Stories from Monday, January 20, 1997

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's "Business After Hours" Tuesday will be held at the St. Francis Universal Health & Fitness Center, 505 S. Mount Auburn Road. The program, 5 to 6:30 p.m., is designed to unite chamber members in a relaxed atmosphere and to encourage members to meet, mingle and make new business contacts...

Commerce Bancshares Inc. has announced record earnings of $119.5 million for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, an increase of 11 percent from the $107.6 million in 1995. Per-share earnings were $3.11 for 1996, compared to $2.71 for 1994. Return on assets for the year was 1.28 percent...

Changes in Social Security laws, the future of the Social Security Trust, and recent legislative changes in Medicaid planning are among topics to be discussed at a free workshop to be held at the Cape Girardeau Public Library, 711 N. Clark Friday. Speakers from the Social Security Administration and American Red Cross will be among a panel of experts at the "Seniors & Social Security" workshop, which will be conducted from 10 to noon...

Sherilyn Borders will discuss "Women Managing Their Own Health" at the Professional Secretaries International meeting, to be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau. PSI represents members from many backgrounds and in many fields, including secretaries, executive-administrative assistants, information specialists and office managers...

Huffy Bicycle, a bicycle manufacturing company with a facility at Farmington, has presented "Focus on Farmington Foundation" with a check for $2,500. The funds are designated for development of a bicycle trail under way in the Farmington area. Focus on Farming adopted the support of a bike trail as one of its initial projects in the fall of 1995...

"Fertigation" is working. Eight-month-old cottonwood trees grown on the Westvaco Robbins Fiber Farm in Scott County are already more than 12 feet talk and could reach a height of more than 70 feet during a six-year period. Trees planted last March on a 50-acre tract off of Route 77 in Scott County will be ready for harvest in 2002...

Mercantile Bancorporation's net income for the final quarter of 1996, and for the year, are up from 1995 levels. Net income for the last three months was $66.6 million, an increase of 17.7 percent from 1995 fourth-quarter totals. Net income for the year was $248.5 million, a 6.8 percent increase from 1995, excluding acquisition charges and a one-time SAIF assessment. Included in these charges, net income for 1966 was $191,947,000, or $3.10 a share...

Chris Jennings, Missouri tourism director, will be guest speaker at the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce noon luncheon meeting Thursday at Lambert's Restaurant. This will mark Jennings' first visit to the Sikeston-Miner area.

A Southeast Missouri firm -- Alliant Foodservice of Salem -- has won two Defense Department contracts, valued at $18.2 million. U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson announced that the Salem company will serve as the prime food vendor for six Army and Air Force bases in three states for fiscal year 1997...

A new Amerimart service station-convenience store opened near Fruitland. The 3,000-square-foot, "ground-up" facility on Highway 61 North, replaced a smaller Amerimart store. "We went from 800 to 3,000 square feet," said Laura Younghouse, president of Midwest Energy Inc., which operates seven Amerimart Stores in Southeast Missouri and the Ye Ole House, a collectibles and gift shop at 120 Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau...

Estella Kelley and Sharon Welker shared "Employee of the Year" honors at the Lutheran Home. Kelley is a certified nurse's aide and has been at the Lutheran Home for 26 years. Welker, business office manager, has been at the Lutheran Home for 23 years...

During the past year the Midwest area experienced a 3.2 percent increase in wages and salaries, just under the 3.3 increase nationally. Associated Industries of Missouri, a manufacturers' association, has completed an extensive survey of wages, salaries and benefit practices for businesses in the Cape Girardeau area that indicates salary hikes overall were above the national average...

Ryan's Steaks, Buffet & Bakery has opened at 1207 S. Main in Sikeston. The 10,000-square-foot restaurant, which will seat between 390 and 400 people, is open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday...

Ford Groves Motor Co. at Jackson is operating out of a new, $350,000, 5,000-square-foot facility at 825 Highway 61 East. "We have a two-car showroom, two bays in the back, six salesmen's offices and two manager's offices," said Robert G. Neff, general manager and a partner in Ford Groves Motor Co., headquartered at 1501 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau...

More than $1.2 million in Safe Schools Act funds has been issued to Southeast Missouri schools since August 1996, and administrators are wasting no time putting that money to use. Missouri set aside $10 million in grant funding to help schools establish and improve security measures in 1996. Thirty school districts in Southeast Missouri and 100 districts overall benefited from the funding...

For years, doctors recommended rest and immobility for treating the pain of arthritis. All that changed about 10 years ago. "The old saying, If you don't use it you're going to lose it, is very truthful when it comes to arthritis," says Charlene Linn, program representative for the Regional Arthritis Center in Cape Girardeau...

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures should be on the rise for Southeast Missouri over the next few days. That means that much of the ice that turned streets and driveways into hazards will melt off. But it's not all good news. The National Weather Service is predicting a high near 50 degrees today and rising to the mid-50s by Wednesday. On Thursday a cold front may move through the area and there is a chance for snow. Thursday's high probably will be in the 30s...

A pinch of toad flax and a 50-degree forecast can cure just about anything. My friend Linda has a bad case of buyer's remorse. Coaxed out of her winter depression by the arrival of garden catalogs -- representing, of course, the promise of spring -- Linda spent her "folding money" for the next few months on seeds...

There is no question about it, we are living is a marvelous age, filled with electronic wonders that would mystify even our parents and most certainly our grandparents. With the flick of a switch, we can access more information than Einstein ever knew about, and we can communicate, almost instantly, with far-away correspondents who can provide us with new and exciting information...

With a first term under his belt and his re-election bid behind him, Bill Clinton begins his second term today with a high approval rating. But how history records the 42nd president of the United States will hinge largely upon his performance the next four years...

To the editor: Once again on Ebonics: It seems the arguments do not go away. They would not have arisen if those who write and speak on the topics had a grounding in language history. Such a study shows that since at least the days of Sanskrit, about 3000 B.C., we have taken pride in our language system. ...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "What do you think of the proposed 5 percent increase in Cape Girardeau water rates?" Shannon Barrett, Cape Girardeau "I think the water rates are high enough already." Joe Seabaugh, Cape Girardeau "I just don't like it. It's more money out of my pocket."...

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians, coming off Saturday's thrilling win over Middle Tennessee State, will look for a clean sweep of their weekend road trip to Tennessee. In order to pull off that impressive feat, however, the Indians will have to get by what Southeast coach Ron Shumate considers perhaps the most physically talented team in the Ohio Valley Conference...

CHESTER, Ill. -- Perryville's boys, the No. 5 seed, beat seventh-seeded New Athens 55-38 for the Chester Invitational title Saturday night. Perryville, state ranked in Class 3A and 16-1, held New Athens to only six points in the first half. It was Perryville's third tournament title of the season. The Pirates won the Woodland Tournament and the MICDS Tournament...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Roy V. Collins, 85, of Cairo died Saturday Jan. 18, 1997, at Murray Calloway County Hospital in Murray, Ky. He was born Oct. 24, 1911, in Pocahontas, Ill., son of the late Homer and Birdette Plant Collins. He was the manager of the Cairo Public Utility Commission before his retirement and had been serving as a consultant...

VILLA RIDGE, Ill. -- Larry Ray Essex, 49, of Villa Ridge died Saturday, Jan. 18, 1997, at his home. He was born Oct. 24, 1947, in Cairo, Ill., son of William C. and Irma Mize Essex. He was a farmer, a member of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Villa Ridge and served in the Illinois National Guard...

PERRYVILLE -- Severino "Sam" Bono, 77, of Perryville died Saturday, Jan. 19, 1997, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born Aug. 20, 1919, in St. Louis, son of the late Guiseppe and Leonarda Biondo Bono. He married Frances J. Cromie on April 10, 1985, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She survives...

Bon Doza, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Jan. 17, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Aug. 30, 1911, in Kaskaskia, Ill., son of Clara and Maggie Roderique Doza. He married Virgie Marie Moll July 27, 1938, in Perryville. She preceded him in death on March 27, 1993...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Vrada Belle Standley, 85, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, Jan. 19, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Nov. 28, 1911, in Katy, Texas, daughter of Fred and Ethel Gilpin Lohmann. She married Elmer F. Standley on June 6, 1936, in St. Louis. He survives...

JACKSON -- Perry Lee Dockins, 87, of Jackson died Saturday Jan. 18, 1997, at his home. He was born Dec. 11, 1909, in Caruth, son of Perry Marks and Mary Cathrine Pierce Dockins. He married Mildred Gibbon Pogue on Aug. 28, 1965, and she preceded him in death on Dec. 18, 1992...

CHARLESTON -- William Lockridge, 77, of Charleston died Sunday, Jan. 19, 1997, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.