Stories from Tuesday, April 8, 1997

Cybertip: If you want to know more about this week's Southeast Missouri State University Dr. Dale Nitzschke inauguration schedule, bios on the speakers and other information visit http://www2.semo.edu/inauguration When it comes to the Internet, the government is moving with surprising speed. Both federal and state governments are putting up information -- useful information -- accessible day and night...

Most English teachers enjoy teaching literature more than other aspects of their discipline, and Cape Girardeau Central High School's Dr. Al Nicolai is no different. Nicolai, who has taught English at both the collegiate and high school levels, said literature is a favorite because teachers can share a part of themselves with their favorite selections. He believes teachers get satisfaction because stories don't lose their potency regardless of how many times they are read...

Some 190 elementary students from 27 area schools competed in the 12th annual Missouri Elementary Student Mathematics Contest Saturday at Southeast Missouri State University. They were tested on mathematical concepts and problem-solving. Students who placed first, second or third were invited to compete in the state contest in Columbia on May 10...

Members of the jump rope team received T-shirts donated by Caring Communities as part of their uniform. Tina Johnson, a veteran jumper, designed the team's T-shirts. The jumping was good cardiovascular exercise. Jumping rope makes for a healthy heart, but students on the May Greene Jump Rope Team are learning it also develops higher self-esteem and good work ethics...

Members of Cape Girardeau's Board of Education elected Dr. R. Ferrell Ervin president of the board and Terry Taylor vice president at a special meeting Monday night. Ervin said the board is heading down a road paved by community involvement and voter approval following the April 1 election...

A Cape Girardeau woman was one of two people killed in a traffic accident north of Columbia Sunday. Another Cape Girardeau woman was seriously injured. Janetta Sachse, 51, and Aaron Voss, 29, of Madison, Wis., were killed in the accident on U.S. Highway 63 about 15 miles north of Columbia at 11:15 p.m., the Missouri State Highway Patrol said...

A university president by any other name would be easier to rhyme. Winners in Southeast Missouri State University's inaugural poetry contest all agreed on that point. Even Southeast's president, Dr. Dale Nitzschke, admitted that his name is a challenge for any poet...

Workers Monday started digging 43 relief wells along the south side of the Diversion Channel levee to help prevent subsurface deterioration of the levee. Phillip Boykins and Dave McCarty of United Geosciences of Villa Ridge, Mo., spent the morning taking soil samples along a 1-mile stretch at the base of the levee near Interstate 55 and Nash Road. After that they began digging a series of preliminary wells that will be lined with a screen and made permanent...

SCOTT CITY -- The priest at St. Joseph's Catholic Church asked the Scott City Council during Monday night's regular meeting to readdress an issue "the Christian way -- to try to solve it so everyone is satisfied." The Rev. Pat Wissman said he would like the council to find a different way of solving a parking problem on Sycamore Street then restricting parking directly across from his church. ...

Cloning seems to be another scientific "breakthrough" with a troubling potential. "You and I were created by God uniquely and everyone of us is -- and God intended it this way -- an unrepeatable life. I'm not at all convinced that we're not stepping over the line if we're going to duplicate ourselves just because we think we're such wonderful people."...

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a disappointing ruling when it decided last week to uphold the 1992 federal law known in the cable-television industry as the "must-carry rule." Under this rule, local cable franchises must include most local broadcast channels in their programming lineups...

Americans continue to run up more debt with loans and credit cards. After watching Washington all these years, most citizens just supposed this was national policy. A federal judge says state taxpayers can stop sending millions of dollars to Kansas City schools by 1999. For Missourians, the millennium is coming early...

I WOULD like to make a comment about what's going with Bill Clinton. He's taking all this money in. One night recently he raised $50 million. What is the money being traded for? No one gives that money without being traded. Are we selling some of our high-tech equipment to foreign countries like we did with the camcorder? The United States developed it, and then we gave it to the Chinese and they shrink it down and it comes back much smaller. ...

A judge in Springfield, Mo., has sentenced a dairy farmer convicted on an involuntary manslaughter charge while driving drunk to a novel penalty: In lieu of serving seven years in jail, the farmer will get treatment, shock time in the county jail and then spend the next five years setting up and participating in a drug-awareness program for schools in him hometown. In addition, the man was ordered by the judge to make monthly contributions to Mothers Against Drunk Driving...

Against the warnings of much of the city staff, the Cape Girardeau City Council Monday voted to allow the developer of a new subdivision to bury its electrical wires and water mains in the same ditch. Keith Deimund, developer of the 15-lot Lynwood Hills Estates subdivision, contended that the practice is safe and violates no codes. He is developing the subdivision just west of Route W and north of Lexington Road just outside the city limits...

Even as a youngster Ted DeMoss believed there was a God, a heaven and a hell. But it wasn't until years later that the Chattanooga, Tenn., businessman discovered that Jesus Christ died for his sins. "It was then that I learned the real purpose of living," said DeMoss, guest speaker at the Mayors' Prayer Breakfast Monday at the Show Me Center...

JACKSON -- Members of the Board of Aldermen Monday night approved an ordinance that would give a home to commercial operations that don't fit under the city's zoning ordinances. Members unanimously voted to make an addition to the zoning ordinance "approving certain uses not specifically permitted in the zoning ordinance."...

SCOTT CITY -- Three new faces joined the Scott City Council Monday night. Richard Freed, Rodney Holloway and Bill Barnett all won council seats unopposed after three members decided not to file for re-election. They were sworn in Monday night at the conclusion of the council's regular meeting...

A program produced by the Cape Girardeau Police Department called "Behind the Badge" will debut at 7 tonight on cable television's public access Channel 5. The 30-minute informational show is hosted by Sgt. Carl Kinnison of the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Guests on the first show include Police Chief Rick Hetzel and Dr. Robert Briner, director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory...

Cape Girardeau firefighter Capt. Scott Altenthal said he was just doing his job when he helped save a man's life in January. Altenthal was honored by his fire chief and his peers Monday when he was presented with a certificate of commendation for saving someone's life when he was off-duty...

More area residents want to hear country music stars Alan Jackson and LeAnn Rimes than famed comedian Bill Cosby, judging by Show Me Center ticket sales. On Monday, the day tickets went on sale, the Show Me Center sold 3,649 tickets for the May 8 concert...

It's time to clean out all that junk: the dead refrigerator from the basement, the complete set of Bobbsey Twins books that got waterlogged when the basement flooded, the roofing shingles in danger of becoming an art project, the couch with the springs sticking out...

Despite heavy weekend rain that played havoc with some scheduled workouts, Southeast Missouri State University football coach John Mumford is elated with the opening week of spring practice. Most impressive to Mumford is the attitude and enthusiasm his players have demonstrated...

Southeast Missouri senior baseball player LaMonte Collier has been named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week. A red-hot Collier went 12-of-18 at the plate with two home runs, seven RBI, four walks and two stolen bases. He leads the Indians with a .436 batting average and a team-high 15 stolen bases...

Cape Girardeau Central High seniors Elizabeth Kunz and Laura Lukens have been named to the Missouri Academic All-State team. Kunz, who averaged nine points and seven rebounds a game, is ranked No. 1 in her class with an 11.0 G.P.A. on an 11-point scale...

PACIFIC -- Notre Dame did not allow a shot on goal in two games at the Pacific Tournament Monday on the way to two shutout victories. The Lady Bulldogs won their opening contest over Hillsboro 4-0 then returned for a 5-0 pounding of Windsor. The two wins improved the Notre Dame's record to 4-3-1 and put them in the championship game Thursday at 5 p.m., against Pacific...

SIKESTON -- Marjorie Doyle, 85, of Sikeston died Monday, April 7, 1997, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Sept. 13, 1911, in Jackson, daughter of George M. and Blanche Woods Doyle Sr. Doyle moved to Sikeston from Osceola, Ark. She was a retired teacher, former vice president of Planters Bank, and hosted a radio talk show in Osceola. During World War II she founded the organization for Depression Kids...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Clara May Bledsoe of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Sikeston. The Rev. Dennis Gregory will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery. Bledsoe, 82, died Sunday, April 6, 1997, at Clearview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center...

MORLEY -- Funeral service for Lillian Bell Stanley of Morley will be held at 1 p.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Oran. The Rev. Dennis Cebulak will officiate, with burial in Old Morley Cemetery. Stanley, 90, died Saturday, April 5, 1997, at St. Anthony Medical Center in St. Louis...

THEBES, Ill. -- Graveside service for Lola Mae Staten, Thebes Route 1, will be held at 10 a.m. today at Rose Hill Cemetery. The Rev. Jimmie Monahan will officiate. Jones Funeral Home in Tamms is in charge of arrangements. Staten, 84, died Sunday, April 6, 1997, at Jonesboro Health Care Center in Jonesboro...

PERRYVILLE -- Eugene E. Lowes, 64, of Perryville died Monday, April 7, 1997, at his home. He was born May 5, 1932, in Perryville, son of Gail and Clara Schaefer Lowes. He married Betty M. Hindman on Nov. 22, 1952, in Piggott, Ark. She survives. He was a member of York Chapel Methodist Church, a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War, a life member of VFW Post 4282, a member of AmVets Post 94, Eagles and Sportsman Club. He had retired from Peabody Coal Co. of Marissa, Ill...

Janetta Sachse, 51, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, April 6, 1997, in a car accident on Highway 63 north of Columbia. She was born Oct. 15, 1945, in Morley, the daughter of Wilburn and Marie Moore Sachse. She had married Joe Sachse at Cape Girardeau...

MARBLE HILL -- Otho "Bud" Colbert, 78, of Ballwin died Monday, April 7, 1997, at St. Joseph Hospital in Kirkwood. He was born Oct. 24, 1918, at Messler, son of Jacob and Eunice Alma Slater Colbert. He and Elda M. Hahn were married Aug. 11, 1946. He was a heating and air-conditioning worker for the Kirkwood School System, retiring in 1980. He was a member of Christy Park General Baptist Church in St. Louis...

WILSON CITY -- Ernest Charles Latham, 67, of Wilson City died Friday, April 4, 1997, at his home. He was born Feb. 2, 1930, in Phoenix, Ill., son of Elzer and Vera Woods Latham. He married Jennie L. Webster Jan. 29, 1954. Latham was retired from Wyman and Gordon Steel Co. after 25 years and from Illinois Bell after 10 years...

SIKESTON -- Graveside service for Brody Lee Walters will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Matthews Cemetery in Matthews. The Rev. Jeff Arthur will officiate. Nunnelee Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. The infant was stillborn Saturday, April 5, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Myrtle E. McGarity of St. Louis will be held at 10 a.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel in East Prairie. Burl Britt will officiate, with burial in Dogwood Cemetery. McGarity, 85, died Sunday, April 6, 1997, at the home of a daughter...

Judy Ann Stone, 50, 1220 S. Pacific, died Saturday, April 5, 1997, at St. Louis University Hospital. She was born Dec. 15, 1946, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of John F. and Opal Deimund Hahs. She and Roy L. Stone were married Dec. 31, 1968. Stone was a graduate of Oak Ridge High School. ...

Son to Robert David and Mary Joy Crites of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 6:08 p.m. Monday, March 31, 1997. Name, Calen Robert. Weight, 8 pounds 3 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Crites is the former Mary Palisch, daughter of Lorine Palisch of Altenburg, and the late Leonard Palisch. She is a self-employed daycare director. Crites is the son of Dave and Ann Crites of Jackson. He is employed at MSI Electric...

DELTA -- Watson Russell Hester, 81, of Delta died Monday, April 7, 1997, at his home. He was born July 26, 1915, at Randles, son of Russell and Elzena Louisa Watson Hester. He and Mary Immogene Sandford were married May 5, 1938. Hester was a retired farmer and carpenter...

ANNA, Ill. -- Rebecca Geraldine "Jerrie" Wareing, 77, of Anna died Sunday, April 6, 1997, at Hillview Healthcare Center in Vienna. She was born Sept. 27, 1919, in Wayne County, Ga., daughter of Arba and Sarah Turner Dent. She and Harry Wareing were married July 4, 1947, in Brunswick, Ga...

James Donald Walsh, 68, of St. Louis died Sunday, April 6, 1997, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. He was born Dec. 18, 1928, in Fordyce, Ark., son of George Logan and Mamie Cora Green Walsh. Walsh moved to Cape Girardeau in 1959, and was manager of Sterling variety store...

Vernetta L. Ford, 53, 2716 Oakshire Circle, died Sunday, April 6, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Dec. 28, 1943, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Clarence and Elva Gibson Rubel. She and Jack U. Ford were married June 12, 1965, in Cape Girardeau...

PATTON -- Shawn Andrew Hamm, 21, of Patton died Monday, April 7, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau, from injuries received in a recent automobile accident. He was born Nov. 25, 1975, in St. Louis, son of Ronald and Sherrie Stinson Hamm...

Edna D. Grebing, 92, 1530 New Madrid, died Sunday, April 6, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Feb. 12, 1905, at Egypt Mills, daughter of Martin and Dorothea Doering Hilpert. She and Oscar E.E. Grebing were married Oct. 25, 1924, in Cape Girardeau. He died May 10, 1983...

PERRYVILLE -- Elmer Hoehn, 75, of Perryville died Sunday, April 6, 1997, at Missouri Baptist Medical Center. He was born July 10, 1921, in Perry County, son of Lonnie J. and Dora A. Deimund Hoehn. He and Leona Morrison were married Nov. 20, 1943. Hoehn was a retired farmer. He was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church and Brean Bible Class, and American Legion. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II...

SCOTT CITY -- Claude Emerald Drexler, 86, of rural Scott City died Sunday, April 6, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 29, 1910, in Fornfelt, son of Anthony and Edna Williams Drexler. He married Ada Elizabeth Hartle April 1, 1940, in Charleston. She died in February...