Stories from Friday, November 17, 2000

Thousands of people in search of unique Christmas gifts will descend upon five area buildings that form the center of the arts and crafts universe this weekend. Attendance estimates for the three annual arts and crafts shows range from 3,000 at the Bavarian Halle in Fruitland to 5,000-6,000 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center and A.C. Brase Arena Building to 10,000-12,000 at the Show Me Center and Osage Centre...

JACKSON, Mo. -- The presidential deadlock in Florida has raised questions about the accuracy of punch-card voting systems nationwide, but Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller is confident about his machines. As the county's chief election official, Miller initiated punch-card voting in the county in 1980. He said Thursday that the system has worked well over the past 20 years, and he doesn't want to go back to paper ballots...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Family members of a 37-year-old woman shot by an acquaintance spent Thursday reading her journal and consoling each other. "Lauren was my hero," said Jill Roth, one of Lauren Blessing's nine siblings. Blessing's body was found Wednesday morning just inside the front door of her home at 613 Bruce St. Her killer, 46-year-old Walter K. Martin of St. Mary, Mo., was lying a short distance from her body with a single gunshot wound to his head...

Local Vietnam War veterans welcome the news that an American president is visiting Hanoi for the first time since the war ended 25 years ago but are upset that the emissary is Bill Clinton. Clinton opened a historic visit Friday to Vietnam, welcomed with a red-carpet ceremony near the mausoleum of the legendary Ho Chi Minh, architect of the communist victory over U.S.-backed forces in the war that ended 25 years ago...

Making jokes about the presidential election isn't going to take any kinks out of the voting knots. But it sure is fun. And humor is a great way to let off steam without doing a whole lot of damage. For example, I liked the Speak Out call that wondered why elderly voters in Florida got so confused. These are the same folks, after all, who can juggle a heap of bingo cards all at the same time...

About 630 doses of the flu vaccine will be available on a first-come-first-served basis at the Cape Girardeau County Health Department today, director Charlotte Craig said. The doses were delivered to the Health Department Thursday afternoon by a local hospital. Craig said they are a pay-back from earlier this fall when she distributed some of her original order to various hospitals as part of her emergency disaster plan...

Kopper Thatch helped her mom rake leaves, Kennedy Thomas assisted her sister with homework, and Matt Taylor "pushed a truck for a lady and let her call someone." The Central Junior High School students were among more than 30 who took the time to record good deeds they had performed this week and post them on the "helping hands" bulletin board at the school Thursday...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Sikeston City Council has not decided if it will become a home rule city but will research the matter further. If the council approves the home rule idea, it would be put on the April ballot for voters to decide. Changing the class of Sikeston's city government was discussed at this week's informational meeting on the home rule charter form of government...

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department will sponsor "Calls from Santa" next month. Parents can call the parks department office at 335-5421 to request that Santa call their child. There is a form that lists pertinent information about the child, siblings or pets and possible gifts they will receive for Christmas...

The Cape Girardeau Downtown Merchants Association plans to hang Christmas lights and decorations on Friday. Cotner Electric will hang the decorations over Broadway, Main, Themis and Independence streets in downtown Cape Girardeau. Dave Hutson, who serves on the board of directors of the merchants association, said 26 street decorations will be hung...

Main Street Cape Girardeau was in the spotlight at the Regional Commerce and Growth Association (RCGA) Banquet, held this week at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau. Randy Gray, coordinator of the Missouri Main Street Program discussed its aims and economic benefits...

A less-than-healthy Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball team will open the regular season today by facing an NAIA opponent. Missouri Baptist will usher in a new campaign for the Otahkians when the Lady Spartans pay a visit to the Show Me Center for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff...

It's a game his team should definitely win but that doesn't mean Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner still isn't fretting as the Indians prepare to open the regular season tonight. In Division II Truman State, which will be at the Show Me Center for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff, Garner sees a potentially dangerous foe that will have nothing to lose and could literally make its season by beating the Indians, an NCAA Division I Tournament squad from last season...

Krista Haukap and Emily Scannell appreciated the awards they received Thursday night during the Ohio Valley Conference volleyball honors banquet held at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau. But Haukap and Scannell would like something even better -- for their Southeast Missouri State University team to win the OVC Tournament that will be played today and Saturday at Houck Field House. ...

Cape Central's eighth-grade girls basketball team placed third in the Jackson Tournament. Central (3-7) defeated Perryville 40-14 in Thursday's third-place game. Meg Yates scored 11 points in the victory. On Wednesday, Sikeston defeated Central 36-25 to reach the championship game. Central's Lauren Thompson scored 16 points in the losing effort...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- The Rev. Gilmore H. Guyot, 93, died Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000, at St. Mary's Seminary. He was born Sept. 11, 1907, in Perryville, son of Henry J. and Lena Helena Hoffman Guyot. Guyot attended St. Vincent's Schools in Perryville; DePaul University in Chicago; St. Mary's Seminary in Perryville; and Angelicum Pontifical U.R. and Biblical Institute in Rome, Italy...

Daughter to John R. and Cheryl K. Liggett of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 4:45 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000. Name, Megan Amber. Weight, 8 pounds 10 ounces. First child. Mrs. Liggett is the former Cheryl Welty, daughter of Roy and Janet Welty of Mt. Sterling, Ill. She is manager at Maurice's. Liggett is the son of Jack and JoAnn Liggett of Timewell, Ill. He is a construction worker with Mac Con Co...

ANNA, Ill. -- Alice McLerran, 67, of Lee's Summit, Mo., died Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000, at Liberty Terrace Care Center in Liberty, Mo. She was born April 14, 1933, in Anna, daughter of James and Iva Griffith Sims. She married Russell McLerran. McLerran retired as a certified nurse assistant at a retirement center. She was a member of Southland Baptist Church in Belton, Mo...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Florence Opal Briggs, 94, of Sikeston died Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000, at Clearview Nursing Center. She was born April 8, 1906, in Jackson, Mo., daughter of Tom and Stella Godwin. She first married Martin L. Pensel. She and Bryant F. Briggs were married in 1943. He died March 4, 1992...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Pauline Elizabeth Lamer, 89, of Cobden died Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000, at City Care Center. She was born Dec. 1, 1910, in Cobden, daughter of Den and Ethel Reese Wallace. She and Charles Van Lamer were married Aug. 29, 1929, in Carterville, Ill. He died Dec. 2, 1963...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Marvin Duette Bollinger, 91, of Jackson died Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000, at Jackson Manor. He was born Aug. 4, 1909, in Bollinger County, Mo., son of Jessie Albert and Orlene Luevena Bollinger. He and Eula Hahn were married Aug. 27, 1932. She died April 22, 1998...

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- Noah James Williams, 57, of Mound City died Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000 at his home. Crain Funeral Home in Tamms is in charge of arrangements.

ANNA, Ill. -- Dorris C. "Junior" Adams, 78, of Anna died Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 2, 1922, in Alto Pass, Ill., son of Clarence and Vera Lingle Adams. He and Imogene Sitter were married Nov. 8, 1946, in Metropolis, Ill...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Charles E. Housewright, 76, of Charleston died Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. He was born Jan. 27, 1924, in Karnak, Ill., son of Charles and Clara Campbell Housewright. He and Sarah Null were married April 29, 1945...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Lauren T. Blessing, 37, of Perryville died Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000, at her home. She was born Jan. 30, 1963, in Perry County, Mo., daughter of Chalmer and June Weibrecht Blessing. Blessing worked at TG USA in Perryville and was a member of the Heartland Baptist Church...

Pauline Johnson, 74, of Olive Branch, Ill., died Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Tamms, Ill.

ALTO PASS, Ill. -- John Franklin Widdows, 97, of Alto Pass died Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000, at his home. He was born Oct. 22, 1903, at Bloomfield, Mo., son of Joseph F. and Edna Leslie Widdows. He and Zelda Thomas were married Feb. 27, 1926, in Wheaton, Ill. She died May 28, 1998...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Richard Ozean Davis, 72, of Charleston died Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. He was born May 5, 1928, near Charleston, son of James Henry and Mary Lola Dixon Davis. Davis was a retired farmer. He was a member of St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church and Ten Ones Tall Civic Club...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Emilly Ann Rose was stillborn Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. Survivors include her parents, Mark W. and Heather Kemp Rose of Perryville; two brothers, Wesley Rose of the home, Dustin Rose of Claremore, Okla.; paternal grandfather, Dwan Rose of Perryville; maternal grandparents, Frank and Frances Kemp of Ste. Genevieve, Mo...

Funeral for John Wesley Cupler Jr. of Fenton, Mo., formerly of Cape Girardeau, was held Nov. 4 at Jay B. Smith Funeral Home in Fenton. The Rev. Jim McConnell officiated, with burial in Shepherd Hill Cemetery at Barnhart, Mo. Cupler, 60, died Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2000, at his home...

THIS IS in response to the two callers who disapproved of God being a part of Central High's groundbreaking. It is high time they realized that leaving God out of schools has not worked. How many more children must die while at school before these two callers realize that people like themselves who are against displays of Christianity outside of the church walls are taking our country down. ...

There are lots of ways to tell that the holiday season is almost upon us. But one of the best ways to get into the holiday spirit is to participate in any of the numerous special projects to help the underprivileged whose holidays would otherwise be bleak indeed...

More than a decade ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers required developers of an industrial park to set aside a wetland preserve to replace the area being developed. And just two years ago the Missouri Department of Natural Resources forced the Cape Girardeau School District to set aside a wetland area to replace a small bog on the site of the district's new Career and Technology Center...

To the editor: This election was something else. Is there an honest politician anywhere in the United States? Surely there are election officials somewhere who can say, "It is time to stop." Who gave the permission for the polls in St. Louis to stay open past the closing deadline. The law says the voting time is from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. I have worked at elections. We workers had to sign a paper saying we would follow the set rules...