Stories from Sunday, March 29, 1998

To the editor: A kiss from the cross was given to a brave young mother-to-be recently after she made the heroic decision to keep the baby that she is carrying as she law on the table of the abortionist. The pressures must have been enormous to have brought her to that table. But God was not going to allow her to make the most tragic mistake of her life...

25 years ago, 1973 James E. Gosche of Jackson is one young disabled Vietnam War Veteran who believes he has it made; although he sustained severe leg injury in combat, he returned to United States with positive outlook that has resulted in good job, loving wife and 2 1/2-month-old son; Gosche is assistant Farmers Home Administration supervisor for Perry and Cape Girardeau counties...

There probably isn't a school district in Missouri that is being hurt as badly as is the Cape Girardeau School District under the state's foundation formula for distributing state aid to local districts. (Close behind is the Perryville district just up the road.) You have read recently about shortfalls in state aid that are forcing our local school board to consider drastic budget cuts...

The Jackson Middle School held its annual science fair Thursday night. The fair showcased the students' interest in various areas of science. The science fair entries ranged from how to clean up an oil spill to whether a dog is colorblind. Whatever interested the 117 entrants made its way to the show room floor for the fair...

Dr. Karl Menninger, M.D., wrote a very fine book in 1973: "Whatever Became of Sin?" In this work he notes that the very word "sin" seems to have disappeared, despite its long history as a strong and proud word. In 1953, President Eisenhower made his first proclamation for a national day of prayer (Truman inaugurated this congressional mandate in 1952) in which he quoted Abraham Lincoln:...

Legislators returned to work in the capitol after a one-week spring break to find 131 House bills listed on the calendar awaiting action by the House. Committees are still meeting every day and continuing to hear and pass bills which may also be sent to the full House for debate and a vote. The long days included an evening session and others may follow...

Let's start off in Moscow at the "Moscow Times," where President Boris Yeltsin has fired his entire Cabinet. He has two weeks to name a new staff. Yeltsin has wasted no time in naming his new staff. He's named Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and Yakov Smirnoff to his Cabinet. Oddly enough the announcement came after maids discovered three empty bottles of liquor in the president's Black Sea bungalow. The identity of the bottles is unknown at this time...

"The Founding Fathers did not foresee the party system as it has developed, and what they knew about its early beginnings they disliked intensely." -- Walter Lippmann Few events are more loathsome than listening to some modern-day political advocate try to convince his audience that the partisan garbage he has just delivered has the blessing not only of the federal constitution's authors but the Great Democrat/Republican Upstairs. ...

A little-noticed measure on the April 7 ballot is Constitutional Amendment 3. It is a statewide vote on whether to preserve the Kansas City School District's property tax rate near the current level of $4.96 for each $100 of assessed valuation. The result can mean the difference between the district's remaining solvent or losing $75 to $80 million in local tax money and state matching funds -- taking it to the brink of bankruptcy...

In 1996, Congress finally moved to establish new limits on appeals by death-row inmates. Those appeals have long been nearly endless, and often frivolous, delaying the inevitable for 12 to 15 years and even longer. The Federal Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act enacted by Congress was designed to limit these repeated appeals to federal courts...

To the editor: I am beginning to believe that in Ray Umbdenstock's view, I just cannot do anything right. In one of my letters which occasioned his letter of March 25, I agreed with him that conservatives ought to be allowed to be as nasty to oppressed groups as they want to be. Of course, he, being a conservative, characterized his position as a stance against political correctness...

Cape Girardeau's Historic Preservation Commission wants to know how city residents feel about plotting the past. The commission will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday to gather input for a preservation plan that may lay the groundwork for historic districts in the city...

A shining sun and whipping wind greeted some 400 competitors, their coaches and fans Saturday for the Southeast Area Special Olympics held at Abe Stuber Track and Field Complex at Southeast Missouri State University. Special Olympics events are held at the local, state and national levels to provide mentally or developmentally disabled people of all ages an opportunity to compete in athletic events. ...

A small crowd gathered to watch Grant Lund pull wood block prints Saturday afternoon at the 28th annual Spring Arts and Crafts Fair. He carefully inked the wood block, carved with an image of a tree and birds, laid the paper over it and rubbed the paper with a flat stone to pick up the inked image...

The greater Cape Girardeau area "came close" to meeting the U.S. Census Bureau's criteria for designation as a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in 1990. But too many things were in the way. -- A county park. -- A cemetery. -- An industrial park. The Census Bureau has some complicated rules concerning MSA designations, which give communities some advantages and which came into being for the 1950 census. ...

Cape Girardeau has grown more in the first seven years of the 1990s than it did throughout the entire 1980s decade. New population estimates, prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau through a cooperative program between state and federal governments, also indicate an increase of almost 1,000 residents in the City of Cape Girardeau, during the first seven years of the 1990s...

Math can be mesmerizing when you're 6. Our daughter, Becca, has discovered addition. Becca deals in big numbers. They don't add up to much numerically, but they take up a lot of space on a piece of paper. Right now, she keeps her totals under 10. But it won't be long until she's ready for higher math, which means she'll want an allowance...

Joey Haines is the first person to admit that track and field might not rate as a `must-see' event with the majority of the area's sports fans. But Haines insists that the sport he coaches is extremely exciting and features some of the best athletes around...

Considering the thunderstorms that rolled through the area Friday night, most high school baseball teams would have had to cancel any scheduled games on Saturday. Not the Cape Central Tigers. With the Southeast Missouri State University baseball team playing on the road Saturday, the host Tigers moved their noon SEMO Conference game with Poplar Bluff to the tarp-covered infield of Capaha Field...

STE. GENEVIEVE -- Oran completed a scoreless opening week in the field Friday, improving to 3-0 with an 11-0, five-inning victory over Valle in boys baseball action. The victory also avenged last year's loss to Valle for the district title. The Eagles pounded 14 hits and scored in every inning...

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- The Southeast Missouri State University Indians fell 6-4 Saturday in the opening game of an important three-game series with Ohio Valley Conference opponent Eastern Illinois. Southeast threatened to score several times, but stranded 12 runners in the nine-inning contest. The Indians fell to 14-11 and 5-5 in the OVC. Eastern Illinois improved to 14-6 and 5-1. The two teams will play a doubleheader today...

Cape Jaycees Municipal Golf Course has opened all 18 greens for play. The course has adopted a Softspike preferred policy for the 1998 season. Another new addition will be the first annual Park development men's individual tournament July 18-19.

The Perryville Parks & Recreation Department will hold a coed volleyball tournament on April 11. The tournament will be round robin, followed by a single-elimination playoff. Entry fee is $40. For more information, call Caren Weibrecht at 547-2594.

The Plaza Galleria will host the 8th Annual Heartland Invitational ISI Team Championships on April 4 at The Ice in Cape Girardeau. Competition hours are 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Both sessions are free to the public. The competition includes both local skaters and teams from the St. Louis area...

A final Scott City youth league registration will be held April 4 from noon-1 p.m. at the Scott City Park. Tryouts will follow. For more information, call Phillis Spinks at 264-3411.

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Under the leadership of assistant coach Buddy Foster, the Southeast Missouri State University softball team claimed the Southern Illinois Saluki Invitational with two victories Saturday. With head coach Lana Richmond tending to a family crisis, Foster coaxed the Otahkians to a 3-2 victory over tourney host Carbondale and a 2-0 win over Tennessee-Martin. Southeast completed the round-robin tournament with a 4-0 record and improved to 17-5 overall...

Now that spring has finally arrived, it is time for people to grab their fishing gear and head to the water. Here's a look at lakes in Southeast Missouri. Duck Creek Pool #1 is located on the Duck Creek Conservation Area on Highway 51, approximately seven miles north of Puxico. Pool #1 is 1,800 acres and has lots of aquatic vegetation, so anglers must be prepared to fish in it. Many anglers think this vegetation is a nuisance, but it provides excellent habitat for fish...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Melba Gunning, 93, of Tamms died Friday, March 27, 1998, at Union County Hospital in Anna. She was born March 20, 1905, at Mill Creek, daughter of Charlie and Laura Bridges Sims. She married Michael Walter "Tootles" Gunning on July 25, 1923. He died Feb. 23, 1975...

FARRENBURG -- George Leroy Stinson, 76, of Farrenburg died Saturday, March 28, 1998, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born March 1, 1922, in Indiana, son of Thomas Lee and Mary Atuberry Stinson. He married Audrey Ruth Jackson in 1938. She died April 11, 1975. He married Helen Hall on March 18, 1977. She survives in East Prairie...

MARBLE HILL -- Rosa Ann Landewee, 91, of Leopold, died Friday, March, 27, 1998, at Bond Nursing Care Center in Marble Hill. She was born Aug. 11, 1906, near Dongola, daughter of Frank and Anna Vangennip Beel. On April 11, 1934, she married William John Landewee...

MARBLE HILL -- Shirley Jean Long, 62, of Marble Hill, died Saturday, March 28, 1998, at her home. She was born March 9, 1936, at Advance. She was a member of the Scopus Church of Christ. Survivors include her mother, Mae Cook of Marble Hill; five sisters, Carmen Lovsey of Murphysboro, Ill., Vivian Angel, Joyce Angel and Sue Summers, all of Marble Hill, and Shannon Stanford of Perryville...

Dava M. Bowman, 29, of St. Louis, formerly of Ste. Genevieve, died Friday, March 27, 1998, at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur. She was born Feb. 10, 1969, at Cape Girardeau, daughter of David P. Donze and Penny K. Thompson Bauman. She married Gregory P. Bowman on June 10, 1995, at Apple Creek...

Jean Bell Mosley's new autobiography, "For Most of the Century," is only available in serialized form in the Southeast Missourian. Return each week for her continuing story. Despite the usual childhood illnesses and accidents, and the death or disappearance of two pet dogs, Stephen's pre-school days were normal and, I hope, happy ones for him. ...

Ivan Nothdurft, 81, says he writes letters to the editor when the spirit moves him and he has something to say about moral decency that people need to hear. "Writing is not a profession," said author Georges Simenon in 1958, "but a vocation of unhappiness."...

The Easter Seals will present a two-hour entertainment special called "Hollywood Salutes Easter Seals" at 4 p.m. tonight on Fox 23 KBSI. "In a total departure from our prior use of television, this new format will entertain viewers while at the same time elaborating on who we are and what we do," said James E. Williams Jr., president of National Easter Seals...