Stories from Thursday, March 6, 1997

As a relatively new medium, computer art has not yet developed the level of respectability traditional painting has. But Dr. Max Cordonnier, who works in mouse strokes rather than brush strokes, says computer painting opens up frontiers unattainable outside the electronic world...

Five student soloists will have the honor of performing with the Southeast Missouri State University Orchestra in a concert Tuesday at Academic Auditorium. The five are winners of the university's Concerto and Aria Competition. The orchestra also will perform Dvorak's "New World" Symphony in the 8 p.m. concert...

Jeff Dahms' 10-year career as supervisor of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport weather station ended Wednesday when the equipment was packed up and the doors closed. Starting today, an Automated Surface Observing System will do his job while Dahms looks for a new one...

A state senator wants to cap tuition increases at Missouri's four-year public colleges by tying the fee hikes to inflation. The senator, Steve Ehlmann, R-St. Charles, wants to bar the public colleges from raising tuition higher than inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index...

Cape Girardeau, this Bud's for you. The King of Beers will hold court -- basketball court, that is -- at the Show Me Center Sunday, and area residents are invited. The occasion is a television commercial shoot for Budweiser's Bud Hoops promotion. The film crew needs a crowd of at least 500 people to serve as extras in the commercial...

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- A field team from the Army Corps of Engineers worked Wednesday on a leaky levee separating Mound City from the rampaging Ohio River. A culvert beneath the Enterprise Street levee has been dumping a steady stream of river water into a catch basin near an ADM grain tower since Tuesday night. It isn't enough water to overwhelm a pump in the basin but was enough to send Corps divers into 20 feet of water at the mouth of the culvert to investigate...

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- Residents of Alexander and Union counties are accustomed to seepage problems that come with high Mississippi River levels. "Anytime the river gets up quite a bit over flood stage we get a lot of seepwater," said Mitchell McLane, a member of Clear Creek Levee District, which covers Alexander and Union counties. "It's a common occurrence and nobody's upset about it."...

March 6, 1997 Dear Patty, Millie Limbaugh sends word you interviewed her when she was in California. Millie's the nearest we have to a resident celebrity, but she sure doesn't know how to act like one. When the Rush Limbaugh Tour bus drives by her house, chances are she'll be at her longstanding bridge club game...

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, elected last fall to succeed her late husband, Bill Emerson, in Congress; U.S. Rep. Jim Talent, dean of the Missouri Republican House delegation; and U.S. Sen. Christopher S. "Kit" Bond will be in Cape Girardeau this weekend...

A police officer assigned to Cape Girardeau's public schools? Are drugs and other problems that bad? Is this the start of some kind of police state? Relax. This new partnership between the public schools and police department is an effort to deter crime and foster mutual trust between students and police. ...

Rising floodwater in recent weeks has underscored the wisdom of flood buyouts in the area over the last few years. The buyouts weren't cheap in Cape Girardeau or nearby Commerce. But almost yearly flooding means that taxpayers won't pay for repairs to the same property over and over again...

To the editor: I am writing to thank you for the coverage you have provided the Renaissance Program at Cape Girardeau Central High School. Our most recent event was an academic pep rally that was held last week. You provided us a front-page article with photo, and you again mentioned us in your Saturday editorial. Through this pep rally we were able to recognize over 30 percent of the student body...

To the editor: Separate state championships for public and private schools: What are we thinking? What are we trying to do? What, really, is our intent and purpose as coaches and educators of young student athletes? These are a few of the many questions that should concern us as coaches, teachers and even parents when this issue is passed in front of us to vote on...

To the editor: The law says it's all right to kill babies. I'm not simply speaking of abortion, which has been tragically supported by the Supreme Court rulings for nearly a quarter-century. I'm speaking of a baby already in the process of being born, a baby whose tiny feet and legs are already fully visible, toes wiggling, knees flexing in a doctor's hands, a baby whose head is only inches away from emerging into the world, a baby whose lungs are only seconds away from filling with air. ...

To the editor: Congratulations to Jack Knowlan for his inspiring letter. As a mother, grandmother and former educator, I share his tremendous concern for all our young people. Having been a single parent with teen-agers, I can empathize especially with the single parents who are trying to cope with guiding their kids alone...

State senators are pushing a bill that would protect Missouri's employers from lawsuits when they provide information on former employees. The bill, introduced by state Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, would allow an employer to provide information to a prospective employer about former employees...

When workers build new sewer lines, they usually have to dig up the most of the street and then rebuild it when they are done. The residents on the street often can't get to their driveways and businesses often lose customers who can't park nearby. But when Robinson Construction Co. ...

The Cape Girardeau high school and junior high orchestras will present a concert Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Central High School auditorium. The concert is free and the public may attend. Performing will be the Cape Central Orchestra, the Central Junior High Freshman Orchestra and the Central Junior High Eighth-Grade Orchestra...

Sarah Weddington passed on leadership secrets to a packed house Tuesday at Southeast Missouri State University's Robert A. Dempster Hall. She is best known for successfully arguing the Roe v. Wade abortion case before the U.S. Supreme Court. She also as been a teacher, Texas state representative and special assistant on Women's and Minority Affairs to President Jimmy Carter...

The Cape Girardeau Lions Club has endorsed two Cape Girardeau School District tax measures on the April 1 ballot. The civic club endorsed two tax measures by a unanimous show of hands Wednesday. The school district wants voters to approve a $14 million bond issue for construction of two new schools and remodeling of others, and a waiver of the Proposition C tax rollback...

FARMINGTON -- The last time Jackson High's girls basketball team played at the Farmington Civic Center -- just last week -- the Lady Indians had to rally from an 11-point deficit to win a district title. Wednesday night, in a return engagement at the Farmington CC, the Lady Indians needed nothing even remotely resembling a gut-wrenching finish...

FARMINGTON -- Despite losing to Riverview Gardens by 23 points less than a month ago, Cape Central High's boys basketball team was determined not be intimidated in the rematch. And the Tigers weren't, taking the fight to the Rams in the early going of Wednesday night's Class 4A sectional game at the Farmington Civic Center...

POPLAR BLUFF -- The Perryville Pirates used a huge height advantage, smart play in the backcourt, composure and then added a lot of heart and it proved to be just enough to knock off the defending 3A champion Charleston Blue Jays 64-61 in a sectional contest Wednesday night...

Dr. Richard McDuffie, athletic director at Southeast Missouri State University the past eight years, accepted the AD position at Eastern Illinois on Wednesday. McDuffie was presented as EIU's new athletic director during an afternoon press conference at Charleston, home of EIU...

POPLAR BLUFF -- Fredericktown's girls didn't have a lead until the 4:10 mark of the second quarter. But once the Lady Blackcats captured the lead, it held it for a 77-64 win over Kennett in a Class 3A sectional game Wednesday at Poplar Bluff High School...

Southeast Missouri's baseball game Wednesday at Arkansas State was canceled due to rain. The game has been rescheduled for March 13 at 7 p.m. at Tomlinson Stadium in Jonesboro. Southeast resumes play Saturday with a noon doubleheader at Southwest Missouri State...

JACKSON -- Just Us Girls won the team portion of the Cape Girardeau Women's Bowling Association's 56th Annual Handicap Tournament held at the Jackson Bowling Lanes. The winning team, comprised of Joy Dunn, Stacey Kinikin, Cheryl Jansen, Jan Eckert and Melei Sides, combined for a handicap total of 3,302...

Daughter to James Alan and Denise Ann Landewee of Leopold, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:54 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, 1997. Name, Leah Alexis. Weight, 5 pounds 1 ounce. First child. Mrs. Landewee is the former Denise Hess, daughter of Paul and Lynda Hess of Malden. She is a medical lab technician at St. Francis Medical Center. Landewee is the son of Ted and Carolyn Landewee of Leopold. He is assistant printer at M&W Packaging...

MARQUAND -- Jolle Ann Petton, 45, of Marquand died unexpectedly Tuesday, March 4, 1997, in the Emergency Room at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 21, 1951, in St. Louis, daughter of Joseph and Nada Holdner Niere. She and Clifford Warren Petton Jr. were married March 26, 1971, in St. Louis...

MARBLE HILL -- Hadley Kirkpatrick, 88, of Marble Hill died Tuesday, March 4, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 3, 1908, at Marble Hill, son of Ollie Ray and Ida May McPherson Kirkpatrick. He and Ruby I. Reutzel were married April 14, 1932, at Jackson...

Funeral Mass for Ronald Stephen Pobst, 1836 Westridge, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Vincent's Catholic Church. The Rev. Joseph Williams will officiate. Entombment will be in Memorial Park Mausoleum. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel from 4-9 p.m. today...

CHAFFEE -- Funeral service for James Howard Mack of Chaffee will be held at 10 a.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Benton. The Rev. Bennie Wilsey will officiate, with burial in Oak Dale Cemetery at Commerce. Mack, 25, died in an automobile accident Monday, March 3, 1997, near Chaffee...

Funeral service for Delia L. Utley of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Cedarlawn Memorial Park in Sherman, Texas. The Rev. Dwain Hobbs will officiate. There is no visitation. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel is in charge of local arrangements...

Adele M. Hahn, 88, of Cape Girardeau, died Tuesday, March 4, 1997, at Chateau Girardeau. She was born Nov. 15, 1908, in St. Louis, daughter of Chester A. and Emma Josephine Genin Cowell. She and Harold G. Hahn were married Nov. 24, 1930. He died in 1979...

Frieda M. Roloff Fluegge, 83, of 1115 Jefferson died Tuesday, March 4, 1997, at her home. She was born July 31, 1913, in Burfordville, the daughter of Henry and Ida Peetz Roloff. She married August H. Fluegge on Nov. 1, 1936, in Tilset, and he preceded her in death on March 4, 1973...