Stories from Friday, March 3, 1995

Legislation to permit Missourians to carry concealed weapons may see the light of day during this session of the General Assembly. Gov. Mel Carnahan, who publicly worked against the measure the last two years, says he is keeping an open mind. It is encouraging to see the governor may be willing to compromise on this important issue. Facts, not scare tactics, should fuel the outcome...

About 100 people from seven Midwestern states who think of art when they think of cloth will gather here this weekend for the annual conference of the Missouri Fiber Artists. The conference starts tonight with a reception at the University Museum and a talk by the conference's keynote speaker, Arturo Alonzo Sandoval...

BENTON -- The Scott County Commission is working to establish a citizens' committee to promote two sales tax issues on the April 4 ballot. The commission is asking county voters to approve a 0.25 percent sales tax to construct a new 80- to 100-bed jail. Another issue asks for the same amount of sales tax to fund additional law enforcement services...

JACKSON -- The information superhighway soon will become more than a couple words tossed around by computer buffs, but Cape Girardeau County may be delayed in getting on it. Already, the Cape Girardeau Public Library has InterNET, a system linking it with the Smithsonian Institution, various colleges and universities and the U.S. Government. For now, only library staff has access to the InterNET computer...

Sherry Bohnert and her sister Pam Hartle were "outraged" upon hearing that the dog they thought the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri would place in a new home had been put to sleep 19 hours after it was delivered. Jhan White, director of the Cape Girardeau Humane Society, said the fate of the 16-month-old dalmation was decided when the dog was placed in an environment it couldn't adapt to and demonstrated behavior unsuitable for a new owner...

SIKESTON -- Encouraging businesses run by women and minorities to participate in state contracts is the focus of a new study by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. A public hearing Saturday will discuss the state's past and current contracting and purchasing practices involving minority and women-owned businesses. The hearing is set for 4 p.m. at the Banquets Beyond The Bay in the Kingsway Plaza in Sikeston...

U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson announced that the federal crop insurance registration deadline will be extended through April 28. As vice chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Emerson had urged the Agriculture Department for a delay until the end of April. March 15 was the original enrollment deadline...

To the Editor: The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a bill that will help protect all of us from frivolous and outrageous damage awards. H.R. 956 would limit punitive damage awards to three times a person's economic damages or $250,000, whichever is greater, in all cases. To me that makes good sense...

To the Editor: I believe the stories regarding Dr. Clark and the school board in Sunday's paper were unnecessarily sensationalized. The graphic depicting valet parking charges of Board Member Ed Thompson was inherently unfair. I would not expect an unpaid public servant to park his car in downtown Washington, D.C., East St. Louis, Ill., or any other crime-ridden area...

Astronaut Charles Duke's life once was as black as the lunar sky. But the man from New Braunfels, Texas, said his life has been turned around thanks to Jesus Christ. Duke talked Thursday about his life as an astronaut and a Christian at the eighth annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by the Christian Business Men's Committee of Cape Girardeau. About 1,400 people turned out for the event at the Show Me Center...

Southeast Missouri State University wants to raise tuition by $4 a credit hour for in-state students and $8 a credit hour for out-of-state students for the 1995-96 academic year. The Board of Regents will be asked to approve the tuition hikes at its March 20 meeting...

There is a heavy fog this morning. Not outside. Inside your head. The wet, stuffed-cotton feeling is the result of antibiotics, decongestants and cough syrup laced with codeine. Welcome to the crud, 1995 style. Hundreds of you have experienced the crud already. Here's a piece of advice for the rest of you: Go immediately to some god-forsaken city in some Third World country and take a deep drink from the first open sewer you come to. Whatever you get won't be half as bad as the crud...

Son to David and Beverly Felter of Benton, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 11:31 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, 1995. Name, Gabriel Logan. Weight, 8 pounds 5 ounces. Fourth son. Mrs. Felter is the former Beverly Young, daughter of Madolyn Young of Scott City and Gene Young of Oran. She is assistant office manager at Brown Shoe Co. Felter is a salesman with Morley Building Supply, and is the son of Sylvester and Mildred Felter of Benton...

PATTON -- Funeral service for Ida Jane Seabaugh of Patton will be held at 11 a.m. today at Liley Funeral Home in Patton, with the Rev. W.D. Snyder officiating. Burial will be in Old Baptist Cemetery near here. Seabaugh, 93, died Wednesday, March 1, 1995...

Ivan O. Kramer, 84, of 2105 Good Hope, died Thursday, March 2, 1995, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements were incomplete at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel.

Avis A. Fowler, 83, of Fort Bragg, Calif., died Saturday, Feb. 25, 1995. She was born July 19, 1911, at Marston, daughter of William Herman and Mary Maud Litzelfelner Latimer. She and Irvin G. Fowler were married Nov. 14, 1942. He preceded her in death...

MORLEY -- John Raymond Bridges Sr., 86, of Miner Nursing Center, formerly of Morley, died Wednesday, March 1, 1995, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Oct. 24, 1908, in Jonesboro, Ill., son of Hamilton and Effie Francys Felker Bridges. He and Alice Marie Skelton were married Feb. 22, 1933, at Charleston...

SIKESTON -- Leona Dodd, 75, of St. Louis, died Thursday, March 2, 1995, at Sells Rest Home in Matthews. She was born June 8, 1919, in Braggadocia, daughter of Levi and Pearly Mae Morgan Hatley. She married Odell Dodd, who preceded her in death. Survivors include a brother, Bob Hatley of Sikeston...

SIKESTON -- Emily Lynne Twitty, 47, of San Marcos, Texas, died Tuesday, Feb. 28, 1995, in the emergency room at Central Texas Medical Center in San Marcos, from injuries received in a fall at her home. She was born Dec. 17, 1947, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Lynn M. and Miriam Jones Twitty...

MORLEY -- Funeral service for Herbert Scott Burton of Morley will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Oran. The Rev. Don Russell will officiate, with burial in Forest Hills Memorial Gardens near Morley. Friends may call at the chapel after 4 p.m. today...

SCOTT CITY -- Walter J. "Pete" Meinz, 73, of Scott City, died Thursday, March 2, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 24, 1921, in Cape Girardeau, son of Fred Joseph and Clara Beaudean Meinz. He and Arvazena "Bobbie" Roberts were married Sept. 25, 1947, in Osceola, Ark...

SCOTT CITY -- Jessie Albert Johnson, 77, of Scott City, died Thursday, March 2, 1995, at his home. He was born June 23, 1917, in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., son of James and Lucy Sally Whatley Johnson. He and Evie Mae Morgan were married June 20, 1942, at Charleston...

ANNA, Ill. -- Francis E. "Gene" Sorrels, 73, of Anna, died Wednesday, March 1, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was born July 22, 1921, in Murphysboro, son of Francis J. and Elizabeth Reichrath Sorrels. Sorrels and a brother, Bill, owned and operated Jo-An Laundry and Cleaners in Anna, Vienna and Cairo. He was appointed chairman of the board of the Anna-Jonesboro Water Commission in 1970, and then appointed superintendent in 1979. He retired in 1988...

Cape Girardeau County authorities were searching for a vehicle involved in a fatal accident Thursday night on Highway 72 near the Jackson city limits. The Missouri Highway Patrol said a 40-year-old Millersville man was killed about 8:15 p.m. after losing control of his pickup and striking a guard rail. The patrol said the victim was ejected from the pickup and was struck by a vehicle that left the scene...

Jane Ann Hefley, 43, of 1234 West Cape Rock Road, died Thursday, March 2, 1995, at her home. She was born Feb. 23, 1952, in Mount Vernon, Ill., to Ray E. and Doris Johnson Hefley. Hefley was area manager for the R.J.R. Nabisco Co. for 15 years and was a sales representative for Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems...