Stories from Thursday, April 27, 1995

To be or not to be a lion tamer, a forest ranger, a ballet dancer or maybe something really exotic is the dilemma facing the Sesame Street gang in "When I Grow Up," a live musical stage show playing at the Show Me Center this weekend. All the favorite TV characters will be there -- Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Elmo, the Count, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Grundgetta, Prairie Dawn, Betty Lou, Telly Monster, Amanda and Honkers -- along with Cookie Monster, who in this show plays a singing chef at a '50s-style drive-in.. ...

Mark Chesnutt, left, and Sawyer Brown will perform with Boy Howdy at 7:30 tonight at the Show Me Center. They grew up on bluegrass, fiddlin' around with three-part harmony and an expression that was popular when Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were cinematic cowboys...

Central High drama teacher Cynthia Wyatt sent students Rachel Roberts and George Aplin to a park together last week because they have to kiss each other believably in "Barefoot in the Park." Kissing wasn't their assignment; getting comfortable with each other was...

CARUTHERSVILLE -- Don Spillman is looking forward to the "City of Caruthersville's" noon cruise. Spillman of Caruthersville will be at one of the two crap tables on the Casino Aztar gambling riverboat when it makes its first official gambling cruise on the Mississippi River today...

Many are afloat, equipped with engines and staffed by full-time pilots. But nearly half of Missouri's casinos aren't going anywhere. When Boyd Gaming and Hilton Kansas City open their developments, more than half of the state's riverboat casinos will be land based...

April 27, 1995 Dear Leslie, Last Sunday, DC and I went to a service at the third oldest Presbyterian church west of the Mississippi, in a town of 125 called Pocahontas. They only open the church a few times a year. Two woodstoves in the back warmed us, and four kerosene lamps hanging from the ceiling "wishhhhed" away as we sang old-time hymns like "Amazing Grace" and "God Be With You Till We Meet Again."...

Flags on graves I'M A mother who lost my son in an accident three years ago. He's buried in Memorial Park between Cape and Jackson. I try to keep his memory alive to me in the way of respecting our country and our state with flags. I think it's a tragedy that anyone would come to a grave, especially that of a young person, and steal the flags that a mother and father have put on there in memory of their child. ...

Southeast Missouri State University pumps more than $53 million directly into the regional economy. Indirectly, the impact tops $405 million, shows a study released Wednesday at the university's Board of Regents meeting. The study is conducted periodically to determine the impact of the university on its 25-county service region and Cape Girardeau County...

New Southeast Missouri State University Regent Sarah J. Long said she has a lot of learning ahead. Long, a Poplar Bluff educator and former Southeast student, was sworn in at a ceremony Wednesday afternoon in Cape Girardeau. She was in Jefferson City Wednesday morning for a Senate confirmation hearing...

A public meeting will be held tonight to discuss the A+ Schools Program, one of the educational reforms brought about under still-controversial Senate Bill 380. The meeting comes two days after the state Board of Education rejected new educational standards drafted over the past 18 months by the law's Commission on Performance...

After two weeks dedicated to the Cape Girardeau Board of Education, county commissioners today will appoint three members to the board and return to their job of governing the county. The new members will be named at an 11 a.m. news conference today at the County Administrative Building, 1 Barton Square, in Jackson. The three will be sworn in at a special school board meeting Friday at noon at the Board of Education conference room, 61 N. Clark, in Cape Girardeau...

ST. LOUIS -- Doris M. Gibbar, 77, of St. Louis, formerly of Perryville, died April 26, 1995, in St. Louis. She was born July 29, 1917, in Silver Lake, the daughter of Harry and Molly Lewis LaBrier. She married Earl V. Gibbar in 1934, and he preceded her in death July 31, 1988...

PORTAGEVILLE -- The condition of agriculture, the outlook on agribusiness, farm research and conservation will be discussed at today's 1995 Farm Bill hearing at Portageville. U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, vice chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, will hold the hearing from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the University of Missouri's Delta Research Center...

OLMSTED, Ill. -- Myrtle Schnaare, 67, of Olmsted, died Tuesday, April 25, 1995, at her home. She was born Jan. 9, 1926, in Owensboro, Ky. Schnaare was a member of Mounds VFW Auxiliary 8891, American Legion Auxiliary 178 at Villa Ridge, and had been chairman of the Democratic Party in Pulaski County...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Leona Prince, 94, of Cairo, died Wednesday, April 26, 1995, at Union County Hospital in Anna. She was born Sept. 14, 1900, in Union County, daughter of Jacob and Dora Smoot. Prince was a member of Cairo Baptist Church. Survivors include a sister, Marie Peeler of Anna...

Son to Eddie and Amy Kirchdoerfer, 234 County Road 317, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:03 p.m. Thursday, April 20, 1995. Name, Tyler Christopher. Weight, 9 pounds 4 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Kirchdoerfer is the former Amy Taylor, daughter of Betty Cobb of Tulsa, Okla., and Francis Taylor of Glasgow. She is a receptionist at Gastroenterology Associates. Kirchdoerfer is employed with Kirchdoerfer Jersey Farm, and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Kirchdoerfer of Cape Girardeau...

Missouri Secretary of State Bekki Cook will give the keynote address at the spring commencement at Southeast Missouri State University. Commencement exercises are scheduled for 2 p.m. May 6 in the Show Me Center. Both spring and summer graduates will participate in the ceremony, and 672 undergraduates and 58 graduate students will receive diplomas...

I move that the Commission on Performance and the State Board of Education delay final action on the academic performance standards, with the understanding that this commission will make a recommendation to the State Board of Education on the standards after viewing the completed curriculum frameworks and at least one sample performance-based assessment item in all six curriculum areas: (communication arts, fine arts, health/physical education, mathematics, science and social studies). ...

Conservatives are flinching in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing. Because suspects in the tragedy are connected with fringe organizations that have questionable objectives, too many folks, both in positions of power and ordinary citizens, are jumping to the conclusion that anyone with conservative views is capable of such a dastardly deed...

In a recent speech Margaret Thatcher, Great Britain's former prime minister, talked about capitalism and its role in strong governments. The speech was at Hillsdale College in Michigan, a liberal arts college that doesn't accept any federal funding:...

To the editor: After reading Jay Eastlick's column (April 22, "After Waco, is anyone really safe?"), it seemed appropriate that someone challenge him and the "facts" he used. This has to be the height of irresponsible and inflammatory reporting. At a time when everyone is hurting over the recent bombing and the loss of lives, to further the cause of the people who placed the bomb by such irrational statements is unconscionable...

To the editor: We have been the most blessed of any nation ever, yet we now have an estimated 22,000 homicides in the United States each year. We have literally millions of arrests each year, but few convictions. And if convicted they may serve one-fourth their sentence. Is that justice?...

The American Medical Association says 3,000 American teen-agers begin smoking every day. Southeast Missouri State University students Brett Gibbs and Kevin Wallace just completed a survey of 100 students ages 16 to 18 at Cape Central and Notre Dame high schools, and they found that Cape Girardeau teens aren't excluded from the trend...

The Elks Lodge has named Shannon Kutz and Cassandra L. Erlbacher May Students of the Month. Kutz, 18, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Danny Kutz, is a senior at Notre Dame High School. He has been active in Pep Club, SADD, baseball, basketball, concert choir, Boys State and Optimist Youth in Government Day...

The first-ever Capaha Capers, a free children's art festival, will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 6, at Capaha Park. The event, for children ages 4 to 12 who are accompanied by an adult, will include: -- Storytelling by the Cape Public Library staff...