Stories from Wednesday, August 27, 1997

A gifted student can be both a source of pride and worry. Some students are bored by regular classroom studies and may not work to their potential. Others may become troublemakers or develop low self-esteem. Gifted educational opportunities are often more accessible in a public school setting. But a new group is working to educate parents of private school students as to their rights...

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale is working hard to clean up an image tarnished by a party-school reputation. Chancellor Donald Beggs has taken a no-nonsense approach with last year's out-of-control Halloween celebrations. He's also reaching out to the region to stress that academics come first at SIU. ...

In recent conversations, I've found that few people know that NEWSPAPERS lead other media in electronic and online services. Another generally unknown fact is that DAILY morning delivery and SUNDAY circulations are at all-time HIGHS. And the most rapidly growing segment of the newspaper industry, measured by circulation increases, are the community and weekly newspapers of which we are in the process of acquiring 6 more to go with the 5 purchased Aug. 1...

Volunteers are still needed for the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon Monday. The telethon will air Monday on KFVS12 with local segments originating from the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Cape Girardeau. "Volunteers are needed in all kinds of functions from answering the pledge phones on camera to escorting guests to the proper place at the proper time," said Ken Lucy, MDA's regional coordinator. "Those who wish to help can volunteer all day or any three-hour part of the day."...

Jesse Dunlop has lived in the 700 block of South Fountain Street all his 73 years. He intended to stay there until he died until the flood of 1993. Water rose from the Mississippi River and covered his street while sewage backed up into his basement, Dunlop said. "It was in my furnace, my hot-water heater, and it stunk. It stunk for a long time."...

First-day fall enrollment at Southeast Missouri State University rose for the third year in a row. Southeast had 7,843 students enrolled on the first day of classes Monday, up 21 from a year ago. "It's encouraging that overall enrollment has increased for three consecutive years," said Dr. Dale Nitzschke, Southeast's president. But he said the university must strengthen its recruiting efforts...

Area retailers will experience initial costs but ongoing benefits when Southeast Missouri recipients of food stamps and cash benefits begin using their Electronic Benefits Transfer cards on Monday. Electronic debit cards will replace paper checks and food stamps for Missouri. The program already has been piloted in southern Missouri, St. Louis, and parts of Jackson and St. Louis counties. EBT cards were issued to welfare recipients in 17 Southeast Missouri counties this summer...

Confusion and problems surround the application of a new law that, starting Thursday, will make public the names and addresses of certain sex offenders. Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said two laws were signed by Gov. Mel Carnahan that apply to a list of sex offenders that has been kept in the state since 1995. ...

Although Missouri has the second-most number of farms in the nation, it has 2,000 fewer farms today than it had a year ago. Statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Missouri Department of Agriculture in Jefferson City show that the total number of farms in the state dropped to 102,0000 from 104,000...

CAIRO, Ill. -- The wait to see a doctor at Cairo's Community Health and Emergency Services clinic might seem a little shorter this fall. Volunteers will be reading to children in the waiting room as part of a new literacy program. The "Reach Out and Read" program has two parts. In addition to volunteers reading in the waiting room, doctors will be talking with parents about the importance of literacy. Children will also get books to take home...

It's tough to know when a mere interest in professionalwrestling has crossed the line into obsession. It's easy to pick out a Monday at our house. I stagger home from work looking like I've been clubbed, but The Other Half rushes in with a big smile on his face. He runs to the remote like a beleaguered Republican to a cellular phone, ready for his regular Monday-night action...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Board of Education established a tax rate for the 1997-98 school year and approved aides for elementary teachers during its regular meeting Tuesday. No one attended the special hearing before the school board to set a school tax levy for the year. ...

The Southeast Missourian asked students at Orchard Drive Elementary School about their parents' occupations in honor of Labor Day. Amelia Sherinski: "My dad is a horticulturist. He helps others by helping their plants stay alive, and telling them they have mites and stuff like that."...

METROPOLIS, Ill. -- It's been more than a week since members of the Massac County Teachers Association Union announced its intention to strike, and Massac County Unit 1 school teachers were still walking picket lines Tuesday. "No new talks have been scheduled," Jeff Morris, assistant superintendent of schools in the district said Tuesday. "We're waiting now for a request by the teachers for new meetings."...

As expected, former Charleston High basketball standout Jeramy Biles has enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University. Biles, who played for St. Louis University as a freshman last season, will have to sit out the 1997-98 season under NCAA transfer rules but he will be able to practice with the Indians. He will then have three seasons of eligibility remaining...

"It's not just a game, it's an event," is this year's theme for the Southeast football program. While the athletic department has worked very hard to create the "event," our football squad has labored through two-a-days to make the "event" worth watching on the field...

Cape Girardeau Central and Charleston, coming off district championships last year, will once again be expecting good things during the 1997 high school girls tennis season. Jackson, which also had a successful 1996 campaign, will be looking to knock off the area's two top teams while Chaffee will continue to strive for improvement as it must face the area's large-school powers...

MOREHOUSE -- Funeral service for Eric Dean Knoeppel of Morehouse will be held at 10 a.m. today at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Sikeston. Bishop Matthew Raymond will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery at Sikeston. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel at Sikeston is in charge of arrangements...

OLD APPLETON -- Graveside service for Leemon Boyd Abbott of Old Appleton will be held at 11 a.m. today at Lorimier Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. The Rev. Mark Anderson will officiate. Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau is in charge of arrangements...

JACKSON -- Louis A. "Bud" "Shorty" Loos, 76, of Jackson died Monday, Aug. 25, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 24, 1921, in Jackson, son of Louis G. and Ida Blackwell Loos. He and Mary A. Cathcart were married Jan. 22, 1954, at Jackson...

SIKESTON -- Pansy B. McDougal, 94, of Sikeston died Monday, Aug. 25, 1997, at Sikeston Convalescent Center. She was born June 17, 1903, in Clarkton, daughter of Hugh Bernice and Vera Ozella Skaggs Johnston. She and Prince A. McDougal were married May 13, 1917, at Clarkton. He died Jan. 19, 1978...

Burial service for Ivan Eugene Clark of Missouri Veterans Home will be held at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Clark, 70, died Saturday, Aug. 23, 1997, at the veterans home...

Funeral Mass for Philip Joseph Leible, 1752 Themis, will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Vincent's Catholic Church. The Rev. Milton Ryan will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel from 4-8 p.m. today. Parish prayers will be at 7...

ADVANCE -- Rachel Lea Shipley, 14, of Advance died Monday, Aug. 25, 1997, in an automobile accident on Highway C near Arab. She was born Oct. 10, 1982, at Sikeston, daughter of Jim and Bonnie Jean Senciboy Shipley. Shipley was a freshman at Advance High School. She had been named Most Valuable Player in basketball and volleyball at Oran Junior High School...

JACKSON -- Wilfred M. Suedekum, 75, of Jackson died Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1997, at his home. He was born May 1, 1922, at Gordonville, son of Martin Henry and Clara Lorene Kasten Suedekum. Suedekum was a self-employed farmer and carpenter. He was a member of St. James United Church of Christ at Tilsit, and Altenthal-Joerns American Legion Post 158 at Jackson. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II...

ARAB -- An Advance teenager is dead and a Wappapello man hospitalized after a traffic accident Monday night near Arab. Rachel Shipley, 14, of Advance, died at the scene, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol. At 11:30 p.m., Claude Woods, 17, of Wappapello was rounding a curve in his car heading westbound one mile east of Arab on Route C in Bollinger County when it ran off the right side of the road, overturned several times and struck an embankment and several trees, according to the Highway Patrol.. ...

Funeral service for Wesley Ulrich of Twin Falls, Idaho, was held Aug. 13 at White Mortuary Chapel in Twin Falls, with Wayland McClellan officiating. Burial was in Sunset Memorial Park in Twin Falls. Ulrich, 92, died Thursday, Aug. 7, 1997, at Birchwood Retirement Estate...

Son to Robert W. and Bonnie J. Taylor of Sikeston, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 9 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 17, 1997. Name, Jacob Alexander. Weight, 6 pounds 9 ounces. Third child, second son. Mrs. Taylor is the former Bonnie Mills, daughter of Jim and Doris Mills of Morehouse. She is employed at Interlochen Corp. Taylor is the son of Ruth Clabaugh of Sikeston and Robert Taylor of Oran. He is self-employed...

HAYWOOD CITY -- Caldonia Blackmon Bland, 51, died Monday, Aug. 25, 1997, at her daughter's home in Sikeston. She was born Sept. 16, 1945, in Tunica, Miss., the daughter of John Daniel and Dorothy Mae Selma Blackmon. She attended school at South Pemiscot in Steele and was a member of the House of Prayer Church of God in Christ in Morley...