Stories from Wednesday, May 18, 1994

How small of all that human hearts endure That part that laws or kings can cause or cure -- Samuel Johnson I have just finished my second session of the Missouri Senate. For all the frantic activity that led up to last Friday's 6 p.m. adjournment, now that we're finished I keep returning to the timeless wisdom encapsulated in Johnson's little couplet...

Three important road projects in the Cape Girardeau area are progressing thanks to the cooperative efforts of local and state officials. The next segment of Cape Girardeau's Lexington Avenue arterial, which will extend that route east from Cape Rock Drive to an extension of Sprigg Street, is slated to begin this summer. ...

Southeast Missouri State University recently awarded Morrison's Hospitality Group a three-year, $6 million contract to provide food service at the institution. Morrison's is a solid company that's provided quality food service to schools and hospitals since the early 1950s...

The lethal injection last week of John Wayne Gacy, the Illinois man who sat on death row for 14 years after he was convicted of brutally torturing and killing 33 men and boys, revived a long-standing debate in this country over the death penalty. Unfortunately, as Gacy's case makes painfully clear, this nation has neither fully embraced capital punishment nor rejected the idea. ...

CAIRO, Ill. -- The Cairo Police Department will add four new officers to its community policing program with a $185,000 federal grant announced last week. "This is part of President Bill Clinton's proposal to put 100,000 new officers on the street nationwide, with an emphasis on community policing," said James Wilson, mayor of Cairo. "We applied for the grant and felt we had a good chance of obtaining it."...

East Missouri Action Agency's weatherization program has received notification of 1994-95 program funding. The program will receive $245,982. It is administered through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Division of Energy. The program is completely funded by the U.S. Department of Energy...

Clippard Wilson Taylor Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3838 and its auxiliary will hold Buddy Poppy Days Friday and Saturday. Donations will be requested in exchange for poppies that are assembled by hospitalized veterans for added income. All profit from the sale must remain in the organization's relief fund for use to aid needy veterans, their families or the community...

St. Francis Medical Center has filed a certificate of need with the Missouri Health Department for a second cardiac catherization lab. A spokeswoman in the Certificate of Need office in Jefferson City said the application was filed May 12. The new lab will cost $1.76 million...

Legislation approved this year by state Rep. Larry Thomason will give voters an opportunity to decide whether they want salaries and some benefits of judges, legislators, and statewide elected officials determined by a citizens commission. Thomason, D-Kennett, offered the plan as a state constitutional amendment, which will need voter approval later this year to take effect...

The countdown is on. Weeks or just days remain until high school graduations, the last day of school and the beginning of summer vacation for students. Some 266 seniors at Cape Girardeau Central High School will be among the last in the area to graduate from high school. Commencement is set June 10 at 8 p.m. at the Show Me Center...

JACKSON -- Renovation of the heavily-silted, algae-covered Jackson Rotary Lake was to begin today when Jackson Park Department employees open a valve to draw down its water level. The lake, which was built in the mid-1970s, is in the main city park west of the swimming pool...

A woman delivering a homebound meal to a Cape Girardeau woman Tuesday, found the elderly woman dead in her home. Lois J. Middlebrook, 76, of 514 Amethyst was pronounced dead by Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Carpenter shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday, although the coroner believes she died sometime Monday evening. The woman was found lying on her living room floor...

Cape Girardeau police officer Bill Bohnert's first day back on shift work just wasn't what he planned. Bohnert was dispatched to the intersection of William and Broadview at about 4:35 p.m. Tuesday, to a report of a multiple-car accident that was blocking the roadway...

Rituals tell us plenty about who we are and how we got there. Jerry Beaver wouldn't argue with this. Beav, which is the name he affectionately goes by when he's on deck as manager of the Playdium, has observed a time-honored ritual for 31 years. It has to do with pitching a tent just a mile-and-a-half from the oval at the Indianapolis Speedway. It has to do with greeting about 30 of his best friends, swapping tales of past Indy 500 races and discussing what might transpire in this year's race...

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department, the Breakfast Optimist Club and K103/KZIM Radio will team up to hold the sixth annual Youth Catch and Release Fishing Clinic Saturday at Capaha Park. The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. and run until noon. The clinic is open to children ages 1 to 15 and is free. Children must provide their own rod and reel as well as their own bait...

ANGELA R. KEANKey Words: BERTRAND -- Angela R. Kean, 85, of Bertrand, died Monday, May 16, 1994, at Bertrand Retirement Facility. She was born April 15, 1909, in Charleston, daughter of Michael H. and Mary E. Carlisle Halter. She and James A. Kean were married Nov. 14, 1939. He died July 12, 1985...

CHAFFEE -- Lucille Lane, 70, of Chaffee, died Monday, May 16, 1994, at her home. She was born Jan. 19, 1924, in Carrier Mills, daughter of John and Leona Harris Curry. She and Bill Louis Lane were married Sept. 1, 1946. Lane was a member of General Baptist Church at Randles, Ladies Auxiliary of Scott City VFW Post 6407, and former member of Scott City Florence Rebekah Lodge 580...

SIKESTON -- Wanda B. Seabaugh, 79, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, May 17, 1994, at Hunter Acres Caring Center. She was born Nov. 28, 1914, at Dexter, daughter of Albert and Margaret Haines Blunt. She and William B. Seabaugh were married Nov. 10, 1937, at Poplar Bluff...

ANNA, Ill. -- Gale J. Wilson, 96, of Wayland, Mass., formerly of Anna, died Monday, May 16, 1994, at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass. He married Arnaud Fasig, who died July 25, 1987. Survivors include a daughter, Sue Carter of Wayland; nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren...

FROHNA -- Irma H. Brunkhorst, 70, of Frohna, died Monday, May 16, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 11, 1924, in Perry County, daughter of Henry and Anna Meyer Lohmann. She first married Hugo Hellwege Sept. 16, 1944. He died Jan. 16, 1971. She later married Elmer Brunkhorst Oct. 16, 1979, who died Oct. 29, 1985...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Cornell Shemwell, 74, of Cairo, died Monday, May 16, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born in Cairo, daughter of Howard and Kittie Hall Murray. She married Howard Shemwell, who died in 1973. Shemwell was a retired owner of Howard and Cornell Shemwell's Bar-Be-Que here, and member of Cairo Baptist Church...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Lois J. Middlebrook, 514 Amethyst in Cape Girardeau, died at her home Tuesday, May 17, 1994. She was 76. Arrangements are incomplete at Algee Memorial Chapel in Cairo.

SIKESTON -- Doyle "Gabby" Lefler, 67, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, May 17, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Oct. 20, 1926, in Canalou, son of George Lewis and Audrey Jewell Ginger Lefler. He and Audra Rhodes Plunk were married Feb. 25, 1992, in Reno, Nev...

(ital) I do it myself. (unital) When you first hear those words from your angelic offspring, you stop in your tracks and smile in wonderment. A child prodigy ... a high achiever with unlimited potential. How many other 2 year olds can do that, you beam...

A perennial, in the broadest horticultural definition, is any plant that lives for three years or more. This definition covers a lot of ground, including dandelions and giant trees. However, when gardeners talk about perennials, they almost always are referring to plants with stems that die down to the soil before winter while their roots remain alive and ready to send up new growth next spring...