Stories from Wednesday, May 13, 1998

To the editor: I have followed with some interest the letters from readers who have variously extolled or castigated the performances of President Clinton and the sitting Congress. I appears to me as though each letter's author is strongly influenced by political partisanship. While this affliction is not fatal, it does tend to obfuscate one's vision, usually resulting in a myopic view of the facts...

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce surpassed its goal of 60 new members during a one-day membership blitz Tuesday, and shoved its membership past the 1,230 mark. "We signed 73 new members," said Linda Minner, special-projects director for the chamber. The early count included only paid memberships...

Calvin Mitchell says he must have looked big and strong when he first applied for a job at the Southeast Missourian in 1956. He was fresh out of the Army and looking for work. "We were just starting to raise a family, and it was growing quickly," Mitchell said...

A longtime Cape Girardeau physician has been named the winner of the Missouri State Medical Association's Award for Citizenship and Community Service. Dr. John K. Holcomb recently received the award in a special ceremony at St. Louis. Holcomb retired from full-time practice in 1992 but stays busy...

While in St. Louis last weekend, I took the opportunity to treat Wendy (my wife) to a Mother's Day tour of things I felt she would enjoy. It was my early start on RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS WEEK (something Wendy practices all of the time). We took the opportunity to visit the preview showing and lecture of the once-in-a-lifetime ANGELS FROM THE VATICAN at the St. ...

If Senate leaders make time this week, a law extending to Missourians the right to carry concealed weapons could pass that body and go to a statewide vote of the people next year. Time is short: The General Assembly adjourns for the year at 6 p.m. this Friday. Last week a Senate committee voted 5-0 to pass the bill out of committee to the full Senate. It is known to enjoy majority support in the Senate as it does in the House, which passed it overwhelmingly...

Fallout from the debacle over the collapse of Missouri's 15-year highway plan continues to mount. Recall that last year officials claimed that plan was some $14 billion in the hole. Other knowledgeable insiders -- and former insiders such as former chief engineer Wayne Muri -- dispute the existence of any such shortfall. ...

To the editor: It's a good thing to recycle. Most of the callers to Speak Out are in favor of the people who are conscientious enought to make a new business out of someone else's trash. I would like to applaud them all and include a pat on the back for basing my whole business on recycled materials. Many people would be surprised at how many items they buy that are made out of someone else's trash. Every buy an antique?...

To the editor: I read a comment the other day that stated, "We have had the Industrial Age and the Information Age. When will we have the Age of Compassion?" I don't think that writer has had any contact with the volunteers of the Lutheran Home. They do not wait for Random Acts of Kindness Week but are providing an Age of Compassion every day. They make the name of the Lutheran Home really mean something...

The Special Olympics Torch Run by five members of the Cape Girardeau police department was interrupted Tuesday afternoon when four vehicles collided on Interstate 55 just yards away from where the officers were running. The officers, who were helping in an effort to get the olympic torch to Fort Leonard Wood where this year's Special Olympics will take place, had just taken the torch onto the interstate when the accident occurred...

Missouri Secretary of State Bekki Cook believes a majority of state lawmakers support legislation to establish a presidential primary. The Senate passed a bill to create a primary by a 24-to-6 vote, but the House has yet to take up the measure. With the session to end Friday, Cook knows time is running out...

Catherine Greaser says Patty Turner and the Friends Forever Preschool in Cape Girardeau are great. Her son attends the day-care center, and Greaser nominated Friends Forever for the K103 Random Acts of Kindness recognition given each month. Greaser said the staff at the center take wonderful care of her son, and they act as an extended family for working parents...

A Cape Girardeau city inspector, who only moments before had sat down in his vehicle on the side of the road, looked in his rearview mirror just in time to see a vehicle headed straight for his rear bumper. "I saw the guy coming and thought he was pulling off on the shoulder behind me," John Landewee, a materials testing inspector in the city's engineering division, said of the accident Tuesday...

If my doctor had written those prescriptions any faster, his pen would have ignited. Last week I experienced that event women eagerly anticipate all year. The female-oriented checkup. Nothing could be more humiliating. OK, maybe if that dream where I show up for high school wearing nothing but undergarments and realize that I graduated 11 years ago had actually happened, THAT would be more humiliating. But only that...

Bryan Bowers jokes about the left-handed compliments he gets. Such as becoming the first living member of the Autoharp Hall of Fame. And being invited to record with Jerry Garcia but posthumously -- on tapes the Grateful Dead leader made before he died...

Charlie Marino led the Ohio Valley Conference in home runs this season, has tied Southeast Missouri State University's single-season homer mark with a few games left to play and is within reach of the OVC's single-season home-run record. And all this from a guy who, before the 1998 season, really was never very much of a power hitter...

The Southeast Missouri State University's Alumni Association of Business Professionals will hold its 6th Annual Four-Person Scramble June 5 at Bent Creek Golf Course in Jackson. A lunch will precede the 12:30 p.m. shotgun start. Entry fee is $60 per person and includes green fees, cart and lunch. The entry fee is $30 for students currently enrolled as a College of Business Student at Southeast...

The Chaffee Chamber of Commerce will sponsor the third annual Tywappity Trails 5K Run and Fitness Walk at 9 a.m. June 6. Proceeds from the event will go toward a scholarship to be awarded to a Chaffee High School graduate. The event will be staged by the Cape Girardeau Road Runners Club...

The eighth annual Ed Nunnelee Memorial Tennis Tournament for adults and youths will be held June 5-7 at Sikeston High School. Deadline for entry is June 3. Cost to enter is $12 per singles event and $16 per team for doubles. T-shirts will be given to each player and tennis balls will be provided. Trophies will be awarded for first and second places in all of several divisions...

The First Annual Parks Development Foundation Men's Individual Tournament will be held July 18-19 at Cape Jaycees Municipal Golf Course. The 36-hole event will be pre-flighted. Entry fee is $60. Cash prizes will be awarded. For more information, call 334-2031...

Cape Jaycees Municipal Golf Course will host its Sixth Annual Four-Person Scramble June 20. The tournament will begin with an 8 a.m. shotgun start. Entry fee is $120 per team. Cash prizes will be awarded. For more information, call 334-2031.

The sixth annual Jim Belknap/Friends of St. Francis Junior Golf Classic will be held June 8-9 at Bent Creek Golf Club in Jackson. Boys and girls ages 10-12 will play nine holes each day while boys and girls ages 13-18 will play 18 holes each day. Entry blanks for the event are available at the Bent Creek pro shop; First Community Banks in Poplar Bluff, Malden, Bernie and Campbell; the West Park Mall office; and the foundation office at Saint Francis Medical Center...

The Otahki Girls Scout Council Benefit Two-Lady Scramble will be held May 18 at Cape Girardeau Country Club. Entry fee is $50 per person. Entries will be accepted until May 11. Tee time is 9 a.m. A light breakfast and lunch will be provided. Prizes will be awarded...

Cape Girardeau Senior Babe Ruth baseball tryouts will be held Sunday from 1-3 p.m. at Central High. For more information, call Aaron Bruening at 339-3897.

Irv Vandeven and Herman Campbell won the Southeast Missouri Horseshoe Association's event last weekend at the Oran Knights of Columbus. Kyle Kluesner and Ron LeGrand placed second while Bob Burnett and Clyde Russell took third. Competitions this weekend will be Saturday at 1 p.m. at Kelso Country Club and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Scott City Park...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Tommy Stidham continued his impressive pitching Tuesday as Chaffee High's baseball team claimed a 3-0 victory at East Prairie. Stidham, a sophomore, hurled his second straight shutout and improved his personal record to 7-0. He allowed three hits while striking out eight and walking two...

Patrons ticket packages are available for this weekend's NCAA baseball play-in series in Cape Girardeau. The first 50 individuals or corporations wishing to participate will, for $100, receive: two weekend passes to the games; reserved parking at Capaha Park; game program advertising; and a sponsors announcement over the public address system during the games...

Austin R. Cairns, 82, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born March 22, 1916, in Coulterville, Ill., son of Thomas R. and Goldie L. Carr Cairns. He and Martha Wilson were married Sept. 8, 1936, in Sparta, Ill...

OLMSTED, Ill. -- Edna H. Lowe, 76, of Olmsted died Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at her home. She was born April 12, 1922, in Olmsted, daughter of Otto and Louise Weidner Witzman. Lowe had worked as a nurse aide. She was a member of St. Luke Lutheran Church...

DEXTER -- Alice Chasteen, 72, of Dexter died Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at her home. She was born July 17, 1925, at Dudley, daughter of John Henry and Lucy Mae Berry Umfleet. She and Carl Chasteen were married Sept. 28, 1987. He died March 12, 1991. Chasteen lived most of her life in Dexter. She was a cook many years at Cub's Cafe and at Hickory House Restaurant, and retired as manager of Hucks...

PORTAGEVILLE -- Catherine Haynes Fitzgerald, 73, of Chicago, died Thursday, May 7, 1998. She was born Feb. 8, 1925, at Point Pleasant, the daughter of Robert and Minnie Settles Haynes, and had lived in Chicago for more than 45 years. She was a 1945 graduate of O'Bannon High School in New Madrid. She retired from Cook County School District in 1993. She was of the Baptist faith...

HOWARDVILLE -- Rose Lee Blacksure, 43, of Howardville died Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at her home of an apparent heart attack. She was born Oct. 21, 1954, in Chicago, the daughter of Robert and Rosetta Bell Daniels, and had lived in Missouri all her life...

IMMOKALEE, Fla. -- Jonny Faye McGhee, 65, formerly of East Prairie, died Sunday, May 10, 1998, at her home. She was born Jan. 25, 1933, at Ridgeley, Tenn., the daughter of James E. and Inez Davis Kemp. She married Keith E. McGhee in 1949. He preceded her in death in 1979...

PERRYVILLE -- Paul W. Palisch, 62, of Perryville died Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 26, 1935, in Perryville, son of Willard and Lucille M. Guyot Palisch. He and Yolanda B. Nouvier were married Nov. 12, 1958...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Gerald E. "Buddy" Clutts, 72, of Olive Branch died Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Crain Funeral Home in Tamms. Funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the funeral home...

PERRYVILLE -- Hubert A. Schamburg, 82, of Perryville died Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at Perry County Nursing Home. He was born June 29, 1915, in Perry County, son of Edwin and Magdelena Hoehn Schamburg. He and Elvira A. Renaud were married Dec. 1, 1943, at Perryville...

SIKESTON -- Everett Hoggatt, 88, of Sikeston died Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born June 4, 1909, at Fay, Okla., son of Everett and Nancy Cooprider Hoggatt. He and Freeda Hairston were married Feb. 28, 1942. Hoggatt lived near Morehouse most of his life. He farmed and worked at a cotton gin. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II...

ANNA, Ill. -- Funeral for Vesta Wright Sorrels of Anna will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Crain Funeral Home in Anna. The Rev. Larry Shacklee will officiate, with burial in Ebenezer Cemetery at Lick Creek. Friends may call at the funeral home from 6-8:30 p.m. today...

ANNA, Ill. -- Chester L. Spears, 77, of Anna died Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was born May 11, 1921, in Union County, son of Martin and Sarah Wrinkles Spears. He and Betty E. Boyd were married May 29, 1954, in Chicago...

JACKSON -- Board members and administrators received several after-hours history lessons during a Jackson Board of Education meeting held Tuesday night. Three presentations were made by 12 students who participated in regional and state History Day competitions recently. ...

Bootheel lawmaker Larry Thomason said he expects to resign as state representative for the 163rd District this fall to take another job. The Kennett Democrat refused to disclose the job and wouldn't say if it was in the public or private sector. But House colleagues said the job reportedly is in state government...

The Southeast Missourian asked people about what they do to stay fit. Sherry Cheney: "We walk in the evenings for about an hour once or twice a week. We also try to ride bicycles with the kids at the park whenever it's not raining or too hot." Tara Ring: "I usually walk three or four miles a day. I lift weights every other day. I ran cross country in high school, so I try to keep up with that. It's hard to get out of it."...

Many dishes rely on a vital ingredient. In risotto it's arborio rice. In aioli it's garlic. And in anything called Florentine (except for those little chocolate coated cookies), it's spinach. But of all the dishes that depend on a critical or "key" ingredient, surely Key Lime Pie heads the list...

Kindness links generations Jackson middle school students helped plant flowers at Jackson Manor during Random Acts of Kindness Week. The students and Manor residents participate in S.H.A.R.E. (Students, Helping, Aiding, Reaching the Elderly). The purpose of S.H.A.R.E. ...

Loreen Gladish has spent nearly 20 years helping students at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School become better readers. "It was one of my retirement goals," Gladish said. "I heard about it at a Church Women United meeting and decided it was something I wanted to do."...

The sign outside the China Palace restaurant in Cape Girardeau says welcome to new U.S. citizens, John and Ruling Cai. The Cais say they couldn't have reached their goal without tutor and friend Alberta Loos. The family arrived in the United States in 1992, and no one could speak English...

Margaret Barker took the plunge into community service at Southeast Missouri State University. And she encouraged hundreds of other students to follow her lead. Barker headed up the university's second annual Plunge Day in early May. About 140 students participated on a single day to volunteer at 18 different community agencies. ...