Stories from Tuesday, May 11, 1999

When a job needs to be done, adults and students at Eagle Ridge Christian School can count on Jessica Gardner to say "Let me help." Jessica, a sixth-grader, tries to make kindness a habit in her life. She read about Random Acts of Kindness Week and knew she wanted to participate...

HAYDN AND Norma Fox have reported a number of Random Acts of Kindness during Mrs. Fox's recent surgery and illness. Betty Nanna, Barbara Harrison, Ron and Nila Wright and Jess and Abbey Williams have offered a lending hand, with grocery shopping, furniture moving and providing company. "They have provided us with anything we need, day or night," said Mrs. Fox...

A love for children and learning enticed Vickie Seiler to the teaching profession 19 years ago, and she has never regretted her decision. Seiler, who has spent her entire career at Leopold School District, uses a variety of teaching methods to keep her third-grade class enthusiastic...

The first word in kindergarten is kind. That makes perfect sense to Jill Pinkston, who teachers kindergarten at Scott City Elementary School. She has a week of kind activities planned in her class including making "Cups of Kindness" for other teachers. They're filled with candies and hand lotion. Each morning, a kindergarten student will read a kind quote over the school public address system to start the day...

Not everything gets better with age. Especially swimming pools. Members of the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Advisory Board got an underground look Monday at the aging pipes and pumps that could be the pool's detriment. Leaking water from a pipe dripped onto a concrete floor. The sound of rushing water nearly drowned out voices as the 360,000 gallons of water slowly pumped into the pool...

After shootings at high schools from Paducah, Ky., to Littleton, Colo., instilling Christian values and education is more important than ever, say members of the Saxony Lutheran High School steering committee. "You can see with what's happening in our country that we have something to offer to people," said the Rev. David Dissen, pastor emeritus of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau...

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce is on a hunt for members. "You Make a Difference" is the theme of a one-day chamber membership blitz being held today. Sixty new members is the goal as the chamber kicks off its annual campaign with a breakfast at the Drury Lodge at 7:30 a.m. The goal is set each year based on membership, said John Mehner, chamber president and chief executive officer...

Cobret Joe, a sixth-grader at May Greene Elementary School, looked out the sunroof of a white limousine Monday afternoon as he and his classmates prepared to tour the neighborhood in style. Nelson's Limo Service of Cape Girardeau treated the students to limo rides Monday as part of the company's participation in Random Acts of Kindness Week. Throughout the week, free limo rides will be provided to a variety of people including patients being dismissed from St. Francis Medical Center...

I fought with the lawn mower Monday morning and lost. Badly. But the yard is mowed. A task that should have taken one hour took nearly four instead. And I have a lot of scrapes and scratches to show how difficult the job was. Although I've owned my home for almost a year now, I have hired lawn services until this year. It seemed simpler since I didn't have a lawn mower...

JACKSON -- The new superintendent of Jackson schools will meet with the public today for the first time since he was selected for the position in January. Dr. Ron Anderson will be featured from 4 to 6 this afternoon at an informal gathering at the Jackson Middle School cafeteria. The event is sponsored by the Jackson Community Teachers Association...

CHAFFEE -- Four Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight cars derailed Sunday near the railroad's terminal at Chaffee. There were no injuries. The cars derailed at about 5 p.m. after a section of the track gave way, Police Chief Keith Carr said. The cars were carrying plastic pellets...

The Cape Girardeau school board hired new personnel and awarded a contract to renovate Clippard Elementary School during a special meeting Monday. The board hired 10 certified and classified employees during the meeting, including Sydney Herbst to replace Stan Seiler as principal at Clippard next fall. Seiler resigned last month to take a position in Jackson School District...

The Missouri Higher Education Savings Program will be managed by TIAA-CREF, one of the nation's largest financial services companies. State Treasurer Bob Holden announced the contract at a morning news conference Monday at the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School...

JCPenney's closed operations at West Park Mall for a brief period Monday afternoon. NationsBank and Capaha Bank, on Mount Auburn Road, locked their doors for more than an hour. Union Planters closed the door of its Mount Auburn Road branch for a few minutes...

A drive-in movie theater. Such a theater is among the hopes expressed by members of the high school Class of 2000 when asked what they would like to see in Cape Girardeau 20 years from now. Central High School students recently participated in a series of group meetings held by Vision 2020, a community improvement organization established in 1987. Other suggestions the group came up with included improved parks, more hiking and biking trails and better streets...

A government study released recently says that people are depicted doing drugs, drinking or smoking in 98 percent of the top movie rentals and 27 percent of the most popular songs of 1996 and 1997. Fewer than half these movie scenes and song lyrics mentioned any downside to these activities. ...

To the editor:It is wonderful that the three American prisoners have been released, but Milosevic is only using Jesse Jackson, hoping to divide the American people. If we follow Jackson's advice, this will become something worse than Vietnam.ED DeFIELDCharleston...

To the editor: With the publicity the Southeast Missourian has been running the last few weeks about Random Acts of Kindness Week, I started a serious searching of my soul. I was trying to think of those people in my life or even the random few I pass on the street whom I forget to say "thank you" to and thus take their actions for granted. ...

Thanks to a three-game weekend sweep of Tennessee-Martin, Eastern Illinois has clinched its second consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season baseball championship. And the six teams that will make up the OVC Tournament field have been determined...

Farmington High's baseball team knocked off host Cape Girardeau Central 8-4 Monday afternoon, handing the Tigers only their second defeat in their last 10 games. But Central won't have to wait long for a rematch. The seedings for next week's Class 4A, District 1 Tournament were voted on by the coaches Monday evening -- and, as expected, the Tigers and Knights were seeded to meet in the first round...

FARMINGTON -- Perryville High's golf team gained a berth in the Class 3A state tournament Monday for the first time since the program was revived six years ago. The Pirates placed second, one stroke behind the winning score of 350 posted by Ste. Genevieve. The Dragons placed fifth in Class 3A last season and returned three of the top five golfers from that team...

Cape Girardeau Central High's rampaging girls soccer team picked up its 20th victory of the season Monday as the Lady Tigers rolled past visiting Carbondale, Ill., 6-1. The Lady Tigers are now 20-1-1 to match last year's record. Central has lost just three matches over the past three seasons...

MARBLE HILL -- Ray E. "Jack" Shell, 89, died Sunday, May 9, 1999, at Parkway Manor Nursing Home in Marion, Ill. He was born Feb. 27, 1910, at Dongola, Mo., son of William A. and Rosa Stuckey Shell. His first wife, Dorothy, died in 1979. He later married Elsie Bennett, who died in November 1990...

GLEN ALLEN -- Ruth M. Tilley, 81, of Glen Allen died Monday, May 10, 1999, at the home of a son. She was born July 23, 1917, in Atkins, Ark., daughter of Anthony and Martha E. Branscum Brown. She and Morlie Tilley were married Nov. 17, 1934. Tilley attended McGee Chapel Church, and was a past member of Rebekah Lodge 18 in Blytheville, Ark...

ANNA, Ill. -- Albert L. Young, 57, of Anna died Saturday, May 8, 1999, at his home. He was born Aug. 10, 1941, at Anna, son of Melvin and Mamie Rector Young. Young was retired from International Harvester Corp. He also was an EMT paramedic in Winthrop Harbor...

ORAN -- William Ray Hanks, 73, of Proctor, Ark., died Sunday, May 9, 1999, at the VA Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tenn. Hanks was a self-employed Diesel mechanic. He was a member of First United Pentecostal Church in West Memphis, Ark., Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star in Marion, Ark., and West Memphis, Delta Shrine Club, Scottish Rite, and Veterans of Foreign Wars...

CHARLESTON -- Betty E. Shusteric, 68, of Southgate, Mich., died Saturday, May 8, 1999, at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, Mich. She was born Feb. 12, 1931, in Charleston, daughter of Mack and Velma Mitchell Williams. She married Joseph Shusteric, who died earlier this year...

Son to John W. and Miho Beadles of Dunwoody, Ga., Crawford Long Hospital, 5:06 a.m. Friday, April 23, 1999. Name, Joshua Yuta. Weight, 6 pounds 7 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Beadles is the former Miho Kuroiwa, daughter of Kenichi and Yasuno Kuroiwa of Kochi, Japan. She is a graphic designer at Fain and Co. Beadles is the son of John Beadles of Decatur, Ga., and Jerri Pasborg of Cape Girardeau. He is employed at Atlanta Press...

SEDGEWICKVILLE -- Bruce Charles Bollinger, 16, of Sedgewickville, died Sunday, May 9, 1999, at Sedgewickville. He was born on July 16, 1982, at Marble Hill, son of Lynn and Catherine Welker Bollinger. Bollinger was a freshman at Meadow Heights School and a member of the Future Farmers of America...