Stories from Monday, November 25, 1991

Area motorists are reaping the benefits of a "gas war" among Cape Girardeau service stations. In the city Sunday, gasoline prices plummeted to 79.9 cents a gallon at stations owned by one company, the lowest motorists have seen for months. Jim Maurer, general manager of Rhodes Oil Company the first retailer to drop the price to 79.9 cents Sunday said old-fashioned competition is at the root of the price war...

A chairman of the joint legislative committee studying wetlands issues in the state says he supports implementation of new rules that would scale back the federal government's definition of wetlands. State Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, said he also supports efforts by U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond and U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson to pass legislation that will reduce the number of federal agencies involved in making decisions on wetlands from four to one...

SCOTT CITY - Tommy and Sonya Miller brought their son Ryan home from the hospital this weekend for the second time. "We were so excited about leaving, we forgot to check out," Sonya Miller said, explaining how her son's stay in the hospital had given him "a second chance at life."...

Longtime Cape Girardeau businessman and civic leader David Allen Graves died Sunday at the Chateau Girardeau Health Center. He was 86. Graves was a member and volunteer with numerous city organizations. He was manager of the Montgomery Ward store in downtown Cape Girardeau until his retirement in 1969 and executive vice president of the Downtown Merchants Association from 1970 to 1989...

The city of Cape Girardeau and the University of Missouri Extension Center at Jackson will present the first of a two-part workshop on household waste and recycling this week. Part one will be presented Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Room 214 of the Cape Girardeau Vocational School, 300 N. Clark. The second part of the program will be presented Dec. 3 at the same time and place...

As Thanksgiving Day nears, students at Alma Schrader Elementary School share why they feel Americans should be thankful. Jesse Hicks: "Americans should be thankful for their freedom. We have some of the rights that some other people don't have. We have the right to go to any church we want to, but some other people cannot go to any church they want to. I am also thankful for school."...

The combination of wind, slowly falling temperatures and a lot of moisture in the air made it seem a lot colder than it actually was in the Cape Girardeau area over most of the weekend. Meanwhile, after a cool start today, temperatures are expected to moderate by mid-week, and the National Weather Service says Thanksgiving Day in Missouri should be a dry one, with sunny skies and more seasonable temperatures...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Legislation that would allow the U.S. Forest Service to purchase 6,900 acres of land surrounding and including Greer Spring in southern Missouri has passed the House of Representatives. The bill, which passed on a voice vote Friday night, still must be approved by the Senate before going to President Bush for his expected signature...

One of the reasons elections have become so difficult to predict with any degree of accuracy is because voters are increasingly casting their ballots based on their moods, or sense of well being, rather than the issues injected by political parties and the candidates. ...

Some good judges may face unfair justice in the near future. It may come in the form of voter wrath. Missouri's non-partisan court system has been running into some hard times. Judicial posts that used to handily earn an 85 percent retention rate have slipped to 59 percent. In some states, such as Illinois, 60 percent is the minimum required for judge retention. In Missouri, a simple majority is needed...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Dwayne Rutherford, 2841 Themis, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:42 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, 1991. Name, Chetavia Dena. Weight, 7 pounds 9 ounces. First child. Mrs. Rutherford is the former Cheryl Diane Odomes, daughter of Otis and Frankie Lee Odomes of Memphis, Tenn. Rutherford is an account executive with Targeted Publications and the Southeast Missourian Newspaper. He is the son of Alice J. Rutherford of Memphis...

Bertha Marie Welter of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Nov. 24, 1991, at the Lutheran Home. She was 88. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel.

JACKSON -- Maxine Irma Seabaugh, 74, of Jackson, died Friday, Nov. 22, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center. The location of her burial has been changed to Russell Heights Cemetery.

ANNA, Ill. -- Gretta Brasel, 79, of Anna, Ill., Rt. 2, died Saturday, Nov. 23, at the City Care Center in Anna. She was born Feb. 29, 1912 in Nearmott, North Dakota, to A.C. and Cora Escue Rawlings. She moved to Union County in 1933. On May 18, 1935, she married James J. Brasel. He survives, along with one brother, Arthur A. Rawlings of Sullivan, Ill. She was preceded in death by a brother, Vern W. Rawlings...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Bobbie G. Linder, 61, of Dongola died Saturday, Nov. 23 at Carbondale Memorial Hospital. He was born Nov. 10, 1930, at Sims, Ill., to Lewis and Helen Lamb Linder. On Feb. 14. 1976, he married June Perry. She survives, along with two sons, Randall Linder of Germany and Scott Linder of Sandwich, Ill.; three daughters, Katherine Linder of Dwight, Ill., Pamela Bryo of Sandwich, Ill., and Dee Lane of Yorkville, Ill...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Effie Henderson, 92, of Dongola, died Sunday, Nov. 24, at the Union County Nursing Home in Anna. She was born Jan. 30, 1899, in Union County to Sandy and Mandy Sivia Lentz. On May 1, 1959, she married Jerry Henderson. He preceded her in death on May 1, 1959...

ORAN -- Philip David Hirschowitz, 80, of Oran, Rt. 2, died Saturday, Nov. 23, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born in Oran on Aug. 18, 1911, to Max and Margaret Ellman Hirschowitz. On Jan. 5, 1963, he married Margaret L. Levine. She preceded him in death on Nov. 7, 1990...

PALM HARBOR, Fla. - Beatrice Wright Johnson, 85, of Palm Harbor, Fla. and formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, Nov. 22, 1991. She was born Jan. 22, 1906 in Prairie Hill, Mo. She moved to North Kansas City in 1938, where she was employed as a salesperson in the Jones Dept. Store. In 1985 she moved to Cape Girardeau and resided there until last July...

OLIVE BRANCH - Doyle Shipley, 74, of Olive Branch, died Sunday Nov. 24, 1991 at the Daystar Nursing in Cairo. He was born at Van Fleet, Miss. on Sept. 24, 1917 to Jeff and Thelma Gilliam Shipley. For 25 years, he and his wife owned and operated the Goose Pit Restaurant in Olive Branch. He was a retired pipefitter with Local Union 562 in St. Louis, was a member of the Cairo Propellers Club, the Olive Branch Chamber of Commerce, and the Alexander County Ducks Unlimited chapter...