Stories from Friday, April 4, 1997

To the editor: I wonder if my liberal friends who have defended Bill Clinton the past four years and helped to give him four more years in office are still proud of our president in light of recent revelations concerning Democratic fund raising. What a sad state of affairs we are witnessing in the Clinton White House. ...

An orientation meeting for parents of sixth-graders who will attend L.J. Schultz next year will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the school. Staff members will talk about what parents can expect and how to plan for the transition to seventh grade. Tuesday's meeting is for parents only. In may, students will visit Schultz during a regular school day. The visit will include a tour of the school, an opportunity to ask questions and time to complete pre-enrollment forms...

A special picnic dinner for the public and free bingo for senior citizens Saturday could net as much as $4,000 for the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging. Sam's Wholesale Club, a new retail business scheduled to open in Cape Girardeau this month, and the Missouri Area Agency on Aging, will sponsor the fund-raising event Saturday afternoon at Sam's Wholesale Club adjacent to Wal-Mart near the Interstate 55/William Street intersection...

Spontaneous combustion was being blamed for a greenhouse fire on Parker Drive Thursday afternoon. Cape Girardeau Fire Department Assistant Chief Max Jauch said conditions inside the greenhouse may have been just right for a patch of peat moss to spark into flame. A humidifying system usually in place when the weather turns warm was not operating, and the air was hot and dry inside the structure...

I'M GETTING tired of these derogatory cartoons about the president on the Opinion page. Like it or not, Bill Clinton will be the president for the next four years, and after that Al Gore will, and there's not a thing you or Rush Limbaugh can do about it. None of you...

Cases of meningitis are increasing in Missouri. And although the illnesses with their flu-like symptoms rarely result in death, the sober fact is that meningitis can be fatal. Victims, their relatives and doctors are sometimes confused when meningitis strikes, because the symptoms resemble a bad case of the flu...

Administrators, teachers, students and parents in the Nell Holcomb School District have a good deal to cheer. The Missouri Board of Education has given the district the highest rating possible under the Missouri School Improvement Program. This achievement is particularly noteworthy, because the district's last review in 1991 pointed out some deficiencies, resulting in provisional accreditation. ...

Dr. Dan Cotner of Cape Girardeau wears so many hats that you sometimes wonder if he wears more than one at a time. For example, the longtime dentist is a church organist, provides piano accompaniment for the weekly meetings of the Rotary Club of Cape Girardeau, has been involved with Notre Dame High School musicals for years, is a longtime supporter of public radio at Southeast Missouri State University, among many, many more community and civic activities...

Parents often get caught in a tug of war between financial and family demands. U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., thinks Congress can help by overhauling the nation's 1930s-era labor laws to allow flexible scheduling in the work place for the nation's 80 million, nonsupervisory workers...

BENTON -- The Scott County Commission will resubmit a quarter-cent county sales tax but this time will tell voters exactly where the money will go. Commissioner Dewaine Shaffer said he has heard that Tuesday's tax proposal was defeated by voters because it was not earmarked for a specific program...

Missouri is losing revenue and gamblers to other states because of a $500 loss limit on riverboat casinos, the director of the Gaming Partnership for Education said Thursday. "Gaming taxes have become an important source of new funding for Missouri schools," said the director, Marjorie Beenders. But "the gaming product is not competitive with our neighboring states," Beenders said...

MARBLE HILL -- State Rep. Bill Foster says a proposed Cape Girardeau-Bollinger counties lake measure won't get through the Missouri House while he is there. "This bill is not going any place this year or next year," the Poplar Bluff Republican told a group of about 50 lake opponents Thursday night in Marble Hill. "It's not going any place until you tell us you want a lake," Foster said...

Sometimes you are walking down a street and hear a familiar sound. Suddenly your are transported over miles and years. Some sounds and smells that are stored in our memory banks remain vivid over the years. Certain food smells, for example, can convey you in an instant to a distant time in your youth...

Three area students headed to Columbia this morning to test their global knowledge and a chance for a $25,000 college scholarship. Neal Essner, a seventh-grader at St. Augustine School in Kelso, Eric Lynch, a seventh-grader at Louis J. Schultz School in Cape Girardeau, and Kyle Strickland, a sixth-grader at Jackson Middle School, all qualified for state-level competition in the 1997 National Geography Bee...

PATTON -- The Meadow Heights School District's preparation for its accreditation review this week could have come to a screeching halt after Superintendent Gerald Deardorff underwent heart bypass surgery Feb. 8. Instead, board members, faculty and staff managed day-to-day activities and continued preparing for the Missouri School Improvement Program review until interim superintendent Jim Evans could be hired and take the helm...

Looking over the Cape Central baseball results after seven games, the Tigers seem to have developed a problem with out-of-state competition. Thursday afternoon during a home game against Harrisburg (Ill.) that trend continued. Central let an early 4-0 lead slip away on the way to a 9-7 loss...

Southeast Missouri State University track and field coach Joey Haines expects quite a battle -- with his program right in the hunt -- for the team trophies during this weekend's ALL SPORT Relays. The 16th annual track and field meet hosted by Southeast -- formally known as the SEmotion Relays -- will take place today and Saturday at the Abe Stuber Track and Field Complex...

Top-seed Wade Russell and third-seed Ben Roeger were the only members of the Cape Central boys tennis team to come away victorious as visiting Carbondale won 7-2 Thursday. Carbondale won four of the six singles matches and swept all three doubles matches...

EVANSVILLE -- Southeast Missouri State University's Sara Reichert, a senior from Belleville, Ill., threw a no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader on the road Thursday against Evansville. Southeast swept, winning the opener 7-2 and the nightcap 9-0...

A memorial service for Dr. Charles Thomas Herbert Sr. of Tallahassee, Fla., will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Brant Hazlett will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Herbert, 87, died Thursday, Feb. 13, 1997, at his home...

ADVANCE -- Funeral service for Ludie Ruby Stevens of Ferguson will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Morgan Funeral Home. The Rev. Jack Hargraves will officiate, with burial in Williams Cemetery at Perkins. Friends may call at the funeral home after 10 a.m...

JACKSON -- Ernest Martin Nolte, 71, of Jackson died Wednesday, April 2, 1997, at the family farm in Crump. He was born May 8, 1925, at Mayview, son of Herman F. and Irene Bush Nolte. He and Maxine Koch were married April 14, 1944. Nolte was a mechanic 20 years at Millikan Cadillac-Oldsmobile, then worked at Friedrich Auto, Bob Kurre Auto, and Mouser Auto. He was a member of Emanuel United Church of Christ. Nolte served in the U.S. Navy during World War II...

Funeral Mass for A. Ray Simonton, 601A N. Broadview, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary's Cathedral. Msgr. Richard Rolwing will officiate. Burial will be later in Dexter Cemetery at Dexter. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel from 4-8 p.m. today. Parish prayers will be at 7...

Memorial service for Kenneth Lee Koerner of Cape Girardeau will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. Mike Alberson will officiate. There is no visitation. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Koerner, 44, died Tuesday, April 1, 1997, at his home...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Ray Morrison, 70, of Cobden died Thursday, April 3, 1997, at Union County Hospital in Anna. He was born Dec. 23, 1926, in Smithland, Ky., son of Clyde and Marchie Guill Morrison. He and Pearl J. Reed were married Sept. 29, 1950, in Piggott, Ark...

MAKANDA, Ill. -- Jesse C. Heern, 67, of Makanda died Thursday, April 3, 1997, at Jackson County Nursing Home in Murphysboro. Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home at Cobden is in charge of arrangements.

COBDEN, Ill. -- Edward Sauerbrunn, 76, of Cobden died Thursday, April 3, 1997, at his home. Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home at Cobden is in charge of arrangements.

Daughter to Michael and Tracy Pearson of Springfield, Ill., Memorial Hospital there, 3:08 p.m. Friday, March 21, 1997. Name, Lindsey Ann. Weight, 7 pounds 13 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Pearson is the former Tracy Gray, daughter of Robert and Rita Gray of Olney, Ill. She is employed by Department of Family and Children's Services. Pearson is the son of Charles and Rose Pearson of Cape Girardeau. He is employed by Cavalier Cartage Co...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for James O. Dowdy of Sikeston was held Thursday at Ponder Funeral Home, with the Rev. Jake Lawson officiating. Burial was in Dogwood Cemetery at East Prairie. Dowdy, 67, died Wednesday, April 2, 1997, as a result of a boating accident on the Mississippi River...

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