Stories from Tuesday, May 14, 1996

Brandi Lynn Schumacher, daughter of John and Debi Oliver of Cape Girardeau, was recently initiated into the Alpha Lambda Delta honor society. The national academic honor society recognizes academic and performance excellence by college freshman. Schumacher attends Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., where she achieved a 4.0 grade point average...

Timothy Mayfield of Cape Girardeau was recently selected as the May Youth of the Month by the Cape Girardeau Exchange Club. Mayfield is a senior at Cape Central High School. He is a member of the National Honor Society, football team, Letterman's Club, and Young Life...

Christy Vandeven was recently elected to the Beta Kappa Chapter of the Rho Chi Pharmaceutical Honor Society at St. Louis College of Pharmacy. Vandeven is the daughter of James and Alice Vandeven of Cape Girardeau. Selection for the chapter is based on academic achievement. Rho Chi Society was established in 1922 as a pharmacy honor society. It was chartered in 1955 at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy...

Matt Jones, a senior at Cape Girardeau Central High School, recently placed in a national DECA competition. DECA is a high-school level marketing club with about 75 members at the Cape Area Vocational Technical School. Jones, who entered in the retail merchandising competition, placed in the top 10 percent at the national contest in Orlando, Fla. ...

Champ Friend of Cape Girardeau and Tiffany Sewell of Cedar Hill are the 1996 regional winners of the Optimist Oratorical Contest, held recently at the Jackson Municipal Courthouse. Friend and Sewell will compete in a field of four boy and girl regional finalists for two $1,500 scholarships from the Optimist International Foundation...

Brandon Swanner, a senior at Scott City High School, was honored at "A Celebration of Learning" luncheon in Jefferson City. Swanner was nominated for the Missouri Scholars 100 program by his principal, Fred Graham. The program honors students who earn a 3.75 grade point average, earn a 27 on the ACT exam and are ranked in the top 10 percent of their class...

Seven Cape Girardeau students earned scholarships to attend the University of Missouri at Rolla this fall. Bryan Daume received a total award worth $8,500. He received a University Scholarship, a Bright Flight Scholarship, a UMR Quality Scholarship and an estimated gold fund loan...

5-year-old saves the day On Sunday, Cindy Drewett and her 5-year-old daughter Lauren were shopping at Lowes in Cape Girardeau. A woman approached Cindy, somewhat frantically, and said, "Ma'am, may I borrow your daughter?" An odd question, to be sure. ...

During a winter snowstorm, 11-year-old Antowan King waited outside school and noticed that all the teachers' cars were covered with snow. "I had a piece of cardboard, and I took all the snow off the teachers' cars," Antowan said. He never planned to tell anyone what he had done, but Dr. Barbara Kohlfeld, Antowan's principal at May Greene Elementary School, spied him from her window and watched as he methodically cleared each car before he quit...

After raising six children, you might think Dotty Wencewicz would steer clear of the younger set. Not so. This soft-spoken, energetic woman enjoys her job as a teacher's aide at St. Vincent de Paul Elementary School. Over the years, Wencewicz has been very involved in Girl Scouting and church activities...

When Amy Randol's younger son started kindergarten, she noticed that teachers at Jefferson Elementary School in Cape Girardeau could use a helping hand. While her children attended classes, Randol began volunteering in the school office. Six years later, she has become a regular at Jefferson School, camped out at a little table near the school secretary...

Kate Devaney, 10, recently won the first place award in the 61st annual art show sponsored by the Woman's Club of Paducah, Ky. Devaney entered in the fourth- and fifth-grade division. She attends Alma Schrader Elementary School. The show was open to amateur artists who live in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. The competition included categories in oil, acrylic, watercolor, drawing, pastels, mixed media arts...

The Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging will hold a senior citizens' forum Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Farmington. The forum, "Fishing for Facts," will offer information to senior citizens and people who care for them. Admission is free. To register, call the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging at 335-3331 or 1-800-392-8771...

Emily A. Trueblood of Cape Girardeau recently received a $2,000 National Merit Scholarship. Trueblood, a senior at Cape Central High School, is one of 14,000 students nationwide receiving the award. She is the only Southeast Missouri student to receive the award this year...

Dorothy Volkerding knows a thing or two about faith. First, the doctors said cancer would take her life by Christmas. Then they said she would be in a wheelchair by March. She made liars out of them on both counts. Even though the disease exists throughout her body, Volkerding gets out of bed every day and does what she can to stay physically and mentally active. That usually is by making crafts and reading the Bible...

The growth of managed care has provided a much needed education for physicians, Jerry Nicholson said. But before true managed care gains a foothold in the Cape Girardeau region, more education will be needed for physicians, employers and workers, say Nicholson, the administrator of Orthopaedic Associates, and Gregg Thomas, administrator of Physician Associates...

Kindness is catching. In Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area, it's become almost an epidemic. The immediate kindness bug can be attributed in some part to this newspaper's Random Acts of Kindness celebration, which is the most organized randomness that I've ever seen...

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, which moves into its new headquarters May 31, is seeking new members today. The chamber's annual membership blitz will be held today at 7:30 a.m. with a kickoff breakfast at Drury Lodge. "The goal for today's drive is 60, which will put us over the 1,200 mark," said Linda L. Minner, marketing and special projects director...

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has accepted the latest offer of $2.6 million by Cape Girardeau businessman Jerry Lipps for two giant warehouse buildings north of Cape Girardeau. At an October auction, the FDIC rejected Lipps' $2.3 million offer for the two 216,000-square-foot buildings that formerly served as Indian Creek Warehouses. They are near the Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co. plant...

The Humane Society of Southeast Missouri will offer the six-session course Kids for Animals June 12-July 24. The class is open to children 9 to 14 and will be conducted each Wednesday from 1:30-3 p.m. Cost is $20 and includes a T-shirt and materials. Each class will feature a guest speaker from the community...

Tuesday, May 14, 7:30 p.m. Jackson Middle School Library Action items -- Consider agreement between Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School and Jackson R-2 district to offer Adult Basic Education classes at Jackson Junior High School. -- Consider request to accept foreign exchange student from Slovakia...

BURFORDVILLE -- A Memorial Day service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at McGuire Cemetery at Burfordville. A brief business meeting will also be held. Donations for cemetery upkeep may be sent to Legia Eakins, 1343 County Road 340, Jackson, Mo., 63755; or Cathy Schweain, 1730 Westwood, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63701...

Tornadoes strike with little warning, cutting a path of destruction, devastation and death. But even a little warning can save lives. Just a few minutes of notice allows time enough for potential victims to take cover from flying debris and high winds...

Scott City bids farewell to Doug Berry, who is retiring as superintendent. Berry has served the Scott City public schools for 29 years -- first as an elementary principal and then as superintendent. He spent the first five years of his career in Cape Girardeau as a teacher at Washington Elementary School...

To the editor: When I was a small child, my father would often speak of a ruthless German leader who made the statement, "I will take over the United States without firing a shot." In the 1992 election his promise was fulfilled. With a smirk on his face and the stroke of a pen, our leader signed the death warrant of still more of young, subjecting them to the most cruel and unusual punishment yet. ...

To the editor: I would like to thank state Rep. Bill Foster for his efforts in regard to the National Day of Prayer. Approximately eight weeks ago, I gave Rep. Foster a letter requesting that he try to get the Missouri Legislature to pass a resolution or proclamation stating that Missouri would recognize the National Day of Prayer, which is a U.S. ...

To the editor: In the struggle for common ground on the issue of abortion, the high ground is the welfare of women and their children. The debate surrounding House Bill 1320, the alternative to the abortion bill, has ideological camps poised for yet another showdown during these final days of the legislative session. Once again, the welfare of women, their families and the unborn children of Missouri are at risk of being lost in the political shuffle...

Our view is (a minimum wage increase) needs to be packaged with other things that'll keep workers ... comp time, flex time, things that (employees) have in the federal government for example. -- Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole on "Face the Nation" April 21...

Service for Elanore Snider of El Cajon, Calif., was held May 8 in El Cajon. Snider, 59, died Sunday, May 5, 1996, in an El Cajon hospital. She was born June 5, 1936, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Phillip and Mabel Jacobs. She and Jack Snider were married June 14, 1952, in Cape Girardeau...

ALTO PASS, Ill. -- Audrey Mae Myers, 93, of Hammond, Ind., formerly of Alto Pass, died Saturday, May 11, 1996, in Dyer, Ind. She was born March 29, 1903, in Anna, daughter of Peter and Nellie Mae Williams Hinkle. She and William V.F. Myers were married June 3, 1922, in Jonesboro. He died Feb. 19, 1978...

Vernon Clinton Roth Sr., 68, 1318 Wayne, died Sunday, May 12, 1996, at his home. He was born Aug. 11, 1927, at Frohna, son of Joseph and Anna Richter Roth. He and Miriam Keesee were married July 19, 1946, in Cape Girardeau. Roth worked 28 years at Pure Ice Co., and then was shipping and receiving clerk at Florsheim Shoe Co. from 1969-89. He was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Barbara Hockersmith Singleton, 56, of Poplar Bluff, died Sunday, May 12, 1996, at Doctors Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, following an extended illness. She was born Aug. 23, 1939, in East Prairie, daughter of Eugene and Elsie Frix True. She married Emro Hockersmith, who preceded her in death...

Barbara L. Bauerle, 69, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, May 12, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born March 12, 1927, in St. Louis, daughter of Martin and Harriette Cole Pusateri. She and James A. Bauerle were married March 8, 1952, in Webster Groves...

Mata E. Hempstead, 66, 906 Ranney, died Sunday, May 12, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born March 3, 1930, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Joe L. and Louise Cardwell Woods. She and Shelton Hempstead were married Oct. 29, 1954, in Reno, Nev. He died Dec. 11, 1995...

Ross Lee Hendrix, 63, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, May 12, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Sept. 17, 1932, in East Prairie, son of Willis Terrell and Lillie May Pruitt Mills Hendrix. He and Edna Irene Linhart were married Sept. 29, 1951, in Pocahontas, Ark...

Betty Schwartz, 43, of Cape Girardeau, died Monday, May 13, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

WOLF LAKE, Ill. -- Gertrude Vincent, 92, of Wolf Lake, died Monday, May 13, 1996, at City Care Center in Cobden. Hileman and Parr Funeral Home in Jonesboro is in charge of arrangements.

SIKESTON -- John D. Spradlin, 85, of Sikeston, died Sunday, May 12, 1996, at Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 30, 1910, at Fornfelt, son of Sam and Allie Taylor Spradlin. He married Agnes Gosche, who preceded him in death. Spradlin was a knitter 15 years at Claussner Hosiery Co. ...

Lulu Emma Kelpe, 88, 3120 Independence, died Monday, May 13, 1996, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center. She was born Sept. 4, 1907, at Leemon, daughter of Benjamin and Amelia Froemsdorf Sides. She and Walter F. Kelpe were married Aug. 4, 1929, in Jackson. He died in July 1986...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral service for Rose Aline Haley, Charleston Route 3, will be held at 1:30 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel in East Prairie. Mike Johnson and Burl Britt will officiate, with burial in Odd Fellows Cemetery near East Prairie. Haley, 61, died Sunday, May 12, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...

On a hot August day last summer, Tom Nelson, a truck driver, made a delivery next to a local convenience store. He then went into the store to check in with his terminal manager. While he was there, says his wife, Dena Nelson, two small boys came in to ask if their bottles were worth any money. They left disappointed when the clerk said no...