Stories from Friday, May 4, 2001

Group shows by women artists are almost common, but male artists binding together to show their art qualifies as unusual. "Men are not really accustomed to sharing ideas," says Bug, one of the four men in the Denver area artist group known as Iminimi. "That's one of the strengths of the group show, sharing the mental state we're going through."...

Driving from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau this week, Werner Fornos realized why Missourians might not understand his crusade to slow world population growth. Green fields and wide stretches of unpopulated areas are evident along Interstate 55, and area residents don't have to endure expanding deserts or worry about food and water shortages...

The nation would be stronger if Americans could learn to love one another regardless of religious affiliation and become united, a preacher told the Mayors' Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. God can empower the church through prayer to take over what has been given up and take back what has been lost, said the Rev. LeRoy Sullivan of Kansas City, Kan...

DELTA, Mo. -- Highway patrol troopers closed State Highway 25 briefly late Thursday in Delta after several residents smelled anhydrous ammonia fumes and called the authorities. Cpl. P.C. Hazelwood said the fumes came from Delta Supply Inc., a farm supply company. Farmers have been using the ammonia in their fields and apparently didn't shut off one of the valves completely, he said...

The three baby cardinals are always ready to eat. OK. Here's my excuse for the bird photos. I don't have grandchildren. So there. I could go on and on about the baby birds and their attentive and industrious parents. But you probably have nests full of baby birds in your yards too. So I won't bore you with all my baby-bird stories...

Small crowds that needed encouragement and enthusiasm to grow were the impetus for Sherri Mehner's involvement in National Day of Prayer. Five years ago, Sherri and Jack Mehner started organizing the event in Cape Girardeau. Now they've turned that one-day effort into a week's worth of activities...

Sheriff's deputies in Cape Girardeau County and police in Chaffee, Mo., will add equipment through federal grants approved this week. The Cape Girardeau County sheriff's office will give new walkie-talkies and bulletproof vests to deputies who work in the jail through a federal block grant program, Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson said...

"What a community I live in. What a job I've got." Those words belonged to Central High School athletic director Terry Kitchen Thursday night, but they might have been used by any of the five honorees attending the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's eighth annual Educators of the Year banquet...

A Fredericktown, Mo., man received two 10-year sentences this week for growing more than 1,000 marijuana plants on federal property, the U.S. attorney's office said. James Paul Long, 45, had pleaded guilty to growing marijuana plants in the Mark Twain National Forest and using wires and shotguns for booby traps, assistant U.S. attorney Michael Price said...

Southeast Missouri State University's softball team probably doesn't rank as the favorite entering this weekend's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Cookeville, Tenn. But the Otahkians certainly figure to be prime contenders in what likely shapes up as a three-horse race between regular-season champion Tennessee Tech, Southeast and Eastern Kentucky...

Cindi Cox scored on an assist from Kristen Boos 10 minutes before the end of the first half as Notre Dame defeated Jackson 1-0 in girls soccer action Thursday at Notre Dame High School. Notre Dame improved to 10-10-3. "Jackson has been on a heck of a run and we started out 7-2 and have struggled for a stretch," Notre Dame coach Jeff Worley said. ...

Daughter to William Avery "Bill" and Carisa Dianne Sullinger of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:43 a.m. Saturday, April 28, 2001. Name, Taylor Ann. Weight, 7 pounds. Second daughter. Mrs. Sullinger is the former Carisa Staats, daughter of Daniel and Dianne Staats of Zalma, Mo. Sullinger is the son of Avery and Judy Sullinger of Advance, Mo. He is employed by Rose Concrete Products...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Iola Weiss, 89, of Perryville died Wednesday, May 2, 2001, at Perry County Nursing Home. Friends may call from 4-9 p.m. today at Miller Family Funeral Home in Perryville, where there will be parish prayers at 7 p.m. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Perryville. Burial will follow in Mount Hope Cemetery...

Three women who work at a Cape Girardeau striptease club were issued criminal summonses Thursday for allegedly violating adult business ordinances. The summonses were issued to the dancers at Regina's House of Dolls at 805 Enterprise following a March 17 investigation by the Missouri Division of Liquor Control, said Lt. Carl Kinnison of the Cape Girardeau Police Department...

BERTRAND, Mo. -- Freda Mae Nelson, 90, of Bertrand died Wednesday, May 2, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. She was born April 13, 1911, at Blodgett, Mo., daughter of Beedy Z. and Dora Caler Wyatt. She and Charles Ado Nelson were married Oct. 5, 1940, in Cape Girardeau. He died April 22, 1985...

PATTON, Mo. -- Grace Mungle, 86, of Patton died Wednesday, May 2, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 4, 1914, at Patton, daughter of Thomas and Bertha Fadler Grindstaff. She and Alfred L. Mungle were married July 12, 1935...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Arthur E. Swarts, 78, of Bloomfield died Wednesday, May 2, 2001, at Three Rivers Health Care North Campus in Poplar Bluff, Mo. He was born Sept. 21, 1922, in St. Louis, son of Harry and Pauline Marie Grosser Swarts. He and Helen Holmes were married Nov. 13, 1983, at Gravel Hill, Mo. She died Feb. 21, 1997...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Pauline Hart, 86, of Springfield, Va., died Friday, April 27, 2001, at the home of her daughter in Fairfax Station, Va. She was born March 24, 1915, at Puxico, Mo., daughter of John Melton and Dollie Lee Capps. She and John Hart were married March 15, 1940, at Dexter. He died Jan. 5, 2000...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Kathie F. Gore, 46, of East Prairie died Wednesday, May 2, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. She was born Sept. 6, 1954, in Bowling Green, Mo., daughter of Fred and Roberta Gardner Skirvin. She and Kenneth Gore were married Sept. 2, 1974...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Lois Ellen Dixon, 49, of Sikeston died Wednesday, May 2, 2001, at her home. She was born June 3, 1951, in Sikeston, daughter of the late Betty Lee "Sophia" Simmons and Johnny Gustavia Warfield. She married Ed Dixon in December 1991...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Graveside service for Zelma Colboth of Wadsworth, Ill., will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Friendship Cemetery in Dongola. The Rev. Paul Sadler will officiate. Crain Funeral Home in Dongola is in charge of arrangements. Colboth, 82, died Tuesday, May 1, 2001, at Terrace Nursing Home in Waukegan, Ill...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- Freddie P. Gross, 75, of Albuquerque, N.M., died Wednesday, May 2, 2001. He was born July 12, 1925, at Fornfelt, Mo., son of Jessie and Mary Poorman Gross. He and Mary Ann Byrnes were married in December 1948. Gross was a retired journeyman electrician. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II...

TO THE person who said you could get expelled for bringing a Bible to school: Where do you get this stuff? Students are allowed to practice their religion in school. The law prohibiting prayer in schools only applies to teacher- or administrator-led prayer that would be offensive to those of differing faiths. Give me a break...

It was a surprise to many patriotic Southeast Missourians to learn that it is especially appropriate to fly the U.S. flag on May 1, which is Loyalty Day. If you didn't know why the flags were out Wednesday, you may not realize the U.S. Code provides for special flag displays on many other days of the year other than traditional holidays like the Fourth of July and Memorial Day...

When Franklin Roosevelt became president in 1933, he immediately embarked on a three-month agenda that revolutionized the role of the federal government in our daily lives. Ever since, presidents have been held accountable at the end of their first 100 days -- even if they weren't always held to FDR's standards of legislative and political achievements...