Stories from Thursday, December 28, 2000

The new dollar coin that bears the image of Sacagawea is proving to be as elusive as the commercial route to the Northwest that explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were seeking two centuries ago when she accompanied them on a trek across the continent...

Towboats from the Cape Girardeau fleet of the Missouri Barge Line shot into the swiftly moving ice of the Mississippi River on two occasions Wednesday to rescue a total of seven runaway barges. Only a handful of witnesses hardy enough to brave the riverfront cold were able to watch the strangely silent couplings of barge and towboat...

Dec. 28, 2000 Dear Julie, A giant step into their 70s, my parents are active and vital. My father still has two part-time jobs, and they both play in a jazz band. Two or three times a year they drive to Cincinnati to see the grandchildren. Still, signs of aging are surfacing. Call it the Meatloaf Syndrome...

An 18-year-old accused of killing another teen-ager in a shootout at Indian Park has pleaded innocent to murder and weapons charges, the Cape Girardeau County prosecutor's office said. Robert D. Moore, 18, told Circuit Judge John Grimm he was not guilty in the shooting death of 19-year-old Jesus Sides during his arraignment hearing on Tuesday...

A Cape Girardeau attorney continues to run from the law, but his clients' cases have come to a halt. Attorney William Z. Shohet is still being sought by police after he failed to appear for a probation hearing Dec. 15 stemming from charges of assault, victim tampering, marijuana possession and tampering with a witness. But roughly 250 of his clients' files were left behind in legal limbo...

Rust Communications of Cape Girardeau has agreed to acquire two daily newspapers and five weekly newspapers from Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Ky. The daily newspapers are the State Gazette in Dyersburg, Tenn., and The Brazil Times in Brazil, Ind. The weekly newspapers are The News in Salem, Ark., The South Missourian News in Thayer, Mo., and three shoppers serving Fulton, Izard and Sharp counties in Arkansas and Oregon County in Missouri...

Scott County Central coach Steve Wells was feeling a little ESP. Bell City coach David Heeb was feeling deja vu. The Cubs, however, were just plain feeling it. Tenth-seeded Bell City scorched the nets in the first half Wednesday as it pulled off the biggest upset of the day, a 70-66 win over No. 7 Scott County Central, in the first round of the 56th annual University High Christmas Tournament...

The fourth-seeded Scott City Rams were pushed well into the fourth quarter by the 13-seed Kelly Hawks before nailing down a 68-61 win in a first-round game Wednesday in the University High Christmas Tournament. A Nick Steimle field-goal with 45 seconds left broke the final tie at 61 and signaled the beginning of the end for the Kelly squad. With the Hawks over the penalty limit, the Rams scored seven unanswered points down the stretch to secure the victory...

EL PASO, Texas -- It was quite a chore, but Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team was finally able to get here Wednesday in time for the first round of the Sierra Providence SunClassic Tournament. Then the road-weary Indians went out and saw a second-half rally fall short as Houston posted a 69-64 victory...

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- After having their scheduled tourney opener postponed Tuesday night by inclement weather, St. Vincent High's boys basketball team began play Wednesday night in the Ste. Genevieve Tournament with a 55-54 victory over Valle. The Indians, who improved their record to 3-2 with their third straight win, will play St. Pius at 6 tonight as the four-team, round-robin event continues...

Ruby Cease, 36, of Tamms, Ill., died Monday, Dec. 25, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Oct. 18, 1964, in Coffeyville, Kan., daughter of Virgil and Alice Orms Riley. She married Bill Cease in 1994. She was a homemaker...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Charles Kenneth "Kenny" Mears, 55, of Cobden, died Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2000, at his home. He was born Aug. 6, 1945, at Ridgway, Ill., son of Hallas and Mary Satterfield Mears. He and Virginia "Ginny" Cates were married Jan. 13, 1980, at Jonesboro, Ill...

Hattie Pearl Smith, 77, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Dec. 25, 2000, at Beverly Health & Rehab in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 8, 1923, in New Albany, Miss., daughter of Lawrence and Susie Holland Hunt. She married King Smith Sept. 20, 1959, at Steele, Mo. He died in 1984...

VIENNA, Ill. -- Opal Davis, 81, of Vienna, died Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2000, at Hillview Healthcare in Vienna. She was born April 22, 1919, in Jonesboro, Ill., daughter of Henry and Mollie McNew Phillips. She married Claude E. Davis Dec. 3, 1938, in Benton, Mo. He died April 7, 2000...

Charles Henry "Chick" Boyd, 75, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Elvis Sherman Ward, 60, of Sikeston died Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born May 27, 1940, in Sikeston, son of Martin J. "Pete" and Vernia L. Westmoland Ward. He and Marslean Nave were married Oct. 5, 2000, in Benton, Mo...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Ethel Jane Duffell Douglas, 88, of East Prairie, died Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2000, at Miner Nursing Center in Miner, Mo. She was born June 20, 1912, in Mississippi County, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Fonzby Duffell. She married Elmer Mathey Douglas May 2, 1932, at LaForge, Mo. He died Aug. 8, 1983...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Laurence T. Schneider, 94, of Mounds died Friday, Dec. 22, 2000, at Meridian Manor Nursing Home in Mounds. He was born Aug. 6, 1906, in Waterloo, Ill., son of Louis and Louise Schneider. His wife, Janet, died in 1993. Schneider retired from teaching at Mounds Township High School. He was a member of the Illinois Retired Teachers Association, the Smiles Senior Citizens in Mounds and the Magnolia Manor Patrons Club...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Hurles Eugene Pace, 73, of Somerset, Ky., died Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2000, at his home. He was born Aug. 28, 1927, son of Shirles and Jessie Landon Pace. He married Betty Crowe May 19, 1946 in Sikeston, Mo. He had lived near Somerset for the last 15 years. He had previously worked as a heavy equipment operator on road construction in Texas...

Lillian Bowen Beard, 86, born in Corning, Ark., on July 7, 1914, passed on to her new life on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000. Her friends all agree that she was a "great lady, always good for a laugh, and always willing to help." She was a devoted mother and teacher who knew no strangers, and she considered herself a "yellow-dog Democrat" to the end. Her son thinks she was wavering during the Clinton administration...

FROHNA, Mo. -- Natalie T. Hoehne, 90, of Frohna died Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000, at the Perry County Nursing Home. She was born Feb. 6, 1910, in Frohna, daughter of Charles and Clothilda Boehme Fiehler. She and George Hoehne were married Aug. 15, 1927. He died May 16, 1999...

Graveside service for Doretta "Dee" Howard Kaluna, 73, of Albuquerque, N.M., will be held 1 p.m., Friday at Cape County Memorial Park in Cape Girardeau. The Rev. Phillip N. Curran will officiate. Memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., at First Christian Church, 2411 Abbey Road, Cape Girardeau...

You have to hand it to the folks in Cairo, Ill., who see potential rather than utter defeat. This town, located where the Ohio River meets the mighty Mississippi River, has seen its darkest days. Cairo was once larger than Cape Girardeau and had a bustling business district. In recent years, however, the town has looked like the poster child for urban failure...

George W. Bush's nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general could not suit me more. Ashcroft is an outstanding nomination, especially on the heels of the most corrupt Justice Department in the history of the nation. Ashcroft is an evangelical Christian, scrupulously honest, genuinely conservative, a former Missouri attorney general and governor and a U.S. ...

I'D LIKE to say that I think the system in Jackson has really gotten bad. My husband and I got into an argument seven or eight months ago. Now they want to prosecute us. We didn't even call the police, because it was a stupid argument, The state took it over and wants to prosecute two people who have never been in trouble. Nobody hit anyone or anything. They just want to go after two innocent people. They tell you they're going to drop the case, and then they don't drop the case...

Ever since the Missouri Department of Transportation decided in 1998 to abandon the state's 15-year highway plan, officials have been struggling to accomplish two goals: restore confidence in the transportation department, and find new sources of revenue for what the department calls a multibillion-dollar shortfall over the next few years...

Daughter to Carl and Leann Marie DeBrock of Belleville, Mich., St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital, Ypsilanti, Mich., 2:10 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 16, 2000. Name: MaKayla Elizabeth. Weight, 6 pounds 15 ounces. First child. Mrs. DeBrock is the former Leann Harden, daughter of Charles and Jean Harden of Algonac, Mich. She is a teacher at Belleville Schools. DeBrock is the son of William and Betty DeBrock of Cape Girardeau. He is an engineer with Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich...