Stories from Monday, March 2, 1998

Kid's World Kare Center has opened at 2136 William in Town Plaza Shopping Center. "We're licensed for 35 students," said Thomas LaMunion, director of the child care center. The new center will provide a number of services, including before and after school care and alternative care on weekends and nights for students 2 to 12...

Laurie Anderson of Jackson hasn't been to a hairdresser in years. Her husband occasionally trims a little off the ends of her long, curly, blond hair. "I'm scared to get it cut," she said. "No one ever knows what to do with my hair." Instead of ordering up a new hair style at a salon, Anderson and more than 60 other people took advantage of a high-tech alternative last week...

An exterior shot of The Meat Shop. The Meat Shop, a family business owned by Rob Osborn and his father, Bob Osborn, has expanded. The meat-processing company, which is observing its 10th anniversary this year, has added 5,000 square feet to its operation at 1225 S. Kingshighway, more than doubling its previous space...

This "Financial Focus" column is prepared by Edward Jones Investments, headquartered in St. Louis. Jones includes branches throughout the nation, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson. Conclusion: If the U.S. launches massive airstrikes against Iraq, the immediate impact on the stock market would likely be a modest decline. We believe it would not change the long-term fundamentals of this bull market...

read Coming up Thursday Missouri Agriculture Conference, UM-Columbia. Friday Missouri Agriculture Conference, UM-Columbia, Harold Volkmer, banquet speaker. Saturday Missouri Agriculture Conference, UM-Columbia. March 12 Unemployment compensation seminar, 9 a.m. and workers' compensation seminar, 1 p.m., Holiday Inn, Cape Girardeau...

Coldwell Banker Hamilton Realty is expanding its business services, to include a full line of commercial services under the name, Coldwell Banker Commercial Hamilton Realty. "Coldwell Banker was founded more than 90 years ago as a commercial real estate company," said Martha Hamilton, of Coldwell Banker Hamilton Realty. ...

"Sustaining People Through Agriculture" is the theme for the Missouri Department of Agriculture-University of Missouri-Columbia Agriculture Conference, to be held this weekend. The three-day conference, will be held at the UM Memorial Union. A number of guest speakers will address the conference, including Harold Volkmer, a former U.S. ...

With the Beanie Baby craze in full swing, McDonald's Corp. will roll out its second wave of Teenie Beanie Babies, provided by the same company that produces the Ty Beanie Babies. About a year ago, McDonald's kicked off its Teenie Beanies and saw a supply of 100 million toys disappear in two weeks...

Spartech Corp. announced record sales and earnings for the first quarter. Bradley B. Buechler, Spartech president and chief executive officer, reported quarterly sales for the first quarter, which ended Jan. 31, at $133.1 million, up 17 percent from the $113.4 million during the same quarter a year ago...

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported an 18 percent increase in fourth quarter earnings. Net income rose to $1.29 billion, or 57 cents a diluted share, from $1.10 billion, 48 cents a share from a year earlier. Meanwhile, its Sam's Club chain's operating profit increased 12 percent, to $307 million, from $274 million as sales increased 7 percent, from $5.5 billion a year ago to 5.7 billion...

Southwestern Bell has filed application for permission to enter the long-distance market with the Arkansas Public Service Commission. The Arkansas PSC has approved 20 competitors in local services, said Jim Shelley, president of Southwestern Bell-Arkansas...

Pagliai's Pizza And Pasta, 1129 Broadway, is under new ownership. The business has been purchased by Ron and Vivian Bohnert, from Mark and Judy Watson, who have operated the restaurant for 25 years. Watson, a native Iowan, became acquainted with the Pagliai family when he was a high school student. Watson, who worked for a Pagliai Pizza restaurant in Iowa City as a high school and college student, and his wife, Judy Watson, purchased Pagliai in 1973...

Mark Anthony's Restaurant has opened at Plaza Galleria. The new restaurant features a number of entrees, including French, Italian, Greek and American. Mark Anthony Chesner is owner and chef du maison of the new restaurant at 2001 Independence. "This is a family business," said Chesner. Working in the business is Chesner's sister, Maureen Marie Chesner...

Commerce Bank in Cape Girardeau has opened its new full-service branch -- Cape Girardeau North. The new facility, with more than 4,000 square feet, includes work areas for the branch manager, three financial service representatives, four tellers, safety deposit boxes, four drive-through lanes, full-service 24-hour ATM, and customer parking...

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service in Cape Girardeau has been recognized as one of the top 50 producers for first-year offices in the Jackson Hewitt franchise group. The local branch at 401 N. Clark was also recognized as being one of the top 50 processing centers with a one-day turnaround or less. This means that many clients who applied and qualified for a "Super Fast Refund Anticipation Loan" received it in less than 24 hours...

With the year 2000 just around the corner, high technology seems to be the buzz. If you are wanting to become more proficient at using a computer, or simply are worried that your grand kids know more about the Internet than you do then read on. With Windows 98 looming on the horizon this summer the real question is to upgrade or not. ...

Laura Marie Stoner has received the "Missouri Older Worker of the Year" award. Stoner joined Semo Alliance for Disability Independence Inc., a non-residential, not-for-profit, independent center, as a receptionist in March 1996, under the Area Agency on Aging Senior Community Employment Program. In July, she was hired by SADI as a resource specialist...

PULASKI, Ill. -- Who is Count Casimir Pulaski? This could be an oft-asked question in the Land of Lincoln these days. Illinois schools and some state offices are closed today in observance of one of the nation's more obscure holidays: Count Casimir Pulaski's birthday...

The cost for earthquake insurance is going up in Missouri. Officials say the rates could double, triple, or even quadruple this year for many businesses and homeowners because of a decision by a New York insurance rating firm. The Insurance Services Office filed rate increases ranging from 113 to 266 percent for much of Southeast Missouri and the St. Louis metropolitan area...

Death-row inmates could get their sentences commuted to life in prison in exchange for donating a kidney or bone marrow under legislation before the Missouri General Assembly. Cape Girardeau resident Sarah Froemsdorf doesn't like the idea. She has waited 13 years for her husband's killer to be executed...

BENTON -- Scott County government will see a changing of the guard in the upcoming months when three long-time county officials leave office. Presiding Commissioner Bob Kielhofner and County Collector Tom Marshall, both of whom have held county office since the early 1970s, did not file for re-election last week but announced their decisions to retire...

When construction begins next summer on the Hopper Road extension from Mount Auburn to Kage roads, neighboring property owners will pick up a good chunk of the estimated $686,500 costs. While the extension will cost an estimated $686,500, property owners will pay an estimated $350,000, according to the city's 1996 Capital Improvements Program plan...

Anybody had a salmon day at the office lately? No, that does not mean that the company cafeteria suddenly remembered Lent has arrived and decided to serve fish or that your cubicle has been re-upholstered in bright pink. It means, according to a new wave of workplace slang, that you've spent your corporate day swimming upstream with little chance of actually getting anywhere...

To the editor: I'm 15 1/2 years old, and I'm learning to drive. I would like to ask the drivers in Cape Girardeau to please pay more attention to the stop signs and the stoplights around most buy intersections. It isn't everyone, but I find many people are driving recklessly through red lights just to get to their destination a few minutes faster at the risk of everyone's safety...

To the editor: Death was once such a stranger. I was introduce to this stranger at my grandfather's funeral. I wept as I observed the tears of sorrow being shed by those who were more aware of the loss of my grandfather than I was. Then came the stranger's visitation to five classmates killed in a car crash, all in their teens. This gave a new meaning to death expectation. Age was no longer a factor...

Cape Girardeau dentist Dan Cotner has spent much of the past 30 years venturing to far-away places where limited medical care exists. In those places his skills are desperately needed. Dr. Cotner, 74, an active Rotary member, serves in Rotary International's dental clinics throughout the world. Since 1968 he has volunteered his time to work at the clinics...

Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.'s plan to offer a long-distance calling option at a flat monthly fee within the 573 area code would mean substantial savings to many of its customers. The monthly fee for what would be called Local Plus would be $30 for residential customers and $60 for commercial customers. ...

To the editor: According to smokers, they have the right to smoke anywhere they want. Here are the rights of the smoker's family: the right to sign permits for a ventilator with an endotracheal tube, a catheter and an arterial line. My mother had no thyroid due to cancer. ...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "What do you think of vehicle checkpoints that ask for vehicle insurance and driver's licenses?" Teresa Robinson, Cape Girardeau "I don't like them. Because it kind of takes away the time. It could cause traffic problems pulling you over just for that traffic stop. I don't think it's a good idea."...

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team missed out on a chance for a three-game weekend sweep Sunday, but Indians' coach Mark Hogan was not very concerned about it. Instead, the thoughts of Hogan and his squad were with Bradley freshman Ron Hensell, who underwent surgery in Cape Girardeau early Sunday to stop internal bleeding caused by a fractured skull...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Murray State Racers didn't want to take their chances with the NCAA tournament's selection committee, so they took fate into their own hands Sunday. Isaac Spencer had 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Racers routed Tennessee State 92-69 for the Ohio Valley Conference tournament title and the league's automatic bid...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Carlita Elder gave Middle Tennessee State the lead for good with two free throws and then tipped away a Tennessee-Martin pass Sunday night to lift the Lady Blue Raiders to a 59-58 victory in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball tournament...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southeast Missouri State University's softball team opened the 1998 season by going 2-2 during the Southern Illinois Classic held here Saturday and Sunday. The Otahkians won a pair of Saturday games, beating Bradley 9-1 and Kentucky 9-6, but lost a pair of Sunday games, falling to host SIU 3-0 and Northern Illinois 10-3...

Cape Girardeau Central High graduate Jon Younghouse helped lead Texas to its second straight team title in the Big 12 Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday in College Station, Texas. Younghouse, a sophomore, finished second in the 1,650 freestyle and fourth in the 500 freestyle as the Longhorns scored 886 points to win the meet by more than 240 points...

Pingel named all-conference in basketball Perryville native Scott Pingel is at it again. After earning Division III All-American football honors as a wide receiver at Westminster College in Fulton, Pingel joined the basketball team and was named to the second team of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic All-Conference basketball squad...

Kelly, Notre Dame and Oran are all ranked in the first statewide high school baseball poll of 1998. The ranking are determined by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches' Association. Kelly, which finished third in the Class 2A state tournament last year, is ranked third in the preseason poll. Notre Dame is rated seventh in 2A...

George C. Sitze, 68, of Omaha, Neb., and formerly of Jackson, died Saturday, Feb. 28, 1998, at Methodist Hospital in Omaha. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home in Jackson.

EAST PRAIRIE -- Sidney Dalton Gentles, 56, of East Prairie died Sunday, March 1, 1998, at East Prairie Nursing Center. He was born March 16, 1941, at New Madrid, son of James Robert and Jean Eulene Pugh Gentles Sr. He lived in Mississippi County most of his life where he was employed as a truck driver. He was a member of St. Henry's Catholic Church in Charleston and VFW Post 4294...

VILLA RIDGE, Ill. -- Odessa Wright, 67, of Villa Ridge died Saturday, Feb. 28, 1998, at Daystar Nursing Center in Cairo. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Jones Funeral Home in Villa Ridge.

Lorene S. Jacob, 81, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, March 1, 1998, at Fountainbleau Lodge. She was born Aug. 29, 1916, at Whitewater, daughter of Shelby and Cora Mae Spradling Strong. She and Dr. R.D. Jacob Jr. were married in February 1942. He died April 25, 1950...

Della C. Walker, 88, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, March 1, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Dec. 12, 1909, at Dongola, Ill., daughter of Dave and Hattie Scheafer Barnett. She married Elmer Walker. He died in 1967. She was a salad maker who worked for the Marquette Hotel in Cape Girardeau for 30 years. She also worked at the Purple Crackle in East Cape Girardeau for 13 years...