Stories from Tuesday, July 22, 1997

Most children love to swim, but first someone must teach them how. Fortunately, swimming lessons are offered daily throughout the summer by area municipal pools. The instructors are usually high school or college students who are enthusiastic about their work...

What's it like to be famous? Most of us will never know, and even those who do, find that fame is fleeting. But the Internet has opened new doors for both the rich and famous. Even famous people who don't have their own web pages will find dozens of people building web pages about them...

Letter carrier Linda Essner said she tries to find shade to park in while sorting mail before delivering it. (DON SHRUBSHELL) Summary: Heat indexes of 100 degrees or more require that people slow down and drink plenty of liquids. The 90-degree-plus temperatures are causing some workers to look for new ways to beat the heat...

Summary: City agrees to meet with Notre Dame building committee within 10 days to discuss matter. The new Notre Dame Regional High School needs water, and it doesn't seem like the city of Cape Girardeau will supply it fast enough. Several members of the high school's building committee came to the Cape Girardeau City Council meeting Monday to plead their case...

She opens the wooden drawer and pulls out a photo album covered in a red patchwork quilt print. Beneath the cover lies a letter she wrote. "This is the little brick house I owned and lived in from 1963 until 1997... What a joy it was to help the dear old thing `come alive' again."...

School will promote area Indian culture The Northern Cherokee Nation plans to hold a daylong powwow Nov. 15 at Southeast Missouri State University. Southeast is co-sponsoring the powwow, which will feature Indian dances and crafts. The event will be held at the Student Recreation Center from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m...

A Bell City teen-ager was in Southeast Missouri Hospital's emergency room Monday night hours after a traffic accident. At 4:30 p.m. Monday, Shawn Green, 17, was driving a pickup east on Highway 74 three miles west of Cape Girardeau when he apparently fell asleep. The truck ran off the road and overturned in a ditch, the Missouri Highway Patrol said...

Pat Bira will become adminstrator of St. John's Mercy Hospital in Washington, Mo. After nearly nine years at the helm, Pat Bira is leaving the top post at Perry County Memorial Hospital for an institution twice its size. On Aug. 25, Bira is scheduled to become administrator of St. John's Mercy Hospital in Washington, Mo., a 185-bed hospital that is part of St. Louis-based St. John's Mercy Health System. His last day at 87-bed Perry County Hospital will be Aug. 8...

What with the Cambodian capital in turmoil again, and the infamous Pol Pot killed, captured or at least surrounded, it was only a matter of time before Anthony Lewis wrote one of his moralistic columns in the New York Times condemning that genocidal madman, his accomplices and accessories and apologists. Mr. Lewis singled out one true believer:...

TO THE person concerned about father's rights. Obviously you don't have a situation like ours and many other families in this world. The father shouldn't have any rights if he abandons the children. When he lives 15 miles or less away, there's no reason why he can't come and see the children when he is supposed to do. ...

A group of Missouri school superintendents recently criticized the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Ordinarily, any uprising of local school officials against an arrogant, arbitrary and unaccountable bunch of state education bureaucrats would be welcome indeed. Someone, somewhere needs to take these educrats down to size and begin the needed process of curbing and radically reforming a bloated state education bureaucracy...

The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band will hold its free concert at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Capaha Park Bandshell. The celebrity guest director will be County Collector Harold D. Kuehle. Special entertainment will be presented by Shade Tree Folk Co. Conductor Ronald Nall will lead the band in its performances of "Black Watch March," "Prelude and Rondo," "Horns A Hunting," "Chicago Tribune March," "Music of the Beatles," "Symbol of Honor March," "A Welch Rhapsody," and selections from the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar.". ...

SCOTT CITY -- The Canal Wood Co. has moved to the Southeast Missouri Port Authority and with it has come a significant state grant and a big demand for Scott City water. Scott City received $100,000 in Community Development Block Grant money this month tied to recent industrial growth at the port. Scott City Public Works Director John Rogers told the city council Monday that the money will be used for a well and water service improvements...

JACKSON -- Homeowners on Old Cape Road and K-Land Drive opposed a request to develop a self-storage facility in their neighborhood during a Jackson Board of Aldermen public hearing Monday night. Aldermen will decide Aug. 4 whether to grant a special-use permit to J.J. & R. Sander Real Estate, L.L.C. to build and operate self-storage facilities on a lot zoned for a general commercial business owned by the company...

JACKSON -- A Cape Girardeau man was told Monday that he had to come up with $3,094.81 within 90 days or he may be ordered to prison. Joe L. Hatchett, 40, of 2040 Broadway, could finish a five-year probation sentence Nov. 2, but only if he pays the court the remaining balance of his restitution. Hatchett was convicted in 1992 of stealing and was placed on probation...

It hasn't taken Southeast Missouri State University's two new assistant men's basketball coaches long to get their feet wet on the job. Tom Schuberth and Anthony Beane, recently hired by Southeast head coach Gary Garner, have settled somewhat into their office at the Show Me Center and have already been out on the road looking at potential recruits...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Ray Webb will be held at 1 p.m. today at Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan. The Rev. Lee Kirby will officiate, with burial in Doniphan Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 10 a.m. today. Webb, 92, died Saturday, July 19, 1997, at Clearview Nursing Center in Sikeston...

Phillip Ledbetter SIKESTON -- Phillip Douglas Ledbetter, 61, of Huber Heights, Ohio, died Sunday, July 20, 1997, at Middletown Regional Hospital in Middletown, Ohio. He was born May 27, 1936, at Parma, son of Hershel L. and Winona Mabel Pulliam Ledbetter...

MARBLE HILL -- Beulah B. Lee, 92, of Marble Hill died Sunday, July 20, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 14, 1904, in Darden, Tenn., daughter of John R. and Suzanne Carrington Davis. She and George R. Lee were married Jan. 4, 1922, at Wardell. He died Dec. 20, 1980...

Oscar W. Richardson, 77, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, July 20, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Jan. 15, 1920, at Kennett, son of Sylvester and Vessie Wilburn Richardson. He and Ruth Mae Jaques were married Feb. 16, 1940, at Kennett...

JACKSON -- Traci E. Walden, 25, of Panama City Beach, Fla., died Saturday, July 19, 1997, in an automobile accident in Panama City, Fla. She was born May 25, 1972, in Waukegan, Ill., daughter of Jimmy Dale and Elaine Taur Walden. Walden was a receptionist at Holiday Golf and Tennis and also worked part time at Gordon's Jewelers in Panama City Beach...

OLD APPLETON -- Morris R. Simpson, 76, of Old Appleton died Sunday, July 20, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 4, 1921, in Princeton, Ky., son of Andrew J. and Francis Janie White Simpson. He and Marjorie Bowen were married Feb. 13, 1946, in Centralia, Ill...

Jimmie Revelle JACKSON -- Funeral service for Jimmie Charles Revelle of St. Louis will be held at 1 p.m. today at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Chapel. The Revs. Nolan Melton and Jimmy Brown will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 9 a.m. to service time...

Funeral service for Elizabeth McDade, 17 Rivercrest, will be held at 2 p.m. today at Byrn Funeral Chapel in Mayfield, Ky. Dr. Lloyd A. Doyle will officiate, with burial in Highland Park Cemetery. McDade, 82, died Sunday, July 20, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Eshcol Willis, 84, of Olive Branch died Monday, July 21, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Crain Funeral Home at Tamms is in charge of arrangements.

City Council Agenda The City Council Monday July 21, 1997 Consent ordinances, Second and third readings.: Raised municipal court costs. Changed regulations of mobile and modular homes. Required subdivisions to install sidewalks. Accepted a temporary spoil disposal easement from Foeste Nursery, Inc. for the Cape LaCroix/Walker Branch flood control project...

Action Items Power and light committee -- Approved the semi-annual financial statement ending June 30, 1997 and to publish it in the local newspapers. -- Authorized quarterly payment of $5,500 to the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association for services provided...

JACKSON -- -- Winifred Evans, 80, of Dexter died Sunday, July 20, 1997, at the Jackson Manor in Jackson. She was born Jan. 17, 1917, in Bloomfield, the daughter of George and Cora Stewart Bryant. On June 10, 1936, she married Herbert Evans in Bloomfield. He died March 8, 1991...

metheny obit (funeral home not mentioned in Mon. obit) NEEDS FLAG Howard Metheny Sr. Funeral Mass for Howard E. Metheny Sr. of Cape Girardeau was held Monday at St. Vincent's Catholic Church. The Rev. Oscar Lukefahr officiated. Burial was in St. Mary's Cemetery, with graveside rites conducted by VFW Post 3838...