Stories from Monday, July 30, 2001

ULLIN, Ill. -- Shawnee Community College will host a hair seminar from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 13 Tracey Nugent will be a guest speaker. She is a cosmetology educator at St. John's School in Decatur, Champaign and Jacksonville. Continuing education credits will be granted to those who attend. An advance fee of $21.95 also includes lunch...

Leon Wiggs has joined Johnson Insurance Group Inc. at 6 N. Clark in Cape Girar-deau. Wiggs, formerly of Leon Wiggs Insurance, has more than 40 years experience in the insurance industry. Johnson Insurance Group specializes in commercial, home, auto, health and life policies...

Brad Zaruba has been named national sales manager at KFVS-12 television. Mike Smythe, vice president and general manger of KFVS made the announcement recently. Zaruba replaces David Stockard, who became local sales manager earlier this year. Zaruba comes from WITN-TV in Washington, North Carolina, where he served as regional sales manager...

Dorothy Miller, who has been involved in real estate more than 25 years, is now a broker for Divine Homes Realty, the residential company at Commercial Real Estate Specialists Inc., 125 S. Broadview, Suite 7, in Cape Girardeau. Miller, who has been a licensed Realtor since 1973 and a broker since 1977, is a member of the Cape Girardeau County Board of Realtors, Missouri Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors...

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., headquartered in Bentonville, Ark., retained its position as the largest U.S. retailer in terms of annual sales. Kroger Co. remained in the No. 2 spot, and Home Depot Inc. moved to third place, dropping Sears Roebuck and Co., to the No. 4 spot. Kmart was No. 5 on the list of top 100 retailers, compiled by the National Retail Federation and Triversity Inc...

A Super 8 Motel has opened near the U.S 51 and Illinois 146 intersection at Anna, Ill. The new motel, owned by Pete Patel, is the first development in Chuck Baity's Business Park. The new Super 8 Motel features 43 rooms, an indoor swimming pool, and a conference room that will seat up to 100 people...

The Missouri Department of Economic Development's Rapid Response Team will provide help for employees involved in a layoff at Elder Manufacturing Co. in Dexter, Mo. Elder Manufacturing announced in May that about two-thirds of its operation -- the sewing and pressing sections will be shut down at Dexter and moved to a contract operation in Costa Rica. The move, which is scheduled to take place in August, will mean the loss of about 60 jobs...

Close Environmental Consultants at 106 Farrar Drive, Suite 101 in Cape Girardeau has received certification as a "Woman-Owned Business Enterprise." Close Environmental Consultants offers engineering and management services in the environmental field for surface water, groundwater, storm water and soils investigation. It also assists clients in meeting OSHA, DNR and EPA requirements...

David Cato, a driver for United Parcel Service, was honored recently for completing 25 years with the company. Cato works out of the UPS facility at Cape Girardeau and was cited for years of loyal service. UPS has more than 30 centers in Missouri and employs more than 5,000 people...

Tracey Glenn, Marilyn Kneir and Wes Wade, officers of the Tri-State Advertising and Market Professionals club, recently attended the 9th District Advertising and Marketing Professionals Leadership Conference at Kansas City. The local Tri-State club is open to professionals in advertising, marketing, public relations and other business professionals who use marketing communications...

Dr. Karen Smallwood Ryan has received certification as a certified independent medical examiner from the American Broad of Independent Medical Examiners. Ryan practices at St. Francis Medical Center. She also is certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in Occupational Medicine...

Housing continues to be big on the Jackson construction scene. A total of 45 one-family home-building permits have been issued the first six months of this year, said Rodney Bollinger, building and planning superintendent. Four apartment permits -- three duplexes and a townhouse apartment building -- have been issued...

Cruising the Mississippi on the River Explorer is going with the unhurried flow. The barge's top speed is 15 miles per hour. Passengers on the 730-foot floating hotel often loll on lattice-steel chaise lounges on the top deck, bask in the sun, watch clouds cross the sky or take a turn at shuffleboard. A cookout is occasionally held topside...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Small rural businesses in Missouri haven't been doing as well as they could have been. "Many small companies tell me they're having a hard time right now," said J.D. Faulkner, owner of McCaul Tire and Appliance in Kennett, Mo. "There are a great number of obstacles facing all of us."...

A professor from Japan will visit Southeast Missouri State University next month to study the school's Brodsky Collection of works of William Faulkner. Toshio Koyama, a professor at the Language Center of Kwansei Gakuin University in Nishinomiya, Japan, will visit Southeast from Aug. 18 to Sept. 8...

When Sybil Whitworth went for a mammogram at her husband's urging in 1997, the Scott City, Mo., resident didn't know it would save her life. Whitworth had a cancerous lump in her breast and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. "It was by the grace of God and early detection that I'm here today," said Whitworth, 51...

SENATH, Mo. -- The Chaffee Medicap Pharmacy American Legion baseball team put on a powerful display in winning its first district championship Sunday night. Top-seeded Chaffee ended fifth-seeded Poplar Bluff's improbable run in the District 14 Tournament by rolling to a 19-4 victory. The title game was stopped after the top of the seventh inning by the 10-run mercy rule...

MARION, Ill. -- Russell L. Sappington, Jr., 64, formerly of Anna, Ill., died Saturday, July 28, 2001, at his home in Marion. He was born July 25, 1937, in East St. Louis, Ill., son of Russell L. Sr. and Irene Varady Sappington. He was a retired ironworker and a member of the Belknap Pentecostal Church...

Four area people were injured in Sunday accidents, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. A Sunday afternoon accident on Cape Girardeau County Road 379 seven miles west of Gordonville, Mo., resulted in two people being taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital with moderate injuries...

Ophilia Wiseman Brown of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, July 29, 2001, at her home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at the Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel.

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Elva Nicholson Larkin, 81, died Saturday, July 28, 2001, at her residence in Charleston. She was born Dec. 4, 1919, in Bertrand, Mo., daughter of C.W. and Ethel V. Presson Nicholson. She and W.J. "Bill" Larkin were married in April 1951. He died in December 1995...

PUXICO, Mo. -- Mildred Mayberry, 80, of rural Puxico died Sunday, July 29, 2001, at her home. Arrangements are pending at Morgan Funeral Home at Advance, Mo.

To the editor: There is a difference between stem-cell research, which has been around for over 20 years and has enjoyed a lot of success, and embryonic stem-cell research, which is a relatively recent phenomenon and has enjoyed little, if any, success...

A new state law that requires meatpackers to pay producers uniform prices for livestock on the hoof has backfired, and concerned lawmakers have been scurrying about in hopes of doing something about it. The question is how soon the law can be repealed or changed, since it is costing farmers dearly. ...

Vocational-technical educators gathered at Springfield, Mo., last week to discuss the future of vo-tech education in Missouri, and one of their main concerns was a failure to meet the growing demand for vo-tech education. Not every high-school graduate attends college, and without some formal training in skills beyond high school it is difficult for many to find good-paying jobs. That is where vo-tech education can help...

I CAN see building a new church on Hopper Road. I have no problem with that, and I think they probably need a new church. I could even see the day-care facility. But do they honestly need a sports complex, an amphitheater and a lake? What is the point?...

To the editor: Why is it that the same people who support abortion and fetal-tissue research are not willing to die for the benefit of mankind? Just imagine the progress scientists could make if they would make the same choice they impose on unborn humans...