Stories from Wednesday, September 11, 1996

To the editor: After standing in line for over 1 1/2 hours to get into Capaha Park during President Clinton's visit to Cape Girardeau, we had our Dole-Kemp signs taken away and tossed on the ground. We didn't say anything and walked on into the fenced area...

JACKSON -- City officials toured the police and fire stations and checked out the city's public library Tuesday as part of their annual tour of city facilities. The tour will continue today at the public works, wastewater, electrical, sanitation, street and power, and water departments...

The 1996-97 school year is off to an excellent start. Our enrollment has increased by over 100 students, but all 4,100-plus have been assigned to classrooms or class schedules. It has been difficult to find classroom space for this continued increase, but we are so thankful that planning is well under way for the new construction made possible by the recent successful bond issue. ...

St. Francis Medical Center will sponsor "The Body Shop," an eight-week program to help youngsters 8 to 18 manage their weight, learn effective exercise methods and improve nutritional habits. The first session begins Monday at 6:30. The workshop will continue meeting Mondays at 6:30 and Thursdays at 5:30 at the St. Francis Center for Health and Rehabilitation...

Dana Corp. employees at the Cape Girardeau plant will vote Sept. 23 and 24 on whether to be represented by the United Auto Workers. The plant, which opened in 1989, produces axle components. It employs about 350 people. UAW officials have been talking with Dana employees over the past few months, discussing the possibility of organizing a union. The secret-ballot election will be conducted by the UAW...

The Central Municipal Pool will open to the public on Sept. 23 for fall and winter swimming. Mondays through Fridays, there will be fitness swims from 5-7 a.m. and from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Public swims will be from 5-8 p.m. On Saturdays, fitness swims will be from 9-11 a.m. and public swims from 1-5 p.m...

The Southeast Missourian asked people what they thought of the U.S. response to Saddam Hussein's aggressive military action in Iraq. Corey Jones: "We should turn Baghdad into a parking lot. We need to do something because of what he's doing to the Kurds. The sanctions haven't worked. He'll be back at it before you know it."...

THE UNITED States can deny the bombing of Baghdad until hell freezes over. It makes us not only the aggressor but a liar as well. How much more shame will Bill Clinton bring to the office of the president of the United States? I WANT to direct a comment back at the person with a different approach. ...

Based on 1990 census numbers, about 50 cities across the country are approaching 50,000 in population. The number itself is significant because it could earn the city the Census Bureau's designation as a metropolitan statistical area. Cape Girardeau is among the cities identified with potential to achieve the 50,000 mark in the coming years...

The Cape Girardeau Public Library has formed a foundation to raise money to expand services. To "lift off" the new foundation, Apollo 13 astronaut and author James Lovell will provide the keynote address on Oct. 4. Tickets are available at the library...

JACKSON -- If a student isn't doing well in school, it doesn't always mean failure. But it is possible for students to lose interest in school before educators can find a way to reach them. That's why the Jackson School District expanded its gifted-education program to younger students. The district hopes to identify younger students who qualify for the gifted program before they lose interest in school...

The sun wasn't up and traffic signals were still flashing yellow when members of the Scott City High School Student Council began selling YELL newspapers Tuesday. Three hundred volunteers in Scott City, Chaffee, Cape Girardeau and Jackson "hawked" special YELL editions of the Southeast Missourian along busy intersections in their towns...

Overriding a governor's veto isn't easy. It hasn't happened in at least 20 years in Missouri and it won't happen this year, area lawmakers say. But lawmakers will convene today for their annual veto session. The two-day session begins at noon. The state constitution requires lawmakers to hold a veto session each year in September...

After months of fighting to get property on North Sprigg rezoned, it seemed Holigan Homes officials accepted their proposed subdivision's R-1 status. Not anymore. The group will come before Cape Girardeau's Planning and Zoning Commission tonight asking for R-2 zoning in Forest Hills Subdivision, to be developed by Dallas-based Holigan Homes. The proposed neighborhood sits near the corner of the Sprigg Street extension and Bertling Street...

The midway of a carnival is like life itself. There are rides that are as full of ups and downs as your first date. There are rides that make you feel like you are at your in-laws' family reunion. And there are rides that make you feel like you did after your brothers spun you around on the lid of a garbage can right after dinner...

Billy Dalton, 44 South Frederick, used a garden hose to wet trees and salvaged cars in his back yard as burning embers floated above him from the fire at Polar Therm Tuesday afternoon. Fire of undetermined origin heavily damaged the former Polar Therm plant near Frederick and Independence streets late Tuesday...

As a child, my life was divided into three basic activities: going to school, sitting in my room eating M&Ms or sitting in front of the television eating Charles Chips and french onion dip. Ah, what a happy time. Today, my life consists of going to work, washing clothes and rocking back and forth in a special padded room...

A change in plans means Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri will be using all of its new Cape Girardeau customer service center. Clara Webb Kinner, a spokeswoman for the insurer, said the company will use all 42,000 square feet of the new building under construction in the Cape West Business Park at Route K and Interstate 55. Originally, the company had planned to use only 36,000 square feet, she said...

SIKESTON -- A long-awaited addition to the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston opened Sunday. The O'Bannon Family Care Center obstetrics unit features four labor, delivery and recovery rooms; one surgical suite, Level I and Level II nurseries, 14 post partum beds and three conference rooms. The unit was named in memory of the late Dr. William N. and Lucille R. O'Bannon...

Descendants of John G. and Elizabeth (Jenkins) Brown Sr. will gather for their annual family reunion Sunday in the Jackson City Park, Pavilion 4. All family and friends are invited. A family-style, basket dinner will be served at 11:30 a.m. Bring a basket dinner, table service, lawn chairs and old pictures...

Some people say it's more important to be lucky than good. Right now the Notre Dame High soccer team, in the midst of a rare two-match losing streak after a 2-1 loss to Cape Central Tuesday, may be a testament to the adage: Luck just hasn't gone the Bulldogs' way the last few days...

Tuesday's soccer game between Cape Central and rival Notre Dame carried two important lessons in life. Lesson One: Good sportsmanship should be one of the underlying ingredients of athletics, including rivalries. Lesson Two: Always pick up your own T-shirts...

Due to the OVC scheduling this year, our late start of the 1996 football season is finally upon us. The preseason has gone well but tedious at times. I believe that by only having one week of two-a-days and three weeks of one-a-day practices, we should have fresh legs for our opener at Illinois State Saturday...

Defending Class 1A state champion Bernie kept the Notre Dame Lady Bulldogs in search of their first win of the young season with a 15-7, 15-5 victory Tuesday night in high school volleyball action. Notre Dame fell to 0-2 with the loss. "We just played pretty flat," said Notre Dame coach Janet Buchheit. "We came out and just didn't play our game."...

JACKSON -- Betty Idella Beal, 86, of Minneapolis, Minn., died Friday, Sept. 6, 1996, in Minneapolis. She was born Jan. 25, 1910, in Jackson, daughter of William and Rena Lewis. She and Festus Beal were married Dec. 5, 1935, in Illinois. Beal was a member of St. John AME Church, NAACP, and Senior Citizens. She moved to Minneapolis in 1994...

Funeral mass for Romanus John Halter, 19 S. Benton, will be held at 10 a.m. today at St. Mary's Cathedral. Msgr. Richard Rolwing will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park, with graveside rites by VFW Post 3838. Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel is in charge of arrangements...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for John W. Fleurdelys Sr. of Sikeston was held Tuesday at Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home in Bloomfield. Burial was in Bloomfield Cemetery. Fleurdelys, 76, died Sunday Sept. 8, 1996, at Bloomfield Nursing Center in Bloomfield...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Cecil F. Hickam, 85, of Jonesboro, formerly of Alto Pass, died Tuesday, Sept. 10, 1911, at his home. He was born Sept. 10, 1911, in Alto Pass, the son of George Allen and Lumeda Bell McKinney Hickam. He was married June 12, 1936, in Anna to Anna Rachel Penrod. She died Aug. 28, 1979...

CHARLESTON -- Dalon Allen Shands, 2 months, of Charleston died suddenly Saturday, Sept. 7, 1996, at his home. He was born June 26, 1996, in Sikeston, son of Richard Kirkwood and Tina Shands. Survivors include his parents; a brother, Deron Shands of Charleston; a sister, Shaterica Kirkwood of Charleston; maternal grandparents, Betty Shands of Charleston and Charles Shands of East Prairie...

CHARLESTON -- Phillip Branigan, 92, of Charleston died Saturday, Sept. 7, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 1, 1904, in Macon, Miss., son of Tipler and Sally Hill Branigan. He and Sally Robinson were married March 25, 1929...

MILLERSVILLE -- The annual Niswonger family reunion will be held Sunday at Niswonger Church, three miles west of Millersville on Highway 72. A basket dinner will be served at 12:30 p.m. The Gravelaires Quartet of First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau will present the program...

City employees Robert Reed, left, and Bill Lesar unloaded newspapers from a collection truck at the city's recycling center. Fewer and fewer old newspapers are headed for landfills as Americans recycle record amounts of newsprint. In 1995, Americans recycled 63 percent of all old newspapers, an all-time high representing 8.1 million tons of newsprint...