Stories from Thursday, July 9, 1998

To the editor: I have just returned from Costa Rica, a developing Latin American country where the prevailing public and political climates are light years ahead of the depressingly anti-conservationist, neo-conservative views that are argued by some in the United States. ...

Cape Girardeau has a new Convention and Visitors Bureau director who is arriving from Nashville with the experience of similar responsibilities in Danville and Alton, Ill. As she will be expected to do many times in the coming months, we welcome Terri Clark-Bauer to the City of Roses and wish her well as she guides the CVB toward its future goals...

An issue that erupted into political turmoil in Massachusetts recently involved a reading and writing test for aspiring teachers. The state's education commissioner resigned. The governor was accused of turning the testing into a political gambit. And the state's board of education voted to lower the passing grade so some 260 would-be teachers could qualify for jobs in the public schools...

James Westwood of Centreville, Va., is, by all appearances, serious about his inquiries into strange occurrences possibly involving UFOs that are usually the butt of jokes and the subject of bizarre TV specials. Westwood recently spent a few days in Cape Girardeau looking into a 1941 incident that has all the trappings of a UFO crash near here as well as a subsequent government coverup...

I WOULD like to comment that superintendent of schools in Cape Girardeau, Dan Tallent, really must be a financial genius. He was about $600,000 short a couple of months ago, and now they have discovered an extra million dollars. It really makes me feel comfortable with him at the helm as the financial representative for the Cape schools...

Eric Woods was lying in bed one night thinking about time capsules he buried as a boy -- they contained things like G.I. Joes and letterman jacket medals found on a bus -- when the notion of a grander scheme occurred to him. The result, "It's About Time. A Collaborative Project," opens Friday at the Lorimier Gallery...

About 5:30 the evening of May 11, 1997, Mother's Day, Giboney Juden arrived home from her job at Target. Her mother, LaDonna, had left moments earlier and was to return in about 20 minutes. Giboney, who now is 18, walked to the rear of her parents' Perry Avenue home. Her grandmother, Mary Lou Winchester, 73, was sleeping in a nearby bedroom...

Area veterans will be able to find medical care a little closer to home with the opening of a new Veterans Affairs primary care clinic in Cape Girardeau. The Cape Girardeau VA Community Clinic, 1923 N. Kingshighway, will offer basic medical care to area veterans and beneficiaries of the TRICARE program, which provides health care to military retirees and their families...

Cape Girardeau's Planning and Zoning Commission denied a rezoning request for a property on North Park Avenue Wednesday night. The commission voted 8-1 to deny the request of Lois H. Walther to rezone 381 N. Park Ave. from R-4 multiple family residential to R-2 single family residential...

"The X-Files" "Lethal Weapon 4" "The Truman Show" "The Mask of Zorro" The news Disney annimated feature "Mulan" has drawn a large audience. In times past, before the days of central air, movie theaters were one of the few places in town that had air conditioning. Families, looking for a way to escape the heat, would go to the movies not only for the entertainment but for respite from the oppressive heat of the long, hot summers...

Dr. Dan Tallent will end his brief career as superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District when his contract ends on June 30. The Cape Girardeau Board of Education released a statement announcing Tallent's decision after meeting in closed session Wednesday afternoon at the Vocational-Technical School. Tallent informed board members June 29 that he doesn't want to consider a new contract...

Wednesday night's American Legion baseball game at Capaha Field was pretty much over only a few minutes after it got started. Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons hit the struggling visiting squad from Ziegler, Ill., with a 10-run first inning on the way to a 16-1 romp. The contest ended after the top of the seventh inning by way of the 10-run mercy rule...

A proposal to grant salary schedule advancement for teachers and other district employees was soundly rejected during a special meeting Wednesday of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education. If approved, the proposal would have granted salary increases on established salary schedules based on years of service and professional development for all eligible employees. The measure would have added an estimated $340,000 to the school district's 1998-99 budget...

Southeast Missouri State University's polytechnic building has yet to be built, but it already has a name. The Board of Regents voted Wednesday to name the structure after Otto and Della Seabaugh. The Cape Girardeau couple has agreed to donate more than $1 million to help fund construction of the school's planned technology building...

The second phase of a plan designed to move Southeast Missouri State University toward gender equity in athletics was approved by the school's Board of Regents Wednesday. Its goal is to have more female athletes and coaches and to increase funding for women's sports at Southeast...

Dear Pat, Our dog Hank is on drugs. Befuddled, unpredictable Hank has become a citizen of Prozac Nation. The decision to medicate falls in the category of last resorts. We have tried love and understanding, and we've attempted to quell his fears by acting more alpha when we're around the pack of two...

Southeast Missouri State University track and field coach Joey Haines has received plenty of awards during the course of his highly distinguished career. But the most recent honor to come his way is one of his most cherished. It was announced Wednesday that Haines has been voted the United States Track Coaches Association Regional Outdoor Coach of the Year...

Jackson will host the 1998 `A' American Legion District 14 Tournament starting tonight at the city park on the American Legion Field. Six teams will be vying for the Jr. American Legion district title, with Cape SEMO Bank and Chaffee earning first-round byes in the double-elimination tourney. Cape is the No. 1 seed with a 16-4 district record. Chaffee enters with a 15-5 district mark...

Daughter to John Keith and Carolyn Sue Wood of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 11:39 a.m. Wednesday, July 1, 1998. Name, Megan Michelle. Weight, 8 pounds. First child. Mrs. Wood is the former Carolyn Philipps, daughter of Julius and Janet Philipps of Jackson. She is a registered nurse in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit at Southeast Hospital. Wood is the son of Kenneth and Lorene Wood of Cape Girardeau. He is an installer with Quality Floor Covering...

PERRYVILLE -- Larry C. Range, 46, of Perryville died Monday, July 6, 1998, at Perry County Memorial Hospital, He was born May 18, 1952, in East St. Louis, Ill., son of Bernard T. and Katherine L. Hamblin Range. He married Phyllis Schulte. Range was employed at TG(USA). He served seven years in the U.S. Army...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Danny Sullivan, 62, of Cobden died Tuesday, July 7, 1998, at City Care Center. There are no known survivors. Friends may call at Crain Funeral Home in Anna from 1-2 p.m. today. Graveside service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Pleasant Grove Memorial Park in Murphysboro...

JACKSON -- Funeral for Lonnie R. "Rob" Bangert II of Jackson will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Paul Lutheran Church. The Rev. David Johnson will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park at Cape Girardeau. Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson from 4-8 p.m. today, and at the church after 9:30 a.m. Friday...

CHAFFEE -- August J. Dohogne, 93, of Chaffee died Tuesday, July 7, 1998, at Chaffee Nursing Center. He was born Sept. 26, 1904, at Chaffee, son of Louis and Mary Josephine Schaeffer Dohogne. He and Clara Vetter were married Nov. 21, 1946. Dohogne was a retired farmer. He was a member of St. Ambrose Catholic Church and its Men's Club...