Stories from Tuesday, October 8, 1991

While debate rages in Washington over whether to extend unemployment benefits, there was no debate Monday at the state unemployment office in Cape Girardeau, where two unemployed women said they favor such an extension. For a 52-year-old, laid-off factory worker from Cape Girardeau whose jobless benefits are about to run out, federal legislation to extend unemployment benefits is welcome...

A member of the Cape Girardeau City Council Monday complained that she's been followed, spied upon and harassed by a person she suspects is another council member. Mary Wulfers read a prepared statement at Monday's council meeting telling of someone warning her that she is being watched and to be careful of who she socializes with...

A year-old city dispute resurfaced Monday when the Cape Girardeau City Council approved city membership in the Southeast Missouri Coalition for Better Highways but snubbed Mayor Gene Rhodes' appeal to represent the council in the group. The highway group consists of representatives of Southeast Missouri cities who are lobbying the state for several highway projects in the area...

If things don't change, the fund that pays Missouri's unemployment benefits is predicted to begin deficit spending in March. Robert Baysinger, information officer for the Missouri Division of Employment Security, said, "The U.S. Department of Labor predicts that the trust fund in Missouri will go into deficit spending in March of next year...

With Phoenix, an American bald eagle, perched on his arm, Mike Lampey joked with his audience of area science and mathematics teachers about the eagle. "Doesn't he look like he works for the post office?" Lampey asked. Lampey is a volunteer with the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo. He travels around Missouri with Phoenix to educate people about eagles...

SCOTT CITY -- If Scott City voters approve in November the installation of a 911 emergency telephone system in the city, it could pave the way for other residents in the 264 telephone exchange to have access to 911. The Scott City Council voted Monday to allow residents outside the city to have access to the system as long as they agree to pay the same fees assessed to city residents for the service...

JACKSON - A decision by the Missouri Public Defender Commission to resituate its five-county office based in Jackson and a need for additional space for the juvenile department will result in moves of a number of county offices. Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep said the office shifts, which should be completed by the end of the year, will enable the county to resolve most of its space needs without construction or extensive remodeling...

JACKSON -- Bids for the last of the water and sewer improvements promised several years ago to residents in annexed areas along East Jackson Boulevard (Highway 61) were opened during Monday night's meeting of the Jackson Board of Aldermen. The second phase of the East Jackson sanitary sewer project includes construction of about one and one-half miles of gravity and forced sewer main eastward from near the Milton Nitsch residence to Interstate 55; construction of a sewage lift station near the interstate; construction of lateral sewer lines to serve businesses along Old Orchard Drive north of East Jackson; and several residences and businesses along Stout Road south of East Jackson.. ...

There will be restricted parking in Cape Girardeau Saturday for the Southeast Missouri State University Homecoming parade, Cape Girardeau Police said. Beginning at 2 a.m. Saturday, parking will be prohibited on both sides of Broadway from North West End Boulevard to Main Street; on Main Street from Broadway to William; on North West End Boulevard from Broadway to Pemiscot; and on North Louisiana, 100 feet south of Broadway...

Input into the future of Missouri transportation is the focus of a public meeting that will be held in Cape Girardeau this morning. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. at Drury Lodge. Wayne Muri, transportation department chief engineer, said comments will be used to determine transportation trends and what directions the department should take...

The city's Bicentennial Commission will meet at 7 p.m. today to continue discussion of plans to commemorate the bicentennial of the city's founding at a trading post in 1792. The meeting will be held in the engineering conference room on the second floor of City Hall at 401 Independence. The public is invited to attend...

The local chapter of the Missouri Association of Legal Secretaries will hold its monthly meeting Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Shoney's. Following dinner, James R. Tweedy of the Oliver, Oliver, Waltz and Cook firm will address the group on the topic of "New DWI Laws."...

Large and small communities across the state are aggressively competing for new business and industry. In these recessionary times, the pool of brand new companies employing hundreds of workers has dwindled. But the real source of economic growth in any community continues to be existing businesses. ...

Governor Ashcroft went back to Washington to announce that America's school children are not doing well academically. If the windows weren't nailed shut in John's office in the Capitol, he could have heard the same thing back home. --- A national television program reveals that whites and blacks are treated differently in St. Louis. That often happens when a town doesn't have a National Basketball Association team...

Sunday's column reviewed warnings that filled this space from July to December, 1990, concerning how the bipartisan Washington Establishment mishandled the federal budget and the nation's economy. In the following article, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts relates how White House Budget Director Dick Darman, principal architect of the Budget Summit fiasco, went about his work in a manner that would have landed him in jail had he worked for private industry...

JACKSON -- Max Manson Thomas, 72, of Jackson, died Saturday, Oct. 5, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Feb. 8, 1919, at Gravel Hill, son of Willis and Bessie Burnett Thomas. He and Clara Sisson were married Nov. 23, 1946, at Bowling Green...

MCCLURE, Ill. -- William H. Allsup, 73, of San Francisco, Calif., died Saturday, Oct. 5, 1991, at his home. He was born Oct. 2, 1918, in McClure, son of William McKinley and Eva Tinsley Allsup. He and Wanda Knight of Ware were married in August 1939...

Lora Long Pitney, 79, of Lakeland, Fla., died Monday, Sept. 30, 1991, at Meridian Nursing Center there. She was born July 25, 1912, in Braggadocio. She married C. Robert Pitney, who preceded her in death. He was employed by the University of Missouri Extension Center at Jackson several years, retiring about 1975...

CHARLESTON -- Joyce Kirkpatrick, 53, of Kimberling City, died Saturday, Oct. 5, 1991, at St. John's Regional Health Care Center in Springfield. She was born Dec. 28, 1937, at Charleston, daughter of Albert and Mildred Brown Nicholson. She married Benny Kirkpatrick Nov. 25, 1955...

Harry L. Bekemeier, 80, 539 S. Middle, died Monday, Oct. 7, 1991, at the Lutheran Home. He was born Sept. 22, 1911, in St. Louis, son of William and Mathilda Bettman Bekemeier. He and Ruby C. Franz were married June 5, 1942, in Cape Girardeau. She died Nov. 30, 1989...

Ivan C. Wagner, 73, 1417 Carter, died Monday, Oct. 7, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born April 4, 1918, in Cape Girardeau, son of Ernst and Rosa Lee Whittaker Wagner. He and Dolores Thixton were married Dec. 7, 1941, in Yuma, Ariz. Wagner served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean War, retiring in 1957. He then worked at the U.S. Post Office in Cape Girardeau, retiring in 1973. He was a member of VFW Post 3838...

Arthur F. Hughes, 78, of Sun City, Ariz., died Tuesday, Oct. 1, 1991, in a hospital there. He was born Aug. 5, 1913, at Hollister, son of Fred and Gertrude Hughes. He and Jessie C. Mills were married March 8, 1941. Hughes retired as director of industrial development with Missouri Pacific Railroad. He was a member of Willowbrook United Methodist Church in Sun City, and veteran of World War II...

GORDONVILLE -- Pearl Ellade Daume, 75, of Jonesboro, Ark., died Monday, Oct. 7, 1991, at St. Bernard Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro. She was born July 27, 1916, at Gordonville, daughter of George and Cora Felty Kinder. She married Leo Daume Feb. 6, 1935, at Gordonville. He died in June 1961...

CHAFFEE -- Asphalt resurfacing work is planned for four Chaffee streets. City officials said the work will be done on Main Street from Elliot to the housing bridge; on Frates Street; along a one-block blacktop portion of Hubbard Drive; and on Black Street...

ANNA, Ill. -- Funeral service for Sophia Belton of Anna will be held at 10 a.m. today at Crain Funeral Chapel here. Sam Foreman will officiate, with burial in Pleasant Grove Memorial Park. Friends may call prior to service. Belton, 27, died Saturday, Oct. 5, 1991, at Union County Hospital in Anna...

SIKESTON -- Max Allen and Barbara Sue Dodd, both 42, of Sikeston, died Saturday as a result of a car accident. She was pronounced dead at the scene, and he died in the emergency room at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born July 15, 1949, at Sikeston, son of Max A. and Bobbie Ilene Casey Dodd. She was born July 14, 1949, at Shoemake, daughter of Bert D. and Thelma Lea Hamm Starr. They were married July 28, 1991...

WHITEWATER -- Virginia Bartels, 75, Whitewater Route 1, died Monday, Oct. 7, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Aug. 3, 1916, at Scott City, daughter of Andrew and Clara Zent Scherer. She married Elmer Bartels Nov. 25, 1945, at Scott City. Bartels attended Whitewater United Methodist Church...

CHAFFEE -- Dora Ella Mayfield, 67, of Ferguson, died Sunday, Oct. 6, 1991, at Christian Hospital Northeast in St. Louis. She was born Dec. 28, 1923, in Scott County, daughter of Leo and Josephine Felden Dumey. She married Vernowen Wade Mayfield Sept. 7, 1946...

Six Southeast Missouri State University students excavated an exposed Mississippian Indian cemetery and removed the skeletons from public exhibit this summer at Wickliffe (Ky.) Mounds. Work at the site was prompted by the decision of Kit Wesler, site director, to remove the exposed human remains from public view in light of current sensitivities to American Indian issues...

THERE WAS SO much wisdom in Rush Limbaugh's interview on his grandson's radio show last Friday. If only people would heed it, we could solve a lot of our problems. For instance, the story about the country school teacher who, his father said, had to go because he couldn't keep order. He said if you can't keep order you can't teach. All the innovative programs in the world won't help our schools unless we see to it that our teachers can keep order...