Stories from Saturday, April 4, 1998

To the editor: I would like to take a moment to make a comment about the situation in politics right now, brought to a head by the problems Mr. Clinton is facing. This reminds me of the childhood story of the king and his clothes and the two tailors who had to come up with the finest clothes possible. ...

MARBLE HILL -- Bollinger County Presiding Commissioner Elwood Mouser faces two challengers in the August Republican primary. The winner will face the Democratic candidate, Marble Hill businessman Kenny Trentham, in the November election. Mouser faces opposition in the primary from Bill Fulton of Patton and William N. Nitsch of Sedgewickville...

Air Evac is expanding its air ambulance service. Air Evac EMS Inc., headquartered in West Plains, Mo., has added a fourth helicopter to its regional services. The new Belle 206 chopper and its EMS flight crew will be stationed at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport...

Preventing child abuse and neglect is better than going into a situation where abuse or neglect have occurred and trying to correct the problem, say experts in the field. And the key to prevention, they say, is education. "Prevention begins with education," said Frances Gould, Cape Girardeau County director for the Division of Family Services...

Many issues fill the ballot Tuesday. But for the city of Sikeston, a key consideration is passage of a sales tax to fund a new higher education center. If voters approve the sales tax Tuesday, the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents is ready to proceed...

Reading is fundamental. There's no doubt about it. That's why the Reading Is Fundamental program has been so successful year after year. Four of Cape Girardeau's elementary school have participated in RIF for a decade. Three times each year, students are allowed to visit their school library and pick out a book for their very own. Students can choose from more than 100 titles...

To the editor: In a recent edition you stated that the first long-distance telephone line in Missouri was by a Bell company. This is totally wrong. You should have know so, because earlier you published the truth that Capt. James Francis Brooks, a Civil War veteran designed and laid the lines from Jackson to Cape himself and that its operator managed the calls from his kitchen in Jackson...

When two-year-old Latasha Johnson of Cape Girardeau died in 1983, the autopsy showed multiple signs of abuse. Her body bore the marks -- cigarette burn scars, bruises from beatings with electrical cords, chipped teeth from being struck in the face and bruises on the buttocks so deep that tissue was excised from the bone...

Improvements on Highway 34, a heavily used two-lane highway which runs through portions of Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Wayne, Reynolds and Carter Counties, will be the topic of a special public information meeting to be held in Cape Girardeau April 21...

PERRYVILLE - The final wrinkles in a plan to privatize Perry County Memorial Hospital should be ironed out by the end of next week. Hospital officials will meet with the Perry County Commission Thursday to finalize the reorganization of the hospital, which is converting from a public, not-for-profit institution to a private, not-for-profit institution...

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission awarded two construction contracts Friday totaling $29.5 million for the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. The commission's action sets the stage for construction work to resume in May on the new, four-lane bridge at Cape Girardeau...

Sixth-graders were skeptical. Since when do you need bee's wax and a candle flame to dye eggs? But an hour and a half later, the students at Franklin Elementary School were proudly polishing their finished Ukrainian eggs. "I like it," said Chad Burton, admiring his shiny, purplish-blue egg. It included traditional Ukrainian designs of a deer, an evergreen and a fishing net, embedded in the rich colors...

Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Regents approved a contract with the city of Sikeston over plans to build and operate a higher education center in the city's new industrial park. The regents approved the contract in a telephone conference call Friday...

Sometimes the best value lessons are still taught in today's schools. I visited an elementary school earlier this week when I got an unexpected moral lesson. As I walked down the hall with the school's principal, a little girl came up and asked if anyone had turned in a dollar she had lost...

Being an athlete is tough, but it can get even tougher when you are a Christian athlete. "It's gonna be tough regardless," said Travis Smith, president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Southeast Missouri State University. "But I always put God first and then give him my time and my heart, and he directs me."...

Several are achurches have planned celebrations for Holy Week. Palm Sunday -- First Christian Church in Cape Girardeau will hold a special Palm Sunday service at 8:15 and 10:30 a.m., with children carrying palms into the church. -- Abundant Life Church will present "The Living Lord's Supper" at 10:30 a.m. The drama includes excerpts from the Last Supper with Jesus and the disciples. Gary Don Richardson of Poplar Bluff will be the special speaker at a 6 p.m. service...

Dear Lee: I've been a regular reader since I found your column three months ago. I've recently gone through a time of emotional pain and anxiety that I hope I never duplicate. Your column was a source of strength to me, because during the whole time I felt that God had turned his back on me and I was as far away from him as I could get. I believe I have crested the hill, however, and my sense of serenity is making a slow comeback...

It's barely a week into spring practice and Southeast Missouri State University's football Indians have already suffered two major blows. Fullback Britt Mirgaux, Southeast's leading rusher the last two seasons, and quarterback Kevin Seto -- a touted junior-college transfer -- have in the past several days both suffered injuries that require surgery...

ST. LOUIS -- Cape Girardeau Central High's girls swimming team placed second Friday in a four-team meet hosted by Rockwood Summit. Summit won the meet with 604 points, followed by Central with 523.5, Eureka with 483 and Ursuline Academy with 453.5. Central had a pair of double individual winners as Mary Beth Owen won the 200 individual medley (2:15.99) and 100 freestyle (55.84) and Grace Freeman captured the 50 freestyle (26.62) and 100 breaststroke (1:12.56)...

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team, after winning a pair of lopsided non-league games Wednesday, will jump back into Ohio Valley Conference action this weekend. The Indians and Austin Peay will square off in a key three-game series in Clarksville, Tenn. The teams will have a 2 p.m. doubleheader today and a 2 p.m. single game Sunday...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Funeral for Helen Maxine Johnson of Mounds will be held at 1 p.m. today at Shiloh Baptist Church in Villa Ridge. The Rev. Larry Miller will officiate, with burial in Green Lawn Memorial Gardens at Villa Ridge. Barkett Funeral Home in Mounds is in charge of arrangements...

Dorothy C. Gummersheimer, 75, of Waterloo, Ill., died Thursday, April 2, 1998, at Canterbury Manor Nursing Center in Waterloo. She was born April 13, 1922, in Columbia, Ill., daughter of Henry W. and Augusta D. Mueller Klamp. She married Victor M. Gummersheimer, who preceded her in death Jan. 30, 1990...

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- Charles E. Campbell, 87, of Mound City died Friday, April 3, 1998, at Charleston Manor Nursing Home in Charleston, Mo. He was born Jan. 12, 1911, at McLeansboro, son of Edward and Leena Hill Campbell. He was a retired boilermaker and a member of St. Marys Catholic Church in Mound City, Cairo Knights of Columbus Council 1027 and a lifetime member of the Boilermakers Union...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Wilbur E. "Tuffy" Foster, 67, of Jonesboro died Thursday, April 2, 1998, at his home. He was born Oct. 20, 1930, at Grand Tower, son of Cleve and Gladys Tiffany Foster. Survivors include a daughter, Julie Arnold of Cape Girardeau, Mo.; a brother, Larry Foster of Monticello, Ind.; four sisters, Lucille Choate of Marion, Virginia Schein and Doris Dennis of St. Louis, Delores Reynolds of Reynoldsville; a friend, Wanda Hill of Anna; and a grandson...

JACKSON -- Harry "Jim" Schnurbusch, 64, of Jackson died Friday, April 3, 1998, at his home. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

Pauline E. Hellmeyer, 91, of Springfield, Ill., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, April 3, 1998, at Villa East Nursing Home in Sherman, Ill. She was born Jan. 20, 1907, in Shobonier, Ill., daughter of B. Frank and Lula Girard Perry. She and Louis B. Hellmeyer were married in 1925. He died Nov. 23, 1980...

METROPOLIS, Ill. -- Betty Rehg, 59, of Metropolis died Friday, April 3, 1998, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky. She was born Aug. 2, 1938, in Dover, Tenn., daughter of Dossie and Orbia Bryant Baker. Rehg was a member of Living Waters Pentecostal Church...

Daughter to William Mullins and Melanie Grove of Carbondale, Ill., St. Joseph Hospital in Murphysboro, Ill., 5:35 a.m. Sunday, March 15, 1998. Name, Elissa Blake Grove. Weight, 8 pounds 12 ounces. Second daughter. Daughter to Jay and Robin J. Freeman of Scott City, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 12:56 a.m. ...

Alfred "Fred" Schlosser, 81, of Oran died April 2, 1998 at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born January 30, 1917, son of Joseph Schlosser and Katie (Schott) Schlosser. He married Ethel Heisserer on August 25, 1945. Mr. Schlosser was a rural mail carrier for the United States Postal Service in Oran, Mo. ...