Stories from Monday, March 12, 2001

Betsy Ferguson of Marquand, Mo., a Mary Kay director, has earned the use of a new company car for two years, in recognition of outstanding sales performance. Betsy's first name was incorrect in a recent articles. The Southeast Missourian regrets the error...

With spring just around the corner, many people start thinking about redecorating the rooms in their house. But where do you start, especially if you're working on a budget? Reupholstery shops can turn your old furniture into something new with just a few yards of fabric, and at a reasonable price too...

The Hagan Store -- a new book shop at 437 Broadway in Cape Girardeau -- offers a selection of new and used, hardbook and paperback books. Roger Hagan and his wife, Linda Hagan, of Altenburg are long-time book collectors. "We recently bought out a book store inventory," said Hagan, who is retired from law enforcement after more than 30 years. "We added a few books from our own collection and opened the operation here."...

Siemers Appliance, an appliance store at Jackson, Mo., for more than 29 years, has opened a branch in Cape Girardeau. Siemers Appliance and Mattress Direct recently opened at 342 S. Kingshighway. Shawn Naeter, who has 10 years of retail experience, most recently at Heilig Meyers Furniture in Carbondale, Ill., is manager of the newest Siemers operation...

Garden's Edge has opened at Kelso. The new nursery provides unique plants, shrubs and gifts, from azaleas to perennials and plants, including Japanese maple grasses. Marvin Wormington and his son, Matthew Wormington, opened the new business recently...

The Monticello House Nursing Home opened its new 75-bed, skilled nursing facility today. The new facility, which includes a special Alzheimer's unit, adjoins the 62-room residential nursing home at 1115 K-Land Drive in Jackson. The new structure includes state-of-the-art rooms and a family dining room...

Teegarden's Clinical Electrolysis has opened in Cape Girardeau. Cindy Teegarden, RN and clinical electrologist, is owner operator of the new business. Electrolysis is the most permanent means of removing hair for men and women. It destroys the growth center of hair, so it will not return...

"Seizing Opportunities in Rural America" is the theme of the annual Quinstate Economic Development Conference, to be held at the University of Missouri Delta Center's Southern Telecommunications Community Resource Center (TCRC) in Portageville, Mo., March 22 and 23...

J. Michael Ponder of the Thomasson, Gilbert, Cook and Maguire law firm of Cape Girardeau was cited in a recent issue of Missouri Lawyers' Weekly, as holding two of the top 10 plaintiff's verdicts in Missouri for last year. Ponder was No. 6 on the top 10 list for his $4 million jury verdict for a client who received third-degree burns over a third of the man's body from an explosion caused by an industrial furnace...

John and Mary Engram of Sikeston, Mo., were honored for sales recently by Crow's Hybrid Corn Co. The Engrams qualified for the Crow Co.'s dealer advisory board. They received recognition during the company's awards banquet at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo...

Kenneth E. Volkerding, a Lutheran Brotherhood district representative from Jackson, Mo., recently received membership in Lutheran Brotherhood's 2000 President's Club. The President's Club is one of Lutheran Brotherhood's most prestigious sales honors. Representatives qualify for membership in the club based on the sale of insurance and investment products to Lutherans. Volkerding is affiliated with Lutheran Brotherhood's Pals Financial Group in St. Charles, Mo...

Keith Holloway of Cape Girardeau will serve his second term on the National Wooden Pallet Container Association board of directors. Holloway, president of Professional Packaging, Inc. of Cape Girardeau, was sworn in for his second term at the recent association leadership conference at Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel in Orlando, Fla...

Phil LeBeau has been recognized by Arvin Meritor Co., as "Manufacturing Engineer of the Year," for his work at he Dexter Arvin plant. LeBeau is the plant engineer manager and has been at the Dexter plant since it opened in 1973. Also honored was Gary Scates, for "Manufacturing Innovation and Achievement." Scates has been at the plant since 1974...

Century 21 Dutch Realty will receive the Quality Service Pinnacle Award from Century 21 Real Estate Corp. The award recognizes the local office's performance during the past two years. To qualify, an office must have a two-year Quality Service Survey Index of 950...

Alliance Bank, headquartered in Cape Girardeau, will open a full-service facility at Sikeston. Bryan Pogue, president and CEO of Alliance Bank, has announced the Division of Finance and the FDIC have approved the opening of an Alliance Bank full-service facility at 820 N. Main St. The facility currently houses a loan production office of Alliance Bank...

My first introduction to the "Blue Dog" came during an afternoon stroll along Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. There, in the window, was this painting of a small blue dog, with piercing yellow eyes. We had entered the art studio of George Rodrigue...

A sharp drop in demand for airplanes, cars and other transportation products drove down orders to U.S. factories to their lowest point in 14 months, providing more evidence of an economic slowdown. The Commerce Department, in its latest snapshot of manufacturing activity, reported Tuesday that all factory orders fell by 3.8 percent in January, after a 0.6 percent rise the month before...

"The Motley Fool" co-founders and financial pundits, David and Tom Gardner, bring their commonsense approach to financial independence to a national television audience in "The Motley Fool Money-Making Life-Changing Special," to air on WSIU-TV in Carbondale, Ill., Tuesday from 7-8:30 p.m., as part of the station's March 2001 membership drive...

The Missouri Farm Bureau shared top honors with Indiana, Ohio and Oklahoma Farm Bureaus during the Gold Star Awards ceremony, held during the American Farm Bureau Federation's 82nd annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. The four states received gold star plaques adorned with the maximum 12 gold stars in recognition of outstanding work in the Farm Bureau's program categories, including membership, commodity marketing, governmental affairs and agricultural promotion...

Debbie Sutherland and Cathy Young of Cape Girardeau recently traveled to South Africa with a delegation of nurse practitioners to discuss health car in South Africa. The delegation was sponsored through the National People to People Ambassador Program...

Add Ed's Trading Post to the lengthy list of businesses which started during the 1990s. Ed Dodd opened his retail business in 1996, at 625 Broadway. Since then he has expanded into two additional buildings and occupies structures at 621, 623 and 625 Broadway. The Southeast Missourian regrets the omission of the business from the list...

The Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual honors banquet March 22 at the Crowley Ridge Recreation Center. Gary Capps, economic development coordinator of the Industrial Development Authority of Stoddard County, will be the guest speaker...

Ann Elledge stepped through the Red Lobster walk-in freezer last week, clipboard in hand, her breath visible as she scrutinized the floor, the outflow fans and the entrees on stainless steel shelves. Time for another health inspection. Though Kansas City diners have been shaken by the news of a backlog of restaurants behind on their health inspections, the Cape Girardeau County Health Department has enough manpower to meet their once-per-year required inspection schedule of county restaurants, officials say.. ...

The Cape Girardeau School District's new Career and Technology Center sits along a dusty, gravel stretch of Silver Springs Road. The city of Cape Girardeau plans to widen and pave the road, but that won't happen this year. With the $11.2 million vocational school set to open in August, the Cape Special Road District has agreed to put down a temporary layer of asphalt on the gravel road so students and staff won't be traveling through a dust bowl to and from school...

The Mississippi River has become more user friendly for anglers, following an agreement between the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Missouri Department of Conservation. The pact, which took effect March 1, allows anglers from either state to fish anywhere in the 331 miles of Illinois-Missouri boundary waters of the Mississippi River or its backwaters...

The rock dam looked ideal for crappie. It was in a chute just north of the Mississippi River bridge on the Illinois side of the river. Armed with Missouri and Illinois fishing licenses, we quietly paddled the boat around some dead tree trunks growing in the water...

For the past 33 years, Dr. Donald Schulte has been the imperturbable pilot behind the scenes of some of Southeast Missouri State University's most adventurous and yet assured and classical stage productions. Schulte's retirement Dec. 31 was as under the radar as his directing style. ...

Brazilian guitarist Paulo Bellinati breathes guitar notes. It is his life. This is evident in the way he holds the instrument and the ease with which his fingers, spider-like, find their place on the neck to form chords. Bellinati played at Old St. Vincent's Church on the riverfront Sunday afternoon, at the invitation of Southeast Missouri State University professor of music Jeffrey Noonan...

Jackson's Lady Indians might not have won a state championship over the weekend, but they are one of a select group of teams that got to end their season with a victory. The Lady Indians bounced back from Friday's tough semifinal loss against Parkway West to beat Lee's Summit North 58-55 in overtime late Saturday night and capture third place in the Missouri Class 4A girls basketball tournament...

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University's softball team finally broke into the win column over the weekend as the Otahkians competed in the Kentucky Tournament. The Otahkians (3-7) went 3-2 in the three-day event as they bounced back from an 0-5 start to the season. Jenny Doehring accounted for all of the victories as she pitched three straight shutouts...

ULLIN, Ill. -- Warren Honnard, 94, of Oswego, Ill., formerly of Pulaski, Ill., died Sunday, March 11, 2001, at Rush Copley Hospital in Aurora, Ill. Arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Ullin.

MORLEY, Mo. -- Bertha Grace Nations, 82, of Morley, died Saturday, March 10, 2001, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. She was born Aug. 27, 1918, in Denver, daughter of William and Victoria Brucker Halter. She and Lyman Nations were married Feb. 25, 1940, in Oran, Mo. He died Dec. 4, 1959...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Raymond Lonzo Redman, 69, of Advance, died Saturday, March 10, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 9, 1931, in Advance, son of Lonzo and Rosa Habada Redman. He and Pansy Carwile were married May 17, 1951, at Dexter, Mo...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Bernice Trankle Georger, 46, of Advance, Mo., died Saturday, March 10, 2001, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at Morgan Funeral Home in Advance.

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Jerry Don Portwood II, 20, of East Prairie died Saturday, March 10, 2001, near Ellington, Mo., the result of an automobile accident. He was born Nov. 4, 1980, at Sikeston, Mo., son of Jerry Don and Elizabeth Kay Linley Portwood...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Melbern W. James, 81, of Marble Hill, Mo., died Saturday, March 10, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 21, 1919, in Lutesville, Mo., son of Noah and Hollie Eaker James. He first married Jewell A. Elledge in July 1941. He married Mildred May on April 29, 1961...

ADVANCE, MO. 00 Willis Sullinger, 86, of Advance, Mo., died Sunday, March 11, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 6, 1914, at Brownwood, Mo., son of Elmer and Adaline Hitt Sullinger. He and Mearle Ward were married Oct. 6, 1939, at Jackson, Mo...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A Sikeston man was found shot to death Saturday afternoon at his home. Police, who responded to a 911 hang-up call, said they found Theodore Daniel, 36, dead in his home at 135 N. Fifth St. around 5 p.m. Authorities arrested Albert Lott, 32, of Sikeston in connection with the shooting. He was charged with murder and armed criminal action. No bond was set...

A Bragg City, Mo., man died early Sunday morning after a car accident in New Madrid County, Mo. According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, 46-year-old Calvin E. Cutler was westbound on Missouri 162, about three miles west of Portageville, Mo., around 1 a.m., when he lost control of his 1995 Chevrolet and struck a guardrail...

PRAISE THE youth. On March 4 I attended our church service at the First General Baptist Church of Jackson. What a blessing. The youths led the service. They gave a beautiful, enlightening service and testimony through their performance. It was great to see and hear the good they had done. ...

The Jackson Jaycees' purchase of a dance hall, Stroder Country, not only will provide the growing organization with a home, but will provide a place for community gatherings and a means for the organization to raise some money. The 6,700-square-foot Stroder Country building at 1820 Old Toll Road is now known as the Jackson Jaycees Community Center...

If the number of smokers continues to decline and cigarette sales continue to drop, Missouri will get less and less from its financial settlement with the tobacco industry. But the state also can expect cigarette tax revenue to continue to decline. While state officials had been saying Missouri should get about $6.7 billion over 25 years from the settlement, the Missouri Department of Revenue recently revised the estimate downward to $4.5 billion. ...

To the editor: There are a great number of Americans who find the issue of high prices of gasoline a concern, and I am one of them. Unfortunately, to appease consumers, President Bush is listening to calls to open up drilling in the Arctic National Refuge in the remote northeast corner of Alaska...