Stories from Monday, November 15, 1999

Six persons have been nominated for a three-year term on the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. An official ballot will be mailed to chamber members this week. Any member of the chamber was eligible for nomination. One person will be elected to the At-Large Division, Industrial Division and Retail Division. Three will be elected to the Service Division...

The International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) will hold a dinner meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Drury Lodge. Dr. Darlene Dunning, an instructor at Southeast Missouri State University, will discuss basic points of formal dining etiquette.IAAP meetings are open to the public. Additional information is available by calling Marie Steinhoff at 651-2924...

Workforce Inc., a full-service employment agency, has opened a facility at 125 New Madrid St. in Sikeston.The company provides a variety of services including temporary and permanent placement.Workforce, headquartered at Farmington, also has operations in Cape Girardeau, Ste. Genevieve and Perryville. The Sikeston office will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday...

OfficeMax Inc., a Cleveland-based office product superstore group, has opened a superstore in Sikeston. The new business is in a 23,500-square-foot building at 1210 S. Main St.OfficeMax provides more than 8,000 office products, computers and business machines.The new business Laos features CopyMax and Furniture Max, along with TechMax...

Schnucks Markets Inc., headquartered at St. Louis, has opened its 92nd supermarket.The new, 87,000-square-foot supermarket is in Crossroad Centers in Peoria, Ill.The new store, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, employs about 300 associates. Schnucks, 22nd largest food retailer in the United States, has 92 supermarkets in Illinois, Indiana and Missouri, including one in Cape Girardeau. The family-owned company was founded in St. Louis in 1939...

Illinois Gov. George Ryan has announced the dates for the two-day "Business 2000 Summit," to be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Springfield, Ill.Small business owners will gather to discuss issues that affect the state's economic development strategy Jan. 25-26.The Governor's Small Business Awards will be presented during the summit.Additional information and registrations are available by calling the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA), telephone (217) 524-5856...

Dr. Beverly Cleair, of Regional Eyecare Center in Cape Girardeau, has received a Special Certificate of Appreciation from the American Optometric Association for dedicated service to the optometric profession.Cleair, a 25-year member of the association, was recently guest speaker at the Subspecialty Day of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, discussing the "excellence in quality and service in the optical dispensary."...

Howard Poston, staff accountant with Schott & Van de Ven, Certified Public Accountants, recently attended the annual Accounting and Auditing Conference in St. Louis.Topics at the conference, conducted by the Missouri Society of CPAs, covered latest development in accounting and financial reporting.Schott & Ven de Ven is a full-service public accounting firm headquartered at 1020 N. Kingshighway, Suite D in Cape Girardeau...

Steven Fritzler of Cape Girardeau, an area district representative for Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), recently attended the organization's Professional Excellence Seminar in Lisle, Ill.Topics discussed includes sales situation that require in-depth knowledge about income, estate and gift taxes, and other financial topics.Fritzler joined AAL's field staff in 1989 and works with Michael Mickelson Agency of AAL, Independence, serving Lutherans and their families in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Kennett, Malden, Scott City and Sikeston.. ...

Christmas decorations are showing up in Cape Girardeau, including the James D. Grable home at 1615 Perryville Road. Area business owners are already decking their halls and window displays in Christmas decorations in an attempt to get shoppers into a festive mood...

Circuit City is now officially open in Cape Girardeau. Between 200 and 300 people were on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday that officially opened the newest retail store at 164 Siemers Drive in Cape Girardeau Business Park. The store, a retailer of brand-name consumer electronics, personal computers and household appliances, actually opened Nov. 8, four days before the grand opening...

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. Someone once asked Albert Einstein what was the most amazing discovery he had ever encountered. ...

Jim Wilson Co., a wholesaler distributor of automotive, light truck and heavy duty truck parts, tires and shop equipment, is moving to a new site in Cape Girardeau. James B. "Brad" Wilson, president of Jim Wilson Co., joined company officials and others Friday morning for a groundbreaking ceremony for the company's building, to be constructed at 2007 Southern Expressway. ...

Kohlfeld Distributing Inc., wholesalers of beer and non-alcoholic beverages throughout Southeast Missouri, has announced the purchase of Ozark Beverage Co. of Poplar Bluff. Ozark Beverage has been owned and operated by Tommy Clarkson of Poplar Bluff since 1979 and serves parts of seven counties in Southeast Missouri. Ozark currently represents eight brewers, including Coors and Pabst/Stroh, and 55 brands of beer...

Janice Unger, administrator of the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau, has received the E. Willis Piehl Award of Honor from the Missouri Association of Homes for the Aging (MAHA).Unger received her award during the MAHA Convention, held at Osage Beach, for her commitment and leadership in the field of senior services...

Sabreliner Corporation's strategic restructuring program, to focus on airframe and turbine engine services to corporate and government operators, has resulted in seven promotions in the company. Named to newly created vice president positions were D. ...

Ferrellgas Partners, L.P., headquartered in Liberty, Mo., has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Thermogas Co., a subsidiary of William (NYSE: WMB), at price of $432.5 million. Thermogas is currently the nation's fifth largest propane retailers, with 180 retail outlets in 18 states, with sales of about 300 million gallons a year. Ferrellgas is number two in propane sales in the nation...

Westfield American Inc., a real estate investment trust, and owner of 38 regional Westfield Shoppingtown shopping centers, including West Park Mall of Cape Girardeau, has reported increased earnings for the third quarter. Revenues for the quarter were $120 million, compared to $78.7 million during the same period a year ago. Mall shop sales per square foot increased 6.8 percent for the quarter and 4.9 percent over the nine-month period...

The search is on for a better pecan in Southeast Missouri. And, in the process, a pecan grower can emerge with a $25 to $100 award because the University of Missouri is sponsoring a contest to help identify the best native pecans. Pecan specialist Dr. ...

Solar Communications, an international printing and packaging company specializing in direct marketing, is adding sophisticated insertion and mailing equipment to its Perryville operations. Solar, headquartered at Naperville, Ill., and Madison Direct Marketing recently agreed to combine direct mail production and direct marketing expertise to create an improve direct mail product."We have been in the packaging business 37 years," said Frank Hudetz, CEO and president of Solar Communications. ...

Craig N. Calvin, manager of Best Western Colonial Inn at Perryville, and William R. "Bill" Schott, co-owner of the property, recently attended the Best Western International Convention in Nashville, Tenn.Calvin has managed the Perryville Best Western since January of this year, and has more than eight years of motel management...

Though there has been little change to the words couples speak when reciting marriage vows in America, there has been a vast change in the ideal of a long-lasting marriage. People just aren't keeping their promises anymore and it's hard to stay married in a culture that doesn't force people to keep their promises, said the Rev. Art Hunt, pastor of Christ Evangelical Presbyterian Church...

Certain lives and deaths are relived by police daily, like it or not.At the Cape Girardeau police station, they are represented by blue folders on metal shelves within sight of Detective John Brown's desk. Names and dates are listed on the bindings: Bonnie Huffman, July 3, 1954; Sheila Cole, Nov. ...

Representatives from the 21-member churches of the Saxony Lutheran High School Association turned a dream into reality Sunday by signing the constitution and bylaws for the new school."This is an historic occasion," said the Rev. Dr. James Kalthoff, president of the Missouri District, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and Sunday's guest speaker. ...

College student Stacy Stanley never picked up the smoking habit and she credits that to the sports she played in junior high and high school."As a softball player, I never touched drugs or cigarettes because I had to keep my body healthy," said the 26-year-old Southeast Missouri State University health and leisure major, who with four other SEMO students, will take an anti-smoking message to May Greene fourth-graders on Friday as part of Great American Smokeout activities this week...

Council Chambers, 401 Indpendence Monday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. Study session at 5 p.m. Consent ordinances (Second and third readings)Consider a special-use permit to Glyn Ferrell, Steve Dirnberger, Paul Dirnberger, Rita Dirnberger, Charlette Dirnberger and Kim Ferrell to operate a manufactured unit for an office at 902 S. ...

Hepatitis A is a highly contagious disease that sometimes can be fatal, and that is why it is so important that the public be informed when an outbreak occurs. Such was the case in Bollinger County, where an outbreak in and around Marble Hill has infected more than 10 people since Sept. ...

As long as they think there is a chance they can rip someone off, scam artists will continue to apply their deception, usually on unsuspecting elderly people. The latest report of a scam in this area targeted an elderly Jackson woman, who, it turns out, saw what was coming and promptly informed authorities. Now, the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, FBI and authorities in Montreal, Canada, are trying to trap the perpetrator by using some of his own tactics against him...

I DO not believe that every classroom needs the Ten Commandments in it. When I went to school, there was a set of the Ten Commandments in the study hall. I think that's where it should be placed -- in a central area. Maybe across from the offices where it can be seen when you walk into the school. But too much of a good thing can be overlooked. The Matthews Pirates of 1968 remembered...

Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team made it a clean exhibition sweep Sunday as the Otahkians rolled past Family, a squad featuring former collegiate players based out of Indianapolis, 97-58 at the Show Me Center. Family, a late replacement for a foreign team that had originally been scheduled to play the Otahkians, showed up Sunday with just six players so they enlisted the services of Rusty Sowers, a standout on last year's Southeast squad...

The Vasda USA Stars proved to be a much more obliging exhibition guest than the Dreambuilders for Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team. Just a little more than a week after losing by four points to the Dreambuilders in their exhibition opener, the Indians wrapped up their exhibition schedule with a 92-70 rout of Vasda in front of 1,473 fans at the Show Me Center Sunday afternoon...

SCOTT CITY -- The Rams have devoured the competition in Southeast Missouri this season like a hungry shark would take to a group of slow-moving walruses. It hasn't been pretty. But it seems a predator from the north is invading the territory. The gentle football waters of Southeast Missouri will be stirred up tonight when fourth-ranked Lutheran North of St. ...

PERRYVILLE -- Forget Y2K.When the clock strikes 7 tonight, St. Vincent will have to deal with I2K, as in the "I" formation and a 2,000-yard running back. To get to their second straight state championship game, the Indians will have to stop Greenfield -- more specifically running back Joseph Brown -- when the two state-ranked teams hook up in a Class 1A quarterfinal clash at St. Vincent...

ANNA, Ill. -- Mina Bryan, 96, of Anna died Sunday, Nov. 14, 1999, at the City Care Center at Anna.Funeral arrangements are pending at Lutz and Funeral Home at Anna.

MATTHEWS -- Vina Ann Lomax Haynes, 87, of Matthews and formerly of Sikeston died Saturday, Nov. 13, 1999, at the Sells Rest Home at Matthews. She was born Sept. 22, 1912, at New Madrid, daughter of Jack Robert and Jessie Ann Tanner Lomax. She had retired from International Shoe. ...

CHAFFEE -- Edna Marie Lape, 74, of Chaffee died Sunday, Nov. 14, 1999, at Cape Girardeau Residential Care Center. She was born July 11, 1925, at Chaffee, daughter of Frank Lawrence and Olivia Rose DuMay Graser. She and Ralph Lee Lape Sr. were married April 24, 1946. He died Aug. 17, 1998...

Robert F. Ross, 68, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Nov. 14, 1999, at his home. He was a retired lieutenant with the Cape Girardeau Police Department.Arrangements are pending at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Funeral Home.

PERRYVILLE -- Gustave "Gus" A. Hoffstetter, 85, of Perryville died Sunday, Nov. 14, 1999, at Southeast Hospital. He was born Oct. 14, 1914, at Perryville, son of Theodore and Catherina Ochs Hoffstetter. He and Alma A. Smith were married April 30, 1938...

SIKESTON -- Jacob Boyd, 8, of Sikeston died Saturday, Nov. 13, 1999, at St. Judes Hospital at Memphis, Tenn.He was the grandson of Howard Boyd, former Cape Girardeau Chief of Police.Funeral arrangements are pending at Blanchard Funeral Chapel at Sikeston...

NEW MADRID -- George Bob Sims, 77, of New Madrid died Thursday, Nov. 11, 1999, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center at Sikeston. He was born Sept. 8, 1922, at New Madrid, son of Johnny and Eva Freeman Sims. He was a retired farmer. Survivors include his wife, Genevie Miller Sims; three sons, William Sims and Robert Sims of Wichita, Kan., and Sylvester Sims of Sikeston; three daughters, Lynda Sims of Chicago, Barbara Sims of Wichita and Doris Sims of Fort Wayne, Ind.; a step-daughter, Jennie Miller of Chicago; two brothers, Eddie Beasley and Willie Roy Beasley of Chicago; 13 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.. ...

PERRYVILLE -- Mary J. Miller, 69, of Perryville died Sunday, Nov. 14, 1999, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Aug. 31, 1930, in Perry County, daughter of Conway and Mary LaRose Keller. She and Wilbert F. Miller were married Nov. 14, 1949, at Pigott, Ark. He died Jan. 5, 1989...

Carnice Palmer, 34, of Sikeston was killed Sunday in a one-car accident in Stoddard County. Police reports indicate Palmer was eastbound on Highway Y when she apparently lost control of her vehicle. The auto traveled off the south side of the road and overturned. Palmer was ejected from her vehicle.She was pronounced dead at the scene by the Stoddard County coroner...

OAK RIDGE -- Evelyn Marie Friedrich, 78, of Oak Ridge died Saturday, Nov. 13, 1999, at her home. She was born Nov. 7, 1921, at Jackson, daughter of Luke and Clara Schrock Randol. She and Chester H. Friedrich were married July 3, 1946. He died July 28, 1992...

Viola E. Putz, 90, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Nov. 13, 1999, at the Chateau Girardeau Nursing Care Center. She was born Oct. 18, 1909, at Kurreville, daughter of Henry M. and Albinnie Clingingsmith Kurre. She and Dillman Putz were married Sept. 22, 1929...

HILLSBORO -- Vida Ruth Stephens, 85, of Hillsboro and formerly of Illmo died Saturday, Nov. 13, 1999, at Hillcrest Care Center at Desoto. She was born Dec. 22, 1913, in Arkansas, daughter of Bill and Bell Russell. She was married to Dave G. Stephens. He preceded her in death...

Roberta Petty, 77, of Dallas, Texas and formerly of Jackson, died Saturday, Nov. 13, 1999, at a nursing retirement home in Texas.Arrangements are incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.