Stories from Saturday, May 1, 1999

May Day, still celebrated with May poles and barbecues, is rooted in the ancient Celtic tradition of Beltane, a festival held to welcome the coming summer season. In some places today, Christians and Pagans alike will be dancing and singing in celebration...

Dr. Sam Anand, a soybean researcher, was known for years as "The Soybean Man" at the Delta Research Center in Portageville. Today, a soybean is named after him. Anand, a newly released soybean variety that is high yielding and resistant to the soybean cyst nematode, is named for the University of Missouri scientist who developed it...

JACKSON -- The City of Jackson has filed a complaint with the state against former consulting engineer Rich Bowen, charging that Bowen has failed to give the city files for projects he worked on during his eight-year association with the city. The complaint of violation was sent to the state Board for Architects, Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors in March. Such complaints are confidential, but a copy was sent to the Southeast Missourian anonymously...

State Rep. Bill Foster wants to ban booze at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City. The Poplar Bluff Republican introduced a bill this session that would ban alcoholic beverages in the Capitol or on its grounds. The bill, co-sponsored by nine House colleagues, received a hearing in February before the House Miscellaneous Bills Committee. But the bill hasn't made it out of committee and won't this session, lawmakers say...

Residents of the Missouri Veterans Home can rest or ride in comfort thanks to recent local, regional and state donations. At 2:30 p.m. Sunday, the Veterans Home will dedicate a new $40,500 multiwheelchair bus and a $12,000 decorative water garden. The event is open to the public...

Knowing where every person in Cape Girardeau lives counts for a lot. Ask Rich Daume. He has spent weeks pouring over maps and checking city boundaries to make sure every resident is accounted for when census counters come to town. Even though the 2000 census is still months away, getting prepared is a long process...

My friend Daniella asked me recently if I would buy a house in the country if the opportunity arose. I didn't hesitate before telling her that I would love to return to the country. Daniella felt the same way. She had grown up in a one-horse town on the Illinois side of the river, and we both agreed that country living was best...

To the editor: Thank you very much to the YELL Foundation for its generous donation for our literacy program. Teachers and students alike at St. Mary Cathedral School are very excited about our reading program. Last year, the students read over 10,000 books during the nine months of school. ...

Wednesday's frenetic congressional session demonstrates the rampant confusion that reigns at the highest levels of government concerning U.S. foreign policy. By a vote of 249 to 180, Congress passed a measure requiring President Clinton to obtain congressional approval before sending ground troops into Serbia, rejecting his appeal that the country must speak with a single voice on the crisis, "as NATO had done."...

Missouri's state universities are working to improve graduation rates. It is all part of a plan where the institutions must choose an enrollment standard and then match the standard to graduation rates. Southeast Missouri State University chose to be moderately selective in its enrollment requirements, which means its graduation goal is 55 percent...

Southeast Missouri State University students will take the plunge into community service today. About 200 university students will participate in the university's third annual event to promote volunteerism. It is called Plunge '99. The students will volunteer several hours this afternoon at nearly 20 community agencies and programs ranging from Habitat for Humanity to the Humane Society, from the Women's Safe House to Trail of Tears...

To the editor: As a student member of the American Dental Hygienists Association, I am interested in the activities as well as the concerns of my future professional organization. Dental hygienists throughout Illinois have been visiting their legislators to talk about the 50 percent of Americans who do not receive regular oral-health care because the current law under which licensed hygienists must practice creates a barrier to access to preventive care for many segments of the Illinois population.. ...

To the editor: Since the massacre at Littleton, Colo., the federal government has been calling for stricter legislation that keeps guns and explosives out of the hands of our nation's children, even though there already are enough laws that no kid should even get through the gate with a squirt gun...

Harrisburg (Ill.) High forced Notre Dame to swallow a dose of its own medicine Friday. And Notre Dame didn't like the way it tasted. For the first time this season, Notre Dame was on the losing end of a blowout, a 10-1 victim of one of the best teams from the Land of Lincoln...

The Dutchmen of Owensville High could have used a Flying Dutchman or two in their Big 8 Tournament game Friday. Or at least a Fielding Dutchman, since Honus Wagner has long been grounded. Owensville's six errors were a gift that kept on giving in Cape Girardeau Central's 7-3 opening-round win at Capaha Field...

Cape Girardeau will be alive with the sound of booted balls and cheering soccer moms and dads this weekend. Fifty-seven teams comprised of nearly 900 players will converge on the city for the 14th annual Zimmer Radio Group City of Roses select youth soccer tournament...

The signings keep rolling in for Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball program. Amory Sanders, a guard from Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, is the latest player to sign with the Indians, Southeast coach Gary Garner announced Friday...

Southeast Missouri State University softball coach Lana Richmond has announced the signing of Jennifer Cobin and Brooke Nett for the 2000 season. Cobin, a catcher, plays for John A. Logan Community College in Carterville, Ill. She is batting .315 with 26 runs batted in and has thrown out 19 of 21 runners trying to steal. Cobin has helped lead Logan to two straight conference championships...

Southeast Missouri State University product Bud Eley scored 10 points last Sunday but the basketball team he is playing for dropped the opening game of the Denny's 1999 College All-Star Series, falling to the Harlem Globetrotters 108-87 in Oakland. The 6-foot-10 Eley hit five of nine shots from the field, grabbed four rebounds and blocked a team-high two shots in 19 minutes of action...

Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball player Paula Corder will be featured in the new Women's Basketball Hall of Fame which will open this summer in Knoxville, Tenn. The Hall of Fame will feature photographs and video of the national leaders in scoring, 3-point field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage each season...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Edsel Wyley Edwards, 68, of East Prairie died Thursday, April 29, 1999, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born July 5, 1930, in East Prairie, son of John Wyley and Peggy Prince Edwards Jr. He and Katherine V. Talley were married Nov. 12, 1953...

SIKESTON -- Ella M. Schuchart, 87, of Sikeston died Friday, April 30, 1999, at her home. She was born June 29, 1911, in Edwardsville, Ill., daughter of Charles and Minnie Bode Heuiser. She and S.R. "Wes" Schuchart were married April 23, 1935, at Sikeston...

Thomas W. Fowler, 76, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, April 29, 1999, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Feb. 28, 1923, in Maynard, Ark., son of Thomas Horace and Ella Mack Fowler. He and Margie Williams were married Oct. 9, 1945, at Jackson...

CHAFFEE -- Funeral for Earnest Freemon Garrett of Kirksville was held April 21 at Norman Funeral Home in Lancaster. Payton M. Smyser officiated. Burial was in Highland Park Cemetery at Kirksville. Announcement courtesy of Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee...

PERRYVILLE -- William S. "Red" Duvall, 88, of Perryville died Friday, April 30, 1999, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born April 29, 1911, in St. Louis, son of William Lewis and Matilda DeRoe Duvall. He and Irene A. Heinbokel were married Feb. 19, 1938...

Esther Ellen Moss, 66, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, April 30, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Dec. 13, 1932, at Fornfelt, daughter of William Leslie and Nona Belle Lincoln Welker. She and Lloyd Henry Moss were married May 30, 1954, in Cape Girardeau. He died June 12, 1977...

Maurita Maude McGee, 91, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, April 29, 1999, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Oct. 11, 1907, in Rossville, Ill., daughter of Andrew Daniel and Mary Ann Prather Miller. She and Thomas McGee were married March 15, 1930, in Rossville. He died Aug. 26, 1965...

Anita Burgess Baker, 68, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, April 30, 1999, at the family home. Funeral arrangements are pending at the Liley Funeral Home in Marble Hill.

Funeral for Dr. Donald R. Pettigrew will at 10 a.m. today in Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home in Springfield, Mo. Formerly of Cape Girardeau, Pettigrew died Tuesday April 27, 1999, in Cox Medical Center South at Springfield. He was 64. Pettigrew served in the U.S. Army and is survived by two sons and two sisters...

Margaret E. Kubon, 84, of Benton died April 29, 1999 at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 5, 1914,in Chicago, Ill., the daughter of George Thomas and Emma Michael Thomas. She married Andrew Kubon on Aug. 12, 1967 in Chicago, Ill...

Daughter to Jeffrey Paul and Connie Lynne Gotto of Perryville, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 11:58 a.m. Wednesday, April 21, 1999. Name, Hannah Bernice. Weight, 8 pounds 2 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Gotto is the former Connie Clifton, daughter of Karen Ellis and Bernard M. Clifton of Perryville. She is a legal secretary with Missouri Attorney General's Office. Gotto is the son of Joseph and Bernice Gotto of Perryville. He is employed at Procter & Gamble...

Funeral for Gale Ann Howard of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11 a.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Puxico. The Rev. John Buttry will officiate. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery near Puxico. Howard, 43, died Thursday, April 29, 1999, at St. Francis Medical Center...