Stories from Monday, October 21, 1991

The Cape Girardeau City Council tonight is expected to put to rest a five-month debate over how best to regulate construction contractors. A scaled-down construction-trades licensing law is included on the agenda for the council meeting, which begins at 7:30...

(Second in a series) Missouri's public schools are in a financial crisis, say education officials. Schools have run out of options to cut costs and some are on the brink of insolvency. Proposition B would not solve all the problems of education in the state, but it does promise to increase state funding to public schools by $190 million...

After several years of work to restore the site, the May Greene Garden at Themis and North Fountain was dedicated Sunday afternoon. As part of the dedication, many of the people who had been active in preserving the garden were recognized for their efforts...

Proposition B calls for a change in the way Missouri distributes money to public schools, making funding more equitable for all districts. Some school administrators say it's hard to believe legislators would develop a more equitable way to distribute state money to public schools; others say it can't be worse than what is already in place...

Mary Hill, a professor of history at Bucknell University and an American Council on Education Fellow, has depicted the historical struggle and success of the women's movement through a perspective of one woman's public and private life in the 19th century...

The Southeast Missourian asked people about the 1991 World Series. Becky Fulton: "I think that the Atlanta Braves are an underdog and that they deserve to win the World Series. I don't really care who plays, I just like to watch the action. It's the Olympics of baseball."...

HAYTI - An interim committee of the Missouri House of Representatives will be in Hayti Heights this week for two days of public hearings on ways to improve the quality of life for minorities in the state. "Missouri has a very large minority population living under the poverty line, and hopefully this committee will be able to offer some suggestions to alleviate this distressing problem," said state Rep. Vernon Thompson, D-Kansas City, chairman of the committee...

Locally, this is Red Ribbon Week, a national campaign initiated six years ago to symbolize a commitment to a drug-free, healthy lifestyle. Students and workers in the Cape Girardeau-Jackson area will be wearing red ribbons, and red ribbons will be displayed on some buildings to show support for a drug-free society. Through a unified awareness effort, the campaign strives to stress upon young people that society frowns upon those who push and use illegal drugs and, or, abuse alcohol...

The Thomas confirmation is history. Justice Clarence Thomas will fade from headline news, but the scars of the nomination fight will etch his reputation and memory forever. Professor Anita Hill will struggle with her sudden national notoriety. To millions she will be a heroine, but to law schools, law firms and the government as potential employers she will be damaged goods. But the most enduring harm is to an already beleaguered body politic...

A native of Cairo, Ill. Karen Roberts lived several years in Clearwater, Fla. She now resides in Cape Girardeau. Though I realize reproductive rights are the number one women's issue in today's world, I would nevertheless like to espouse on an entirely different issue. It affects all females, just as deeply, whether they are of reproductive age or not. I'm speaking here of how female's ideas have never been taken seriously by males...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Gary Hicks Sr. of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 11:58 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, 1991. Name, Blake Edward. Weight, 8 pounds 6 ounces. Second son. Mrs. Hicks is the former Rebecca Hoover, daughter of Janet Poe of Jackson and James Flowers of Cape Girardeau. She is employed by Mayflower Contract Services. Hicks is a deckhand, and is the son of Joseph Hicks and Edith Hicks of Essex...

CHAFFEE -- Edward K. Glueck, 70, of Chaffee Route 2 died Saturday, Oct. 19, 1991 at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born in Oran on Nov. 17, 1920, the son of Killian and Ida Heisserer Glueck. On Jan. 16, 1945, he married Allene Brucker. She survives...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Lenore Kerstner, formerly of Jackson, will be held Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. at McCombs Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Lawrence Eatherton will officiate, with burial in Jackson City Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 6-8 p.m. today...

DELTA -- Homer F. Masters, 84, a longtime businessman at Delta, died Sunday, Oct. 20, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Feb. 4, 1907, at Jackson, son of Jacob F. and Lou Short Masters. He and Carrie Smith were married June 1, 1935, at Delta. She died Jan. 25, 1991...

Carl R. Schumacher, 71, of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, Oct. 18, 1991, at the Lutheran Home. He was born Nov. 29, 1919, in Cape Girardeau, son of Frederick and Ruth Smith Schumacher. Schumacher graduated from Southeast Missouri State University, and received a master's degree in business from St. Louis University...

SIKESTON -- Betty Sue Brown, 52, of Sikeston died Sunday, Oct. 20, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 19, 1939 at Helena, Ark., daughter of the late Louie Merrell Burton and Ruby Leo Edwards Burton, who survives of Sikeston...