Stories from Sunday, January 1, 1995

The dawning of a new year always brings some change. For Cape Girardeau County government, 1995 brings to a close the Gene Huckstep era. For 16 years, Huckstep has been a domineering force in county government, taking a firm hold from the day he first walked into the courthouse as presiding commissioner on Jan. 1, 1979...

Happy new tax year. It's never too early to think about your income tax situation. Call your accountant soon. You may get a discount for seeking help in the off-season. If you wait until April 14 -- like most of us -- it will cost you a pretty penny...

A new year brings two changes to the Southeast Missourian. The first one you already know about: "Bizarro" is replacing "Far Side" on the comics pages Monday through Saturday. The second one is a return to USA Weekend as our Sunday magazine, replacing Parade...

Republicans and Democrats alike are still responding to the message sent Washington on November 8. The responses of both parties are interesting, and really not as varied as one might imagine. Republicans, of course, read the election's tea leaves in light of the specifics outlined in Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America," one of the most effective electoral platforms in years. ...

A workman from a St. Louis company uses a large hose to spray concrete onto the form of the domed earth-sheltered home. The spraying technique is called "shotcreting." A curved wall inside the Huttons' future home shows several of the horizontal I-beams that converge at a compression ring in the ceiling. The home is virtually tornado and earthquake proof...

Water is sprayed on a chair that has recently been caned using the flat reed style. Water is used in caning to make the material pliable. The pattern shown is called herring bone. Old brittle caning is cut off a chair that will be caned using the fiber rush style. The chair is Fran Mayberry's next project...

Minnie May Marble says she makes New Year's resolutions to break them. "I've made myself a rule, and breaking it is exciting," she said. "It is like the first time my mama told me not to touch the hot stove. I had to touch it just lightly to see what would happen. I know what will happen when I break my resolutions, but I feel compelled to do it."...

1920s Blue Hole Barbecue, 2425 S. Sprigg St. I. Ben Miller ice cream store, 429 Broadway Shady Grove, South Sprigg Street near intersection with Highway 74 1930s Haman's Sandwich Shop, current site of Boatmen's Bank, Kingshighway and Cape Rock Drive...

Through the decades of the 20th century, young people in Cape Girardeau have hung out at places with colorful names: Wimpy's, the Rainbow Room, The Palms, the Blue Hole. The number of hangouts has diminished with the years until, at the dawn of 1995, the most popular meeting place has become the climate-controlled, security-patrolled city of shops called the West Park Mall...

For years, Pam Johnson teased her mother-in-law about Christmas shopping in July until early-bird shopping netted the coveted Power Rangers MegaZord for Johnson's son, Jack. The 9-year-old Jackson boy is among legions of Power Ranger fans karate kicking the six teen-age super heroes into a worldwide obsession...

The answers juvenile delinquents gave to what they would do if someone attacked their brother has given Jim Davis hope he is doing something right. Davis, director of the Cape Girardot Juvenile Detention Center, said a group of 22 of the center's teen-age residents first answered that they would retaliate. But after participating in Davis' program, they changed their minds...

The Southeast Missourian will not publish a Monday edition in observance of the New Year's holiday. The newsroom will be closed today and reopen Monday afternoon. The newspaper's business offices will be closed Monday. The Monday business section will be moved to Tuesday. The Learning Page will resume Jan. 10...

Good and bad news was splashed on the front page of the Southeast Missourian in 1994, like any other year. But many residents had different stories topping their lists as the biggest local event of the past year. "I thought it was the Cape School Board," said Chris Beasley of Cape Girardeau. "That whole thing with the superintendent and the commencement ceremony sticks out in my mind."...

Although there are frustrating moments, Cape Girardeau County Juvenile officer Randy Rhodes said he has seen enough success in the last few years to feel like he is accomplishing something. "We're seeing a good percentage of kids come in the first time and not become repeat offenders," Rhodes said...

THIS IS a comment on the spirit of Christmas which I feel is almost nonexistence in society. The week before Christmas I witnessed two events that changed my feelings toward the spirit of Christmas. On the 17th, I was pulling into the Schnuck's parking lot. ...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- The Central Alexander County Water District has plans to eventually hook into SouthWater. Ditto, Mill Creek, which was recently approved for a $400,000 grant to establish a new water system. Water districts at Pulaski and McClure-East Cape Girardeau have also indicated they would join SouthWater...

JACKSON -- Six offices in the city of Jackson will come open this election, and all six current officeholders plan to run for them again. Filing opens Tuesday at 8 a.m. in Jackson for the positions of mayor, four aldermen and city collector. The deadline is 5 p.m. Jan. 31...

Jackson cheerleaders Sara Randol, Joni Boyer, Misty Ream and andrea Mouser take a break during one of several day-long practices in which they took part during their week-long visit to Hawaii. Four Jackson cheerleaders agree; their Christmas trip to Hawaii was unforgettable...

You can buy Might Morphin Power Ranger toothbrushes. You can buy Might Morphin Power Ranger bedsheets. You can buy Might Morphin Power Ranger beepers and soap and baseball gloves and action figures. Uh, check that. You can only buy the Power Ranger action figures if you happen to be at your local store when that big Might Morphin Power Ranger truck arrives, and before hordes of Ranger-hunting parents get there...

What exactly is "Power Rangers" about? Listen carefully. The Power Rangers are involved in an age-old battle between the forces of good, led by Zordon, and the powers of evil, led by Lord Zedd and his evil underling Rita Repulsa. Zordon enlists six California teen-agers through his robot, Alpha 5, and then Zordon trains them and gives them fighting machines modeled after dinosaurs and called Zords...

SIKESTON -- Lois Freeman, 55, of Sikeston died Saturday, Dec. 31, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Oct. 3, 1939, in Matthews to Alfred and Mary Dalton Peridore. She married Tommy M. Freeman on May 26, 1957, in Sikeston. He survives...

Cape Girardeau emergency food pantries and shelters just became about $25,000 richer, thanks to Congress. As part of an Emergency Food and Shelter National Board decision, Cape Girardeau County was chosen to receive $25,179 in an effort to expand emergency food and shelter programs...

Alfred Melvin Vogel, 78, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Dec. 31, 1994. He was born July 28, 1916, in Pocahontas, son of Alfred Martin Vogel and Ida Marie Steiner. On June 25, 1949, he married the former Verna Engelhart at Pocahontas. She survives...

ORAN -- Frances Kay Pobst, 49, of Oran died Friday, Dec. 30, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 8, 1945, to Philip and Leota Foster Rievley in Rombauer. She married Marvin Pobst on April 22, 1972. He survives. In addition to her husband, Pobst is survived by a son, Greg Pobst of Oran; a daughter, Marla Kay Pobst of Oran; a brother, Don Rievley of Chaffee; two sisters, Mary Martin of Illipolis, Ill.; Roberta Grojean of Chaffee and her mother, Leota Rievley of Chaffee.. ...

JACKSON -- Mildred M. Williamson, 84, of Jackson died Friday, Dec. 30, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Oct. 23, 1910, to E.C. and Grace Marlin Raines. She married Clarence E. Williamson. He died April 3, 1978. Williamson was the owner and operator of the Gift and Flower Shop in Jackson...

Julitta Theresa Uhl, 77, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Dec. 31, 1994. She was born Oct. 7, 1917, at Apple Creek, daughter of John Charles and Barbara Frances Buchheit Wibbenmeyer. On Nov. 27, 1941, she married John Albert Uhl at Cape Girardeau. He survives...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Mamie M. Siadek, 83, of Tampa, Fla., formerly of McHenry, Ill., died Friday, Dec. 30, 1994, at her daughter's home in Tampa. She was born March 16, 1911, in Cairo, Ill, daughter of Melvin and Fannie Merley Merritt. She was preceded in death by her husband, Anthony, in 1992...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Earl E. Ring, 79, of Jonesboro died Friday, Dec. 30, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. His is survived by his wife, Florence, and a son, Dick Ring, of Wolf Lake, Ill. Friends may call the Lutz & Rendleman Funeral Home in Anna, Ill., Sunday from 5-8 p.m. Masonic Rites will be conducted at 7:30 p.m. by Jonesboro Masonic Lodge 111...

PERRYVILLE -- John J. Riehn, 65, of Perryville died Saturday, Dec. 31, 1994, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. He was born on Sept. 5, 1929, at Millersville, son of John L. and Nettie Hillderbrand Riehn. On Oct. 1, 1955, he married LaVern Tarrillion. She survives...

Erma L. Fagan, 80, formerly of Southeast Missouri, died Saturday, Dec. 31, 1994, at her home in Lorain, Ohio. She was born Aug. 17, 1914, in Swinton, Mo. She was married to Clarence Fagan, who preceded her in death July 15, 1967. She is survived by two daughters, Donna Lee of Vermilion, Ohio, and Judith Rowe of Lombard, Ill.; a sister, Hollis Smith of Cape Girardeau; eight grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren...

Daughter to Jerry and Dawn Wagner of Marquand, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 9:27 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, 1994. Name, Ciara Nicole. Weight, 9 pounds, 7 ounces. First child. Mrs. Wagner is the former Dawn Fergie, daughter of John and Florence Fergie of Marquand. She is employed as an agency secretary for Golden Security Inc. Wagner is employed at Scally Waterproofing. He is the son of Bonnie Wagner of Marquand...

In the world of shooting, if there is a common thread among hunters, target punchers and casual plinkers, it stems from the tinkering of Louis Flobert. A French gunsmith, Flobert in 1845 fell upon the idea of inserting a round lead ball into a rimmed percussion cap to create a miniature cartridge for indoor "parlor" target shooting, a common recreation of the time. The result was the early BB cap, the forerunner of all .22 rimfire cartridges...

WAPPAPELLO -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Wappapello Lake began rehabilitation of the public boat ramp, at the Greenville Recreation Area on Dec. 29. As a result, the boat ramp will be closed for approximately two weeks. During this time please boaters are asked to use alternate boat ramps at Sulphur Springs, Page Branch, Holliday Landing or Carlton Place...

I got so caught up in the bubble movements under the ice designs yesterday, that I didn't think about how the air and water had worked together to sculpt the ice. Ice covered the creek except where mini-waterfalls tumbled over rocks. Movements under a tear-drop shaped hole caught my attention: The air pocket waved as it lengthened and shortened, widened and narrowed. ...

New Year! Clean page! New beginning! Sound good? It is. Especially the New beginning. It would be a sad circumstance if we had to forever drag behind us all the mistakes, bad judgments, faulty behavior of the past. Any day, hour, minute, we can declare a New beginning. But New Year's Day seems so appropriate. You have a lot of friends thinking of what they are going to jettison and what new goals to set...