Stories from Thursday, May 10, 2001

JACKSON, Mo. -- Cathy Voyles fidgets with her husband's thick gold wedding band dangling on a chain around her neck. She leans against a wall in the austere second-floor foyer of the Cape Girardeau County Justice Center, waiting to visit her jailed husband...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Money to cover part of the state's share of construction of Cape Girardeau's new vocational school is included in one of several budget bills the General Assembly sent to the governor Wednesday. Of the 12 measures that make up the $19 billion state budget for fiscal year 2002, 11 have cleared the House of Representatives. Of those, the Senate has forwarded eight to the governor. Lawmakers are constitutionally required to finish the budget by the end of the day Friday...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Jackson schools could turn to district taxpayers again in August, looking for a rollback waiver less than a year after voters narrowly approved a 10-cent per $100 assessed valuation property tax increase. Schools superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said Wednesday the school board will decide the matter at its next regular meeting May 22. The board must make a final decision before a May 29 deadline to place an issue on the Aug. 7 ballot...

May 10, 2001 Dear Pat, It's spring so DC is getting the urge to build and pour concrete. She has sketched out a master plan for the back yard. In one corner is to be a meditation area meant to combat the sonic booms from the stereos at the park next door. It is to have a wooden floor raised to allow small creatures a hiding place from the ferocities of Hank and Lucy...

Agenda Wednesday, May 9 at 7 p.m. Council chambers, 401 Independence Hearings...

"Walkin' and Rockin' in Old Town Cape" kicks off Saturday in downtown Cape Girardeau. The new program, sponsored by the Old Town Cape, the city's downtown revitalization program, includes walking routes and a summer music series that starts Saturday at the First Presbyterian rose garden at Broadway and Spanish streets...

Fall armyworms have infested wheat fields, corn fields and lawns in Southeast Missouri. "They're here in epidemic proportions," said Gerald Bryan, an agronomist with the University of Missouri Extension Service at Jackson, Mo. The pests were seen in fields, lawns and grass along roads...

It has often been said that baseball is a game of inches. Never was that more true than at Cape Girardeau Central High School Wednesday afternoon. Central center fielder Zac Fielder came within literally an inch or so of a spectacular game-ending catch against Farmington...

A match featuring Cape Central and Perryville -- arguably, two of the best girls soccer teams in the area -- figured to be closely contested. The game lived up to expectations as the Lady Tigers edged the Lady Pirates 1-0 on an unassisted score by Katie Hawkins at the Southeast Missouri State intramural field Wednesday...

The letter of intent Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner had been expectantly awaiting the last several days finally came Wednesday. Kostas Avgerinos is going to join the Indians. Avgerinos, a 7-foot-1, 230-pound center who has spent the last two years at the College of Southern Idaho, has now actually signed with Southeast for the second time. ...

The Shawnee Community College softball team from Ullin, Ill., won the Region 24 championship last weekend, beating Parkland (Ill.) 13-6 and 14-7 in the finals. Erica McDonald, a Cape Girardeau Central High School graduate, was one of four Shawnee players named to the all-tournament team...

ST. LOUIS -- The dreams of a second consecutive district championship for Cape Girardeau Central High's boys tennis team fizzled out Wednesday during the Class 4A, District 1 Tournament at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park. Central finished fifth out of 11 teams with 15 points, well off the pace set by St. ...

KARNAK, Ill. -- Emmett Secrets Jr., 62, of Braidwood, Ill., formerly of Karnak, died Tuesday, May 8, 2001, at the Provena St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Ill. Wilson Funeral Home at Karnak is in charge of arrangements.

Daughter to Trent and Lori Kathleen Bronenkant of Altenburg, Mo., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 9:26 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, 2001. Name, Carly Lorene. Weight, 9 pounds 4 ounces. First child. Mrs. Bronenkant is the former Lori Schlimpert, daughter of Oliver and Kathleen Schlimpert of Altenburg. She is employed at Southeast Hospital. Bronenkant is the son of Curt and Venita Bronenkant of Uniontown, Mo., and Norman and Edna Green of Perryville, Mo. He is employed at Davis Farm Supplies...

A 30-year-old Cape Girardeau man will go to federal prison for 7 1/2 years for selling crack cocaine, an assistant U.S. attorney said. Darrell Lamont Boyd had been staying at the Town House Inn on Oct. 5 last year when police received an anonymous tip that Boyd was selling drugs, said Larry Ferrell, assistant U.S. attorney. Police got the tip at about 1 a.m. but didn't go to Boyd's room until 6:55 a.m...

Elmer Marion Sample, 93, of Missouri Veterans Home died Tuesday, May 8, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born March 10, 1908, at Patton, Mo., son of George and Nettie Conrad Sample. He and Virginia I. Wilkinson were married April 19, 1952, in Piggott, Ark. She died April 24, 2001...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Gene C. "Rusty" Cracraft, 79, of Jackson died Monday, May 7, 2001, at his home. He was born June 17, 1921, in Jackson, son of Sherman Cooper and Berenice C. Miller Cracraft. He and Mary Jane Thompson were married April 24, 1942. She died May 1, 1999...

Wayne Lee Brim, 58, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, May 8, 2001, at his home. He was born Nov. 30, 1942, in Versailles, Ill., son of Rupert Wayne and Joyce Lucille Hubbard Brim. Brim moved to Cape Girardeau in 1976. He had been an engineer, captain and pilot for a number of barge companies. He had also worked at Industrial Systems...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Elmer Cannon, 84, of Chaffee died Wednesday, May 9, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel at Chaffee is in charge of arrangements.

GRAND CHAIN, Ill. -- Funeral for Robert Gregory Ulrich of Brewster, Wash., will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Catherine Church in Grand Chain. Msgr. Bill McGhee will officiate. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Friends may call at Wilson Funeral Home in Karnak, Ill., from 5-9 p.m. Sunday. Prayers will be said at 7:30...

Idabelle Myers, 74, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, May 8, 2001, at Perry County Nursing Home in Perryville, Mo. She was born Oct. 26, 1926, in Hardin, Ill., daughter of Fred and Euphia Grandsinger Thomas. She and Louis C. Myers were married Feb. 9, 1948, at St. Mary's, Mo. He died Nov. 7, 1998...

Larry Michael "Mike" Frazier, 34, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, May 9, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born April 14, 1967, in Rockford, Ill., son of Larry and Dottie Doll Frazier. He and Melissa Campbell were married June 28, 1997, in Cape Girardeau...

To the editor: Something is amiss relative to the price of gasoline. One day last week the prices ranged from $1.47.9 to $1.68.9. The station with the $168.9 price did not maintain this price very long, probably because of a lack of customers. On Sunday one station lowered its price to $1.34.9. This station had customers lined up three deep at each pump...

To the editor: Has anyone noticed the inordinate amount of trash being strewn in Cape Girardeau? We've got tin cans, bottles, plastic bags and fast-food containers obliterating the beauty of our charming town. Why do we let it happen? We have dozens of wonderful and dedicated volunteers using their time and effort to plant and care for flowers. We are supposed to be the City of Roses, not litter. Those of us who live in Cape Girardeau want to be proud of it....

Anyone who has ever waited in a long line to renew automobile license plates should appreciate the new option that allows vehicle owners to license their vehicles every other year instead of annually. The two-year license plate purchase seems to be popular with motorists. ...

A bill before the Missouri Legislature would allow year-around simulcasting at horse-racing tracks -- yet another gambling opportunity to go with bingo, lotteries and casinos. Voters approved horse betting in 1984, but the law allows simulcasting only on the same number of days as tracks hold live races. The proposed bill, which has already been approved by the House, would allow year-around simulcasting at tracks...

What kind of international organization expels a member nation because it insists that the body live up to the principles outlined in its charter? Answer: The United Nations Human Rights Commission. On May 3 the United States lost its seat on the commission for the first time since it helped found the body in 1947, for reasons having nothing to do with its commitment to human rights...

THE TIMES are changing, and there are three words you should know: fuel, cell and methanol. There have been recent breakthroughs in fuel-cell technology that would allow the use of methanol for fuel and to produce electricity that would run cars and provide for powers for homes. ...

To the editor: Missourian readers may find the following quote by a prominent Republican worth pondering: When "corporations have been enthroned ... an era of corruption in high places will follow -- and the moneyed power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people ... until wealth is aggregated in a few hands ... and the republic is destroyed."...

MURPHYSBORO, Ill. -- Shirley Lewis, 37, of Murphysboro, Ill., formerly of Cairo, Ill., died Friday, June 8, 2001, in a house fire at her residence. Her son, Charles Lewis, 5, also died in the fire. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Memorial Chapel in Cairo...