Stories from Sunday, February 26, 1995

Just as the telephone swept across the country and into homes earlier this century, the cellular phone is making its way across America and into cars, trucks, planes and other places. Industry officials say cellular phone subscribers have grown 400 percent in the last five years and that growth isn't expected to slow...

Although the archery game seasons are limited to a couple months in the fall, there is a place where bow enthusiasts can hunt year-round. Sort of. Phegley's Shooters Supply, located at 2502 William St. in Cape Girardeau, recently added a video archery range which allows archers to hunt moving animals projected onto the video screen...

Employment has remained steady over the past year at Tri-Con Industries in Cape Girardeau, plant manager Rick Roach said. The plant, which opened in April 1983, has about 300 workers who produce nearly 100,000 car seat sets each year. That figure is close to what was produced in 1993 and Roach expects a similar number this year...

At the beginning of 1995, the area real estate market continues to boom despite rising interest rates, and home prices in Jackson have now surpassed those in Cape Girardeau. Cape Girardeau had a volume of $35.35 million in sales in 1994, counting only those transactions involving real estate companies. The average sale price of a Cape Girardeau residence was $81,030...

Round 13 was the lucky round for L.J. Schultz speller Christina Van Nostrand. She was one of three finalists in the district spelling bee held Saturday. A record number of 38 spellers from Southeast Missouri participated in the bee at Sikeston Middle School. The number of spellers allows the district to send three finalists to state contest. No spell-off was held among the top three finishers...

Today's edition of the Southeast Missourian is about the heftiest newspaper you will get all year. Included is the six-section annual Progress Edition. I hope readers will take time to look through the many articles, photographs and advertisements. It is an impresseive review...

Industrial and business development and an unemployment rate that has dipped to near record lows have combined to make the Southeast Missouri job market the toast of job-seekers. "Cape Girardeau and Perry counties are not alone in this respect," said Jackie Cecil of the Missouri Job Service office in Cape Girardeau. "This is something we're seeing in a lot of in Missouri and the nation."...

In an era when downtown areas are struggling, the downtowns of nearby communities are thriving. Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Perryville all have thriving downtown areas with bright futures. But had it not been for some special attention city officials made over the last few years that might not have been the case...

CAIRO, Ill. -- A move to a new Cape Girardeau facility offers a challenge this year to the Cairo Division of D&K Wholesale Drug Inc., said George Bray, division president. "A person can't underestimate the impact of moving a business of this size," Bray said. "The planning that has to go into the move is tremendous."...

Providing a service to their customers, that's the reason grocery stores, restaurants and convenience stores are open around the clock, managers say. Those places also never close because society demands places to shop, eat and gas up 24 hours a day...

On special weekends in Cape Girardeau, all 806 motel rooms in the city are filled and people visiting the area look to Jackson, Perryville and Sikeston for lodging. One of those special weekends is the annual SEmotion Relays, a sporting event that attracts as many as 1,000 athletes to the Abe Stuber Track and Field Complex each April...

Ann Drake talks about her experiences in Africa with Dr. Walter Hutton of Jackson, a member of the First Presbyterian Church congregation. Jennifer King, left, of St. Louis and her mother, Jonell McNeely of Jackson try their hand at the African game of akco, believed to be the oldest game known to man...

Jackson officials were busy in 1994 taking steps to sustain the city's record growth. In the past year, a number of infrastructure improvements were planned or completed in an effort to plan and encourage business and residential growth in Jackson. "Our goal is to continue to grow but to do so in a planned, orderly way," Jackson mayor Paul Sander said in reviewing the past year...

Schuette and Foxy warm up for a practice session. Many of the things we find fun as adults are things we dreamed of doing as children. Such is the case with Millersville resident Darryl Schuette, who last weekend in Jackson, Miss., qualified for the dally roping competition of the upcoming "World Show," a major equestrian event held at the close of each horse show season and sponsored by the American Quarter Horse Association...

I have done my first and last Mardi Gras. Two years ago, Boulware and I decided at the last minute to engage in a spirited adventure and join the throng of revelers in New Orleans. It all happened so fast. On Friday morning before the big weekend, I came home from running errands to find a message on the answering machine. ...

If you will be kind enough to follow me through a process which some professors of logic call the "linear effect progression," we all might have a better answer when someone poses the question, "Has the country gone mad?" Not that anyone asking the question has any doubt about the answer, nor that anyone hearing the plaint would argue that between drugs, crime and immorality, there's convincing doubt about society's sanity...

When Larry Wade retires this spring, he'll close out 39 years of work as a public servant. Wade, who is now chief of detectives with the Jackson Police Department, became a patrolman in the city in 1976. In May, he'll retire after 19 years with the department...

An incumbent president, trailing in the polls, might pray that he be the second coming of Harry Truman. Jimmy Carter and George Bush didn't so pray, despite the polling numbers, because they were confident they would win -- with or without divine intervention. Bill Clinton finds himself in a situation most resembling Harry Truman's plight as the latter approached the 1948 election...

Andy Warhol maintained that everyone would receive 15 minutes of fame in his or her lifetime. If this is true, Kristin Swinford of Jackson has a few remaining minutes to collect but, for now, she's more than flattered with her most recent taste of fame...

Navy Seaman Christopher Duerkson, son of Brenda Glenn of Jackson, is on a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas, and has been serving off the coast of Bosnia-Herzegovina aboard the amphibious transport ship U.S.S. Ponce. Duerkson is one of 1,600 sailors and 2,000 Marines who make up the three-ship U.S.S. Nassau Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), which includes the U.S.S. Ponce, U.S.S. Nassau, U.S.S. Gunston Hall and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Force (22nd MEU)...

Nick Elfrink reads an old school book in the log home he has restored. The home, built about 1860, is open to the public. This is how Nick Elfrink's two-story log home looked before it was moved from the William Alexander Green farm near Scopus. Nick Elfrink has a time travel vision -- he wants to construct a Civil War-era backwoods settlement along a busy highway. And the first two log structures are up and looking old, which is good...

At 5:30 p.m. this Wednesday, an informational meeting on a major component of Senate Bill 380 will occur in your state capitol. Officials of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, joined by several of their highly paid consultants, will brief members of the General Assembly on something called statewide assessments. ...

The Cape Girardeau school superintendent has taken the high road since examples of questionable record-keeping were brought to the school board's attention by a concerned taxpayer. Dr. Neyland Clark sees the questions raised by Amy Randol as an opportunity to address problems that otherwise might never have come to light -- or might have produced even bigger problems down the road...

1. Lee-Rowan, 1,400. 2. P&G, 1,300. 3. Gilster-Mary Lee, 1,200. 4. Noranda, 1,170. 5. Thorngate, more than 900. 6. Briggs & Stratton, 850. 7. Mississippi Lime, 818. 8. Arvin Automotive, 750. 8. Plastene Supply, 750. 10. Emerson Electric, 652. 11. TG-USA, 650...

Copyright 1995 After three years of charging food and travel expenses on corporate American Express cards, Cape Girardeau school administrators and board members concede some charges were inappropriate. They also agree the worst record-keeping related to the superintendent's own expenses...

Bern Lang spent much of his childhood playing behind the display case at his father's downtown jewelry store. As he grew older, he cleaned the sinks and swept up at the end of the day. Eventually he began selling jewelry. Bern's son, Roger, spent much of his childhood playing behind the display case. As Roger grew older, he cleaned the sinks and swept up at the end of the day. Eventually he began selling jewelry...

Cape Girardeau Superintendent Neyland Clark was hospitalized Saturday morning at St. Francis Medical Center for an irregular heartbeat. "It's my understanding he got up this morning, went outside and got the newspaper and saw your preview of coming attractions, and developed heart arrhythmia," said Richard Steele, a family friend...

Copyright 1995 Last May, Amy Randol couldn't have named two members of Cape Girardeau's school board. Randol was one of a number of people who questioned the handling of a last-minute decision to allow some seniors who hadn't completed all the graduation requirements to participate in commencement...

The messages on the back wall of Fort D suggest civil disobedience rather than any tribute to the Civil War. The graffiti, painted in unrelated blue scrawl against the white brick of the Civil War memorial, reads: "AC/DC Rules; Guns-N-Roses." Such vandalism has frustrated Cape Girardeau Parks Director Dan Muser for some time...

The Southeast Missourian continues a long-standing tradition today with the 1995 installment of its Progress Edition. This year's theme is Business and Industry. New and remodeled businesses, entrepreneurs who have made a novel idea work and families who have continued their businesses for over three generations are featured in the six-section, 66-page Progress Edition...

JACKSON -- The roar of heavy machinery rarely stops at Lee-Rowan. Open 24 hours a day, usually six days a week, the factory employs 1,390 people on three shifts. It's not enough. In its 57th year of business, the company produces home organizing equipment, including ventilated wire shelving, garment racks, recycling bins and CD holders. Its customers include Wal-Mart, Kmart, Home Depot and other huge department stores...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Jim Grebing of Cape Girardeau, is among three staff members whose appointments were announced this week by Missouri Secretary of State Rebecca M. Cook. Grebing, who has served political editor of the Southeast Missourian, will become Cook's communications director...

WASHINGTON -- One provision in the Republican Contract With America that U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson is not especially sold on is a call for term limits for members of Congress. But the Cape Girardeau Republican said he looks forward to hearing the debate when it gets to the House floor in the next few weeks...

Two major developments at Lee-Rowan Co. last year shoved the Jackson company into the manufacturing spotlight. During the past year, the 56-year-old company, which produces plastic-coated wire closet accessories and organizers for customers like Sears, Roebuck and Co. and J.C. Penney Co. Inc., added a new account, Lowes Companies Inc., which operates 325 stores in 20 states, with one in Cape Girardeau...

It's tough to stay in business. Last year, 141 businesses opened in Cape Girardeau, but 214 closed, a net loss of 73. Those statistics come from the city finance department, which issues business licenses. The news was better in 1993, when 183 businesses opened and 165 closed, leaving a net gain of 18...

Copyright 1995 After months of looking at expense receipts, American Express charges and copies of school district checks, Amy Randol saw something she didn't understand. On Feb. 13, she submitted a written request -- the district insisted that all of her questions be in writing -- for more information about $644.50 in charges made by Superintendent Neyland Clark. ...

Copyright 1995 In the wake of Amy Randol's letter questioning travel expenses incurred by Cape Girardeau school district administrators and board members, some board members have rallied around Superintendent Neyland Clark, while others have questioned his actions...

Copyright 1995 One of the selling points for a corporate American Express card is a monthly summary statement that lists where each charge was made, who made it and basically what it was for. Diane Howard, a school district attorney, says the summary statement is more useful than actual receipts and provides a safeguard against manufactured receipts...

SCOTT CITY -- The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority is actively in development, says Dan Overbey, executive director. "This period is crucial to the ultimate success of the port," Overbey said. "Much work has been done at the port to get it where it is today, but there still remains a lot to be done on our plans."...

Copyright 1995 An American Express account Neyland Clark used while superintendent in Bullitt County, Ky., was suspended by the school board just prior to Clark's resignation in January 1991. Clark said last week the board suspended the card to make him look bad...

Trucks are such a hot commodity in Southeast Missouri that dealers say they are having difficulty meeting demand. Tim Coad, owner of Coad Chevrolet in Cape Girardeau, said he is now only able to secure enough trucks to last for a month. "Last year Chevrolet said we needed to have a 120-day supply of trucks at all times," Coad said. "Now I'm lucky if I can have a 30-day supply. I'll take as many S-10 Blazers as I can get."...

Copyright 1995 Some school administrators say a credit card can be helpful if carefully monitored. Others say a credit card just isn't necessary for a school. The use of American Express credit cards by the Cape Girardeau school district -- a system that was started three years ago -- was modeled after the system in place in the Waynesville school district near Ft. Leonard Wood...

Son to Ron and Cindy Jones, 1130 Oak Ridge Court, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:13 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, 1995. Name, Collin Nathaniel. Weight, 9 pounds 9 ounces. Third child, second son. Mrs. Jones is the former Cindy Keesling, daughter of Jack and Charlene Keesling of Springfield. She is self-employed with Home Interiors and Gifts. Jones is a receiver at Shop N Save, and pastor of Rock Springs Free Will Baptist Church in Thebes, Ill. He is the son of Pat Bolton of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla...

Earl Edgar Riehn, 78, of 940 W. Cape Rock Drive died Feb. 25, 1995, at the Crowley Ridge Care Center in Dexter. After serving in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, he became a self-employed mechanic, retiring in 1980. He was born Dec. 26, 1916, in Millersville, the son of Robert Riehn and Rose Yates Riehn. On March 5, 1947, he married Olwen Roberts, who survives...

JACKSON -- Industrial parks, along with their tax breaks and transportation access, are as much a part of city life as traffic jams. Some towns haven't been as quick to develop that type of neighborhood, but Jackson and Marble Hill see the benefit of having industrial parks. Gordonville is following suit...

WARDELL -- Edith Marie Long, 50, of Wardell died Friday, Feb. 24, 1995, at her home. She was born June 8, 1944, in Monroe, La., the daughter of O.M. Fowler and Kathleen Blaizer Fowler. In August 1966 she married Ernest Long at Wardell, who survives...

JACKSON -- Charles Russell Hall, 46, of Jackson died Friday, Feb. 24, 1995, at Southeast Hospital. He was born Dec. 22, 1948, in Sikeston, the son of Harold J. Hall and Luella Miller. He married Theresa Angle June 21, 1980, in Patton. He was employed by the USDA Soil Conservation Service, where he was an irrigation conservationist. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Jackson, was an ordained deacon there, taught Sunday School and was an R.A. counselor...

The small Broadway storefront with Fleece Inc. printed on the door doesn't reveal much about the big Bootheel company behind it. Fleece is one of five outlet stores for Dean Manufacturing and Sales Inc. of Malden. Kyle Dean operates the outlets while his father and mother, G.W. and Harriet Ann Dean, handle the factory. They produce knit shirts, pants, skirts, sweatshirts and Polar Fleece sweatshirts. The last item is made from recycled two-liter plastic bottles...

PERRYVILLE -- Perry County, Perryville included, has a problem most other places in the country would envy -- not enough labor. Of course, loosely translated, that would mean there is too much business in the area. "We don't like to say that," said JoAnn Sumner, director of Perry County Industrial Development. "It's not too much business. It's too little labor."...

Angie Ford stripped reader service cards in the prepress department. PERRYVILLE -- Among Perryville's industries, Solar Press stands out as one of the newest and fastest growing in the town's industrial park. Solar Press of Perryville started with 12 employees in 1988, and has grown to more than 300 since it broke ground about seven years ago. And the company's fast-pace growth is expected to continue over the next few years...

Officials of Lone Star Industries Inc. and the Southeast Missouri Stone Co. quarries aren't surprised at the sharp increase in sales over the last year. The success can be linked directly to the construction boom in the Midwest. John Burian, plant manager at Lone Star, said his company has enjoyed record earnings in 1994...

Soon, shoppers at West Park Mall can enjoy a bowl of creamy cheese broccoli soup at the St. Louis Bread Co., scheduled to open March 6. The new store is an example of the changes taking place at West Park Mall, mall Manager Karen Beckman said. Beckman herself is counted among the changes. She became mall manager in August, replacing Tony Stephens who resigned last April...

A combination of Cape Girardeau's growing role as a regional center, ongoing commercial development and a strong economy are bringing bountiful sales tax returns to the county and the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson. Sales taxes make up a large part of the budgets of the three governmental bodies and have provided an opportunity to keep property taxes down...

Today's consumers want it all -- low prices, wide selection, convenient location. For the most part, national chains can provide those things. Local businesses must compete using customer service done the old-fashioned way. The Cape Girardeau area has several smaller businesses using hometown friendliness to pull in shoppers that may otherwise go elsewhere. Meyer Supply Co. is one...

The Metro Bookstore at 415 Broadway is a Cape Girardeau institution, a long-running husband-and-wife operation that sells fix-it manuals alongside "The Iliad" and can take care of your razor repairs as well. Jackie Anderson and Myron Anderson have owned the bookstore for the past 35 1/2 years. The previous owner ran magazine and newspaper distributorships out of the space, and sold a few books and office supplies and even some fishing tackle...

Spring in February ... at least it feels like it with four consecutive days in the 60s. I pull into Whispering Hills at just the right time to hear a migrating killdeer calling "kil-deeah" as it flies over. A relaxed calm surrounds me as I walk in the ravine. A turkey vulture soars overhead; a red-bellied woodpecker searches for food in the hole of a tree. No wildflowers have sprouted yet. The water in the creek has a soft voice. Only the wind acts hurried...

A popular wisdom among bass fishermen is that catching fish is relatively easy. It's finding them that's supposed to be tricky. A fellow pulls up to a favorite spot, lashes it with casts and nothing happens. "They're not here," he concludes, then motors away in search of wherever fish happen to be...

Air Evac Aviation Inc., Prestige Air and Trans World Express are three reasons Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Manager Greg Chenoweth feels good about hitting the magic boarding number of 10,000 this year. "If we can get 10,000 boardings, we will be eligible for a federal entitlement of $400,000," Chenoweth said. "Last year we had around 8,000 total enplanements and that was mostly Trans World Express (TWE) boardings."...

When you drive up to order a hamburger at McDonald's on Route K, you will find yourself speaking to a person instead of a box. With the new concept offered by McDonald's, the customer is able to place his order directly to an employee rather than through a speaker...

Owners of three local Christian bookstores agree business is good and sales increased last year. Living Water Books and Gifts at 1416 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau has been in business for 10 years. The store opened in a 200-square-foot building, said Cynthia Adams, who along with Jane Glaab owns the store. The current store has 2,700 square feet...

Plenty of hot coffee, gossip and a second helping of friendship have fueled lengthy discussions at the County Seat Cafe's Truthin' Table in Benton the past 16 years. The two-length, centrally located table, the longest at the snug County Seat restaurant, is usually occupied by regular customers who mark their day by at least one visit to their version of the truth about Benton and beyond...

Due to the fact that many people wanted to have a say in what my name would be, I was blessed, I think, with a variety of names during my early years. Grandpa had favored Imogene. I don't know why. There is no Imogene as far back as known family history goes. ...

Cape Girardeau is a retail, medical and education center. But these days it is also a center of construction. Chamber of Commerce officials estimate there will be $200 million worth of construction in Cape Girardeau over the next two years. That estimate includes a number of public projects, as well as large commercial ventures. It doesn't include any residential construction...

A 160-acre tract of what was once farmland has proven a fertile field for economic growth in Cape Girardeau. Since a 160,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in 1992 in the Cape West Business Park, the area has harvested a bumper crop of businesses...

Efforts to recruit new industry in the area focus heavily on partnerships between various agencies and reliance on a two-year-old organization known as the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association. The association was formed after nearly a year of meetings. It was designed to find a way to better coordinate the effort to attract industry to this area...

At least a dozen doctors have moved into the area in the last year and Cape Girardeau County always is looking for more physicians to take up residence, calling the city of roses home and servicing an area with 500,000 potential patients. With 500,000 potential patients, a private practice for a physician might be a lucrative business, but recruiting new doctors to move into the area has proved to be a business all its own...

Drive past either Cape Girardeau hospital and evidence of development is obvious with construction crews at work. Less visible, but an equally important development takes place inside the hospitals. Administrators say the bottom line is providing quality medical care at affordable prices to consumers in the region...

The days of house calls by the family doctor may be a distant memory, but the demand for family medicine is still strong in Southeast Missouri. So strong, in fact, that the recruitment of primary care physicians is a priority for both hospitals and private medical practices in Cape Girardeau...

Managed health care, a staple of medical practices throughout the country, took a foothold in Southeast Missouri over the past year. The area's first physician hospital organization was formed, and several companies announced plans to market managed-care health-insurance packages...

Home infusion, a process in which IV drug therapy previously administered only in a hospital setting is now being done at home, is a rapidly growing area health-care practice that reduces the time many patients spend in the hospital. There are two companies in Cape Girardeau providing home infusion services, both operating as a specialized pharmacy...

Restaurant growth in Cape Girardeau topped 30 percent in 1994 as 22 new eating establishments were licensed by the city during the 12-month period. "1994 was really just the first year of Cape's restaurant boom," said Bob Hoppmann, supervisor of The Pasta House Company and chairman of the SEMO Chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association. "That boom is going to continue in 1995...

Workers prepare products for shipment on conveyors inside the large warehouse at Motorcycle Stuff. Motorcycle Stuff is big business, even though few people in Cape Girardeau know it. The company, which wholesales motorcycle and other power sports accessories nationwide, operates in relative obscurity from its headquarters on Nash Road...

Sales of mobile homes are rolling along in the Cape Girardeau area. Mobile home dealers say wider mobile or manufactured homes, better construction, affordability, and expansion of area mobile home parks have been key factors in the growing demand for such housing...

Cape Girardeau Motors owner Richard Kirkpatrick knew a market for pre-owned cars was just waiting for a company to come along. "Two-and-a-half years ago we cornered the market on pre-owned cars here," Kirkpatrick said. "It didn't take long for us to get some competitors."...

Searching for ways to best achieve their goals, more and more employees and employers alike are seizing upon temporary help services. Spokesmen from local temporary personnel companies name flexibility for both the client business and the temporary worker as a primary strength of the industry...

Growing traffic congestion at the Route K/I-55 interchange should be dealt with during 1995 when the bridge over the interstate is replaced. A contract for the project let in January will reconstruct the bridge to seven lanes. There will be two traffic lanes in each direction, a double left turn lane for southbound traffic on I-55, and a single left turn lane for northbound traffic on I-55...

Because the new route under construction linking I-55 with the planned Mississippi River Bridge is a limited access highway, development along the road will be limited as well. Only four streets -- Sprigg Street, West End Boulevard, Kingshighway and Silver Springs Road -- will intersect the new Highway 74 connection between the bridge and I-55...

The record indicates that Southeast Missouri State University has made a successful jump into the world of NCAA Division I athletics. Southeast athletic director, Dr. Richard McDuffie, says that is due in no small part to an active and involved booster club that helps generate quite a bit of money for the school's $1.1 million scholarship budget...

Taking care of "wants" instead of needs has helped Dillard Dale, 57, build a multimillion-dollar business with Auto Trim Design. He and his wife, Patricia, have owned the Cape Girardeau company at 807 Enterprise for eight years. The business started in 1976 and Dale was the first employee hired in early 1977. At that time, the company added striping and body moldings to vehicles at car dealers in a 100-mile radius over two states. This service was about 90 percent of the business then...

Gaming companies' cards are on the table, but predictions on startup dates for riverboat gambling in most areas of Missouri are still a gamble. Lady Luck Gaming Inc. could start operations near Scott City late this year. Boyd Gaming Corp. is hopeful of an early 1996 start at Cape Girardeau...

With a Division I school within the city limits, plenty of ideal hunting and fishing sites just outside the city limits and St. Louis and professional teams just a 90-mile drive away, no one can accuse Cape Girardeau of not being a sports-minded town...