Stories from Monday, November 13, 2000

Debra K. Johns and Howard Poston, staff accountants with Schott & Van de Ven, Certified Public Accountants, attended the fall Accounting and Auditing Conference in St. Louis recently. The conference reviewed the latest accounting and financial reporter subjects, and was presented by the Missouri Society of CPAs...

Gary Gaines, director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Office of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR), will be guest speaker at the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission meeting Thursday. The meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. at Becky Sharp's Restaurant in New Madrid, Mo...

Dr. Bernard Burns, medical director of Rehabilitation Services at St. Francis Medical Center, and Dale Rauh, director of rehabilitation service at St. Francis, presented seminar topics at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in San Francisco recently...

Southeast Missouri Hospital's Marketing and Communications Department received statewide recognition for five projects produced by the hospital. The Show Me Excellence awards were presented by the Missouri Association for Healthier Public Relations and Marketing, during the annual Missouri Hospital Association Convention and Trade Show, held at Osage Beach, Mo...

Troylene Haywood, Cherie Harris and Candi Wooten, of Leet's Family Optometric Practice, recently attended the American Optometric Association's National Convention. Following the seminar, the three were tested in various areas of eye care, and were certified as paraoptometrics...

D Mart Homes at Fruitland, Mo., has received an award for "Outstanding Customer Satisfaction" from Champion Homes, one of the largest makers of manufactured homes in the United States. The award is a result of an independent survey commissioned by Champion Homes, which showed D Mart Homes with a nearly 100 percent customer satisfaction rate...

US Office Products Co., which has a district office at 835 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, is delivering its 2001 catalog. Company officials say it will make it much easier for customers to order a wide array of high-quality products at value prices from manufacturers of office products...

Prompt Care, a walk-in medical clinic at 2130 Highway 61 East in Jackson, Mo., will hold its grand opening from 1 to 5 p.m. on Nov. 18. Among activities will be finger printing of children by the Jackson Police Department, blood pressure and glucose screenings for everyone and drawings for prizes. Clowns and musical entertainment are scheduled...

Americans reduced their borrowing in September as they cut back on the use of credit cards and auto loans amid a slowing economy. The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that consumer credit increased by a seasonally adjusted $6.5 billion in September, or 5.2 percent at an annual rate, the slowest pace since October 1999...

Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s new president and chief executive held a party of sorts with investors Wednesday, offering a first hint on how he will shape the retailer's future. After six weeks at the head of the nation's No. 4 largest retailer, Alan J. Lacy said a top priority is improving the profitability of Sears' overall retail business, which is lagging behind its competitors. ...

Following is a listing of new business licenses issued by the city of Cape Girardeau and the Cape Girardeau County collector's office during the month of October. Some franchises may list out-of-town or out-of-state addresses. Cape Girardeau: Feelin & Lookin Good, 3049 William; Gadzooks, 3049 William; Health Priorities Inc., 35 Doctors' Park; Heil Beauty Supply, 54 Plaza Way; Love's Creation Salon, 110 S. ...

ALEXANDER COUNTY, Ill. -- Goose hunting is big business in Southern Illinois -- the industry funnels as much as $10 million to the area's annual economy. Horseshoe Lake in Alexander County, has long been acclaimed as the "Goose Hunting Capital of the World." The Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in Williamson County is a major wintering ground forlarge populations of Canada Geese, and both areas boast the state's No. 1 goose harvest 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. Do you have a time-specific investment goal in mind? Maybe you want to send your child to college in 18 years. Or maybe you want to buy a summer home in 10 years. If so, then you might want to consider the number zero -- as in zero coupon bonds...

Brandon Sherer will be the new news director for KFVS-TV Heartland News. Sherer will replace longtime news director Mike Beecher on Nov. 20. Beecher will transfer to a KFVS sister station, KWWL, the Raycom Media station in Waterloo, Iowa. This will be Sherer's second tour with KFVS. He served as assistant news director and executive producer here from 1997 to 1999. Most recently, he has been the executive producer of news for another Raycom station, WMC-TV in Memphis...

Albert L. "Sonny" Underwood Jr., president of Mid-South Steel Products in Cape Girardeau, has been appointed treasurer of the Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI) Board of Directors. PEI is comprised of more than 1,600 companies that manufacture and distribute equipment used in petroleum marketing operations. Underwood's company manufactures and installs steel tanks, pumps and dispensers and distributes petroleum equipment...

MAKANDA, Ill. -- Don Woolard counted about 200 geese at Ballard County Wildlife Refuge in west Kentucky, near Wickliffe. The two-engine Cessna 337A roared as it turned eastward toward Horseshoe Lake, near the Olive Branch area in Southern Illinois. Woolard and a second spotter, huddled into the right side of the plane, peered out the window as the pilot made another pass around the Horseshoe Lake Wildlife Refuge in Alexander County...

Hairport Beauty Salon is under new ownership. Diana King, who has 20 years in the beauty business, recently purchased Hairport, 2033 Independence, Cape Girardeau, from Laura Young. The salon includes six stations. King, who worked a the JCPenney Salon nine years, is a graduate of Stage One The Hair School in Cape Girardeau...

Candy Bouquet has opened in Cape Girardeau. The company specializes in creating specialty gifts. "Candy Bouquet can create gifts for a number of themes," said Elizabeth Hileman, franchise owner and designer in Cape Girardeau. The bouquets can be designed around any theme the customer wants...

Stephanie Bledsoe of Charleston, Mo., is new manager of the Workforce Inc. location at Sikeston, Mo. Bledsoe, a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, previously served as Southeast Missouri Regional director for the American Heart Association, working With businesses in 16 counties. She joined Workforce, Inc. earlier this year...

Dr. Elizabeth J. Horton, a specialist in the neurological diseases of children, has joined the practice of Dr. Randall Stahly at 5 Doctors' Park in Cape Gir-ardeau. Horton, a native of St. Louis. Mo., completed her undergraduate work at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She received her medical degree from the University of Chicago School of Medicine, and completed a residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics...

Angie Glueck and Tammy Glueck recently joined Hairport Salon in Cape Girardeau. Both have five years experience in the beauty field, and both are graduates of Stage One The Hair School in Cape Girardeau. Both specialize in cuts, perms, color and acrylic nails...

Dr. Laura Evans has been elected president of the Southeast Optometric Society. Evans, an associate of Leet's Family Optometric practice in Cape Girardeau, is also a member of the Missouri Optometric Association and the American Optometric Association...

A number of employees at Dana Corp.'s Cape Girardeau facility have received promotions recently. Randy Brugger has been promoted to cell leader in Department 600 on D Shift. He joined Dana in June 1998. Robby Jenkins was promoted to cell leader in Department 141 on C Shift. He joined Dana in March 1997. David Ivester, who became a Dana employee in October 1997, was promoted to cell leader in Department 141, on D Shift...

Homework. Students don't like to do it. Parents don't always understand it. Even so, homework is an undeniable fact of life. Public views toward homework have ranged from calling it a positive form of mental exercise to a needless drill that causes stress...

OLMSTED, Ill. -- On some days, barges line up in a waterway traffic jam, waiting their turn to go through antiquated Dam 53 on the Ohio River, a short distance from Olmsted. The United States Corps of Engineers hopes to alleviate that problem within the next decade...

As both Cape Girardeau hospitals begin construction or renovation of their obstetrics units, neither wants to say they are in competition. St. Francis Medical Center has begun construction of a new obstetrics ward that will feature state-of-the-art LDRP -- labor, delivery, recovery and post-partum -- suites...

A Brooklyn, N.Y., native with more than 30 years of nursing experience will guide St. Francis Medical Center's new obstetrics ward through construction, equipping, staffing and beyond. Jane Stuart, 55, was chosen by medical center officials as director of its new obstetrics unit...

Cody Bredekamp giggled as he stood in the back of the large, empty closet in his new bedroom at 56 Centennial St. As he looked around, the 6-year-old decided that instead of hanging his clothes in the closet, he'll use the space as a hideout for him and his stuffed brown bear, Superman...

Though they knew it would be a fairly tough road, the senior-led St. Vincent Indians pretty much expected to make it to the state football quarterfinals again. Westran absolutely did not. St. Vincent (11-0) and surprising Westran (8-3) will put their seasons on the line tonight in Huntsville, Mo., as the two teams will do battle for the right to advance to the Class 1A semifinals. The game in the north-central part in the state will begin at 7 p.m...

For the second time in three weeks, the Cape Central Tigers will be taking on the sixth-ranked football team in Class 4A. First it was Farmington, now it's Washington. If history repeats itself, the unranked, out-of-nowhere Tigers will wind up in the state's Final Four and extend their Cinderella story another chapter...

Betty Elaine Tenkhoff, 77, of Oran, Mo., died Saturday, Nov. 11, 2000, at her home. She was born Oct. 22, 1923, in Oran, daughter of Earl C. and Helen F. Oliver Watkins. She and Bernard A. Tenkhoff were married Feb. 17, 1947, in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was a member of the Guardian Angel Church in Oran...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Romana May Harrold Kerchinski, 54, of Bakersfield, Calif., and formerly of Charleston, Mo., died Saturday, Nov. 11, 2000, at Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield. She was born Jan. 6, 1946, in Charleston, daughter of Roy and Pearl Williams Harrold...

KARNAK, Ill. -- Wayne "Red" Walker, 85, of Karnak, Ill., died Saturday, Nov. 11, 2000, at Massac Memorial Hospital in Metropolis, Ill. He was born Oct. 31, 1915, in McClure, Ill., son of Elmer and Ethel Smith Walker. He married Flora Hill Walker 65 years ago...

Joann Jones, 69, of Delta, Mo., died Saturday, Nov. 11, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 24, 1931, in Whitewater, Mo., daughter of Roby August and Alice Orene Birkman Poinsett. She married J.W. Jones. Jones retired after 22 years as a machine operator at Advance Shoe Factory in Advance, Mo...

I CAUGHT Jesse Jackson on TV, which is anyone's guess why a responsible news network would even let the man be on. Of course, he was on with his usual silly rhetoric. One thing he said was in some parts of the country there was voter intimidation. You can bet that if your kid is in a government class his teacher is influencing him. When I went to college, my teacher influenced me...

Cape Girardeau County taxpayers should think twice before just saying "charge it" when paying their county taxes. The county this year joined a growing number of Missouri counties that permit taxpayers to use credit cards to pay their taxes. But it can be a costly convenience...

While many counties in Missouri struggle toward the end of every year to make ends meet, Cape Girardeau County government enjoys exceptional financial health year after year, thanks to a countywide sales tax. The county hasn't imposed a general-revenue tax levy on real estate since 1981, and then it was only 11 cents per $100 assessed valuation. ...

To the editor: I about fell out of my breakfast chair when I read Carol Baylor's letter to the editor. It is a prime example of why we need improvements in our public schools. The Electoral College was created so that the people of each state would have a voice in the election. ...

To the editor: I am incensed that any political party could obtain an extension of hours for an election in this state by merely appealing to a sympathetic judge. This really smells of political shenanigans. Our elections need to stay as fair and honest as can possibly maintain them for all parties, no mater what their political persuasion...