1998: YEAR IN REVIEW

Stories illustrating a changing community -- hospital merger talks, methamphatamine crimes, new life for the old seminary, and expansion at Procter & Gamble -- topped the news for 1998.

A Jackson woman killed in a motor vehicle accident raised questions about the youth driving the stolen car which hit her. Drive-by shootings shook up neighborhoods in Cape Girardeau.

Education was in the news as Notre Dame High School moved into a new building, a high school student used to the Internet to take on a school district and won, local superintendents are leaving and Southeast Missouri State University's basketball program was on probation.

The Southeast Missourian staff voted on stories from the front pages of the past year. Here are the results.

1. Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center began merger talks promising costs savings if the two entities joined forces. The hospitals took their proposal on the road, holding meetings and hearings to answer questions and solicit support.

Talks included questions about women's reproductive rights and St. Francis's Catholic identity. Physicians questioned their own role in the process. And last week St. Francis CEO James Sexton announced he will leave to take a new job in Iowa.

The hospitals expect a ruling from Missouri's Attorney General within weeks. That ruling will likely steer merger talks in 1999.

2. Methamphetamine, the top story in 1997, stayed near the top for 1998 as drug traffickers continued to set up illegal drug labs and law enforcement shut them down in record numbers. Missouri ranked second only to California in the number of methamphetamine labs seized.

During the year, lawmakers and law officers joined forces to toughen the laws dealing with methamphetamine. But the addictive nature of the drug keeps drug users and those who sell and make it coming back for more.

3. Southeast Missouri State University promises new life for the historic St. Vincent Seminary. The River Campus proposal would turn the seminary property into a visual and performing arts school.

In November Cape Girardeau voters approved a measure to use motel-hotel and restaurant tax money to help pay for the project. But a companion measure that would have allowed the city to issue general obligation bonds to help fund the project failed to receive the necessary four-sevenths majority.

In December, the university said it would make use of a state bonding authority to help finance the $35.6 million River Campus project. Bonds would be used to finance a fourth of the cost. Motel-hotel and restaurant taxes would be used to retire the bonds. Private donations would pick up another fourth of the cost. The state is being asked to pick up the other $17.8 million.

4. Work proceeded on a $350 million expansion project announced in 1997 for Procter and Gamble Paper Products. Construction work began and the plant started the hiring process that will eventually mean 350 more jobs. With 1,200 workers, the plant north of Cape Girardeau near Trail of Tears State Park already is the largest employer in Southeast Missouri. The addition will enable an increase in production of tissue and towels.

5. A 14-year-old Tennessee boy driving a stolen a car was involved in an accident that killed 22-year-old Meredith Adams of Jackson in August. Eight others were injured in the four-vehicle accident in Jackson. The boy could be certified to stand trial as an adult.

6. In what appeared to be a potentially deadly feud between relatives, a 10-year-old girl was shot in the foot. The shots were fired from a passing vehicle into a house on Good Hope Street, and the little girl was not the intended target. Three Sikeston men were arrested.

Following the first shooting, two other shooting sprees took place. In both instances, shots were fired from one vehicle at another. Five men -- three from Cape Girardeau and two from Sikeston -- were arrested in connection with these incidents.

All five of the Sikeston men -- three believed to have been involved in the shooting that injured the girl and two believed to be involved in the later exchanges of gunfire on city streets -- have been charged under Missouri's 1995 drive-by shooting law, the first time this law has been used in Cape Girardeau.

7. Notre Dame High School started this fall in a new $6.7 million building along Route K. The 114,000-square-foot facility occupies about 25 acres. The project was financed by the largest capital campaign ever undertaken through the Cape Girardeau-Springfield Diocese. Volunteers solicited pledges and donations to fund the project.

8. The Woodland School District violated high school student Brandon Beussink's free speech rights when it suspended him for posting a personal Web page critical of his school, a federal judge ruled in December, marking the first court decision in the nation regarding students' free speech rights on the Internet.

9. Superintendents at Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Perryville, Meadow Heights and Woodland announced they would leave their jobs. Cape Girardeau was the first to name a replacement. Dr. Dan Tallent is leaving. Dr. Dan Steska will be the new superintendent.

Searches are under way in the other school districts. Howard Jones is leaving Jackson schools. Rex Miller is leaving Perryville schools. Ronald Wene is leaving Woodland, and Jerry Deardorff is leaving Meadow Heights.

10. In April, Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball program was placed on probation for three years and lost a scholarship for violating NCAA regulations under former coach Ron Shumate.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions said it found violations in the areas of extra benefits, recruiting, financial aid, institutional responsibility and ethical conduct.

TOP LOCAL STORIES

1. Hospital merger

2. Methamphetamine

3. River campus

4. P&G expansion

5. Meredith Adams killed in car accident

6. Drive-by shooting

7. New Notre Dame High School

8. ACLU suit against Woodland

9. Superintendents in and out at area schools

10. SEMO hoops on probation