Stories from Saturday, July 7, 2018

Cape Girardeau School District students will have a simpler dress code to follow when the new school year begins. It will be less restrictive and more fair to students, superintendent Neil Glass said. In 2012, the district implemented a strict dress code — essentially a school uniform system, according to previous reporting by the Southeast Missourian...

Today is Saturday, July 7, the 188th day of 2018. There are 177 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On July 7, 1865, four people were hanged in Washington, D.C. for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln: Lewis Powell (aka Lewis Payne), David Herold, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt, the first woman to be executed by the federal government...

Farm experts say corn should be knee-high by the Fourth of July, but in some Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois fields, the water is that deep; it is estimated there is between 18,000 and 20,000 acres of farmland under water in Alexander County, Illinois; that estimate was made July 2, when the Mississippi River was at 35.2 feet at Cape Girardeau; the river is now three feet higher and is expected to be at 40.5 feet tomorrow...

Ireland Smith What school did you graduate from? Saxony Lutheran High School What is your hometown? Cape Girardeau Who are your parents? Carla and Chris Smith Who is your role model? My Mother What motivates you? Knowing that I can do anything I set my mind to, if I trust in God and the abilities he's given me...

Over the course of several years I have read about countless recipes that I think I will make someday, and just haven't gotten around to it. Many are very simple yet tasty, others may be quite regional to a specific area of the country while others require good, fresh garden tomatoes and I just have put it off when the harvest is abundant...

Interior designer Joan Craig sees many clients who give the decorating of their living room or kitchen a lot of thought. Yet while "people have become much more attuned to developing personality inside a house," she says, "the outside becomes something that often can be much more generic."...

Submitted by Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary Bandit is a 2-year-old Shepherd mix looking for a loving forever home! He is available for adoption at Safe Harbor; call (573) 243-9823.

The box turtle is a slow-moving creature. It spends more time crossing a road than any other animal its size. That means the box turtle is in greater danger of being run over than most others. Box turtles tend to be more active during summer and especially ahead of rain. Many people consider seeing a turtle on the road to be a sign of pending rain...

Southeast Missouri State University recently announced its spring 2018 graduates. Advance, Missouri: Ethan Barr**, Jessica Beal, Allie Below, Curtis Gilliland, Dustin James, Jami Pobst, Annie Stephens Altenburg, Missouri: Luke Ponder Anna, Illinois: Adam Goforth**, Dylan Young...

Monday: Sweet 'n sour chicken or onion and mushroom chopped steak, brown rice, Oriental blend vegetables, veggie egg roll, whole-grain hot roll and baked pineapple or oatmeal cake. Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan with pasta and marinara or tater tot bake, garden salad, whole kernel corn, whole-grain garlic bread and citrus fruit salad or coconut dessert...

Back when I was just a kid I liked to visit and stay with a cousin of mine, Mary Marie. Her husband Dale was a neat guy and a hard working farmer who lived south of Roscoe, Nebraska. Thinking back I don't know if he was kind of an idol of mine or not but I did look up to him. ...

The Town and Country FCE Club met on June 14, for the club's 52nd anniversary at The Riverhouse in Scott City. Hostesses were Judy Niswonger, Shirley Heise and Joyce King. There were nine members and four guests present. Mary Klaproth's daughters, Debbie, Tammy and Kim and Sue Jones' guest, Dorothy Farrow, joined the party. Each member paid for their meal and the hostesses provided an anniversary sheet cake...

Submitted by Steve Schaffner Winners of the 2018 Young Composers Competition were honored at Shuck Recital Hall on May 11. The winners are students of Sherrie Troxel in Southeast Missouri Music Academy Musicianship Classes. Front row from left, Isaiah Dunavan, Caroline Fredenburg, Elisha McClung, Lindsey Ringstaff , Breanna Dunavan, Alyssa Jurgens, Julianne Oliver, Sara Williams. Back row from left, Zach Sample, Claire Southard, Sydney French, Lillian Michael, Henry Rusten, Anna Ahrens and Clayton Bridgeman. Not pictured are Olivia Walker, Layne Collier and Anna Albertson.

Carl and Mary Ann Kagle celebrated their 60th wedding anninversary on June 8 with a dinner hosted by Deborah and Carroll Williams at The Melting Pot in St. Louis. The couple's grandson and his wife, Lance and Jesse Ferrell, also attended the dinner...

Norman "Dean" and Norma Renz celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary July 4. The couple was married July 4, 1953, in Springfield, Illinois. The Rev. Leo Ewing performed the ceremony. Dean was in the U.S. Navy on the USS Midway and was on leave. After the wedding, Dean was sent to a naval school at Bainbridge, Maryland. ...

This article was originally published Dec. 29, 2013, in the Scott County Signal. Chaffee Chatters is a column enjoyed by many in the Chaffee community and this week, we will learn a bit more about Darla Buckhannon. Buckhannon, born and raised in Chaffee, is the daughter of a railroad engineer and the founder of Chaffee Chatters, Mrs. B. She earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and now has homes in Dallas, Texas, and Chaffee...

Happy birthday to Mildred Legrand, Charlotte Smith, Sue Crump Masters, Germaine Cannon, Marie Williams, Bobby Burks, Jeremy Chapman, Chris Robinson, Mark Robinson, Curtis Flood, Claudia Marion, Leonard Kluesner, David Lape III, Gary Kluesner, Gilbert Burkhart, Eric Cobb, Jack Coomer, Donna Fisher, Robin West, Jordan Cook, Joann Tatum, Lloyd McMullen, Seger Ruiz, Fabian Schott, Gary Bentley, Scott Montgomery, Norman Dudley, Norma Van Gennip, Beverly Kinder and Tony Mohorc...

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary to Post 3838 is seeking patriotic men and women to join the organization in making a difference in the lives of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City veterans, active-duty military and their families. As part of its annual membership drive, the auxiliary will host an information session on Aug. ...

On Jan. 1, 1802, then president-elect Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut. In the letter he wrote, "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."...

There is always something to do; a favor that must be done. A deadline that cannot be missed. A call, email, or text that must be made. Work easily slips into our schedule filling every gap. Without work we cannot enjoy rest, but without rest, all we are is enslaved to work...

BANGKOK -- A former member of the Thai navy's elite SEAL unit who volunteered to help his old comrades in their risky mission to evacuate a dozen boys and their soccer coach trapped in a cave has become the first casualty of the massive rescue effort...

PARIS -- The sovereign wealth funds of major oil-producing countries have agreed upon a common roadmap to encourage investments toward a greener economy. The six funds from Norway, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and New Zealand released a joint framework Friday to encourage investors to take climate-related risks into consideration when investing. They also want to improve businesses' transparency on their strategies toward establishing low-carbon economic growth...

MAE SAI, Thailand -- Authorities in Thailand said Friday they will not immediately attempt an underwater evacuation of 12 schoolboys who have been trapped in a cave for almost two weeks because they have not learned adequate diving skills in the short time since searchers reached the area where they are sheltering...

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Theresa May corralled her Cabinet inside an English country house for a long, hot day Friday, and announced the divided government had finally agreed on a plan for a future free-trade deal with the European Union. The proposal aims to keep the U.K. and the bloc in a free-trade zone for goods, but not for services, which make up the bulk of the British economy...

LOS ANGELES -- Southern California sizzled Friday in record-breaking heat from the desert to the sea, with widespread triple-digit highs and withering conditions stoking wildfires. Officials urged people to take advantage of cooling centers in libraries and other facilities and to watch out for the elderly and very young, warning minor heat-related illnesses can worsen quickly...

NEW YORK -- Just imagine it, a luxurious room on an island, with chef-prepared meals and a view of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. Hotel? Not exactly. It's actually a campground of high-end tents on New York City's Governors Island, the latest outpost for glamping, or glamorous camping. ...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A white man who challenged a black family's use of a gated pool in a North Carolina neighborhood has not only resigned from the homeowner's association board -- he's also lost his job. Sonoco announced Friday it had severed ties with Adam Bloom, saying the company doesn't condone discrimination of any kind, even if it happens outside its workplace...

SEATTLE -- Behind tall brick walls and secure windows, hundreds of patients at Washington state's largest psychiatric hospital live in conditions below U.S. health and safety standards, while overworked nurses and psychiatrists say they are navigating a system punishing employees who speak out despite critical staffing shortages...

SAN DIEGO -- A judge refused Friday to grant the Trump administration a blanket extension of the deadline to reunite children separated from their parents at the border, instead acknowledging more time may be justified only in specific cases. The administration said it needed more time to reunite 101 children younger than 5 years old to ensure the children's safety and to confirm their parental relationships...

TOKYO -- The executions Friday of a doomsday cult leader and six of his followers closed a chapter on one of Japan's most shocking crimes. The poison gas attack on rush-hour commuters in Tokyo's subway killed 13 people and sickened more than 6,000. The attack in 1995 woke up a relatively safe country to the risk of urban terrorism. ...

BEIRUT -- Syrian government forces on Friday reached a vital border crossing with Jordan and raised the national flag for the first time in years, state media reported, reinstating sovereignty over a key region potentially reopening the way for Syrian exports to Arab countries...

HORNBROOK, Calif. -- A wildfire raging through drought-stricken timber and brush near California's border with Oregon killed one person and destroyed multiple structures as it burned largely out of control, authorities said Friday. No other details were released about the death blamed on the fire threatening 300 homes near Hornbook, a town of 250 people about 14 miles south of the Oregon border. It's not clear the flames burned homes or other structures such as barns...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A Virginia man investigated by the FBI after his family reported he had converted to Islam and may have been radicalized has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Sean Duncan was sentenced in federal court Friday in Alexandria. Duncan had pleaded guilty in April to obstruction of a terror probe and receipt of child pornography...

WASHINGTON -- Different administrator, same policies. Andrew Wheeler, the former coal lobbyist who takes over Monday as acting head of the Environmental Protection Agency, doesn't have the high profile of Scott Pruitt, who resigned Thursday amid ethics scandals...

WASHINGTON -- They're all younger than 55 and conservative enough to make a first cut. But the four judges who are apparently the finalists for President Donald Trump's second Supreme Court nomination are being measured against a set of questions going well beyond age and ideology...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls: Thursday n Medical assists were made at 4:48 a.m. on South Hanover Street, 5:05 a.m. on South Minnesota Avenue, 6:07 a.m. on William Street, 6:48 a.m. on East Rodney Drive, 8:05 a.m. on South Sprigg Street, 10:30 a.m. on Percy Drive, 10:51 a.m. South Mount Auburn Road, 1:48 p.m. on North Kingshighway and 11:42 p.m. on North Sprigg Street...

Son to Brandon Levi Joyce and Jessica Danielle Mungle of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Hospital, 7:17 p.m. Tuesday, July 3, 2018. Name, Silas Isaiah. Weight, 8 pounds, 9 ounces. Second son. Mungle is employed by Water Tower Dental Group. Joyce works for Corrigan...

CAPE GIRARDEAU The Cape Girardeau Police Department released the following items. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI n Julie Taylor, 47, of Cape Girardeau was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Arrests n Johnny Warren, 36, of Tamms, Illinois, was arrested on a Cape Girardeau warrant for failure to appear...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Mike Parson has expanded drug take-back programs in Missouri. The measure was signed into law Friday during a tour of Springfield. It will make it easier to discard unfinished prescriptions year-round by dropping them off at authorized sites such as pharmacies. Before, pharmacies were barred from taking prescriptions they did not dispense...

KEARNEY, Mo. -- A Missouri woman whose two young children died after being found unresponsive on July Fourth has been charged with assaulting her husband in the hours before the children were found, according to police records. Jenna Boedecker was charged Thursday with third-degree assault, armed criminal action and first-degree property damage, all felonies, after an argument with her husband about alleged infidelity, The Kansas City Star reported...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Good luck trying to find this guy. Three times since April 2016, a Kansas City man walked into his local police station and reported he had been robbed of a 9 mm handgun -- or two. Once it happened near the corner of 42nd and Indiana, he said. Another time near a south Kansas City night club. The latest in the 18th and Vine district. Five guns in all, gone...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State Auditor Nicole Galloway has released an audit criticizing the Missouri Department of Conservation for paying out more than $120,000 to a former director. Robert Ziehmer received money and benefits for months after he left the state agency for the private sector that appeared to be unnecessary and costly, according to the audit released Thursday. ...

WASHINGTON -- The trade war that erupted Friday between the U.S. and China carries a major risk of escalation that could weaken investment, depress spending, unsettle financial markets and slow the global economy. The opening shots were fired just after midnight, when the Trump administration imposed a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion of imports from China, and Beijing promptly retaliated with duties on an equal amount of American products. ...

Venida Ann Warren, 75, of Jackson died Wednesday, July 4, 2018. Visitation will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday at Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Jackson. Funeral will follow at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Donny Ford officiating...

Tonya Lynn Pender, 65, of Cape Girardeau passed away Friday, July 6, 2018. She was born Aug. 28, 1952, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Robert and Iletha Cockrell. She was a homemaker who loved keeping her grandchildren. Survivors include her husband, Marlin Pender of Cape Girardeau; daughters, Kristy Cain (Lee Malone) of Blytheville, Arkansas, and Leighann Ludolph (Mike Sullivan) of Cape Girardeau; grandchildren, Harley Grimes (Hannah Beth), Justin Day (Trinity), Lane Golemon (Peace), Riley Cain (Mary Claire) and Olivia Green; sisters, Angie Blaylock (Phillip Fleming) of Osceola, Arkansas, and Robyn Davison of Alexandria, Louisiana; father, Robert Cockrell of Alexandria; and nieces, Nonnie Blaylock and Courtney Cothern.. ...

CLIFTON, Ill. -- Betty J. Pender, 74, of Clifton died Friday, July 6, 2018. She was born Sept. 5, 1943, in Cape Girardeau to Fred and Alma Cloninger Shirrell. She and Gerald E. Pender were married Dec. 25, 1961, at Cape Girardeau. She was the activity director at Merkle-Knipprath Nursing Home for several years...

Betty Mae Meredith, 83, of Scott City died Thursday, June 14, 2018, at her home. A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Fruitland Community Church, with the Rev. Mike Perry officiating. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City is in charge of arrangements...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Denver Eugene Cook, 69, of Glenallen, Missouri, died Thursday, July 5, 2018, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Hutchings Funeral Chapel in Marble Hill. Funeral will be at noon Tuesday at the funeral home. Burial will follow at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Missouri Veterans Cemetery at Bloomfield...

Ruby Pearl Whaley Atherton, 89, of Jackson died Friday, July 6, 2018, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Dec. 5, 1928, in Cape Girardeau to John and Sarah Elizabeth Littlepage Cauhorn. She and Clarence Vernon Atherton were married May 16, 1971. He preceded her in death June 26, 2008...

American patriotism filled the grandstand of Arena Park in Cape Girardeau Wednesday evening. Following the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band's performance of patriotic music the Southeast Missourian recognized Raymond G. Buhs as the 16th recipient of the Spirit of America Award...

O Lord, may we be still and know that you alone are God. Amen.

** Bryan Burchyett Bryan Keith Burchyett, 56, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, July 6, 2018, at his home. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced by Crain Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Cape Girardeau.