Stories from Thursday, July 26, 2001

For Erin, random words and actions can remind her of the summer night when two men broke into her apartment, beat her boyfriend almost unconscious and raped her. As the calendar date approaches, nearly everything puts her on edge. "It's always in the back of my mind," she said...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Chaffee school officials managed to avoid a possible state takeover and tax hike last year by cutting staff and slashing spending. The district's savings grew by about $318,000 last year, mainly due to "some very stringent spending practices," said public schools superintendent Arnold Bell. He said most of the growth was made possible by leaving three teaching positions and five other positions unfilled...

Over the past couple of months, Libby Roeger nearly ruined her car, filed for d-i-v-o-r-c-e and attended her father's funeral. It would have made a great Tammy Wynette song. "I call this my Tammy Wynette summer," said Roeger, 45, a Cape Girardeau resident. "So when I heard her bus was here, I knew damn well I was going to come and see it."...

CRUMP, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Kinder Morgan Power Co. have squared off over well digging at the site of a proposed $250 million power plant in southwestern Cape Girardeau County. The DNR says the wells at the site on Route U near Crump were dug illegally. Kinder Morgan denies it. State regulators say the company could be fined, but 85 percent of violations don't result in fines...

Dear Mom and Dad, My friend Julie lives now in a gray saltbox house perched part way up the cliff above Trinidad Harbor. She inherited the house when her father died two years ago. He was a revered musician Humboldt State University named its recital hall for. ...

The conviction of a former Dunklin County minister for sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl in 1992 was a legal mistake, a panel of judges ruled this week. James Niederstadt of Malden, Mo., will not serve a 25-year prison sentence following the decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District issued Tuesday...

GORDONVILLE, Mo. -- Shepherd's Cove Children's Home is in search of a miracle -- again. The children's foster home, operated in association with the Abundant Life Church in Gordonville, has little time left to repay a loan and faces closing its doors to the more than 30 children who have received help and a home there...

A 36-year-old Mississippi County man was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for making methamphetamine, the U.S. attorney's office said Wednesday. Michael W. O'Conner, 36, of East Prairie, Mo., admitted he had been making methamphetamine at his residence last October, said Abbie Crites-Leoni, special assistant U.S. attorney...

Southeast Missouri Hospital is closing its skilled nursing facility to make way for a new unit that can offer better care and less inconvenience to rehabilitation patients and their families. The new inpatient rehabilitation unit at the hospital is in the midst of renovations and should be open to patients Oct. 1...

SENATH, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons and Chaffee Medicap Pharmacy posted victories here Wednesday night in the winner's bracket semifinals of the American Legion District 14 Tournament. Cape, seeded third in the eight-team event, rallied past second-seeded Dunklin County 8-5. Top-seeded Chaffee pulled away late to down fourth-seeded Sikeston 9-1...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Dennis Drerup recorded his third career hole-in-one Wednesday while playing at Kimbeland Country Club. Dereup, from Jackson, Mo., used a six-iron to ace the 168-yard No. hole. He was playing with Ben McKuin.

Final tryouts for the Classic United U-12 boys soccer team that were recently rained out will be held Saturday from 9-10 a.m. at Shawnee Park in Cape Girardeau. Players should meet at the concession stand.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Marie H. Laws, 80, of Perryville died Monday, July 23, 2001, at her home. She was born Oct. 13, 1920, at St. Mary's, Mo., daughter of Joseph H. and Mary M. Burgee Adams. She and Vincent H. Laws were married Aug. 16, 1939. He died Nov. 12, 1995...

Daughter to Kevin Wayne and Ellen Michelle Sullinger of Advance, Mo., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:29 a.m. Wednesday, July 18, 2001. Name, Paige Nichole. Weight, 6 pounds 6 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Sullinger is the former Ellen Harris, daughter of Cheryl Terry of Delta, Mo., and Mike Harris of Perryville, Mo. Sullinger is the son of Avery Sullinger and Judy Sullinger of Advance. He is a mechanic at Sikeston Motor Co...

BECAUSE IT'S reaching love-in proportions, I almost hate to rain on this vicarious parade to the Capitol we're taking with Republican state Rep. Rod Jetton. However, I see the sojourn as little more than a cynical public-relations stunt designed to detract voter attention from the fact that it was Missouri's Republican pols who perfunctorily blocked the effort of the governor to allow Missourians to vote on a transportation package...

Some people are pro-choice on the abortion issue because they believe government should have no say in the matter. I disagree. I also disagree with the notion that the mother's so-called right to privacy justifies her right to choose abortion. But I want to focus on the flawed argument that the government has no business legislating morality. ...

I just finished Scott Moyers' July 22 article about health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the Cape Girardeau area. I think it was unfair to portray HMOs as a terrible development in modern medicine. Many people in Southeast Missouri would benefit greatly if we had HMO doctors in the area. My husband currently carries health insurance through Healthlink. This past year I elected to go to St. Louis for surgery because I wanted to go to an HMO doctor at an HMO hospital...

Southeast Missouri State University's business education program is bringing an increasing number of foreign students to Cape Girardeau to the benefit of the foreign students, local students and the community. The draw for the international students is the university's master of business administration degree program, which offers an MBA at an exceptionally good price. Foreign students say an MBA from an American college is a passport to business throughout the world...

Opposition appears to be growing to a proposal that would provide a light-rail system in the Kansas City, Mo., area. The latest blow to a plan for a 25-year half-cent sales-tax increase to be decided by voters Aug. 7 came when the Greater Kansas City and Northland Regional chambers of commerce both opposed it. Other groups also oppose the plan...