Stories from Wednesday, July 15, 1998

Adult June bugs are 3/8 to 3/4 inches long and they feed on plant foliage. Last week I told my sister-in-law what I was going to write about in this week's column. She suggested I title the column "June bug in July." Her suggestion sounds a little like a title to a song in a Broadway musical...

Bicycles are a popular form of travel and recreation for children and adults. But like anything on wheels, safety should be a prime concern. Two young people were injured in recent bicycle-automobile accidents in Cape Girardeau. One 13-year-old was struck when he attempted to cross he street at the crest of a hill. Just one week earlier, an 8-year-old bicyclist was struck as he attempted to cross the street from an inclined driveway...

Who's above the law? The question has proven to be the downfall of many government officials and television evangelists. No one should be above the law. That goes for all of us -- and the president of the United States. A federal appeals court panel has ruled that Secret Service employees must answer grand jury questions. The three-judge panel rightly rejected the ridiculous argument that agents' testimony would imperil presidents...

I WOULD like to commend two sanitation workers for helping the handicapped in my neighborhood when they forget to set their trash out. One of my neighbors is handicapped with a very severe heart problem, and these guys always remember to help him. Another neighbor is handicapped and can't get out, and these two young men always just go in the yard and get the trash for them. I think that is something to be commended. I just want to thank those two guys...

To the editor: Once again, we have reached that time of the year when politicians use backdoor methods to pass anti-environmental legislation. Congress knows that most citizens support measures that protect public health, our environment and valuable national wilderness areas, and Congress knows that direct assaults would be political suicide. ...

A group called Missourians for Tax Justice wants the state to exempt food purchases from local sales taxes and replace the lost revenue with an income-tax hike. Missourians for Tax Justice is a statewide alliance of groups and individuals. They want a fair state tax system that can adequately fund needed public services...

A former Poplar Bluff teacher will be among nine former educators who could lose their teaching certificates when the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education begins certificate revocation hearings next week. Gov. Mel Carnahan issued an executive order this year directing state agencies to work together to locate and discipline teachers found guilty of crimes. ...

Cape Girardeau needs to capitalize more on its historic and cultural assets, members of the new Cape Girardeau Community Pride Coalition say. Coalition members hope to work closely with the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau to increase tourism to sites around the city...

The business community can take a leadership role in helping Cape Girardeau plan for future disasters, Mayor Al Spradling III said Tuesday. Spradling urged business leaders to become involved in Project Impact, the initiative to make Cape Girardeau a disaster-resistant city...

Maybe I'm the one with the problem, but I doubt it. I don't understand why my husband finds it necessary to drop 20 bucks here, 20 there in an effort to obtain small pieces of cardboard with pictures of athletes on them. They aren't necessarily athletes who everybody recognizes, like Nolan Ryan or Pete Rose, whose pictures have a certain amount of value. The Other Half has taken to buying baseball and football cards with pictures of guys who he THINKS may go somewhere someday...

The Southeast Missourian asked people how they compare to the average American who consumes 11.7 pounds of chocolate in a year. Vicki House: "I am very close to that. I have to eat chocolate every day. Yesterday was Whopper candies. The day before was a Hershey's candy bar. I have chocolate milk every morning. I make it with three table spoons. I am addicted, but that's fine with me."...

JACKSON -- Jackson, known today for good football teams and fine homes and churches, also is the city that gave the world white bread. It was in Jackson at the turn of the century that James N. Alsop, the brother of a local dentist, installed in collaboration with Philip Heyde a process for bleaching flour with electricity. The Alsop Process revolutionized the flour milling industry and by the 1940s was used by every wheat-producing country in the world...

JACKSON -- The rock band Township Rebellion will be the special guest when the Jackson Municipal Band plays its weekly concert at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Band Shell in City Park. Township Rebellion plays rock music from the 1970s. The members include Steven Limbaugh, Gabe Keys, Kyle Miller, Aaron Walker and Chad Meyr...

Southwestern Bell's Missouri Wireless network is getting bigger, says the vice president and general manager for the Eastern Missouri service area. Brad Brown, who was recently named vice president/general manger for the company, visited Cape Girardeau this week to discuss the "state of the industry."...

Once a year, for the past 19 years, the monsters of Loch Ness and Loch Lomond have invaded the Cape Girardeau Country Club. Despite these creatures lurking on the water hazards of the golf course, female golfers from across five states keep coming back for the Lassies Classic Golf Scramble...

The FHA of Kelly High School will sponsor a 5K fitness run and mile run/walk on Aug. 8. The event, which begins at 8 a.m., will be staged by the Cape Road Runners Club. Entry fee is $8 and $4 for those that register by Aug. 2. Late registration will be held from 7-7:45 a.m. race day...

Advance High School will hold its summer volleyball camp July 20-24. Players entering grades 7-8 will work out from 8 a.m.-noon each day while players entering grades 9-12 will work out from 1-5 p.m. each day.

The Cape Area Youth Soccer Association (CAYSA) will hold registration for the fall season July 26 at West Park Mall. Sign-up time will be noon to 5 p.m. Registration is for boys and girls pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. Registration fee is $10 for pre-kindergarten and $20 for all others...

The first annual Park Development Men's Individual Tournament will be held July 18-19 at Cape Jaycees Municipal Golf Course. The 36-hole tournament will be pre-flighted and have an entry fee of $60. For more information, call Cape Jaycees at 334-2031...

Mary Evelyn (Vancil) Langston, 78, of Plymouth, Mich., formerly of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, July 11, 1998, at St. Mary's Hospital in Livona, Michigan. She was born March 16, 1920 at Hayti, MO, the daughter of Will L. and Annelah (Sans) Vancil. She married James Harley Langston on August 15, 1936 in Cape Girardeau. He died November 26, 1992...

S.E. Lewis, 74, 215 Minnesota, died Monday, July 13, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born May 28, 1924, at Bloomfield, the son of Simeon E. and Katie Lewis. He married Pauline Orman on Oct. 8, 1944, at Bloomfield. She died in March 1961. He married Martha Stovall on July 19, 1990 in Cape Girardeau, and she survives of the home...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Lelah Marie Steger, 102, of Cairo died Monday, July 13, 1998, at Daystar Care Center. She was born Feb. 22, 1896, in Pawnee, Okla., daughter of John and Nancy Roberson Rutter. She married George H. Steger, who preceded her in death. Steger was a member of First Christian Church...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Funeral for John Darryl Richardson of Cairo will be held at 2 p.m. today at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston, Mo. The Revs. Rick White and Tim Vowels will officiate, with burial in IOOF Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 9:30 a.m. until service time...

Yvonne B. Neal, 78, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, July 13, 1998, at her home. She was born March 5, 1920, at St. Marys, daughter of Russel Myers and Stella Roseman Bienert. She and James Robert Neal were married May 21, 1945, in San Antonio, Texas. He died Jan. 10, 1985...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Bertha Edith Lingle, 97, of Chicago, formerly of Dongola, died Tuesday, July 14, 1998, at St. Theresa Hospital in Waukegan. She was born Feb. 4, 1901, in Cypress, daughter of Henry and Sarah Adams Beggs. She and Lester Lingle were married Sept. 13, 1919. He died Nov. 5, 1964...

Graveside service for retired Navy Commander Radford Henry "Sev" Severance of Durham, N.C., was held July 9 at Hawfields Presbyterian Church. Severance died Monday, July 6, 1998, at his home. A native of Buffalo, N.Y., he was a graduate of Cornell University, and attended the U.S. Navy Supply Corps School at Harvard University...

Son to Joe Linn and Annette Rae Kelpe of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 5:15 p.m. Thursday, July 9, 1998. Name, Hunter Joseph. Weight, 8 pounds 13 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Kelpe is the former Annette Goodson, daughter of Kathy Goodson of Jackson and Ray and Tammie Goodson of Ozark. She is employed by NationsBanc Mortgage Corp. Kelpe is the son of Diane Kelpe and Don and Diane Kelpe of Cape Girardeau. He is employed at Motorcycle Stuff Inc...

SIKESTON -- Lucille L. Robey, 79, of Sikeston died Monday, July 13, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Dec. 11, 1918, in Tiline, Ky., daughter of Charles and Osie Guess Heaton. She and Earl William Robey were married April 2, 1938. He died Dec. 29, 1993...

SIKESTON -- Cathy Adkison, 61, of Sikeston died Monday, July 13, 1998, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born July 3, 1937, in Bardwell, Ky., daughter of Henry "Boss" and Erssie B. Shrodes. She and Spencer Adkison were married July 18, 1965, in Sikeston...