Stories from Monday, May 21, 2001

Members of Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL) branch 659 at Frohna, Mo., have been awarded a gold star rating by the fraternal benefit society in recognition of volunteer service to the community. Officers of the branch include Dan Schoenherr, chairman; Paul Schmidt, coordinator; Pam Palmer, recorder; and E. Roland Winter, treasurer. The branch is supported by AAL representative Tammy Bohnert...

First Commercial Bank of Southeast Missouri, Chaffee, Mo., has acquired the Union Planters Bank office in Advance, Mo. Norman B. Harty, president and chairman of the board for First Commerce, and Charles Daniel, chief executive officer of Union Planters at Cape Girardeau, announced the agreement recently...

A recent survey of 2,200 Missouri cotton farmers indicated that the Cotton Pest Management Program instituted by University of Missouri Outreach and Extension increased yield value by more than $12 million in 1999. When the program was established in 1982, only 5 percent of Missouri cotton was treated for pests based on pest survey results, said Al Wrather, plant pathologist at MU Delta Research Center in Portageville, Mo. ...

When Bob Hufford joined with Wayne Gott and Max Penner in 1970 to form Town and Country Grocers of Fredericktown Inc., they established a goal -- to operate supermarkets. They've been doing that ever since. The Fredericktown group has been renovating and building new supermarkets for 30 years, and now operate 39 supermarkets in four states -- Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky -- with 25 of them in the Show Me state, the latest at Poplar Bluff...

An Economic Development Summit Meeting will be held at the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., Tuesday. Business capital, competition with neighboring states, taxes, and infrastructure projects are among topics to be discussed at the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. meeting...

Angela Coomer has joined Studio Designs beauty salon at 229 S. Broadview. Coomer, who has five years of experience, is a graduate of Stage One The Hair School in Cape Girardeau. She previously worked at JCPenney Styling Salon.

Daniel Monti has been selected Correctional Officer of the Year at the Tamms (Ill.) Correctional Center. Monti joined the Department of Corrections at Tamms in 1998. He has an associate's degree and is working toward a bachelor's degree. Monti will receive a $50 savings bond, a plaque and paid membership to the Illinois Correctional Association...

Bobby L. Barks has been elected president of the Missouri Professional Auctioneers Association (MPAA). Barks, owner of Rainbow Auction of Jackson, Mo., and his wife, Claudea, attended the (MPAA) Spring Convention, held recently in Lake Ozark, Mo. Barks also holds an Illinois auctioneer's license and is a member of the Illinois State Auctioneers Association...

Larry and Tana McLaird and Jack and Cathy Connell, have been recognized for sales by Premier Designs Inc., of Dallas Texas, which provides a high fashion line of women's jewelry. The McLairds were named to the President's Circle (top 1 percent in the company). ...

Tammy Elias of Elias Ace Hardware, 1719 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, recently attended the Ace Hardware Corp. spring convention, held at New Orleans. Elias was among the more than 18,000 guests at the convention which feature business seminars, displays of the latest in home improvement products and new concepts in merchandising...

Twenty-five people attended sessions of an award-winning certificate program, designed for nonprofit managers and staffs. The program, developed by the Society for Nonprofit Organizations, University of Wisconsin-Extension and University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology...

Mary Martin, of Allergy Partners, P.A., 23 Doctors' Park, Cape Girardeau, has received a diploma from the National Asthma & Respiratory Training Centre designating Martin as a certified asthma educator. To receive certification, Martin had to complete a six-month study course in asthma care, and pass a two-day test, which was given at Duke University in Raleigh-Durhan, N.C...

Cape Girardeau Elks Lodge 639 has become a corporate sponsor for the Veterans Home Flage Day Memorial Golf Tournament, to be held June 15. Golf tournament chaimran Neal Edwards recently accepted at $1,500 check from the Elks Lodge, making the lodge a corporate sponsor...

A flick of a switch, probably today, will put the machinery in motion to start production of concrete paving stones here, said Paul Kelley, general manager of the Pavestone operation. Located at 2720 East Outer Road in Seven-Thirty Industrial Park near Cape Girardeau, Pavestone Inc. is a leader in the nation's landscape stone product industry and the largest producer of interlocking concrete paving stones and retaining walls...

Jessica Hency had the prized female lead in the annual Notre Dame High School musical three straight years. She had a beautiful voice and the undefinable quality that irresistibly draws an audience's eyes to a stage performer. Now Hency is one of 4,000 undergraduate drama students at New York University. ...

Bettie Knoll has multiple identities. An attorney long ago began calling her "the rape lady," and it stuck. So did "the flood lady" after 1993. Some police and prosecutors refer to Knoll as "Mother Teresa" in appreciation of what she has done for crime victims over 15 years...

Three children escaped injury early Sunday morning when a fire started in an upstairs bedroom at 512 S. Pacific St. The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, which responded to the 911 call at 3:24 a.m...

An 18-year-old man was injured Saturday evening after being thrown from his motorcycle in an accident. Anthony Guidorzi, 18, of Villa Ridge, Mo., was moderately injured and treated at St. Francis Medical Center. The accident happened at 6:17 p.m. Saturday on Interstate 55 about seven miles north of Fruitland, Mo. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Guidorzi lost control of his motorcycle and was thrown off it before rolling down a hill and hitting a highway sign...

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County authorities have identified the body of a man found west of Sikeston, Mo., on Saturday. Jason M. Robinson, 22, was found dead on Scott County Road 480 outside Sikeston. Sheriff's deputies confirmed Sunday that the death was a homicide but released no other details. Sheriff Bill Ferrell said the investigation was continuing but declined to give any further information...

JACKSON, Mo. -- At its meeting tonight, the Jackson Board of Aldermen will consider authorizing an engineering company to make improvements to the Farmington Road/West Independence intersection. A jog in the intersection results in an obstructed view as motorists going north on Farmington approach West Independence, according to assistant city administrator Larry Koenig...

Monday, May 21, at 7 p.m. City Hall, 401 Independence Study session at 5 p.m. Public hearings n Public hearing regarding the city's submission of an application to the State of Missouri for the Community Development Block Grant Program for funding for the Good Hope-Jefferson Neighborhood Restoration Project...

As disappointing as the end was, Southeast Missouri State University baseball coach Mark Hogan is proud of what his team accomplished this year. And Hogan can't help but be excited by the Indians' prospects for next season. The Indians had just two senior position players and only two senior pitchers -- although they were all key contributors -- on a squad that finished in second place in the Ohio Valley Conference and had a 34-20 overall record...

The Craftsman Union Capahas will hold tryouts and a practice session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Capaha Field. Another tryout and practice will be Thursday at the same time. Prospective players must have completed their American Legion eligibility. For more information, call Capahas manager Jess Bolen at 335-6644...

Southeast Missouri State University assistant men's basketball coach Tom Schuberth will coach an Athletes in Action team that will play in Cote D'Ivoire in Africa June 15-25. Schuberth's team, which will play in a tournament against squads from throughout Africa and Europe, will include 13 collegiate players from UCLA, Alabama, Michigan, Michigan State, California and Creighton...

Perryville High School's sensational girls soccer season came to a close late Friday night as the Lady Pirates lost to St. Louis Notre Dame 1-0 in the championship game of the Class 1A-3A, District 1 Tournament. The contest was originally scheduled to be played at Notre Dame in Cape Girardeau but was moved to Houck Stadium because of heavy rain...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Judy Ann Suhr, age 43, passed away Sunday, May 20, 2001, at St. Anthony Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. Friends may call today between 4-8 p.m. at the McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson. Funeral service will be Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. at the funeral home, followed by interment in Russell Heights Cemetery. The Rev. Robert Henrichs will officiate...

A 17-year-old boy reported he was robbed at gunpoint Saturday night on Bellevue. Cape Girardeau police reported, a man and woman approached the boy, displayed a srevolver and asked for his wristwatch and cellular phone. The man wore an orange shirt and a ski mask; the woman had short hair and a blue and purple-striped shirt...

ANNA, Ill. -- Gladys Tompkins, 93, of Anna died Sunday, May 20, 2001, at the Union County Nursing Home in Anna. She was born Feb. 4, 1908, in Union County, Ill., the daughter of Ernest and Annie Boyd Norris. She and Fred A. Tompkins were married Dec. 2, 1926. He died July 11, 1991...

MILLERSVILLE, Mo. -- Maple Byrd Roberts, 93, of Millersville, died Saturday, May 19, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 28, 1907, the son of Byrd Granger and Anna "Rhoda" Miller Roberts. He and Thomza Proffer were married on June 10, 1932, and she died in 1973. He and Ruth Matthews were married on Sept. 12, 1981...

Rhonda Story, 49, of Villa Ridge, Ill., and formerly of Thebes, Ill., died Sunday, May 20, 2001, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Jones Funeral Home of Tamms, Ill.

THIS IS response to the caller who commented about the new T-ball field on the White House lawn and was sarcastic about it. Let me tell you, as a parent of kids who got tired of having to explain why a stain on a woman's dress would have anything to do with our president, I would much rather see a T-ball field on the White House lawn with good, clean recreation than the type of recreation that went on in our White House when Bill Clinton was in office. ...

Closure finally is near for the family of Jerry Bridges, who died when the helicopter he was in went down in Vietnam in 1968. Until the mid-1990s, Bridges had been listed by the military as missing in action. It was then that the Defense Department identified remains as that of the man his family knew as Bubby...

The acquisition of 21.2 acres of land may some day give Southeast Missouri Hospital a prominent presence on the city's west side, where St. Francis Medical Center has been doing business for some 25 years. Southeast announced last week that it has been given 4.2 acres of land from the F.J. and Lula Armstrong Heritage Trust and is purchasing another 17 acres from the trust...