Stories from Thursday, August 6, 1998

To the editor: Last week was certainly a week of dramatic contrasts in our nation's capitol. On one hand, two true American heroes were laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery after dying in a hail of gunfire in the Capitol. Capitol Hill police officers Gipson and Chestnutt made the ultimate sacrifice defending others from a demented gunman. ...

Cape Girardeau city officials want to speed up the process on completing Transportation Trust Fund projects. So the City Council has amended the trust fund program to allow work to start on any of the designated projects as soon as the property for that project is acquired...

A day after winning the Republican primary, U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond vowed Wednesday to "campaign harder than ever" to win re-election in November. Bond spoke to about 25 supporters on the steps of the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau...

The Jerry Ford Orchestra will take its big-band sounds to the 52nd annual Southern Legislative Conference in Charleston, S.C., next week. The 11-piece orchestra will perform during a reception for legislators from the 16 southern states that make up the conference. Missouri is among those states...

"L.C.D." by Mark Elder, C.M. "Just Friends" by Chrstine P. Marshall Pamela White Trimpe's specialty is 19th century British art. But jurying "Art Experience 1998, National Juried Exhibition" meant looking at a lot of very late 20th century American art...

STE. GENEVIEVE -- The 32nd annual Jour de Fete will be held Saturday and Sunday featuring the state's largest arts and crafts show. The mile-long arts and crafts fair consists of more than 500 booths manned by vendors from more than a dozen states. The fair stretches from the Mill Antique Mart on North Main Street to the green Tree Tavern on South Main...

A SPEAK Out caller recently asked who could blame the guy who opened fire inside the U.S. Capitol. The caller then rattled off a litany of things allegedly wrong with our country that would justify the shooting. I agree with the caller that the shooter may be blameless. ...

The findings of a recent study into what parents want from their public schools will come as no surprise to most parents of school-age children or most teachers and administrators. In the survey by a group called Public Agenda, 800 black parents and 800 white parents were asked about education topics ranging from integration to basic courses. What did all the parents agree on? They gave top priority to safety issues: No guns, drugs or gangs at school...

The photographs in the newspaper and on our television screens and national news magazines are almost too much to bear: starving children whose bodies are ravaged by hunger, and adults who look like those horrible images of concentration-camp survivors at the end of World War II...

To the editor: Recent news regarding the building of a new surgical center by local physicians has prompted a great deal of negative feedback by the community. Some comments have gone so far as to label all Cape Girardeau physicians as only in it for the money and have complained that in Cape Girardeau patients receive lower quality medical care than they would in St. ...

To the editor: According to the federal government's "A Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget, Fiscal Year 1999," part of the government's job is to "debate how to use the budget to help the economy grow, or to redistribute income." These are both issues that I, as a Libertarian, object to. ...

Lightning flashed and sprinkles that became a drum beat of rain began falling as the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band played "Thunder and Blazes March" Wednesday night. That's how "Homer Gilbert Day" began. Despite the rain, it ended with a standing ovation for the trumpet player from both his band mates and drenched members of the audience...

Carmelia Hudson wants to be a nurse, and the Cape Girardeau NAACP has a lot to do with that. "I can't wait to get back to school," she said. Hudson, a Central High School graduate, recently completed summer school at Lincoln University, where she will be a freshman this fall. ...

Everything's peachy! A mild winter and spring, followed by plenty of hot summer days and sun have peach orchard owners smiling these days. Peach growers had some anxious moments in March. Temperatures hovered below the freezing mark for a few days in March, dropping to 10 degrees on March 12, before edging up past the 32-degree mark on March 15...

Area Lutherans are investigating the possibility of a Lutheran High School for the region. About 80 people representing Lutheran churches from Perryville to Sikeston attended an initial meeting Tuesday to determine if interest exists. "There was a high energy level, a lot of excitement and a lot of enthusiasm exhibited by the people for this project," said the Rev. David Dissen, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau...

Aug. 6, 1998 Dear Julie, Consider "Tribute to the Egg." "Tribute to the Egg" is a fanciful teapot that emanated from a two-week pottery class DC just took from the local arts council. To me it symbolizes something more. For two weeks I only knew of "Tribute to the Egg" from DC's description. ...

(Editor's note: This story, first published Wednesday, failed to run in its entirety. Here is the complete story.) Up and coming cowboy Cimarron Boardman, a 17-year-old entering his senior year at Jackson High School, won first overall in team roping at the International Finals Youth Rodeo in Shawnee, Okla...

Southeast Missouri State University football coach John Mumford and his staff have been spending plenty of time lately doing some of the necessary evils associated with the job. "We've been spending a lot of time with meetings and preparation work, the things coaches don't really like all that much but have to be done," said Mumford with a laugh. "We'd much rather be on the field coaching our players."...

A memorial service for Robert E. Rasche of Palm Harbor, Fla., will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Grace United Methodist Church. The Rev. Jerry Statler will officiate. Rasche, 66, died Friday, July 24, 1998, of an apparent heart attack while vacationing in Newfoundland...

Wilma Marie Meisenheimer, 80, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Aug. 5, 1998, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

ANNA, Ill. -- A 29-year-old Chaffee, Mo., man was killed in a single-vehicle accident early Wednesday on Highway 146 west of Jonesboro. William Hank Durham died in the 3:50 a.m. accident two miles west of Jonesboro. A spokesman for the Illinois State Police said Durham's vehicle ran off the road, struck a tree and overturned on its top...

MOREHOUSE -- Edgar Finney, 71, of Morehouse died Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1998, in an automobile accident at Morehouse. He was born March 17, 1927, at Vanduser, son of Sidney and Anna May Burton Finney. He married Betty Strauser. Finney had lived in the Morehouse and Sikeston area most of his life...

HAYTI -- Robert Ray Boone, 67, of Hayti died Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1998, when his single-engine airplane crashed in a field near Hayti. He was born Feb. 1, 1931, at Hayti, son of Francis Albert and Beulah Mae Hughes Boone. Boone served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, retiring as chief petty officer...

PATTON -- Esther E. Welker, 93, of Patton died Wednesday, Aug. 5, 1998, at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis. She was born June 2, 1905, at Patton, daughter of Henry and Clara Johnson Yamnitz. She and George T. Welker were married Oct. 6, 1927. He died Sept. 29, 1989...

DEXTER -- Dustin Gaines, 7, of Dexter died Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1998, at Dexter. Watkins and Sons Funeral Home at Dexter is in charge of arrangements.

Son to Randy Robert and Emma Michelle Seabaugh of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 12:52 p.m. Thursday, July 30, 1998. Name, Dylan Robert. Weight, 7 pounds 12 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Seabaugh is the former Emma Monroe, daughter of Frank and Linda Monroe of Jackson. Seabaugh is the son of James "Bob" and Dorothy Seabaugh of Cape Girardeau. He is a truck driver with USF Dugan...

NEW MADRID -- Everett Johnson, 41, of New Madrid, formerly of Howardville, died Monday, Aug. 3, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital of a gunshot wound. He was born Nov. 27, 1956, in New Madrid, son of Louis and Francis Minner Johnson. He attended New Madrid High School...