Stories from Monday, December 7, 1998

Bounce Around Tigger Sing Along Blue Barbie CD-ROM Remember entertaining yourself by using a stick, some string and a safety pin to pretend you were fishing? Or thinking innertubes and cardboard boxes were loads of fun? If so, then you may be one of those grown-ups who are bewildered by the world of high-tech toys...

This "Financial Focus" column is prepared by Edward Jones Investments, headquartered in St. Louis. Jones includes branches throughout the nation, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson. If you're curious about the stock market and the long-term trend of the American economy, you may find some answers in a new book, "Independently Wealthy: How to Build Financial Security in the New Economic Era," by Dr. Robert Goodman, managing director and senior economic adviser at Putnam Investments...

Charles and Dixie Hopkins moved to Cape Girardeau this year, but the longtime operators of Hopkins Hardware, Furniture and Appliance Store in Marble Hill were recognized for their community involvement in their Bollinger County hometown recently. The Hopkins received the Bollinger County Chamber of Commerce's "Business Pioneer" Award...

The Small Business Development Center will conduct counseling sessions at Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Perryville this month. The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available Dec. 16, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office. The counseling sessions are free. Call 335-3312 for appointment...

An organic farming workshop, sponsored by the University of Missouri Outreach and Extension office, and the College of Agriculture at Southeast Missouri State University, will be held Saturday. The daylong, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., workshop will be held in Rooms 112 and 116 at Magill Hall at the Southeast Missouri State University...

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee of 1999 will be a "Second Friday" event, to be held at 7:30 a.m. Jan. 8, at the Show Me Center. The first Friday, Jan. 1, is New Year's Day, a holiday.

The Cape Girardeau Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. has been named the No. 1 sales force in the insurance category by "Sales & Marketing Management" magazine. The "1998 Best Sales Force" was compiled by a panel of industry experts, business school professors and analysts, ranking companies on superior sales performance, reputation for customer satisfaction and reputation for employee satisfaction...

Microsoft attorneys are calling it proof that the Department of Justice case holds no water. America on Line and Netscape have formally announced the purchase of Netscape by AOL worth $4.2 billion. AOL was worried that even though Microsoft placed the AOL logo on the Windows 98 desktop to give people easy access, that Microsoft's MSNBC Web site in the future could take away from its massive market share...

ERA Cape Realty, 1409-A N. Mount Auburn Road in Cape Girardeau, has teamed up with PBS to sponsor the "About Your House with Bob Yapp" show. Yapp, a property developer and master carpenter, offers tips and insights for improving, restoring and maintaining a home...

A new Drury Inn and Suites Hotel has opened in Kansas City. The 124-room hotel, fourth Drury Inn in the Kansas City area, is at Interstate 29 and Tiffany Springs Parkway near the airport. Other Kansas City-area Drury operations are near the stadium, on Shawnee Mission Parkway in Merriam, and in Overland Park...

More than a dozen speakers are on the agenda for the Bootheel Irrigation Conference and Trade Show on Wednesday at the Ramada Inn at Sikeston. The daylong program, sponsored by Commercial Agricultural Program, University of Missouri, and Natural Resource Conservation Service, features sessions on irrigation methods, its effect on plant diseases, and economics of irrigation, and land-leveling costs and benefits...

Dates for one of the largest farm trade shows in Southeast Missouri has been established. "Ag Expo `99" will be held Jan. 15 and 16 at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff. The annual event, featuring more than 85 booths and two days of activities, attracts thousands of people. More than 8,000 people attended last year's two-day show...

A Rhodes 101 Stop Convenience Store in Cape Girardeau has been named the "Best in the Region" for food service. The Rhodes facility at 2109 William is the regional winner of the Orion Food Systems Inc. Mystery Shopper Program. The store was judged best among entries, on food quality, store appearance, merchandising execution, cleanliness and staff appearance, among other criteria...

The Missouri Tourism Commission will meet Thursday at Big Cedar Lodge in Branson. Agenda items include an update on the fiscal year 2000 budget, fiscal year 1998 annual report and strategic planning. The Tourist Commission, headed by commission chairman Lt. Gov. Roger B. Wilson, holds meetings at various places in the state...

Cape Girardeau County's prosecuting attorney Sunday called for local residents to urge their state legislators to lower the maximum blood-alcohol level that constitutes drunken driving. Prosecutor Morley Swingle said Missouri should follow the lead of 16 states, including Illinois, that have lowered the BAC threshold to 0.08 percent...

Unlike student report cards issued by teachers, the annual school report cards don't grade performance, but rather mark progress. Missouri schools issued their reports Dec. 1 as required by the Outstanding Schools Act. The reports include information about college testing scores, achievement test results, staff salaries, student-to-teacher ratios, per-pupil expenditures and tax rates. Local figures are compared to state averages...

In the 1950s, the State Historical Society of Missouri began placing roadside markers made of a cast aluminum alloy with an enamel blue finish and 23-karat gold lettering topped by the state seal. The information they conveyed was intended "to give the traveler and the local citizen a feeling of identity with his environment."...

"O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie." -- Phillips Brooks "City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style." -- Jay Livingston/Ray Evans "Silver Bells" As far as I'm concerned, if you are foolish enough to venture out to department stores or strip malls any time during the peak Christmas shopping hours, then you have officially forfeited any right to whine about how terribly crowded it is out there...

Faced with a need for additional middle-school classroom space and building renovations, the Perry County Board of Education at Perryville has come up with a three-phase plan that would enable it to accomplish the improvements without taking on additional debt...

Some are sick and frail, some entrenched in profuse poverty and some alone with no one to care for them. They are the people featured daily in Christmas for the Elderly stories on the pages of the Southeast Missourian. They are in need of the basic things of life: clothing, food, heaters and household items -- things that most of us take for granted that would make life much better for them...

To the editor: A significant date in the history of the American 20th century occurred on Dec. 7, 1941: the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor, which awakened the American public to the reality of war on two fronts. I pray Americans will remember this day and its historic meaning. ...

City Hall 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7 Public hearing -- Hearing to consider the voluntary annexation of property owned by Randy D. Reutzel and Larry L. Reutzel. Action items Power and Light Committee -- Consider a bill proposing an ordinance approving the voluntary annexation of property owned by SEMO University Foundation, Warren Place L.C., Donald L. Heuer and Rebecca A. Heuer Trust, Cape Girardeau County and the Cape Special Road District...

The first of two finalists for Cape Girardeau school superintendent will visit today. A public forum with David G. Smith is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Central Junior High School cafeteria. Prior to the forum, Smith has a day-long schedule of meetings and tours in Cape Girardeau...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked five people to finish this question: "It wouldn't be Christmas without ...". Connie Simmons, Cape Girardeau "I guess it wouldn't be Christmas without snow and being able to go home and spend it with family." Carrie Cline, Cape Girardeau...

A vote in favor of a new proposal to fund the River Campus project is expected to be taken by the Cape Girardeau City Council tonight. Southeast Missouri State University wants to issue bonds through a state bonding authority and retire the bonds with proceeds from restaurant and hotel-motel taxes approved last month by city voters...

Monday, Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m. City Hall Public hearings -- A public hearing regarding the necessity to improve Broadway from Clark Avenue east to Perry Avenue, approximately 2600 feet. -- A public hearing regarding the necessity to improve Mt. Auburn Road from Route K to Independence Street, approximately 2,370 feet...

Charleston High's boys basketball team has for many years been one of the traditionally top squads in the Sikeston Tournament. And the Blue Jays won the title last season. But if the coaches wind up being pretty accurate in their seedings, then the Blue Jays -- seeded seventh out of eight teams -- won't even come close to another championship when the 27th annual event tips off tonight...

SIKESTON -- John A. "Red" Cowan, 72, of Sikeston died Saturday, Dec. 5, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born March 30, 1926, at Lilbourn, son of Albert and Betty Jones Cowan. He and Virginia Holt were married Oct. 21, 1943, at Malden...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Richard W. Rochel, 69, of Dongola died Sunday, Dec. 6, 1998, at his home. Visitation will be Wednesday after 5 p.m. at Crain Funeral Home in Dongola. Funeral will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, with the Rev. Paul Sander officiating.

Louise Gockel, 83, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Dec. 6, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Oct. 2, 1915, at Egypt Mills, daughter of O.J. Miller and Clara Jewel Bray Miller. She married Leon H. Gockel Dec. 21, 1935. He died in November 1978...

MORLEY -- Clinton Dwane Rollins, 39, of Morley died Saturday, Dec. 5, 1998, at his home. He was born Sept. 25, 1959, in South Carolina to Nancy Phillips. He married Tammy O'Neal on Nov. 18, 1997. He was a carpenter with Huffman Construction Inc. in Poplar Bluff. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army and was a member of VFW Post 5368 in Morley, the Sikeston Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Cape Girardeau Craftsman Union...

JACKSON -- Gary L. Minton, 46, of Jackson died Saturday, Dec. 5, 1998, at his home. He was born Jan. 3, 1952, son of Glen B. and Dorothy Kieninger Minton. He married Darla Williams on Oct. 5, 1996. He had worked at Union Electric as a lineman for 18 years...

MOUNDS, Ill. --Ruth Nixon, 75, of Mounds died Sunday, Dec. 6, 1998, at Massac Memorial Hospital in Metropolis. She born April 26, 1923, in Pulaski, daughter of H.E. and Grace Corzine Smoot. She was married to Jay Nixon, who died in 1984. She was a member of First United Methodist Church in Mounds, the Mounds Women's Club, Home Extension and was superintendent of the textiles exhibits at the Pulaski County Fair...

ORAN -- Amos J. Kraus, 84, of Oran died Saturday, Dec. 5, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 16, 1914, at Hagarville, Ark., son of Jasper and Laura Stumbaugh Kraus. He married Bessie Patterson on June 29, 1934. Kraus was retired from the Oran Street and Water Department and was a member of Assembly of God Church in Bell City...

CHARLESTON -- Eva Geneva Vail, 88, formerly of Charleston, died Saturday, Dec. 5, 1998, at the Bertrand Nursing Facility. She was born Jan. 15, 1910, at Murray, Ky., daughter of Maxie and Maggie Stagner McMillen. In 1938, she married Ira Vail, who died in 1970...

DEXTER -- Beverly Jean Robinson, 53, of Dexter died Saturday, Dec. 5, 1998, at the Gideon Care Center in Gideon. Funeral arrangements were incomplete at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Puxico.