Out of the Past

At Southeast Missouri State University, there is talk of layoffs and major tuition hikes; school officials are forecasting gloom and doom if Missouri voters in November pass Hancock II, a constitutional amendment that would limit state revenue growth; Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast, says passage of the measure would be financially devastating to Missouri's public colleges and universities...

The rift between property owners and contractors which stalled channel improvements to the Cape LaCroix Creek Flood Control Project has been resolved; the final phase of work on the channel improvement to Cape LaCroix Creek behind the Lowell's/Silo Building north of Bloomfield Road will resume this week after being halted several months...

Bumper crops and lower prices might be in prospect for corn and soybean farmers this year; about the only redeeming effect of last year's flooding was the highest prices farmers in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois got for the little corn and soybeans they were able to harvest; as commodities markets go, this year the situation is reversed...

"Seeds on the Wind," Jean Bell Mosley's latest book, will go on sale this month; the book comprises 80 of Mosley's newspaper columns, magazine stories and articles, dating as far back as 1960. Arguments over property standards overshadow the Cape Girardeau City Council's approval of Air Evac EMS Inc. ...

The Rev. Neal O. Zeilinger is installed as pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church in the afternoon; the installation ceremony is conducted by the Rev. Dennis Hallemeyer, assistant to Bishop Charles H. Maahs. It's clean-up day for about 50 volunteers at Arena Park, after the eight-day run of the SEMO District Fair brought out about 97,000 fun seekers; fair board member Pete Poe said it was the best attendance since the fair's format was changed about 15 years ago...

Attendance for the 139th SEMO District Fair continues its record-setting pace, drawing an estimated 59,000 heading into Friday's events; rains, which fell at the fairgrounds Friday afternoon, had little effect on attendance; this evening, Aaron Tippin will take the stage...

New to this year's SEMO District Fair is the Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show, owned by Lee LeCaptain of Orlando, Florida; the show features LeCaptain as emcee and includes three lumberjacks who blend humor with athleticism into various demonstrations of logrolling, wood chopping, ax throwing and pole climbing; this evening's grandstand entertainer is country singer Janie Fricke...

The 139th annual SEMO District Fair continues with the Big Bull Chute-Out by Wild Horse Rodeo Productions scheduled for this evening; Bob Rosenquist's band entertains in the afternoon in the R&R tent. Groundwork is underway in Cape West Business Park for a new 97,000-square-foot Target store; under construction in the same general area are a McDonald's restaurant and a Hampton Inn; future plans call for a Sam's Club near the Wal-Mart Supercenter...

Gregory Williams of Cape Girardeau has been named executive director of Regional Commerce and Growth Association; he replaces Walter Wildman, who resigned Sept. 8. Entertainment at the SEMO District Fair this evening will be country music act Restless Heart; attendance at the 1994 edition of the fair is at a record pace; after three days, more than 31,000 have attended the exposition, an increase of 10% over last year's three-day total; fair board member Pete Poe says total attendance could exceed 90,000 if the pace continues.. ...

Around 3,500 fans filled the grandstand at Arena Park last night for the demolition derby at the 139th SEMO District Fair; today's activities include the arrival of livestock and the beginning of livestock judging, and a Baby Girl Beauty Contest in the afternoon; the day's events will be topped off with a tractor pull in the evening...

The 139th SEMO District Fair is officially opened with a parade from Capaha Park to the fairgrounds at Arena Park; the sixth annual horse show actually started things off yesterday, with around 330 entrants in the six-hour event; before the grandstand tonight will be the demolition derby...

A dedication service and open house are held in the afternoon at First Baptist Church in Jackson, in celebration of the completion of the church's new education building; construction of the 15,675-square-foot building began in the spring of 1993; John Dudley of Jackson was project architect; Brockmiller Construction of Farmington, Missouri, built the $800,000 structure...

Carson Kelley, assistant director of public safety at Southeast Missouri State University, is the new commander of the Cape Girardeau-Bollinger County Major Case Squad; he will take over the squad Sept. 19. The SEMO District Fair gets underway with a parade; along with the early opening of carnival rides, a 4-H and youth horse show is held in front of the grandstand at noon; tomorrow is the traditional Sneak Peek day and will include a second horse show...

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce and the Regional Commerce and Growth Association have joined forces after years of strong and often public disagreements between leaders of the two groups; the 18-member chamber board voted unanimously Tuesday to join the RCGA, although that decision wasn't announced until Thursday afternoon; Thursday night, members of RCGA voted to become members of the chamber...

The Environmental Protection Agency has embarked on a plan to re-evaluate the combustion industry and the burning of all types of hazardous waste materials; the program has attracted the interest of the commercial incineration and cement kiln industries, including Lone Star Industries Inc. of Cape Girardeau; Lone star is licensed to burn 2.4 tons of shredded rubber and more than 1,200 gallons of waste fuel each hour...

Final preparations are being made before the start of the 139th annual SEMO District Fair Saturday at Arena Park; kicking off the fair this year will be the 4-H and Youth Horse Show at noon Saturday at the grandstand; the carnival midway will also open Saturday afternoon...

Labor Day. Morning rains aren't enough to ruin everyone's holiday activities; for most people, the rains just delay the barbecue, fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans, slaw and dessert until the afternoon. KFVS-TV 12 hosts the Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon at the Show Me Center, collecting pledges totaling $305,247, $6,790 more than last year; hosts for the local event were Terry Turner, KFVS-TV weekend anchor, and Pam Land, KFVS meteorologist...

Mark Quay speaks at the morning service at Christ Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau; he is a graduate of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, High School and received a Bachelor of Arts in zoology from Southeast Missouri State University; he is attending Covenant Seminary in St. Louis...

A Laotian street-gang member is in a local hospital with a gunshot wound and two others are in Cape Girardeau County Jail following a high-speed chase involving a stolen vehicle yesterday afternoon; a routine traffic stop by a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 55 resulted in the chase off the interstate and ended at the intersection of Donna Lane and U.S. ...

Air Evac Lifeteam Corp. is in the process of purchasing the assets of Cape Central Airways to become the next fixed base operator at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport; the purchase will dissolve, if the city council doesn't approve Air Evac becoming the next fixed base operator...

Cape Girardeau Area United Way volunteers were told at a kick-off luncheon yesterday their dedication and enthusiasm are the most important factors for a successful fund-raising drive; that message was delivered by William Shores, regional manager of Union Electric Co.; this year's campaign goal is $520,000...

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- Ten weeks of waiting ended last night for Republican Kenny Hulshof, who became his party's official 9th District congressional candidate; as an assistant attorney general, Hulshof, 36, is known for prosecuting high-profile murder cases...

The state's Certificate of Need staff recommends Saint Francis Medical Center replace its cardiac catherization lab rather than add a second lab; the lab is on the agenda for a Sept. 14 meeting of the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee, and that committee will make a final decision on whether the medical center will install a second lab at a cost of $1.76 million...

Using a $4,700 grant from the Library Services and Construction Act, Tasha Saecker, coordinator for youth services at Cape Girardeau Public Library, has developed a new Teen Center at the library; the center will be open 3 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday in Hirsch Community Room; the room will offer games, board games, role-playing games, paperback novels and a place where teenagers can go and talk...

The Rev. David P. Johnson is installed as administrative pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson; the evening service is followed by a reception in the fellowship hall; Johnson, a native of Nebraska, is married with four children. A group placing newspaper and radio advertisements around the state opposing a $250 million bond issue approved Aug. ...

Following in the footsteps of her father, Missouri State Trooper James Froemsdorf, who was killed making a routine traffic stop in 1985, Teri Froemsdorf yesterday was sworn in with seven other candidates as a reserve officer with the Cape Girardeau Police Department...

The Cape Girardeau County Commission has acquired 25 acres of land adjacent to the county's South Park that will be used for park development; the land was purchased from Ralph and Frances Fuhrmann for $160,000 and was paid for from the county's capital trust account; the Fuhrmanns will be allowed to live in a house on the property and use three acres around the house for as long as they want...

Cape Girardeau's two hospitals are divided over the merits of merging; Southeast Missouri Hospital officials favor such a move, while those at Saint Francis Medical Center oppose it. Earl T. Shinhoster, newly-appointed interim executive director of the NAACP, will speak at St. ...

Prestige Air Services, a newly-formed company owned by Duane Beussink, will petition the Cape Girardeau City Council for the right to become a fixed-base operator at Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport; Prestige is also seeking approval from the Federal Aviation Administration...

Astronaut Linda Godwin spoke yesterday at the first of a two-day teachers meeting at Jackson; she told teachers the training she received at Jackson public schools, especially math and science, prepared her for a career with NASA; classes start tomorrow in Jackson...

The Southeast Missouri State University Foundation has received a sizable donation earmarked for the Charles H. Daues Scholarship Fund; George and Placide Shriever of New York recently donated $50,000 to the fund; the fund is named for Placide Schriever's father, a graduate of the Third District Normal School...

The Rev. Mark H. Anderson is the new pastor of Lynwood Baptist Church; he comes here from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where he had been associate pastor at First Baptist Church since 1989; he is married with three children. Mark Pelts, a member of the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents since 1991, is resigning; his six-year term doesn't expire until 1997; Pelts, 39, a lawyer in Kennett, Missouri, will continue to serve on the board until Gov. Mel Carnahan names his replacement...

Former Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft pounded on doors in Jackson yesterday morning in an effort to gain support for his U.S. Senate bid; Ashcroft walked door to door, dropping off literature in Jackson during his latest trip to Southeast Missouri; last week, he stumped at Cape Girardeau Public Library...

Mary McBride surprised co-workers this week with notification that she will resign as executive director of the Private Industry Council; her departure will become effective Aug. 26; Ron Swift will become interim executive director of the PIC. Amanda Lomax of Benton, Missouri, was crowned 1994 Jackson Homecomers Queen last night; Jennifer Paulus of Perryville, Missouri, was first runner-up and Frannie Trum of Sikeston, Missouri, was second runner-up...

The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority Commission has authorized port executive director Dan Overbey to purchase a locomotive from government surplus property; the purchase hinges on whether it can be transported to the port from Fort Carson, Colorado, at a reasonable cost...

A plea agreement is in the works for two of the defendants charged in the fraternity hazing death of fellow Southeast Missouri State University student Michael Davis; the two could get seven years in prison and $5,000 fines for involuntary manslaughter, but a deal being worked out by their attorney could eliminate their serving any time in a state penitentiary...

A federal $1 million flood-relief grant will pay for street repairs and other improvements in Scott City's Nash Road industrial area; sand boils from the flood caused significant damage last year to Nash Road and other roads in the industrial area such as Old Highway 61...

1994 A tome containing 1,400 pages of complex health care reform is more than U.S. Sens. Kit Bond, R-Missouri, and Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, can stomach; neither senator will endorse the Clinton-Mitchell health care reform package because, they say, it gives too much power to Washington while it takes decision-making away from the American public; Bond and Mitchell were in Cape Girardeau on Sunday for a press conference at Saint Francis Medical Center...

Bishop John J. Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese recently announced new pastoral assignments for priests serving parishes in Southeast Missouri; in Cape Girardeau, the Rev. Jay Gibson, newly ordained, is the new associate pastor at St. Vincent's Catholic Church...

Officers of the Missouri Highway Patrol made the nation's largest crack cocaine bust of the year and Missouri's largest ever when they seized four kilograms of the drug on Interstate 55 near Portageville on Aug. 4; three Houston men face federal drug charges...

The first River Heritage Regional Black Family Reunion kicks off here with a presentation by the Rev. Benjamin Hooks, former executive director of the NAACP; Hooks attends a prayer breakfast and is keynote speaker at a leadership seminar that is part of the reunion; the reunion is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce...

McCLURE, Ill. -- The Alexander County liquor control commissioner has shut down the Hush Puppy Too nightclub indefinitely in the wake of a second homicide there in six months; commissioner Louis Maze pulled the liquor license of the club, located near routes 3 and 146 south of McClure, on Tuesday...

Finding a motel room in Cape Girardeau could prove difficult this weekend; the Holiday Inn and Victorian Inn, which combined have 300 rooms, already are booked solid; all 800 motel rooms in the city could be filled this weekend because of the Black Family Reunion and a state baseball tournament here, the Sikeston, Missouri, Bootheel Rodeo and the Jour de Fete in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri...

A 19-year-old man who escaped from a jail work program in Cape Girardeau County last week is again in custody; he was arrested Sunday by police in Clearwater, Florida, as he got off of a Greyhound bus; he escaped custody Aug. 2 at Cape County Park North while he was part of a work crew from the county jail...

A former Cape Girardeau resident and 28-year veteran of the Missouri Highway Patrol has been named chief of the Nevada Highway Patrol, headquartered at Carson City; Capt. G. Paul Corbin, who will be a colonel in his new position, will be over a department of 349 officers...

Sister M. Adelma Seyer celebrates 60 years as a school sister of Notre Dame at a morning Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral; officiants are her brothers, the Revs. James and Francis Seyer; Bishop John J. Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese is also present; a basket dinner follows at the parish center...

Trail of Tears State Park north of Cape Girardeau is one of five sites to be certified this year as a historic site along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail; the 1,200-mile-long land and water trail extending over nine states follows the paths taken by 5,000 Cherokee Indians who were forcibly removed from 1837 to 1839 from their tribal homelands in the East to a reservation near Tahlequah, in northeast Oklahoma; a portion of the land trail crosses the Mississippi River at what is now Trail of Tears State Park.. ...

The evening graduation ceremony at the Show Me Center marks Southeast Missouri State University's final summer commencement exercise for undergraduates; it's a tradition dating back to at least the 1920s and has been done annually since 1957; school officials say there are too few students to justify all the work involved in putting on a full-scale graduation ceremony in August...

Missouri National Education Association says it will take the Cape Girardeau Board of Education to court if the board holds its planned annual retreat this weekend in St. Louis; in a letter delivered to board members' homes, NEA attorney Lisa Van Amburg said holding the meeting in St. Louis effectively cuts off public access...

Missouri voters yesterday narrowly passed a $250 million, statewide bond issue; the bonds will finance construction of new prisons and university facilities, including a College of Business building at Southeast Missouri State University; the issue passed 412,651 to 404,695 with 99% of the vote counted...

Jackson city administrator Carl Talley will step down this fall from the job he's held for 24 years; in a letter to Mayor Paul Sander and the board of aldermen, Talley said his resignation is effective Oct. 31; he's stepping down "for personal and family reasons."...

Polling places will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow as voters across Missouri decide in the primary election who will carry party banners in the Nov. 8 general election; only two statewide offices are on the ballot: U.S. Senate from Missouri and Missouri auditor; there is also a statewide measure whether to issue $250 million in bonds to pay for construction of new prisons and university and college facilities...

The Southeast Missourian begins a four-day series of articles examining crime, drugs and gangs in Sikeston, Missouri. From the time Cape Girardeau police officer Dan Niswonger lost control of his police motorcycle, struck a curb and was thrown into a nearby guy wire, the community has provided its support; to date, private donations and money raised for the family by civic groups, organizations and churches total more than $25,000; also about 50 area police officers and firefighters put a new roof on the Niswonger house in May.. ...

Plaza Gifts and Office Supplies, which opened in Town Plaza Shopping Center in 1965, is closing; Frank Klueppel, owner of the business, announced he is closing the Cape Girardeau store and a branch at Sikeston, Missouri. The baseball field at Capaha Park continues to stamp itself as one of the best in the region; a brand-new scoreboard is being installed at the field; it measures approximately 38 feet wide and 22 feet tall; the reported cost of the scoreboard is close to $50,000 and is a joint project of the Capaha Field Improvement Committee and Pepsi, which serves as a major sponsor.. ...

Johnny McGaha, a professor of criminal justice at Southeast Missouri State University, is spearheading an effort to get a national community service program established in the region; the university is seeking $400,000 annually for three years to operate a program that would involve as many as 20 AmeriCorps participants at any one time; the program would deal with public health, the environment and disadvantaged children...

With a signed contract in hand and three possible sites on the horizon, Lady Luck Gaming Corp. is charging full steam ahead in a quest to be the first company to open a riverboat gambling facility in Southeast Missouri; Lady Luck officials will meet Saturday or Sunday with four commissioners and the executive vice president of Little River Drainage District to begin negotiations over use of the channel...

Cape Girardeau school board member Steve Wright says he will vote against extending Superintendent Neyland Clark's contract; Wright believes Clark is unable to do his job, because he lacks community support. Area Wide United Way officials have set a goal of $520,000 for this year's fund drive; last year's fund drive exceeded its half-million-dollar goal, raising $506,655; this year, the money raised will be divided among 26 charitable organizations, one more than last year; the fund drive kicks off Aug. ...

Students returning to Nell Holcomb Elementary School north of Cape Girardeau in the fall will be greeted with renovated classrooms air-conditioned and newly lighted; the $767,000 renovation project is a little more than half complete. Cape Girardeau firefighters rescue a 36-year-old man from an apartment fire at 105 S. ...

The Kohlfeld Capahas won their fourth consecutive state crown Saturday night at Capaha Park, defeating O.B. Clark of St. Louis 7-1 for a 4-0 record in the National Baseball Congress State Tournament; right fielder Brian Schaefer won the most valuable player award, and Richie Phillips earned best pitcher honors in the tourney...