Stories from Friday, January 7, 2000

The local flu outbreak that has been filling emergency rooms is also increasing demand for two new influenza drugs. While the number of people seeking treatment for flu-like symptoms at local emergency rooms has leveled off from its peak last week, the demand for the prescription influenza medications Relenza and Tamiflu continues to be high. Demand is so great it has been difficult to keep the drugs in stock, said Ben Tally, a pharmacist at Medicap Pharmacy, 1020 N. Kingshighway...

Glenn Construction Co. of St. Louis presented the Cape Girardeau Board of Education an aggressive schedule to complete construction of a new high school within 33 months for $24.9 million during a special board meeting Thursday. The presentation, the third received by the board since December, was the first to come in under the $25 million ceiling the school board has set...

Julie Muhlfeld wants her son to have the best Christian education she and her husband, Joseph, can afford. That's why she drove back and forth from Sikeston for almost four months so that 6-year-old Joel could attend Trinity Lutheran School in Cape Girardeau...

I should be an expert on this. I have spent a good part of my life explaining why the gloves I had on this morning aren't with me tonight. We were caught in a huge display of hats, mufflers and gloves, my wife and I. Some were for women, a lot were for children and quite possibly some of them might have been suitable for men...

JACKSON -- Kelly Lynn Shields, a senior at Jackson High School, recently was named the winner of the annual Cape Girardeau County American Legion Oratorical Contest. She is the daughter of George and Pam Shields of Jackson. She will receive a $200 U.S. savings bond from the Altenthal-Joerns Post 158 of the American Legion in Jackson...

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County clerk's office plans to send out new ID cards to registered voters in the next few weeks in conjunction with canvassing the voter rolls. County Clerk Rodney Miller said about 41,000 yellow cards will be mailed. People should replace their old cards with the new ones...

Love for their hometown is the main reason Jackson citizens have supported their band program so well over the years, says Nick Leist, who directed the Jackson High School band for 30 years. "So many people do not move off; they graduate from high school, go off to college and come back to Jackson to live. As I direct the municipal band, I look out (into the audience) and they are all my kids. They have all come back."...

Missouri's tobacco settlement money should be returned to the taxpayers and not used to expand state government, says U.S. Rep. Jim Talent. The St. Louis-area Republican congressman and candidate for governor voiced his views Thursday through his campaign manager, Brad Scott...

Area retailers have more than one reason to be happy about the new millennium: no computer problems and increased sales. Electrical generators, batteries and various types of heaters sold in greater numbers as 1999 came to a close, said Randy Sander of Sander's True Value Hardware store...

Son to James and Tammy Unterreiner of Jackson, Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1999. Name, Dominique Louis Walter. Weight, 6 pounds 12 ounces. Second son. Mrs. Unterreiner is the former Tammy Hendrix, daughter of Gary and Donna Hendrix of Jackson. Unterreiner is the son of Robert and Dolores Unterreiner of Jackson. He is employed at CPS Trailer Co. in Oran and at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...

WHILE WORKING in Kansas City many years ago, I made friends with a lot of fellow employees. A story in the newspaper recently reminded me of one of them. Her husband had died of a heart attack while she was pregnant with their daughter, who was born with cerebral palsy. ...

We read with interest the Jan. 4 opinion piece compiled by Daniel Straubel, president of the Four Seasons Audubon Society; Alan Journet, conservation chair of the Trail of Tears Group of the Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club; Ann Drake, president of the Mississippi Valley Chapter of the Ozark Society; and Phil Dodson, president-elect of the Ozark Society, opposing the St. John's Bayou-New Madrid Floodway flood control project...

When the United States and the Soviet Union were the two head-to-head combatants in the Cold War, it was easy to understand who the enemy was. But the two nations never engaged in actual military conflict throughout the entire Cold War period. It is interesting, then, to note that of the globe's 193 nations, 65 were engaged in some armed conflict in 1999. ...

It may take years to assess the impact of the so-called Y2K bug. How real was the problem? Did we overreact? Did warnings somehow turn into threats? There seem to be two basic schools of thought, now that the calendar says 2000 and most of the world is getting along just fine, thank you...

For somebody who wasn't even supposed to play, Paula Corder-King had quite an impact on Thursday night's Ohio Valley Conference basketball game. Corder-King, a senior forward who leads Southeast Missouri State University's women in scoring, suffered a hand injury during a practice last week. She missed Monday's game at Arkansas-Little Rock and was expected to miss the Otahkians' two OVC contests this week...

Cape Central handled the pressure. It handled the adversity. And it handled the fourth-ranked team in Class 4A. The Lady Tigers picked up a huge win Thursday night, upsetting No. 4 Poplar Bluff 48-42 just two weeks after losing to the Lady Mules by 14 points in the championship game of the HealthSouth Classic...

It's been a whirlwind first few days on the job for new Southeast Missouri State University head football coach Tim Billings, who arrived in Cape Girardeau late Monday and has virtually been going non-stop ever since. "I've just basically been meeting with people on campus and taking care of a lot of the little things, like keys, business cards, that kind of thing," said Billings Thursday afternoon. ...

Mike Branson should always be this sick. Branson, Southeast Missouri State University's senior forward, was suffering from the flu Thursday. He threw up in the morning, missed the Indians' shoot-around and was listed in the pre-game notes as questionable for that night's contest with Tennessee State...

Ryan Weatherspoon School: Scott City Sport: Basketball Coach: Derek McCord Weekly Report: Weatherspoon, a 6-foot-6 senior post player, scored 78 points over four games and led Scott City to its first University High Christmas Tournament championship since 1963. Weatherspoon, who was named to the all-tournament team, scored 18 points in the championship game against Advance...

FARMINGTON -- In a tough, physically draining game that saw three Lady Knights foul out, Notre Dame's girls defeated Farmington 52-37 Thursday night in high school basketball action. "It was a very physical game," said Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim, who saw his team improve to 10-2. "They were kind of fired up for us since we beat them the last time we faced them, but the girls responded well to the rough play and took care of the ball."...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Edna Hart, 96, of McLeansboro, formerly of Olive Branch, died Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2000, at Union County Nursing Home in Anna. She was born on Aug. 15, 1903, in Jerseyville, daughter of Henry and Barbara Hagen Krueger. She married James O. Hart on Jan. 16, 1927. He died in 1974...

ZALMA -- Mildred Icy Abernathy, 86, of Zalma died Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born April 10, 1913, at Zalma, daughter of Gilbert and Rozina Gaines Sturgeon. She and Oral Abernathy were married Oct. 20, 1934, at Marble Hill. He died Feb. 20, 1996...

Gary Ronald Miller, 59, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born on March 23, 1940, in Sikeston, son of Herman E. and Marjorie Lorene Parks Miller. He married Dorothy Vandergriff on June 30, 1958, in Corinth, Miss...

JACKSON -- Marie Crader Miller, age 69, passed away Wednesday, January 5, 2000, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born on January 16, 1930 in Patton, Missouri, the daughter of Floyd and Ella Ruessler Brotherton. In November, 1947, she married Linus Crader. In July, 1977, she married Glenn Miller...

Billy Gene Hampton of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel.

JACKSON -- Daisy Stockman, 94, of Jackson, died on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.

Funeral for Ella E. Oliver of Foristell, formerly of Cape Girardeau, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Brian Anderson will officiate. Burial will be in Cape County Memorial Park. Friends may call at the chapel from 4-8 p.m. today...

SIKESTON -- Ervin William "Bud" Westmoland, 78, of Sikeston died Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2000, at Sikeston Convalescent Center. He was born Sept. 16, 1921, at Matthews, son of Sim and Rose Ellen Chaffin Westmoland. Westmoland was a farm laborer 42 years with Dempsey Gardner. He was a member of First United Pentecostal Church...

Alice Margurite Humphrey, 88, of American Canyon, Calif., died Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2000, at Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa, Calif. She was born Aug. 2, 1911, in Cape Girardeau. Humphrey lived in American Canyon 60 years. She was a cook at Castlewood Preschool 20 years, retiring in 1993. She was a member of Castlewood Baptist Church in Vallejo, Calif...

PERRYVILLE -- Daniel Stein Jr., 75, formerly of St. Louis, died Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000, at Cori Manor in Fenton. He was born Jan. 24, 1924, at St. Louis, son of Dan and Anna Simon Stein. He and Flora Jacoby were married Oct. 14, 1945. She died Feb. 20, 1997...

Funeral Mass for Paul Marvin "Pete" Job of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary's Cathedral. The Rev. Randy Tochtrop will officiate. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel from 4-8 p.m. today. Parish prayers will be at 7, and Knights of Columbus rosary at 7:30...

PERRYVILLE -- Anna Mae Porter, 62, of Perryville died Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000, at her home. She was born Nov. 15, 1937, at Perryville, daughter of John W. and Zella C. Kennon Clampitt. She and Charles F. Porter Jr. were married Jan. 14, 1956. He died June 23, 1997...

CHARLESTON -- Wilma E. French Dalton, 78, of Charleston died Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000, at Bertrand Nursing Facility. McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston is in charge of arrangements.

PUXICO -- Bessie Bennett Denny, 92, of Puxico, died Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000, at Puxico Nursing Center. She was born on Aug. 10, 1907, in Puxico, daughter of John and Francis Reddick Bennett. She married Marvin Adam Denny on Nov. 2, 1937. He died Sept. 3, 1985...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Rowena K. Stephenson, 86, of Mounds, died Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 3, 1913, in Mounds, daughter of Oscar and Roseluella Kelly Williamson. She was married to Basil Stephenson. He preceded her in death...