Stories from Wednesday, January 22, 1997

To the editor: Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed some new clean-air standards. If adopted, these new standards would lower the amount of ozone and fine particulate matter released into the air we breathe. Some who oppose these stricter standards would argue that they are unnecessary and useless, but evidence tells a different story...

A tale of two states reveals a rather remarkable divergence in sales tax on food. Missouri may eliminate its long-standing 3-cent sales tax on food. Illinois may reimpose its sales tax on groceries and drugs, which was eliminated Jan. 1, 1984. It isn't common sense that ignites these debates. It is cents and a whole lot of dollars...

The Cape Girardeau City Council will consider a proposed 5 percent rate increase in water rates next Monday. The matter had been tabled from two weeks ago. The 5 percent increase in water rates is already calculated into the city budget, which was approved by the council last June...

Gov. Mel Carnahan has submitted a proposal to give tax credits of up to $1,500 per year to help cover the cost of a college education. Members of the 14-member Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (such as St. Louis University, Central Methodist College, Washington University) support this proposal...

IN REFERENCE to Gov. Carnahan's desire to have every child computer-proficient by the age of 12, he needs to remember that the computer is only as good as the operator's ability to use it intelligently. Children need to be taught the basics in grammar and math by a teacher in order to work and live successfully in this complex world...

A man involved in a five-car accident in the Wal-Mart Supercenter parking lot Tuesday night was at St. Francis Medical Center with a broken neck. Cape Girardeau police Ptlmn. Kevin Eudy said Lynn M. Twitty, 87, of Cape Girardeau rammed three vehicles and clipped the building with the car he was driving before finally coming to rest after hitting a pickup truck. That impact sent the truck over the edge of a 30-foot drainage ditch...

Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan has scheduled a special election for April 1 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of state Rep. Don Prost, D-Caruthersville. Carnahan set the special election Tuesday in an executive order. Prost was re-elected to the 162nd District House seat in November. The district includes Dunklin, New Madrid and Pemiscot counties...

The Cape Girardeau City Council opted Tuesday to approve a smaller hike in water rates than initially proposed. Acting on an amended ordinance, the council voted unanimously to raise rates by 3 percent. The increase, which will take effect Feb. 1, will generate an estimated $114,000 in additional revenue annually. Monthly bills for residential customers will increase an average of 44 cents while commercial customers will pay an average $1.88 extra each month...

Regulatory paperwork and court proceedings could delay the start of cleanup work at the PCB-contaminated Missouri Electric Works site for another two years. The paperwork alone could take longer than the actual cleanup of the Superfund site in Cape Girardeau, a lawyer said Tuesday...

When Carl Long noticed a picture of two people walking on the frozen Mississippi River in Saturday's Southeast Missourian, it brought back memories. "I took a second look at the picture," said Long, now a representative with the Leggett Group, a tobacco company. "I thought it may have been a picture of me and a classmate of mine who walked across the river in 1951."...

The Other Half and I barely had time to get settled in and start our new jobs before a tornado touched down 10 miles from our apartment. Yes, that's how we decide where to live. We look for the area with the most natural disasters and move there. All those weather warnings on the local channels made us feel right at home...

Carroll Waldo of Cape Girardeau said he volunteered to become a court-appointed special advocate because he has always loved children. "Kids and me just get along," Waldo said. "I've always enjoyed having children around -- we raised three of them -- and I find it easy to relate to children. I just love them."...

A kick-off meeting for Riverfest 1997 will be held Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant. The meeting, sponsored by the Riverfest Committee, serves to recruit people who want to be part of the Riverfest celebration and to gather ideas on how to make the event better...

Sure, it would have been great for Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians to sweep their road trip to Tennessee. But even though the Indians barely missed out on upending Tennessee Tech Monday night, they came away with an all-important split that could wind up doing them plenty of good in the overall picture of the Ohio Valley Conference race...

Chris Chambers, a junior member of Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team, has left the squad for personal reasons. Southeast coach Ron Shumate said Chambers, a 6-foot-2 guard, would continue as a student at Southeast and would concentrate on his academics...

First let me say that it is good to be back home after our trip to Tennessee and to be in a first-place tie in the Ohio Valley Conference. We rolled into Cape at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning with our players facing classes and the coaches looking at office work and preparation for Murray State...

Cape Girardeau Central High and Notre Dame are two teams going opposite directions in a hurry -- and Tuesday wasn't the day for a turnaround. Central answered an early-season loss to the Bulldogs by winning 78-58 at Notre Dame. After starting the season 1-2, Central has gone 12-1 since...

Two Southeast Missouri State University Otahkians gained Ohio Valley Conference honors this week. Junior forward Jamie Koester is the OVC Co-Newcomer of the Week and freshman guard Sarah Frazier is the OVC Rookie of the Week. Koester averaged 14.1 points and 12.1 rebounds in the Otahkians' three games while Frazier averaged 14 points in the three contests...

PERRYVILLE -- Perryville High's boys basketball team broke a 30-year-old school record Tuesday night with its 13th consecutive victory, a 72-64 triumph over visiting Festus. Scott Kassel scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help the Pirates break the win record which had stood since the 1965-66 season...

MARBLE HILL -- Stella K. Cook, 85, of Marble Hill died Monday, Jan. 20, 1997, at Bond Nursing Care Center. She was born April 2, 1911, at Hurricane, daughter of Dave and Barbara Causey Long. She and Perl Cook were married June 23, 1929. Cook attended Hurricane Fork General Baptist Church...

Funeral service for Lionel N. Thornton, 1770 Bertling, will be held at 1 p.m. today at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Alvis Paul will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park, with graveside service by VFW Post 3838. Thornton, 84, died Monday, Jan. 20, 1997, at Heartland Care and Rehab Center...

ORAN -- Funeral service for Eleanor Caroline Stokes of Oran will be held at 2 p.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Oran. The Rev. Ed Carter will officiate, with burial in Forest Hills Memorial Garden near Morley. Stokes, 81, died Monday, Jan. 20, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau...

DEXTER -- Funeral service for John "Ivan" Jones of Dexter will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Rainey Funeral Chapel. Dr. James Campbell will officiate. Jones, 80, died Sunday, Jan. 19, 1997, at Piggott Community Hospital in Piggott, Ark. He was born March 19, 1916, at Delta, son of John Franklin and Mary Ann Reynolds Jones...

DEXTER -- John Lee Simpson Jr., 78, of Dexter died Monday, Jan. 20, 1997, at his home. He was born Oct. 7, 1918, at Wappapello, son of John Lee and Bertha Davis Simpson Sr. Simpson had been a farmer and painter. Survivors include two sons, Jerry Simpson of Nashville, Tenn., John Simpson III of Sikeston; three daughters, Glenda Johnson of Dexter, Wilma Middleton of Scott City, Patty Musgraves of Bloomfield; three brothers, Norman Simpson of Merrill, Ore., Paul Simpson of Reno, Nev., Kenneth Simpson of Wappapello; a sister, Opal Lee of Dexter; a friend, Lillian Short; 10 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.. ...

Lula Mae Anderson, 97, of South Gate, Calif., formerly of Tamms, Ill., died Tuesday, Jan. 21, 1996, at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, Calif. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Tamms.

OAK RIDGE -- Funeral service for Dorothy D. Grebe of Oak Ridge will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at McCombs Funeral Chapel in Jackson. Burial will be in Goshen Cemetery at Oak Ridge. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-7 p.m. today. Grebe, 86, died Monday, Jan. 20, 1997, at Chateau Health Care in Cape Girardeau...

CHARLESTON -- Marie Victory, 68, of Charleston died Monday, Jan. 20, 1997, at Charleston Manor. She was born Dec. 11, 1928, in Clarksdale, Miss., daughter of Ealin and Nelia Mose Wilkins. Victory was a cook at Charleston Manor 30 years, retiring Aug. 7, 1996. She was a member of Mercy Seat Baptist Church and its Senior Choir, and served on the Usher Board...

(Cape Girardeau County) Leon G. and Mary Jane Eftink to Mary Jane Eftink Trust; John P. and Lisa J. Zimmer to Zimmer Family Trust; First Bank of Beverly Hills to Dennis and Sandra Prenger; Bonnie L. Pierce to Brenda Hubert; Bonnie C. and Michael A. Smith to Fairview Partnership; Frieda F. ...

SCOTT CITY -- Nealy J. McCulley, 71, of Scott City died Tuesday, Jan. 21, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Home in Scott City.

BENTON -- Dallas D. Borneman, 36, of Benton died Sunday, Jan. 19, 1997, at his home. He was born Sept. 8, 1960, in Antigo, Wis., son of Daniel "Dan" and DeLorse Kautza Borneman. Borneman graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1983. He received the Russell Baldwig Memorial Scholarship. Borneman was a member of Delta Theta Sigma and Alpha Zeta Alumni Association...

MARBLE HILL -- Leonard T. "Corky" Wilder, 68, of Marble Hill died Monday, Jan. 20, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born July 1, 1928, in Ste. Genevieve, son of Leonard T. and Cecelia O'Connell Wilder. He and Verona Shanks were married July 10, 1971...

The Southeast Missourian asked students at Immaculate Conception Catholic School how they managed to cope with last week's winter vacation from school. Brent Knaup: "I went to my grandma's, got out in the cow pasture and went sledding down a big hill on an inner tube, but it popped. I also slid around on a frozen creek."...

JACKSON -- The Multipurpose Building Feasibility Study Committee will meet for the first time Thursday. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Board of Aldermen's chambers at City Hall and is open to the public. The meeting was originally scheduled for Jan. 15 but was cancelled due to inclement weather...

JACKSON -- Members of the Jackson School Board were interviewed about the overall state of their district during a special board meeting Tuesday evening. The meeting was part of a week-long mandatory state evaluation which is conducted in Missouri school districts on five-year rotations...

Everyone who reads these columns knows I've had a lifelong love-hate relationship with typewriters. Just about the time I decide to abandon my struggles with a once-trusty Smith-Corona, something happens to persuade me to re-establish our closeness...

Decoupage can transform an ordinary box. A plate can become a decoration with decoupage. A plain vase can show character with fabric decoupage. Being stuck inside on cold winter days can offer the opportunity for easy home decorating updates. "This is the season when we stay in more," said Jane Curl at Witness Designs in Cape Girardeau. "If we're going to be home, we should make home more comfortable."...

The clock is ticking. Less than a week remains to enter the Southeast Missourian's first-ever Devilish Desserts contest. The contest deadline is Monday. It's easy. Send your favorite chocolate dessert recipe to: Devilish Desserts, Southeast Missourian, Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699. Please include your name, address and phone number...