Stories from Friday, April 17, 1998

To the editor: A comment was made in Speak Out about a possible connection between the undeniable fact that I retired from the Postal Service and the highly dubious fact that I "espouse liberal, big-government views." I do not know whether the caller was patronizing me or sincerely praising me when he professed faith in the honorableness of my career and in my excellent performance therein. ...

The most precious gift that you can give someone is the gift of life itself. That is exactly what you do by becoming an organ and tissue donor. April is National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Month and is designed to raise public awareness of organ and tissue donation and transplantation. ...

Dawn Dresel, R.N. at Saint Francis Medical Center, checked patient's charts for lab results, records and medications. There was a time when a nurse's duties were pretty straightforward: You did whatever the doctor said and whatever it took to make the patient more comfortable...

Astronaut Linda Godwin will speak May 8 at Southeast Missouri State University as part of the festivities for Sigma Phi Sigma, the school's physics honor society. The Oak Ridge native will lecture at 1:30 p.m. in Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium. Three students will be inducted into the honor society at 4 p.m. in Rhodes Hall of Science, Room 121...

Walter C. Crawford is no stranger to Cape Girardeau. The founder of the World Bird Sanctuary, part of the St. Louis Zoological Park, attended school here, receiving a bachelor's degree from Southeast Missouri State University. Crawford, now a noted ornithologist, will be in Cape Girardeau this weekend as part of a Ste. Genevieve Days program Saturday and Sunday at West Park Mall...

More than 350 stops were made in Cape Girardeau and northern Scott counties by troopers from the Missouri Highway Patrol Wednesday, as a part of concerted effort to crack down on speeding and other traffic violations in the area. During the stops, made on four state highways as well as Interstate 55, troopers handed out 102 speeding tickets and 43 tickets for failure to wear a seatbelt...

Police officers, with guns drawn and ready and search warrant in hand, surrounded a house suspected of being a center for illegal drug trafficking, then burst through the doors to conduct a raid. It looked real, but was in fact a part of a weeklong special response team training event sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Police Department and involving police officers from throughout Southeast Missouri...

As long as there has been college athletics, so too has there been the stereotype of the typical dumb jock. But at Southeast Missouri State University, that stereotype is being challenged. Southeast's athletes have not only proven to be successful on the playing field, they've also demonstrated that they are extremely talented in the classroom...

For many readers of the Southeast Missourian, the story and photograph about the students at Jackson High School who are preparing for a Big Band Gala Dance this Saturday brought back a lot of good memories. Remember those sounds? Some of our bodies have a few more aches than they did in those days, but our minds can still recall the fun of a dance with a live band playing all those favorites...

To the editor: How many of us really care about the millions of children murdered each year in our abortion mills? What are we waiting for? Who are we expecting to lead us out of the killing fields? Will no one do anything except the few, the brave, those members of grassroots organizations scattered throughout small communities and large cities, all trying to survive on small donations from a few citizens as Planned Parenthood smilingly receives millions of our tax dollars each year and contributions from corporations.. ...

Hospitals must concentrate on patients' needs to be successful in the new health-care marketplace, the president of the Missouri Hospital Association said Thursday night. "Hospitals have perhaps unwittingly entered the world of big business," Marc Smith said at the Southeast Missouri Hospital Association's annual dinner...

The Federal Trade Commission is trying to block the proposed merger of Poplar Bluff's two hospitals. The FTC said Thursday the proposed merger between Lucy Lee Hospital, owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp. of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Doctors Regional Medical Center, owned by Poplar Bluff Physician Group Inc., will amount to "a virtual merger to monopoly."...

MALDEN -- Putting the Kyoto Global Climate Treaty conditions in place would mean higher food and utility prices and a significant loss of jobs -- perhaps industries -- in Southeast Missouri. Those warnings were issued Thursday at a hearing held by the U.S. House of Representatives' Small Business Committee. U.S. Reps. Jim Talent, R-Chesterfield, chairman of the panel, and Jo Ann Emerson conducted the hearing. Eight representatives of business and agricultural organizations testified...

JEFFERSON CITY -- The Missouri House Budget Committee Thursday slashed funding for construction of the new Cape Girardeau vocational-technical school by $1.5 million. The Cape Girardeau School District had asked for $1.65 million. Gov. Mel Carnahan included the funding in his fiscal 1999 budget proposal, but the committee on a voice vote eliminated all but $150,000...

But if you just want to come close, read on, and learn how the date of Easter is calculated, thanks to an advisory committee. This is just a theory, mind you, and I haven't done a bunch of scientific research or conducted any polls. But my theory is this: The folks who decided how to figure the date for Easter every year had either been to Missouri or heard about it. Of course, this was long before Missouri was a state and everything...

Seventh-grade students from Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Poplar Bluff were recruited by Gov. Mel Carnahan Thursday to aid in Missouri's newest anti-methamphetamine campaign. Louis J. Schultz School was Carnahan's first stop in Southeast Missouri to unveil a billboard campaign which aims to expose the production of methamphetamine drugs, commonly known as meth. ...

Southeast Missouri State University baseball coach Mark Hogan was looking for big things this season from Ryan Spille, his top pitching recruit. But Hogan admits that Spille has so far exceeded even the coach's most optimistic expectations. A junior left-hander who transferred from Rend Lake (Ill.) College, Spille is having one of the most dominating pitching performances in recent Southeast history...

Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball program gained one player but lost another Thursday. Coach Gary Garner announced that junior guard Dewayne Saulsberry, who saw limited action last season, will leave Southeast at the end of the spring semester and transfer to another school...

Southeast Missouri State University's women's track and field team will look to continue its recent Ohio Valley Conference dominance this weekend. The Otahkians will be favored to repeat their title when the OVC Outdoor Championships are contested today and Saturday on the campus of Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tenn...

Charleston native Matt Whiteside may get his first chance to pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals this weekend. Whiteside will be in the visitors' dugout at Busch Stadium this weekend as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. A member of the Texas Rangers for the past six seasons, Whiteside was released by the club prior to the start of the 1998 season. Philadelphia signed the right-handed reliever and he will be with the squad when they begin a three-game series today with the Cardinals...

It won't be hard to find a high school baseball game this weekend as the inaugural Cape Central Tigers' Showcase gets under way today. Six schools will participate in the 10 games scheduled at three different sights this weekend. Notre Dame and Cape Central will host all of the varsity games while junior varsity games will be played at Arena Park...

Danny Groesbeck shot a 3-over-par 38 on the front nine at Cape Girardeau Country to claim medalist and help the Cape Central Tigers to a 166-168 victory over New Madrid County Central. Mike Oslund added a 41 for Cape Central (6-1) while Jeff Haycraft carded a 43 and Josh Miller and Kent Phillips tied at 44...

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Two years after leaving a head coaching job to become an assistant, Sam Weaver is back in charge again. Weaver, the associate head coach at Iowa State, was introduced Thursday as the new basketball coach at Northern Iowa. He was selected over five other finalists to succeed Eldon Miller, who resigned last month...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral for Elay Agnes Redd of East Prairie will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie. Pastor Larry Smith will officiate, with burial in East Prairie Memorial Park. Friends may call all day today at the funeral home...

ORAN -- Patrick Maloy Emerson, 44, of Oran died Wednesday, April 15, 1998, in the Emergency Room of Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Jan. 2, 1954, in Sikeston, son of John Mac and Ossie Mae Pratt Emerson. Emerson was a 1972 graduate of Scott County Central High School, attended Southeast Missouri State University, and received a bachelor of science degree in paralegal studies from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in 1997...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Graveside service for Erma Davenport of New Madrid will be held at 11 a.m. today at IOOF Cemetery, with Raymond Grimes officiating. Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie is in charge of arrangements. Davenport, 90, died Wednesday, April 15, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

SCOTT CITY -- Geraldene Lix, 67, of Scott City died Wednesday, April 15, 1998, in Okeechobee, Fla. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City is in charge of arrangements.

ADVANCE -- Funeral for Ada Jo Nanna of Advance will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Red Star Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau. The Revs. Don Stephens and Cy Smith will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park in Cape Girardeau. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel in Cape Girardeau from 4-8 p.m. today...

Funeral for Jesse Walton Hand of Cape Girardeau will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel, with the Rev. Cy Smith officiating. Burial will be in Russell Heights Cemetery at Jackson. Friends may call at the chapel from 4-8 p.m. today...

Daughter to Barry Clayton and Amy Michelle Blue of Chaffee, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:59 a.m. Thursday, April 9, 1998. Name, Cheyenne Denae. Weight, 6 pounds 8 ounces. Second daughter. Mrs. Blue is the former Amy Burger, daughter of Janet Burger of Benton. She is a medical transcriptionist at Cape Girardeau Surgical Clinic. Blue is the son of Jim Blue of Chaffee. He is a shift coordinator at Dana Corp...

Two people sustained moderate injuries and a third person minor injuries in separate accidents Thursday in Bollinger and Scott counties. One accident occurred at 3:40 p.m. on Route KK seven miles north of Sedgewickville. Terry S. Craft, 40, of Sedgewickville was taken to Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville with moderate injuries...

Graveside service for Vickie Sue James of Newport, N.H., will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Memorial Park. The Rev. Jerry Statler will officiate. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel from 6-8 p.m. today. James, 44, died Tuesday, April 14, 1998, at New London Hospital in New London, N.H...