Stories from Sunday, September 20, 1998

To the editor: As an average citizen who has too often stood on the sidelines and not spoken up, I finally feel compelled to say something after the release of the Starr report. I opened the Sunday edition of our local newspaper and saw the article stating that there is backlash against the Starr report, and Clinton's approval ratings are up. I was reminded of the saying attributed to P.T. Barnum: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time ... ."...

A Festival of Lessons and Hymns will be presented on Sunday, Oct. 11, in preparation for the 100th anniversary celebration in 1999 of the founding of Christ Lutheran Church of Gordonville. Christ Lutheran's congregation was founded in 1898 by a group of Lutherans from the Gordonville area. ...

Angelica Sides and Brian Sides both grew up in Jackson. They both attended Jackson Schools and graduated in 1998. They both work at Sonic Drive-In in Jackson as assistant managers. And now they're lives are getting even more closer together. Angelica and Brian are getting married Oct. 31, 1998...

The Jackson Chamber of Commerce recently held its first Business After Hours on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Sponsors for the event held at McDowell South were Century 21 Dutch Realty, McDowell South and The Cash-Book Journal. Held the second Tuesday of each month, Business After Hours is a monthly social for chamber members. It is designed to bring members together in a relaxed environment to meet and make new business contacts...

The Cape Friends of Old Time Music and Dance will host an old-fashioned barn dance on Friday, Sept. 25, from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. The event will be held in the Dance Studio of the Parker Building on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. Joe Surdyk of Carbondale, Ill., will call and Max and Ann Drake will perform old-time tunes on the guitar and fiddle...

Lisa Roach of Cape Girardeau is now employed as a secretary/receptionist at Close Environmental on Court Street in Jackson. Roach has a degree in office systems management from Southeast Missouri State University. Close Environmental has been in business since March 1995. They perform site assessments for real estate transfers, EPA and Indian compliance, and handle underground storage tank inquiries...

Brandon McArthur, son of B.J. and Lisa McArthur of Jackson, Mo., now knows that wishes can come true. Brandon, who suffers from ataxia telangectasia (AT), is only expected to live to the age of 10. He is one of only 500 people in the United States diagnosed with the disease...

Trisha Wischmann and her family welcomed their first bed and breakfast guests in Sept. 1988. After ten years, the Wischmanns are still providing the same quality service to guests from places near and far. They are marking the occasion with a celebration the last weekend in September...

A public community meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 24 at the City Community meeting room, 3rd floor, above the City Library. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. and should last about an hour. This will be a time of information and planning for the Day of National Concern About Young People and Gun Violence. Any person or group that works with young people and would be interested in helping plan events leading up to and the day of the National Pledge Day is asked to attend...

The week of Sept. 20-26 has been designated POW-MIA Week by the American Legion Post #158 and VFW Post #104595 and its auxiliary of Jackson. A walk is scheduled to remember and pay tribute to prisoners of war and those still missing in action. Anyone wishing to participate in the walk should assemble at the American Legion Hall at 1:30 p.m. ...

Aaron King of Jackson and Ronnie Meisenheimer of Scott City recently competed in ESPN's NBL Grand National BMX Races in Lousiville, Ky. King placed first in the 16-year-old novice class and Meisenheimer placed fifth in the 21-to-24-year-old novice class...

Working with gardeners, I have realized that gardeners have three main loves. First, all gardeners love gardening and will work for hours to grow a beautiful flower to enjoy or a juicy vegetable that they will give away. They also manage to grow more for tomorrow...

It wasn't reassuring to hear Secretary of State Bekki Cook, speaking before the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee this month, pass off the problem of Bootheel voter fraud as no big deal. Still more disturbing was her determination to ascribe most of it to mistakes by confused, elderly election judges. These volunteers work devotedly in the public service...

It is not about me. It is about the people of this country. ..." [UNITAL. -- President Bill Clinton, Sept. 17, 1998 In these words, we have found common ground with the president. The appalling scenario unfolding in Washington isn't so much about the current occupant of the White House he has so defiled as it is about us as Americans: How do we regard ourselves? What kind of country do we mean to have? Is America a beacon to the world, "a shining city on a hill" in the inspirational phrase of a former president? Or shall we embrace, say, Jerry Springer as our cultural lodestar, and an O.J. ...

Partial-birth abortion is the procedure that has been called "one-fifth abortion, four-fifths infanticide." It is unrecognized in the medical literature, positively dangerous to womens' health and fertility and opposed by those most expert in crisis pregnancy...

I AM so pleased that two men have been charged in the murder of Gina Dawn Brooks of Fredericktown. This has been a nine-year-plus ordeal which has certainly been grueling for all involved. I certainly want to say that I realize that a charge of murder is certainly not a closure or conviction. ...

Ruthie Tipton of Marble Hill will serve as the mistress of ceremonies at the Bollinger County Fall Festival Beauty Pageant on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 1:30 p.m. There will be events for Toddler and Little Miss and Mister, ages 0-3 years and 4-7 years; Pre-Teen and Teen Miss, ages 8-12 years and 13-16 years; and Miss Bollinger County, ages 17-25 years...

Visitors and residents from across the region will be able to drive, eat, dance and camp their way around Southeast Missouri's Mississippi River valley through December during the Annual Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive fall tour. Along with the natural beauty of autumn in Southeast Missouri, participants will find friendly people, open houses, crafts, festivals, folk music, demonstrations, working mules and horses, carnivals, scenic vistas and much more. ...

Stride, stroll and step for Alzheimer's disease in the 1998 Memory Walk at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at Capaha Park to benefit the Alzheimer's Association. The dollars raised will help the Alzheimer's Association provide support groups, information, resources and educational programs for families. Individuals across the chapter who raise at least $50 will be entered in a drawing for two round-trip, domestic airline tickets compliments of TWA...

The Missouri Department of Conservation will be holding a hunters' education certification class on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Jackson K.C. Hall, Hwy. 61 North, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lunch will be held from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. The Knights of Columbus will be selling chili, or participants may bring their own lunch...

Phillip R. Dillow has seen plenty of rusted tractors falling apart in farmers' fields. But the Dongola, Ill., man doesn't view them as junk. To him, they are a treasure. Dillow and his son, Phillip, brought several vintage tractors to the SEMO District Fair's Antique Tractor Pull Saturday...

Next month, work will start to widen one of the exit ramps from Interstate 55 to U.S. 61 at Center Junction. But local officials say it will take more than an extra turn lane to make Center Junction safe for motorists. In October, Pace Construction Co. of St. Louis will begin work to widen the northbound exit ramp on I-55 to add a left turn lane...

As Tim Herbez headed back to the riverboat docked on the banks of the Mississippi Saturday afternoon, he stopped to get a souvenir pin of Cape Girardeau to add to the collection of pins he wore on his suspenders. The pin, given away by the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, was one which Herbez will keep with the Cape Girardeau pins he has collected over the years...

A member of the British Parliament took in the sights Saturday at the SEMO District Fair. James Gray, a Conservative Party member, was the guest of U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. Gray was in the area as part of a two-week visit to the United States. His visit is part of a cultural exchange coordinated by the British-American Parliamentary Group that lets U.S. and British lawmakers get a firsthand look at each other's government...

They came at dawn's first light Saturday, eager to invade our garage. We braced ourselves for the onslaught. Then, we opened our garage and the eager customers streamed in to buy our used children's clothes, toys and other assorted items. In truth, there's nothing like a garage sale...

Last week in this space, I gushed over the Cardinals' Mark McGwire, going into great detail about how is certainly a most deserving home run king, with personal qualities that should make all human beings proud. When I wrote that, the Sultan of St. Louis had just broken major league baseball's all-time single-season home-run record and it looked for all the world like he would wind up the season with the mark...

A tenacious and gritty Southeast Missouri State University football effort did not produce a victory Saturday night, but it certainly left an impression on Murray State. The Indians battled the powerful Racers on virtually even terms the entire game, but two costly mistakes helped Murray claim a hard-fought 26-14 victory in front of 6,217 fans at Houck Stadium...

For Kerry Robinson, the dream has finally been realized. Robinson, a former Southeast Missouri State University standout, can now call himself a major-league baseball player. Late Friday night, Robinson -- one of the top prospects in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' minor-league system -- got the call that he had been anxiously awaiting...

MURRAY, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University's golf team fended off a final-round charge from Louisville Saturday, eking out a 1-shot victory in the 11-team Murray State Invitational. With rounds of 288, 288 and 295, Southeast's total of 871 bettered Louisville, which trailed the Indians by eight strokes entering the final round before firing a day-best 288...

Last year's two Ohio Valley Conference volleyball champions got together in Cape Girardeau Saturday afternoon for an early-season showdown. Score one for the home team. Southeast Missouri State University, which has won the past five OVC regular-season titles, knocked off 1997 OVC Tournament champion Tennessee Tech 15-5, 16-14, 15-5 in front of 105 fans at Houck Field House...

Jackson and Cape Central runners packed the result boards at Saturday's Cape Central Invitational at Cape County Park. The female squads from Jackson and Cape led the way, with first- and second-place finishes respectively in the five-team varsity division...

MURRAY, Ky. -- Notre Dame captured the Murray (Ky.) Tournament Saturday with a 5-0 victory over Elizabethtown (Ky.) in the championship game. Adam Obermiller and Cory Elfrink both scored a pair of goals while Chris Dirnberger added a tally. Mark Buehrle assisted on two of the goals which Zach Miller and Tommy Wencewicz had one apiece...

Jerry Tucker has never worn a mohawk hairdo in his 34 years. "But I've had some strange hairstyles," said Tucker, head coach of the 2-1 Perryville Pirates. "I went to college in the early 80's." On Monday afternoon, in the parking lot behind Perryville's locker room, the amateur barbers of the Perryville football team will give Tucker his most unusual style to date...

JACKSON -- Last season Jackson High's Nathan Windeknecht netted a school record 27 goals in 24 games. Riding a McGwire-like pace, Windeknecht already is threatening to uproot that mark this season. Windeknecht, a senior, whipped in three scores during Jackson's 6-0 victory Saturday over Pacific...

KENNETT -- Missouri Department of Conservation engineers say they are optimistic that they have found a way to seal leaks in Jerry P. Combs Lake. The repair plan will remove sand deposits from the lake bottom, then use clay excavated from the lake and other sites on Little River Conservation Area to resurface the lake bed...

When I'm visiting with landowners, they commonly ask how they can manage their land to make a living and still improve fish and wildlife habitat. To help answer these questions, demonstration areas have been developed around the state to show land use practices that benefit both the landowner and the environment...

PORTAGEVILLE -- Lloyd Reid, 55, of Bonne Terre died Friday, Sept. 18, 1998, at his home. He was born Nov. 11, 1942, at St. Louis, son of Louise Layman Reid and the late L.C. Reid. He married Nola Maddox on May 3, 1961, at New Madrid. Survivors include his mother of Scott City; his wife of Bonne Terre; a son, Michael Reid of the home; five daughters, Debra Jones of Michigan, Donna Palmer of High Ridge, Laura Lowery of De Soto, Michelle Hastings of Poplar Bluff and Pamela Reid of Waco, Texas; two brothers, Lonnie Reid of Scott City and Danny Reid of Brandenton, Fla.; seven sisters, Wilma McDaniel of West Port, Ind., Alene Woolsey of Sikeston, Velma Smith of Lilbourn, Betty Lou Baehe of Granite City, Ill., Faye Myers and Linda Parker, both of Scott City, and Sharron Clemmens of Gerald; 13 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.. ...

POPLAR BLUFF -- Richard L. "Dick" Mulkey, 74, of Poplar Bluff died Thursday, Sept. 17, 1998, at John J. Pershing V.A. Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. He was born Aug. 2, 1924, at Cape Girardeau, son of Thomas B. and Ferol Mammon Mulkey. He and Helen Posey were married on Dec. 30, 1945, at Caruthersville...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Alma Marie Johnson, 86, of East Prairie died Friday, Sept. 18, 1998, at her home. She was born Oct. 14, 1911, at Fryrs, Ark., daughter of Charlie and Teeya Dyer. She was a homemaker and was of the Baptist denomination. She lived in Mississippi County most of her life...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Richard Arlan Vernon Wilson Sr., 43, of Dongola died Saturday, Sept. 19, 1998, at Union County Hospital in Anna. Friends may call at Crain Funeral Home in Dongola after 5 p.m. Monday. Funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. Interment will be at St. Johns Cemetery with full military honors...

DELTA -- Retha G. Lesch, 77, of Delta died Friday, Sept. 18, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Dec. 18, 1920, at Randles, daughter of Thomas and Lucy Spain Lands. She married Ivan Lesch on Nov. 8, 1937. She was of the Pentecostal denomination...

SIKESTON -- Charlotte Gale Humphreys, 53, of Sikeston, formerly of Cuba, Ill., died Saturday, Sept. 19, 1998, at her home. She was born on April 4, 1945, at Hornwall, Tenn., daughter of Mable Browning Pollock Little of Tiptonville, Tenn., and the late Clester Pollock...

DEXTER -- Joseph T. Sting, 85, of Dexter died Friday, Sept. 18, 1998, at Dexter Memorial Hospital. He was born on Aug. 8, 1913, at Chamois, son William B. and Florence L. Ferguson Sting. He lived in Dexter most of his life, with the exception of six years spent in New London. He was a retired farmer and was retired from the Scott-Mississippi Rural Electric Cooperative...

Wilma B. Renfro, 76, of 2504 Albert Rasche died Friday, Sept. 18, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born May 14, 1922, at Dexter, daughter of E. Lawrence and Pearl M. Lane Brown. She married Edward C. Renfro on Dec. 23, 1951, at Dexter. She was a member of First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau...

The U.S. Census Bureau now estimates that over 3.5 million children are currently living with their grandparents, which represents a 40-50 percent increase in just the past decade. Among these caring grandparents, 60 percent are grandmothers and 40 percent are grandfathers. As a group, three-quarters of them are married, 13 percent are widowed and seven percent are divorced...

Jean Bell Mosley's new autobiography, "For Most of the Century," is only available in serialized form in the Southeast Misourian. Return each week for her continuing story. Sometimes, in my daily journals, when there had been lengthy notations and descriptions of what had transpired that day, I would write short notations in the margins, indicating what I thought to be the special thing. ...

Katie Schnell loves running through the park. At 2 1/2, she's mastered climbing the stairs to the slide and loves to be pushed in the swings. She lives a life with a lot of love and caring from her grandparents, whom she calls 'Mom' and 'Dad.' Chris Schnell, 56, a history professor at Southeast Missouri State University and his wife Phyllis, 45, have raised Katie since she was 9 1/2 months old...

Winners have been named in home economics contests at the SEMO District Fair. Ribbon winners in the yeast products category are Sara Schulte, Mrs. Vaiden Weber, Sharon Sterrett, Dortha Strack, Opal Klaproth, Denise Aufdenberg, Deborah J. Bylest, Bonnie Stahlman, Betty Friedrich, Ann Ruch, Katie Kammler, Mrs. Albert Job and Mimi Higgins...