Stories from Friday, December 6, 1996

To the editor: I have a Nov. 9 article from a major newspaper that states that the Democratic National Committee has received campaign donations of $450,000 from an Indonesian husband and wife, a donation from a Korean firm of $250,000 and a donation of $325,000 from a California businessman who claimed in court that he had no assets in the United States. The article states that the Democratic committee is returning the money, thereby implying that all is now OK...

To the editor: Christmas is the most special time of year. When I think back to when I was a little boy, I was truly blessed. Now with my own little boy, the Christmas spirit is alive and well. Justin's excitement about the ho-ho lights is something to see. ...

On the surface, the current Supreme Court review of the Brady gun-control law looks like a test of firearm regulation. But sharp questions from several justices indicate there is a far more important issue at stake: states' rights. "Can the states require the federal government to do something?" asked Justice Anthony Kennedy. ...

As with many prognostications, the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City is offering an educated warning that Missouri's jobless rate may increase in the not-too-distant future. The forecast is based, in part, on the downsizing at many industrial plants. This continuing trend is combined with a lack of growth in newly created manufacturing jobs...

IF I won the lottery and say it's less than $10 million but more than $5 million, I would make sure the Bollinger-Cape Girardeau lake would be built and everybody would be happy. LAST NIGHT I came home and looked in the TV directory and all there was was comedy, people who think they're funny and they're not. ...

When one student drops a soda cap or candy wrapper, he becomes a litter bug. When an entire student body does it, there is a litter problem. That's why Cape Girardeau Central High School senior Laura Lueders felt something had to be done. Lueders, with help from her friends, started the Students Aspire to Guard the Environment Club, SAGE, at Central. She said she and her friends were tired of looking at a campus covered in litter...

Changing the nation's Consumer Price Index to more accurately reflect inflation could save the government billions of dollars. Economically, it makes sense; politically, it could be a tough sell, two Southeast Missouri State University economists said Thursday...

The city prohibited Peppy's Sports Bar and Dance Club from holding a strip show Thursday night. Cape Girardeau interim Police Chief Steve Strong said Peppy's waited until the last day to obtain necessary licenses even though a copy of ordinances was sent to the business Tuesday...

For the hard-to-please man in your family, a sticky roll of tape is the answer. And now it's in designer colors too. For years, my family has laughed at all the uses I've found for duct tape, which, in my opinion, ranks as the world's No. 2 greatest invention, right after the TV remote control...

Appointments and more appointments are all one family knows after one child was hit by a car. It seems to the parents that they spend more time in doctors' offices and at therapy than they do at home or work. And their finances are showing it. The couple has two sons, and all they want for their children this Christmas are baseball mitts...

Mrs. K is a survivor. She has survived an unhappy marriage and pulled through critical health crises that no doctor expected her to survive. She has trouble walking, but she still gets up bright and early and is ready to go during garage sale season...

JACKSON -- If you think kids have a lot of energy, put 30 of them in an open area with music running at 130 beats per minute. Mixing it up with them is not advisable, but that's exactly what Immaculate Conception's physical education teacher Ellen Koeper and Main Street Fitness aerobics instructor Jaynie Miller have been doing for the last five weeks...

A Christmas concert will be held Sunday, Dec. 15, at 3 p.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau. The concert features choirs from Cape Girardeau Central Junior and Senior high schools and the Centenary Ringers handbell choir. The Junior Chamber singers from the junior high and under the direction of Mary Collier Mims will perform an assortment of traditional Christmas music...

MATTHEWS -- Myrtle Virginia Lofton, 72, of Matthews died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1996, at her son's home near East Prairie. She was born May 2, 1928, in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., the daughter of Johnny and Dora Lee Lovett Hicks. Lofton had lived in the Mississippi and New Madrid counties area most of her life. She was of the Baptist faith...

CHAFFEE -- Amanda M. Enderle, 89, of Chaffee died Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996, at the Sikeston Convalescent Center. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee is in charge of arrangements, which are incomplete.

Earline Jenkins Crawford, 70, of Chicago, formerly of Wilson City, died Dec. 3, 1996, at Loyola Hospital in Maywood, Ill. She was born May 10, 1926 in Liberty, Miss., to the late Mary and Rendy Jenkins. She was a member of Sanders Chapel AME Church in Wyatt. She married William Crawford on Aug. 13, 1957, in Bell City, and he preceded her in death on Feb. 2, 1983...

CHARLESTON -- Lorene Montjoy Samuels, 86, of Charleston died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1996, at the Sikeston Health Care Center. She was born June 23, 1910, in Wolf Island, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Montjoy. On May 16, 1941, she married Roy Samuels, who preceded her in death on June 30, 1982...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Robert E. Tetley will be held at 2 p.m. today at Fellowship Baptist Church, with the Rev. Ted Wimberly officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Tetley, 70, died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

ANNA, Ill. -- Minnie M. Coleman, 87, of Anna, died Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996, at Union County Hospital. She was born Aug. 15, 1909, at Anna, daughter of John J. and Louise Bernhard Mees. She and Earl I. Coleman were married Oct. 17, 1964, in Anna. He died Nov. 29, 1986...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Funeral service for Paul Simpson of Cobden will be held at 11 a.m. today at Crain Funeral Home in Anna. Burial will be in Pleasant Grove Memorial Park. Friends may call at the funeral home after 9 a.m. Simpson, 75, died Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996, at City Care Center...

PORTAGEVILLE -- Funeral service for Opal Moody of Portageville will be held at 11 a.m. today at First Church of God. The Rev. Thomas Walls will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery at Caruthersville. DeLisle Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements...

Graveside service for Edwin E. "Bud" Hamilton, 2852 Independence, will be held at 2 p.m. today at Fairmount Cemetery. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Hamilton, 70, died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1996, at Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Services...

Daughter to Kenneth Wayne and Christy Michelle Hency of Benton, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 2:52 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, 1996. Name, Toni Michelle. Weight, 7 pounds 14 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Hency is the former Christy Pobst, daughter of Glen Pobst Sr. of Oran and Dolores Pobst of Benton. She is a secretary at S&S Interiors Inc. Hency is the son of Don and Fern Hency of Benton. He is employed at Rugby Building Products...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Brian P. Garner, 21, of Cairo died Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996, in an automobile accident in Ballard County, Ky. Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo is in charge of arrangements.

Stella Menz, 74, died Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

SOUTH ROXANNA, Ill. -- Fred Gilliam, 69, of South Roxanna, formerly of Dorena, Mo., died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1996. He was born on March 19, 1927, at Dorena, the son of Fred and Allie Adams Gilliam. In 1947, in New Madrid, Mo., he married Rachel DeBaun...