Stories from Saturday, July 8, 2000

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Life is dramatically different for William J. Murray today than it was in 1960 when his mother filed a lawsuit against a Baltimore school district that eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Today Murray, the son of well-known atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair, preaches in churches, speaks about socially conservative issues and leads an organization aimed at getting prayer back in school...

"Something bad is about to happen." That's the way a Missouri Chamber of Commerce executive described the initiative calling for taypayer-financed elections. The initiative, sponsored by Missouri Voters for Fair Elections or MVFE, is targeting Missouri employers to foot the bill for political campaigns of legislative and statewide candidates...

The Census Bureau hasn't stopped asking questions. The federal agency isn't content just with getting the census forms filled out. It is looking to expand its year-round American Community Survey, which is now reaching some households in Cape Girardeau County and 38 other counties in Missouri...

Dennis Marchi, right, of Cape Girardeau jumped from an airplane with members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team during a tandem jump Friday at the Air Festival being held at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. Mike Lunn could have taken his P-51 Mustang flight simulator to an air show in Bloomington, Ill., this weekend, but he chose Cape Girardeau instead...

Missouri's campaign finance restrictions on political parties are back in place, the state Ethics Commission said Friday. The commission's action followed a closed-door discussion by the commissioners, who met via a telephone conference call. But officials with the Ethics Commission say the agency won't know if the political parties are abiding by the law until July 31 at the earliest. ...

After a year as Gov. Mel Carnahan's chief of staff, Chris Sifford will step down from the post to take a key position on Carnahan's campaign for the U.S. Senate. Sifford, a native of Puxico, Mo., has served in the governor's office since Carnahan took office in 1993. He was the governor's communications director for six and a half years before being elevated to chief of staff, the office's top administrative position, in June 1999...

What would have been ditch-filler instead became a home for a family of 10 this week, thanks to St. Vincent de Paul Church. Denis Rigdon, co-chairman of the church's Christian Service Fund, oversaw delivery of a two-bedroom mobile home to eight children and their parents in Kennett Friday morning. The unit will replace the dilapidated mobile home the family had lived in...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Friday the 30 wild horses and 10 burros had only numbers and a pen. When today is done, many of them will have homes and maybe even names. The Wild Horse & Burro Adoption begins at 7 a.m. today at Flickerwood Arena and continues until 5 p.m. Those who haven't yet registered with the Bureau of Land Management can still bid on horses today after the auction for registered buyers...

COMMERCE -- The community that has fought the Mississippi River for some 200 years is now waiting for it to return the body of a native who disappeared following a boating accident in Cape Girardeau last week. Relatives and friends of Ricky Wright, 42, moved their vigil to Commerce Friday after spending most of the week at Honker's Boat Dock in Cape Girardeau. ...

CHARLESTON, MO. -- Missouri and Illinois authorities searched a 10-mile-stretch of the Mississippi River Thursday for signs of a possible suicide victim who may have jumped from the I-57 bridge between Charleston, Mo., and Cairo, Ill. A relative who was concerned the man was suicidal called the Missouri State Highway Patrol Thursday morning and left a description of the man and the vehicle he was driving...

The first three toys Jalisa Durham picked out were a Warrior Princess battery-powered vehicle, Powerpuff Girls cartoon superheroes that save the world -- and a Super Gymnast Barbie doll. Those would be natural choices for an 8-year-old girl who has fought cystic fibrosis most of her life and now needs a double lung transplant...

Millie Wallhausen, publisher of the Enterprise Courier newspaper in Charleston will be the featured guest Sunday on KRCU's "Going Public" radio show. The taped interview features Wallhausen's reflections on 64 years in the newspaper business, politics in the Bootheel and the social history of Charleston. The public affairs show airs at 3 p.m. on 90.9 FM, the region's Public Radio affiliate station...

A guitar-playing U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft preached "Missouri values" and sang "God Bless America" as he campaigned in Southeast Missouri Friday. Ashcroft visited the Bootheel as part of his six-day bus trip around the state to launch his re-election campaign...

The Cape Girardeau Riverdogs were pounded by the Southern Illinois Diamondbacks 10-1 in the opening game of the National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional tournament at Capaha Park Friday evening. The Riverdogs (2-7), in their first year of existence, had played the Goreville, Ill. team, which improved to 12-9, tough in two previous games. But after giving up five runs in the second inning and four in the third, the game was called in the fifth on the run-rule...

BELL CITY -- Wes Steele combined for seven runs batted in and hit homers in back-to-back games while Tommy Wencewicz had seven hits in two games as the Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons Senior Legion team crushed Stoddard County in a doubleheader Friday night...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Funeral for Virginia Irene McGahey of Sikeston will be held at 11 a.m. today at Ponder Funeral Home. The Rev. Carl Addison will officiate. Burial will be in Forest Hills Cemetery at Morley. McGahey, 82, died Thursday, July 6, 2000, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

Son to Randall Allen and Lisa Kaye Hooe of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 2:28 a.m. Sunday, July 2, 2000. Name, Camden Ray. Weight, 6 pounds 6 ounces. Third son. Mrs. Hooe is the former Lisa Ivie, daughter of Jimmie and Linda Ivie of Sikeston. She is a teacher at Jackson R-2 School District. Hooe is a car salesman at Morley Motor Co...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Walter E. Friedman, 96, of Mounds died Friday, July 7, 2000, at Daystar Care Center in Cairo. He was born Feb. 19, 1904, in Cairo. Friedman was a retired bartender. He was a member of the Assembly of God Church in Mounds. Survivors include two daughters, Dola Wilson of Ocean Springs, Miss., Norma Davis of Decatur; six grandchildren; several great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren...

WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- Robert Raymond Roberts, 81, of Wappapello died Friday, July 7, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 4, 1918, in Essex, son of William Printy and Letha Mofield Roberts. He and Ina Causbie were married Dec. 15, 1945, at Dexter...

Funeral Mass for Helen Lorene Unnerstall of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Mary's Cathedral. Msgr. Richard Rolwing will officiate. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery. Friends may call at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel Monday from 8-9:45 a.m...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Former Marble Hill businessman Elmer Clyde Fetterhoff, 86, of Jackson, Mo., passed away at 1:10 p.m. July 6, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center, after a serious illness of two weeks. Mr. Fetterhoff was born Feb. 27, 1914, at College Mound, Mo., to Jay Glen and Ruth Westlake Fetterhoff. He was educated in Bloomington, Ill., and attended Illinois State University...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Clara Rita Nall, 86, died Thursday, July 6, 2000, at Advance Nursing Center. She was born Sept. 4, 1913, near Advance, daughter of John F. and Maude Sample VanGennip. She and James Truman Nall were married Dec. 6, 1934, at Bloomfield. He died Sept. 9, 1976...

SCOTT CITY, MO. -- Edith Elizabeth Smith, 78, of Scott City died Friday, July 7, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born April 13, 1922, in Bradford, Ark., daughter of Robert A. and Edna Cullum Veach. She was raised by her stepmother, Elizabeth Bean Veach...

Barbara Avery, 56, of Scott City died Friday, July 7, 2000, at her home. Arrangement are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

THE NEWS media such as ABC, NBC and CBS all package liberalism as caring, helping and the future. But what is it? It's anything goes, no morals, no values, no responsibility, government control on everything and a godless society. It has taken over one political party, and it soon will take over the morals of our country with the atheist and political liberals of the ACLU. We need a wake-up all...

Southeast Missouri State University is "quietly" on its way to raising $25 million by the spring of 2002. The university kicked off its current capital campaign, called "125 Years: Prologue to the 21st Century," two years ago. During that time, the university's private foundation has been soliciting high-dollar contributors in what foundation director Wayne Davenport calls the "quiet phase" campaign...

It can quite literally be said that Carl Penzel built much of Southeast Missouri. Though he died Sunday at the age of 91, his buildings, bridges and roads will remain in use for generations. Penzel spent more than a half-century in the construction business, joining his father's firm -- which he would later run -- in 1930. ...

Dr. Jim Kinder, who died recently in a tragic automobile collision, was more than an outstanding pediatrician caring for the children of Cape Girardeau. I first met him in Hanchung, China, about Christmas of 1944. He was a young medical-school graduate who had been called into service as a captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps before he had completed his internship. He never complained about this. He was a patriotic guy who believed in serving his country...

To the editor: I am a salesman with VIP Industries. I had the pleasure of working at the Perryville workshop for most of the past three months. I was there because I was asked by Hillary Schmittzehe and because of my concern for the welfare of the clients we serve. ...

To the editor: Now comes a taxpayer-funded political campaign issue that is expected to be on the statewide ballot in November. Opposing interests take the position that taxpayers shouldn't bear the burden of funding political campaigns. Actually, there is no ideal way to fund political campaigns. Whether by government or private donations, money ultimately comes out of the taxpayers' pockets. Arguments are pro and con for either pursuit...