Stories from Wednesday, September 8, 1999

I recently have been asked more questions about the Japanese beetle than I have during the last 20 years. Several people have suggested that the demise of a plant in their landscape might be due to an attack by the Japanese beetle. A few people wanted to know how to protect their landscape from impending onslaught. I'm not sure why the sudden interest...

It was last month that the last full-time crew undocked from the Russian spaceship Mir and glided toward Earth. In so doing, the crew members bade farewell to the rust-stained, rattling, 13-year-old Russian space station in preparation for its abandonment next year...

Evidently, this is the way you go about soliciting votes for the top leadership position in the Democratic Caucus in the Missouri House of Representatives: You write a letter to the governor, copying all your colleagues, asking him to go to the trouble of calling a special session for the purpose of raising legislators' pay. ...

SO IT'S a big surprise to everyone that Delta operatives were at Waco. Soldier of Fortune magazine printed not only the names of these guys, but also their ranks four years or so ago, long before anybody ever mentioned it in the mainstream media. Now it's a big surprise to everybody. Phony baloney...

Periodically, there are outbreaks of furious controversy between the proponents of creationism and evolution. The question concerning the origin of the human species will never be resolved by the biased argumentation of creationists and evolutionists. There is an underlying agenda that prevents a resolution or even an impasse of the questions as to whether man came into existence by the act of a Creator God or by a process of evolution from a lower form of animal life...

Barge traffic is moving smoothly again down the upper Mississippi River. Barges are passing through the Melvin Price Locks and Dam again, Julie Ziino of the Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday. Repair work was completed on the 1,200-foot locks at Alton, Ill., last week. For the past month tows have had to use a 600-foot auxiliary lock, which took up to two hours for a full-sized tow to pass through...

Overriding Gov. Mel Carnahan's veto of a crime bill would put needed money in the hands of law enforcement, two Southeast Missouri sheriffs say. The sheriffs -- John Jordan of Cape Girardeau County and Larry Plunkett Sr. of Wayne County --said overriding the veto would restore counties' crime reduction funds...

The unassuming green box may not look like much now, but in 50 years it could be a treasure trove of information about the area and its residents as they approached the new millennium. The 14-by-14-by-24-inch stainless-steel box that will become the YELL Millennium Time Capsule arrived at the Southeast Missourian Tuesday...

Our new favorite activity is planning how we'll spend our $7 million-plus in lottery winnings. He wants to start businesses, I want to hire a personal masseuse. Have you heard the one about the guy who prayed every week that he'd win the lottery? He offered the same prayer for months, until finally the guy felt it was time to get a little more firm...

JACKSON -- Water provided by the City of Jackson will cost most users more under a plan presented to the Jackson Board of Aldermen Tuesday. The proposed new fee structure would remain at $4 for those who use less than 1,000 gallons, which includes many people with fixed incomes. The rate per 1,000 gallons would increase by 75 cents each step afterward, beginning with the next 4,000 gallons of use...

Widening Broadway Street might take a little longer than planned as the city re-evaluates the cost estimates of the project. The Cape Girardeau City Council voted Monday to reject all bids on the work because they were not within the range of the estimates for the project...

Two area school districts are scheduled for a statewide educational review this year. State evaluation teams will visit Marquand-Zion and Woodland school districts in coming months to determine what progress the districts are making in selected areas of the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP)...

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7. City hall Public hearings -- Held hearing to receive comments concerning the proposed potable water user charge system for the City of Jackson. -- Held hearing to consider the rezoning of property addressed as 2955 E. Jackson Blvd. from R-1 (single family residential) to C-2 (general commercial) as submitted by Narvol Randol Jr...

MINER -- The city of Miner hopes to revitalize the old Brewer property by securing Tax Increment Financing status for it and those efforts have already drawn the attention of Riggs Whosale Company. Efforts by the city to secure TIF status for a section of land are progressing for the property, located on East Malone Avenue between the Shoney's Restaurant and Penny Pincher. ...

Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission Agenda Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1999 Hearings -- Request of Columbia Construction Corporation and Southwestern Bell Wireless for a special use permit for a 150-foot monopole communication tower and 12-foot by 20 foot equipment building for a period of 20 years at 3630 Exchange Drive in a C-3 Central Business District...

It takes two halves of consistent execution to win a college football game. After making some noise in the second half, it was too little too late in Thursday's 43-25 opening loss to SIU. The Salukis were more physical than we were where it counts, up front...

The way Southern Illinois dominated Southeast Missouri State University Thursday, the Salukis must have looked like one of America's top Division I-AA teams to the Indians. But SIU isn't even close to being among the nation's elite. That, however, can't be said about the Indians' second opponent of the 1999 football season...

Cape Central soccer coach Tom Doyle had a lot to worry about during the Tigers' 2-1 win over Notre Dame Tuesday. He had one guy out with a bad ankle, another out with mono and another playing his first game since injuring his leg -- that was before the game...

POPLAR BLUFF -- Notre Dame's softball team entered the twilight zone Tuesday night. After outscoring the Poplar Bluff Lady Mules 24-2 in their two previous meetings -- including a 16-0 win over this past weekend -- the Lady Bulldogs were shut out 5-0 Tuesday in a bizarre turn of fate...

ANNA, Ill. -- Della Izetta Rasnake, 70, of Anna died Monday, Sept. 6, 1999, following a brief illness. She was born Aug. 3, 1929, in Elco, daughter of Rando J. and Della Nancy Brimm Sharp. Survivors include three daughters, Susan Trammel and Kimberly Price of Jacksonville, Fla., Bernardine Martin of Fulton, N.Y.; and her mother of Jonesboro...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral for Mary Margaret Miller of Charleston will be held at 10 a.m. today at Dogwood United Methodist Church. The Rev. Rick White will officiate. Burial will be in Dogwood Cemetery. McMikle Funeral Home at Charleston is in charge of arrangements...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Marjorie Louise Hopgood, 83, of East Prairie died Monday, Sept. 6, 1999, at Clearview Nursing Center in Sikeston. She was born May 25, 1916, in Bayouville, daughter of George W. and Florence Ann Duffey Schneider. She and Finley Marshall Hopgood were married in 1937 in Paragould, Ark. He died Oct. 31, 1988...

WHITEWATER -- Funeral for Emil E. Craft of Whitewater will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson. The Rev. Joe Allen will officiate. Burial will be in Russell Heights Cemetery at Jackson. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. today. Whitewater Masonic Lodge 417 will conduct a service at 7...

PERRYVILLE -- Theresa Marie Moore, 82, of Perryville died Tuesday, Sept. 7, 1999, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born March 27, 1917, at Perryville, daughter of Frank C. and Mary Carrie Tucker Cissell. She married Clyde Joseph Moore, who died Aug. 6, 1967...

PERRYVILLE -- Bessie Irene Kelley, 86, of Perryville died Monday, Sept. 6, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 29, 1913, at Perryville, daughter of Daniel and Birdie Pullum Rhyne. She and William "Bill" Kelley were married April 5, 1933. He died March 23, 1986...

Consent Ordinances (Second and third readings.) -- Approved an ordinance establishing the boundaries of lateral sewer district No. 13-C-1, a subdivision of trunk sewer district No. 13. -- Approved an ordinance accepting water utility easements from Orscheln Farm and Home LLC and Michael J. and Mary D. Kutz...

Son to Angie Dawn Sides of Oak Ridge, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:17 p.m. Monday, Aug. 30, 1999. Name, Travis Ray. Weight, 10 pounds 3 ounces. First child. Miss Sides is the daughter of Kenny and Dorothy Sides of Oak Ridge. Daughter to Charles Donald and Amy Cathleen Cook of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 5:25 a.m. ...

JACKSON -- Wallace Julius Hotop, 69, of Jackson died Monday, Sept. 6, 1999, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 26, 1929, at Biehle, son of Alphonse A. and Rose Leonell Welker Hotop. He and Thelma E. Buchheit were married Oct. 18, 1952...

The Friends of Cape Girardeau Public Library Foundation will hold their annual book sale Sept. 17 through 19 in Hirsch Community Room at the library. Hours are from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 17; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m, Sept. 18; and noon to 3 Sept. 19. Foundation members will have a preview between 5 and 6 p.m. Sept. 17...

I receive a variety of requests for recipes, but the No. 1 request is for a "good but different" bread pudding. I do believe that you will find that this recipe is the one. The most important element in a recipe is the cook's secret. The secret to this bread pudding is that it is cooked in a single thin layer. A crispy moist layer that is bathed in a butter sauce with a splash of lemon...

Again this week Recipe Swap has an abundance of ground beef recipes for you to try. We have had a great response to a recent request for any recipes using ground beef. The Cape Girardeau cook who submitted the request told us that using ground beef is about the only way she can get her children to eat meat. I have tried a few of the recipes and my children really enjoyed them. Give these recipes your taste test, file them and enjoy them in the months ahead...