Stories from Friday, March 21, 1997

WOLF LAKE, Ill. -- The Shawnee Board of Education has adopted a list of program and personnel cuts in addition to increasing some prices in an effort to meet its budgets. The cuts were adjusted to reflect opinions expressed at a school board meeting that ran late into the night Wednesday. About 40 people, half of them teachers, asked the board to delay the cuts. The cuts and price increases had been proposed earlier...

Two of three candidates for the Cape Girardeau Board of Education agree that new schools are needed. The third suggests repairs be made to the buildings. The candidates fielded questions Thursday night at a League of Women Voters forum. Fewer than 10 people attended...

Last November, the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Center announced the formation of the Mississippi River Trail, a bicycle route that would extend 2,000 miles from Ste. Genevieve to New Orleans. Tourism officials drooled at the thought of tourists from all over the world riding through Missouri. But safety questions raised by government officials and lumber companies in Perry County have put the fate of the Missouri portion of the trail in doubt...

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission wants to put an end to nuisances. In the first use of its newly acquired power to write ordinances, the commission is formulating a measure to allow the county to act on complaints of stray animals, littering, junk cars and other annoyances...

The last personal letter I received was from a old friend who has no telephone, no TV, no radio. Don't you envy him? When the e-mail arrived earlier this week, it made me realize how high-tech our lives have become. The electronic message was from our older son in Boston. (Technically, he's in Cambridge, but if you say that, most Midwesterners think he's in England. So I say he's in Boston, except when he's around, and then I'm careful to say Cambridge. I am a good father.)...

CHAFFEE -- The Chaffee High School Drill Team and Cheerleaders will perform a routine today during the halftime of the 1A state basketball finals in Columbia. The Chaffee High School Drill Team won the state title for its division March 1. The cheerleaders won third place in state competition in November...

Volunteers with the American Association of Retired Persons are offering tax help for people with low to middle incomes. Tax clinics are held Monday and Wednesday through April 15. On Mondays, the clinic is held at the Salvation Army, 701 Good Hope, and on Wednesday it is held at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center, 921 N. Clark. Hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m...

DELTA -- Delta school administrator Larry Beshears resigned from his position as superintendent during the regular Board of Education meeting March 13. Board members accepted the resignation and relieved Beshears of his duties. He had been superintendent of the district since 1990...

About half the number of teachers who usually attend the annual Southeast Missouri District Teachers Meeting are expected today. Many schools are in session making up snow days on a day when classes are traditionally canceled. Still, almost 2,000 teachers are expected to attend the meeting at the Show Me Center. The morning session begins at 9 o'clock...

WE HAVE the race card, the gender card and I'm thinking about getting a patent on the ignorance card. The Clinton administration has been playing it so much, I could charge them for using it and I'll be wealthy. A FRIEND was telling me how quick the Clinton/Gore team responded in giving aid, which is well and good because the people need it. ...

To the editor: American is a nation in moral decline. Up until the present time, we have always felt that America was one of God's favorites and enjoyed his protective hand. But now that seems to be changing, because the frequency of natural disasters seems to be increasing. ...

A quick word about President Clinton's bum knee: It's a good thing the president was in no real medical danger after slipping on some stairs. Just think what frenzy might have occurred amongst the news media in such dire circumstances. As it was, nearly every news outlet, print or broadcast, went nuts over a torn ligament, thereby ignoring other major news events of some consequence to viewers and readers. ...

For starters, Missouri's legislators already are paid too much. At $26,830 in annual salary plus $35 a day in expense money, state lawmakers make enough to be considered full-time bureaucrats, even though many representatives and senators own businesses or hold other jobs at home...

To the editor: I feel I must respond to the Rev. Wissman's recent letters concerning the application of the death penalty and the American Bar Association's pronouncement in that regard. Our criminal justice system has a very difficult task ensuring that those captured and convicted of crimes receive punishment which is humane enough to protect the dignity of the criminal and severe enough to protect the lives and property of the citizenry at large. ...

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- After more than 40 years of public service, almost 12 of them as Pulaski County sheriff, Gene Dixon will not seek a fourth four-year term next year. "I feel that after the end of my current term it is time for me to retire from law enforcement," said Dixon, who was first elected as sheriff in 1985...

Southeast Missouri State University's women's gymnastics team has climbed to 13th in the most recent national rankings as the squad heads into its final meet of the regular season. "We started the season ranked in the 30s and we've been able to steadily climb ever since," said Southeast coach Bill Hopkins. "We've really been on a roll and hopefully we can keep it up."...

COLUMBIA -- Notre Dame High girls basketball coach Jerry Grim says his team is similar to its Class 2A semifinal opponent Hartville. "Overall, we're a lot alike," said Grim. "They like to press. They do a little bit of everything that we do." But on paper, the two teams, which will play today at 8:05 p.m. at the Hearnes Center, don't look so comparable...

HILTON HEAD, S.C. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's tennis team won two matches Thursday as its spring trip here concluded. The Otahkians beat Bradley 8-1 and Western Carolina 6-3 to finish 4-1 on the trip and improve to 6-1 on the season...

Cape Girardeau Central's Nichole Thiele and Charleston's Rashad Oliver were honored as SEMO Conference basketball players of the year during Tuesday night's Poplar Bluff Letter Club Banquet. Thiele, a 5-foot-5 senior guard who was a four-year starter, averaged 15 points per game and led the conference girls in free-throw shooting at 72 percent this year...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for the Rev. Charles F. Mayberry of Jackson will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at McCombs Funeral Chapel in Jackson. The Rev. Billy Wiggins will officiate, with burial in New Bethel Cemetery near Pocahontas. Friends may call at the chapel from 4-8 p.m. today...

MCCLURE, Ill. -- Funeral service for Vernon Morrison of McClure will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The Rev. Bill Kitchen will officiate, with burial in Lindsey Cemetery. Friends may call at the chapel from 4-8 p.m. today...

Evelyn V. Hanson, 92, of Vernon, Conn., died Wednesday, March 19, 1997, at Crestfield Rehab Center in Vernon. She was born Aug. 3, 1904, in Gardner, Mass. She married Christian Hanson, who died in 1943. Survivors include two daughters, Evelyn Ritchie of Cape Girardeau, Shirley Bryant of Vernon; a sister, Tessie Eaton of Gardner; four grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren...

ANNA, Ill. -- Gladys M. Miller, 80, of Anna died Wednesday, March 19, 1997, in Union County Hospital in Anna. She was born May 13, 1916, in Johnson County, daughter of William C. and Carrie E. Lingle Jones. She and Louie D. Miller were married Nov. 7, 1936, in Jonesboro...

MARBLE HILL -- Ruth J. Seematter, 81, of Springfield, formerly of Marble Hill, died Thursday, March 20, 1997, at Strafford Care Center in Strafford. She was born March 29, 1915, in Piedmont, daughter of Zimri and Margaret Monroe Clark. She and Charles G. Seematter were married Sept. 21, 1940. He died Jan. 7, 1986...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Lillie Tatum, 83, of East Prairie died Wednesday, March 19, 1997, at East Prairie Nursing Center. She was born Sept. 11, 1913, in Casey County, Ky., daughter of Ollie L. and Mollie Atwood. She and William Bryant Tatum were married Dec. 14, 1935. He died Oct. 1, 1985...

Daughter to James E. and Tania S. Reiker of Dexter, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 7:51 p.m. Friday, March 14, 1997. Name, Kathryn Grace. Weight, 7 pounds 13 ounces. Third child, second daughter. Mrs. Reiker is the former Tania Porter, daughter of Patsy Porter of Arnold. She is preschool director at First Baptist Church in Dexter. Reiker is the son of Bill and Carma Reiker of Cape Girardeau. He is vice president of finance at Americare Systems Inc...

A Cape Girardeau man is in Southeast Missouri Hospital after a hit-and-run accident Thursday morning. Brooks Sides, 36, said he was crossing Middle Street just south of William Street. "I saw a car come up on me real fast," Sides said. "By the time I looked, I was hit."...

COBDEN--Rosa Lea Fassler, 83, of Anna, died Wednesday, March 19, 1997, at the City Care Center in Cobden. She was born June 16, 1913, in Johnson County, Ill., the daughter of Thomas J. and Blanche Ragsdale Mighell. She married Joseph John Fassler on Sept. 25, 1937, in St. Louis, and he preceded her in death on Nov. 6, 1987...