Stories from Tuesday, December 12, 2000

Is it going to snow? Is it going to sleet? Is it going to rain? This time of year, the weather certainly dominates the conversation -- especially if the forecast is gloomy. But the Internet can help give you a better idea of what the weather is like in your neck of the woods. And these Internet weather sites are available around the clock...

LAST WEEK: Eddy has figured out how to crack open a watermelon ... er, gourd. It's as simple as dropping a rock on it. Now, Hank is forced to take the test. Eddy the Rac had just succeeded in cracking open one of the ... whatever-it-wases ... a watermelon or a big gourd. That was the cause of our argument, see, whether it was a watermelon or a gourd. And now we were ready to submit it to rigorous scientific testing...

First quarter Scholastic honor roll grade twelve Justin Baltzell, Cailin Bricknell, Jason Brown, Amanda Gould, Kendra Hinkebein, Elizabeth Johnson, Scott Lane, Margaret Martin, Bradley Mirly, Matthew Palisch, Carol Perry, Brett Price, Jonathan Reno, Ryan Stroder, Clay Turner, Ryan Vangilder, Laura Wissehr...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Robin White has made peace with her body. It is a body that wages war on itself. A body that intermittently becomes a prison, numb, losing its ability to walk, to dress itself, to hold White's daughters; the protective sheath around her nerves dissolving because of multiple sclerosis...

Shoppers switched their attentions from the search for Christmas presents to buying food and snow supplies on Monday, heeding a weather forecast calling for overnight freezing rain and snow. The forecast for this week -- the most severe of the season so far -- caused a run on bread and milk at grocery stores...

Longtime Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Carpenter died Monday night at his Cape Girardeau home. Carpenter, who had suffered from colon cancer for several years, was 54. "He had been in bed all day," said Sue Carpenter, his wife. "It was just one of those days that he didn't get up and around."...

I found my first serious wrinkle on Saturday -- the morning of The Other Half's 30th birthday. It's on the lower lid of my right eye. At first, I thought it was a bizarre, wayward stroke of mascara or brow pencil or maybe just a spot where I didn't properly blend my foundation...

Today is the last day to submit nominations for the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Educator of the Year award. Any person, group, colleague, student or parent in the community may nominate educators employed full-time in any public, private, parochial or business school in Cape Girardeau...

An exceptionally good construction economy might be a reason why the city twice has received high bids for a project at the Cape Woods Conservation Area. Cape Girardeau received money from the Missouri Department of Conservation to build rest rooms, a parking lot, a pedestrian bridge and road access to the recreation trails in the woods...

The Web site affiliated with the Southeast Missourian newspaper, semissourian.com, logged 1,207,256 hits in November, almost doubling the number of hits in October. It sounds big. And it is. But I caution you that when talking about Web sites, the number of hits is usually the wrong metric to gauge user interest. More informative is the number of page views a site generates...

Rhett Obermann, 8, first discussed methamphetamine a few weeks ago with his dad after watching a report about the drug on the evening news. Then, after this week's classes on meth at school, he said he knows more about it than his dad. "I didn't know you could take it so many ways," said Rhett, a third-grader at Trinity Lutheran School. "I'd never try it. It could give you a heart attack."...

It maybe wasn't quite as bad as the two buzzer-beating losses against Murray State two years ago, one of which kept his team out of the NCAA Tournament. But Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner said Saturday night's 70-68 defeat at the hands of visiting Tennessee Tech was still one of the tougher losses he's had to endure in his three-plus seasons with the Indians...

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- Notre Dame High's girls basketball team finally took control in the fourth quarter to pull out a 49-36 win over host Fredericktown Monday night. Lisa Millham's three 3-point baskets -- she had all five of her team's treys -- in the fourth quarter helped lift a Lady Bulldog squad that had been lethargic to that point. Notre Dame outscored the Lady Blackcats 22-11 in the fourth quarter...

ULLIN, Ill. -- Harold Samuel Wilburn Sr., 57, of Ullin died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2000, at the Veterans Affairs Nursing Home in Marion, Ill. He was born Oct. 8, 1943, in Mound City, Ill., son of Paul Maxwell and Galena Fissinger Wilburn. Formerly of Mounds, Ill., and Mound City, he was a self-employed carpenter and contractor with Harold S. Wilburn Construction Co. in Pulaski County, Ill...

ORAN, Mo. -- Pauline Helen Horrell, 94, of Oran died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2000, at her home. She was born Nov. 1, 1906, at Oran, daughter of Leo and Theresa Kiefer Halter. She and Henry Horrell were married Nov. 24, 1924, at Oran. He died April 1, 1950...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Funeral for Philip Wesley Henley Sr. of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. Brian Blankenship will officiate. Burial will be in Garden of Memories Cemetery. Friends may call at the chapel from noon until service time...

KARNAK, Ill. -- Funeral for Beatrice Bunker of Karnak will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Wilson Funeral Home in Karnak. The Rev. Ken Sharp will officiate. Burial will be in Anderson Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 9 a.m. Wednesday...

Andrew Kerth Shores Jr., 86, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Dec. 11, 2000, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center. He was born Nov. 15, 1914, at Clayton, Mo., son of Andrew K. and Ida Theckle Smallenbuch Shores Sr. He and Helen May Snider were married Sept. 7, 1940, in St. Louis...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Alma D. Casper, 74, of Mounds died Monday, Dec. 11, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 15, 1926, at Chaffee, Mo., daughter of Theodore and Laura Perkins Casper. Survivors include two brothers, Norman Casper of Highland, Ill., and Albert Casper of Mounds...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- William F. "Bill" Reed, 75, of Pine Bluff, Ark., died Monday, Dec. 11, 2000, at his home. He was born Sept. 23, 1925, at Fornfelt (Scott City), son of Ambrose D. and Bertha McGill Reed. Reed was employed 40 years with Cotton Belt Southern Pacific Railroad, retiring in 1982 as superintendent of the Pine Bluff Division of Southern Pacific...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Funeral for Floyd T. "Tommy" Cox of St. James, Mo., will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at James and Gahr Mortuary in Rolla, Mo. John Gioia will officiate. Burial will be in Flat Grove Cemetery at Rolla. Friends may call at the mortuary from 6-9 p.m. today...

ANNA, Ill. -- Edward I. "Jack" Hargrave, 87, of Anna died Friday, Dec. 8, 2000, at Union County Hospital in Anna. He was born July 21, 1913, in Anna, son of Ed and Ethel Choate Hargrave. He and Velma Johnson were married Dec. 29, 1939, in Cape Girardeau. She died Jan. 4, 1999...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Charles Rendleman, 74, of Advance died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2000, at St. Joseph Hospital in Lake St. Louis. Morgan Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Funeral for Norene Singleton of Sikeston will be held at 1 p.m. today at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston, Mo. The Rev. Bob Medlock will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 10 a.m. until service time...

CANALOU, Mo. -- Sandra Sue McDonald, 59, of Canalou died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2000, at Clearview Nursing Center in Sikeston, Mo. She was born Oct. 12, 1941, at Canalou, daughter of Robert Carmack and Lucy Kirk McDonald. McDonald was a child care provider and a member of Canalou Assembly of God Church...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Funeral for Charlotte Ann King of House Springs, Mo., was held Monday at Faith United Methodist Church in House Springs. The Rev. Rachel Williams officiated. Burial was in Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens. Chapel Hill Mortuary at Cedar Hill, Mo., was in charge of arrangements...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Marjean Weissenborn McLane, 71, of Advance died Saturday, Dec. 9, 2000, at her home. She was born April 14, 1929, in Hickory Ridge, Mo., daughter of F.E. and Anna Murphy Weissenborn. Her early childhood years were spent at Dongola, Mo...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Funeral for Billy Gene Scott of Poplar Bluff will be held at 10 a.m. today at Cotrell Funeral Chapel. Dr. William Vail will officiate. Burial will be in Mt. Zion Cemetery at Walnut Ridge, Ark. Scott, 74, died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2000, at his home...

To the editor: I was quite disappointed in the tone and substance of Sam Blackwell's report about Pascal Dunod from France in last Thursday's paper. It must have been a slow news day for that to merit front-page coverage along with the lost parrot in Kennett...

During the Christmas season, there always arises the question of religious influence in the public schools. As the school superintendent, I must admit two things. First, I do not believe that the public school is an appropriate avenue to exercise any undue specific doctrinal influence on students as they represent diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. This is the responsibility and privilege of our families and churches...

As other writers -- Paul Greenberg of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, for example -- have so ably written on these pages, the tone of political discourse has become strident and whiny. The polarization in Washington has oozed into state capitals in more instances than we care to count...

When U.S. students were tested in 1995, they didn't stack up well against students around the world, particularly in prosperous Asian nations such as Japan. So the Clinton administration came up with a expensive plan to improve public education. Last week, another round of tests completed in 1999 showed that American students did a little better in science and math but were still behind their counterparts elsewhere...

TO THE reader who wants Rosie and Alex to leave the country: In my opinion it's the Republicans who should leave. They are trying to make this country a dictatorship with their money doing the talking. They are so power hungry they cannot even allow a legal procedure to take place. They stop a legal hand count by any means possible because they know they did not win by a majority vote by lawful means...

To the editor: I sometimes take a very simplistic approach to very grave problems, but I want to throw out an idea that seems to me to be common sense. To stymie the media's handling of national elections and the reporting of semi-factual numbers, there is no reason the whole United States can't vote at the same time. The continental United States has only four time zones. Why not vote as follows:...

Son to Richard Eugene and Sonya LaRee Beard of Marble Hill, Mo., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 12:41 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2000. Name, Jacob Eugene. Weight, 10 pounds 4 ounces. First child. Mrs. Beard is the former Sonya Warner, daughter of William and Charlotte Warner of Marble Hill. She is employed at Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield. Beard is the son of Vanna Beard and Rick Koehler of Marble Hill, and the late Harold Beard. He is employed at Lenco...