Stories from Tuesday, February 8, 2000

Are you looking for someone? The Internet is a great way to reunite with family, friends and lost acquaintances. In fact, an entire cottage industry has developed on the World Wide Web from people's need to search for other people. Some of these services are free; others cost you money. This is one good place to read the fine print...

Be careful when you enter science teacher Chris Faulkner's classroom. He's a true believer in hands-on study and welcomes "anything that involves science." And don't think students haven't taken the Oak Ridge High School teacher up on his offer. Recently, a biology student brought fetal pigs to school that her mother found when slaughtering a hog. Various aquariums in Faulkner's classroom are always occupied by student discoveries...

College costs are generally outpacing the increase in consumer prices, but the prospect of paying for a degree isn't as bleak as it was in the early 1990s. According to a Consumer Reports survey, the rise in tuition has dropped to 4.5 percent, about half what it was a few years ago...

"What's Ahead for the Year 2000?" is the theme of the Second Annual Economic Outlook Conference slated for Feb. 24 on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. The conference will be held from noon to 2 p.m. in Glenn Auditorium of Robert A. Dempster Hall. A box lunch will be served...

JACKSON -- Jackson drivers soon will have a number of new stop signs and no-parking signs to pay attention to. The Jackson Board of Aldermen on Monday night approved a series of ordinances adding to the city's stop and no-parking designations on streets...

By noon today, the grass and a few inches of sod will be missing from Southeast Missouri State University's football field. The look of the Houck Stadium field will change over the next month in preparation for a bed to support the FieldTurf brand of synthetic grass to be installed by Vibra-Whirl of Panhandle, Texas...

Most people don't like to think about losing important papers, family photographs or records in a flood, fire or other disaster. Neither does the city. Cape Girardeau officials applied for a state grant in April to help the city preserve historic city records. At Monday night's City Council meeting, the city set aside $2,147 in matching funds to preserve the records on microfilm...

Ever had a bad day? I mean a really, bad day when nothing goes right or you constantly run into problems. Last week was full of bad days for me. It was a week I don't care to repeat any time soon. Taken separately, of course, none of these things seem to be big problems. But one problem was just compounded by the next. And the fates were so kind in spreading out my troubles over a number of days instead of just letting me have one single bad day...

Two Southeast Missouri men were sentenced to prison on federal charges Monday. A Reynolds County man was sentenced to 100 months in prison for illegal possession of a firearm. Donald R. Barton, 28, was sentenced Monday in federal court in Cape Girardeau. He had previously been convicted of felony assault in Iron County...

CHARLESTON -- Gov. Mel Carnahan will be the main speaker Friday at a ceremony to mark the start of construction of Missouri's newest prison. A groundbreaking ceremony for the South East Correctional Center will begin at 2 p.m. at the prison site, 300 feet from Interstate 57 off state Highway 105 in Charleston. The ceremony will be at the Charleston Armory, 105 S. Main, if the weather is inclement...

The trial for one of two Cape Girardeau men charged in an apartment break-in, assault and rape last summer has been postponed until mid-April. Demarcus Wright, 19, will be tried in New Madrid on a change of venue on April 13. Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said the trial was postponed after he added witnesses to his trial list...

To the editor: We have all heard or read why America should adopt the Canadian style of health care. The arguments are usually based on the fact that poorer Americans cannot afford the high costs of market-provided health care. America could do worse than continue with the system it has now. It could follow Canada into socialized medical care and the cost and restrictions associated with it...

The first thing you have to learn about ethics is this: There is no black and white. If ethics of any kind -- moral, religious, political, business and all the others -- enjoyed some clarity of understanding, it would be easy to be an ethical person or politician or business owner...

IF YOU feel bad on the outside, check yourself on the inside. I HAVE to go out in public and listen to people's jam boxes and radios playing absolute filth with the F-word and all other kinds of references to sex at gunpoint and knifepoint. I have to listen to co-workers who are allowed to talk about gay and lesbian issues right in front of children or anyone else they want to talk in front of and use language that's not printable in your paper. ...

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team has played well at home so far this season and the Otahkians will need that trend to continue this week if they are to make any noise at all in the Ohio Valley Conference race. The Otahkians begin a three-game homestand today with a 5:30 p.m. contest against Middle Tennessee State...

Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team, saddled with a two-game losing streak for the first time all season, will try to get well tonight against the Ohio Valley Conference's hottest squad. Middle Tennessee's Blue Raiders will bring a five-game winning streak and all kinds of momentum into the 7:30 p.m. tipoff at the Show Me Center...

Cape Girardeau Central High's girls basketball team steadily pulled away to post a 59-45 victory over visiting New Madrid County Central Monday night. The Lady Tigers led 14-11 after one quarter, 29-22 at halftime and 45-33 entering the final period as they improved to 16-3...

A Mississippi County man faces a maximum of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to a methamphetamine charge. Edward Boyer, 40, of East Prairie pleaded guilty to one count of possession with Intent to distribute methamphetamine. Boyer was arrested after a traffic stop Sept. ...

Albert Gene Foreman, 66, of Barre, Vt., died Sunday, Feb. 6, 2000, at Central Vermont Hospital. He was born May 16, 1933, in Cape Girardeau, son of Albert M. and Alice O'Dean Pedigo Foreman. Foreman was a retired high school teacher. He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War...

DEXTER -- Graveside service for Edna Richter of Lebanon, Mo., will be held at 2 p.m. today at Malden Memorial Park Cemetery in Malden. Charles Clark will officiate. Friends may call at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Richter, 77, died Saturday, Feb. 5, 2000, at Christian Healthcare Lebanon South Nursing Center in Lebanon...

MALDEN -- Josie May Gurlen, 92, of Poplar Bluff died Sunday, Feb. 6, 2000, at Lucy Lee Health Care Systems in Poplar Bluff. She was born Oct. 22, 1907, in Bragg City, daughter of William and Lizzie Frances Brown. She and Jesse Ross Gurlen were married July 7, 1925, in Blytheville, Ark. He died Nov. 15, 1978...

JACKSON -- Arlen L. Cryts, 89, of Dyersburg Manor in Dyersburg, Tenn., died Sunday, Feb. 6, 2000, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Ripley, Tenn. He was born Aug. 30, 1910, at Aid, son of Louis and Daisy Cryts. He and Dorothy Seabaugh were married March 23, 1944...

PERRYVILLE -- Elizabeth R. "Bessie" Huber, 93, of Perryville died Monday, Feb. 7, 2000, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born July 15, 1906, at Sereno, daughter of John and Maltida Amberger Sutterer. She and Floyd V. Huber Sr. were married in March 1930. He died Dec. 23, 1997...

MURPHYSBORO, Ill. -- William Tanner Burnett, 87, of Murphysboro died Sunday, Feb. 6, 2000, at the Rehab and Care Center of Jackson County. He was formerly of Cairo. He was born May 14, 1912, in LaCenter, Ky., son of William and Annie Tanner Burnett. He and Rosemary Halteman were married June 26, 1935...

ANNA, Ill. -- Due to an illness in the family, the funeral for Gladys Hood Bilyeu has been postponed. Bilyeu, 100, died Friday, Feb. 4, 2000, at Fair Park Nursing Home in Huntsville, Texas. Crain Funeral Home in Anna is in charge of arrangements.

Son to Joseph Heath and Jennifer Anne Lucas of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:06 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2000. Name, Jacob Tyler. Weight, 7 pounds 10 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Lucas is the former Jennifer Lyle, daughter of Judith Lyle of Cape Girardeau and James and Randye Lyle of St. Louis. Lucas is the son of Mary Lucas of Cape Girardeau. He is a salesman at Ford Groves...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral for Faydean Shands of East Prairie will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie. Burial will be in Anniston Cemetery. Shands, 71, died Sunday, Feb. 6, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau...