Stories from Wednesday, May 31, 2000

Water has been an integral part of a garden since the beginning of time. More than 50 percent of God's garden, the earth, is under water. The Garden of Eden had a river flowing out of it. Old gardens in Europe and China always had some sort of water feature in them...

Money to help fund a three-county drug court has been available for almost a year, but judges in Bollinger, Perry and Cape Girardeau counties have yet to touch it. Associate Circuit Judge Peter Statler, who was selected drug court judge, does not know when he might start hearing cases...

The Missouri attorney general's contract with private attorneys to handle the state's lawsuit against the tobacco industry is valid, a state appellate panel has ruled. State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau had sued Attorney General Jay Nixon and the attorneys representing Missouri in the tobacco case, hoping to get the contract thrown out on legal and constitutional grounds. ...

SCOTT CITY -- Gov. Mel Carnahan signed into law Tuesday a new $2.25 billion highway funding bill that will plunge Missouri into debt to pay for road and bridge improvements across the state. Even before the ink was dry, lawmakers were talking of developing a new transportation plan that could call on voters to raise taxes to pay for future improvements...

JACKSON -- More than 75 Jackson School District residents met Tuesday night to develop a strategy they hope will win voter approval of two school funding issues to be considered at the polls in August. The group met with the Board of Education and administrators to discuss how they plan to garner support for a $6 million bond issue and 40-cent increase in the operating tax levy that will be submitted to voters. ...

MARBLE HILL -- Rod Jetton, Bollinger County commissioner, recently attended the first-ever seminar on rural and agriculture issues sponsored by the Missouri Farm Bureau. Jetton, who lives in Marble Hill, is a candidate for the 156th district state representative seat. He also owns Jetton James Real Estate Company...

Cape Girardeau County's three members of the Missouri General Assembly will join legislators from Perryville and Dexter for a legislative update of the past session, at the Cape Girardeau First Friday Coffee at 7:30 a.m. Friday. Appearing on the panel will be: Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau; Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau; Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson; Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter; and Rep. Pat Naeger,R-Perryville...

Area Wide United Way board members have allocated $22,500 of the $90,000 it set aside from the 1999 campaign for addressing unmet needs identified by the Community Assessment Task Force. The money allocated includes an offer of $10,000 a year for two years to Cape Girardeau County to help fund a coordinator for the county transit authority and $2,500 to collect and analyze data about affordable housing in the county, said Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the Area Wide United Way...

The Area Wide United Way board of directors has approved funding of all the programs of the agencies it funded last year as well as four new programs. The approval doesn't mean the programs will receive the full amount requested. Board members won't decided allocations until after the 2000 campaign ends in December, said Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the United Way...

A Mississippi County man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison without parole on a felony drug charge. John David Childers, 35, was sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of aiding and abetting in the manufacture of methamphetamine. He appeared before U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber Tuesday in Cape Girardeau...

The honors simply keep rolling in for Jeremy Johnson, who recently concluded a record-setting baseball career at Southeast Missouri State University. Johnson, who two weeks ago was named Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year for baseball, received an even higher OVC honor Tuesday when he was named the league's Male Athlete of the Year...

Last year, Southeast Missouri State University's Lutricia Purham was simply happy to be in the field for the NCAA Division I Track & Field Championships. This year, Purham will be looking to make her mark among the nation's best shot-putters when she competes in her second straight NCAA Meet on the Duke University campus in Durham, N.C. The shot put will be held Friday...

St. Vincent snuck up on Oran. Then it snuck up on Advance. Then Holcomb. Then Winona. But once a team gets to the Final Four, it isn't called sneaking anymore. It's simply called good baseball. A confident, albeit non-flashy, Indian team will head to Columbia early this morning to take on Englewood Christian Academy of Independence in the Class 1A semifinals. The first pitch is slated for 11 a.m...

Notre Dame can say what it wants about its No. 1 state ranking and its glaring 22-4 record. But until St. Pius X gets knocked off its throne, the Warriors are the team to beat. St. Pius X (18-8) is going for its third straight Class 2A title and stands in the way of Notre Dame as the Bulldogs hope to avenge last year's loss in the state championship game when the two teams hook up at 5 p.m. today in the state semifinals in Columbia...

Wood & Huston AA Junior Legion dropped a pair of games to Dunklin County Tuesday night at Capaha Field. Dunklin Co. edged Wood & Huston 5-4 in the opener and 6-4 in the nightcap. John Thief suffered the loss in the opener, allowing seven hits in going the distance. He struck out six and walked two. Jordan Comer had two of Wood & Huston's six hits...

ZACHARY, La. -- Lela McCoy, 75, formerly of the Sikeston area, died Tuesday, May 30, 2000 at Lane Memorial Hospital in Zachary. She was born March 14, 1925, daughter of Alvin and Katherine Hacker Gasser. She and Archie Vexter McCoy were married Sept. 12, 1942, in Poplar Bluff. He preceded her in death...

OLMSTED, Ill. -- Thomas William Sauerbrun, 89, of Olmsted, died Tuesday, May 30, 2000, at Daystar Nursing Care Center in Cairo. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Jones Funeral Home in Villa Ridge.

Dorothea May Moore, 76, of Benton died Tuesday, May 30, 2000, at the Lutheran Home. She was born May 18, 1924, the daughter of Hurbert Conway Vaughn and Cora May Stout Vaughn. She married Raymond F. Moore on Oct. 18, 1947. He died April 20, 1999. She was employed as a cook on a Union Oil riverboat. She was a Presbyterian...

PUXICO -- Murrel C. Payton, 87, of Puxico died Monday, May 29, 2000, at Pine Lawn Residential Care Center. She was born Dec. 4, 1912, in Puxico, daughter of Authur J. and Margaret Eldora Oliver Hickman. She and Cecil U. Payton were married March 31, 1927. He died April 12, 1988...

ADVANCE -- Donald Ray Wallace Sr., 60, of Advance died Monday, May 29, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 13, 1940, at Gipsy, son of Burl and Eva Wallace. He and Linda McWhirter were married Oct. 19, 1963, at White Oak...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Hattie Vivian Patrick Tatum, 72, of East Prairie died Tuesday, May 30, 2000, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born March 1, 1928, in Benton, Ill., daughter of Thomas and Mary Alice Hess Stone. She and Everett Lee Patrick were married Jan. 17, 1948. He died in 1971...

MOREHOUSE -- Thurman Walter Graham Sr., 84, of Morehouse died Monday, May 29, 2000, at his home. He was born Jan. 14, 1916, in Lilbourn, son of Walter and Norella McCauley Graham. He and Minnie Louella Houchin were married July 22, 1935, in New Madrid. She died July 31, 1980...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral for Thelma B. Alvey of Charleston will be held at 11 a.m. today at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston. The Rev. Jon Archie will officiate. Burial will be in IOOF Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 9:30 a.m. until service time...

Lloyd Green, 81, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, May 29, 2000, at his home. He was born Aug. 19, 1918, at Mine La Motte, son of Avery Clarence and Callie "Jane" Doris Green. He and Betty R. McLemore were married June 6, 1953, in Cape Girardeau. Green was a truck driver with Federal Materials 31 years, retiring Jan. 10, 1985. He attended Eisleben Lutheran Church in Scott City...

DEXTER -- Memorial service for Ronnie Dean Duckworth of Dexter will be held at 6 p.m. today at Blanchard Funeral Chapel in Sikeston. The Rev. Ed Pangburn will officiate. Funeral was held Saturday at Clinkingbeard Funeral Chapel in Ava. The Rev. Ronnie Pinkney officiated. Burial was in Ava Cemetery...

SIKESTON -- Graveside service for Jewell I. Hooks of Sikeston will be held at 10 a.m. today at Memorial Park Cemetery. Ponder Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Hooks, 80, died Saturday, May 27, 2000, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born April 6, 1920, in Atkins, Ark., daughter of Horace Oscar and Susan Belle Pollard Nichols. She and Harold Loran Hooks were married Nov. 30, 1939, at Bernie. He died July 16, 1976...

JACKSON -- Tammy Kaye Hoffman, 37, of Jackson died Sunday, May 28, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 9, 1963, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of William and Linda Cook Brown. She and Mark Hoffman were married Feb. 19, 1983, in Jackson...

Daughter to Darin and Leslie Meritt of Dexter, Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Thursday, May 18, 2000. Name, Victoria Rose. Weight, 6 pounds 6 ounces. First child. Mrs. Meritt is the former Leslie Beussink, daughter of Ron and Norma Beussink of Marble Hill. She is a registered nurse in the nursery at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Meritt is the son of Thomas and Gayle Meritt of Essex. He is a doctor of osteopathy in Dexter...

SIKESTON -- Charles Rushing, 81, died Monday, May 29, 2000, at Bertrand Nursing Facility in Bertrand. He was born March 29, 1919, at Bertrand, son of Charles and Ethel Jackson Rushing. He first married Bessie Schatte July 3, 1946. She died Oct. 17, 1982. He and Mabel Alessi were married May 21, 1983. She died Sept. 24, 1990. He later married Mary Ellen Stallings Aug. 8, 1993, at Sikeston...

Jenny M. Campbell Wolf, 98, of Cincinnati, Ohio, died Sunday, May 28, 2000. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

WELL, THE true facts are showing now, that China did contribute to Clinton's 1996 campaign. As hard as this man's fighting to get this trade agreement with China, there has to be something somewhere. I hope that these people, whether you're Democrat or Republican, will stop and think when you go to the polls to vote in November. ...

As a sensitive, compassionate conservative I feel sorry for President Clinton. Time is running out on him, and he still has no significant foreign policy achievement. Hold on, you say. What about his triumph in Somalia? His expenditure of $3 billion in aid and commitment of 20,000 U.S. ...

Southeast Missouri State University is studying the possibility of installing tornado warning sirens on campus. The need for warning systems has long been debated in Cape Girardeau, and the university's decision will be closely watched. The university has hired a consultant to conduct a feasibility study. ...

Work is progressing on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. With each new achievement, the bridge moves one step closer to reality. The Illinois approach for the bridge is nearly complete. Ten piers and an embankment structure that is ready for paving have been completed. The only work yet to be done on the Illinois side is the five-lane approach...

In cleaning out a large basket between the front seats of our van this week, I found a couple of pieces of mail that had fallen down in the cracks. Or, it could of course, be that the kids hid them or some other strange thing. Whatever or however the mail slipped away, I share it with you now...