Stories from Thursday, February 2, 1995

CAIRO, Ill. -- Lillian Boice, 75, of Cairo died Wednesday, Feb. 1, 1995, at Daystar Care Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo.

Thanks to a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 3-year technology network project, the Cape Girardeau Public School System has gained access to the computerized information superhighway. During the past legislative session, the department received money to provide computer networking capability to the state's schools...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Legislation to designate the mule as Missouri's official state animal continued on a fast track Wednesday in the House of Representatives. Members of the House Tourism, Recreational and Cultural Affairs Committee voted the bill out of committee on Wednesday. The measure likely will be on the calendar today, which could put it in position for debate on the floor next week...

SCOTT CITY -- The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority could have rail service by this summer if things move forward on schedule. "We could have it open to service by sometime in June if everything goes well," said Port Executive Director Dan Overbey...

Susan Inslee, director of the World Trade Center of St. Louis, will be guest speaker at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee Friday. Inslee's topic will be "Placing International Services at Your Fingertips." Friday's coffee, sponsored by the chamber's membership committee, will be held at Drury Lodge at 7:30 a.m...

Southeast Missouri State University has hired a new director of residence life and a nursing department chairman. Carol Lynn Coventry, who has helped direct student housing operations at the University of California-Davis since 1982, has been hired to manage student housing at Southeast as director of residence life...

The eastbound lane of Bloomfield Road at Silver Springs Road will be closed for repairs most of next week. The lane will be closed to traffic, beginning about 8:30 a.m. Monday. It is scheduled to reopen around 9 a.m. Thursday. Cape Girardeau public works officials said a patched area of the roadway has sunk. That area of the pavement will be replaced...

President Clinton proposes increasing the minimum wage to a "living wage" so Americans can earn enough to support themselves and their families. That is all well and good, but he also is advocating a minimum wage somewhere between the current $4.25 an hour and a high-end proposal of $7 an hour. ...

There are thousands of men and women who enjoy hunting and fishing at Wappapello Lake, a Corps of Engineers flood-control and recreation project in Wayne County. Several hundred of them are upset with what are perceived as confrontational policies that limit access to the lake and its surrounding woodlands...

To the editor: I would like to thank the Southeast Missourian and specifically Kim McDowell for the excellent advertising, coverage and coordination in presenting the concert by the Scott Air Force Base Concert Band to Cape Girardeau. This was a wonderful opportunity for our community to hear a very fine military band playing marches, concert selections and patriotic music. ...

BENTON -- Scott County officials met with a New Madrid attorney Wednesday to outline an agreement between the two counties for an Enhanced 911 Emergency Response System. The 15 percent surcharge on basic phone bills for the system was overwhelming approved by voters in both counties last November...

To the editor: On behalf of the Cape Girardeau Jaycees, I extend a huge thank you for your tremendous support of our organization. You and your staff have gone out of your way to promote our events and projects. The publicity of Operation Toybox, Jayceee Week, the distinguished Service Award/Bosses Night Banquet as well as check presentatons and our golf tournament has been outstanding and is an asset to the success of these projects...

BREWER -- Mary R. Heberlie, 90, of Brewer, died Tuesday, Jan. 31, 1995, at Jefferson County Memorial Hospital in Festus. She was born Dec. 18, 1904, at Zell, daughter of Frederick G. and Wilhelmena Schaffer Harter. She and Hershel M. Heberlie were married Nov. 10, 1925. He died April 28, 1969...

ANNA, Ill. -- Dee Hill, 67, of Anna, died Tuesday, Jan. 31, 1995, at her home. She was born Sept. 25, 1928, in East Lansing, Mich., daughter of Lawton D. "Punch" and Ione Ferol Smith. She and Robert W. Hill were married Feb. 12, 1949. Hill was a member of Mt. Moriah Lutheran Church...

Ronnie E. Erlbacher, 43, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Feb. 1, 1995, at a residence on South Lorimier. Arrangements are incomplete at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel in Cape Girardeau.

McCLURE, Ill. -- J.R. Brazel, 75, of McClure, died Wednesday, Feb. 1, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was born Aug. 10, 1919, in Scott County, Mo., son of Richard and Lilly Brazel. He and Carmen French were married Dec. 27, 1937...

THEBES, Ill. -- Mattie Ellen Garrett, 83, of Momence, died Tuesday, Jan. 31, 1995, at St. Mary's Hospital in Kankakee. She was born Dec. 2, 1911, in Missouri, daughter of George and Matilda Whitlock. She and Arthur Garrett were married Feb. 23, 1930, in Cairo. He preceded her in death...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Larry E. Heard, 49, of Hobart, Ind., died Tuesday, Jan. 31, 1995, at St. Mary's Medical Center in Hobart. He was born Nov. 13, 1945, in West Frankfort, son of Ernest and Faye Lingle Heard. He married the former Dinah L. Mullins. Heard was retired from U.S. Steel Corp. He was a member of Miller Dunes American Legion Post in Gary, Ind., and New Hope Baptist Church in Hobart. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War...

Son to Curt and Sara Newton of Fort Bragg, N.C., Womack Army Hospital there, 10:44 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, 1995. Name, Zachary Aaron. Weight, 7 pounds 4 ounces. First child. Mrs. Newton is the former Sara Rudolph, daughter of Sue Keller of St. Peters and Ken Rudolph of Mequon, Wis. Mr. and Mrs. Newton are both stationed with the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Herschel Newton of Benton Harbor, Mich., and formerly of Sikeston...

Only a handful of black students have enrolled in the Bootheel Education Center at Malden, despite Southeast Missouri State University administrators attempt to imrove minority enrollment. But, Southeast administrators say doing so will take time. Only a dozen of the 464 students enrolled last fall at the center were black, and two were men...

"Girardeau George" is back. Anyone traveling Route W, between Kingshighway the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri today, may notice the hairy little rodent this morning, on a log looking cute and nibbling nuts. If so, that could be bad news for fair-weather friends...

Feb. 2, 1995 Dear David, Ran into your father and mother the other day at DC's office. She was in for a little repair. He told me all about the search for red irises. Seems nobody's been able to hybridize one that's truly red, but they have some ideas about how to do it. Even if they're right, though, the odds of getting a red one are one in 50 million. There was something about the way he laughed when he said it that made me think your dad sort of likes those odds...

Races developed this week for school board members in the Oran and Kelly school districts. Voters will select two board members for three-year terms in all area school districts at the April 4 election. Two candidates filed Tuesday, the last day for filing, to challenge incumbents in both the Oran and Kelly school board races...

FRUITLAND -- When students at North Elementary School decided to help animals at the Humane Society, they put their hearts -- and their pennies -- into the effort. Each year, Linda Blankenship's first grade class does something to mark its 100th day of school. Students make trail mix with 100 chocolate chips and nuts, or gather 100 small items into a bag...

With much of its 105 miles of roads in growth areas surrounding Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Cape Special Road District sees continuous increased traffic on its roads. "Traffic has really increased in recent years," said Ralph Phillips, the road district engineer for 15 years. "There has been so much building going on, even in the out-county,"...

SIKESTON -- The poster children for the 15th annual Kenny Rogers Cerebral Palsy Center Telethon to be held March 11-12 have been announced. They include Dawn Nichols, 10, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Nichols of East Prairie; Nicholas Werkmeister, 3 1/2, daughter of Kimberly and Steve Werkmeister of Dexter; Cody Lee, 3, son of Mary Petty of Sikeston; Dewayne Stanley, 7, son of James and Mildred Stanley of Lilbourn; Miracle Kennedy, 3, daughter of Mr. ...

An antique and collectible market will be held in the Arena Building in Cape Girardeau Sunday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Old valentines and related items will be featured at the February show, along with antique furniture, glassware, jewelry, toys, tool lines, comics and paper Americana...

"Life With Father," a lighthearted comedy/drama about growing up in the 1880s, will be presented by the Broadway Community Theatre Feb. 17-19. The theater is sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts. The cast includes 12-year-old Charlie Greer as John Day, who's trying to make extra money selling a snake-oil medicine, and Sabrina Gibbar as Mother, who'se on a crusade to get Father baptized...

"Jesus Christ Superstar," the show that gave birth to the rock musical, will be presented Friday, March 17, at the Show Me Center. "Superstar" was the original collaboration between composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice, who eventually got around to "Evita" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."...

A three-dimensional sculpture based on traditional Mexican art, and works made of vinyl are among the more unusual entries in the Southeast Missouri Regional Juried Art Exhibition opening Friday at Gallery 100. "We have many, many fine artists in this region and there was an excellent selection," Juror Tracey Boswell says...

Zebras by Wendi Freeman, grade 11, DeSoto High School. Art by Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois high school students will be exhibited through February 24 at the University Museum. The work has been assembled by art teachers throughout the region. Juror Jay Clayton, a high school art teacher for 27 years, has picked 63 of the 349 entries to exhibit and has awarded prizes. Clayton, a Southeast graduate, teaches at Hillsboro High School...