Stories from Monday, May 1, 2000

Karen Alberson of Bell City has received "Head of State" recognition for sales and service with the Mary Kay Co. Alberson is one of 54 recipients to receive the award, nationally. Mary Kay, which provides more than 200 products in eight beauty categories, has more than 500,000 women selling products throughout the world...

The average price of gasoline in the United States dropped nearly 4 cents a gallon at the pumps in the past two weeks, the Lundberg Survey reported Sunday. Lower crude oil prices and increased production were behind the decline, analyst Trilby Lundberg said...

Sales and earnings rose again for Anheuser-Busch Cos. in the first quarter as the brewing giant inched closer to possessing half the beer market share in the United States. The St. Louis-based maker of the No. 1 beer, Budweiser, the top light beer, Bud Light, and several other beverages, reported Wednesday that it had a net income of $350 million, or 76 cents per diluted share, in the quarter ending May 31, up from earnings of $319 million, or 66 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year ago.. ...

Donald D. Beckham of Cape Girardeau has joined the Merrill Lynch office in Cape Girardeau, as a financial consultant. Bart B. Ozbun, assistant vice president and financial consultant in charge of the local office, announced Beckham's appointment recently...

Rick Shultz of Jackson finished among the top 20 salespeople in 1999 for maintenance engineering, winning two Quarterly Rise awards for exceeding sales goals during the first and fourth quarters of the 1999. Schultz joined M.E. in October 1996. Maintenance Engineering specializes in the sale and distribution of replacement lighting products, and operates nationwide, with more than 300 independent sales contractors in the United States. ...

Coldwell Banker Hamilton Realty agents Terri Penrod and Jon Knehans have received the "Graduate of the Realtor Institute" designation by the Missouri Association of Realtors. Penrod is the top producing sales associate for Coldwell Banker Hamilton Realty and president of the Cape Girardeau County Board of Realtors. Knehans is a local and state director for the Cape County Board of Realtors and specializes in commercial sales...

Michael Hobbs has been promoted to vice president and a director on the board of First Commercial Bank of Southeast Missouri. Norman Harty, chairman of the board announced Hobbs' promotion recently. In his new position, Hobbs' responsibilities will include making commercial, real estate and consumer loans as well as participating with other officers in the daily operation of the bank...

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics, 1949 "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." -- Western Union, 1876 "640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981...

"What's the H stand for?" "I can't tell you, it's really boring." Phil Denson still doesn't know what the 'H' stands for in 'Local H', a two-piece band of national renown. But whether it's Local H, Tom Drummond of Better Than Ezra, Sponge or some other musical group, you can read about it in Denson's "Ear Candy" column in OFF! magazine, an arts & entertainment publication offered by the Southeast Missourian...

This "Financial Focus" column is prepared by Edward Jones Investments, headquartered in St. Louis. Jones includes branches throughout the nation, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson. College costs have risen rapidly in the past decade. Even if these increases level off somewhat, today's toddlers could easily face a $100,000 bill for four years at a public college and twice that amount for many private schools...

The concept of "servant-leadership" makes sense, says John Tlapek, a Cape Girardeau businessman who is chairman of the board and majority owner of three Southeast Missouri businesses. Tlapek was one of 15 business executives invited to a special leadership conference presented by Ken Blanchard of The Ken Blanchard Cos...

Dana Corp. has announced record sales and profits for the first quarter of 2000. The Dana financial report shows first-quarter sales of $3.5 billion, up 2 percent from the first quarter of 1999. Net income increased to $245 million, and earnings per share increased to $1.54 a share, compared to $162 million and 97 cents a share a year ago...

The "glass ceiling" that historically has been a barrier to advancement by women in the work place is showing some cracks, a gradual change backed up by Census Bureau figures. It's not enough to ensure clear upward mobility for women, say analysts and women's advocacy groups, but noticeable enough to suggest those comfortable corner offices and plush leather chairs are no longer the sole dominion of men...

If you believe the Microsoft case does not affect you just because you don't use a computer, then you had better not invest in the stock market. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruling that Microsoft abused its monopoly practices has affected us all. ...

Friday Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee, Show Me center, 7:30 a.m. May 15-29 100-Mile Yard Sale, Route 25, Jackson to Kennett.

Cape Prosthetics-Orthotics Inc. of Cape Girardeau has purchased Standard Artificial Limb Co. of St. Louis. The owner, Delbert Lee Cobb, is a certified prosthetist with more than 25 years of experience in the prosthetic field. The company has seven facilities 44 Doctors Park in Cape Girardeau, 1904 Olive St. in St. Louis and 4010 N. Illinois St. in Swansea, Ill. Branches are at Maryland, Heights, Poplar Bluff, Carbondale, Ill., and Paducah, Ky...

The new Cape Girardeau Diabetes Clinic opened at 17 Doctors Park today. The clinic, headed by Dr. Joe M. Chehade, will treat patients with obesity, cholesterol problems, sexual dysfunction and adrenal and pituitary gland dysfunction. Chehade, formerly an assistant clinical professor of Medicine at St. ...

Supervalu has leased office space at 2110 Main St., in Scott City. Tom Kelsey, broker with Lorimont Place Ltd., disclosed that office space had been leased to the giant grocery store distributor for its regional military distribution division. This section of the company handles distribution of products primarily to government and military users...

Southern Missouri Bank & Trust Co., headquartered in Poplar Bluff, has acquired Commerce Bank branches in Kennett and Qulin. The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter. Southern Missouri operates eight full-service banking facilities in Southeast Missouri, including a branch in Kennett...

Essner's Custom Butchering and Processing of Scott City has won two places in a statewide contest held during the Missouri Association of Meat Processor's 40th annual convention and trade show at Columbia. The Scott City company won first place in the category on whole muscle jerky and second place or reserve champion on ground and formed jerky...

The sight in Velda Bartlett's left eye is marred by a black cloud. "I can see around the edges, but right in the center I can't see anything but a black blob," said Bartlett, 82, whose vision problems are caused by late or wet stage age-related macular degeneration...

There's breathing room at Franklin Elementary School now, and parents of children attending the school want to keep it that way. The Cape Girardeau Board of Education is considering a proposal that would transfer some students enrolled at Barbara Blanchard Elementary School to Franklin in the coming school year. The change is needed because Blanchard is nearing the building's enrollment capacity and Franklin is underused...

Do you know what your children are watching? Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan has some concerns about video and computer games which depict violence and sexual themes, and urges major retailers to enforce an existing rating system and stop selling those games to minors...

Three people were arrested and thousands of counterfeit items seized Saturday after officers from several police agencies searched three Sikeston flea markets, three storage facilities at Dexter and a private residence in Stoddard County. "They (the police) came in here like it was some big thing," said Kim Byrd, owner of Tradewinds on W. Malone Avenue, one of the flea markets that was raided...

Bicyclists, walkers, nature lovers and families out for an afternoon outing enjoyed the sunshine as they made their way along the Cape LaCroix Nature Trail at the Osage Centre. Donna Maguire, education chairman for the Four Seasons Audubon Society, wanted to draw attention to the trail and organized Sunday's nature walk...

The Cape Girardeau City Council will decide tonight whether to extend the current sales tax funding a Transportation Trust Fund program for street repairs. The council meets Monday at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 401 Independence. What exact improvements will be funded by the half-cent sales tax extension are not definite yet. ...

BURFORDVILLE -- The four floors of the mill at the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site contain many pieces of heavy machinery used to turn grain into flour. These machines, if you understand them as Jack Smoot does, tell a story about the evolution of milling from the time Oliver Evans developed the automated grist mill in the late 1700s until the Bollinger Mill closed in 1953...

PROOF OF further mockery by this president is so very evident in this Gonzalez case. Here he's been preaching gun control and then unleashes federal gun power on a family, endangering the life of children in that home. JUST WHAT is the purpose of the Department of Justice? Is its purpose to cover up obstruction of justice and perjury? Is its purpose to carry off little boys in bags at gunpoint out of their home during the middle of the night when they could have just been led out by hand in the daylight? Is the purpose to go after the strongest industry in the United States, the computer high-tech industry, to try to make it smaller and less efficient so maybe the poorer countries can catch up with us? Just what is the purpose of the Department of Justice?. ...

Southeast Missouri State University has big plans for its visual and performing arts school at the former St. Vincent's Seminary, and a museum is among them. A rare-book collection housed in the library at St. Mary's of the Barrens in Perryville would be a magnificent addition to the university museum...

A candidate for statewide office was on the phone the other day asking the usual campaign-season question: how to win the August primary and the November general elections. Some candidates are like that. They have for some unfathomable reason concluded that if they ask this all-important question about a campaign's success long enough, a solution will magically appear from out of the blue, perhaps accompanied by a thundering voice that leaves no doubt as to the identity of The Speaker...

The sale of $17 million in industrial revenue bonds to help M&W Packaging expand its plant north of Cape Girardeau would provide a significant boost to the local economy. The County Commission has authorized the sale. The company must agree to it under a 10-year, lease-purchase agreement, and state and local officials must concur...

After splitting a pair of tight, hotly contested games Saturday, Murray State left no doubt Sunday. The Thoroughbreds won the rubber game of a big Ohio Valley Conference weekend baseball series, thrashing Southeast Missouri State University 9-3 in front of more than 1,200 fans at Capaha Field...

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Jennifer Dippel hurled a masterpiece for Southeast Missouri State University's softball team Sunday as the Otahkians knocked off host Morehead State 2-0. Dippel, who improved to 7-4, pitched all seven innings, allowing just two hits while striking out four and walking three...

From an outstanding group of impressive senior athletes, two were honored as the top Notre Dame High School athletes of the class of 2000. Notre Dame bestowed its annual awards of Lady Bulldog and Bulldog of the Year on seniors Michelle Hency and Josh Eftink at the school's annual athletic awards banquet Sunday...

CHARLESTON -- Helen Virginia Haas, 77, of Charleston died Sunday, April 30, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Oct. 28, 1922, in the Dogwood Community near East Prairie, daughter of Marshall and Hattie Watson Blackman. She and Cletus Haas were married April 21, 1945...

VILLA RIDGE, Ill. -- Sam B. McAllister, 79, of Villa Ridge died Sunday, April 30, 2000, at Lourdes Hospital at Paducah, Ky. He was born July 21, 1920, at White Oak, Mo., son of Sam and Pearl Jones McAllister. His first wife, Ernestine Gray McAllister, died in 1973...

JACKSON -- Marie Ruester, 66, of Jackson died Sunday, April 30, 2000, at her home. Arrangements are pending at McCombs Funeral Home at Jackson.

JACKSON -- Loy Yamnitz Jr., 71, of Jackson died Saturday, April 29, 2000, at his home. He was born Dec. 19, 1928, at Yount, son of Loy O. and Myrtle Fadler Yamnitz Sr. He and Wilma Barks were married Feb. 11, 1950. Yamnitz owned and operated Yamnitz Auto Body in Jackson since 1966. He was a member of the First General Baptist Church at Jackson...

Dorothy Sarah Seabaugh, 96, died Sunday, April 30, 2000, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are pending at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel.