Stories from Saturday, February 3, 2001

Darby Ulery is frustrated by the calls to her Cape Girardeau home from people who think they've reached Crown Shoes. The Town Plaza store closed more than a year ago, but the store's number is still listed in the Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages and in the business listings in another regional telephone directory published by McLeod USA. Distribution of the latest directory began Friday...

Vernon Anthony Auer is a man with many careers -- salesman, municipal court judge, Air Force pilot. In between, Auer spent many hours involved in community projects and sitting on community boards, including the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scouts, Red Cross, Area Wide United Way and much more...

My oldest son, Jerry, has many different friends. He has his godbrother, Darrick, whom he considers his best friend. And then there is Jasmine, a pretty little 5-year old he considers his best girl friend. And there are also Patrick and Jordan, his best brother friends, and Taylor and Ariel, his best sister friends...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Trying to avoid a death penalty conviction doesn't come cheap. Although the state Public Defender's office would not say how much was spent to defend a Poplar Bluff, Mo., man who was tried, convicted and sentenced in Cape Girardeau County last week, Dan Gralike said it's not unusual for their costs to eclipse $100,000...

Educators at Southeast Missouri State University and two Bootheel school districts hope a new grant-funded program will spark academic interest in seventh-graders and help them prepare for college. The university will receive $1.5 million over the next five years to coordinate GEAR-UP, or Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. The federally funded program will provide assistance to Charleston, North Pemiscot and Caruthersville, Mo., school districts...

Southeast Missouri State University has hired former Missouri Department of Revenue official Richard Lamb to serve as campaign director for the school's fund-raising foundation. A 1991 Southeast graduate, Lamb served as deputy director of the Department of Revenue's division of motor vehicles and driver licensing...

Waking up to freezing temperatures, Cape Girardeans might have guessed what Girardeau George, the region's own weather-forecasting groundhog, would have to say before he appeared at his familiar spot along Route W Friday. With temperatures below freezing, and the ground crunchy under foot, few people took the time to look for the furry little woodchuck, scampering across the field that surrounds his home...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Ever wanted to see a state championship wrestling match? Well, without driving to Columbia, the Class 4A, District 1 meet at Jackson High School today is the next closest thing. District 1 -- which includes Cape Central and Jackson -- is arguably the toughest district in the state and it's probable that there will be a few state championship previews today...

Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach Ed Arnzen was hoping his team could start the second round of Ohio Valley Conference play by sweeping a two-game homestand. Instead, today the Otahkians will try to salvage a split as Tennessee State comes to the Show Me Center...

When Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team played Tennessee State on Jan. 4 in Nashville, the Indians had perhaps their best all-around performances of the season as they demolished the Tigers 88-57. But Southeast coach Gary Garner expects a much tougher time in tonight's rematch as the Ohio Valley Conference squads square off tonight at the Show Me Center...

FARMINGTON, Mo. -- Jackson led by as many as seven points but made some mistakes down the stretch as the Farmington Knights rallied then hit a six-foot jump shot at the buzzer to claim a 68-66 victory over the Indians in high school boys basketball action...

Daughter to Jeff D. and Dawn M. Casey of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 12:33 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, 2001. Name, Sydney Grace. Weight, 7 pounds 1 ounce. Third child, second daughter. Mrs. Casey is the former Dawn Powers, daughter of Betty Hubbard of Advance, Mo., and Charles Powers of Wappapello, Mo. She is employed by Luhr Brothers Inc. Casey is the son of John and SanDee Casey of Cape Girardeau. He is employed with Pipefitters Local 562...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Lucius W. Huber, 80, of Perryville died Friday, Feb. 2, 2001, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born Sept. 18, 1917, in Perry County, Mo., son of Fred B. and May F. Roy Huber. He and Bessie E. Valleroy were married June 23, 1946. She died March 8, 1993...

Russell Bankston, 76, of Ocklawaha, Fla., died Friday, Feb. 2, 2001, at Monroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Fla. He was born Feb. 8, 1924, at Lilbourn, Mo., son of Ruben and Lillian Rose Bankston. He married the former Norma Steward. Bankston retired as a leather cutter at Florsheim Shoe Co. He moved to Ocklawaha in 1998 from Cape Girardeau...

DAISY, Mo. -- Ruby Iolyn Sebaugh, 92, of Daisy died Friday, Feb. 2, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 13,1908, in Newton, Ill., daughter of Orville E. and Maude Trimble Isley. She first married Sesco E. Sebaugh June 7, 1933. He died Feb. 10, 1987. She later married Delos Sebaugh June 21, 1987...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- William "Bill" Ellis, 98, of Advance died Thursday, Feb. 1, 2001, at Heartland Care Rehab Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 11, 1902, in Flatwoods, Mo., son of Finis and Ella Johnson Ellis. He and Sadie Seabaugh were married March 7, 1925, at Jackson, Mo. She died Oct. 26, 1993...

CLEARWATER, Mo. -- Ruby Irene McBurnett, 76, of Clearwater died Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001, at her home, of an apparent heart attack. She was born Nov. 1, 1924, in Acworth, Ga., daughter of James Harlie and Gertie Mae Fleming McClure. She married Curtis "Jack" McBurnett...

COBDEN, Ill. -- David Alan Piper, 40, of Cobden died Thursday, Feb. 1, 2001, on arrival at Union County Hospital in Anna, Ill. He was born Sept. 11, 1960, in Whitehall, Ill., son of Jerry and Lois Alexander Piper. He and Marcella Graig were married March 21, 1987...

To the editor: My mother made wonderful chicken-and-dumpling meals, so when I moved to Cape Girardeau nearly 40 years ago and learned that restaurants and churches emphasized chicken and dumplings, I thought U.S. 61 had led me to Paradise. It was not to be. ...

Some groups are reacting oddly to the president's plan to establish the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which is a long title for the process of opening more doors for religious charities to get government funding. Those groups are criticizing the idea primarily over concerns about the separation of church and state. ...

And speaking of charity, kudos to the United Way on its incredibly successful "Make Someone Happy" fund-raising campaign this year. Certainly the organization will make many someones happy, because it raised a record $901,065, which campaign chairmen announced at a celebration this week. That's 10 percent higher than last year's campaign...

George W. Bush utterly confounded his detractors with a great first week in office. For reasons I will explain, he will probably continue to confound them. Many seem to think that Bush's early successes are the result of carefully orchestrated political maneuverings. Eventually, substance will prevail over form, and Bush will revert to his true colors, and the honeymoon mirage will abruptly end...

JEAN CARNAHAN was wrong to have voted against John Ashcroft as attorney general, and I cannot believe a Missourian and a representative of the Missouri people did that. She is an embarrassment to Missouri. Mel Carnahan would never have done this, and she has proven that she is in no way continuing his work. ...

To the editor: Happy days are here again? I think not. The Supreme Court gave "Dumbya" the presidency, and already the chips are beginning to fall: 20,000 laid off there, 10,000 laid off here, stock market in decline. Howdy Doody can't wait to give his rich buddies a tax cut out of the surplus that the Clinton administration built up. I said it before, and I'll say it again: You may be lucky to have turnips and black-eyed peas next Thanksgiving...

POCAHONTAS, Mo. -- St. John Lutheran Church will host a "Walk Thru the New Testament" Feb. 10. The seminar uses interactive learning techniques to help people remember key characters, geography and major themes of the New Testament. Auditorium floors will be the maps that guide participants through the Bible...