Stories from Monday, November 27, 2000

As a recognition that happier employees are better workers, Ford Motor Co., parts maker Visteon Corp. and the United Auto Workers are combining forces to build centers around the country that will offer round-the-clock child care, educational classes and other services to their workers...

Heavenly Ham, 3443 William in Cape Girardeau, has introduced "Designs by Laura," a gift basket available in a variety of themes and price tags. Additional information for the new designs is available by calling 334-1963.

The St. Louis Farm & Power Show will be held at America's Center at the Cervantes Convention Center in St. Louis Dec. 16-17. One of the features of this year's event will be an exhibition of utility tractors, in categories of 50 to 75 horsepower. Six acres of new agriculture equipment and supplies will be displayed, as will antique tractors...

Goody's Store has opened an operation at Valley Plaza in Poplar Bluff, Mo. The new store offers clothing for men, women and children and a number of gift items. Goody's, which also has a store in Cape Girardeau, operates a total of 312 stores in 18 states...

Albrecht-Hodges Inc., an insurance and financial services company in Cape Girardeau, has been featured in "The Resource," a national newsletter for agents and employees of Allied Insurance. The local company was recognized for its use of technology to improve customer services for clients because the firm offers a Web site with auto and home insurance quotes 24 hours a day, seven days a week...

First State Community Bank of Farmington, Mo. has completed the purchase of the Fredericktown, Mo. branch of Commerce Bank. The Fredericktown branch will have lobby hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. Drive-up lanes will be open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday...

St. Louis Bread Co. has announced a new line of specialty retail products -- including bread-dipping sauce and oil, salad dressings and whole bean coffee. The new products will bear the brand name Panera Bread. St. Louis Bread, based in Webster Groves, Mo., operates 231 bakery-cafes in 27 states under the name St. Louis Bread and Panera Bread...

Dr. Thomas Gibbons will open a new practice at 2851 Professional Court in Cape Girardeau. Gibbons was formerly associated with the Regional Eye Care Center for several years. He will offer vision examinations, contact lens services, treat various eye diseases and perform vision therapy programs. The new office will feature a showroom of assorted eyewear frames including fashion and designer styles...

Progressive Insurance Company will relocate its Southeast Missouri claims and operations offices to the Auburn Park Place building near the intersection of William and South Mount Auburn Road in Cape Girardeau. The 70,000 square foot building, which houses other businesses, is owned by DSW Development Corp...

Without an El Nino, weather prognosticators are having a difficult time coming up with a long-range winter forecast. El Nino, a rising of temperatures in the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast of South America, is cooling, says Tony Lupo, a University of Missouri climatologist...

Connie K. Brown, a CPA with Schott & Van de Ven, Certified Public Accountants recently completed the compliance auditing class presented by the Missouri Society of CPAs. The class covered various compliance auditing standards for governmental bodies and nonprofit organizations...

Dr. William K. Kapp has completed flight surgeon school and earned his wings from the U.S. Air Force. He is a graduate of the U.S. School of Aerospace Medicine, and is assigned to the 932nd Air Wing at Scott Air Force Base in East St. Louis, Ill. Kapp is one of seven orthopaedic surgeons on staff at Orthopaedic Associates of Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau...

This "Financial Focus" column is prepared by Edward Jones Investments, with headquarters in St. Louis and local branches in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. If you own bonds, then you know they can provide you with a regular source of income and a way to diversify your portfolio. You also can improve your tax situation or gain other financial advantages through bonds, using a strategy called a "swap."...

Walter and Iris Ford of Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau, recently attended the National Selected Morticians (NSM) 83rd Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla. Topics designed to improve services and operations by funeral homes were presented during the meeting. The association, founded in 1917, will change its name next year to Selected Independent Funeral Homes...

Shawn Mackey has joined First Impressions Beauty Shop, 125 S. Broadview, Suite 4. Mackey, who has more than 10 years experience in the beauty industry, is a graduate of Stage One The Hair School in Cape Girardeau.

Fido and Fluffy can try to get water and sewer service turned on in Cape Girardeau, but they're going to need photo identification and a signed contract first. City officials are changing the procedure for getting city utility services turned on after too many disconnected customers called in to get service turned back on under false names, such as those of their children, parents, siblings and, sometimes, pets...

As many as 50,000 Native Americans may gather in the Shawnee National Forest next fall. Planners for "Tecumseh's Dream -- An Historic Event" have requested permission to conduct a four-day meeting in a 700-acre area of the 277,000-acre forest in Southern Illinois...

Santa Claus came to town Sunday night, looking a little furrier than usual. And he had four legs. Actually, it was Patches, a 9-year-old llama from Norris City, Ill., with his front end dressed like Santa Claus in a white beard and bright red suit. Flanked by two miniature horses, the crowd-pleasing Patches pulled a wagon trimmed in holiday decorations during the 2000 Downtown Christmas Parade of Lights...

City collectors sent out more than 800 utility disconnect letters to customers earlier this month and another round of 400 letters last week, after having not sent out disconnect notices since December. No notices were sent out because of glitches with a computer upgrade...

The 50-yard-line at Houck Stadium, Lichtenegger's Finer Foods in Jackson, Mo., and Oak Ridge High School are some of the locations revisited by Portland, Ore., writer Dorris June Brannon in her new book "Mostly Reliable Recollections." It's a book about the past whose author thinks she is surfing the publishing wave of the future...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Entering Sunday afternoon's consolation championship game of the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament, Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner knew his team would have to do all it could to simply beat a talented Cleveland State squad...

FRESNO, Calif. -- A late charge by Southeast Missouri State University's women's team proved futile as the Otahkians fell to Eastern Washington 67-64 in a consolation game in the Fresno Classic. Southeast, which lost to New Mexico State on Saturday, finished the tournament 0-2 and fell to 2-2 on the season...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It was something of an eventful weekend for Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team -- and that has nothing to do with the fact the Indians won two of three games in the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament to capture the consolation trophy representing fifth place...

Southeast Missouri State University will open its fourth NCAA Volleyball Tournament appearance against North Carolina this week in Gainesville, Fla. Southeast (22-8) learned of its first-round opponent Sunday night as the tournament bracket was released...

A fire destroyed a Mounds, Ill., package liquor store Sunday night, a Pulaski County sheriff's spokeswoman said. An alarm company reported the fire at Good Buddy's Package Liquor on U.S. 51 north of Mounds at about 8:30 p.m., she said. No one was in the building when the fire started...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Ruth V. Smithson, 77, of East Prairie died Saturday, Nov. 25, 2000, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Nov. 18, 1923, near Paris, Tenn., daughter of George W. and Laura Ann Caldwell Gargus. She and Billy Funston Smithson were married Sept. 13, 1941...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Michael L. Grindstaff, 36, of Perryville died Saturday, Nov. 25, 2000, at his home. He was born Dec. 12, 1963, in Perryville, son of James E. and Carolyn M. Christisen Grindstaff. He and Susan Marie Beckerman were married July 22, 1989. She died Nov. 25, 2000...

Dorothy Mae Humphreys, 79, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, Nov. 26, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Aug. 27, 1921, in Kelso, Mo., daughter of Benjamin John and Dorothy Theresa Heuring Enderle. She and Harold Robert Humphreys were married Aug. 2, 1941, in Kelso...

Helen Smith, 88, of Springfield, Ill., formerly of Anna, Ill., died Sunday, Nov. 26, 2000, at St. John's Hospital in Springfield. Arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Anna.

OLIVER BRANCH, Ill. 00 Larry Wayne Pierce, 67, of Olive Branch died Sunday Nov. 26, 2000, at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Marion, Ill. He was born July 21, 1933, at Mobley, Mo., son of Luther and Agnes Irene Lamboy Pierce. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army and a retired carpenter...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Kellis Lloyd Williams, 71, of Perryville died Sunday, Nov. 26, 2000, at his residence. He was born March 22, 1929, in Waynesville, Mo., son of James S. and Cora E. Gann Williams. He and Betty Mack were married March 28, 1974, in Perryville...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Susan Marie Beckerman Grindstaff, 32, of Perryville died Saturday, Nov. 25, 2000, at her home. She was born Nov. 29, 1967, in Ste. Genevieve County, daughter of Charles N. and Iona Hayden Beckerman. She was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Tillman E. Williams, 84, of Sikeston, Mo., died Sunday, Nov. 26, 2000, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Nov. 28, 1915, in Alicia, Ark., to John A. and Ellen Parkus Williams. He and Esther O. Kell were married in Alicia on March 8, 1938...

WE NEED to remember one thing: There were very few volunteers in the Vietnam War. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were not two of them. Cheney said he had other things to do. Bush went to the National Guard. Bill Clinton did not want to go. I had two boys who went in the National Guard, and I am glad they did. I feel sorry for those who had to go. Let's not forget the debts of the Reagan-Bush administration. Don't forget Iran-Contra and the 142 Marines who were left in Lebanon...

While in Vietnam, President Clinton vowed this nation's support "until you have found every land mine and every piece of unexploded ordnance. This is the tragedy of war for which peace produces no answer." Part of the answer lies in an international treaty, dating back to 1977, outlawing land mines. ...

The road to full reconciliation with Vietnam is paved with memories more durable than any asphalt. There is no doubt that White House advisers cautioned President Clinton that his history-making visit to Hanoi in these final months of his presidency would rekindle many recollections best left alone...