Stories from Wednesday, March 14, 2001

No matter what the weather has been like, I know that spring is just around the corner. I very seldom make such a rash statement, but I have good evidence to suggest that it is so. About two weeks ago I was sitting in an easy chair no more than two feet away from a glass door in front of our house. I was in that state of mind halfway between being awake and really asleep. Suddenly I heard a tapping sound. I wondered what my wife Marilyn was using a hammer for...

After offering and then recanting confessions to hundreds of murders in a supposed killing spree over 12 years that traversed 18 states, Henry Lee Lucas died in bed in a Texas prison on Monday. Lucas, 64, who possibly succumbed to heart problems, had been a suspect in the murder of two Cape Girardeau women in 1982 and in the disappearance of a Scott County teen-ager in 1979. The three cases remain unsolved...

HARRISBURG, Ill. -- The plan is still on. As many as 50,000 Native Americans plan to gather in the Shawnee National Forest in the fall. "The Shawnee Indian leaders still want to meet here," John Taylor, a Shawnee forester who works with forest special-use permits, said Tuesday...

A federal grant of $3.1 million to fight methamphetamine has helped narcotics officers in Missouri win a tougher battle -- finding money for their work. A $127,567 grant to the Bootheel Drug Task Force has allowed a new narcotics officer to start work in a new vehicle, said Tommy Greenwell, Pemiscot County sheriff and head of the task force...

JACKSON, Mo. -- The popping sounds of fiberglass-toed shoes and the stiff-statured form that jigged across the South Elementary School cafeteria floor Tuesday indicated St. Patrick's Day is near. Southeast Missouri State University student observer Sara Fitzpatrick performed traditional Irish dances and answered questions about the Irish culture to complete the students' study of Ireland...

Cape Girardeau's entry in the Let's Put on a Show contest sponsored by the radio program "Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?" was recognized but didn't win the prize during Saturday's broadcast of the show. Prescott, Ariz., home of cowboy poets and a jug band that wrote a song about the comedy quiz show's emcee, won the opportunity to host the show in April...

Southeast Missouri State University baseball player Vern Hatton got off to a slow start this season, but it didn't really alarm him. That's because he's been through it before. "Last year (in junior college) I started off the same way, a little slow," said Hatton...

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- Jacksonville St. won the two-day, 17-team Bob Brown/Sportscare Classic, posting a 15-stroke victory over runner-up Jackson St. while Southeast Missouri finished a distant 12th. Jacksonville St., which finished Monday in second place with a 298 total, three strokes behind Purdue, posted a 284 total on Tuesday. Jacksonville St., led by medalist Jose Campra, finished with a 582 total...

ST. LOUIS -- The Cape Girardeau Central High School girls swimming team fell to 0-2 in dual meets Tuesday by losing 130-56 against host Parkway North. But the Lady Tigers turned in their first state qualifying performance of the season as diver Sarah Sprigg was Central's lone individual champion with a score of 212.55...

LEOPOLD, Mo. -- Charles M. Schmitt, 68, of Leopold died Tuesday, March 13, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 24, 1932, at Leopold, son of Henry John and Minnie H. Brummer Schmitt. He and Dorothy Overbeck were married on June 6, 1964...

Daughter to Mark Alan and Angela Lynn Young of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:18 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, 2001. Name, Payton Janae. Weight, 9 pounds 1 ounce. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Young is the former Angela Cagle, daughter of Gene and Lynda Cagle of Cape Girardeau. She is assistant manager at Doctor's ValuVision. Young is the son of J.E. and Shirlene Young of Cuba, Ky. He is editor of The Banner Press Newspaper in Marble Hill, Mo...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- A memorial service for Troy Tippett of Marble Hill will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Marble Hill United Methodist Church. The Rev. Michael Woods will officiate. Liley Funeral Home at Marble Hill is in charge of arrangements. Tippett, 87, died Thursday, Dec. 28, 2000, at Eldercare of Marble Hill...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Funeral for John S. "Jack" Smarr of Dexter will be held at 3 p.m. today at Rainey Funeral Home. The Rev. Vaughn Wright will officiate. Burial will be in Dexter Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 2 p.m. until time of service...

RANDLES, Mo. -- Frieda S. Jackson, 92, of Brookfield, Mo., died Saturday, March 10, 2001, at Columbia Regional Hospital in Columbia, Mo. She was born June 18, 1908, at Crowder, Mo., daughter of Charlie Henry and Nora Louise Smith Powell. She and James W. Jackson Sr. were married July 3, 1924, at Bloomfield, Mo. He died Sept. 20, 1979...

PULASKI, Ill. -- Graveside service for Warren Honnard of Oswego, Ill., will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Rose Hill Cemetery in Pulaski. The Rev. Billy Don Heady will officiate. Crain Funeral Home at Ullin, Ill., is in charge of arrangements. Honnard, 94, died Sunday, March 11, 2001, at Rush Copley Hospital in Oswego...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Funeral for Rodney Romel "Ra-Ra" McAllister Jr. of St. Louis will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Cairo. The Rev. Christopher Barnes and Elder Curtis Davis will officiate. Burial will be in Green Lawn Memorial Gardens at Villa Ridge, Ill...

Mary Lou Reddin-Davis, 59, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, March 11, 2001, at the home of her father. She was born May 4, 1941, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Joe T. and Lessie Shank Nelson. She married Narvel Reddin, who died in 1990. She later married Hugh Davis...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Theodore Daniel, 35, of Sikeston died Saturday, March 10, 2001, at his home of a gunshot wound. He was born March 31, 1965, in Sikeston, son of Willie B. Daniel of Sikeston and Otis David Norris Sr. of Kansas City, Mo. He was a 1983 graduate of Sikeston High School and was employed by Sonny's Solid Waste...

Superintendent Dan Steska was in Jefferson City late last month testifying about an issue that's a little complicated but very important to the Cape Girardeau School District. He supports a Senate bill that would give a bump in state funding to so-called hold-harmless districts like Cape Girardeau and 62 others in the state...

Please forgive me for my amusement at the Democrats' recent predicament over campaign-finance reform. It is a delectable development. Let me explain: It has come to light that a significant number of Democratic senators are beginning to have misgivings about the McCain-Feingold bill, legislation that would ban soft money (unlimited, unregulated contributions to political parties as opposed to particular candidates) and impose other fund-raising controls. ...

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban ordered all the nation's ancient relics from its pre-Islamic past destroyed. And now they have been. The Taliban's leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, said these antiquities were idolatrous and against the tenets of Islam. That includes the world's tallest standing Buddha, now blasted into rubble with explosives, rockets and heavy artillery...

I AGREE with the Southeast Missourian editorial that stated it was wise to repeal a state law requiring students to be held back if they don't read on grade level. I would be furious if my child was retained because she read several steps above grade level...

To the editor: A young child was growing up in the usual way. It was a simpler time when everyone knew each other. Mothers swapped recipes and coupons. Fathers coached the Little League team. The bully at school was disciplined. Hard work was rewarded. Most everyone went hunting, so everyone had guns. But children weren't killing each other...

The Cape Girardeau County Family and Community Education Council met March 1 at the Extension Education Center in Jackson. Lee Anderson presided, and the devotion was given by Town and Country Club. Dr. Frank Nickell, history professor at Southeast Missouri State University, presented the program on "Missourians are Plainly Funny People."...

Over the course of the past week I haven't done much cooking. We have been battling the flu and a stomach virus and two plastic beads in the nose of a 4-year-old. Life is certainly exciting with children. Again this week we have a lot of mail to share with you. The top response of the week is for cooked cheese recipes. We recently had a request and as usual you have come through with many replies. Let's get right to those...

No matter what the weather has been like, I know that spring is just around the corner. I very seldom make such a rash statement, but I have good evidence to suggest that it is so. About two weeks ago I was sitting in an easy chair no more than two feet away from a glass door in front of our house. I was in that state of mind halfway between being awake and really asleep. Suddenly I heard a tapping sound. I wondered what my wife Marilyn was using a hammer for...