Stories from Friday, March 6, 1998

To the editor: There was such a nice article in the Southeast Missourian recently on Tres Lewis, who heard that his POW father was coming home around his fifth birthday, a father he had only heard about. There have been several people calling and wanting to know where he is. Tres will be 30 years old March 12. Tres graduated from San Diego State University. He is a Navy airman veteran of Desert Storm, and he is now in the banking business in San Diego...

Southeast Missouri Hospital is looking for people with special memories or mementos to share of the hospital's 70-year history. The hospital is especially interested in tracking down its 1928 nursery alumni -- the 48 babies born in its first year of operation, said Nancy Bray, marketing director. They will be honored at the annual Hospital Association Meeting in April...

U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond will be the featured speaker at the 28th annual Lincoln Day in Cape Girardeau on March 14. The annual Republican event will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the A.C. Brase Arena Building. It is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau County Republican Women's Club...

CHAFFEE -- The Chaffee Board of Education will hold a public meeting March 12 to provide voters with information about a school bond issue on the April 7 election ballot. School board members decided in December to place the proposal on the ballot. Passage would allow the district to issue $1,450,000 in bonds to finance construction of additional classrooms and improvements to the elementary school and high-school buildings...

WASHINGTON -- A close House vote breathed new life into a Puerto Rican movement to turn the largely Spanish-speaking commonwealth into America's 51st state. Puerto Rican "statehooders" were jubilant following the House action late Wednesday, even though many obstacles remain before any final status change, including Senate action, votes by bitterly divided Puerto Ricans and a 10-year transition period...

Fibromyalgia Syndrome, first identified in the early 1900s, is characterized by generalized muscular pain and fatigue. The first symptoms of the syndrome may develop between ages 20 and 30 and may come and go in cycles. It is estimated that approximately 2 percent of the population, or 5 million people, suffer with this condition. ...

Novels probably always will be considered superior to biographies, says novelist and biographer Dr. Nolan Porterfield. "How many famous biographers can you name? For the great mass of the population, Boswell is it." But the third annual H.O. Grauel Memorial Lecture Thursday night, Porterfield argued that the biographer's re-creation of lives is the equal of the novelist's creation of them...

Students at Trinity Lutheran School in Cape Girardeau filled a time capsule this week with items they felt exemplified 1998. The time capsule was among events held during National Lutheran Schools Week this week. The plastic container will be stored in the school's supply room to be opened in 25 years...

There are more than 50 essential oils commonly used in aromatherapy, used to treat a variety of symptoms. It takes at least 50 pounds of plant material to make one pound of oil. Lavender oil is used to treat sunburns, stress and headaches. The floral scent is also popular in cosmetic products...

Board members have jobs, don't they? THE PERSON who said that school board members don't have salaries must have misunderstood. The first caller didn't say the members were paid for being on the school board, but he must have assumed that these people weren't unemployed and that they do have salaries from some source. The critic either didn't think the first call through or must think only the unemployed get elected...

In the weeks since the latest accusations were made about the president's private conduct, Bill Clinton has found many ways to avoid the heat of the situation. One repeated call during this time has been for the president to speak out more about the allegations...

With the decision by state Rep. Gene Copeland not to seek another term -- he's been in the Legislature since 1960 -- folks in the Charleston area will have new representation in the Missouri House come next January. Filing for the post is Betty Hearnes, whose name is nothing short of a household commodity in her hometown...

Lowering the legal limit for blood-alcohol content among Missouri's motorists probably makes good sense. A lot of people whose jobs are to be informed about such matters, including Cape Girardeau's police chief and the county prosecutor, say lowering the limit to 0.08 percent from the current 0.10 percent would be a good move...

To the editor: Recently the Southeast Missourian reported some local residents welcomed checkpoints manned by police to search for driver's licenses and proof of insurance as a means for determining compliance with certain state regulations. However, it would appear prudent enforcement of such regulations could be much more efficiently handled as a routine administrative function. ...

To the editor: In May, the Girardot Rose Chorus will celebrate its 15th anniversary as a member of Sweet Adelines International. Our celebration plans include and ice cream social to which former members and all our friends will be invited. This seems an appropriate time to thank the many individuals and organizations in this area who have given us moral and financial support throughout the years. ...

An analysis aimed at providing information to help welfare-to-work efforts in Cape Girardeau County indicates educational and social-services systems need more cooperation to meet needs of the local marketplace and to increase the future pool of qualified low-income applicants...

Miltenberger & Willing Packaging U.S. Inc. has added a line to its plant north of Cape Girardeau. "A variety of new products and new customers have changed our company," said Paul Wiedlin, president of M&W Packaging U.S. "Over the past year we've spent about $9 million to install a new line and upgrade the conveying system. We expect to see expansions totaling another $7 million this year."...

A number of families are getting their first look at Cape Girardeau County this week. The 45 visitors, which include potential Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co. employees and their spouses, toured the P&G plant north of Cape Girardeau Wednesday. On Thursday they visited schools in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Southeast Missouri State University's Show Me Center and shopping centers...

SIKESTON -- Civic leaders want voters to approve a quarter-cent sales tax to help finance construction of a Sikeston Area Higher Education Center. The center would offer college classes and industrial training through a partnership with Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau and Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff...

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission is considering whether it should donate county owned Klaus Park for a Missouri Veterans Cemetery. The Cape Girardeau Joint Veterans Council has been searching for a site of 50 to 80 acres that could be donated for a cemetery. It has been unable to find a donor...

Those cooks were optimistic when they accidentally dropped the hot sauce bottle into the pot. Nobody will notice, they said. The photograph on the front page of Thursday's Southeast Missourian said a lot. In the picture, Dr. Bob Fox of the Noon Optimist Club is stirring a vat of chili, part of the 280-gallon batch served to hundreds of hungry folks during the 13th annual Chili Day at the Arena Building...

ORAN -- For Delta High's boys basketball team, the wait is finally over. The top-seeded Bobcats captured their first district championship since 1976 Thursday night as they defeated second-seeded Scott County Central 81-66 in the Class 1A, District 2 final played before a packed house in Oran High's gymnasium...

ORAN -- Not even injury or illness could keep Scott County Central High's girls basketball team from winning yet another district title. The second-seeded Bravettes knocked off top-seeded Delta 51-44 Thursday night in the championship game of the Class 1A, District 2 Tournament...

BLOOMFIELD -- In a rematch of last season's Class 2A, District 2 championship game, second-seeded Scott City held off third-seed and host Bloomfield 54-51 in a district semifinal Thursday. Scott City junior Lance Amick made all six of his free throws in the fourth quarter, including two with six seconds left to provide the winning margin. ...

BLOOMFIELD -- With a 13-point lead entering the fourth quarter in Thursday's Class 2A, District 2 semifinal, the fifth-seeded Woodland Cardinals virtually dared top-seed Kelly to catch them. The state-ranked Hawks took the Cardinals up on their challenge, tying the score twice, but Woodland senior Brandon Stinnett preserved the upset with a driving basket with just four seconds left to give the Cardinals a shocking 60-58 victory...

PATTON -- The Class 1A, District 3 tournament went according to plan as top-seeded Valle of Ste. Genevieve and second-seeded Marquand both advanced to tonight's championship game with semifinal victories Thursday night at Meadow Heights High School...

Barb's Team won the team portion of the 57th Annual Cape Girardeau Women's Bowling Association Tournament held last weekend at West Park Lanes. The team, comprised of Barbara Pritchard, Meagan Ervin, Lisa Russell, Teresa Keys and Penny Luttrell, rolled a 2,490 scratch total and a handicap-leading 3,239...

The deadline to register for the Chaffee Girls Softball League is Saturday at City Hall from noon to 2 p.m. The league consist of players ages 9-15. For more information, contact Don Kiefer at 887-3137 or 887-3610.

CHESTERFIELD -- Beulah M. Stewart, 93, of Chesterfield died Wednesday, March 4, 1998, at Missouri Masonic Home in Chesterfield. She was born July 17, 1904, at Oak Ridge, daughter of Brown and Cora Hartle Clippard. Survivors include a son, Wayne Loos of Ballwin; a brother, Fred Clippard of Jackson; two sisters, Esther Clodfelter of Ironton and Lucy Medley of Cape Girardeau; and a grandchild...

SIKESTON -- Graveside service for Joyce Bartles of Mt. Vernon will be held at 2 p.m. today at Garden of Memories Cemetery. Dr. Jim Guffie will officiate. Ponder Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Bartles, 68, died Tuesday, March 3, 1998, in Mt. Vernon...

SIKESTON -- Funeral for Karen Sue Akins of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Hunter Memorial Presbyterian Church. Dr. Tom Bass will officiate, with burial in Evergreen Cemetery at New Madrid. Ponder Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Akins, 41, died Wednesday, March 4, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

Public graveside service for Ernest Frank "Red" Foster of Cape Girardeau will be held at 2 p.m. today at Fairmount Cemetery. The Rev. Philip Curran will officiate. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Foster, 82, died Wednesday, March 4, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center...

MARBLE HILL -- Funeral for Frank Gabriel of Marble Hill will be held at 1 p.m. today at Liley Funeral Home in Marble Hill, with the Rev. Michael Woods officiating. Burial will be in Bess Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 10 a.m. until service time...

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral for Marceil Belle "Shorty" Pate of Pine Bluff, Ark., will be held at 11 a.m. today at Cranford Funeral Home in White Hall, Ark. Pastor Bill Grove will officiate. Friends may call at the funeral home from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Graveside service will be at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Lightner Cemetery in Scott City...

DELTA -- Austin Dakota Clayborn was stillborn Thursday, March 5, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Survivors include his parents, Gaylin and Gail Johnson Clayborn of Delta; a sister, Tiffany Clayborn of the home; paternal grandparents, Don and Leona Lesch; maternal grandparents, Collin and Linda Johnson; paternal great-grandparents, Ivan and Reatha Lesch, all of Delta; and maternal great-grandmother, Mae Webb of Scopus...

Daughter to Thomas and Kristine Vanek of Fort Wayne, Ind., Parkview Hospital, Friday, Feb. 6, 1998. Name, Madison Marie. Weight, 6 pounds 5 ounces. Mrs. Vanek is the former Kristine Hemmann, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Hemmann of Cape Girardeau. Vanek is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Vanek of St. Louis...

Mrs. Viola L. Brennac age 85 of Jackson passed away at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau Thursday, March 5, 1998. She was born Sept. 6, 1912 in Washington, Missouri, the daughter of Frank and Magdelena (Kraemer) Lohmeyer, Sr. Mrs. Brennac moved to Jackson, MO in 1984 from Washington, MO and for the past three years she has resided at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau...