Stories from Saturday, May 16, 1998

Kind kids at Lyncare Linda Caldwell reported that children at Lyncare, an after-school ministry at Lynwood Baptist Church drew names for kindness buddies this week. The children also wrote notes to parents and made kindness fliers with scripture verses on them...

When most people retire from a job, they're glad to sit back and take it easy. No so with Betty Heuring of Scott City. After working 30 years as a nurse assistant at Southeast Missouri Hospital, Heuring returned the very next week as a volunteer. Since her retirement in 1995, she has contributed more than 1,300 hours to the hospital...

The Leaders of Tomorrow at May Greene Elementary School decided flowers, planted in the shape of a heart, would help the school entrance look a little nicer. So the youngsters stayed after school Thursday to complete the task, another in a series of kind deeds the boys did during the week, explained Dustin Hency...

Although John and Nelda Braswell had been neighbors with Clyde Ledbetter for more than 20 years, they didn't truly begin to know him until about 10 years ago, when he and his wife, Becky, decided to tear down their privacy fence. Since then, the two couples have shared just about everything, including tools, food and plenty of fond memories...

THIS IS to the man driving the maroon Pontiac around Egypt Mills Saturday afternoon. My 19-year-old sister had only been buried a few hours before you came along and stole the lavender and red roses from her grave. I hope the person you gave them to can still enjoy your gift. But I will forgive you and pray that when you bury a loved one no one does anything so disgusting and disrespectful to them...

In a world of crime and cruelty, kindness is like a breath of fresh air. That is what makes Random Acts of Kindness Week so special. Today wraps up the third annual observance in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. The kindnesses have been spread over a wide region. Residents of seven Missouri counties participated: Cape Girardeau, Perry, Scott, Bollinger, Stoddard, Mississippi and New Madrid along with Alexander County in Illinois...

The Rev. Grant Gillard has been pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, since 1993. We traditionally see Jesus as compassionate, caring and sensitive to the needs of people. We frequently see him deliberately buck societal conventions and trash the paralysis of the status quo in the name of helping someone. He disregarded the sanctity of the Sabbath to heal people. Jesus cares deeply about the needs of hurting people...

A chamber of commerce is only as strong as its membership. In Cape Girardeau, there's real strength in numbers. The local chamber held another successful membership blitz this past week. A few more new memberships are still being processed, but the numbers will probably end up around the 1,240 mark. That is an amazing number for a town of just 36,000 population...

To the editor: The Sierra Club's top attorney, who sidelines as Missouri's attorney general, now wants to be the Sierra Club's top U.S. senator. Jay Nixon, whose claim to fame as attorney general is he "fought for the environment," would be more in line with the truth to state, "When the Sierra Club said jump, Jay Nixon said, `How high should I jump?'"...

To the editor: In her latest column, Judy Lueders, your "nutrition expert," warns of the dangers of dietary supplements, claiming that "they may actually damage your health rather than improve health." She also suggests educating yourself with information from reliable medical organizations and not using information from those who profit from the sale of supplements...

To the editor: Your April 24 editorial regarding the source of funding for paying the expense of gaming agents assigned to Missouri riverboat casinos told only one side of the story, that of the casinos. In order to present your readers with a complete understanding of the issues, I think it is important to submit the following analysis...

MCCLURE, Ill. -- Kathy Matlock's kindergarten students loaded up the red wagon with marigolds and impatiens, handmade greeting cards and a little sister and headed into town to greet their neighbors. The students from Shawnee Elementary School South walked up and down the streets of McClure handing out flowers and offering up choruses of "Have a Nice Day" to those they met along the way."We're giving flowers away to old people and doing kind things," said Brittany Pind."We're doing this to make them feel happy," said Sommer Gerber.. ...

Ron Nall and Nick Leist first met in a brass ensemble at Southeast Missouri State University about 35 years ago. Nall was a freshman who had just switched instruments from tuba to French horn. Leist was a senior trombonist. The band director didn't trust Nall to hold his own so he instructed Leist to transpose and play Nall's part on trombone as well...

How good the Jackson and Cape Girardeau Central high school bands were under Nick Leist and Ron Nall is a matter of record. Leist's musicians have received 27 consecutive No. 1 ratings at the district music contests. The Jackson students who qualified for state contests in Columbia fill three buses this year...

When you go looking for kind people, it's not hard to find them at many area churches. Most don't even need a week promoting Random Acts of Kindness to perform their kind acts. But placing a special emphasis on being kind, even if it is just for one week, has an effect on the community...

The airport and the school district in Cape Girardeau stand to gain financially from bills passed by the Missouri Legislature during the session that ended Friday. Lawmakers approved bills that would provide state funding for the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport control tower and increased state aid for the local school district...

I'm one of the people who keeps Hallmark in business. I read their cards, I watch their televised movies and I cry at their commercials. I like Hallmark because the company goes out of its way to remind you of the way things used to be. Everything about the company discusses the simple pleasures that make us love things and one another...

Dr. Steven Hoffman, assistant professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University, recently was named to the board of the newly formed Missouri Downtown Association. The new statewide organization is designed to promote downtown revitalization and development in towns and cities across Missouri...

With the Powerball lottery jackpot at $100-million plus for tonight's drawing, lottery fever is at a high pitch in Cape Girardeau and other areas where Powerball is played. That includes 20 states and the District of Columbia. It does not include Illinois, which has its own multimillion-dollar lottery game...

West Park Mall and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri will auction playhouses Sunday during the annual "Playhouses on Parade." This year's center-court display features two playhouses, both custom built by Perryville contractors. The Garden Cottage was built by Rocky Schumer Construction Co. Inc. The company and Guyot Lumber Co. Inc., donated materials...

Last season, Cape Girardeau Central High's girls soccer team went 18-1. The Lady Tigers lost to eventual Missouri Class 4A champion Lafayette 1-0 after winning the district tournament. But much of that team's scoring graduated, and that made coach Tom Doyle unsure of whether his team would match last year...

If today's action in the NCAA play-in baseball series being held in Cape Girardeau is anything like Friday's, then fans are in for another real treat. Southeast Missouri State University and Southern University put on quite a show, displaying stellar defense, strong pitching and clutch hitting to delight a crowd of more than 1,100 on a summer-like night at Capaha Field...

Southeast Missouri State University gymnast Aaron Craig has been honored as a recipient of a 1998 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award. The award winners were released in a recent edition of `Black Issues in Higher Education' and Craig was one of only three women gymnasts from across the entire nation to be honored...

Son to Keith DeWayne Collins and Michelle Lee Ford of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:33 a.m. Wednesday, May 6, 1998. Name, Trent Joshua. Weight, 6 pounds 14 ounces. Second child, first son. Ms. Ford is the daughter of Karen Skinner of Jackson and Joe and Candy Ford of Cape Girardeau. Collins is the son of Roger and Lynn Collins of Union and Evelynn Collins of Cape Girardeau. He is employed at Pauwels Transportation...

Septa Allie Grugan, 99, died Friday, May 15, 1998, at Heartland Care Rehab Center. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

GLEN ALLEN -- Doris Stephens, 66, of Glen Allen died Thursday, May 14, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 11, 1932, at Buccahannon, daughter of Elmer O. and Ethel Hinkle Sitze. She and Roy Lee Sitzes were married in 1949. She and Jerry L. Stephens were married in 1958. He died March 19, 1988...

GRAND TOWER, Ill. -- Deloris Burchyett, 62, of Grand Tower died Friday, May 15, 1998, at her home. Meredith Funeral Home in Carbondale is in charge of arrangements.

SIKESTON -- Geneva Watson, 77, of Murray, Ky., died Thursday, May 14, 1998, at Murray-Calloway County Hospital in Murray. She was born Feb. 25, 1921, in Florence, Miss., daughter of W.A. and Ada Jane Till Alliston Sr. She and Charles W. Watson were married Nov. 4, 1951, in Sikeston. He died April 25, 1994...