Stories from Friday, August 30, 1996

Today will be remembered for years by thousands of Southeast Missourians as the day they got to stand in Capaha Park with the president of the United States, Bill Clinton. On behalf of Cape Girardeau and all of Southeast Missouri, welcome, Mr. President. We hope your visit is a pleasant one...

ULLIN, Ill. -- An Ullin man and woman were killed Wednesday in Pulaski County when the pickup truck they were in was struck by a freight train. The accident occurred at about 6:30 p.m. at a marked railroad crossing on Rock Crusher Road two miles south of Wetaug...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Illinois Governor Jim Edgar swooped into the Tamms SuperMax Correctional Facility Thursday and described the 500-inmate maximum security prison as a sort of principal's office for Illinois' inmate population. "This facility will send a message to all inmates within our correctional system that if they don't follow the rules, if they are troublesome, they will end up at the SuperMax," Edgar said. "Which is not a very pleasant place."...

JACKSON -- Dr. Kevin M. Gilmartin told a roomful of law enforcement officers they should be survivors, not victims. Gilmartin, a 21-year police veteran and psychiatrist from Tucson, Ariz., conducted a seminar Monday at the Knights of Columbus Hall for about 100 law enforcement personnel from throughout the region...

PERRYVILLE -- A 22-month-old boy was killed Wednesday after being run over by a car that was driven by a 14-year-old boy who was moving a friend's car. Perryville identified the child who was killed as Dustin Bohnert, son of Dennis and Helen Bohnert...

If all goes as planned, 2,000 Cape Girardeau area residents will receive roses from friends and strangers Wednesday. Knaup Floral, 838 William, will be giving away dozens of roses in all different colors beginning at 8 a.m. Wednesday. The idea is for people to pick up a dozen, keep one for themselves and give the others to 11 different people...

WHY IS the Cape Girardeau School Board trying to put all the poor kids together into one school and keeping all the rich kids in separate schools? Is it that the rich people don't want their kids with the poor? It sure sounds fishy to me. If a poor person misses the bus, they've got a long way to go. Their kid won't make it to school. Let's be fair here...

A NOTICE to Clinton supporters. When you come to the rally in Cape, please bring money. We can pass a hat to collect for the Clinton legal defense fund. We can keep Clinton in the White House, not the jail house. DO YOU what President Clinton and our teenagers have in common? He's going to cruise Broadway...

To the editor, The President, Bill Clinton, is coming to Cape Girardeau to kick-off his campaign for re-election for president of the United States. Even I, a 78-year-old senior citizen, a retired Southern Baptist minister for 50 years, am as excited now as anyone else...

Cape Girardeau residents and local school district patrons can expect to see more joint meetings of the City Council and Board of Education. The two groups joined Thursday evening to discuss issues of concern to both. Mayor Al Spradling III said such meetings are needed more often, particularly as the city and school district come closer to some important goals...

Politics and pageantry will come to the region today when President Clinton visits Cape Girardeau for the start of a two-day, four-state bus tour. The campaign trip comes on the heels of the Democratic National Convention and Clinton's nomination acceptance speech...

President Clinton probably wouldn't be stopping in Cape Girardeau if Republican congressman Bill Emerson were alive, says conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh. Emerson died June 22 of lung cancer after serving 16 years as congressman from Southeast Missouri's 8th District...

Missouri will be a key state in the November presidential election, U.S. Sen. Kit Bond said Thursday. The state's voters have picked winners in every presidential election "except '56, when they went with a neighbor, Adlai Stevenson. I'd say the same for the Dole people. Whoever wins Missouri is probably going to win the nation," Bond said...

From the port of Cairo to the music halls of Memphis, Tenn., there is a frenzy of activity to prepare for President Bill Clinton's arrival this weekend. The president's bus tour will travel an undisclosed route through Cairo Friday after it leaves Cape Girardeau around 4:30 p.m. ...

Those planning to cross the Mississippi Bridge following President Clinton's visit this afternoon will have to wait. The bridge will close for a short while before President Clinton and his party leave Capaha Park following his speech, said police spokesman Sgt. Carl Kinnison...

The agenda for this afternoon's presidential rally doesn't include a question-answer session, but the Southeast Missourian asked people at the Cape Girardeau post office what they'd most like to ask President Clinton if they had the chance. Most questions had to do with money -- where it's going, where it's coming from and how to spend less of it -- but the environment and government regulations were topics, too...

About a dozen politicians or their wives have visited Cape Girardeau on the campaign tour. Missourians have chosen the winning presidential candidate in all but one race during the last century. (with photos) Oct. 26, 1909 William Howard Taft, a Republican, stopped in Cape Girardeau as part of a tour on the Mississippi River. He was the first president to visit the city...

Preparations for a presidential visit to Cape Girardeau haven't changed much in the eight years since President Ronald Reagan came to town. Security and traffic are still the major concerns for local law enforcement officials. Specific security measures can't be discussed, however...

The U.S. Coast Guard will close portions of the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee rivers to boat traffic during President Clinton's campaign bus trip through the region. The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau will be closed from 4 to 6 p.m. today, said Nick Doszkewycz, chief petty officer of the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office at Paducah, Ky...

Capaha Park has quite a role in Cape Girardeau's history, but today's scheduled presidential visit will be its biggest. The acres of grass, trees and water see hundreds of pairs of feet each day in the summer. Capaha Park has a baseball diamond, playground equipment, swimming pool, band shell, shelters and plenty of room to run and play...

GIPSY -- Edna M. Miller, 82, of Gipsy died Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 13, 1913, at Gipsy, daughter of Charley and Minnie Mae Mouser Stilts. She and Vernon Miller were married Sept. 15, 1929. He died Oct. 10, 1982...

SIKESTON -- Florence E. Christie, 78, of Sikeston died Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996, at her home. She was born April 23, 1918, in Robertstown, Ark., daughter of John Oscar and Bertha Lee Johnson Newton. She and Leonard M. Christie were married Jan. 2, 1934, in Benton. He died July 25, 1987...

PORTAGEVILLE -- Funeral service for Cletis Dacus of Portageville will be held at 11 a.m. today at DeLisle Funeral Home. The Rev. Mark Inman will officiate, with burial in Portageville Cemetery. Dacus, 77, died Tuesday, Aug. 27, 1996, at his home. He was born Dec. 22, 1918, in Portageville, son of James Olian and Blanche Mae Hall Dacus. He and Irma Brown were married Dec. 6, 1947, in Isola, Miss...

James Lloyd Chapman, 73, 330 Edgewood, died Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Jan. 12, 1923, in Advance, son of Walter Dewitt and Anna Hedge Chapman. He and Marilyn Lee Sealey were married Oct. 9, 1946, in Cape Girardeau...

ANNA, Ill. -- Robert H. Nelson, 86, of Anna died Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996, at City Care Center. He was born Nov. 23, 1909, in Chicago, son of Ralph E. and Nettie Herter Nelson. He and Ruth O. Yando were married July 6, 1931, in Chicago. She died Sept. 2, 1992...

CHARLESTON -- Doris Jean Howard, 48, of Rockford, Ill., formerly of Charleston, died Monday, Aug. 26, 1996, at Rockford Memorial Hospital, from an apparent heart attack. She was born Aug. 12, 1948, in Union City, Tenn., daughter of Samuel L. and Margret M. Robinson...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Jesse J. Sronce, 87, of Columbus, Ind., formerly of Alexander County, died Thursday, Aug. 29, 1996, at Columbus Regional Hospital. Hileman and Parr Funeral Home in Jonesboro is in charge of arrangements.

ULLIN, Ill. -- Irene Johnson, 73, of Ullin died Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996, in an automobile accident near Ullin. She was born March 23, 1923, in Biloxi, Miss., daughter of John and Mamie Maxwell Harvel. Survivors include a daughter, Margie Johnson of McClure; two sons, Alford Johnson of Doniphan, Mo., Billy Johnson of Jacksonville, Fla.; a sister, Goldie Branum of Wetaug; nine grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren...

ULLIN, Ill. -- Qugsby "Buck" Johnson, 70, of Ullin died Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996, in an automobile accident near Ullin. He was born Feb. 28, 1926, in Alton, Mo., son of Andy and Lillie Johnson. Survivors include a brother, Arthur Johnson of Doniphan, Mo...

PERRYVILLE -- Dustin W. Bohnert, 22 months, of Perryville died Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996. He was struck by a car on North Main Street. He was born Oct. 9, 1994, in Perryville, son of Dennis and Helen Reed Bohnert. Survivors include his parents; a brother, Justin Bohnert of the home; maternal grandfather, Walter Reed of Coldwater; paternal grandparents, Elmer and Earlene Bohnert of Perryville; maternal great-grandmother, Helen Eldridge of Cutler, Ill.; and paternal great-grandparents, Eugene and Edith Bohnert of Perryville.. ...

Daughter to James Milton and Jeannette Kay Coffey, 1551 Grandview, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 4:34 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, 1996. Name, Rachel Caroline. Weight, 6 pounds 6 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Coffey is the former Jeannette Coggins, daughter of the late Willie and Norma Coggins. Coffey is the son of Bob and June Coffey of Dexter. He is commercial manager at Fru-Con...

JACKSON -- Lillie B. Smith, 96, of Jackson died Thursday, Aug. 29, 1996, at Jackson Manor. She was born April 18, 1900, in Bollinger County, daughter of Daniel and Lucy Gwin Newell. She and George A. Smith were married Feb. 14, 1916. He died Oct. 16, 1967...