Stories from Thursday, February 5, 1998

A new Breath Alcohol Testing van, donated to the Cape Girardeau Police Department by the Missouri Division of Highway Safety, will be on patrol in the city this weekend as the department conducts sobriety checkpoints as a part of the department's increased effort to combat drunken driving in the city...

This clay sculpture titled "Trespassing" was made by Racheal Bettag, a student at Cape Girardeau Central High School. This untitled batik was made by Notre Dame High School student Sara Semmler. Nicole Gerard likes working with junk. The Cape Girardeau Central High School senior created a basket out of scrap metal and other items from a local junk yard...

When the River City Players present "On Golden Pond" Feb. 12-15, the performance space will be the seventh they have used in the past five years. The peripatetic community theater company will perform "On Golden Pond" in the ballroom of the new Mark Anthony Restaurant in the Plaza Galleria...

The Senior Wheels program of greater Cape Girardeau County will make available in 1998 power wheelchairs and three wheel electric scooters to senior citizens age 65 and up who need mobility assistance, usually at no cost for those who qualify. This service is also available to the permanently physically challenged of any age...

Wrestling fans from St. Louis who identified themselves as, from left, Shelly Desmond, Carre Takor and Norma Desmond dressed in wrestling garb for the World Wrestlng Federation match at the Show Me Center Wednesday night. With boos and hisses or oohs and ahs, fans welcomed the World Wresting Federation to the Show Me Center Wednesday night...

Motorists and pedestrians who fail to yield to a funeral procession would be fined up to $100 under legislation newly proposed in Jefferson City. "It seems that fewer and fewer people are taught to respect a funeral procession," state Sen. Steve Ehlmann, R-St. Charles, complained in introducing his bill Tuesday to the Senate Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee...

It is beginning to look a lot like spring even though the calendar says we are still deep into winter. Some trees are budding and some plants like creeping phlox and snow crocus are starting to bloom in the area. "Probably a lot of bulbs are up right now," said gardening expert Paul Schnare...

Things are a little disrupted in some parts of the city these days, but that is a sign of progress, the mayor of Cape Girardeau said Wednesday. "Over the next several months we're going to be really torn up," Mayor Al Spradling III said. "We've been torn up for a while, but it's progress, and it's progress that you've had a hand in by voting for the transportation sales tax and the water bond issue."...

Feb. 5, 1998 Dear Leslie, In "Amistad," when all seems hopeless, Cinque says he will appeal to his ancestors for help, reasoning that each of us alive is now the purpose for our ancestors' existence. Looking at life that way, why would anyone waste another minute?...

To the editor: This political-correctness nonsense is nothing more than a devious attempt at thought control by the liberals. They are very hard at work attempting to control what the people think and whom they should like. Since speech is the main method of communicating one person's thought to another person, controlling speech is an indirect method of controlling people's thoughts...

Making laws tends to be a reactionary process for the most part. A situation arises, and lawmakers propose legislation to deal with that situation in the future. Teen-agers -- controlling their behavior and their rights, which used to be the responsibility of parents -- are a particular target this year in the Missouri Legislature...

A startling statistic from Washington, D.C., tells us there are now more immigration agents armed with guns than any other federal agency, including the FBI and the Bureau of Prisons. Yet the tide of illegal immigrants continues virtually unabated. And consider this, the number of armed federal agents from all agencies climbed to 74,500 by mid-1996, a 6 percent increase since the Justice Department last conducted such a statistical survey in 1993...

To the editor: Regarding Jack Stapleton's Jan. 25 column: One of the best definitions of mental illness is for a person to keep doing the same thing but somehow expect a different result. This summarizes our difficulty with the war on drugs. Mr. Stapleton aptly lists some of the more disagreeable aspects of getting tough, including building more prisons, hiring more police and going after users and dealers in a constant, never-ending cycle. ...

Jackson all-state lineman J.P. Hall led a group of six local student-athletes Wednesday morning to officially sign letters of intent to continue their athletic and academic careers next season. Hall, a 6-4, 260-pound offensive and defensive lineman for the 11-1 Indians, signed with the University of Missouri Tigers as a defensive lineman. ...

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- It's the mental -- not the physical -- that has Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach Gary Garner concerned the most about tonight's game. The Indians, riding a three-game winning streak and in sole possession of fourth place in the Ohio Valley Conference, figure to have plenty of advantages against struggling Tennessee Tech...

Eight high school athletes from Southeast Missouri have agreed to play football at Southeast Missouri State University. In all, the names of 20 players -- 13 high school athletes and seven junior college transfers -- were released by Southeast on Wednesday, the first day of the national letter-of-intent signing period...

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State's women's basketball team lost an Ohio Valley Conference game against host Austin Peay 69-58 before 200 fans Wednesday night. The loss dropped the Otahkians to 7-13 and 5-8 in the league. Austin Peay improved to 9-11 and 4-8...

Jeff Walter School: Jackson Class: Senior Sport: Basketball Position: Center Coach: Steve Burk Week report: Walter displayed the consistency that pushed the Jackson Indians to an 11-game winning streak through last week, scoring 22 points in two home wins. ...

CHARLESTON -- The final two first-round games in the 19th annual Charleston Girls Invitational Tournament were played Tuesday night. In the first game, second-seeded Poplar Bluff blew out No. 7 Charleston 67-28. No. 3 Notre Dame then handled No. 6 Scott County Central 64-50...

DEXTER -- Funeral service for Betty V. Summers of Acorn Ridge will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter. Kenneth Gaines will officiate, with burial in Hollis Cemetery near Acorn Ridge. Summers, 93, died Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998, at Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Center...

ESSEX -- Mildred Patterson, 77, of Essex died Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998, at her home. She was born April 5, 1920, in Beebe, Ark., daughter of Thomas Cecil and Fannie Elizabeth Wicker Warthen. She and Orval Patterson were married July 16, 1941, at Bloomfield. He died Jan. 21, 1998...

George D. Goodson, 77, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Nov. 13, 1920, in Oak Ridge, son of Bern and Olga Manning Goodson. He and Jewel Watkins were married March 17, 1946, in Cape Girardeau. Goodson owned Goodson Insurance Agency 35 years, retiring in 1986. He served two years as commander of VFW Post 3838, was chairman of the budget committee, and served on other committees...

SCOTT CITY -- Randy Carroll, 31, of St. Petersburg, Fla., died Friday, Jan. 30, 1998, at his home. He was born July 10, 1966, in Cape Girardeau, son of Tom and Mary Ellinger Carroll. Carroll was a respiratory therapist at Memorial Hospital in Tampa, Fla. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy. Carroll moved to St. Petersburg three years ago from Scott City...

JACKSON -- Graveside service for Lee Roy Allen of Jackson will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Russell Heights Cemetery. The Rev. Philip Curran will officiate. There is no visitation. Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Allen, 79, died Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998, at Beverly Health and Rehabilitation in Cape Girardeau...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Eliza Catherine Curtis, 94, of Jonesboro died Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1998, at her home. She was born Dec. 15, 1903, at Lutesville, Mo., daughter of Wesley Vardeman and Laura Hubbard Froman. Curtis was a member of Valley Mission Pentecostal Church...

PIEDMONT -- Funeral service for Henry Lawrence Umfleet Jr. of Piedmont was held Tuesday at Ruegg Funeral Home. The Rev. Webster Eaker officiated, with burial in Masonic Cemetery at Piedmont. Umfleet, 72, died Saturday, Jan. 31, 1998, at his home. He was born Oct. 29, 1925, in Santa Monica, Calif., son of Henry R. and Nona Bohnsack Umfleet. He and Ruby Proffer were married Sept. 12, 1947...

Norma B. Robinson, 87, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998, at Heartland Care Rehab Center. She was born Aug. 15, 1910, in St. Elmo, Ill., daughter of James Franklin and Lucy Avena Eyestone Irey. She married John William Robinson. He preceded her in death...

SIKESTON -- The Rev. James Emmett Wenneker, 62, of Sikeston died Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Aug. 1, 1935, in Quincy, Ill., son of J. Emmett "Jake" and Trula Brockschmidt Wenneker. He and Joyce Anderson were married in 1956 in Quincy...

SCOTT CITY -- Lauretta Lee Schenimann, 76, of Scott City died Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in St. Louis. She was born Aug. 26, 1921, at Kennett, daughter of Ed and Ella Perkins Dailey. She and Leslie Gordon Schenimann were married Aug. 2, 1944, at Kennett. He died Dec. 24, 1965...

JACKSON -- Firefighters from rural Cape Girardeau County fire districts were called to a large grass fire Wednesday night along Route D about a half-mile north of the Jackson city limits. The Jackson, Millersville, Fruitland and North County fire departments fought the blaze. The Jackson Police Department and the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department also were on the scene...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Former mayor Donald L. "Dobe" Holshouser, 60, of Tamms died Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was born Nov. 26, 1937, in Alexander County, son of Armel and Dorothy Wilson Holshouser. He and Roselee Temke were married March 12, 1960...

ANNA, Ill. -- Agnes Tucker Cash, 90, of Anna died Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1998, at Jonesboro Health Care Center. Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home in Anna is in charge of arrangements.

Son to Lakesha Marie Dean and Victor DeShone Baker of Mounds, Ill., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 5:18 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, 1998. Name, LaShone Robert. Weight, 8 pounds 10 ounces. Second child, first son. Ms. Dean is the daughter of Rose Dean of Mounds. She is employed at Bert's Bar-B-Que. Baker is the son of Vesta and Connie Ware of Mounds...

Funeral service for Ruth E. Crites of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Trinity Lutheran Church. The Rev. David Dissen will officiate, with burial in Hanover Lutheran Church Cemetery. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel from 4-8 p.m. Friday...