Stories from Thursday, August 5, 1999

To the editor: Here is something that was e-mailed to me that I would like to share with your readers: Mommy: A Sad Story Johnny brought a gun to school. He told his friends that it was cool. And when he pulled the trigger back It shot with a great crack...

As David Broder so masterfully describes in today's column (below), there is a lot of funny business going on in the halls of Congress these days. And both Republicans and Democrats share equal measures of the governmental pratfalls. The government set some spending limits a couple of years back. Based on these limits and a prosperous economy, there are projections of future surpluses. So plans are being made for the extra money: tax cuts, new programs -- you name it...

Sometimes you don't even know who your friends are. Take the town of Republic, nestled in the Southwest Missouri hills just west of Springfield. The good people of Republic recall when there was a city contest in 1990 to design a city seal. A city doesn't have to have a fancy seal, mind you, but down in Republic they thought they should have a nice one...

SIKESTON -- Experiencing too much bull lately? Then don't come to Sikeston soon. The 1999 Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo, starting Wednesday, is going to be one of the bigger shows of horses, cowboys and bulls in the country once again. Over 40,000 people are expected to attend the four-day event, which offers more than $100,000 in prize money, said Greg Turbow, general chairman for this year's rodeo...

Dinner patron Dave Reimann, left, helped Mike Dumey sing "Jackson." JACKSON -- Sometimes audience members who don't know Robyn Hosp and Mike Dumey or haven't seen them perform before assume the two are married. They are, to other people. But they have an ease with each other on stage and familial-sounding harmonies that keep people coming back to their cabaret show over and over again...

Mushroom enthusiasts will meet in Cape Girardeau Aug. 12 through 15 for the 1999 North American Mycological Association's annual convention. The gathering at the Holiday Inn is expected to attract some 200 people from the United States, Mexico and Canada...

The new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge will be the first in the Midwest to include sensitive, state-of-the-art equipment designed to measure the impact of earthquakes. It also will be the first cable-stay bridge to be outfitted with such equipment. Only a handful of bridges in the world have seismic devices, and most are in California and Japan...

Sometimes the information superhighway travels too fast, says Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle. Swingle said several credit-card fraud cases using the Internet have left police unable to help local crime victims because state laws stand in the way...

Mortgages rates crept past the 8 percent level this week for the first time in more than two years. With the lowest unemployment in three decades and the most affordable mortgage rates during the same period, home sales have soared over the past three years...

Sam Duncan believes in the DARE program despite results of a recent study panning the program's effectiveness. Duncan, drug-free coordinator for Jackson schools, said he believes Drug Abuse Resistance Education classes do make a difference in the lives of students...

Aug. 5, 1999 Dear Patty, I had let the dogs outside and was lying in bed, floating on a painkiller cloud after a spot of oral surgery, when I suddenly realized that Hank and Lucy were barking frantically. I assumed another dog was outside the fence challenging them because our groundhog hadn't been seen in the backyard since DC filled in its burrow. We knew it had found lodging somewhere nearby because it still came by to nibble the pokeberries growing alongside the fence...

SIKESTON -- It's hard say exactly how many dollars the annual Jaycee's rodeo brings to Sikeston, but Jim Schwaninger knows it goes beyond the city limits. Most of Siketon's 651 hotel rooms are booked for rodeo, which starts Wednesday and runs through Aug. 14. But this allows Sikeston to share the wealth, said Schwaninger, president of the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce...

The memory of local heroes who fought for the Union army during the Civil War will not be lost for future generations. The Cape Girardeau chapter of the Richard J. Oglesby Camp 61 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is seeing to it that the graves of the Union soldiers buried in Old Lorimer Cemetery have bronze plaques placed in their honor...

POPLAR BLUFF -- A representative of the Main Street Neighborhood Association came to the Poplar Bluff City Council meeting Tuesday with a top ten hit list, but it had nothing to do with music. Ed Cannon, spokesman for the group which was originally organized under the name Save Our Streets and still calls itself SOS informally, gave the council a list of 10 properties in the Main Street area of highest concern to homeowners there. ...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Voters overwhelmingly approved the East Prairie City water works-sewer bonds proposal Tuesday. The bond issue, which required only a simple majority, received 219 votes in favor of the proposal with only 24 votes opposing. Officials described the turnout as low for the special election...

CHARLESTON -- More than 200 members of the Lett families across the nation gathered here recently, but this was no ordinary family reunion. "Most of the people don't know each other," said Lucille Lett Jackson. In her research of her family's history, she learned many of the people she corresponded with had been engaged in seeking their own family roots...

This initiative marks the start of an expanded program in Kennett that will bring two undergraduate and four graduate courses to the center this fall. Lipetzky says the graduate courses are a continuation of programs already in place in Kennett. The Kennett Area Higher Education Center temporarily is housed in the Kennett Vocational School. The city of Kennett has donated the former Kroger grocery store at 1230 First Street in Kennett and the money to renovate it for the new education center...

BLOOMFIELD -- Dexter Parks and Recreation Supt. Lawson Metcalf tried to sound philosophical as the final results of Tuesday's balloting in the city were distributed by the Stoddard County clerk's staff. "At least we know what the people want," he said...

POPLAR BLUFF -- Junior Everett Farris, 71, of Poplar Bluff died Tuesday afternoon at the John J. Pershing Veterans Hospital. Farris retired from the Poplar Bluff Fire Department in 1977. He served as fire chief from 1959-1977 and was responsible for the Fire Station No. 3, the upgrade of the city's fire department equipment and the Poplar Bluff Fire Department's insurance being an all-time low...

WICHITA, Kan. -- The McDowell Capahas were not used to this. The Caps, a team composed of offensive-minded sluggers, were limited to just one run on three hits as they were eliminated from the National Baseball Congress World Series with an 11-1, five-inning run-rule defeat at the hands of the Seguin (Tex.) Steelers Wednesday night...

JACKSON -- Robert Forester and Dean Percival each hit aces at Kimbeland Country Club recently. On Wednesday, Forester used a seven wood to make an 185-yard shot on hole No. 8. Forester was playing with Loyd Welker and John Wondel. It was the first hole-in-one of his career...

Mark Sontag, an assistant gymnastics coach at Southeast Missouri State University for the past nine years, has been named the head women's gymnastics coach at Northern Illinois. Sontag replaces Bobbie Cesarek, who stepped down to become the Huskies' compliance coordinator. Cesarek had been NIU's coach since the program's inception in 1978, compiling a 277-252-1 record...

PERRYVILLE -- Emma Louise Moore, 89, of Perryville died Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1999, at Perry Oaks Healthcare. She was born March 7, 1910, at Point Rest, daughter of Emmanuel and Martha Kurre Lesch. She and Chalmer W. Moore were married Aug. 21, 1937. He died June 24, 1990...

CHAFFEE -- Pauline B. Tidwell, 78, of Chaffee died Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1999, at her home. She was born Feb. 18, 1921, at Arab, daughter of George and Minnie McKee Hanner. She and Everett Hastings were married March 27, 1941. He died in 1979. She later married Shirley Tidwell April 30, 1994, at Grant City...

Tom H. Sawyer, 88, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1999, at Missouri Veterans Home. Graveside service will be Friday at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Fruitland. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

PARMA -- Sylvia McClung, 86, of Parma died Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1999, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Jan. 5, 1913, at Como, daughter of Richard and Elza Nolan Morse. She and Oliver McClung were married Jan. 12, 1946, at New Madrid...

FARRAR -- Alfred Edwin Koenig, 90, of Farrar died Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1999, at the home of a daughter in Frankfort, Ky. He was born May 30, 1909, at Farrar, son of Ernst and Magdelena Roth Koenig. He and Augusta Martha Popp were married April 12, 1936. She died March 13, 1998...

Son to Clifford Dean Parrish and Stephanie Lynn Sachenbacher of Scott City, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:09 a.m. Tuesday, July 27, 1999. Name, Clifford Gage. Weight, 9 pounds 10 ounces. Fourth child, second son. Ms. Sachenbacher is the daughter of John Brannan of Memphis, Tenn., and Linda Brannan of Scott City. She is employed at Lee-Rowan Co. Parrish is the son of Clifford Parrish of McClure, Ill., and Nancy Hutchings of Fruitland. He is employed at Lee-Rowan Co...

CHARLESTON -- Ruth Bartlett Baugh, 97, of Charleston died Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1999, at Charleston Manor. She was born Nov. 18, 1901, in Mississippi County, daughter of Renfro and Mary Cook Frans. She and Frank Baugh were married Jan. 8, 1921. He died in 1967...

Monta Frances Bartels, 80, of Columbia died Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1999, at The Williamsburg in Columbia. She was born Jan. 13, 1919, at Burfordville, daughter of Clarence Edward and Alpha McRealth Mungle. She and Frederick August Bartels were married April 24, 1935, at Whitewater. He died Sept. 3, 1994...

BENTON -- Funeral for James E. "Jim" Foster of Benton will be held at 2 p.m. today at Ponder Funeral Home in Sikeston. The Rev. David Butler will officiate. Burial will be in Unity Baptist Church Cemetery. Foster, 56, died Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1999, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston...