Stories from Sunday, July 4, 1993

JACKSON -- Everett G. Johnson Jr., 42, of Oriole, died Friday, July 2, 1993 at Keokuk, Iowa. Johnson had worked on the Mississippi River for 23 years and was captain of tow boat M.V. Milton Roth. The boat was in dry dock at Keokuk, Iowa when he died...

To the Editor: While reading your article concerning Dick ~Cheney's visit to Cape Girardeau, a statement he made ca~ught my eye. Mr. Cheney described President Clinton'~s budget as a "massive redistribution of wealth." This statement is indeed interesting, but somewhat hypocritical. After all, while Mr. Cheney's party was at the helm, the greatest redistribution of wealth took place during the 1980s...

Twelve teen-agers from Cape Girardeau and Jackson will be heading for Wyoming early Monday as part of a week-long Ozark-Yellowstone Youth Retreat designed to encourage youths to broaden their horizons. The youths were chosen as part of the Drug Free Schools Program, in cooperation with the Jackson Future Homemakers of America Chapter and the Cape Civic Center, explained Fred Pennington, a member of the Civic Center board who will be one of four adult leaders on the trip...

A Summerfest Pageant for contestants ages birth to 20 years will be held July 10 at the Eagles Aerie 3775 Hall, 321 N. Spring Street. The Kenny Rogers Cerebral Palsy Center will receive proceeds from the event. Contestants from age birth to 9 years compete in party dress only. All other age divisions compete in sportswear, evening gown and an on-stage question...

About 140 high school students from St. Louis to the Bootheel will get a chance to discuss freedom and free enterprise next week in Cape Girardeau. The occasion is the annual Missouri Freedom Forum. The three-day forum, which begins Tuesday, will be held at Southeast Missouri State University. Most of the forum sessions will be held at the University Center...

Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Bob Ridgeway says the traditional role of the fire department in Cape Girardeau is changing, and it will change even more dramatically in the not-to-distant future. "The fire service as we have all known it in the past is changing. No longer will you see us sitting in the firehouse waiting to fight fires," Ridgeway told a Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee gathering...

Peter Hilty is a resident of Cape Girardeau, a former professor at Southeast Missouri State University and a former member of the city council. It was not a castle although it had been built by a King Harley King, that is only four or five years before Doctor Wilson drove into the country from his office in Fortuna in his long car with headlights streamlined into the fender~. ...

Americans celebrate their unique and special heritage today, extolling independence as a national birthright and holding dear (at least for a brief holiday consideration) the distinct endowment citizenship here affords them. The Fourth of July should renew in each of us a feeling of investment in the United States, a revived belief that any nation giving power to its people is capable of grand things...

To the Editor: A few weeks back the Southeast Missourian noted that the National Guard is an important part of America's military design. You rightfully noted the cost effectiveness of the Guard. You correctly pointed out our unique dual role under the Constitution as both a federal first-line military force and a state emergency force. We would like to add one thought, that partnership makes the Guard possible...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Brian Johnson of Marble Hill, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 6:05 p.m. Saturday, June 26, 1993. Name, Neil Ty Glenn. Weight, 8 pounds 11 ounces. First child. Mrs. Johnson is the former Angela Lincoln, daughter of Tim and Carol Lincoln of Marble Hill. Johnson is employed at Town and Country Supermarket, and is the son of Tom and Gloria Johnson of Marble Hill...

Bessie I. Birk, 79, of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, July 2, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born May 27, 1914, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Mason and Sarah Windeknecht Thomas. She married Reinhard Birk March 8, 1946, in Cape Girardeau...

Kenneth Paul Richards, 47, of National City, Calif., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Wednesday, June 30, 1993. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements, which are incomplete.

JACKSON -- Ruddle Otto Gloth, 82, of Jackson, died Thursday, July 1, 1993 at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 29, 1911 in Whitewater, son of George Washington Gloth and Emma Lee Hahn. He worked for the Little River Drainage District of Cape Girardeau, retiring in April 1973. He was also a member of Passover Methodist Church near Whitewater...

Charles Paul Withers, 29, of Miami Beach, Fla., died Thursday, July 1, 1993, at his home. He was born July 20, 1963, in Cape Girardeau, son of W.R. and Mari Michelson Withers. Withers was a 1981 graduate of Central High School and a member of its swim team. He was a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, receiving degrees in engineering, political science and house design. He then moved to Miami Beach and attended the University of Miami two years...

PERRYVILLE -- Theresa H. Laurentius, 89, of Perryville, died Friday, July 2, 1993, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. She was born March 27, 1904, in Perry County, daughter of William and Mary Schemel Lee. She and Stephen Daniel Laurentius were married Nov. 13, 1922. He died Oct. 31, 1967...

ORAN -- Marie Maddox, 84, of Oran died Thursday, July 1, 1993 in Houston, Texas. She was born Jan. 27, 1909 at Puxico, the daughter of Henry Hibner and Lena Mae Barnes. She married James Franklin Maddox on Sept. 18, 1927 and he preceded her in death Feb. 26, 1975. One daughter also preceded her in death...

THEBES, Ill. -- Funeral service for Huie W. Cox of Thebes will be held at 2 p.m. today at Alexander Free Will Baptist Church. The Revs. Ernest Brown and Dale Billingsley will officiate, with burial in Olive Branch Cemetery. Friends may call at Crain Funeral Home in Tamms until 12:30 p.m., and then at the church from 1 p.m. until service time...

Rufus B. Kluesner, 72, 2411 Erna, died Friday, July 2, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Jan. 1, 1921, in St. Joseph, Tenn., son of Frank and Monica Reischman Kluesner. He and Kathleen Scheidel were married Sept. 11, 1945, in Comstock Park, Mich...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Wilma Pauline Goolsby of Sikeston was held Saturday at Ponder Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Ed Pangburn officiated, with burial in Garden of Memories Cemetery. Goolsby, 86, died Thursday, July 1, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

Billie Jean Caldwell, 67, died Friday, July 2, 1993, at her home 3014 Aspen. She was born May 13, 1926 in Ironton, the daughter of William Monroe Allgier and Etha DePew. On Aug. 30, 1946, she married Robert L. Caldwell in Cape Girardeau. He preceded her in death Sept. 22, 1976...

JACKSON -- By day they're businessmen, mechanics, a truck driver, a general contractor, a restaurant manager and shift worker. After the sun goes down they become the Jackson Jaycee PyroManiac Squad. Don't worry. You're homes and businesses are safe. This squad is not comprised of arsonists...

KELSO -- When the Eftink family decided it was time to move, they didn't pack up their belongings ... they hoisted the house and towed it away. The 106-year-old building was moved about 350 feet to a new location on the property just north of Kelso city limits, said Larry Eftink...

A toll bridge for Cape Girardeau? A member of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission said Saturday that news accounts of such a consideration are exaggerated. Cape Girardeau attorney John L. Oliver Jr., a commission member, said an Associated Press account of the meeting took comments made by Chief Highway Engineer Wayne Muri about considering toll bridges out of context...

For the sixth time in six days, the National Weather Service has revised the flood crest for the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau. And the latest crest could be the highest at Cape Girardeau in 10 years ... and the fifth highest here in 100 years...

Cape Girardeau firefighters were called to the roof of Froggies Lounge, in the 100 block of Water Street, shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday after a utility line apparently shorted out and fell on the tar roof. The lounge adjoins Jeremiah's Restaurant at 127 N. Water...

BOLIVAR - Former Missouri Secretary of State Roy Blunt said Friday a plan to limit contributions to political candidates, drafted by a group he chairs, will go a long way toward reducing the incumbent advantage in political campaigns. "I think the proposal we've come up with is tightly drawn and really does have the impact of leveling the playing field in a significant way," said Blunt, who is chairman of Missourians for Fair Elections, the group that will seek to have the issue placed on the November 1994 ballot.. ...

PERRYVILLE -- If you are thinking about ways to spend quality time with your kids this summer, consider a six-week, 4,200 mile bike and camping trek across the United States. Because that is exactly what one father-son duo is doing. The Perryville KOA Kampground is the next stop for Randy and Shane Garrett of Citrus Heights, Calif. They are riding their bicycles across the country from California to New York, and are camping at KOA Kampgrounds along their route...

If a meatcutters' union strike occurs in St. Louis, supermarkets in Cape Girardeau would not be affected because employees of supermarkets in Cape Girardeau are not affiliated with the union. Meatcutters Local 88 in St. Louis, representing over 2,000 butchers, deli and seafood workers at 97 stores owned by Schnucks, National, and Dierbergs markets in Missouri and Illinois, have been working without a contract since June 12...

"Women in a Man's Business World" is the topic of the July Woman to Woman luncheon July 15 in conference rooms A and B of the St. Francis Health and Education Center. Local businesswoman Judy Wilferth will be the featured speaker. She will discuss how she began with a small store 20 years ago that has since expanded into a larger business and shopping center...

Before I go out at pre-dawn or shortly thereafter to groom and water the 1,001 petunias (well, maybe only 999), I like to stuff my head with nature poetry so they'll be running through my mind as I pinch off the spent blossoms, say "Hello" to the bumblin' bumblebees who are early risers too, and greet the chortling martins who are in a tizzy now over their new families. ...

More than bottle rockets and barbecues, Independence Day celebrates the freedoms and pride of citizens of the United States of America. The nation celebrates its 217th birthday today. "The Fourth of July means one thing to everyone and everyone celebrates what they have done to make America great," said Tom Reddick, a Navy veteran of World War II, who lives at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau...

Caribbean, Secret and Midas Touch are the three outstanding 1994 All-American Rose Selections. They have been tested for two years in gardens across the country and have withstood the extremes of Mother Nature while exhibiting breathtaking blooms all season long...

Nine students graduated Thursday from Southeast Missouri Hospital's School of nursing. The class is the second group to graduate since the hospital opened its School of Nursing in August 1991. The graduation ceremony was held at Drury Lodge and included a keynote address by School of Nursing Director Sandy Buchheit...