Stories from Monday, August 3, 1998

Dana Corp. of Toledo, Ohio, has announced record second-quarter sales and profits. Sales for the quarter were $2.3 billion, reflecting a 9 percent increase in sales from the same period a year ago. Net income rose 24 percent, to $116 million. Earnings per diluted share were $1.08, up 21 percent from the second quarter of 1997...

Dexter's airport is starting the first of a two-phase project to upgrade and modernize its fuel system. The Dexter Airport Board has voted to upgrade the system to provide 24-hour service. The new program will not only enhance fuel service at the airport but will bring the facility into state and federal compliance on underground fuel storage...

The Visiting Nurse Association of Southeast Missouri has received accreditation with commendation from the joint commission on accreditation of healthcare organizations. This is the highest level of accreditation awarded by the joint commission. Joint commission representatives observed VNA workers on home visits. Joint commission surveyors also visited with the VNA Hospice staff Direct Home Health staff and Private Duty staff...

Financially troubled Laclede Steel Co. will close a plant in Memphis, Tenn., next month. Officials at the St. Louis-based company announced last week the Memphis plant, which employes about 50 people, was not profitable. Company officials also said its largest plant, which is in Alton, Ill., is not making any money. About 800 people -- half of Laclede's employees -- work in Alton, said Mike Lane, Laclede's chief financial officer...

Kwik Pantry will move across the street. The convience store-service station that offers gasoline, sodas, beer and liquor, and grocery items will move from the southwest corner to the southeast corner of Independence and West End Boulevard. The official address Tuesday will be 10 S. West End. Blvd., said Linda Tollison, manager of the operation...

Cato's, a women's apparel specialty store, will open in Cape Girardeau this month. The new retail store will open in Town Plaza Shopping Center, near Kingshighway and William on Aug. 13. The Cato Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., was founded by Wayland Cato Sr. in Mullins, S.C., in 1946, and now operates more than 600 stores under the names of Cato Fashion, Cato Plus and It's Fashion! in 21 states. A son, Wayland H. Cato Jr. is chairman and chief executive officer...

With the spirit of faster is a good thing in the air, you get the feeling of unbridled power. On July 26 Intel released the new 450Mhz Pentiums. The amazing fact is that this is just after the Justice Department started an investigation of Intel on taking over the domestic computer IC market. ...

Benji Helderman, front, Skyler Smith, left, and Eric Norman played "Off Road," one of the video games at Chuck E. Cheese in Cape Girardeau. Remember Asteroids and Pac-Man fever? Spending quarters by the pound on Space Invaders? If the mention of those games brings back fond memories of flickering screens in dark, noisy corners of bowling alleys and the like, you may be a member of the video game cult...

Plaza Tire Service Inc. of Cape Girardeau has opened a new seven-bay, 4,600-square-foot facility in Jonesboro, Ark. Sam Goodrich is manager of the store. He previously served as assistant manager at the company's store in Paragould, Ark. Plaza Tire, established in 1963, has 34 facilities throughout Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Arkansas...

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. None of us can change the fact we won't live forever, but we can con~trol some things that happen beyond our time on earth. ...

A Cape Girardeau area agent was honored recently during the 118th annual meeting of agents of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. David L. Hahs received the Diamond Award, present for sales in excess of $10 million. Hahs is associated with Northwestern Mutual's T. Ronald Hahs District Agency in Cape Girardeau...

Noranda Aluminum of New Madrid and Aluminum Rheinfelden GmbH of Rheinfelden, Germany, have entered into an alliance for the Missouri plant to manufacture and market "Silafont-36" for Rheinfelden in North America. "Silafont-36," a primary aluminum die casting alloy, is used in the European automotive industry. It is used in Porsche Boxter, the Audi A8 and Mercedez Benz A Class. Projects are ongoing to quality the alloy in the production of other automobiles...

Missouri casino crowds were down in June. The state's 16 casinos attracted 3.2 million visitors, down from the 3.4 million in May. The casinos brought in $67.8 million, down from the $71.8 million a month earlier. Revenue leaders for June were Harrah's Mardi Gras Casino of Kansas City with $6.6 million, followed by Kansas City Station-River King at $5.9 million. ...

Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs, Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean and Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer" introduced the world to talking pictures the year Homer Gilbert began playing cornet with the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band...

Most Cape Girardeau County voters are expected to sit out Tuesday's primary election. As few as 8,000 of the county's 43,450 registered voters may go to the polls, said County Clerk Rodney Miller. That would amount to a turnout of 18 percent. As of late last week, only about 175 county residents had cast absentee ballots...

To those involved, the stories resemble something of a construction nightmare. -- The Cape Girardeau businessman who was forced to delay the opening of a newly remodeled store until permit misunderstandings were corrected. -- The unhappy businessman who said if he had it to do over, his new business building would have been constructed in the county, well out of city limits...

The local KINSA contest enters the final phase this week as judges prepare to select the final week of entries. Friday was the final day for photographs to be entered in the contest. KINSA, Kodak International Newspaper Snapshot Awards, is the world's largest annual amateur-snapshot contest. The Southeast Missourian is the only newspaper in Missouri sponsoring the competition...

Southeast Missouri State University shook the money tree in fiscal 1998, raising nearly $5.8 million. Gifts to the school's foundation increased almost 100 percent from fiscal 1997. The Southeast Missouri University Foundation received $5.77 million in the year ending June 30. That was an increase of nearly $2.89 million from the previous year, foundation officials said...

Is anyone else expecting to see Ken, Monica, Linda, Bill and Hillary on Jerry Springer? Pop quiz! Identify "The Big Creep" and "Babba." No, they aren't the protagonists of Fox's latest animated series. They aren't professional wrestlers. They aren't an alternative rock band...

7:30 p.m. Monday City Hall Public hearing -- Hearing on a special-use permit for a day-care facility in a C-2 (general commercial) district at 974 W. Independence St. as submitted by Michael Lackamp. -- Hearing to amend zoning and land subdivision regulations relative to condominiums and condominium subdivisions...

OAK RIDGE -- John Hitt picked the fruit off his grape arbor Sunday as he viewed the burned rubble of what had been his home. For 50 years, the two-story frame, farmhouse had been home to John and Ruby Hitt. But Saturday afternoon, fire destroyed the home at 319 County Road 457, about three miles southwest of Oak Ridge...

Safety is getting a big boost in Jackson this month through a program initiated by the Jackson Police Department. Police officers are presenting safety citations to people observed acting in a way that promotes safety. That could include children on bicycles, motorists extending courtesy to fellow drivers or anyone taking safety precautions at home, work or school. ...

To the editor: A study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association and reported by newspapers nationwide links a dramatic decline in reports of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome to a simple precautionary action taken by caregivers: placing babies to sleep on their backs instead of their stomachs...

To the editor: I want to tell you that Fred Lynch's picture, "Raindrops," on the front page July 25 was outstanding. The photograph was super, creative and a true work of art. Anyone who can see all that reflection in a tine raindrop has a true sense of artistry...

Reports have surfaced recently of con artists turning to the telephone in hopes of persuading unsuspecting people to send them their hard-earned money through a variety of carefully devised schemes. It is, after all, easier for these swindlers to hide at the opposite end of a telephone line than to go out on the street as they used to do, find a victim and cheat them out of their money through a multitude of con games. ...

To the editor: There are few tragic events that do not include a bit of high comedy. Most coverage of the shootout in the U.S. Capitol's House offices contained expressions by various U.S. representatives to the effect that the Capitol, being the "people's house" and the "temple of democracy" should not, even in the interest of improved security, be made less accessible that it is. ...

Monday, 7:30 p.m. Study session 5 p.m. Public hearings -- A public hearing on the request of Jerry and Sandy McLane and D&G Properties Inc., for a special-use permit for a drive-in restaurant at William and Broadview in a C-2 general commercial district...

Ken Eckardt, manager of Ballwin's American Legion baseball team, believes his squad had something to prove Sunday afternoon. Ballwin could have wrapped up the championship of the Zone Tournament played in Cape Girardeau by beating Dunklin County's Redbirds Saturday night...

LINCOLN, Neb. -- SEMO South remained undefeated in the Junior Babe Ruth Regional Tournament with Sunday's 6-4 win over Gering, Neb. The victory improved the local squad's tournament record to 2-0 and put them in today's 4 p.m. winner's bracket final against Shoreview, Minn...

Ruth M. Blattel, 62, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Aug. 1, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born April 30, 1936, at Zalma, daughter of Charles and Marcella Stephens Lawson. She worked at Sears in the catalog department for 20 years. She retired in 1992. She was a member of the Olive Branch, Ill., Chamber of Commerce...

OAK RIDGE -- Keith Allen Todd, 50, of Oak Ridge died Saturday, Aug. 1, 1998, at his home. He was born Dec. 29, 1947, at Garden City, Mich., son of the Rev. Charles C. and Dolores I. Slatton Todd. He married Rosie Lee Casey on May 3, 1964. He was self-employed in the auto repair business. He retired in 1985...

MARQUAND -- Tom L. Hawn, 90, of Marquand died Sunday, Aug. 2, 1998, at his home. He was born March 23, 1908, at Marquand, son of Charles and Ora Mae Leming Hawn. He married Helen Mae Rhodes on June 8, 1929. She died on March 7, 1990. He was a retired farmer and a member of the Old Union United Methodist Church...

MARBLE HILL -- Anna Sue Spain, 54, of Marble Hill died Thursday, July 30, 1998, at Baptist Regional Medical Center in Corbin, Ky., from an auto accident earlier that day. She was born March 1, 1944, at Pikeville, Ky., daughter of Emzie and Sarah Smith Stiltner...

ORAN -- Cecil Liles, 61, of North Richard, Texas, died Saturday, Aug. 1, 1998, at North Richard. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett of Oran.

DONIPHAN -- A 29-year-old Doniphan man was killed in a one-car accident early Sunday. The Missouri Highway Patrol said Jerry Leroux was killed when the car he was driving northbound on Route BB slid off the road, struck a tree and overturned. Two passengers from Fairdealing -- Leslie Brown, 29, and Jody Sherven, 26 -- were taken to Doctors Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff where they were treated and released...

EAST PRAIRIE -- John Rufus Colson, 94, of East Prairie died of an extended illness Sunday, Aug. 2, 1998, at the East Prairie Nursing Center. He was born Feb. 21, 1904, at Murray, Ky., son of William and Alice Falwell Colson. He lived in Mississippi County most of his life. He was a retired carpenter and farmer. He was of the Baptist denomination...