Stories from Monday, December 15, 1997

A number of promotions have been announced by Dana Corp.'s Spicer Axle Division in Cape Girardeau. They include Kevin Eftink, Stan Koeller, Randy Swope, Keith Kertz, Travis Statler, Chris Florek, Mary Miller, Merinda Edmonds, Terry Kuehn, Walter Hyde and Ryan Ellinger...

"It is possible to be successful in a small business if a person looks very carefully at the market." -- Gil Degenhardt Survival for a small business, Gil Degenhardt knows, can be difficult, which is why he says that nowadays he'd rather advise people than be in business...

Hollywood Video, a chain movie rental and sales company, has opened at 127 Siemers Drive in Cape Girardeau. The new store, which rents and sells videotapes and video games, opened last week. The 9,200-square-foot business opens at 10 a.m. daily. It closes at midnight, Sunday through Thursday, and will remain open until 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday...

The package was from the White House. That was special. But to Marty and Laverne "Tootie" Hecht, the package's content -- and what it represented -- was far more special. The package contained a U.S. flag that had been flown over the Capitol, in tribute to Hecht's Store and its founder, the late Louis Hecht...

What do candles (P) and soap (G) have in common? Lard! That's right, we cooked, lit our homes and washed our bodies Saturday night with it. The world's largest maker of household products and the world's largest advertiser, Procter & Gamble, started there. Today, the company has cut a lot of fat, and its stock trades on the NYSE (symbol PG) close to my estimate of market value, making it a good stock to hold for a while longer...

Audiolog Associates Inc. has opened at 106 Farrar Drive, Suites 104-105 in Cape Girardeau. The new business provides diagnostic and hearing aid services. "We also do industrial audiology," said Linda M. Hurt, a certified audiologist and owner of the business...

Two days before Christmas, a sweeping economic development bill will go into effect -- Senate Bill 1. Most laws, says Joseph L. Driskill, director of Department of Economic Development, go into effect quietly, without the general public knowing, or caring...

"Where the Rivers Run," a simple, four-word phrase, should help increase the number of travelers visiting Missouri in the coming year, says the Missouri Tourism Commission, which has approved the new advertising slogan, along with a new logo. Consumer research has shown that Missouri travelers perceive the state as a scenic outdoor destination with "family fun" activities. In several studies, outdoor activity and natural beauty were primary motivators to travel to the state...

Spartech Corp., which includes two operations in Cape Girardeau -- Spartech Plastics, 2500 Spartech Drive, and Spartech Compounding on Nash Road -- reported record sales and earnings for its fiscal year which ended Nov. 1. Sales for fiscal 1997 were $502.7 million, up 28 percent from the $391.3 million recorded in 1996. Operating earnings were $49.7 million for 1997, an increase of 44 percent from the $34.5 million of a year ago...

The "Cape Employment Opportunities (CEO)" will be implemented in 1998. The program, designed to help match spouses of relocating professionals to the area with jobs, is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. John Mehner, president of the local chamber, said that while the Chamber will be working with employment agencies, the CEO program is not necessarily a job service for unemployed people in the area, or those looking to switch jobs. ...

A Cape Girardeau woman has won more than $9,000 in the Missouri Lottery's "Fun & Fortune" game show. Verbal Walter, an assistant manager at a Cape Girardeau convenience store, competed in the "Top That II" preliminary round on the game board, winning $9,147 and a garnet and diamond ring, plus the right to compete in the $50,000 championship round, where she won another $500 before "striking out."...

Dale Dickerson has joined Union Planters Bank at Jackson, as a vice president-commercial loan officer. He will assist business customers with a variety of commercial services such as business loan and cash management service. Dickerson, a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, is experienced in the financial industry. He most recently served as a vice president with First Midwest Bank of Chaffee...

Don Fisher is new manager for the JCPenney Co. Inc. store in West Park Mall at Cape Girardeau. Fisher, who has been with the JCPenney company 35 years, is moving to Cape Girardeau from Dodge City, Kan., where he had served as manager two years. Fisher, a graduate of Texas Tech in Lubbock, with a degree in business administration, specializing in advertising, joined JCPenney's at Lubbock in 1963...

Three corporate sponsors have been honored by The Multiple Sclerosis Society, for their participation in the 1997 Multiple Sclerosis Golf Tournament held in May at Bent Creek. Sponsors honored were Healthlink, Immediate Healthcare and Southeast Missouri Hospital. Debby Erlbacher Steger of Occupational Health Clinic Inc., event coordinator for the 1997 tournament, presented plaques to the corporate sponsors...

Dwain L. Hahs, formerly of Jackson, has become executive vice president and a president of Bausch & Lomb Eyewear, with worldwide management responsibility for the company's eyewear business. Hahs joined Bausch & Lomb in 1977 and has held a variety of positions in sales, marketing and operations...

The new Illinois Grape and Wine Resources Council will focus on boosting grape production, helping winery owners and developing the public's taste for local wines. The new group, which met for the first time at Southern Illinois University's Carbondale campus, which is home for the new council, voted to spend the bulk of its $200,000 budge on hiring specialists in viticulture (grape growing), oenology (wine making) and marketing...

Procter & Gamble Co. is selling its Duncan Hines line of baking mixes to MBW Investors LLC of Columbus, Ohio. MBW Investors owns Aurora Foods Inc., manufacturer of Mrs. Butterworth's syrup and pancake mix, and Log Cabin Syrup. Duncan Hines, purchased by P&G in 1956, has 26 percent of the market for cake and cupcake mixes, running behind General Mills' Betty Crocker line, which has 37 percent of the market. Duncan Hines generated $250 million in sales last year...

Art exhibitions, craft festivals, and historic sites like Bollinger Mill and the Common Pleas courthouse could draw more visitors to Southeast Missouri as part of a proposed plan to boost tourism in the state. If communities in the region follow through on plans being developed by the Missouri Arts Council, the Missouri Division of Tourism and the Southeast Missouri Tourism Advisory Council, the area could easily become a site for increased cultural and historic tourism. ...

Editor's note: This is another in a series of stories which follow the progress of two freshmen -- Erin Holt and Brad Botsch -- from Bernie as they make their way through their first year at Southeast Missouri State University. Erin Holt didn't play on a world-beating volleyball team for the first time in a long time and has changed her major...

Lena May Fulton, a teacher in the Meadow Heights School District, knew there were needy families in the Patton area, but she didn't realize the extent of need until the children entered her classroom. Some didn't have enough food to eat; others didn't have warm clothes or coats for winter. One family had very little food and couldn't take its sick child to the doctor because there was no money to pay the bill...

Superintendents of four small school districts in Bollinger County are pleased overall with their report cards for the 1996-97 school year. Leopold, Meadow Heights, Woodland and Zalma school administrators said although data in their reports didn't always meet state averages and trends, they were pleased to have shown improvement in areas like curriculum and dropout rates...

JACKSON -- When Nick Leist, the head band director of Jackson R-2 schools, decided to step down from the podium and set aside his baton, he announced his retirement to his band students first. He didn't want his "kids," as he calls them, hearing the news from someone else...

Scientists in Austria may have made an important first step toward inventing the beloved transporter effect of the Star Trek universe. Unfortunately, before they can beam anybody anywhere, they have to figure out how not to kill them in the process...

A program that could boost not only Ste. Genevieve's tourist trade but tourism through Southeast Missouri is being considered by Southeast Missouri State University. The Southeast Regional Tourism Advisory Council has suggested establishing a regional tourism center at the university, and the university likes the idea. ...

The pictures from Ste. Genevieve in 1993 of ravaging floodwaters lapping against the top of a levee of sandbags hastily being created by volunteers from across the country won't be forgotten for a long time. The Mississippi River flood of that year was like none other in recent times. Only because of the volunteer sandbaggers, who worked around the clock in sweltering heat stacking more than 1 million sandbags, was Ste. Genevieve's historic downtown area spared...

To the editor: Thomas Jefferson observed in 1788 that "the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." This has been amply demonstrated in recent years. Washington uses the threat of withholding funds to ensure that state and local governments follow its rules. ...

City Hall 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15 Action items Power and Light Committee -- Consider a bill proposing an ordinance approving the 1998 proposed budget. -- Consider a motion to reappoint Steve Wilson to serve as city representative on the Board of Directors of the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association for a one-year term beginning Jan. 1, 1998...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "What do you think of LCI International Inc. charging telephone customers by the second after the first minute rather than rounding calls to the next full minute?" Larry Hodge, Cape Girardeau "The company I have now is on ten second intervals. I think if they don't charge too much per minute it would be fine."...

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball players were understandably disappointed by Saturday night's near-upset of Missouri in Columbia. But the Indians were also understandably proud of their effort that very nearly netted Southeast its first-ever win over the state's perennial major basketball power...

By all accounts, last year's inaugural HealthSouth Holiday Classic featuring most of the area's top high school girls basketball teams was a major success. Jackson knocked off Cape Girardeau Central 46-40 in a thrilling championship game, setting the stage for the Lady Indians' exciting march all the way to the Class 4A state championship game...

SCOTT CITY -- More than once during Scott City High's win over Oran Friday night, Jon Beck caught a pass behind the 3-point line, sized up an open shot ... and passed to a teammate. Considering Beck's phenomenal night last Tuesday, that's more significant than you might think...

MARBLE HILL -- A Marble Hill teen-ager was killed, and a Marble Hill man was hospitalized when their pickup truck ran off the road and overturned five miles north of Scopus shortly after midnight Saturday. The Missouri State Highway Patrol identified the victim as Noah Luttrull, 16, the passenger in the truck...

SCOTT CITY -- Homer M. Stamp Sr., 77, of Scott City died Sunday, Dec. 14, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- Betty J. Oxford, 74, of East Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Dec. 14, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

ANNA, Ill. -- Merl Kimmel, 80, of Anna died Saturday, Dec. 13, 1997, at the Illinois Veterans Care Center in Anna. He was born Jan. 9, 1917, at Wolf Lake, son of Manuel H. and Norma A. Lindsey Kimmel. He married Josephine Kelloug in 1950, at Lincoln. She died in 1990...

CHAFFEE -- E. Frank Miller, 57, of Chaffee died Saturday, Dec. 13, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born on Jan. 4, 1940, at Grider, Ark., son of Emery Houston and Elsie Mae Shanks Miller. He married Corena Scheeter on Dec. 13, 1958. Miller was an insurance agent for American General Life and Accident Insurance in Sikeston. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Chaffee...

PERRYVILLE -- Bernard T. "Barney" Winkler, 84, of Perryville died Saturday, Dec. 13, 1997, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born Aug. 20, 1913, at Uniontown, son of Hugo F. and Anna Meyer Winkler. He married Laura V. Ruessler on April 19, 1947, at Perryville...

MARBLE HILL -- Noah Alan Luttrull, 16, of Marble Hill died Sunday, Dec. 14, 1997, in an automobile accident near Marble Hill. He was born on Dec. 14, 1981, at Cape Girardeau, son of Perry R. and Wanda Garland Luttrull. He was a student at New Bethel Christian School...

ADVANCE -- Hazel F. Daniel, 84, of Advance died Saturday, Dec. 13, 1997, at her home. She was born Aug. 14, 1913, at Bessville, daughter of Miles F. and Mary F. Long Moore. She married Leonard Myrle Daniel on March 7, 1936 at Jackson. He died Aug. 15, 1997...

MATTHEWS -- Floyd Clark, 75, of Matthews died Sunday, Dec. 14, 1997, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Sikeston.

ADVANCE -- Hubert F. Day, 72, of Advance died Saturday, Dec. 13, 1997, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Dec. 16, 1924, son of Frank and Anna Day. He married Joyce Hawkins on Sept. 15, 1979, in Springfield. Day was a farmer. He was a member of the United Methodist Church in Advance and a charter member of the Advance Eagles 4154...