Stories from Friday, February 20, 1998

To the editor: According to the Bible, the diet of the Palestinians was largely vegetarian. The people ate bread. Olive oil was widely used, and so were milk and milk products. A large variety of fruits and vegetables, fowl, eggs, hone and wine were included in their diet...

February is National Children's Dental Health Month, an annual celebration of dental health education. This celebration began in 1941 in Cleveland, Ohio, as an annual observance of children's dental health. The American Dental Association held the first national observance of Children's Dental Health Day on February 8, 1949. ...

Rape victims, already facing the trauma of the crime perpetrated against them and the emergency room examination they have just undergone, are often times left with nothing to wear home from the hospital because they are told that the clothes they have worn to the hospital must stay with the police to be used as evidence...

A plastic model of a normal thyroid. Shown in red, the thyroid surrounds the esophagus and sits below the voice box. A plastic model of a thyroid with Hashimoto's disease. A plastic model of a thyroid with Graves disease. A plastic model of a thyroid with a nodule...

How many wore "We Card" signs? DURING RECENT attempts by local police to have teen-agers purchase tobacco and alcohol in Cape Girardeau to help crack down on such sales to underage minors, did anyone count the number of "We Card" signs worn by the salespersons or displayed in the stores? It would be interesting to see if those stores who say "We Card" really do. That program is sponsored by people who sell tobacco, and I wonder if they are really trying their best to reduce sales to minors...

The issue of charter schools is under discussion in the hearing rooms of the Missouri Legislature. One bill being reviewed would designate who could sponsor a charter school, which would be, according to the bill's sponsor, free of most rules and regulations...

Missouri will be one of three states participating in a very limited -- just 250 voters in all -- experiment to allow overseas U.S. soldiers to cast absentee ballots on the Internet. The experiment must first get legislative approval, but it seems to have some practical applications in situations like this...

To the editor: There really are angels among us. We discovered this on Presidents Day on Independence Street as we were endeavoring to get to Southeast Missouri Hospital for an appointment. The rain was heavy, and so was traffic and our spirit. Our car had just quit on us. We are in our 70s and unable to walk any distance for help...

To the editor: I just wanted to write a note to let you know how much the Missourian has put a sparkle in the lives of our employees. In the People and Things column in your paper, you published the names of the first group of employees who graduated from the first phase of employee training last week. ...

A meeting with superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent Wednesday left some Cape Girardeau school teachers hoping for the best but expecting the worst when board members begin consideration of salary schedules and budget cuts for 1998-99. Tallent met with Central High School faculty to discuss budget recommendations for next school year that administrators may make Monday to the school board. ...

A study to determine cost savings through a permanent affiliation between Cape Girardeau's two hospitals will be finished by the end of March. A study committee made up of representatives from the two hospitals -- Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center -- has hired the Arthur Andersen consulting firm to carry out the efficiencies study...

Like many 16-year-old boys, Kirk Miller skateboards and listens to heavy metal music. But what the Central High School junior loves to do most is play his cello. On March 7, Miller will perform Saint-Saens' Cello Concerto No. 11 as a soloist with the Paducah Symphony Orchestra. He and a pianist from Tennessee earned the right to play solos by winning the 85-piece symphony's annual Young Artists Competition...

Every town has its characters, the folks who ought to be in novels -- and for all you know wrote a few way back when. Several of you have mentioned from time to time that my recollections about growing up on Kelo Valley near my favorite hometown west of here in the Ozarks have made your memory juices flow...

It was another typical game for the state-ranked Notre Dame girls basketball team Thursday night as they hosted the Kelly Lady Hawks. The Lady Bulldogs stumbled at the start, fell behind early and then blew their competition away in the second half...

Despite an 0-3 start to the season, Southeast Missouri State University baseball coach Mark Hogan is far from discouraged with his team. In fact, if anything, Hogan is even more encouraged now than he was prior to last weekend's three-game sweep at Mississippi...

Southeast Missouri State University assistant volleyball coach Eunice Thomas resigned Wednesday to accept a position as head volleyball coach and head women's administrator at Midwestern State University, a Division II school in Wichita Falls, Texas...

Southeast Missouri State University head volleyball coach Cindy Gannon concluded her 1998 recruiting season Wednesday by signing Lori Lange, a 5-foot-10 middle blocker from Ursuline Academy in St. Louis. "We are very excited to have Lori," Gannon said. "She is a solid all-around player, has a good work ethic and comes from a great background. Lori will fit in well with our program."...

MURRAY, Ky. -- De'Teri Mayes scored 32 points and broke his own school record for 3-pointers in a season as Murray State defeated Austin Peay 86-78 Thursday night in the Ohio Valley Conference. The loss by Austin Peay kept Southeast Missouri's hopes alive for a fourth-place finish in the conference. To finish fourth, and gain the accompanying home game in the first round of the OVC tournament, Southeast must win Saturday at Eastern Illinois while Austin Peay must lose at Tennessee-Martin...

COLUMBIA -- Jackson High and Cape Girardeau Central did not fare well in first-round matches in the Missouri Wrestling Championships at the Hearnes Center on Thursday. Five of Jackson's six entrants lost, as did Central's lone qualifier. At 125 pounds, Lance Schlick beat Wentzville's Erik Stites by major decision, 12-2...

JACKSON -- Jackson's girls pounced on visiting North County 27-0 in the first quarter of Thursday's game and cruised to a 59-35 victory in high school basketball action. Jackson (21-2) was able to quickly clear the bench, but with the Lady Indians closing in on the postseason, that may not be totally desirable, coach Ron Cook said...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Mona Pansy Limbaugh of Sikeston will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston. The Rev. Tom Geers will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery at Sikeston. Friends may call at the funeral home from 5-8 p.m. today...

Imogene Deming, 90, of Louisville, Ky., died Monday, Feb. 9, 1998, in a nursing home in Louisville. She was a native of Cape Girardeau, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joel P. Nunn. She married Howard F. Deming, who preceded her in death. Deming was a teacher at Washington School in the 1930s...

CHARLESTON -- Melvin Horace Forrest, 79, of Charleston died Wednesday, Feb. 18, 1998, at East Prairie Nursing Home. He was born Nov. 8, 1918, in Bertrand, son of Melvin H. and Burnice Hinkle Forrest Sr. He and Edith Britt were married Jan. 19, 1946...

JACKSON -- Edith Edna Krueger, 83, of Jackson died Thursday, Feb. 19, 1998, at her home. She was born April 29, 1914, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Henry A. and Elizabeth Clark Moore. She and Alvin Anton Krueger were married July 13, 1933, at Jackson. He died Feb. 14, 1996...

Kip Carlton Fee, 42, of Baker, Fla., died Tuesday, Feb. 17, 1998, at his home, from cancer. He was born July 7, 1955, in Cape Girardeau, son of Donald and Peggy Fee. He married the former Anita Thomas. Fee was a graduate of Central High School. He was a carpenter, and had lived in Florida 19 years...

Memorial service for Martha Howard Jones of Cape Girardeau will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the gazebo in Memorial Park. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Jones, 83, died Friday, Feb. 13, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

Twin daughters to Rob and Tabitha Gerecke of Blue Springs, St. Mary's Hospital there, Thursday, Jan. 29, 1998. Brooke Nicole was born at 8:45 a.m. and weighed 5 pounds. Bailey Faye was born at 8:47 a.m. and weighed 6 pounds. First children. Mrs. Gerecke is the former Tabitha Rangel. Gerecke is the son of Bob and Nancy Gerecke of Blue Springs and formerly of Cape Girardeau. He is employed at Alan's Trophy Co...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Bill McKinley, 58, of East Prairie died Wednesday, Feb. 18, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born March 29, 1939, in East Prairie, son of Robert Lee and Mildred Stacy McKinley. He and Barbara Ray were married Dec. 29, 1958...