Stories from Wednesday, March 31, 1999

To the editor: As mayor of East Cape Girardeau, I want to make our residents aware of a decision that was made by Alexander county authorities regarding the East Cape Girardeau municipal election to be held April 13. Residents of East Cape Girardeau will not be allowed to vote in their own incorporated community. They will have to travel six miles outside of the village limits to another community to vote in their own municipal election...

Southeast Missouri State University will hold its Southeast Night at Busch Stadium on May 8 when the St. Louis Cardinals take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. "We only have 500 tickets," said Anita Eby, director of alumni services at Southeast. "They are located beside Big Mac Land, so they will go quickly."...

PERRYVILLE -- Perry County voters will select school board members, aldermen and village trustees when they go to the polls Tuesday. Missouri holds a municipal election Tuesday with polling places opening at 6 a.m. They close at 7 p.m. County Clerk Randy Taylor expects a low turnout for the election. Typically, there aren't overwhelming numbers at the polls during municipal elections, he said...

I hope we've had our last shot of winter and EASTER will give us a positive outlook and remind us what the important things in life are: peace, freedom, health and love. To paraphrase a recent book ... "Don't Sweat the Little Things"... and all things are really little...

U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond aptly calls it a case of highway robbery. The federal highway trust fund has generated a surplus. So instead of diverting the dollars to bridge and highway projects already on the table, the federal government wants to spend the surplus on other programs...

It's not too late to miss the biggest non-event of the season: the Phantom Ball. This is an event so posh and exclusive that people actually pay so they don't have to attend. The Phantom Ball is really a clever fund-raising idea by the St. Francis Medical Center Auxiliary. It dates back to 1990 when originator Pat Puls planned the first ball on Valentine's Day. For its second year, it was moved to a more fitting holiday, April Fools' Day...

To the editor: We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the countless number of people who helped make the 1999 American Cancer Society Gala a huge success. This year the gala raised over $50,000. The gala is the largest fund-raising event for the American Cancer Society in our area. The money we raised will go toward research in the quest for a cure, educating the public and helping families of those affected with cancer...

After staring through a microscope for nearly seven hours in one day, Notre Dame High School junior Kevin Lankheit came to a scientific conclusion. Seven hours in one day is too long to spend looking through a microscope. Lankheit was studying the effects of ultraviolet light on the movement of euglena gracilis, an organism found in fresh water...

PADUCAH, Ky. -- The economic impact of agriculture, the river and tourism in the five-state area are topics for the annual Quinstate Economic Development Forum next week at the Carroll Convention Center at Paducah's Executive Inn Riverfront. "The Rivers, the Towns, the Farms" is the theme of the April 8 and 9 forum...

Southeast Missouri State University will celebrate its 125th anniversary with a variety of activities next month. The university is calling it "April Showcase Month." It features everything from a quilt honoring the university's history to a performance by master illusionist David Copperfield...

Skydiving seemed an even worse idea after Linda and Anita had to name their next of kin. Linda and Anita are best friends with spring birthdays within a few weeks of each other. They're turning 30 this year, a fact that seemed to disturb them deeply...

Former Cape Girardeau Central High School standout swimmer Jonathan Younghouse turned in another stellar performance during last weekend's NCAA Swimming Championships in Indianapolis. A junior at the University of Texas, Younghouse earned two All-American honors as he helped lead the Longhorns to a third-place team finish...

SPRINGFIELD -- Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team ran into a potent Southwest Missouri squad Tuesday and the results were not pretty for the Indians. Host Southwest rolled to a non-conference doubleheader sweep, winning 10-2 and 8-1...

His Cape Central teammates call him "Fish." And he was one of the main reasons Jackson let a big one get away Tuesday. Central junior catcher Mark Fisher had three hits, including a game-tying single as the Tigers downed their visiting Highway 61 rival Indians 9-7...

Scott City's Jon Beck, Marquand's Dusty Stephens and Scott County Central's John Fort, a trio of high-scoring seniors, have been named to the Missouri Sportswriters and Broadcasters all-state teams for Class 1A-2A schools. The Class 3A-4A list will be released on Thursday...

PHILADELPHIA -- A federal appeals court Tuesday temporarily restored an NCAA regulation allowing its member schools to use minimum test scores to determine whether freshmen are eligible to participate in athletics. In issuing the stay requested by the NCAA, a three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals put on hold a lower-court ruling that struck down Proposition 16, the NCAA bylaw that dictated freshman eligibility requirements...

Erin Chenier, a senior all-arounder on the Southeast Missouri State University gymnastics team, has qualified for the NCAA Region 3 Championships April 10 at the University of Nebraska. Chenier is one of six individuals to qualify for the regional, along with the top six teams...

The high school girls soccer teams from Cape Girardeau Central and Jackson launched this season with games against a trio of St. Louis area foes. While Central's 10 goals propelled it to a three-game sweep, Jackson compiled a 1-2 mark against the same squads...

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- The Southeast Missouri State University softball team opened defense of its Ohio Valley Conference championship Tuesday by holding Austin Peay scoreless in a doubleheader road sweep. Southeast, which has won five consecutive OVC regular-season championships, improved to 12-11 overall. Austin Peay fell to 7-14 overall and 0-3 in league play...

The 24th annual Men's Slowpitch Softball Tournament will be held April 17-18 in Murphysboro, Ill., to benefit the Southern Illinois Special Olympics. Entry fee is $100. Also, the Murphysboro Park District will hold a double-elimination co-ed tournament May 15-16. Entry fee is $100...

CHARLESTON -- Chaffee High softball coach Mark Devenport said he was glad that his star senior pitcher, Jamie Duncan, finally has another no-hitter to her credit. Duncan fired a five-inning gem Tuesday as the Lady Red Devils pounded host Charleston 13-0 in a run-rule contest...

BLOOMFIELD -- Funeral for Melba B. Hester of Dexter will be held at 10 a.m. today at Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home. The Rev. R.L. Hester will officiate. Burial will be in Bloomfield Cemetery. Hester, 90, died Monday, March 29, 1999, at Vintage Villa Nursing Center in Dexter...

Joseph Hardman "Joe" Hill, 58, of Albuquerque, N.M., died Saturday, March 27, 1999, at his home. He was born Oct. 28, 1940, in Cape Girardeau, son of Lloyd V. and Aldora Hill. Hill attended William Jewell College, was a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, and attended Northwestern University Graduate School...

PERRYVILLE -- A memorial service for Charles Randy Streiler of Holmes Beach, Fla., was held Thursday at Bean Point in Anna Maria, Fla. Griffith-Cline Island Chapel was in charge of arrangements. Streiler, 45, died Tuesday, March 23, 1999, at his home...

SIKESTON -- Betty Alice Still, 54, died Monday, March 29, 1999, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born June 26, 1944, at Black, daughter of Otho and Iva White Camden. Still was a member of Locust Grove United Baptist Church at Oates. Survivors include two sons, James Still Jr. and Byron Still of Sikeston; three brothers, Lloyd and Perry Camden of Oates, Bobby Camden of St. Louis; a sister, Marcella Lueke of St. Louis; and six grandchildren...

Funeral for James Robinson of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel. The Rev. Johnny Thomas will officiate. Burial will be in Fairmount Cemetery. Friends may call at the chapel Saturday from 9 a.m. until service time...

SIKESTON -- Funeral for George Raymond Crews of Sikeston will be held at 10 a.m. today at Ponder Funeral Home. Dr. Jim Davis will officiate. Burial will be in Piggott City Cemetery in Piggott, Ark. Crews, 86, died Sunday, March 28, 1999, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

DELTA -- Arnold August Sticht, 74, of Delta died Monday, March 29, 1999, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Feb. 12, 1925, at Farrar, son of Henry and Bertha Fornkahl Sticht. He and Sybil Ray Pace were married in 1965 in Cape Girardeau. Sticht had worked at Stanley Steel and at Missouri Dry Dock and Repair Co. in Cape Girardeau. He was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Margaret Ellen Humphreys, 66, of Denton, N.C., died Tuesday, March 30, 1999, at Forsyth Memorial Hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C. She was formerly of Mississippi County. Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie is in charge of arrangements...

SCOTT CITY -- Dora E. Grueneberg, 73, of Scott City died Monday, March 29, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel at Scott City is in charge of arrangements.

James Ernest Childers, 83, of Maryland Heights, died Tuesday, March 30, 1999, at NHC Healthcare in Maryland Heights. He was born May 17, 1915, in Olive Branch, Ill., son of William David and Ava Icafeen Stevenson Childers. He married Thelma Pauline Hutchison, who died July 13, 1963...

PATTON -- Emory Willis Gruenke, 73, of Patton died Monday, March 29, 1999, at the family home. He was born Dec. 18, 1925, at St. Louis, son of Albert and Mary Boettger Gruenke. He married Wilma Leist July 7, 1949. She survives. He had worked for the Sporlan Value Co. in St. Louis for 35 years before moving to the Patton area. He worked for Superior Electric in Cape Girardeau for five years and had been the custodian for the Meadow Heights School until his retirement in 1988...

Beatrice Marie Kosharek passed away Sun., March 28, 1999 at 4:00 p.m. at Houston N.W. Medical Center in Houston, Texas. She was born Beatrice Hamilton Jan. 4, 1920 at Trampoealeau County, Wisconsin, daughter of Ralph and Marie Hamilton. She married John W. Kosharek Dec. 31, 1937, he survives...

Verda Trout, 83, of Advance died Monday, March 29, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 27, 1916 at Advance, the daughter of James H. and Clara Alma Tropf Jenkins. She and Paul Trout were married July 21, 1936 at Advance, and he preceded her in death on Aug. 20, 1974...

DAISY -- Pervis Sebaugh, 92, died Monday, March 29, 1999, at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. He was born Aug. 15, 1906, in Bollinger County, son of Vivian and Sarah Propst Sebaugh. He first married Viola Hahs March 3, 1935. She died Jan. 10, 1977. He and Mary Evans were married June 19, 1979...

ORAN -- Virginia F. Farrar, 63, of Oran died Tuesday, March 30, 1999, at her home. She was born July 13, 1935, at Pocahontas, Ark., daughter of Tom and Annie Johnson Huckabee. She and Larry Farrar were married Feb. 14, 1981. Farrar had been a cook at Oran Public Schools and a clerk at Womack's Drug Store until it closed. She was a member of Morley VFW Auxiliary 5368...

Son to Keith Ray and Jennifer Anne McMillion of Advance, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 6:59 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, 1999. Name, Reilly Keith. Weight, 5 pounds 15 ounces. First child. Mrs. McMillion is the former Jennifer O'Reilly, daughter of Drenna Lee of Advance and Ed O'Reilly and Joy O'Reilly of Malden. She is a radiologic technologist at Southeast Hospital. McMillion is the son of Dennis and Teresa McMillion of Malden. He is assistant superintendent at Bootheel Golf Club...

Dwight Mays was born my cousin, but over the years he became the brother of my heart. I often thought that if Dwight had lived in the days of old, with his noble nature and handsome face, that he would have been one of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table...

It just doesn't seem possible that Easter is this weekend. It seems like we were just planning Christmas menus, and now we're doing the same for Easter. I hope that each one of you has a wonderful day filled with joy as we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. In the midst of the excitement of the Easter Bunny and hunting for candy and eggs, be sure to spend time with the children, making sure they understand the real Easter story...

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The answer to that question is easy for Just Born Inc., the maker of Peeps, those marshmallow chicks that signal the beginning of the Easter season. For though Peeps have been around for a long time, the company only this year began making marshmallow eggs to go with them...