Stories from Friday, March 17, 1995

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education voted to cancel its American Express credit-card account Monday night. The decision came amid concerns over questionable expenditures and sloppy record-keeping with the district's eight credit cards. The board acted responsibly. Problems did exist with record-keeping and accountability of the cards. The board's action takes the matter back to ground zero...

KELSO -- His kind Irish eyes are framed in fashionable brown-rimmed glasses. His hair, still as thick and even-flowing as the River Shannon, has traveled the course of auburn to a distinguished gray. But some features and habits still persist when the Rev. Oliver Clavin, 48, celebrates St. Patrick's Day...

A fund-raising art auction sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club will be held at 7 tonight at the Drury Lodge. The auction will include lithographs, etchings, engravings, watercolors, sculpture, enamels, original oils and various mixed media works. Some of the artists whose work will be represented are Calder, Chagall, Dali, Erte, Gorman, Peter Max, Miro, Neiman, Picasso and Norman Rockwell...

JACKSON -- A Jackson woman received an unpleasant surprise Wednesday when she went over a hilltop and into a Missouri State Highway Patrol car. A spokesman with the patrol said Marlene Honaker, 51, was traveling on Old Cape Road around 2:35 p.m. when she hit the rear of a patrol car...

Should a cabinet member resign because he lied to the FBI? According to Henry Cisneros, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the answer is "No." Should he resign if he lied to the president of the United States? Again, Cisneros answers "No."How about if he lied to the American people, their representatives, his staff and his wife? "No again," says Cisneros. ...

This editorial from the March 12 edition of the Columbia Daily Tribune is reprinted by permission. It was written by Henry J. Waters III, the newspaper's publisher. How the teaching of math has progressed: In 1960: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is four-fifths of this price. What is his profit?...

Cape Girardeau School Board President Ed Thompson withdrew his name from the April election on Thursday. A court order signed by Circuit Judge John W. Grimm instructs Circuit Clerk Rodney Miller to accept Thompson's withdrawal. Telephone messages left Thursday for Thompson weren't returned...

By the time Sunday evening's Heartland For Christ Crusade kicks off at the Show Me Center, its coordinator, the Rev. Cecil Barham of the Bethel Assembly of God, thinks about 60 area churches will be involved. Barham was "extremely pleased" so many denominations were involved...

The Cape Girardeau City Council agreed Thursday on a measure to regulate all adult businesses that even applies to some private parties. At a study session at City Hall, council members agreed to consider the first reading of the proposed law at Monday's council meeting...

The Industrial River Advisory Committee supports the new location proposed on the Mississippi River for a Boyd Gaming Corporation riverboat docking site. An IRAC spokesman said Thursday that the group approved the new downtown site at Cape Girardeau following a safety test conducted earlier this month...

This column ought to be about St. Patrick's Day. But it's not. The big topic these days isn't some legendary Christian activist who saved souls and banished snakes hundreds of years ago. The big topic is school lunches. Ask anybody. Ask Rush. If you don't have a position on federal funding for school lunches, you are an inept American...

Three candidates for Cape Girardeau's Board of Education said the board must work to restore confidence in the school system and its leadership. Candidates R. Ferrell Ervin, Harold W. Hager and Terry Taylor answered questions at a League of Women Voters forum Thursday. Candidate Larry H. Trickey could not attend. He is assistant coach of the Notre Dame girls' basketball team and was in Columbia with the team...

JUANITA SPICER, Dawn Evans and all the members of the NAACP: it's time to get a life. 40 years of liberal rule didn't work. We're all going to have work for a living, one or the other, black or white, educators or not. Jobs are there. Read the classifieds and apply for a job. Quit trying to find handouts. The handouts are gone...

If there were more minority role models in the Cape Girardeau public school system, there would be fewer problems with minority students, Everlean Brown said. Her view was shared by most of the parents and other concerned citizens that turned out for a meeting Thursday night sponsored by the NAACP...

Missouri Secretary of State Bekki Cook thinks the Republican minority in the state House used her during the election of a new speaker in January. Cook, appointed by Gov. Mel Carnahan to the position days before the General Assembly started its session Jan. 3, closed the House election for speaker after incumbent Democrat Bob Griffin retained his position by two votes...

APPLE CREEK -- The 15th Hee Haw Show will bring smiles, chuckles and laughter to the parish hall at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Apple Creek for the next two weekends. Borrowing characters from the "Hee Haw" show and adding some of their own, about 30 performers, who still live in the area or were raised here, will combine comedy skits with down-home humor, local singing and country music provided by the Little Rock Band...

CONFEDERATE RAILROAD SIKESTON -- Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo-goers get it all with this year's entertainment lineup, from love ballads to politically incorrect rock 'n' roll. The stars are: Sammy Kershaw, Wednesday, Aug. 9; Confederate Railroad, Thursday, Aug. 10; Tracy Byrd, Friday, Aug. 11; and Ken Mellons, Saturday, Aug. 12...

The Royale Dancers recently captured more than 15 first-place trophies at a talent competition sponsored by Starpower. Starpower is a nationally recognized competition for dancers and singers. The 36-member company performed 17 routines incorporating ballet, tap and jazz...

JACKSON -- Area families will have the opportunity to play games and win prizes while raising scholarship money at the Children's Funfest, slated for April 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Jackson Junior High School. Sponsored by the Jacksonian Chapter of the American Business Women's Association, the annual funfest allows children to make high finance deals at a pretend bank and then use their earnings at booths operated by Stage One, Precious Memories, Southeast Missouri Hospital, St. ...

MATTHEWS -- Frank Helms, 81, of Matthews, died Wednesday, March 15, 1995, at Sikeston Health Care in Sikeston. He was born Nov. 17, 1913, in Smithville, Ark., son of George and Gertie Lee Helms. He and Gladys Goff were married March 12, 1940. Helms was a farmer, retiring in 1980. He attended Kewanee Methodist Church...

Russel Lee Faust, 85, of Missouri Veterans Home, died Thursday, March 16, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Feb. 28, 1910, in Cape Girardeau, son of Joseph and Eva Gregory Faust. He and Martha M. Hull were married July 18, 1939, in St. Louis. She died in 1979...

OLMSTED, Ill. -- Paula K. Schwieger, 35, of Olmsted, died Wednesday, March 15, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born April 22, 1959, in Cairo, daughter of Norman and Mary Edwards Schwieger. She was a custodian at Olmsted Bank, and member of Olmsted United Methodist Church...

MARBLE HILL -- Floyd Wilson Runnels, 73, of Marble Hill, died Wednesday, March 15, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 17, 1921, in Marble Hill, son of Norman Wilson and Mary Elizabeth Fox Runnels. He and Margie M. Hurst were married April 20, 1951...

Ray E. Kester, 77, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, March 16, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Nov. 28, 1917, at Kurreville, son of Bennett and Carrie Avis Kester. On Sept. 16, 1944, he married the former Eliza Suhr. She preceded him in death Aug. 7, 1990...

GLEN ALLEN -- J.C. Slathel Shepard, 69, of Glen Allen, died Wednesday, March 15, 1995, at his home. He was born March 1, 1926, at Kennett, son of George and Valarie Snyder Shepard. He married the former Mary Franks. Shepard served in the U.S. Army during World War II...

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral service for Jeanette Sneed of Scott City will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Broadway United Methodist Church. The Rev. Jim King will officiate, with burial in Lightner Memorial Cemetery. Friends may call at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City after 4 p.m. Saturday...

BLOOMFIELD -- Edward Henry Vandeven, 85, of Bloomfield, died Thursday, March 16, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 15, 1909, in Scotland, Texas, son of Henry and Minnie Knobie Vandeven. He and Dorothy Elfrank were married June 27, 1935...

CROSSTOWN -- Alfred John Steffens, 72, of Crosstown, died Thursday, March 16, 1995, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born Jan. 19, 1923, at Crosstown, son of U.K. and Hilda Steffens Wahlers. Steffens was a farmer and retired truck driver with Johnny Bishop Poultry. He was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville...

James R. Dean, retired owner of the Pure Ice Co. in Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, March 16, 1995, at The Lutheran Home. He was 90. The body is at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Chapel where funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Son to Norma and Chuck Engelhardt of Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, March 2, 1995. Name, Aaron Richard. Weight, 8 pounds 5 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Engelhardt is the former Norma Ueleke, daughter of Helen Ueleke of Cape Girardeau and the late Norman Ueleke. The Engelhardts are employed at the Tennessee School for the Blind. He is the son of Richard and Ellen Engelhardt of West Palm Beach, Fla...

Scott County, March 6-10 Doyle Dwain Burgess to Buddy L. and Marilyn Vanover; Charles and Bobbie Collom to Glenn Collom; Ernest Lee and Jane Louise Duncan, formerly Jane Louise Dodson, to Larry Gibbs and Dorothy Gibbs. Terry K. and Darla J. Swartz to Lillie B. Florence; Ag-Lands Investment Co. to Joseph B. and Teresa J. Meyer; James G. and Eleanor M. Robbins to Ag-Lands Investment Co...

GORDONVILLE -- Doris "D.D." Nothdurft, 80, of Columbia, died Wednesday, March 15, 1995, at McAllen Medical Center in McAllen, Texas. He was born Feb. 10, 1915, in Gordonville, son of Robert and Minnie Schreiner Nothdurft. He first married Marie E. Myers April 22, 1938, who died in 1979. He later married Barbara Dell Cain Sept. 30, 1979...

Scott County Randy Wayne Holder, 33, and Jennifer Lynn Thorpe Holder 28, both of Scott City. Chris Tollison, 28, and Lisa Powell Tollison, 26, both of Sikeston. Larry James Wiggins, 36, Milwaukee, Wis., and Sonya Patrice Butler Wiggins, 26, Sikeston...