Stories from Saturday, August 2, 1997

This MRI scan shows a herniated cervical disk in a patient's neck. The herniated disk is visible as the dark bulge indicated above. (IMAGE COURTESY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI HOSPITAL) Rick Ross and Mary Craven, both registered technologists of radiology and magnetic resonance imaging, performed an MRI on a patient's hand at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

The Lifebeat helicopter prepared to land atop Southeast Missouri Hospital. After 10 years, Cape Girardeau's two air medical services have completed more than 8,700 missions. LifeBeat Air Medical Services and Air Evac Lifeteam provide help to critically injured accident victims and seriously ill patients...

A telecommunications company that is installing fiber optic cables along Interstate 55 will compete with Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. for local telephone service. At the same time, the Missouri Department of Transportation will have access to the cables through an agreement with the company, Digital Teleport Inc. of St. Louis...

-- Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. -- Proverbs 22:6 Since I began tutoring and mentoring youth about seven years ago, I have noticed more and more children who haven't received the gift of home training. Somehow, the adults raising these kids did not impart their home training gift, also known as good manners, deportment or etiquette, as they were supposed to...

When someone wears a badge, people take notice. That's why it's so very important to guard against scams known as badge fraud. It's long been against the law to impersonate an officer. But the lines can become more fuzzy in terms of telephone solicitation. The Federal Trade Commission is teaming up with state attorneys general to combat badge fraud over the telephone...

The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport is flying high from this week's announcement. Trans World Express will add one flight a day Sunday through Friday at the Cape Girardeau Airport. In addition, a Saturday flight will return. The new flights will begin Oct. 1...

Procter & Gamble has received its wetlands permit from the U.S. Corps of Engineers. The permit is one of the major ones for P&G's $350 million expansion project announced in April. "This is good news," said Mitch Robinson, executive director of the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association. "I would guess that right now scrapers and bulldozers have already started work on the plant sitework."...

An accidental shooting claimed the life of a Cape Girardeau man late Thursday, authorities said. Gary Brady, 33, bled to death after being shot in the leg at about 11:15 p.m., authorities said. He and his brother, Owen Brady, 42, were reportedly hunting a coyote on their sister's property on willow Bend Lane when the accident occurred...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Murray State has won the past two Ohio Valley Conference football championships, going a combined 16-0 in those seasons. But if the league's preseason poll turns out to be accurate, then the Racers' reign will end this year. Eastern Illinois, an NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant in 1996, has been picked by the conference's head football coaches and sports information directors to win the title this year. ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University football coach John Mumford expected the Indians to be picked toward the bottom of the eight-team Ohio Valley Conference -- which they were during the league's media day Friday. Now it will be up to Mumford and his Indians to prove that seventh-place prediction wrong. He firmly believes that will happen...

I'll never forget where I was the moment I heard the St. Louis Cardinals picked up Oakland muscle-man Mark McGwire. I was in a dugout preparing to play a softball game when the news came about McGwire's impending move to St. Louis. A kid, about 13-years-old, told me the Cardinals gave up T.J. Mathews and two minor league pitchers for the second coming of Jack Clark...

CHAFFEE -- Chaffee Junior American Legion manager Jeff Graviett thought his team would do extremely well in the Mid-States Regional that features seven state champions along with Chaffee, the host squad. Based on Friday's opening round of the eight-team event, Graviett could be right on the money...

With the Cape Kohlfeld Capahas semi-pro baseball team needing financial contributions to cover expenses for the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan., "The Pinch Hitters" are stepping to the plate to help out the team. Kelly Keene and Bob Camp, Cape Girardeau entertainers, got together a band called "The Pinch Hitters" and will hold a benefit concert in Capaha Park on Sunday from 5-8 p.m...

SIKESTON -- Inez Wagoner, 92, of Sikeston, formerly of Blodgett, died Friday, August 1, 1997. She was born on Feb. 15, 1905, in Yount to Henry and Sarah Elizabeth Edmond Lee. She and John Raymond Wagoner were married July 9, 1921 in Benton. He preceded her in death...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Lester A. Beaird of Sikeston will be held at 11 a.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. Dr. Richard Long and the Rev. Lance Smith will officiate, with burial in Garden of Memories Cemetery. Beaird, 77, died Thursday, July 31, 1997, at his home...

DEXTER -- Alvin M. Lambert, 48, of Dexter died Thursday, July 31, 1997, at Crowley Ridge Care Center. He was born Feb. 18, 1949, in Hot Springs, Ark. Formerly of Sikeston, and Phoenix, Ariz., he had lived in Dexter the past nine years. He was a salesman at Allen Christian Buick in Dexter until becoming ill...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Byron E. Smith, 61, of Freeburg died unexpectedly Thursday, July 31, 1997, at his home. He was born Nov. 11, 1935, in Jonesboro, son of E.H. and Helen Crowell Smith. Smith was a member of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 520, and Freeburg Masonic Lodge 418 AF&AM. He was a former member of Freeburg village board...

Graveside service for Gilbert Joseph Geringer of Cape Girardeau will be held at 2 p.m. today at St. Mary's Cemetery. Msgr. Edward Elfrink will officiate. McCombs Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau is in charge of arrangements. Geringer, 84, died Friday, Aug. 1, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center...

McCLURE, Ill. -- Norman Rymer, 85, of McClure, died Friday, Aug. 1, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was born July 6, 1912, in Union County, son of William and Grace Reams Rymer. He and Alberta Roy were married Jan. 15, 1976. She died Jan. 12, 1991...

Funeral Mass for Blanche Margaret Turner, 2430 Masters, will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at St. Emily's Catholic Church in DesPlaines, Ill. The Rev. James O'Connor will officiate, with burial in All Saints Cemetery in DesPlaines. Friends may call at the church Monday from 1 p.m. to service time...

BELL CITY -- Bonnie J. Maddox, 59, of Bell City died Friday, August 1, 1997, at the St. Francis Medical Center. She was born March 19, 1938, in Kennett the daughter of George T. and Katherine Davis Midkiff of Bell City. Maddox was a homemaker. Survivors include her mother; six sons, Rick Maddox, Chad Maddox, Jr., David Maddox, Jeff Maddox, Scott Maddox and Brad Maddox all of Bell City; two daughters, Cheryl Walter of Bell City and Chadette McDonald of Sikeston; a brother, Robert Midkiff of Dexter; six sisters, Margie Morgan of Dexter, Teresa Grisham, Kay Hughes and Linda Hensley all of Bell City, Donna Ray of East Prairie and Mary Buckley of Sikeston; 16 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.. ...

OAK RIDGE -- Velma C. Friedrich, 72, of Oak Ridge died Friday, Aug. 1, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 10, 1924, at Whitewater, daughter of Louis and Edith Snyder Gloth. She and Glen H. Friedrich were married March 8, 1949...

Linda K. Renn, 48, of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, August 1, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons.

The Missouri Department of Transportation has given the go-head for Pier 3 work on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. Work was halted on Pier 3, situated in the middle of the Mississippi River, earlier this year for additional core testings by the transportation department to determine the precise makeup of rock beneath the pier site...

Southeast Missouri State University will dedicate the marketing department office suite Tuesday. The office suite will be named for the late Firooz Hekmat, a Southeast faculty member. The ceremony is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in the office suite at Robert A. Dempster Hall. A reception will follow in the balcony area overlooking the atrium...

The Missouri Foster and Group Home Placement Task Force will hold a community forum Monday in Cape Girardeau. The forum will be held from 7-9:30 p.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church Family Life Center, 300 N. Ellis. The task force is charged by state statute to look at 11 specific issues related to foster, group and residential care. ...