Stories from Tuesday, March 20, 2001

Sometimes the Internet is so offbeat I just have to laugh. My good friend, Debra Rau and I were having supper, and she told me about going "ego surfing." Ego surfing? Apparently, it's the practice of typing your name into popular search engines to see what comes up. If you find people with the exact same name, the idea is to hook up with them. You might send them an e-mail or try to find out more about them...

Editor's note: This is an installment from a chapter of Jean Bell Mosley's book "Wide Meadows" that was first published in 1960. Winter comes down from the mountains in a white fury and locks the valley tight in its icy grip. The river slows and comes to a frozen stop. ...

Although his long-embattled liquor license was renewed at Monday's Cape Girardeau City Council meeting, bar owner Michael Pryor was criticized for an alleged pattern of disturbances occurring at The Taste Lounge. Pryor's attitude even became an issue...

Despite the urgings of a crowd of neighbors, friends, educators, students and community members at an unusually loud school board meeting, Central High School principal Randie Fidler will not receive a contract renewal for the 2001-2002 school year...

There's an art to apartment living. I should know. Since leaving my parents' residence in a middle-class Sikeston neighborhood, I've lived in two trailers (yes, I'll admit it!), one rental house, one guest house and a whopping eight apartments. That's counting the "luxury townhome" I'm in now, which features a gorgeous view of a parking lot from the back veranda (a concrete slab) and of the community Dumpster out front...

The Cape Girardeau City Council voted Monday to grant a 60-day extension to the March 21 deadline to proceed with demolition of the Marquette Hotel unless owner Carole Bullock sells it or comes up with a renovation plan. Cape Girardeau Mayor Albert Spradling III said he is concerned about the safety risk the 72-year-old building presents to pedestrians. He cited reports of bricks and "concrete objects" falling onto the sidewalk and of lose window panes poised to fall...

Crystal Plohman grew up in Canada, but sounds born in Ireland, Scotland, Louisiana, Appalachia and Nashville, Tenn., pour from her fiddle. That's to be expected from the director of the fiddling program at Vanderbilt University. The Nashville university is one of only a few where fiddling is an academic pursuit...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Jackson school board candidates Kevin Schaper and Donna Tidwell won't support a levy increase without a thorough review of the district's spending, they told about 50 people at a school board candidate forum Monday night at the Jackson Middle School...

JACKSON, Mo. -- A neighbor Monday night called a motor vehicle storage business proposed in an uptown area of Jackson "a cancer on our beautiful city." At a public hearing before the Jackson Board of Aldermen, Jim Beattie was one of three people who spoke against granting a special-use permit to Mr. and Mrs. Mike Turbeville to operate the business. The area at 402 E. Adams St. is zoned I-2 for heavy industrial but contains a number of residences...

JACKSON, Mo. -- In a season opener for both teams, the Jackson Indians wasted little time in closing a recent chapter of Notre Dame domination on the baseball diamond. On a cool Monday afternoon at Jackson's Legion Field, the Indians hung on for a 4-3 victory over the visiting Bulldogs...

PATTON, Mo. -- Defending Class 1A state baseball champion St. Vincent opened the season in noisy fashion on Monday, blasting Meadow Heights 23-0 in three innings. The Indians saw their first 14 batters of the season reach base and score in a 14-run first inning...

Cape Girardeau Central's Lady Tigers will try to extend an impressive string of accomplishments this year as the area high school track & field season gets under way this week. The Lady Tigers have won six consecutive SEMO Conference and Class 4A, District 1 championships and they are expected to field another strong team in 2001...

WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- Max Terril Wood, 67, of Wappapello died Saturday, March 17, 2001, at his home. He was born April 29, 1933, at Dexter, Mo., son of David Estle and Mimia Belle Wood. He and Becky Cox were married Oct. 17, 1992, at Wappapello. Wood was a member of Hills Church at Bloomfield, Mo. He spent most of his life in the Bloomfield-Dexter area, but had lived in Wappapello since 1990...

LONGTOWN, Mo. -- Wilpert J. "Wib" Bohnert, 92, of Longtown died Monday, March 19, 2001, at Perry County Nursing Home in Perryville, Mo. He was born Sept. 21, 1908, at Longtown, son of John Ferd and Matilda Marie Weinrich Bohnert. He and Wilma Marie Puntmann were married Nov. 6, 1938...

Iris Capron Burch, 61, of St. Louis and formerly of Anna, Ill., died Monday, March 19, 2001. Friends may call from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday at Crain Funeral Home in Anna. Funeral will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

Rose Elizabeth Compas, 92, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, March 18, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Oct. 12, 1908, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of William and Mary Frielinghaus Knaup. She and Frank John Compas were married April 8, 1940, in Cape Girardeau. He died Oct. 9, 1991...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Aquilla Dewitt Chapman, 83, of Chaffee died Monday, March 19, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 29, 1918, in Advance, Mo., son of George Edward and Mell Reed Chapman. He and Mildred Chasteen Nance were married March 8, 2001...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Funeral for Truman G. "Slim" Limbaugh of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Brian Blankenship will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Friends may call at the chapel after noon today...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Erma D. Chrisman, 91, of Dexter died Sunday, March 18, 2001, at Gideon Care Center in Gideon, Mo. Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter is in charge of arrangements.

CAIRO, Ill. -- Buster Polston, 91, of Cairo died Sunday, March 18, 2001, at Westside Care Center in West Frankfort, Ill. He was born Feb. 2, 1910, in Bessie, Tenn., son of Martin and Gertrude Sales Polston. He married Syble Polston, who died in 1989...

KENNETT, Mo. -- Kenneth Inman, 80, of Kennett died Monday, March 19, 2001, in Kennett. He was born Sept. 14, 1920, in Red Bay, Ala., son of Nathan and Della Brewer Inman. He and Helen Goodrich were married June 28, 1944, in Bragg City, Mo. He was a retired farmer...

John Kevin Wright, 33, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, March 17, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Aug. 3, 1967, in Poplar Bluff, Mo., son of John and Virgie Wineman Wright. Wright was a tree trimmer and a former resident of Dexter, Mo...

Irene Virginia Heise, 80, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, March 19, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born June 26, 1920, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Henry C. and Albertine M. Senn Heise. Heise had worked for Eldercare 35 years. She was a member of Evangelical United Church of Christ...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Graveside service for Frankie J.L. Harris of Charleston was held Monday at Oak Grove Cemetery. The Rev. Debbie Thornton officiated. Sparks Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Harris, 96, died Sunday, March 18, 2001, at her home...

CYPRESS, Ill. -- Paul Vernon Williams, 78, of Cypress died Saturday, March 17, 2001, at Carbondale Memorial Hospital in Carbondale, Ill. He was born Jan. 4, 1923, in Cypress, son of Homer and Gertie Davis Williams. He married Mary Elizabeth Stevens...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Loretta Robertson, 63, of Dexter died Saturday, March 17, 2001, at her home. She was born Dec. 6, 1937, at Dexter, son of Charley Henry and Ruby Kincy Lambert. She and Jim Robertson were married Dec. 14, 1956, at Dexter. He died May 13, 1998...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Graveside service for Ofeyoue Goodwin of Dexter will be held at 11 a.m. today at Armstead Dowdy Cemetery near Dexter. Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter is in charge of arrangements. Funeral was Monday at Baue Chapel in St. Charles, Mo. Gene Wood officiated...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Loy McGraw, 60, of Fort Madison, Iowa, died Saturday, March 17, 2001, at Fort Madison Community Hospital. He was born Feb. 14, 1941, at Lixville, Mo., son of Virgil and Mearl Hanners McGraw. He and Ramona Seabaugh were married July 3, 1963, in Kansas City, Mo...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Viola Pixley, 93, of Sikeston died Monday, March 19, 2001, at her home. She was born Sept. 25, 1907, in McClure, Ill., daughter of George Fount and Nancy Ellen Denton Walker. She and Albert Welton Pixley were married July 6, 1929, in Cape Girardeau. He died Jan. 26, 1989...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Frances B. Boxdorfer, 95, of Perryville died Sunday, March 18, 2001, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born April 12, 1905, in Perryville, daughter of Francis Monroe and Sarah Elizabeth Tucker Bass. She and John G. Boxdorfer were married in St. Louis. He died April 17, 1978...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Alberta Nelson, 97, of Mesquite, Texas, and formerly of Mounds, died Monday, March 19, 2001, at Autumn Leaves Nursing Home in Dallas, Texas. She was born Oct. 9, 1903, in Mounds, daughter of Karl and Ida Moore Nelson. She was a member of the Congregational Church and was a retired teacher for the Mounds Township Public Schools...

PYLETOWN, Mo. -- Elvin John Putnam, 86, of Pyletown, Mo., died Sunday, March 18, 2001, at Mulberry Manor in Dexter. He was born Feb. 16, 1915, at Pyletown, son of John S. and Aura Poundstone Putnam. He and Cora Mae Perry were married Aug. 15, 1934, at Bernie, Mo...

Marijuana laws THE NEW Mexico House of Representatives narrowly approved legislation that would permit qualified patients to smoke marijuana medicinally in accordance with state law. The state Senate passed a similar, though not identical, version of the bill last week. ...

There are some advantages to mailing notices directly to registered voters prior to elections in Missouri. This is what a bill currently in the Legislature would do. But there is one major reason why this plan isn't good: It costs too much. County clerks, who are the election officials in each county, already have the authority to mail sample ballots in certain elections where fewer than 500 voters are involved. ...

The federal Motor Voter Law does a lot more than allow Americans to register to vote almost any time they come in contact with government. It also forces local election officials to keep names of ineligible voters on registration lists for years. The result: The voting mess in St. Louis last November and in that city's mayoral primary earlier this month...