Stories from Saturday, April 1, 1995

To the editor: In response to the statement attributed to Annie Louis Gaylor of Freedom From Religion Foundation, I feel the following observations are in order: This country was founded upon freedom of choice as regards religion. Those desiring freedom from religion are permitted under law to believe as they choose, so long as their beliefs do not pose a danger to security...

As millions of television viewers looked on, our nation's modern heroes -- oozing with opulent pretension -- momentarily abandoned the assuaging of their collective guilt and embraced The Cause. I'm referring, of course, to the Oscars, that hideously self-serving, and self-important awards show to glorify the gods of vanity, vice and spiritual vacuity. ...

BENTON -- Turnout for Tuesday's election in Scott County will be less than last year's if requests for absentee ballots are an indication. Scott County Clerk Rita Milam said her office had mailed 54 absentee ballots to county voters. In last April's election, there were 87 applicants for mailed absentee ballots and 83 of those were returned to the county clerk's office...

America was founded by courageous pilgrims who fled their homelands in search of freedom. Freedom of religion. Freedom of choosing their own trades. Freedom from oppression. Freedom of speech. These are basic principles on which this country was founded...

Reprinted from The Wall Street Journal: Why is it members of the so-called Christian Right are far more tolerant of the so-called Republican "moderates" than the moderates are of them? On the matter of abortion, the pro-life people have been willing to make accommodations even with pro-choice candidates who are not entirely hostile. ...

To the editor: I was shocked when I read your Tuesday article about the Freedom From Religion folks challenging the cross near Mt. Auburn Road and Kingshighway. I then noted a similar story on TV, reread your article and was outraged. Annie Gaylor and her friends in Madison, Wis., have probably never been to Cape Girardeau or seen the cross. ...

A Vision 2000 community attitude survey revealed that Cape Girardeau residents have strong opinions about industrial growth, traffic flow, street planning, health care, taxes and education. When it comes to the needs of Cape Girardeau citizens, 31 percent of those responding rated recreation and leisure activities highest followed by community business, 21 percent, and housing, 13 percent...

I pull myself together for work. There are appointments to keep, people to interview, stories to write. I follow my little itinerary and manage a smooth, organized exterior. Inside, there is a chaotic little beast screaming to get out. I'm not sure when I became scatterbrained. It was only a few years ago that Mom visited my home, looked at various papers filed neatly on my desk and uttered those words so sweet to my ears: "Heidi, you are so much more organized than I am."...

A Jerusalem journalist will discuss the Arab-Israeli peace process at a lecture at Southeast Missouri State University. David Makovsky will speak on the prospects and perils of a Middle East Peace. The lecture will be April 19 at 3:15 p.m. in Crisp Hall Auditorium, Room 125...

Cape Girardeau's Board of Education met Friday night in closed session to evaluate school superintendent, Dr. Neyland Clark. Board President Ed Thompson said results of the evaluation would be released in a written summary to all media no later than Monday morning...

The savory smell of cooking beef greeted the estimated 3,500 visitors to the 15th annual Southeast Missouri Home Builders Association Home & Garden Show Friday. Visitors to the Show Me Center could head up the stairs to find local members of the SEMO Chapter of the Missouri Cattlemen's Association preparing several cuts of beef to taste. ...

Big Al's, a nightclub which offered one of the area's largest dance floors, a 12-foot video screen and occasionally a chance to wear an inflatable sumo wrestler costume, will close its doors when the last customer leaves tonight. The club's owner, Al Bisher, has been asked to vacate the building...

Hundreds of arts and crafts shoppers will be waiting for the doors to open at the A.C. Brase Arena Building today for the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts' 23rd annual Spring Arts and Crafts Fair. The event, which runs through Sunday usually attracts between 3,000 and 5,000 people. It is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, with an admission of $1 for adults. Children 12 and under are admitted free...

"Legal technicalities" kept the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation from meeting Friday's deadline for closing on the St. Vincent's Seminary property, foundation president Loretta Schneider said. "We're just working out the details," she said. The foundation announced its purchase of the 20-acre seminary from the Provincial Administration of Vincentian Fathers of St. ...

Daughter to Brian Burnell and Penny Windeknecht of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:17 p.m. Tuesday, March 7, 1995. Name, Brittany Lynn. Weight, 7 pounds 10 ounces. Miss Windeknecht is the daughter of Judy Pender of Whitewater and Bill Windeknecht of Perkins. She is employed with Total Security at Procter & Gamble. Burnell is employed at VIP Industries, and is the son of Sheila Ferullo and Dave Burnell of Cape Girardeau...

PERRYVILLE -- Lena A. Mouser Sutterer, 89, of Perryville died Friday, March 31, 1995, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. She was born Sept. 27, 1905, at Bonne Terre, daughter of Peter and Barbara Mouser. She married Carl E. Sutterer June 6, 1928. She was a homemaker and a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Perryville...

Olympia "Libby" Headricks, 78, of Cape Girardeau died at St. Francis Medical Center Friday, March 31, 1995. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and are pending with Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Mary M. Coleman of Tiptonville, Tenn., will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel in East Prairie. Jim Nichols will officiate, with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery near Charleston. Coleman, 78, died Wednesday, March 29, 1995, at Methodist Hospital in Dyersburg, Tenn...

Raymond E. Tibbles, 75, 118 N. Ellis, a prominent Cape Girardeau businessman, died suddenly Thursday, March 30, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Chapel.

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Bobby Ray Robison of Sikeston will be held at 1 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Jerry Adams will officiate, with burial in East Prairie Memorial Park. Robison, 58, died Thursday, March 30, 1995, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tenn...

Funeral service for James "J.O." Hunze, 3301 Hopper Road, will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home in Jackson. Dr. Larry Gallamore will officiate, with burial in Lorimier Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. today...

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- Evelyn V. Jackson, 78, of Mound City, died Thursday, March 30, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was born Aug. 4, 1916, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Jesse and Zora Hodge Morton. She married Earl Jackson, who died Nov. 29, 1992...

PERRYVILLE -- Irma P. Unterreiner, 79, of Perryville, died Thursday, March 30, 1995, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. She was born Jan. 10, 1916, in Perry County, daughter of Adolph C. and Caroline Horn Weber. He and Pius G. "Pete" Unterreiner were married Dec. 24, 1939. He died Feb. 4, 1983...

CHARLESTON -- Bess M. "Aunt Bessie" Lawrence, 73, of Charleston, died Thursday, March 30, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 24, 1921, in Indianapolis, Ind. She was a graduate of Lincoln High School here, and received a bachelor's degree from Lincoln University in Jefferson City...

"Ask Your Doctor" will air Thursday at 8 p.m. on Channel 5. The speakers will be Cheri Huckstep-Reed, a nurse at St. Francis Medical Center; Margit Bilgrim, a nurse with Mid-American Transplant Services; Paul Breitenstein, a Cape Girardeau Fire Department donor family. The topic will be organ donors...

The Cape Girardeau Health Department will observe World Health Day Friday with an immunization clinic. The clinic will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the health department, 1121 Linden. Children who need school immunizations, especially those who will be starting kindergarten next fall, are encouraged to attend. Adults and 15-year-olds who need tetanus booster shots also may attend...

Dr. John Hall examined the X-ray film that showed a patient's kidney stones. Anyone who has ever passed a kidney stone would agree that even once was too much. "Most men who've had a stone say it's the most painful experience they've ever had in their life," said renal specialist Gary Curhan, an instructor in medicine at Harvard. "And I've had women tell me they'd rather go through childbirth again than have another stone."...

The March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation's 25th anniversary of WalkAmerica will take place Saturday, April 29 at Capaha Park. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and the walk starts at 10. The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality...