Stories from Thursday, June 28, 2001

The lack of funding that will delay opening of a new Missouri prison at Bonne Terre for at least a year won't affect the opening of Charleston's new prison. The Missouri General Assembly appropriated $5.6 million for the fiscal year beginning Sunday to equip the 1,600-bed Charleston prison. Lawmakers earmarked no money to open the 2,700-bed Bonne Terre prison...

John Braswell is a gentle, slyly humorous man who grew up during the 1920s watching his grandfather mold metal in his blacksmith shop. He tried college but didn't like it. What he did like was making gadgets. "I just had a knack for it," he said. Braswell owns six patents for a process that softens hard water and designed his own water pistol 10 years before one appeared in toy stores. ...

A tight state budget could force Southeast Missouri State University to hike student fees at the end of the fall semester, school President Ken Dobbins said Wednesday. Dobbins said the university hasn't imposed a mid-school-year fee hike since the state budget crisis of 1991. "We are hoping we don't have to do that," he said...

June 28, 2001 Dear Patty, It may not be accurate to describe Tom Fazio as the Frank Lloyd Wright of golf course architecture, but I will anyway. He has designed some of the best, best-known and most innovative courses in the world. So when the opportunity to play one of Fazio's courses arose last weekend on a business trip to Branson, I had to. It was an opportunity to test myself against the best...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- One of two defendants named in a state lawsuit alleging illegal burning in New Madrid County says the state is engaging in "legalized extortion." Roy Hodgkiss owns Roy's Tree Service in Sikeston. He co-owns property off of New Madrid County Road 824 with the other defendant, Gene Sandlin of Sikeston...

Hands-on training and improved job opportunities will be available to welfare recipients when a new customer service training program gets under way in Cape Girardeau in the fall. The Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center received a $25,000 check Wednesday from the Southwestern Bell Foundation to help establish a call center complete with telephones, computers and monitoring stations. ...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A search for one of Sikeston's most wanted fugitives went national recently when the case of Richard Yang appeared on an episode of "America's Most Wanted." Yang, who has been missing since late February 2000, is wanted by Sikeston police for second-degree murder in the 1998 stabbing death of his estranged wife...

BENTON, Mo. -- "Would you like to leave a message on voice mail?" is not something you are likely to hear after dialing the Scott County courthouse. While County Clerk Rita Milam and county commissioners were presented with a wide range of options for an updated digital county phone system this week, voice mail is one option Milam does not anticipate using...

John Mackel, vice president of medical affairs at St. Francis Medical Center, told the Cape Girardeau Lions Club Wednesday that there will be many benefits to the new neonatal care facility opening at St. Francis in the fall. The new Level 3 neonatal care facility will be able to take care of both prematurely born infants and infants born with illnesses. There will be specially trained physicians and technologists available to take care of the infants and provide emotional support for families...

FINLEY, Tenn. -- A tornado touched down in a farm field in this rural northwestern Tennessee community Wednesday afternoon, just a few hundred yards from where a crop duster crashed his plane and died last week. But while at least one other twister was sighted in the vicinity, both tornadoes dissipated before they could do any serious damage...

The beginning of Wednesday night's American Legion baseball doubleheader between Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons and visiting Poplar Bluff did not go well for the home squad as Bluff put up four first-inning runs and added two more in the second to go up 6-2...

Bryan Johnson did not win last week's Missouri Amateur Golf Championship, but the performance he had should certainly set the stage for a big senior season at Southeast Missouri State University. At least that's the way both Johnson and Southeast coach Carroll Williams see things. Johnson reached the semifinals of the prestigious event before losing to eventual champion Mark McBride 1-up in 20 holes...

ORAN, Mo. -- The Cape Girardeau Best Mortgage Junior American Legion baseball team split a doubleheader with Tri-County of Oran as Cape won the first game 3-2 but lost the second game 8-1 Wednesday night. Mitch Craft had two hits in both games, including a solo home run in the first. He has nine hits in his last four games...

Bob Hemperley of Cape Girardeau recorded his fifth career hole-in-one while playing golf Wednesday at the Cape Girardeau Country Club. Hemperley aced the 135-yard No. 11 hole. He was playing with Ken Brockett, Ron Herr and Frank Osborn.

Son to Darren and Tina LeGrand of St. Charles, Mo., St. John's Mercy Hospital, 1:37 p.m. Thursday, May 31, 2001. Name, Colten Tyler. Weight, 8 pounds 5 ounces. Third child, second son. Mrs. LeGrand is the former Tina Schlitt, daughter of Gerald and Bernadette Schlitt of Oran, Mo. LeGrand is the son of Robey and Ebter LeGrand of Oran...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- Travis Vaden Hamil, 20, of Manhattan, Kan., died Tuesday, June 26, 2001, at his home. He was born July 24, 1980, in Cape Girardeau, son of Steve and Debra Ann Heisserer Hamil. Hamil was a member of St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church in Manhattan...

Ruby Merle Cavaner, 76, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, June 26, 2001, at her home. She was born Jan. 28, 1925, at Zalma, Mo., daughter of Alva and Lillie Pittman Randolph. She and Leo J. Cavaner were married May 29, 1966, in Cape Girardeau. Cavaner grew up in Zalma, moving to Cape Girardeau in 1965. She worked in the family store, Shoppers Big Star on Broadway. She was a member of First Baptist Church...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Lorene E. Bragg, 69, of Elk Grove Village, Ill., died Sunday, June 24, 2001, at Glen Oaks Medical Center in Glendale Heights, Ill. She was born Nov. 19, 1931, in Jackson, daughter of Ed and Nora Weisbrod Biri. She married Billy Joe Bragg...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Funeral for Irene Louise Hubbard of East Prairie will be held at 1 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie. Larry Smith will officiate. Burial will be in East Prairie Memorial Park Cemetery. Hubbard, 81, died Monday, June 25, 2001, at her home...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Mabel M. King, 85, of Dexter, Mo., formerly of Jackson, died Tuesday, June 26, 2001, at Beverly Health and Rehab in Dexter. She was born May 8, 1916, in Missouri, daughter of Loye M. and Gracie C. Rea Jackson. She and James King were married in 1956...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Funeral for Nadine Battin of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter, Mo. The Rev. W.H. Worth will officiate. Burial will be in Gravel Hill Cemetery near Bloomfield, Mo. Friends may call at the funeral home after noon...

REPUBLICANS DON'T live in La-la Land. We simply use common sense, which is something the Democrats don't seem to have. If they had any common sense, they would read the fine print of the so-called patients' bill of rights, particularly the part that says patients cannot only sue the HMOs, but also the employer. If this bill passes, the Democrats will once again cause unemployment to skyrocket...

The advertising campaign by Benetton that featured 26 death-row prisoners in six states backfired on the Italian clothing manufacturer, at least in Missouri. The company's "We on Death Row" campaign prompted Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon to bring a lawsuit against Benetton alleging misrepresentation by company representatives who got into the Potosi Correctional Center to interview four death-row inmates...

Southeast Missouri State University's proposal to build what it calls a park-and-ride facility may be just what is needed to ease parking problems and get students around campus without much hassle. The university for years has tried to get students to ride shuttle buses that regularly run on city streets from a number of university commuter parking lots situated mostly on the edges of campus. ...

To the editor: I woke up a few days ago and realized how disgusted I was to be a Missouri citizen due to this stupid stadium for a baseball team. I have never been a fan of this pathetic sport, nor do I respect the team or owners, especially now. I am upset that I have to watch my best friend, who has worked with the state schools for the severely handicapped, go without a raise. ...