Stories from Monday, April 14, 1997

Campus Auto and Tire, 1404 Independence, has expanded, with a used-car branch operation at 836 S. Kingshighway. The expansion lot will handle up to 60 vehicles. Jim Eakin is president of the company. Chris Eakin is manager of the new lot. Salesmen at the new business are Chris Eakin, Jack Smith and Jason Laucin...

As another tax filing season comes to close some people might wonder what they can do to procrastinate further the process of paying their taxes. Unfortunately, April 15 is the deadline for payments to the Internal Revenue Service and any extension filed is only to allow the taxpayer more time to properly file his taxes and not a grace period for payment...

Next week New McKendree United Methodist Church in Jackson will welcome many of the church's former pastors back to celebrate the church's rich history. In 1840 the first Methodist church in Jackson was erected on lot 13 on the corner of High and Washington streets where the old CutMart station is located. ...

First National Bank of Cape Girardeau has reached the $100 million mark in assets. First National celebrated the milestone over the weekend during a special event at the bank, 2027 Broadway. First National, headquartered at Sikeston, opened the Cape Girardeau site five years ago and is now doing business with more than 3,500 Cape Girardeau County households...

Illumination work in Southeast Missouri Hospital's new lobby has been recognized by the St. Louis Section of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. Brian Dougan and the St. Louis firm of Ross and Baruzzini Inc. received the Society's "Illumination Design of Year" award for 1997...

Union Planters Bank of Southeast Missouri has presented a Macintosh network system to the Southeast Missouri Region of Missouri Easter Seal Society. The system includes multiple personal computers, printers and laptop computer. Charles R. Martin, Missouri Easter Seal Society Regional executive director, said the computers will help enhance the quality of services provided by the Society...

Southwestern Bell Wireless has installed a new tower at Patton Junction, improving cellular services between Jackson and Fredericktown along Highway 72. The tower is the 11th new cellular tower activated by Southwestern Bell Wireless since Jan. 1. The company also has announced the addition of Arkansas to its expanded home coverage area...

The AMA will conduct its 10th annual briefing for secretaries and administrative assistants April 23, from noon to 2. "Developing Competencies for the New Millennium," is the theme for the program, presented by the Harrison College of Business in cooperation with the training and development office at Southeast Missouri State University...

A.G. Edwards Inc. reported record revenues and net earnings for the fiscal year ended February 28. Unaudited net earnings were $219,057,000, up 18 percent from the $170,582,000 during the last fiscal year. Revenues for the year were $1.7 billion, versus $1.5 billion last year. Earnings per share rose to $3.36, compared to $2.65 a year ago...

The Bank of Perryville has opened a loan production office at 1021 Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau. "We are excited to be in the Cape Girardeau area," said Bank president David Crader. The Bank of Perryville, a financial institution with assets of $87 million, has served Perry County for 105 years...

Steve Doyle has joined Dana Corp., as quality manager for the Spicer Axle Division's Cape Girardeau facility. Doyle previously worked at Briggs & Stratton Corp. in Poplar Bluff, where he was quality assurance manager since May 1988. He has a background in industrial management, including hands-on manufacturing and quality experience as well as supplier and customer relations...

Millions of taxpayers are scrambling to meet Tuesday's midnight deadline for filing federal tax returns, and Uncle Sam is hoping everyone will make the deadline. With all the options -- electronic filings, extensions for filing and monthly payment plans -- there is really no excuse for missing the filing deadline...

Procter & Gamble Co. has reached an agreement to buy the maker of Tampax for nearly $2 billion. The $1.85 billion deal for Tambrands Inc., the biggest acquisition ever for the consumer-products giant, was confirmed last week by P&G spokeswoman Elaine Plummer...

The Professional Secretaries International meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Drury Lodge. Mike Buchanan from Automation Services, will be guest speaker. Buchanan will discuss the Internet. PSI represents secretaries, executive-administrative assistants and office managers...

A new business has opened at Jay's Salon, 42 N. Main. "Nails by Chantel," owned and operated by Shontel Wickware-Martin will be open Tuesday through Saturday. Wickware-Martin specializes in paraffin manicures, regular manicures, pedicure and sculptured nails...

"Building Your Own Team in Retailing," a seminar featuring Mel Redman of Redman & Associates, will be held at Banquets Beyond The Bay Restaurant in Sikeston from 9 to 11 a.m. on May 1. Redman, a former Wal-Mart senior vice president for store planning and operations, operates his own retail management consulting firm at Bentonville, Ark...

About 800 family members shared a festive and informative day Sunday during the Family Fun Fair at Arena Park. Children played a variety of games and made crafts as their parents looked on at booths inside the A.C. Brase Arena Building. Parents were also able to gain information on support services in the fair's Parenting Education and Information center...

U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof doesn't know about weekends in Washington. He's never there. The Columbia Republican, who grew up in Southeast Missouri, lives in a small apartment while working on Capitol Hill during the week. He returns to northern's Missouri's 9th Congressional District on weekends to see his wife, Renee, and keep in contact with the constituents in the sprawling district...

The riders in the 4th annual Tour De Girardot Bike Classic will have to work a little harder this year if they want to claim a share of the more than $5,100 in prize money that will be awarded. The bike classic, which has drawn hundreds of spectators and riders to Cape Girardeau the last three years, kicks off Saturday with the first two stages of the three-tiered competition...

In 1864, Nicholas Wichterich planted a magnolia tree in his yard near the Mississippi River. By all accounts it was Cape Girardeau's first southern magnolia, a variety usually found in warmer latitudes. The property changed hands, but the spreading tree became a landmark. James Hartzell, a Civil War veteran who operated a sawmill and managed the city's first electric light plant, bought the house at 222 Morgan Oak in 1882. The grand home remained in the Hartzell family for many years...

Beth Roberts, Courtney Barnfield and Miranda Jordan sat in the bleachers of Fickerwood Arena Sunday afternoon, smiling at each other the way high school girlfriends smile at each other. The three don't go to high school together, they rodeo together. The three barrel-race horses every weekend. Although Roberts is from Mountain Home, Barnfield is from Puxico and Jordan is from Advance, they spend almost as much time together as they would if they lived in the same town...

Near-record low temperatures Sunday night could have a devastating effect on fruit crops in the region and the national fruit supply. A freeze advisory issued by the National Weather Service on Sunday encompassed all of Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky and southwestern Indiana. Temperatures were expected to be below freezing, and these temperatures could wreak havoc on local fruit crops...

First they cloned the sheep, now they're making frogs float. Those wacky British scientists are at it again. Actually, this time around,they had help from the Dutch. Must be that European Union thing at work. At any rate, physicists from the University of Nijmegen (I think that stands for "Home of the Floating Amphibians" in Dutch) and Nottingham University teamed up to make amphibians float using a magnetic field 1 million times stronger than the Earth's...

To the editor: I'm concerned that we are getting hoodwinked by the folks who use and produce toxic chemicals in Missouri. Over 75,000 different chemicals are used in the country every year, yet only 5 percent is currently reported to the public. I think we have a right to know about toxic pollution...

WAS JUST reading the Southeast Missourian about Barry Hovis and his new position. I think it's terrific. I think Mr. Hovis will do a fantastic job. I know him real well. I think he will be great for Central High School and great for the kids. Barry, keep it up...

In case you haven't heard, troops from the United Nations, which has its headquarters in New York City, will soon arrive in our state for the sinister purpose of creating environmentally safe regions in the Ozarks regions of Missouri. Not only will these armed marauders establish environmentally pure areas, they will transport the residents who occupy the land to unoccupied regions round St. Louis and Kansas City....

It took a Boone County jury less than two hours to find Russell E. Bucklew guilty of first-degree murder and just three hours and 40 minutes to decide he deserves the death penalty. The jury reached those verdicts after hearing less than four days of testimony in his trial, which was held week before last in Columbia on a change of venue from Cape Girardeau County...

Cpl. Charles Herbst has logged a lot of accomplishments during his relatively short career with the Cape Girardeau Police Department. It is easy to see why he was chosen one of 10 outstanding young Missourians for 1997 by the Missouri Jaycees. Herbst, 34, was nominated by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce after having been selected for a similar, local award by that organization...

ELDORADO -- Illinois Rep. David Phelps, D-Eldorado, is the first Democrat to announce he will run for the U.S. Congressional seat to vacated by Glenn Poshard after this term. Phelps officially announced his candidacy last week for the 19th Congressional District...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "Do you think tobacco companies should be held legally responsible for smoker's health problems that may be caused by smoking?" Randy Wilke, Jackson "I don't think they should be held responsible because people who smoke have a choice. And if they choose to smoke, I don't think they should blame the tobacco companies."...

The stage was empty except for one lightly-padded metal chair. Not many performers could pull it off -- captivating an audience of 4,972 for 10 minutes shy of two hours with no props, special effects or intermission. Comedian Bill Cosby did just that at the Show Me Center Saturday night...

On March 30, Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team lost the opener of a doubleheader at Eastern Kentucky to drop to 2-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference and into last place. The day before the Indians had lost to the Colonels 24-2. That was the lowest point in the season for Southeast. Since then, the Indians have experienced nothing but a steady climb -- and they possibly haven't reached the pinnacle yet...

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's gymnastics team came up a bit short here Saturday night in its bid for the National Invitational Tournament championship. The Otahkians, who entered the eight-team meet as the top seed, finished second behind Michigan State. The Spartans scored 194.375 while Southeast scored 193.425...

BENTON -- When your car owner wants to race, what do you do when the weather is bad? If you are Danny Smith and you are the owner/driver, you find a track to race. With the Frigidaire All-Star tour race at Eldora Speedway postponed, Smith went looking for a place to race. Even if the track is some 500 miles away in Benton, Mo...

Southeast Missouri State University's softball team solidified its hold on first place in the Ohio Valley Conference by sweeping a doubleheader from visiting Eastern Kentucky Sunday. The Otahkians prevailed 9-1 in a game shortened to five innings by the run rule and 2-0...

A Chaffee man was in the intensive-care unit Sunday at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau after a one-vehicle accident near Oran Saturday. Bobby Nunally was driving his 1993 Chevrolet Blazer on Scott County Road 266 a mile north of Oran when he left the roadway and struck a telephone pole, said Tom Grisham of the Missouri Highway Patrol. The Blazer overturned and Nunally was thrown from the vehicle, Grisham said...

A Southeast Missouri State University group will hold a number of events this week to celebrate Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week. At 8 tonight, a panel discussion will focus on "Your Sexual Orientation -- Taboo or Not?" The panel includes a homosexual, a lesbian, a heterosexual supporter and a drag queen...

Vallie "Pete" Wood, 83, of Perryville died Sunday, April 13, 1997, at Perry Oaks Nursing Home in Perryville. Funeral arrangements are pending at Miller Family Funeral Home in Perryville.

NEW MADRID -- An encounter between a deer and a pickup truck in New Madrid County landed two people in the hospital Sunday. Frank Masterson, 26, of New Madrid was driving his Ford pickup after 1:30 a.m. Sunday on Route P, six miles north of New Madrid, when he swerved to avoid a deer, Masterson said from his room in Missouri Delta Hospital. The truck went into a ditch. When Masterson tried to drive out he hit the guy wire of a utility pole, "and the truck just flipped," Masterson said...

Helen Marie Castleman, 80, of Scott City died Sunday, April 13, 1997, at her home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

JACKSON -- A two-car accident on Kingshighway in Jackson Saturday evening sent two people to St. Francis Medical Center, but Jackson police would not release the names of the victims Sunday evening. A 1995 Oldsmobile Aurora heading south on Wedekind Road failed to yield and tried to cross Kingshighway at 6:05 p.m. A 1978 Buick LeSabre struck it and pushed it onto the side of the road, said Sgt. Chris Mouser of the Jackson Police Department...

SIKESTON -- Edith Mary Alice Adams, 79, of Sikeston died Saturday, April 12, 1997, at Clearview Nursing Center in Sikeston. She was born Aug. 30, 1917, at Cherryville to Edward and Edna Harris Pyatt. She first married Floyd Harvey. She later married Ernie Adams, who preceded her in death...

Notre Dame High School will present their 32th annual musical this week. "Annie Get Your Gun" opens Thursday and runs through April 20. The musical also marks the 25th musical directed by Cindy King. Musical productions at Notre Dame are part of the school's tradition. The plays generate considerable support from alumni, students and parents. Musicals are also a way to raise money for the school...

JACKSON -- Murtice M. "Murt" Propst, 64, of Jackson died Friday, April 11, 1997, at her home. She was born Nov. 12, 1932, at Sturdivant to Elwood and Eula Ramsey Rhodes. She married Gene "Buse" Jones Sept. 12, 1946. He died March 25, 1972. She then married Bill M. Propst on June 7, 1984. He survives...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Miles Bonner, 83, of Mounds died Sunday, April 13, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born in Villa Ridge on Dec. 19, 1997, the son of Hollie and Tressie Miles Bonner. He was an office manager for Swift & Co. for 23 years and the Bunge Corp. for 13 years before his retirement. He was a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Cairo, Caledonia Masonic Lodge 47 in Pulaski and on the board of directors of the Cairo City Cemetery in Villa Ridge...

Edward J. Brockmire, 94, of 3315 County Road 635 in Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, April 13, 1997, at his home. He was born Jan. 4, 1903, in Egypt Mills, the son of Henry and Rovena Brockmire. On Jan. 13, 1926, he married Esther R. Thiele in Jackson. She preceded her in death on Feb. 3, 1978...

JACKSON -- Lorene E. Rhyne, 89, of Jackson died Sunday, April 13, 1997, at Heritage Gardens in Jackson. She was born July 7, 1907, at Kurreville, the daughter of Lewis and Wilhelmine Haupt Schmidt. She married Felix Rhyne on May 12, 1952, in Arkansas. He died March 16, 1975...