Stories from Tuesday, April 9, 1996

JACKSON -- Junior high students make dramatic discoveries in self-identity, says teacher Tim Mirly. Students in his classes at St. Paul Lutheran School in Jackson were filled with dramatic entrances and lines when they performed a skit during National Lutheran Schools Week...

Homework, one of the most hated chores of students, is an important part of education. The whole idea behind homework is to give children an opportunity to practice the skills they learn in school, said Dr. Charles Ireland, acting chair of elementary, early and special education at Southeast Missouri State University...

Friends and colleagues of Rush Hudson Limbaugh, 104, said within hours of his death that other people should measure their personal and professional lives by the standard he lived by. A Cape Girardeau icon who also achieved international fame as a lawyer touting American jurisprudence abroad, Limbaugh died Monday afternoon...

In 1902, on a small farm along the Little Muddy Creek in Bollinger County, a passion for the law first stirred in a 10-year-old boy. A Daniel Webster oration the boy memorized had inspired him to become a lawyer. Fourteen years later, he set out on a legal career that spanned eight decades...

The Happy Hollow area west of the Cape Girardeau City Hall has emerged as the leading site for a new $30 million federal courthouse. The nearly six-acre, mostly vacant site is south of Independence in an area that was once a city dump. The government views Happy Hollow as a compromise site that would meet its needs and that of the community, said Jim Ogden of the General Services Administration's regional office in Kansas City...

DEXTER -- A strain of bacterial meningitis which caused the death of a Dexter High School student is "not very contagious," a state health official said. Troy William "Billy" Boone, 15, a freshman, died Thursday at a Cape Girardeau hospital of meningitis caused by strep pneumoniae...

Like many families who live from paycheck to paycheck, the Cape Girardeau public schools want to make ends meet with their $22 million budget. The school district over-budgeted by about $550,000 and now revenues are less than projected, business manager Steve DelVecchio said at a school board finance study session Monday...

The grass can't be greener than in our living room. It's in our dining room too, and scattered across our kitchen floor like so much straw in a barn. It ought to be illegal to have this much grass in a house. But this isn't the smoking kind that gets you in trouble with the DEA...

To the editor: I feel I must respond to the George Will column and quote of the day published April 5. While the Americans With Disabilities Act column is not wrong, it is very misleading to your readers. Many readers do not know what exactly ADA is or what it covers. ...

I WOULD like to make a comment to the political correctness group. If AIDS isn't a homosexual disease, then why is it that every time they have a gay awareness week, they have AIDS awareness? I'd rather see the word homosexual being used rather than gay, because it shows how there's a gay contingent in the news media to try to make people think different...

Missouri state government is awash in revenue to an extent unprecedented in recent history. With Gov. Mel Carnahan's huge tax increases, a reasonably healthy state economy that even those higher taxes couldn't kill plus riverboat gambling revenue the state didn't have three years ago, money is literally gushing into Department of Revenue's coffers. One indicator of the growth is that a state budget that a little over a decade ago was in the $4 billion range today tops out at about $13.7 billion...

In 1992, with the support of then-Gov. John Ashcroft, the Missouri General Assembly passed a phased-in, six-cent increase on motor fuel for road and bridge construction. The phase-in called for two cents in 1992, two cents in 1994 and two cents this year. The final portion kicked in last week and will be in effect from here on out...

OAK RIDGE -- Emma Ahrens, 86, of Oak Ridge died Monday, April 8, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.

A 21-year-old Cape Girardeau man sustained moderate injuries in a head-on collision Sunday night. Eric Wilson was northbound on County Road 643 around 8 p.m. Sunday when he rounded a curve and skidded on the pavement, a Missouri Highway Patrol report said. Wilson collided with a car driven by Justin Heckert, 17, also of Cape Girardeau...

JACKSON -- Robert "Bob" LaRue, 56, of Jackson, died Monday, April 8, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

FREDERICKTOWN -- Funeral service for J. Don Weiland of Fredericktown will be held at 1 p.m. today at Follis-Sonderman Funeral Home, with J. Dan Diekhoff and Kirk Schmeisser officiating. Burial will be Wednesday in Hartsburg Union Cemetery in Hartsburg, Ill...

MILLERSVILLE -- Graveside service for Fletcher Lee Bilek was held Monday at Fairview United Methodist Church Cemetery. The Rev. Donald Sander officiated. The infant died shortly after birth Wednesday, April 3, 1996, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis...

SIKESTON -- Robert S. Matthews Sr., 75, of Sikeston, died Monday, April 8, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born July 16, 1920, in Sikeston, son of Joseph L. and Lucile Alexander Matthews Sr. He and Augusta Sasser were married July 10, 1983, in San Antonio, Texas...

MARBLE HILL -- The Rev. Orville Myers, 86, of Marble Hill, died Sunday, April 8, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 14, 1909, near Lutesville, son of William J. and Melola Eaker Myers. He and Myrtle Chadd were married Dec. 25, 1928...

Daughter to Robert Wayne and Kimberly Sue Greable, 1400 S. West End Boulevard, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 5:33 a.m. Saturday, March 30, 1996. Name, Danielle Chelsea. Weight, 6 pounds 12 ounces. Mrs. Greable is the former Kimberly Koehler, daughter of Joe Koehler and Geneva Koehler of Coppell, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Greable are maintenance workers at Universal Physique. He is the son of Charles Greable Jr. and Viola Greable of Cape Girardeau...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Samuel Peeler, 91, of Spring Valley, Calif., died Friday, April 5, 1996, at Lemon Grove Nursing Center in Lemon Grove, Calif. He was born Sept. 27, 1904, in Dongola, son of Grant and Amy Hartline Peeler. He and Flora Dillow were married June 27, 1925, in Cairo...

SIKESTON -- Ruby L. Chapman, 79, of Sikeston, died Monday, April 8, 1996, at Miner Nursing Center in Miner. She was born Nov. 27, 1916, in Savannah, Tenn., daughter of A.V. and Maude Lee Wolfe Mills. She and William Eugene Chapman were married Aug. 9, 1945, at Vanduser. He died June 4, 1975...

PINHOOK -- Tennie Adams, 87, of Pinhook, died Thursday, April 4, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Dec. 18, 1908, in Arkansas, daughter of Wallace and Kathy Cartwright Jackson. She married John Q. Adams, who preceded her in death...

7 p.m. Wednesday City Hall Hearings -- Request to rezone the southwest corner of northern intersection of Kingshighway and Boulder Crest Drive from single-family residential to general commercial. Vote to follow hearing. Subdivision Plat Reviews -- Preliminary plat of Randol Farms Estates Third Addition...

U.S. Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas will speak about the changing legal system April 30 at 7 p.m. at the Show Me Center. Advance tickets are free. A reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. at Dr. Ramiro Icaza's home in Jackson. Cost is $75 per person...

Re-elected Councilmen Jack Rickard, Melvin Kasten and Melvin Gateley were sworn in Monday at Cape Girardeau City Hall. The ceremony followed a brief council meeting to accept last week's certified election results. The three are first on the council to be affected by a charter amendment requiring term limits. The new law states council members may serve only two consecutive four-year terms...

More than 400,000 people are expected to call Cape Girardeau home for a night in 1996. Two large conventions this year -- the Missouri Baptist Conference and Midwest Forestry Show -- will account for the largest blocks of visitors. The Missouri Baptist Convention, featuring the Missouri Women's Missionary Union annual meeting and the Foreign Mission Board Appointee meeting, is expected to attract as many as 7,000 total visitors from April 18-20...

The Cape Girardeau Jaycees will host their fourth-quarter Membership Night and Social Saturday from 6-9 p.m. at Papa Bear's Daiquiris, 2 N. Main St. The event will begin with a Road Rally, followed by a social. Anyone ages 21 to 39 is eligible to join...

The Southern Illinois section of the American Chemical Society will holds its next meeting at 7:30 p.m. April 17, in the Program Lounge at the University Center on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. Dr. Robert Z. Greenly, adviser for the Monsanto Fellow Program and editor and publisher of the Technical Community of Monsanto newsletter, will be the guest speaker...

Five students from St. Denis Catholic School in Benton were among the winners in the "Making America Safe" national essay contest. The contest was open to seventh and eighth grade students at the school. Local students who placed are Amber Scherer, second place; Suzi Mack, third place; Amanda Chapman, third place; Audrey Burford, fourth place; and Allison Burger, honorable mention...

Two Scott City scouts recently earned the highest rank given in the Boy Scouts of America organization. Brandon Swanner and Gary Poyner Jr., both members of Troop 29, recently were promoted to Eagle Scout. Both boys completed a service project before earning the award...

Alyssa Camille Browning was named to the first semester Dean's List at Rhodes College in Memphis. Students must earn a 3.70 grade point average to be named to the list. Rhodes is a four-year liberal arts college. Browning is a graduate of Cape Girardeau Central High School. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Browning...

Students from Trinity Lutheran School traveled to Jefferson City on March 20 to meet with various Missouri State officials. They met with Rep. Mary Kasten, Rep. David Schwab, Rep. Mark Richardson and Judge Steven Limbaugh. Students attending were Ashley McElreath, Kim Griffaw, Liz Hobbs, Elizabeth Meyr, Jennifer Daume, Annie Petzoldt, Ramsey Stevens, Jarrod Grebing, Jake Burgfeld, Jeremy Birk and Matthew Gockel...

The East Missouri District of Optimist International has announced that Megan Odneal of Ste. Genevieve and Champ Friend of Cape Girardeau are the Zone 3 winners of the Optimist International Oratorical Contest, one of the organization's largest service projects...

The Ramblewood Garden Club of Cape Girardeau has been awarded a grant of $500 to be used for local projects dealing with community improvement. This grant is part of the PETALS program, a two-year program of environmental concern co-sponsored by the National Council of State Garden Clubs and Shell Oil Co...

The Jackson kindergarten and first-grade enrollments will be conducted Friday at the Primary Annex Building from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Parents of children who will be 5 years old before July 1 are urged to enroll them for the 1996-97 school year. Students who have not attended the kindergarten program and will be 6 before July 1 are to be enrolled for first grade. ...

Matthew R. Fisher, a student at Notre Dame High School, represented the school at the recent Missouri East Hugh O'Brian Youth Foundation Seminar in St. Louis. Fisher is the son of Tim and Rita Fisher of Cape Girardeau. Some 210 students, one from each high school in eastern Missouri, attended the three-day seminar...

Mary Collier Mims, a vocal music director at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School, recently wrote an article for a publication of the Music Educators National Conference. The article, titled "Setting a Healthy Example for Your Singers," was published in the March issue of "Teaching Music" magazine...