Stories from Friday, October 30, 1998

To the editor: Your recent editorial regarding the low fuel prices and how the market communicates information regarding supply and demand raises some questions. Do you really believe that oil exploration, refinement and sales are free of "government meddling?"...

Southeast Missouri State University students living in Towers North residence hall will open their doors to trick-or-treaters today from 6-8 p.m. Student leaders will lead children from floor to floor in the high-rise dormitory. Students living on those floors will hand out candy, said Jeff Lefan, co-programming chairman for the Towers North Hall Council...

Cape Girardeau Parks & Recreation employees along with local fraternity and sorority members operate a haunted house at the A.C. Brase Arena Building each year at Halloween to give kids and adults a frightfully good time. Halloween. It's a scream and we love it...

I'M ADDRESSING the issue of the sting operation. I thoroughly agree with the another caller about publicizing these peoples' names. I don't condone the activities going on at the park, and I think they should be handled. But I don't think it was necessary at all in publishing these peoples' names and ruining the lives of these people who have a problem. ...

From time to time, USA Weekend lets us know how readers of the Southeast Missourian are responding to the many polls and other reader-participation opportunities featured in the Sunday magazine supplement. USA Weekend is a part of dozens of newspapers around the country...

When employers start looking at candidates to fill job openings, one of the highest priorities is finding someone who has the right skills to fit the job. Over the past two years, a program called Work Keys at the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School has provided a big assist...

To the editor: I hope whoever killed Dr. Barnett Slepian is caught and punished for his crime. Dr. Slepian, an abortion doctor, was murdered in his own home by a sniper while his family was present. I am not trying to take the doctor's side. I feel abortionists should be punished too, although since abortions are still legal it is hard to legally punish the doctors...

To the editor: While in your fine city Oct. 24-25 to attend a wedding, I observed a situation that was very distressful and sad. A man and a woman, along with a black dog, were trying to stop traffic in order to find shelter and warmth as well as food. This couple was located on William Street at I-55. I first observed this pair late Saturday and then again on Sunday...

To the editor: In response to Larry Easley's letters, "River Campus plans are flawed," I'd like to point out that he is uninformed, obviously not an artists and just very negative. I resent the fact that he makes speculations about things he knows nothing about...

In 1817 a London physician named James Parkinson published "An Essay On The Shaking Palsy," and this has since become well known by almost everyone as Parkinson's disease. Although Parkinson's disease is a common progressive neurological disorder resulting from degeneration of specific nerve cells in a region of the brain controlling movement, this condition and its therapies were described in the Ayurveda, the system of medicine practiced in India as early as 5000 B.C., and in the first Chinese medical text, Nei Jing, which appeared about 2,500 years ago. ...

To the editor: Riverboat gambling: sounds historical with big steamboats cruising the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and bringing back the heyday of western expansion and legalized gambling -- but with a difference: none of the negative aspects associated with gambling of the past. ...

To the editor: Regarding cockfighting: Perhaps the greatest reproach of all is when men seek to drag God into their schemes of sin and ungodly pleasures, accusing him of being responsible for their reprehensible activities. One example was on television when this guy sought to defend cockfighting for pleasure and profit by saying that he is a Christian and that God made roosters to fight. ...

To the editor: Dr. Barnett Slepian said he didn't begrudge anti-abortion demonstrators who "scream that I am a murderer and a killer when I enter the clinics at which they peacefully exercise their First Amendment right of Freedom of Speech." The example of the First Amendment was taken too far when a sniper's bullet entered Dr. Slepian's back...

To the editor: The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri enthusiastically supports the Seminary Redevelopment Project. We believe the project represents a rare opportunity to provide the community with broad-based, high-quality arts programming. As many residents in the community know, the lack of adequate facilities for arts education and presentations has always been a problem. ...

Michael Kuehle already had figured out the best route for upgrading highways 25-74 between Blomeyer and Cape Girardeau before he saw the Missouri Department of Transportation's plans Thursday. Moving the existing road a little to the south and making it four lanes instead of two eliminates much of the traffic problems along the stretch...

BLOOMFIELD -- Perhaps the most talked-about issue as voters prepare to decide who will represent the 159th District Tuesday might be one that until last week was discussed only in coffeeshops and over backyard fences. Gossip has been spread since two Stoddard County teen-agers died in a car wreck Sept. ...

Cape Girardeau's downtown merchants and property owners have pledged to raise $1 million for the River Campus project. David Hutson, president of the Downtown Merchants Association, announced the pledge Thursday. He said association members, residential property owners in the downtown area and a number of related organizations have agreed to raise $1 million...

Exit exams for high school students were debated during an educational conference held at Central High School Thursday. Some 250 people attended the final conference of 10 this year sponsored by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Educators and parents discussed whether the state impose academic standards and encourage students to work harder in school...

This is the truth. You can call them, but they can't call you back. Is this what competition has done to Mr. Bell's mother, Ma? We all have gripes. Some of us have certain things that turn us into whiners. Here are a couple that have reared their ugly heads in my life this past week. Perhaps you've had similar experiences. Feel free to share them with me. As you will see by the time you've finished reading this, belly-aching has its own power to soothe...

Music of the decade will help celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Southeast Showcase Nov. 12 at the Show Me Center. For the past decade, the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation has hosted the event. Guest sample foods and beverages from more than 40 area restaurants and vendors...

The race for Cape Girardeau County Clerk pits a veteran incumbent against a third party newcomer. Incumbent Rodney Miller, a Democrat, seeks re-election to the post he has held since 1979. He is opposed by Greg Tlapek, a Libertarian, who says he is seeking the job as a way to further the goals of his political party...

BLOOMFIELD -- Stoddard County Clerk Don White is facing his first opposition in a general election since assuming the position 12 years ago. The Bloomfield Democrat will be opposed by Puxico Republican Sanford (Sandy) Smith in Tuesday's voting. This has been a campaign without issues, White says, though he notes that Smith has made references to wanting to provide voters with a full-time county clerk...

The Southeast Missouri chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association and the Area Wide United Way are teaming up to benefit area non-profit agencies. On Dec. 1, the two organizations will sponsor the first Restaurants Organized for Charity (ROC '98) campaign. Restaurant association members in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City are being asked to donate a percentage of their sales from that day to the 1998 United Way fund-raising campaign...

Whatever Cape Central does against Jackson Friday night, DeMarco Williams almost certainly will be in the middle of it. Williams, a 6-foot, 210-pound senior, is the middle linebacker and signal-caller for the Tigers. He also is Central's starting fullback, ranking second on the team with 297 yards...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The more things change, the more they apparently stay the same. At least that's what the Ohio Valley Conference's men's basketball coaches and sports information directors think will happen this season. Murray State, despite having a new head coach and losing two stellar guards, has been picked to once again capture the league championship. The Racers have won or shared 10 of the past 11 OVC titles...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The battle for the Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball title could be wide open this year. That's the belief of the league's head coaches and sports information directors as four teams garnered first-place votes in the preseason poll that was released during Thursday's OVC Media Day at the Nashville Arena...

It's the kind of game in which heroes are made. The annual Cape Central-Jackson football game, a matchup which dates back to 1912, is the undisputed "Big Game" in this part of the state. "They could make a documentary on it," Jackson coach Carl Gross said. "It's what high school sports are about. There's some people who are famous for the Cape Central-Jackson football game."...

Tonight's Games (7:30 p.m. kickoffs) Cape Central at Jackson Farmington at Sikeston Vianney at Poplar Bluff Crystal City at Scott City Hayti at Chaffee Portageville at East Prairie Caruthersville at Malden Fredericktown at New Madrid Charleston at Grandview...

Scott City High School's rampaging football team is still one game away from the showdown that everybody in town has been talking about. But Rams' coach Terry Flannigan knows his team can afford no slips at this stage of the season. "We've got to remain focused and continue to take things one game at a time," Flannigan said...

MURRAY, Ky. -- Students at Murray State University were feeling a little safer Thursday upon hearing the news that seven people had been charged with setting a dormitory fire that killed a classmate. "Most people would say if they heard a fire alarm, they would just freak," said sophomore Brent Underhill, 20. "A lot of people didn't seem to know why it would take so long to find out who did it."...

Daughter to Peter and Denise Karl of Conway, Ark., Conway Regional Medical Center, 7:03 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, 1998. Name, Grace Renee. Weight, 8 pounds 10 ounces. First child. Mrs. Karl is the former Denise Hartmann, daughter of Robert and Esther Hartmann of Cape Girardeau. She is a product services consultant at Acxiom Corp. Karl is the son of Fred and Nancy Karl of Roxbury, Conn. He is a quality assurance tester at Acxiom...

OAK RIDGE -- Graveside service for Charles Flemister of Oak Ridge will be held at 1:30 p.m. today at Fairmount Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. Rick Wieser will officiate. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel in Cape Girardeau is in charge of arrangements. Flemister, 46, died Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center...

CHAFFEE -- Bessie Ford, 89, of Chaffee died Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1998, at Heartland Care Rehab Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 13, 1909, in St. Louis, daughter of John Marshall and Alice Finney. She and Cline G. Ford were married Feb. 28, 1934, in Cape Girardeau. He died Aug. 24, 1978...

VILLA RIDGE, Ill. -- Funeral for Alice Leidigh Mathis of Alton has been changed to 2 p.m. Saturday at Villa Ridge Union Church. The Rev. Don Merideth and Jim Pierceall will officiate, with burial in Green Lawn Memorial Gardens. Friends may call at the church Saturday from 11:30 a.m. until service time...

Jesse Winslow Williams of Cape Girardeau passed away on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1998 at St. Francis Medical Center. He was 83. He was born July 17, 1915 at New Madrid, Mo., the son of James Winslow and Minnie Pearl (Wilson) Williams. He married Anna Anita Vaughn on July 25, 1936, at Madison, Ill...

Frost is yet to visit the pumpkin patch, and Thanksgiving turkeys still look like they're on a diet, but it's beginning to look a little like Christmas in some stores already. Artificial Christmas trees, light fixtures in the shapes of reindeer and trees, holiday villages and tree ornaments are beginning to show up on store shelves...