Stories from Wednesday, July 31, 1996

To the editor: The Southeast Missouri published a letter July 3, "Reply to Blue Cross," which made a number of incorrect allegations that arise from a misunderstanding of the facts. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri is a nonprofit health services corporation, but it is not a charitable organization. ...

Cape Girardeau City Manager Michael Miller will be guest speaker at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee Friday Coffee. Miller will discuss a proposal for a quarter-cent sales tax which the city may place on the November ballot in efforts to increase Cape Girardeau's diminishing potable water supply...

James Wente can't wait to "get his front door back." Wente, Southeast Missouri Hospital's administrator, along with hospital workers and patients, have been anticipating the completion of Southeast's new easy-access lobby. The lobby, which is only part of the hospital's three-phase, five year development plan, began construction in the spring of 1995...

PERRYVILLE -- The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission recently was selected to win an Innovation Award. The award, given by the National Association of Development Organizations, recognized the commission's 1995 Coordinated Regional Tourism Program and recent Industrial Parks and Sites Mapping Project...

The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band will perform at 8 p.m. tonight in the Capaha Park Band Shell. The theme of This week's performance is "A Gershwin Concert." The performance will feature pieces like "Strike Up The Band", "An American Paris", and "Swaneee". Other pieces, like Leroy Anderson's "Blue Tango" and John P. Sousa's "Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company March" will also be performed...

A local lube and oil change business suffered from costly fire damage after one of the bays burned Tuesday. Jim Mungle, the owner of the Finish Line, 889 N. Kingshighway, said it could have been worse. He credited the Cape Girardeau Fire Department with saving his building...

I'M CALLING in response to the comment in Speak Out where a person is implied that his boss is docking his pay when somebody drives away from a gas station where he works without paying for the gas. I'm pretty sure that's against the law, and if you own a gas station you should realize that you can't charge your people who work there for crimes that are committed by other persons against your business. ...

There was a time in Missouri when gambling in any form was forbidden. Even the state's Constitution of 1945 addressed the issue by forbidding the General Assembly to authorize gambling. All of that has changed over the years. First it was bingo. Then the state lottery. And then riverboat gambling...

In Illinois, the sunshine of open records has put the spotlight on an embarrassing political scholarship fund used by state legislators to send students with political ties to college. The fund, which is perfectly legal, has for years been the subject of skepticism about who benefited the most. ...

Cape Girardeau is the chosen site for a new, 200-job service center, Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield announced Tuesday. The insurance company, headquartered in St. Louis, plans to lease space in a "build-to-suit" facility to be constructed in Cape West Business Park at Interstate 55 and Route K...

Cape Girardeau teachers received an average 3.5 percent raise Tuesday when the Board of Education approved a salary schedule for the 1996-97 school year. The board unanimously approved the new schedules at a meeting Tuesday morning. The Community Teachers Association unanimously had approved the salary package earlier in the day...

PERRYVILLE -- The public administrator's post in Perry County never received much attention before this year. Only three or four people usually filed for the post. But this primary election there are eight -- seven Republicans and a Democrat. All are vying for a job that pays $10,000 a year to work limitless, unset hours each week...

Harold Garrison took his first ride on the new Dorena-Hickman Ferry Tuesday. "It was great," said Garrison, judge executive in Kentucky's Fulton County. "This is going to be a great facility." Garrison rode the ferry from its landing over the levee at Hickman, Ky., to the Missouri landing near Dorena...

JACKSON -- Kelly Blackman was in high school when he started working at Rozier's Cash Store uptown in 1944. He went into the Navy for two years in World War II, came home and went back to work at Rozier's in 1946. "And I've been here ever since," he said...

Dr. Mack Wilson, associate professor of agriculture at Southeast Missouri State University, was honored in Philadelphia recently for his service last year as an Eisenhower Exchange Fellow. Wilson was honored along with 10 other U.S. Fellows and 25 Multi Nation Fellows at a trustee's dinner as part of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship Program annual meeting...

It seems politicians are getting mean earlier this year. There was a particularly distressing commercial on television this morning. It featured clips of our country's president talking about balancing the national budget. In various clips, he says it will be five years until the budget is balanced, then seven, then nine, etc...

JACKSON -- Six new members of the Riverside Regional Library Board of Trustees were in attendance at the July 25 meeting at the Jackson headquarters. New members include Martha Nothdurft of Delta and Tom Gross of Gordonville representing Cape Girardeau County; Kay Miederhoff and Phil Tucker, both of Perryville and representing Perry County; and Sondra Buchanan of Benton and Barbara Tyler of Oran representing Scott County...

JACKSON -- Miss Missouri 1996 Kimberly Massaro will be at the Jackson Chamber of Commerce office Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to sign autographs and visit with wellwishers. Massaro represented the city of Jackson when she was crowned Miss Missouri on June 8, and will represent the state in the Miss America Scholarship Pageant on Sept. 14...

A 7 p.m. class is also available Monday through Thursday, and at 3:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Also available are basic courses at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesdays and 5:30 p.m. Fridays. Fee is $2 per class. Call 334-9355 to register...

JACKSON -- Voters here and in other communities around the state will decide whether or not to impose a local use tax in Tuesday's election. In Jackson, a 1.5 percent tax is proposed. It would replace a portion of the state's use tax which was declared unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court in March...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Municipal Band will perform its last concert of the season in the band shell at City Park at 8 p.m. Thursday. Special guests for the concert will be the contemporary gospel duo Roger and Ruth Lane, who have performed extensively in the St. Louis area...

The Southeast Missourian asked people about the books they have been reading. Emily McMinn: "I liked reading 'Message in the Hollow Oak.' It's a Nancy Drew mystery. I thought it was unique and I liked the way ending came about." Torie Cox: "I read "The Boxcar Children in the Mystery of the Stolen Painting.' They find a picture of the grandma in the attic. They try to find the grandma's necklace which was stolen."...

JACKSON -- The Child Development Center is adding a class for 3-year-olds. The pre-school, located at 105 E. Adams St., is a non-profit co-op run by parents. "We try to keep the cost down. All of the parents do the non-professional work," such as cleaning, buying supplies and working as helpers in the classrooms," said Julie King, president of the shcool's board of directors. "It's really nice because you get to know the parents and the children really well...

SEDGEWICKVILLE -- Glen S. Statler, 86, of Ste. Genevieve, died Monday, July 29, 1996, at Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital. He was born Jan. 24, 1910, at Sedgewickville, son of Adolph and Ida Seabaugh Statler. He and Francis Hudson were married Dec. 20, 1939...

SIKESTON -- Edna Lee Odom, 87, of New Madrid, died Monday, July 29, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born June 20, 1909, in Harmony, Ark., daughter of John C. and Lura Elizabeth Pryor Mason. She and Argus L. "Dick" Odom were married Jan. 8, 1926, in Harmony. He died March 24, 1980...

MALDEN -- Perry Douglas Sparks, 38, of Malden, died Monday, July 29, 1996, at his home. He was born Dec. 8, 1957, at Malden, son of Darce Irvin and Jessie Marie Snow Sparks. Sparks was a member of the New Prospect Southern Baptist Church in Malden. Survivors include his mother; a sister, Charlcie Nelson of Malden; and three brothers, Jim Sparks of Malden, Paul Sparks of Campbell and Richard Sparks of Jackson...

PERRYVILLE -- Juanita R. Layton, 73, of Perryville, died Monday, July 29, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 5, 1923, at Brazeau, daughter of John M. and Myrtle O. Weisbrod Martin. Layton had worked at International Shoe Co., was an inspector at Prince Gardner, and had worked at a bakery. She was a member of Brazeau Presbyterian Church...

Funeral service for Michael Herman Koessel, 2628 Azalea, will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Trinity Lutheran Church. The Rev. Steven A. MacDougall will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau from 4-8 p.m. today, and at the church after 9 a.m. Thursday...

Daughter to John William and Wendy R. Tucker, 1106 N. Fountain, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 11:44 a.m. Wednesday, July 3, 1996. Name, Zadie Dove. Weight, 7 pounds 9 ounces. Mrs. Tucker is the former Wendy Robertson, daughter of Frankie A. Robertson and Willard C. Robertson of Cape Girardeau. Tucker is the son of Virginia Skelton and Jack Tucker of Orlando, Fla. He is employed at Ryan's Steakhouse...

MATTHEWS -- Glenda Mae Sims, 57, of Matthews, died Monday, July 29, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born May 14, 1939, in Rector, Ark., daughter of John Marvin and Mary Kathleen Huffstutler Rhoda. Survivors include two brothers, Thomas and John Rhoda of Belleville, Ill., and a sister, Linda Lentz of Sikeston...

SIKESTON -- James Edward Woods, 68, of Sikeston, died Friday, July 26, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Jan. 10, 1928, in Alabama, son of William and Velma Johnson Woods. Woods had lived in Missouri since 1965. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War...

SCOTT CITY -- Cecil Ray Wendel, 50, of Scott City, died Tuesday, July 30, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 16, 1945, at Perkins, son of Ray and Ada Juanita Schlosser Wendel. Wendel had lived here 40 years. He was an engineer with Union Pacific Railroad. He was a member of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and National Rifle Association...

BLOOMFIELD -- Herschel Vern Moore, 60, of Poplar Bluff, died Tuesday, July 30, 1996, at his home. He was born March 14, 1936, in the Beech Grove community near here, son of Elzie James "Monk" and Julia Marie Patrick Moore. He and Vivian Pruitt were married May 16, 1953, at Aquilla...

Funeral service for Roy P. Metje, 650 N. Middle, will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel. The Rev. Ernest Jordan will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Friends may call at the chapel from 4-8 p.m. today. Metje, 63, died Monday, July 29, 1996, at the Lutheran Home...

Funeral service for Craig Allen Stevens of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Morgan Funeral Chapel in Advance. Pastor John Tolbert will officiate, with burial in Morgan Memorial Park at Advance. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4:30-8 p.m. today...

SCOTT CITY -- William W. Hollis, 64, of Scott City, died Tuesday, July 30, 1996, at the Cape Girardeau Care Center. He was born March 6, 1932, in Vanduser, son of the late Barton and Goldie McDaniel Hollis. He married Charline Acey on Aug. 20, 1949...

JACKSON -- Even with recommended changes to the legislation, landowners from Bollinger and Cape Girardeau county still oppose a recreational lake project. "Why don't you just drop the lake and leave us alone?" asked Ed Sebaugh, a landowner opposed to the lake...

The 12th biannual Peetz family reunion will be held Sunday at the St. James United Church of Christ, Route 2, Jackson (Tilsit), beginning with a basket dinner at 12:30 p.m. People should bring table service and chairs. Beverages and tables for the food will be provided. A business meeting will follow the meal. All descendants of Heinrick and Henrietta Bolm Peetz are invited to attend...

Willard Morgan's home on Lexington Avenue is a fine example of a well kept lawn. Austin Bagby, left, and Viola Bagby worked at ridding the flower beds of weeds in front of their home on South Pacific Street. The roses at the Bagby's home are full of rose buds and blooms during the summer...