Stories from Thursday, June 16, 1994

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Martin M. Birk, Jackson Route 2, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Tilsit. The Rev. Paul Drake will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery. Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home after 4 p.m. today, and at the church after 10 a.m. Friday...

PUXICO -- A public meeting will be held Saturday for the formation of the New Home Cemetery Association at the VFW Hall in Puxico. The meeting will begin promptly 9:30 a.m. Members of the Wright, Bruce, Smith, Kendall, Hunt, Hill, McClendon and Hayden families are known to be buried at the cemetery. There are also numerous unmarked graves there...

FRUITLAND -- With its roots dating to just after the Civil War, the Fruitland area has become a booming community with large residential areas, businesses, antique shops, churches, and some larger companies that benefit from Fruitland's easy access to Interstate 55...

DONIPHAN -- Mark Collie will headline the ninth annual Country Music Extravaganza here July 1. The outdoor concert, sponsored by the Ripley County Chamber of Commerce, begins at 8 p.m. with a local favorite, the Bill Barnett Band. Thirty VIP tickets are available at $37.50 each or $75 per couple. The ticket includes VIP seating and parking, an autographed 8-by-10-inch photo of Collie and a Collie T-shirt. The tickets are available only at Mercantile Bank, P.O. Box 368, Doniphan 63935...

JACKSON -- The University of Missouri and the Missouri Cattlemen's Association will sponsor a tour of four Cape Girardeau County cattle farms July 18, beginning at 11 a.m. at the Mike Kasten ranch near Millersville. The tour will feature a variety of beef operations to show how cattle can fit into different farming operations, said David Lalman, MU extension beef specialist...

POPLAR BLUFF -- Arts and crafts exhibitors are invited to participate in an arts and crafts show being held in conjunction with the Black River Festival in Poplar Bluff. The show will be held in the Smiley container warehouse downtown July 2 and 3 from noon to 5 p.m...

SCOTT CITY -- St. Joseph School is seeking donations of new items, handmade and craft items and services for its annual Dinner Auction, the school's only major fund-raising event this year. The auction will be held Oct. 1. For more information contact Gale Bohannon at 264-3796, Kim Harris at 264-3463, Theresa Glueck at 264-4171, Joan Blattel at 264-3451 or Tammy Schenimann at 264-2449...

PERRYVILLE -- The Elks mobile dental unit is scheduled to visit Perryville July 5-21. It will be at the Perryville Elks Lodge, 921 N. Perry. The unit has been operated since 1962 by the dental department of Truman Medical Center East of Kansas City in partnership with the state and Missouri Elks Benevolent Association. It brings primary care dental service to handicapped and crippled children as well as mentally-retarded and, or developmentally-disabled children and adults throughout the state...

For a nation whose founders were men with values rooted in religion, the United States is doing a superb job of trying to erase godly presence from things governmental. In an effort to rid every vestige of comment, writing and thought that might make people think in a different way or accept others for who they are, federal bureaucrats continue to remove religion from the public landscape. ...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Like a schizoid banker dealing with the village deadbeat, state officials have been dickering with symphony officials in St. Louis and Kansas City for nearly a decade over repayment of their loans. To compound the situation, the loans were illegal when they were made in 1985...

To the Editor, This is a letter Dr. Mike Brown left on the pillow of his daughter's bed the night of June 6, 1994. It brings tears to my eyes because of his years in Vietnam and later in the Gulf War. DIANNE BROWN Cape Girardeau Dear Sam, Thank you for the hilarious father's day card and for the wonderful D-Day commemorative gifts. ...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Shannon Wren, 515 Themis, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 3:57 p.m. Wednesday, June 8, 1994. Name, Adam Dakova. Weight, 8 pounds 2 ounces. First child. Mrs. Wren is the former Cynthia Price, daughter of D. Lynn Price of Cape Girardeau. She is a hostess at Royal N-Orleans Restaurant. Wren is a roofer with Sailer Roofing Co., and is the son of Don and Linda Wren of Pocahontas...

Della Gail Hale, 58, 107 N. West End Boulevard, died Tuesday, June 14, 1994, at her home. She was born Dec. 7, 1935, in Biggers, Ark., daughter of Everett E. and Caroline Segraves Barnes. She and Larry Joe Hale were married Jan. 5, 1957, in Hernando, Miss...

Albert Alphonse Dittlinger, 86, 1510 Whitener, died Wednesday, June 15, 1994, at his home. He was born Jan. 19, 1908, in Cape Girardeau, son of Albert Christian and Hulda Christina Erickson Dittlinger. He and Helen Dial were married July 4, 1935, in Benton...

SIKESTON -- Helen E. Lee, 83, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, June 14, 1994, at Lutheran Medical Center in St. Louis. She was born May 19, 1911, in Blodgett, daughter of Trusvan and Lucy Butrum Lee. Lee was employed 43 years at International Shoe Co. She was a member of New Hope Baptist Church...

ADVANCE -- Joseph J. Jones, 69, of Advance, died Wednesday, June 15, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Jan. 18, 1925, in Blytheville, Ark., son of Rolla and Mary Pearl Scott Jones. He and Margarette Baker were married May 28, 1947, in Osceola, Ark...

NEW HAMBURG -- Funeral service for Michael Leon Ward of New Hamburg will be held at 2 p.m. today at St. Lawrence Parish Hall. The Rev. Amil Shibley will officiate, with burial in the church cemetery. Amick-Burnett Funeral Home at Benton is in charge of arrangements...

Marian J. Cox, 75, of 316 S. Lorimier, died Wednesday, June 15, 1994, at her residence. The Ford and Sons Funeral Homes of Cape Girardeau are in charge of arrangements, which are incomplete at this time.

Five area hospitals and a number of doctors have formed the region's first physician hospital organization (PHO). The group hopes to bring better coordinated medical services and more competitive pricing to the region. MedAmerica HealthNet Inc. links the staffs and services of St. Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital, both in Cape Girardeau; Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston; Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville; and Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter...

Boyd Gaming Corp. consultant Dan Davis wasn't fooling when he said April 1, 1995, is the target date for opening a casino in Cape Girardeau. "April 1 is what we're hoping for, but it could be a week before or after, depending on how everything goes," said Davis, who was in Cape Girardeau Wednesday to help coordinate a petition drive for the 8th Congressional District. The petition will seek 20,000 signatures from this district to help secure a gambling amendment on the Nov. 8 state ballot...

Cape Girardeau Central High School secretary Colleen Keys believes she was reprimanded by Superintendent Neyland Clark for writing a letter to Clark and school board members expressing her disappointment with revisions in a policy regarding the school's commencement ceremony...

Southeast Missouri State University will put more money into women's athletics under a gender equity plan approved Wednesday by the Board of Regents. The first phase of the plan would move the athletics program within three years to a 60-40 (male-female) percentage split in coaching staff, operations budget (including gifts-in-kind), number of athletes and scholarships...

June 16, 1994 Dear Leslie, Folks here in Southern Humboldt County -- sometimes affectionately called SoHum -- take pride in their independence and their diversity, it says in a brochure we hand out at the visitor information center. A movement has been alive for awhile to carve a whole new county out of Southern Humboldt and Northern Mendocino counties. ...

An administrative decision that allowed Cape Girardeau Central High seniors to "skip" four days at the end of school will cost the district an estimated $3,680 in state money, said Larry Dew, business manager. Actual figures concerning state funds won't be available until the checks arrive for the coming year, Dew said...

Southeast Missouri State University officials are smiling about their 1995 fiscal year state appropriation. In short, they love it. "The governor's budget was a good budget for higher education," university President Kala Stroup told the Board of Regents Wednesday...

FRUITLAND -- When most people think of Fruitland, they usually think of a small, residential community just outside of Cape Girardeau and Jackson. Not many would expect to find a hotel there. But soon, actually in less than a year, a four-story hotel will stand out among the fields along Highway 61 just off Interstate 55. Drury Southwest Inc. broke ground on the site two weeks ago and hope to have a hotel built by June 1, 1995...

It all started one Thursday morning four years ago. James Patrick Wissman, Scott Moon and Janice Rigdon gathered in the basement of the Wesley Foundation at Southeast Missouri State University just to read and write poetry that inspired them. The weekly meetings of the three -- a priest, a minister and a secretary, all of Cape Girardeau -- eventually resulted in the publishing of a book, "Poems for a Thursday Morning," which contain the poems written during the Thursday meetings...

An initiative petition seeking to place on the November ballot a gambling amendment that would permit slot machines on riverboat casinos is now under way in the 8th Congressional District. "We have until July 8 to collect about 18,000 to 20,000 signatures of registered voters in the district," said Evelyn Boardman, a representative of Boyd Gaming in Cape Girardeau. "But we would like to turn in as many as 30,000."...

When Margo Emerson first heard the emotional choral refrains of the Spirit of America patriotic musical, she knew she had to get involved. That was two years ago, when Emerson was a secretary for the First General Baptist Church. "I started out volunteering to work with the tickets and just anything that needed to be done," said Emerson...

The Cape County Chapter of the American Red Cross, KWKZ-FM and J Hangin' C Productions will host Western Dance Days at Stroder Country in Jackson June 18. Event coordinator Jack C. Watt said the event will be held to raise funds to purchase a Disaster Services van for the Red Cross Chapter. "The local Red Cross Chapter desperately needs the van," said Watt...

Mike Dumey couldn't think of a more worthwhile way to donate his time and musical talent than the June 25 benefit dinner and variety show for Cape police officer Dan Niswonger. "You would be hard pressed to find anybody in Cape Girardeau that Dan Niswonger hasn't done something nice for," said Dumey, who will team up with Cheryl Fortner, Robyn Hosp, Vickie Long and Brett Yount to form the group Spotlight Tonight for the Saturday night gig...

PADUCAH, Ky. -- The Paducah Symphony Orchestra will host the third of its popular "Paducah Pops" Concerts on Saturday, June 18, at Keiler Field, a soccer arena behind Symphony Hall in Paducah. The Paducah Pops will welcome the Dukes of Dixieland at this concert. Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. There will be live dinner music from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., and the concert will begin at 8 p.m...