Stories from Monday, August 16, 1999

Wiethop Truck Sales Inc., 2359 Independence, Cape Girardeau, recently observed its 45th anniversary. Wiethop, which moved to its current site in 1963, specializes in sales, parts and service for International Trucks. Carroll Wiethop, the company's first president, founded Wiethop Truck Sales Inc., a truck and trailer sales company at 20 S. Sprigg in July 1954 after moving to the area from the St. Louis area...

This "Financial Focus" column is prepared by Edward Jones Investments, headquartered in St. Louis. Jones includes branches throughout the nation, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson. The Internet is here to stay and, according to many thinkers, its social and economic impact will likely be comparable to the Industrial Revolution. ...

D&K Healthcare Resources Inc., formerly known as D&K Wholesale Drug Inc., has reported record sales and earnings for the fiscal year ended June 30. Net sales for the year was $815.3 million, up 33 percent from 1998 sales. Diluted earnings per share for the year were $1.52, up from 90 cents a year ago...

Teens often find themselves in the need of money. For most, the easiest solution is to find a job. Aram Hamper, 17, is one of many working teens in the area. He puts in about 25 hours a week at a small video store in Perryville. His salary isn't much, but it supports his music-buying habit and it helps to pay his father back for the 1993 Dodge Shadow he drives...

The past two years have been memorable ones for JCS/Tel-Link. In 1998, the Cape Girardeau communications company was selected as "Small Business of the Year" by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. This year, JCS/Tel-Link, formerly Johnson Communications Services Inc., observed its 40th anniversary...

It's been a while since Mark Johnson spent his weekends traveling to faraway places to participate in professional American Motorcycle Association (AMA) motocross races. Today, he's still traveling a few miles to participate in sporting events, but this time around, it's on the links...

A feasibility study concerning a business incubator in Cape Girardeau has been completed and will be discussed at 5:30 p.m. Thursday during a meeting at Robert A. Dempster Hall. The study was completed last month by Southeast Missouri State University master of business administration graduate students...

The International Association of Administrative Professionals, formerly Professional Secretaries International, will meet Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Drury Lodge. Andra Fahlberg, national certified in therapeutic massage and bodywork, will be guest speaker on the topic "Massage Therapy."...

The Internal Revenue Service and the Missouri Department of Revenue will offer free electronic filing seminars in September and early October at sites throughout the state, including Cape Girardeau. The local seminar will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Mount Auburn Christian Church, 930 Mount Auburn Road...

Research and extension specialists from the University of Missouri, University of Arkansas and Southeast Missouri State University will discuss research and recommendations concerning rice varieties, herbicides and rice insect and disease control at the ninth annual Missouri Rice Field Day, Wednesday at the Missouri Rice Research Farm, west of Malden...

Schnucks Markets Inc., headquartered at St. Louis, has announced plans to buy Mr. K's Super Saver at Pekin, Ill. The purchase of the 53,000-square-foot supermarket will be effective Aug. 23. Schnucks will open its first store in Peoria, Ill., a 126,000-square-foot supermarket-drugstore and retail complex, later this year...

Larry J. Westrich has been promoted to vice president of Drury Southwest, DSW Development, Drury Petroleum and West Park Lanes. Westrich's appointment was announced recently by Robert A. Drury, president of Drury Southwest. Westrich, who has been with various Drury organizations 21 years, was serving as director of Real Estate and Leasing for Drury Southwest...

Americans snapped up cars and light trucks last month at a brisk clip that helped push overall retail sales up by a bigger-than-expected 0.7 percent. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that total retail sales, which represent about a third of the nation's economic output, rose last month to a seasonally adjusted $248.7 billion...

Lucy Lee Healthcare System of Poplar Bluff will open a new clinic at Morehouse. The Morehouse facility, in a modular building at Beech and Jackson streets in Morehouse, will be staffed with office personnel, a physician and nurse. A September opening is expected....

Last year, a comprehensive security plan for Cape Girardeau Central High School and Junior High was presented by Mark Ruark and Barry Hovis. So far, the assistant high school principal and school resource officer can point to some progress, but most of the plan's elements are still only unimplemented ideas...

A teen-age advisory council, a First Night alcohol-free New Year's Eve celebration and ways to revitalize Cape Girardeau's downtown are some of the ideas the newest class of Leadership Cape Girardeau has conceived for the city. The program sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce provides training and identifies people who are emerging leaders in the community...

A special election for a bond issue to pay for sewer improvements could be in the works for the Cape Girardeau. The Cape Girardeau City Council will consider a proposal to put the bond issue for sewer improvements before the voters on Nov. 2 at tonight's 7:30 meeting at City Hall...

When Barry Hovis attended high school in Greenville, his reaction to police walking through the halls was negative. "I always wondered who was in trouble," said Hovis, who now serves as a school resource officer for Cape Girardeau's high school and junior high...

Some of Southeast Missouri's smaller school districts offer big starting salaries to attract teachers. School districts in Charleston, Hayti and Scott City all have base salaries for beginning teachers thousands of dollars higher than the larger districts of Jackson or Cape Girardeau...

Mary Davis of Cape Girardeau was 13 when she first heard "That's All Right, Momma" drift across the airwaves. The smooth, sultry voice of the singer melted her heart, and she was instantly in love. From that point on, Davis was a devoted Elvis fan. "I got everything of his I could get my hands on," she said...

7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 16 City Hall Public hearings -- Hearing to consider the proposed 1999 tax rate to be set by the mayor and Board of Aldermen. Action items Power and Light Committee -- Consider a motion authorizing out-of-district sewer connection for residence located at 1716 W. Jackson Blvd. (Lateral District 1-G-1A)...

Cape Girardeau City Council Monday, Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m. City Hall, 401 Independence Study session at 5 p.m. Public Hearings -- A hearing to consider improvements to Walnut Street from Kingshighway to Commercial Street. -- A hearing to consider the request of J.W. and Bonnie Strack and Capaha Antique Car Club for a special-use permit for a meeting place for the club and storage of club owned cars at 2827 Perryville Road in an R-1, single family residential district...

WHEN YOU have a barbarian warmonger as a leader of our country, it's not surprising that troubled people are killing. They are following this corrupt leader's example. He's guilty. He knows it, and the people know it. The country is suffering. He should have been forced out of the oval office. When laws are not enforced, you have chaos...

A study in Kentucky that found the DARE program has little effect on whether children use drugs, alcohol or tobacco turned up some surprisingly questionable results. The study, which tracked more than 1,000 DARE students in Fayette County, Ky., over a 10-year period, found some initial improvements in the students' attitudes about drug use but few long-term effects in attitudes or decision making...

The Missouri Department of Transportation twice solicited bids on paving the Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau and twice rejected the only bids submitted from a lone contractor. As a result, the bridge won't be paved this summer as planned, and the people who rely on it to get back and forth between Missouri and Illinois won't be inconvenienced by its closing at night while the work is being done. Instead, the department will patch the bad pavement...

JAMESTOWN, N.Y. -- The Heartland All-Stars 12-under fast-pitch softball team was treated rudely Sunday night during its second game of the Babe Ruth World Series. After winning their opening game Saturday, the Heartland All-Stars suffered a 13-0, four-inning loss to New England...

Pearl Irene Hill, 94, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Aug. 14, 1999, at Beverly Health Care. She was born June 27, 1905, to Charles and Nellie Gearing Wilson in Delta, Ill. She was married to Lawrence Hill Aug. 4, 1923, in Jonesboro, Ill. Hill was a member of the First Baptist Church of Thebes, Ill...

PERRYVILLE -- Marvin H. Brueckner, 88, of Perryville died Sunday, Aug. 15, 1999, at St. Francis Medical Center at Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are pending at Young and Sons Funeral Home at Perryville.

HUNTINGDON, Tenn. -- William Lacy Fish, 74, of Huntingdon died Friday, Aug. 13, 1999, at Fountainbleau Lodge at Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 14, 1924, at Middleton, son of Jeff Lacy and Mary Ann Lowe Fish. He and Marjorie Hale were married in 1949. She died Nov. 2, 1991...

Kenneth G. Nicholson, 48, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Aug. 14, 1999, at his home. He was born May 18, 1951, at St. Louis, son of George and Adaline Kuska Nicholson. He and Viola Brown were married Aug. 3, 1991, at Cape Girardeau. He was a retail employee of Wal-Mart. Mr. Nicholson was of the Catholic faith and was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps...

SEDGEWICKVILLE -- Raymond J. Yamnitz, 85, of Sedgewickville died Saturday, Aug. 14, 1999, at John J. Pershing VA Medical Center at Poplar Bluff. He was born May 31, 1914, at Patton, son of Henry A. and Clara Johnson Yamnitz. He and Geraldine Long were married Dec. 25, 1948...

CHAFFEE -- Rebecca Imogene Morehead, 83, of Chaffee died Saturday, Aug. 14, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Feb. 18, 1916, at Chaffee, daughter of Oral and Effie Jane Fowler Whitaker. She was a member of the Assembly of God Church at Chaffee and had retired as an inspector with the Buckstein Pants Factory...