Stories from Saturday, February 8, 1997

To the editor: What a bit of fresh air to see the American Bar Association take a stance against the death penalty! As a Roman Catholic priest and pastor, I have felt that Pope John Paul II and the American bishops who have been speaking against capital punishment over the last 15 years were lone voices in the wilderness. ...

Crime Stoppers moved another step closer to reality this week when eight Cape Girardeau civic organizations pledged volunteers and money to the cause. Those community-minded groups are the Cape Girardeau County Rotary Club, the Exchange Club, the Noon Lions Club, the Cape Evening Lions Club, the Excelsior Optimist Club, the Rotary Club of Cape Girardeau, the Cape West Rotary Club and Community Caring Council...

It is official. The Cape Girardeau School District's campaign to promote a bond issue and tax increase received an enthusiastic kickoff Thursday night. Almost 600 boosters -- young and old -- attended the rally. That is just the kind of enthusiasm and commitment the district needs to carry this proposal to victory April 1...

I JUST read in the Missourian where somebody was trying to say that abortion became legal during a Republican president. I just want to address the fact that abortion became legal and in no other way than judicial legislation. That's where a majority of the Democrat-appointed Supreme Court justices decided that they knew better than the people who they are supposed to work for. ...

While Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, is the most serious, the most studied and the most talked-about sexually transmitted disease, it is not the only one. Nurses at the Cape Girardeau County Health Department screen about 100 people a month for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes or genital warts. Some 12 to 15 percent test positive for one of these ailments...

Opponents of stricter Environmental Protection Agency air standards pleaded their case before members of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Friday. "We're here to instill fear because these standards have a significant impact on Missouri," said Roger Walker, general counsel for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. "The cost is enormous and the health benefits have not demonstrated that these tighter standards are necessary."...

Missouri can be viewed as frugal -- even miserly -- based on a recent report on 1995-96 tax money designated for education. The Missouri State Teachers Association recently ranked Missouri 50th in a national survey of state and local taxes as a percentage of personal income. The ranking was part of a full report on the salaries schedules and benefits of Missouri public-school teachers...

The Missouri State Teachers Association gives public-school districts an A for effort in their progress toward improving salaries and benefits of public-school teachers in the state. However, the association said improvements still need to be made in salaries and expenditures per student...

Southeast Missouri State University has settled a sexual harassment lawsuit out of court. The suit is another in a series of high-profile lawsuits that have been settled by the school in the past 10 months. The university reached an agreement Thursday with the plaintiff, former Southeast Missouri State University music teacher Louisa Panou-Takahashi. The agreement was authorized by the Board of Regents, which discussed the lawsuit in a lengthy closed-door meeting Wednesday...

Chad Shiflett was still in diapers when he rode his first motorcycle. "It was a junior 50-cc," said Shiflett, who has been riding for more than 22 years. "My father raced moto-cross and he started me out early." Shiflett, of Brookfield, Mo., was in Cape Girardeau Friday for the Ultra Arena-Cross moto-cross races being held as part of the Monster Truck Spectacular at the Show Me Center...

February is the shortest month of the year, but it's still one of my favorites. It's not because of Groundhog's Day, which I never keep up with because the rodent's never quite accurate. (See weather story, page 1A.) It's definitely not because of Valentine's Day. The only consistent Valentine I've had since reaching puberty has been my dad, and even he's been slacking off since I got married last year...

More than 600 high-school and junior-high band students will converge on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University today for the 15th annual Southeast Missouri School Band Association Instrumental Clinics. Several Southeast student ensembles and soloists will give a concert at 9 a.m. today at Academic Auditorium. The high-school and junior-high students will break into small groups for clinics from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the University Center and the Brandt Hall of Music...

Dr. Dorothy C. Hardy, adjutant professor of English at the University of North Alabama at Florence, was honored Friday in Montgomery, Ala., as one of Alabama state universities' "alumni of distinction." The former Southeast Missouri State University educator was selected for her contributions to disadvantaged youths and at-risk students for over 25 years...

Southeast Missouri State University's gymnastics team will be near full strength tonight as the Otahkians defend their title in the sixth annual Cap'n Crunch Invitational. The Otahkians will square off against Illinois, Bowling Green, Yale and Alaska-Anchorage in the 7 o'clock meet at the Show Me Center...

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University's 'Death Valley' trip is arguably its toughest of the Ohio Valley Conference season. And that still figures to hold true, said Southeast coach Ron Shumate, even though the teams the Indians will meet on this long journey occupy the bottom of the OVC standings...

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team earned something of a reprieve Thursday night by breaking a five-game losing streak. But Otahkian coach Ed Arnzen knows that victory over Murray State will serve little purpose in the Ohio Valley Conference standings unless his team builds on it...

If Cape Girardeau Central High's boys basketball team wins its district -- as expected -- and Riverview Gardens of St. Louis win its district -- as expected -- the two would meet in a sectional game at the Farmington Civic Center. Central coach Brett Reutzel said that his team's game against Riverview Gardens at the Tiger Field House would show them how they measure up...

PERRYVILLE -- Perryville continued its successful march through the 1996-97 schedule with a 59-47 victory over cross-town rival St. Vincent Friday night. Perryville, 21-1 and ranked No. 3 in Missouri Class 3A, built an eight-point lead in the opening period and protected the margin into the fourth period, where it pulled away...

PUXICO -- Funeral service for Artie Denny of Pueblo, Colo., will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Watkins and Sons Funeral Chapel in Puxico. The Rev. Wiley McGhee will officiate, with burial in Puxico Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 6-8 p.m. today...

SIKESTON -- Billy Fred Johnson, 77, of Sikeston died Thursday, Feb. 6, 1997, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born July 10, 1919, at Morley, son of Willie August and Ester Madge Crafton Johnson. He and Neoma Sledge were married Dec. 5, 1944, in Arkansas...

CHAFFEE -- Funeral service for Ernest Oscar "Bud" Fowler of Marion, Ark., was held Monday at Roller-Citizens Funeral Home in West Memphis, Ark. Burial was in Crittenden Memorial Park in Marion. Fowler, 71, died Friday, Jan. 31, 1997, at his home. He was born April 29, 1925, at Chaffee, son of Oscar and Minta Graves Fowler. He married the former Ann Taylor...

BURFORDVILLE -- Funeral service for Richard Loren "Bud" Stroder of Burfordville will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Chapel in Jackson. The Rev. O. David Griffin will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery in Jackson...

ORAN -- Emma T. Clubb, 94, of Chesterfield died Friday, Feb. 7, 1997, at St. Joseph Hospital in Kirkwood. She was born Sept. 5, 1902, in Effingham, Ill., daughter of Joseph and Bertha Sporleder Laux. She and Leslie Clubb were married Dec. 26, 1922. He died March 15, 1952...

PERRYVILLE -- Helen Irene Baylard Bush, 77, died at her home in Perryville Friday, Feb. 7, 1997. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by Miller Family Funeral Home at Perryville.

Son to Lisa Ann Housman of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:29 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, 1997. Name, Jordan Tyrell. Weight, 9 pounds 2 ounces. Second son. Miss Housman is the daughter of Merriel and Betty Housman of Cape Girardeau. She is a student at Stage One the Hair School...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for John Michael Filer of Jackson will be held at 2 p.m. today at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson, with the Revs. Mark Anderson and David Butler officiating. Burial will be in Russell Heights Cemetery. Filer, 37, died from a heart attack Thursday, Feb. 6, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...