Stories from Friday, December 6, 1991

JACKSON -- Bessie Ann Smith, 95, a longtime resident of Whitewater, died Thursday afternoon, Dec. 5, 1991, at Deal Nursing Home in Jackson. She was born Oct. 24, 1896, at Whitewater, daughter of Jesse and Mary "Maggie" Wiseman Green. She married Walter D. Smith Sept. 30, 1914. He died July 31, 1951...

Fifty years have passed since that date that will live in infamy. Pearl Harbor is a much different place than it was during World War II, and so are the United States and Japan. Saturday should mark a day of remembrance, decoration and regret, but not one of retribution. Both American and Japanese citizens must allow the old war wounds to heal...

Work to cut down a tree Thursday morning caused Sprigg Street to be closed from near the Show Me Center to Normal Avenue. Workers with Cape Tree Service Inc. cut down the tree in connection with construction at the new Ratliff Nursing Home site, 717 N. Sprigg, said firm Vice President Jean Freeman...

JACKSON -- A rural Jackson teenager is dead following a hunting accident Thursday in Cape Girardeau County. Authorities identified the victim as Jason L. Aufdenberg, 15, of Jackson Route 2. The youth was accidentally shot by a 16-year-old companion, said Deputy Leonard Hines of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department...

The Mississippi Valley Home Educators will meet Dec. 12 at the Cape Bible Chapel, Mt. Auburn and Kage Road, from 3-5 p.m. The theme will be "Christ's Birth." The project will be a lesson on cake decorating. On Dec. 20, a Christmas party will be held...

West Park Mall will begin its Christmas Festival of Music Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. Don and Janet Presson of Keyboards and Kindermusik, will feature students performing traditional Christmas favorites for mall shoppers. Performers will range in age from three to adult. They represent the pre-school Kindermusik through advanced group and solo keyboard and vocal programs...

November 1991 was one of the wettest months in nearly 75 years in Cape Girardeau. And depending on the time of the month, it was unusually warm and wet, or very cold and wet. Al Robertson, professor of earth science and climatologist at Southeast Missouri State University, said last month was the third wettest November in 74 years...

The Cape Girardeau Adult Learning Center and the Oak Ridge High School are offering an Adult Basic Education class for those wishing to pursue an GED. The class is offered each Tuesday night from 6 to 9 in the high school library. The class is open to anyone 16 years of age or older who has not finished high school. Participants may study for the GED test or to improve basic skills in reading, math and language...

The Knowledge Master team at Cape Girardeau Central High School placed first in Missouri, the seventh time the team has been tops in the state. Ann Bartlett, Knowledge Master coach, said the team earned 1,612 of a possible 2,000 points. "The team worked so well together," said Bartlett. "They answered the first 107 questions correctly."...

The Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School Knowledge Master team ranked third in the world during competition this week. Team coach Dixie Cook said the competition has been expanded to include schools in Japan, Korea and Canada. "When I called for our results they told me we were third in the world," Cook said...

Maybe it's something about the first week of December. The pack gets restless, needs a place to be, something to do. Last year at this time, the pack went to New Madrid, drawn by projected earth movements and seismic adventure. Enthused by the attention and inspired by commercial opportunity, many natives thought they had died and gone to uplink heaven; only NASA boasted more satellite dishes than the river town for that brief period...

ULLIN, Ill. -- The Tamms Little Egypt Chapter No. 3927 of AARP will gather Thursday, Dec. 12 at the Smiles II Senior Citizens Nutrition Center in Ullin, Ill. The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. A Christmas gift exchange is scheduled. Reservations must be made by Tuesday, by calling the Nutrition Center at 845-3832...

GLEN ALLEN -- Bob O. Fox, 56, of Glen Allen died Thursday, Dec. 5, 1991, at his home. He was born June 29, 1935 at Hiram, son of the late Franklin Fox and Minnie Crader Fox, who survives of Marble Hill. On Nov. 26, 1960, he married Rosemary Chronister. She survives...

KELSO -- Funeral service for Sister Mary Edna Keeney of Ruma, Ill., was held Nov. 23 in Ruma, with the Rev. Gene Linnemann officiating. Keeney, 76, died Thursday, Nov. 21, 1991. She was born Dec. 17, 1914, in East St. Louis, Ill. She became an aspirant in 1929, and professed her vows July 2, 1932...

ORAN -- Christian Matthew Thomas Sauceda was stillborn Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1991, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. Survivors include his parents, Ronnie Sauceda and Betty Darnell; maternal grandparents, Travis and Mary Russell; paternal grandparents, Daniel and Katherine Ross and Mabel Murphy; paternal great-grandmothers, Bertha Daniels and Susie Sauceda, all of Oran...

SCOTT CITY -- Charles Albert Hilliker, 77, of Scott City, died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born July 3, 1914, at Farmington, son of Albert Charles and Ella Cornelia Hall Hilliker. He and the former Kaarina Goehringer were married Aug. 16, 1974...

Letha Ellen Sprengel, 83, of Cape Girardeau, died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1991, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Sept. 4, 1908, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Arch and Fannie McGill Wallace. She married August K. Sprengel Sept. 9, 1930, in Cape Girardeau. He died Dec. 7, 1979...

CHAFFEE -- Funeral service for Eva Frances Steimle of Chaffee will be held at 2 p.m. today at St. Ambrose Catholic Church. The Rev. Allan Saunders will officiate, with burial in the church cemetery. Steimle, 72, died Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral service for Stella Johnson of Metairie, La., will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Shelby Funeral Chapel here. Aubrey Wilson will officiate, with burial in IOOF Cemetery near here. Friends may call at the funeral home after 10 a.m. Saturday...

PERRYVILLE -- Richard Edwin Thompson, 65, of Roscoe, Texas, died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1991, at Scenic Mountain Hospital in Big Springs, Texas. He was born Nov. 1, 1926, at Yount, son of Leo P. and Ruth Harris Thompson. He married Mary E. Johnson April 12, 1947, at Fredericktown...

Daughter to Malcolm Hicks and Terri Crews of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 6:24 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, 1991. Name, Michelle Marie. Weight, 4 pounds 7 ounces. Second daughter. Miss Crews is the daughter of Edger and Brenda Crews of St. Louis, and is a CNA at the Lutheran Home. Hicks is the son of Frank and Edna Hicks of Cape Girardeau...

ORAN -- Nada Warren of Oran died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1991, at Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka, Kan. Amick-Burnett Funeral Home here is in charge of arrangements.

The Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents canceled the university's early retirement program Thursday because the plan violates federal age-discrimination laws. The action came during a closed-door meeting of the regents. Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast, said board attorney Joseph J. Russell advised that recent additions to federal law defining age discrimination place the existing Southeast plan out of compliance...

Today is the final day for Toybox applications to be completed. On Saturday the hard work of Toybox begins. Literally hundreds of children already are counting on Toybox to provide a little holiday magic this year. Toybox needs your help. Gifts have been arriving at Toybox headquarters but at a very slow pace. This week volunteers will begin match each toy given with the little boy or girl who would enjoy that gift the most...

Declining state aid has led to higher student fees at Southeast Missouri State University and other regional schools, threatening "the last bastion of low cost" undergraduate education, Southeast's president said Thursday. Southeast President Kala Stroup made that point at Thursday's meeting of the Board of Regents at the University Center...

Cape Girardeau City Councilman Hugh White announced Thursday that he will seek re-election, but two-term incumbent David Barklage said he won't seek another four years. White joins incumbent Al Spradling III and four other candidates in seeking three council seats up for election next April...

JACKSON - A faulty fuse in a protective relay device was blamed for a one-hour power outage that darkened Jackson late Wednesday and early Thursday. The power went off at 11:30 p.m. and was restored at 12:30 a.m. All 4,500 customers of the city-owned power and light department were affected by the power outage...

NEW HAMBURG -- The Kelso C-7 School at New Hamburg has become the latest to join a list of area schools involved in a strategic planning process. A citizens advisory committee is being formed to evaluate the elementary district of 157 students, said Superintendent Darryl L. Sauer...

Mr. H and his son have more in common than either would have imagined. Not only are they both proud, family oriented people, both are on dialysis and both have severe diabetes. The two do their best to take care of each other. Mr. H, in his late 80s, is a double-leg amputee. His son has difficult maintaining weight. Both men are in and out of the hospital frequently and also must make regular trips for dialysis treatment. Neither one can drive...

The 1991 Otto F. Dingeldein Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts was presented Thursday to Carol Berry Horst, an elementary school art teacher in Jackson. The award was announced at the Drury Lodge during a meeting of the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts. Don Strohmeyer presented the award to Horst...

The Area Wide United Way campaign has reached 95 percent of its goal of $470,000, the campaign chairman said Thursday. Harry Rediger said the organization hopes to announce it has reached its goal by late next week. "We are approaching half a million dollars," he said. "It would be the biggest campaign we've had in the city."...

SCOTT CITY -- Two councilman and a teacher have filed for seats on the Scott City Council. Ron Oller, Ward 3 councilman, and John Rogers, Ward 2, filed for re-election this week. LaDonna Phelps, a teacher at Scott City High School, has filed for a Ward 1 seat currently held by Jim McClintock...

MARION, Ill. -- The Small Business Administration has declared Williamson and the surrounding counties of Franklin, Jackson, Pope, Saline and Union disaster areas as a result of the high winds, storms, and flooding that ravaged the Marion area Nov. 19...

Warranty deeds issued at the office of Janet Robert, Cape Girardeau County Recorder of Deeds: Todd A. and Angela M. Menz to Peter C. Myers Sr. and Mary W. Myers; David W. and Susan B. Farrow to Rick and Emilie Clardy; L.R. Roper Jr. and Susan C. Roper to the L.R. Roper Jr. Trust...