Stories from Monday, January 22, 2001

The Platinum Sports Bar and Dance Club has opened at 823 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau. Jasper Masterson and Holly Burton of Cape Girardeau are owners of the new business, which opened in December. Hours are 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., but will expand to 8 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. in the near future, when the business starts serving food...

Richard Sparks, business specialist in Cape Girardeau County, has been named to join a team of regional University of Missouri Extension ag business counselors to help farmers start or expand value-added businesses. The team is part of the newly formed Missouri Value-added Development Center on the UM campus...

Buddy Reeves of Charleston recently joined Firstar Investment Services as a financial consultant. Reeves will work out of Firstar's 3060 Williams St. and 325 N. Kingshighway locations in Cape Girardeau. He will also service customers in Jackson and Marble Hill...

Gary Peters, Herman Peters and John Peters of Peters Heating & Air Conditioning, recently attended the Amana & PDQ Inc. annual meeting in Shelbyville, Ill., where the company was recognized as one of the top 10 dealers in the four-state region of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Iowa. Peters Heating & Air Condition, 5644 State Highway 25, has been established in Cape Girardeau since 1968...

Brenda J. Bono of Jackson and Mary Brotherton of Cape Girardeau have joined First National Bank. Bono will be customer service officer and branch operations administrator at the Jackson Branch, 2125 E. Jackson Blvd., and Brotherton has assumed duties as customer service officer at the branch at 2027 Broadway in Cape Girardeau...

Ron Senciboy is new president of the Chaffee Chamber of Commerce. Senciboy and other new Chaffee Chamber officers will be installed at the Feb. 14 meeting. Other officers included Cindy Harris, vie president; Jane Anne Baker, secretary; and H. B. Rice, treasurer...

Ellen Talley of Cape Girardeau has been named program manager of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri, 1028 in. Kingshighway, Suite A3 in Cape Girardeau. Talley, a recent graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, with a bachelor of science degree in mass communications/public relations, interned for the agency during the fall semester...

The Cape Girardeau County Board of Realtors Inc. elected new officers and directors recently, and selected the 2000 "Realtor of the Year." Ken Howard was named Realtor of the Year. Howard Alexander was named president of the group's Board of Realtors. Other officers are Janet McClanahan, vice president; Marcie Schlueter, secretary; and Jane Lysell, treasurer. New directors are Ken Howard, Linda Ervin, Dorothy Miller, Terry Penrod, Sue Bellis, Bill Stovall and Beth McFerron...

Missy Marshall is the new executive director of the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce's. Marshall will replace Jim Schwaninger, who is retiring Jan. 31. Marshall, who has served as Miner city administrator the past year, worked with the American Cancer Society in Sikeston 13 years...

Chap Arnold is new president of the Scott City Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Arnold and other new chamber officers will be installed Jan. 23. Other offices of the board include Larry Payne, vice president, and Amanda Klughard, secretary/treasurer...

Paul T. Combs is new president of the Kennett Chamber of Commerce. Bob Handcock is vice president and Freddie Graham is treasurer. Combs served as vice president in 2000. HE is president of baker implement company at Kennett. The officers have already assumed their positions...

Capaha Bank will open a new branch in Jackson, Mo., next month. The new center, which will provide retail, business and agricultural banking services, and a drive-up ATM, will be located in a 1,000 square foot space in a strip center, near the Food Giant store...

SunCom Wireless, a member of the AT&T wireless network Telecorp PCs held its grand opening recently at 350 N. Kingshighway. The new company offers a variety of wireless services -- digital phone, voice mail and pager. During the grand opening ceremony, Jareth James, SunCom market director, announced that the company would donate digital wireless phones and service to nonprofit organizations in the Cape Girardeau area. ...

C'mon GMC, tell us it ain't so. The "Merry Oldsmobile," which made the big splash more than a century ago as the car with the curved dash surely can't be on its way out. General Motors Corp. announced in early December that it would be phasing out the Oldsmobile line within the next few years...

As many as 35 established wineries and people from 28 states and Canada will be on hand for the Midwest Regional Grape and Wine Conference, to be held Feb. 3-5 at Tan-Tar-A Resort at Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. The annual conference, sponsored by the Missouri Department of Agriculture's Grape and Wine Program, will feature a variety of seminars and topics, including history of wine marketing, wine savvy, health benefits of wine and much more...

Hardee's Restaurant of Jackson, 421 Highway 61 East, has been recognized for its commitment to guest satisfaction. The restaurant was one of 161 Hardee's across the nation to earn the "Signature of Excellence" Award. Hardee's, headquartered at Rocky Mount, N.C., operates a system of 2,750 company and franchised restaurants in 37 states and 11 foreign countries...

Corbet McKay has been named director of Blytheville, Ark. Main St. McKay attended high school at Hayti, Mo., and is a graduate of Murray (Ky.) State University, with a bachelor of science in advertising and a minor in art.

Fourth-quarter profits at eBay Inc. beat Wall Street expectations last week, as the mammoth Internet auction site said it had added a record 3.5 million users during the final quarter of 2000. In the quarter ended Dec. 31, eBay earned $23.9 million, or 9 cents per share, compared with $3.8 million, or 1 cent per share in the year-ago quarter...

Corky's Barbecue is heading for Caruthersville. Corky's Barbecue, headquartered at Memphis, Tenn., will locate in what is now Diamonds Restaurant, located in the Casino Aztar, along the Mississippi River. George Stadler, general manager of the Casino Aztar, said the restaurant area would undergo a $50,000 facelift...

Coming off of what many believe was the worst holiday shopping season in at least six years, retailers are expecting their sales slump to continue for the first six months of 2001, before picking up in the second half of the year. The mood was subdued at the National Retail Federation's annual convention in New York last week, but merchants tried to put on a happy face, saying the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts will eventually spark consumer spending...

A search is on for a new executive director of the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission (BRPC), headquartered at Malden, Mo. Leon Steinbrueck, announced last year that he would resign as director, effective June 29 of 2001...

The majority of Cape Girardeau banks are investing in the city's downtown. Eight banks have indicated they are donating between $1,500 and $2,500 each to the new Missouri Main Street program within the local downtown area. The banks include Bank of America, Bank of Missouri, Capaha, Commerce, Firstar, First National Bank, Union Planters and Wood and Huston Bank...

Attorneys Ken McManaman and Diane Howard couldn't be much fewer, or prouder, in their part-time jobs. The Cape Girardeau lawyers are two of five in Missouri who serve in the Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps as reservists. In short, they're JAGs. But don't confuse their work with the popular Tuesday evening television series about a Naval aviator and a Marine Corps officer who fight terrorists and spies in and out of court, Howard said...

Work on last year's Transportation Trust Fund road construction projects was both pleasing and disappointing to city engineer Mark Lester. "I was pleased that we did get some things accomplished," he said, referring to completion of several major projects...

Octavia Scharenborg needs two to three weeks to produce a head of bib-type selena lettuce. She needs a little more time for romaine lettuce, from 40 to 60 days. One thing she doesn't need is dirt. Scharenborg grows lettuce, other vegetables and herbs using hydroponics, that is, growing them without soil in trays of water. ...

A Des Arc, Mo., man died Sunday morning after his car left the roadway near Ironton, Mo., and struck a tree. Billy J. Luten, 57, died at the scene of the single-car accident, which occurred on Highway 21, seven miles north of Ironton, around 10:15 a.m...

JACKSON, Mo. -- A recently begun planning process for Jackson schools should dispel complaints that the district seeks only financial support from the community. School officials have formed a 28-member committee that will lead a series of community meetings to gather public input about current and future needs of the district...

Cape Girardeau residents can voice their objections or support for the city's plans to apply for state funding to help an aircraft manufacturer relocate its operation to the regional airport. A public hearing will take place tonight at 7 during the Cape Girardeau City Council meeting at City Hall, 401 Independence...

ATLANTA -- Despite their 4-15 record, Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner has respect for the Morris Brown College Wolverines. But entering tonight's 6 o'clock non-conference game against the host Wolverines, Garner said he is concentrating more on what the 10-7 Indians do than how Morris Brown performs...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri posted a comfortable victory over Southeast Missouri State University in a dual gymnastics meet on Sunday. Missouri, with strong performances by Lindsay Davis, Lindsay Nervig and Alina Hamm, finished with a 191.150 total. Southeast, led by Stephanie Furman, totaled 187.850...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Leland Woelk became the first Cape Central SEMO Conference wrestling champion in the last seven years when he claimed the 145-pound title Saturday night at the 10-team conference tournament. Woelk pinned all four opponents he faced, including one wrestler who had defeated him twice this season...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Alvin J. Lohman, 98, died Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001, in Jackson, Mo., at his daughter's home. He was born Oct. 26, 1902, in Friedheim, Mo., son of Antone and Matilda Kaiser Lohman. He and Beulah M. Tuschhoff were married March 20, 1923. She died Jan. 20, 1996...

Audrey Darlene Gifford, 69, of East Cape Girardeau, Ill., died Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001, at her home. She was born April 16, 1931, in Bradley, Ill., daughter of Phillip Sr. and Irma Mae Alexander Ashline. She and William M. Gifford were married Jan. 5, 1948, in Kankakee, Ill...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Hubert Blessing, 84, of Perryville, Mo., died Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001, at the Perry County Nursing Center in Perryville. He was born Jan. 26, 1916, in Perry County, son of Joseph H. Blessing Sr. and Mary Louise Taylor Blessing. He and LaVella Wingerter were married Oct. 4, 1952, in Perryville...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Charles H. Sanders, 83, of Perryville died Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001, at his home. He was born Oct. 26, 1917, in Perry County, Mo., son of Thomas and Mayme Cox Sanders. He and Lois Wheeler were married Dec. 25, 1941, in Perryville. Sanders taught high school agriculture at Perryville and Ste. ...

ORAN, Mo. -- Montgomery P. "Monty" Thomas, 88, of Oran, Mo., died Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001, at his home. He was born June 17, 1912, at Kansas City, Mo., son of Montgomery Wade and Zelphia Bland Thomas. He and Fern Abernathy were married Dec. 6, 1941, in Charleston, Mo...

Woodrow Aurthur Helderman, 84, of Marble Hill, Mo., died Sunday, Jan. 21, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Friends may call from 4-8 p.m. Tuesday at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson, Mo. Funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. The Revs. John Rice and Jimmie Corbin will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery...

James Blanchard, 55, of St. Louis, died Monday, Jan. 15, 2001, from an automobile accident. He was born April 29, 1945, in Charleston, Mo., son of Angelo and Katie Heard Blanchard. He married Delores A. "Dee Dee" Rodgers,. She died in April 2000. Blanchard was a graduate of Charleston High School, a member of Ecclesia of Christ First Assembly Church in St. Louis and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps...

LEOPOLD, Mo. -- Bernard Joseph Beussink, 90, of Leopold, Mo., died Sunday, Jan. 21, 2001, at the family home. He was born Nov. 8, 1910, in Leopold, son of John and Mary Landewee Beussink. He and Bertha Adelhid Jansen were married Oct. 6, 1937. She died Nov. 22, 1999...

I WANT to say thanks again to the young gentleman who helped me get up after I had fallen on the ice at a car wash in Jackson. It was an extremely hard fall, and I hit my head on the ice and concrete. This young man took time out to help me up and to get back into my car. I could not have made it without his help. It is a good feeling to know there are still some good and caring folks around. He was a blessing to me. I deeply appreciate what he did...

Natural gas has long been favored by homeowners and industries as an economical power source, but natural-gas prices have shot through the roof this winter. And unless prices come down, look for consumers to turn to less costly sources of energy. In most cases, the alternative fuel would be electricity, but the cost of running a home or factory on electricity can't be much cheaper than the cost of operating on natural gas with prices as high as they are now...

A cancerous growth removed from Bill Clinton's back with a prognosis that no further problems will develop should prove to everyone that periodic medical examinations can go a long way in preserving one's good health. The flat lesion on the former president's back was discovered during a Jan. 12 physical and was immediately removed...

To the editor: Please, people, will you stop your bickering and griping in Speak Out about the man who won the election for president? We have a new president, so try to support the things he does and the people he selects to help run the country. It doesn't matter that he is a Republican. The Democrats had eight years, so give President Bush a chance to show what he can do. At least he came from a Christian family and is not ashamed of it...

To the editor: Last April, our son was tragically killed in an automobile accident, leaving us with unexplainable emptiness. Unless you have walked in our shoes, you really can't understand the grief we feel not being able to see him, touch him or hear his voice any longer...