Stories from Friday, July 14, 2000

ST. LOUIS -- Henry Shaw's 200th Birthday Celebration will be held July 22-24 at the Missouri Botanical Garden. In addition to founding the Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park, Shaw contributed to and influenced the Missouri Historical Society, Washington University and more than a dozen other local organizations...

Next in the special summer series of "Piano Jazz" programs on KRCU-FM is a program featuring Tommy Flanagan, McPartland and bassist Keter Betts in a tribute to the late Ella Fitzgerald. Subsequent programs will feature pianist-vocalist Freddy Cole (July 25), trumpet player Roy Hargrove (Aug. 1), and pianist George Shearing (Aug. 8)...

Next week, the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri is introducing children to Orff Schulwerk. Orff Schulwerk is not a modern painter or sculptor, but a method for learning music. "Orff" comes from the last name of the method's creator, Carl Orff. The German music teacher first began to develop his ideas about how to teach children music in the mid-1920s at a school in Munich. ...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Perry County's former Senate Bill 40 board reached a legal compromise with county officials in a lawsuit that alleged board members were dismissed incorrectly. The settlement was reached Thursday morning, making a 10 a.m. hearing before St. Louis Circuit Judge Robert H. Dierker Jr. unnecessary...

Southeast Missouri State University wants to raise $10 to $12 million to build a new press box at Houck Stadium and a separate athletic training facility that would include some end-zone seating for football and soccer games. The price tag includes providing the women's soccer team with a renovated locker room in the adjacent Houck Field House, school officials said Thursday...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau County commissioners steered clear of a transit tax Thursday, telling members of the new transit board and a related advisory committee to make use of existing state and federal funding. "I don't think you will need a sales tax," said Commissioner Larry Bock...

Veronica Swingle, 6, got to see a chimney swift that she had only heard in the chimney of her family's home in Cape Girardeau. A chimney swift may fly as many as 135,000 miles every year, but three of the small, sooty-gray birds had to be escorted only 100 miles Thursday afternoon...

After nine campaigns for the Missouri General Assembly, state Rep. Mary Kasten says she is staying out of this year's battle to replace her. "I think people should be able to make their own choices without me endorsing somebody," said Kasten, a Cape Girardeau Republican who isn't seeking re-election. "I'm really trying hard not to get into the middle of this."...

An Oak Ridge girl was seriously injured Thursday in a three-vehicle accident west of Jackson. Tessa Newell, 7, was taken to St. Francis Medical Center after the 4:40 p.m. accident on Highway 34, one-half mile west of Jackson. She was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Cheryl Newell, 33, of Oak Ridge...

As you all know by now, I'm not what you'd call mechanical. I always think of this when the calendar brings us July just to remind us that January's ice storms aren't so bad after all. But I've had a breakthrough in technology, and I'm dying to tell you about it...

BLOOMFIELD -- The feasibility of consolidating several public water districts in Stoddard County now can be studied, thanks to an appropriation authorized by the county's Industrial Development Authority. A consolidation of the water districts would be aimed at improving the supply of water and potentially provide public water to residents now served by private wells. ...

JACKSON -- Don't hang up. Pay up. That's the advice of the Cape Girardeau County Commission, which wants companies providing local telephone service to pay the emergency-911 tax. County officials are concerned that some telephone companies which provide local service over Southwestern Bell lines are collecting emergency-911 taxes and not passing the money on to the county as required by law...

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell has poured over blueprints, talked to neighboring county sheriffs and studied up on how to build the perfect jail. But he still has questions about everything from parking lots to kitchen equipment to security issues...

CHARLESTON -- A grand jury convened by Presiding Circuit Judge David A. Dolan has begun meeting in Mississippi County. The grand jury was recently impaneled after meeting with the Mississippi County prosecuting attorney, Jennifer Raffety, and various law enforcement officials...

A federal grant of almost $10,000 will help Cape Girardeau police buy bulletproof vests, but officers say it only meets part of the need. Since the $9,552 U.S. Justice Department grant is based on receiving a 50 percent match from the city to buy vests, municipal or charitable funds are still needed to take advantage of the money, said patrolman Curtis Sessions, president of the Cape Girardeau Police Officers Association...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Who would have guessed that singing in the shower would end up like this? Not Brad Wilson. The 17-year-old has been known to belt out a note or two around the house and admits he thought he had a decent voice, but when he was accepted for membership in the 2000 Missouri Honor Choir, it was a pretty good indication he'd inherited his dad's vocal talent...

Video conferences are part of a fast growing communications medium. With improved sound and vision now at affordable levels, the advantages for holding video meetings are unlimited. "If you want to be there, you can," said Rick Hetzel, chief of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, and a vice president of the Missouri Police Chiefs...

Fans who in the past have been starved for rodeo between the Longhorn Rodeo at the Show Me Center in February, the Sikeston Bootheel Rodeo in August and the smaller competitions at the Flickerwood Arena in Jackson have a new attraction. Cape's Wildest Rodeo will be presented tonight and Saturday night in front of the grandstand at Arena Park. The benefit for the Muscular Dystrophy Association is sanctioned by the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association and the American Cowboys Rodeo Association...

The National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional resumes tonight with the matchup everybody was expecting all along. There figures to be plenty of excitement and anticipation for the 8 p.m. winner's bracket final at Capaha Field pitting a pair of fierce rivals -- the host McDowell Capahas and St. Louis O.B. Clark, who have combined to dominate the regional over the past several years...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Phillip John Barkett Sr., 81, of Sikeston died Thursday, July 13, 2000, at Clearview Nursing Center in Sikeston. He was born June 22, 1919, in Cayce, Ky., the son of James and Phoebe Lewis Barkett. He married Marianne Rose Gannon on Jan. 31, 1947, in Cairo, Ill. She died Dec. 4, 1975...

Funeral for Lawrence Lowell Fee of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Steve Vester will officiate. Entombment will be in Cape County Memorial Park Mausoleum, with military rites by Missouri National Guard...

Funeral for Fred H. Elfrank of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Hugh Stewart will officiate. Burial will be in Lorimier Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. today...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Christine Hughes, 64, of Marble Hill died Wednesday, July 12, 2000, at her home. She was born Sept. 7, 1935, near Hiram, Mo., daughter of Bernie Lee and Flora Mae Skaggs Dickie. She and Homer Hughes were married May 10, 1955. Hughes had worked at Marble Hill Hat Co. She attended New Salem Baptist Church...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Julia Johanna Arnzen, 89, of Marble Hill died Wednesday, July 12, 2000, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 22, 1911, in Leopold, Mo., the daughter of Jacob G and Rosina Elfrink Vandeven. She married William Arnzen on April 25, 1934, in Leopold. He died June 21, 1994...

GORDONVILLE, Mo. -- Delmar Lewis Eggimann, 64, passed away Thursday, July 13, 2000, at his home in Gordonville. Visitation will be Saturday, July 15, from 3-5:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall at First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mo. A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m., with the Rev. Bud Schott, the Rev. Charles "Chuck" Bowser, and Robert Dudley officiating. There will be a private family burial...

ORAN, Mo. -- William Phillips II, 48, of Oran died Monday, July 10, 2000, at his home. He was born June 8, 1952, in Cape Girardeau, son of William Perry and Imogene Stacey Phillips Sr. Phillips retired as a printer at the Chaffee Signal Newspaper. He served in the U.S. Army...

NEW WELLS, Mo. -- Arnold William Alvin Mirly, 78, of New Wells passed away Wednesday, July 12, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. Friday at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson. Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, with the Rev. Walter Patzwitz officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Clara Jane Dodd, 93, of Olive Branch died Wednesday, July 12, 2000, at Daystar Care Center in Cairo, Ill. She was born Oct. 26, 1906, in Diswood, Ill., daughter of George and Edy Abbott Tudor. She married John Dodd, who died in 1972...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Mary H. Howard, 95, of Jackson died Wednesday, July 12, 2000, at Heartland Care Rehab Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 28, 1905, in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., daughter of Thomas and Lucinda Godair Carney. She married S.T. Howard, who died Dec. 7, 1963...

Betty June Fox Hoppe, 74, died Wednesday, July 12, 2000, at her home in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 1, 1926, at Springfield, Mo., daughter of Cecil and Ethel McBride. She and James A. Fox were married April 4, 1943, in Springfield, Mo. He died March 3, 1973. She and Charles Hoppe were married Nov. 23, 1984, in Cape Girardeau...

ORAN, Mo. -- Memorial Mass for Arnold Michael Schoen of St. Louis was held July 8 at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in St. Louis. Interment will be private at a later date. John L. Ziegenhein and Sons Funeral Home in St. Louis was in charge of arrangements...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Flora I. Winschel, 89, of Perryville died Thursday, July 13, 2000, at the Perry County Nursing Home. She was born Dec. 15, 1910, in Perry County, the daughter of Louis H. and Anna Meyer. She married Louis A. Winschel on Sept. 5, 1938. He died Feb. 21, 1985...

A show of firm resolve has put an end to another highway blockade planned for this week in St. Louis. The results were far different than last year's shutdown of I-70, which resulted in negotiations by Gov. Mel Carnahan that led to quite a few concessions to the protesters...

Attorney General Jay Nixon says the governor's committee assigned to study chip mills was too wimpy. He said the committee's recommendation to urge voluntary compliance with good timber-harvesting practices wasn't enough. The only way to save the state's forests, in Nixon's way of thinking, is to sue and prosecute...

To the editor: The Southeast Missourian is incorrect on several points of its July 12 editorial ("AG is too lax with audits of Medicaid program"), not the least of which is the headline. The attorney general is not responsible for audits of the Medicaid program. ...

To the editor: In answer to the Speak Out caller who said that he hated to disillusion me about impeaching the Supreme Court justices: Well, you never know. They say that the next man elected president will have the opportunity to appoint several new justices. ...