...

IN RESPONSE to the person who said the crosses on I-55 were a waste of time: The crosses were 100 percent donated including all materials and labor. The people who did this project are a group of people who are very active in trying to make this world a better place for children. ...

To the editor: I am writing to object, in the strongest possible terms, to Sen. Jean Carnahan's opposition vote on John Ashcroft's confirmation as attorney general. She announced that her vote was an act of conscience. I dispute that claim. I firmly believe that it was an act of politics, pure and simple, and politics of the sort that we neither need nor want in Washington...