Stories from Friday, June 16, 2000

What if you gave a party and nobody came? That is the situation teen nightclub owner Donnie Harris finds himself in. His club, Kaboom!, has been deserted these summer evenings despite the longtime complaint that Cape Girardeau offers teen-agers nothing to do at night...

School officials hope an alumni directory will make it easier for Cape Girardeau public school graduates to find each other. The directory was one of the first projects the superintendent, Dr. Dan Steska, initiated when he joined the district last summer. Steska said the directory will be part of continuing efforts to support the district's theme to "Renew the Vision, Maintain the Mission."...

Ken Eftink is resigning as Cape Girardeau's development services coordinator to take a position as the first city administrator in Ashland, Mo., a largely residential community between Jefferson City and Columbia. Eftink, 44, accepted the $50,000-a-year job Wednesday. He is scheduled to start July 17...

For Wayne Edwards, who had his line in the waters of the Diversion Channel Thursday morning, the fun of fishing is the catching; the eating of his catch is a secondary pleasure. Still, it is a relief to know that most of the fish pulled out of the waters in this area are safe to eat...

Ah. Just think about it. Pretty soon you be able to sit on the bank and see the wind kick up those pretty little dust eddies. Remember all the fuss about the lake someone wanted to build somewhere on the county line between Cape Girardeau and Marble Hill?...

Tom Holshouser presented the Yard of the Month Award for June to Carol Sparkman. She and her husband, Dr. Thomas Sparkman, live at #2 Starwood. Marsha Toll, left, presented the Yard of the Month for June to Kathleen Jackson. She and her husband, David Jackson, live at 851 N. Cape Rock Drive in Cape Girardeau...

The American Queen will stop in Cape Girardeau at 8 a.m. today and depart by 5 p.m. Times are subject to change. The visit is unexpected and will be the only visit by the boat this season, said the Convention and Visitors Bureau. The public is invited to Riverfront Park to welcome the boat's passengers. The American Queen is part of the fleet of the Delta Queen Steamboat Co...

A Pemiscot County man was found guilty Thursday of distributing several kilograms of cocaine through a network of crack houses, the U.S. attorney's office said. James E. Borders, 28, was found guilty in U.S. District Court of distributing cocaine base at the conclusion of a three-day trial, said Larry Ferrell, assistant U.S. attorney. Borders had managed several drug houses around Hayti Heights over a three-year period starting in 1996, Ferrell said...

JACKSON -- A Cape Girardeau man received a 20-year prison sentence Thursday for attacking a woman with a baseball bat in her apartment last fall. Jeramy Todd Bobbett, 23, had pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in April. The felony crime had a range of punishment between 10 and 30 years, Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said...

JACKSON, Mo. --n advisory committee to the newly created Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority could be named Monday. The county commission discussed naming a 10-member advisory committee Thursday. The commission settled on 10 names, but said it wanted to first contact the potential members before publicly appointing them...

The usual summer blood shortage has hit the southeast Missouri region early this year, which has officials at the American Red Cross Blood Services in Cape Girardeau worried about what the rest of the summer will bring. "With vacations and school being out, it's normal for supplies to get low in the summer, but it usually doesn't happen until July," said Kate Killian with donor recruitment in the Cape Girardeau office...

Three people were injured in separate accidents Wednesday in the region. James Snider, 30, of Cape Girardeau was seriously injured when his vehicle ran off the road, hit 50 feet of barbed wire fence and then hit a tree. Snider was taken to St. Francis Medical Center for treatment...

The more people understand each other's differences, the higher the level of comfort they can have with one another. That's the philosophy of Dr. Janice Dawson-Threat, a scholar, researcher and educator on diversity and cultural identity who will be the keynote speaker at an "Embracing Multiculturalism" conference in Cape Girardeau June 29...

JACKSON -- A contract could be let as early as September for the first project in the Hubble Creek Watershed Improvement Plan. Dave Owen, a district conservationist for the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the contract will be for the first of seven planned grade stabilization structures to be built along the creek in an attempt to slow its velocity. ...

JACKSON, Mo. -- In all sports, consistency is what separates the good from the best. Such was the case in the Heartland Junior Classic this week as only the golfers with three good rounds placed in the top five in the highly competitive event that featured 115 golfers from the Midwest at Bent Creek Golf Course...

The Cape Girardeau Riverdogs lost a late lead as Goreville, Ill., scored eight unanswered runs for a 16-9 victory Wednesday night. The Riverdogs (1-4) took a 9-8 lead into the seventh, but saw Goreville score four runs in the seventh and four in the eighth...

Some of the region's rising young baseball players will be on display this weekend when the annual Wood & Huston Bank Junior American Legion Tournament is held in Cape Girardeau. Eight teams will make up the field for the three-day event that begins today and runs through Sunday. The Cape Wood & Huston Bank squad is the host, and games will be played at both Central and Notre Dame high schools...

Becky Shull, a member of the Southeast Missouri State University track team, has been named to the third team GTE Academic All-America women's spring at-large squad. Shull, who has a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average in secondary math education, placed fourth in the javelin and eighth in the 100-meter hurdles at the recent OVC outdoor track championships. She was the 1999 OVC javelin champion...

ST. MARY'S, Mo. -- John L. Vaughn, 26, of St. Mary's died Wednesday, June 14, 2000, in rural Perry County. He was born March 21, 1974, in Perry County, son of Eugene W. and Linda L. Boland Vaughn. Vaughn was employed at Bailey Stave Mill in Perryville. He was a member of Little Brushy Bible Baptist Church...

Lottie L. Fox, 89, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, June 14, 2000, at the Lutheran Home. She was born May 21, 1911, in Mississippi County, daughter of John W. and Ida Eula Forsythe Brown. She married Ernest W. Fox, who died Jan. 30, 1992. Fox lived most of her married life in Mississippi County. She was a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Lillian B. Leible, 93, of Sikeston, formerly of Charleston, died Wednesday, June 14, 2000, at Miner Nursing Center in Miner. She was born May 26, 1907, in Missouri, daughter of Neidham Arthor and Lula E. Cowell Clayton. She and Benjamin Paul Leible were married Feb. 10, 1927. He died Sept. 14, 1980...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Allyne C. Bodenstein, 74, of Jackson died Thursday, June 15, 2000, at St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis. She was born March 10, 1926, in Oak Ridge, daughter of Clarence L. and Sarah Anna Smith Crites. She and Louis H. Bodenstein were married July 16, 1954. He died Feb. 8, 1975...

While many of us have been focusing on Al Gore's remarkable similarity to Bill Clinton in matters pertaining to truth, we may be missing a more compelling reason to fear -- yes, I said fear -- his presidency. Liberals get especially upset when they are likened to socialists, so I won't go there. ...

Fifty years ago, the United States was on the verge of sending troops to Korea for a harsh conflict that was to leave the country divided. Family members split by the hostilities, in many instances, haven't had contact with each other for half a century...

When George and Fred Naeter took a steamboat trip from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau in 1904, they may have known about the potential of going into the newspaper business, but they had no way of knowing how they would influence this sleepy river town with its college for teachers...

To the editor: Like many other holidays, we have a tendency to forget what Father's Day is really about. It is an excellent excuse for retail stores, greeting card companies and the like to boost sales. However, we all know the true meaning of the holiday is to follow one of the commandments, honor thy father...

To the editor: Many of our citizens complain about the lack of results that our government has shown in its drug-fighting program. The positive points that many people miss in evaluating the war on drugs is that (1) it helps greatly in maintaining our position as the industrialized nation with the most people under lock and key, and (2) prisons are big business, providing good-paying construction jobs and a large number of government jobs to operate them plus the ancillary jobs created when any new revenue source becomes available.. ...