Stories from Tuesday, February 27, 2001

The first-grader at Orchard Elementary School is just learning to read, and Dr. Seuss is one of his favorite authors. With silly words, crazy characters and humorous stories, Dr. Seuss is popular with both children and adults. Nearly any book by Dr. Seuss makes the list of children's classics...

History doesn't have to be dull, and the Internet offers up many sites that will prove that fact to your kids. I've always loved history. In fact, I had planned to become a history teacher upon graduation of college. But back then, there was a glut of teachers and I was advised to choose another career if I wanted to find a job. But heading down another path hasn't diminished my love of history...

Editor's note: This is an installment from a chapter of Jean Bell Mosley's book "Wide Meadows" that was first published in 1960. The one remaining major undertaking before Christmas is butchering. In the spring the hogs were turned loose in the hills, their ears marked with varying notches for later identification, and cautioned to "Root, hog or die." In the late summer or early fall, they were rounded up, penned and fattened with corn and other supplements...

Englehart Son to Robert Mason and Susan Jeanne Englehart of Jackson, Mo., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 5:43 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, 2001. Name, Robert Case. Weight, 7 pounds 8 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Englehart is the former Susan Talley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Talley of Jackson. She is employed by Dr. L. Mark Milde. Englehart is the son of Dr. and Mrs. John Englehart of Marble Hill, Mo. He is employed by Englehart Insurance Agency...

A Cape Girardeau woman was in critical condition Monday night at a St. Louis hospital after apparently dousing herself with gasoline and setting herself afire. The fire ignited her bedroom. Cape Girardeau police reported they received a 911 call from the woman at about 9 a.m. Monday when she told the dispatcher she was going to set herself on fire...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Widening Highway 34 could cost Charles "Pink" Hutson his farm house. Hutson, who is in his 80s, doesn't want to leave the home two miles east of Burfordville, that he and his wife, Lela, have shared for 43 years. But the Missouri Department of Transportation wants to improve Highway 34, widening the highway to four lanes in some places and constructing shoulders along 85 miles of the road from west of Jackson to U.S. 60 east of Van Buren...

Cape Girardeau School District voters will be asked Aug. 7 to approve an operating tax levy increase that would include funds for staff salaries and classroom equipment and supplies. Schools superintendent Dr. Dan Steska said the school board will wait until late spring to decide a specific levy amount so that administrators can determine how the district's financial status will be affected by reassessment, pending legislation that could increase the amount of state aid the district receives, and a court ruling that has held up a $1 million state allocation for the district's new Career and Technology Center that is nearing completion.. ...

There's a heinous crime being committed daily in the office lounges of this country. People won't even discuss it openly, never mind seek police assistance. The perpetrators slip in undetected and without shame. The victims are left empty-handed and wondering why, why, why this had to happen to them...

Clippard Elementary School students used their imaginations Monday to travel into stories that took them through forests, into castles and down country lanes. Seated on carpet squares that represented magic carpets, kindergartners, first- and second-graders embarked upon an hourlong tour through fables, poems and fairy tales...

Lowell Peterson finds Cape Girardeau's new roundabout to be more humorous than functional, which is one reason he prefers it to an intersection. "Are you kidding?" he said. "The entertainment value of this alone is definitely worth doing one of these."...

The first of nine sessions in the Great Decisions Program sponsored by Southeast Missouri State University begins today with a discussion of the American presidency. Titled "The American Presidency: The Clinton Legacy, the Bush Promise," today's program will begin at 2 p.m. in the community room at the Cape Girardeau Public Library...

Cape Girardeau elementary schools received a donation of books Monday in connection with the fourth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Read-A-Thon. The books were provided by the Martin Luther King Jr. State Celebration Commission and include cultural diverse themes...

Serving in the American military is a tradition in Julie Kolb's family. Her husband, Anthony, was an Army drill sergeant and now is a Navy Reservist. Their son, Michael, is in the Air Force ROTC at Southeast Missouri State University. Going back, various members of both sides of the family served in the military...

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Money marked with red ink surfaced in several transactions during the weekend, and New Madrid County law enforcement authorities caution people it could be linked to Friday's robbery of the Bank of New Madrid's Lilbourn, Mo., facility...

MOREHOUSE, Mo. -- In the spring of 1864, Morehouse residents were wary of strangers. Merciless bands of guerrilla raiders plagued Southeast Missouri as the Civil War raged. Confederate partisans feared Union soldiers while those who backed the Union worried about retaliation from the rebels...

Cape Girardeau police have arrested a man in a stabbing that took place Sunday night at a South Lorimier Street apartment. Police Lt. Carl Kinnison said Jamey L. Chiles, 25, of 135 S. Spanish St. was taken into custody after the stabbing. He has been charged with domestic assault for an unrelated incident. No one else has been charged in the stabbing...

Austin Peay didn't win the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season men's basketball championship this year. In fact, the Governors fell quite a bit short of the title that many observers had predicted for them, finishing three games out of first and winding up fourth in the nine-team league...

Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach Ed Arnzen and Tennessee-Martin coach Gary Van Atta have differing opinions about how much UTM's stunning victory over Tennessee Tech Saturday means in relation to tonight's game. Arnzen figures the Skyhawks will be riding high entering the first-round OVC Tournament game against Southeast...

ORAN, Mo. --There were no major surprises in the first round of the Class 1A, District 2 Tournament as all the higher seeds advanced with the exception of No. 4 Bell City which fell to No. 5 Scott County Central. In the most competitive game of the evening, Scott Central and Bell City battled into overtime, before the Braves prevailed 79-72...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Norma Jean Marshall, 81, of Sikeston died Monday, Feb. 26, 2001, at the Sikeston Convalescent Center. She was born May 8, 1919, in Orange, Texas, daughter of John Hurley and Rosa Lee Cuthbertson Mannon. She and Johnny W. Marshall Sr. were married June 23, 1940, in Benton, Mo. He died Dec. 1, 2000...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Bessie Geraldine Joyce, 85, of Jackson died Sunday, Feb. 25, 2001, at Jackson Manor. She was born Oct. 18, 1915, at Chaffee, Mo., daughter of Charles and Flora Ann Morrow Mason. She first married Walter Burgfeld, who died in 1944. She and James Joyce were married in 1949 at Piggott, Ark...

Judith Ann Rawlins, 53, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Feb. 25, 2001, at her home. She was born May 11, 1947, at Perryville, Mo., daughter of Cletus O. and Eileen M. Klobe Walter. She and Dr. Fred E. Rawlins were married Dec. 30, 1999, at Jackson, Mo. He died Nov. 19, 2000...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- William Paul Parker, 79, of East Prairie died Sunday, Feb. 25, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. He was born Sept. 29, 1921, in the Barnes Ridge community near East Prairie, son of William M. and Mattie Noble England Parker Sr. He and Linda Elizabeth Sligar were married Oct. 23, 1942, at Charleston...

Barbara Snyder, 61, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Feb. 25, 2001, at her home. She was born Aug. 7, 1939, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Walter Allen and Mary Evelyn Patrick Fulton. She and Kenneth Ray Snyder were married May 11, 1959, in Cape Girardeau...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Charles Lawson, 70, of Sikeston died Sunday, Feb. 25, 2001, at his home. He was born May 11, 1930, in Ripley, Tenn., son of Charles N. and Zula Griggs Lawson. He and Carolyn Kellams were married Aug. 27, 1971. Lawson was a purchasing agent 31 years for DAEOC in Portageville, Mo. He was a member of Murray Lane Baptist Church...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Funeral for Bertha Mae Warren Burk will be held at 2 p.m. today at Ponder Funeral Home. Jeff Reeves will officiate. Burial will be in Forest Hills Cemetery at Morley, Mo. Warren, 89, died Sunday, Feb. 25, 2001, at Clearview Nursing Center...

Letha Plemons, 97, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Feb. 25, 2001, at Heartland Care Rehab Center. She was born March 18, 1903, in McMinn County, Tenn., daughter of Walter B. and Maggie Jenkins Christian. She married Walter Plemons, who died Jan. 17, 1960...

Kathryn Dorothy Daniels, 89, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2001, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Jan. 26, 1911, in Glasgow, Mo., to Harry and Rebecca Salzer Huber. She was the middle child in the family. Her parents, sister, and brother preceded her in death...

MOREHOUSE, Mo. -- Funeral for Lela Hileman of Morehouse will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Morehouse. The Rev. Randy Thomas will officiate. Burial will be in Walker Cemetery near Bloomfield, Mo. Hileman, 91, died Saturday, Feb. 24, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Funeral for Betty Rister of Charleston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Home in Charleston. David Cullen will officiate. Burial will be in IOOF Cemetery. Rister, 73, died Saturday, Feb. 24, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo...

To the editor: Not only is Dr. Ben Ellis, mayor of Marble Hill, a great and humane veterinarian and a wonderful person, he and his wife are devout Christians who spread the gospel everywhere they go. JODI THOMPSON Jackson, Mo.

To the editor: I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those individuals and organizations that have helped me in the past several years with my community projects. Many of those endeavors would not have happened without that support and belief in my quest to improve the quality of life for the residents of Cape Girardeau...

To the editor: My father, Dwaine Lape, recently went to Washington, D.C., as an advocate for seat-belt safety in children. My two children, ages 4 and 6 years, were recently injured very badly in a motor-vehicle accident. Both were wearing seat belts, and most of their injuries were internal and were caused by the seat belt itself. ...

To the editor: In a resolution passed last December, the U.N. General Assembly expressed concern about human-rights violations in Iran.The resolution mentioned the "unabated pattern of persecution" against the Baha'i religious community. The resolution noted the "absence of guarantees of due process of law and the absence of respect for persons belonging to the country's largest religious minority."...

To the editor: There are many good ways to support schools. For me there has been another method that I think has had the greatest impact, and that is Moms in Touch. Moms in Touch International is a Christian prayer ministry that has been active in the area for at least nine years. ...

The Missouri Mentoring Partnership is in the business of creating taxpayers. The MMP staff works with young adults from 16 to 22 years of age who are at risk of becoming welfare recipients as adults. Staff members and mentors give our youths the support, guidance and Tender Loving Care so often absent in their lives. We enable them to become self-sufficient adults and contributing members of society...

It was business as usual earlier this month when U.S. and British bombers struck targets in Iraq. President Bush was in Mexico on his first foreign trip. There was no televised warning to Saddam Hussein. There was no press conference. Nor was their a need for much hoopla. ...

Thirty years ago, the heavily populated northeastern section of the United States experienced a shortage in heating oil. For most people, this was one of the earliest harbingers of tighter supplies in much of the energy Americans consume. Around 1970, residential customers in the New York area were told to turn down their thermostats or face costly surcharges from heating-oil companies for using more fuel than the previous year...

DAVID LIMBAUGH recently referred to what must be a subculture of some sort with which I am not familiar. I would ask that he spare a few moments and elaborate on the characteristics of those he designated sub-trailer trash. WHY IS the cloning of human beings not illegal in Missouri?...

To the editor: State Rep. Pat Naeger's vote against toughening the drunk-driving law is absolutely shameful. I don't know how the man can hold his head up in Perry County. As a state representative, he represents our worst side. JOE JACKSON Frohna, Mo...