Stories from Thursday, October 10, 1996

To the editor: Political debates can be dry toast, but not for viewers staying tuned to watch the third-party candidates. Larry King offered us a smorgasbord of new ideas in a program following Ross Perot and the main event last Sunday evening. All candidates on the CNN program agreed it was a waste to vote for either Dole or Clinton. ...

Employers want people who have a good attitude, a panel of business representatives said Wednesday. The four-member panel discussed employer hiring practices at a Common Hour session in Robert A. Dempster Hall. About 100 Southeast Missouri State University students attended the noontime presentation...

Dr. Sharon Bebout wrote and directs "Ghosts Still Speak," which is based on the book "The Earthquake America Forgot" by Dr. David Stewart, right, and Dr. Ray Knox. Something happened when Dr. Sharon Bebout toured the New Madrid area with Dr. David Stewart and Dr. Ray Knox many months ago...

Michael Holigan, host of the syndicated TV show "Your New House" and owner of the largest home-building company in Tennessee, will appear Saturday at the Heartland Women's Show. The 30-year-old Holigan already has some memories of Cape Girardeau. He attended Alma Schrader Elementary School during first, second and part of third grade before his family moved to Kansas City. His father, Harold, was the district manager for Southwestern Bell...

I LOOKED up liberalism in the dictionary as a recent caller suggested. I liked what I saw. I wonder if a conservative can be defined as the opposite of a liberal. Is a conservative someone who does not believe in social progress, can't accept the basic goodness of man and rejects the autonomy of the individual? Does conservatism go along with convenient suspension of political and civil liberties? Or is a conservative simply someone doesn't like Bill Clinton?...

The so-called U.S. war on drugs hasn't been doing much good during the Clinton administration, a well-documented fact that the White House would like to keep under wraps. But this is an election year, and Republicans continue to remind President Clinton of his administration's failure in this area...

It is still too soon to know if efforts to revive the struggling Civic Center in downtown Cape Girardeau has any chance of success. The center's funding from the Area Wide United Way was cut off earlier this year after repeated requests for financial information and other documentation weren't forthcoming...

To the editor: I would like to take this opportunity to announce National Wildlife Refuge Week (Oct. 5-13). This event is a national celebration of these valuable public lands that safeguard our precious birds and other wildlife and provide recreational opportunities to over 30 million Americans each year...

To the editor: Target Stores' decision to stop selling cigarettes nationwide was made for business reasons, according to a company spokeswoman, but that decision is also good for our community. Tobacco is a killer, and it is killing our children, our siblings, our spouses and our parents. ...

A proposal for Cape Girardeau public schools would turn a 69-cent tax levy increase into a new elementary building, vocational school and high school, an addition to Jefferson Elementary School, and improvements, including air conditioning, at other buildings...

With the smell of espresso percolating through the air, the soft sounds of classical violin drifting down from the overhead speakers and the quiet, sandy rustle of turning pages, it is no surprise that chess players from all around the area have discovered Wednesday night's matches at Barnes & Noble Book Sellers...

Cape Girardeau subdivision developers may be required to put sidewalks in their plans if Planning and Zoning commissioners have their way. At the commission's meeting Wednesday night, city staff was asked to prepare an ordinance making sidewalks mandatory in all new subdivisions. The current law allows the City Council to require sidewalks in subdivisions they choose, but the new law would make sidewalks mandatory in all of them...

After viewing Wednesday night's vice presidential debate, 28 area students and others participated in general discussions and a debate of their own in which they critiqued and commended Al Gore and Jack Kemp. The second meeting of DebateWatch '96 was held at Southeast Missouri State University's Dempster Hall. The group met for the first time during Sunday's presidential debates between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole...

Oct. 10, 1996 Dear Carol, It's the time of perfect days in Missouri, skies so blue you'd think they were painted, the trees just beginning to add yellows and reds to the canvas. Wonder how your cat Amelia would capture the picture. The guy who cuts my hair, you see, told me about a book called "Why Cats Paint." He says, snip, snip, "Yeah, they put some paints in front of a cat and it'll dip its paws in and paint what it sees." Snip, snip. ...

Vision 2000's second annual "Lunch at the Seminary" could be its last, depending on what is announced at a Friday press conference. The Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation has been trying to buy Old St. Vincent's Seminary for nearly two years, with plans to make it a tourist and cultural center. Foundation members were unable to pay off the Vincentian Fathers, who own the property, and the seminary was scheduled to be sold on the Common Pleas Courthouse steps in early September...

MILES CITY, Mont. -- Funeral service for Junior Marion "Tiny" Wilkinson of Miles City was held Wednesday at Bullis-Graves Memorial Chapel, with Bob Bozarth officiating. Burial was in the veterans' section of the Custer County Cemetery. Wilkinson, 70, died Saturday, Oct. 5, 1996, at the Miles City V.A. Medical Center...

ESSEX -- Sarathna "Sissy" Renard, 79, of Elgin, Ill., died Tuesday, Oct. 8, 1996, at Asta Nursing Home in Elgin. She was born Jan. 5, 1917, in Rector, Ark., daughter of John F. and Mary Markham Renard. Renard moved to Elgin 25 years ago from Essex. Survivors include three brothers, Billy Renard of Panama City, Fla., Marion Renard of Jacksonville, Ill., and Bobby Renard of San Antonio, Texas...

Private funeral service for Carolyn Sue Pooker of Columbia was held Wednesday in Columbia. Pooker, 55, died Saturday, Sept. 28, 1996, at her home, from an aneurism. She was born May 7, 1941, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of G.E. and Marie Doggett LaPlante. She was raised by her grandparents, Dr. Sylvester and Ada Doggett. She and Jack L. Pooker were married Dec. 23, 1960, in Cape Girardeau...

Kenneth Abbott Verhines, 74, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996, at Missouri Veterans Home. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

ANNA, Ill. -- Orville A. "Skinny" Miller, 99, of Anna died Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996, at City Care Center. Hileman and Parr Funeral Home in Jonesboro is in charge of arrangements.

SHOOK -- Elizabeth F. "Betty" Fulton, 72, of Shook died Tuesday, Oct. 8, 1996, at the Lucy Lee Hospital in Poplar Bluff. She was born Jan. 24, 1924, in St. Louis, daughter of the late Julius and Florence Conrad Siemer. She married Hansel D. "Phillip" Fulton on Dec. 14, 1943. He died July 11, 1996...