Stories from Tuesday, April 13, 1999

Cape Girardeau public school officials hope to attract potential home buyers to an open house showcasing the newest home built by vocational students. The Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School will hold open house events from 1-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 2745 Caulfield. The single-story brick residence, built by building trades students, features three bedrooms, an unfinished basement and two-car garage...

Cape Girardeau has been named a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation. It is the first year the city has received the honor. To become a Tree City USA, a community must meet four requirements set by the National Arbor Day Foundation, which sponsors the program...

MARBLE HILL -- Phone home, but at a lower price. That's the message from Bollinger County Presiding Commissioner Ken Trentham, who claims the county government is paying too much for telephone service. Trentham said Monday that the county pays $1,000 to $1,200 a month for telephone service. By shopping around, the county could cut its telephone bill in half, saving as much as $6,000 a year, he estimated...

JACKSON -- Cape Girardeau County and the city of Jackson have jointly hired an animal-control officer primarily to deal with stray dogs and cats. James Barker, formerly an animal-control officer in Cape Girardeau, began work for the county and Jackson Monday...

Tuesday, April 13, 1999 7:30 p.m. Board of Education office, 614 Adams Action Items: -- Board reorganization: Swear in new members and elect new officers. -- Consider five incentive grant applications. -- Consider competitive technology grant application...

Cape Girardeau police and area veterinarians will hold their annual rabies clinic May 6 and 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the 4-H shelter in Arena Park. The clinic is open to the public, and the cost of vaccinations is $6. City dog and cat licenses will also be available...

Helen Hunt, left, picked up her book tracking card for the Spring Into Reading program from Marilyn Hutchings, library reference associate. Books including "Beloved" by Toni Morrison were suggested for the adult reading program. Have you read a good romance, western, science fiction or mystery book lately? Now's the time to make your selection and participate in Cape Girardeau Public Library's adult reading program, Spring Into Reading...

Have you filed yet? The clock is ticking to April 15. And the buzz on the Internet is about electronic filing. Even if you don't file your return online, you can find lots of tax advice and information on the Internet. The number of tax returns filed electronically has shot up 156 percent since last year, probably thanks to promises of faster refunds...

More Americans than ever before are filing their tax returns electronically, the Internal Revenue Service says. About 70 million Americans have filed returns so far this year. About a third of those or 25 million have filed electronically, the IRS said...

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education remained much the same after a organizational meeting Monday night. New board officers were elected and appointed. Dr. Ferrell Ervin, in his third term as a board member, was re-elected board president for a third year. Mark Carver, who is serving the second year of his first three-year term, was elected vice-president of the board...

Getting churches to work together and offer prayer support for the community is the goal of the National Day of Prayer. In Cape Girardeau, more participation than ever is expected for the 1999 National Day of Prayer on May 6. Events include two communitywide prayer services before the observance as well as a youth rally and prayer breakfast. Observances are planned in Jackson and Cape Girardeau on May 6...

A number of products are being exported from Southeast Missouri to places around the world. Agriculture products, automotive parts, video cassettes, magnets and cement are all on the list of exports to Canada, Mexico and overseas markets in Japan, China, South Africa, Europe, Asia and other nations, said Robert Frueh, director of the World Trade Center in St. Louis...

Allergy sufferers know that blooming trees and flowers can mean hours of sneezing and wheezing. I nearly laughed out loud when I read the press release that said trees make a world of difference in our communities. No one knows that better than an allergy sufferer...

On cursory listening, the music made by Gordon Bok, Ann Muir and Ed Trickett sounds a bit like tunes that in the 1950s and 1960s were heard at that little lamented dinosaur the hootenanny. "Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah -- everybody sing." It was wholesome, it was in tune and it was bland...

For the millions of Americans who wait until the last minute, Tax Day is just two days away. In many instances, those who wait the longest are those who owe the most. In a recent survey, about 60 percent of those polled said they expected to get a refund. The task of filling out the proper tax forms probably is over and done with for much of the refund group...

There are plenty of things for homeowners to worry about. For some reason, however, they don't seem to be too worried about putting their street numbers on their houses so firefighters, police and emergency medical crews can find them. It is surprising, during a recent driving tour of Cape Girardeau, to see how many houses don't have easy-to-find house numbers on them. Some are just hard to see. Other houses simply don't have numbers at all...

To the editor: Missouri was recently blessed with the arrival of Charlton Heston and first lady Hillary Clinton. You don't often see celebrities coming into Missouri to try to influence the outcome of a state proposition. This usually happens in California, where every event warrants national news coverage...

To the editor: I'm writing in reference to your April 2 article about the Audubon Society of Missouri meeting to be held in Cape Girardeau April 23-25. Specifically, I'm concerned because a few of the details about the panel discussion on actual and possible effects of high-capacity chip mills on forestry practices in Missouri were not correct. ...

Some state bragging rights will be on the line tonight when two hot collegiate baseball teams square off at Capaha Field. Southeast Missouri State University's Indians have won four of their last five games while the University of Missouri Tigers own an eight-game winning streak...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University's softball team took a major step Monday toward a fifth consecutive Ohio Valley Conference championship. The Otahkians handed previously undefeated Middle Tennessee State a doubleheader defeat as Southeast took over first place in the OVC...

After agonizing through the course of a 6-5 loss to Sikeston in which his Tigers took two steps back for every step forward, Cape Girardeau Central High baseball coach Steve Williams expressed some direful concerns on Monday. Central (4-8, 2-2 SEMO Conference) wiped out a deficit and held a 4-3 lead after six innings. But Sikeston's Billy Puckett walloped a two-run home run in the top of the seventh before the Tigers handed the Bulldogs (4-3, 1-1) an additional run via a fielding error...

Southeast Missouri State University basketball player Paula Corder wound up with the nation's best free-throw percentage according to final NCAA statistics released this week. Corder, a junior, shot 94.1 percent on 111 of 118. She set an Ohio Valley Conference record for most consecutive free throws...

SCOTT CITY -- It took Chaffee High's baseball team a while to get going, but the Red Devils ultimately coasted to a 12-2 victory over host Scott City Monday afternoon. The game was stopped after six innings because of the 10-run rule. "We were kind of sluggish early," said Chaffee coach Bruce Qualls, whose squad improved to 5-1. "It took us a while to get going, but we started to put some things together."...

Southeast Missouri State University senior gymnast Erin Chenier failed to place among the top all-around competitors during Saturday night's NCAA regional meet held in Lincoln, Neb. Still, Southeast coach Kris Buchheister said Chenier performed a solid routine in compiling an all-around score of 38.25...

VILLA RIDGE, Ill. -- Bronson Deon Killius, 14, of Villa Ridge died Sunday, April 11, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau following an illness. He was born June 26, 1984, in Carbondale, son of Kathleen "Kathy" Killius. He was a seventh grade student at Meridian School in Mounds...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Marian L. Knott, 74, of St. Joseph died Sunday, April 11, 1999, at Champaign County Nursing Home in Urbana. She was born Sept. 9, 1924, at Urbana, daughter of John B. and Ella Cochran Wood. She and Hiram "Junior" Knott were married Dec. 26, 1939, in Rockville, Ind. He died Nov. 17, 1997...

PUXICO -- Fred Alexander Harty, 88, of Puxico died Sunday, April 11, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 21, 1911, at Puxico, son of Jim and Minnie Tankersley Harty. He and Bernice Smith were married Oct. 14, 1939, at Poplar Bluff...

CHAFFEE -- Joanna Glueck, 71, of Chaffee died Sunday, April 11, 1999, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 27, 1927, in St. Joseph, Tenn., daughter of Joe and Anna Mae Reischman Kluesner. She and Ervin S. Glueck were married June 19, 1954...

DEXTER -- Elsie McClure, 75, formerly of Dexter, died Monday, April 12, 1999, at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich. Watkins and Sons Funeral Home at Dexter is in charge of arrangements.

John Travis Hanebrink, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, April 12, 1999, at Chateau Girardeau. He was born May 30, 1913, at Egypt Mills, son of John Henry and Lucy Ruff Hanebrink. He and Eva Bucy were married April 21, 1936. Hanebrink had been an officer with Cape Girardeau Police Department, and worked 12 years at Southeast Missourian Printing Co...

JACKSON -- Howard L. McCain, 83, of Jackson died Monday, April 12, 1999, at his home. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

Son to George Lawrence and Alicia Dianne Sample of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 10:08 a.m. Wednesday, April 7, 1999. Name, Gavin Lane. Weight, 7 pounds 10 ounces. Second son. Mrs. Sample is the former Alicia Coffee, daughter of Teddy and Sharon Coffee of Lilbourn. She is a registered nurse at Cape County Regional Dialysis Center. Sample is the son of Elmer and Virginia Sample of Cape Girardeau. He is a bio-med technician at St. Francis Medical Center...

DELTA -- Erma Sticht died Monday, April 12, 1999, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel in Cape Girardeau.

BENTON -- St. Denis School teacher Karen Spence likens her job to that of a guardian angel. Spence, in her second year of teaching, said she wants her students to benefit from her special care and learn to help take care of others. "I try to stress to the students that others appreciate them when they go out of their way to help," she said. "When a student does this, that person is allowed to put his or her name in the kindness jar, and every other week I draw names for rewards."...