Stories from Tuesday, December 17, 1991

A counselor has been hired to coordinate drug-abuse prevention efforts in Cape Girardeau public schools. William J. Askew Jr. will begin work as the district's new substance-abuse counselor Jan. 2. He is currently a counselor at St. Vincent's High School in Perryville...

Cape Girardeau officials are hoping a new composting operation that will start next year will be better received by residents than a city-wide recycling program implemented this year. At Monday's city council study session Public Works Director Doug Leslie explained the new program, which will be instituted in order to comply with Missouri law that will prohibit yard waste in landfills after Jan. 1...

The soccer and wrestling cheerleaders at Cape Girardeau Central High School spent prize money they won to help Toybox. The cheerleaders won $200 in the recent school spirit parade. They used the money to buy a huge box of toys, some warm hats and gloves. The teenagers said they had a lot of fun picking out the toys. The children who will receive these gifts Thursday will also get a lot of joy from the toys...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Board of Aldermen Monday tabled a proposed law to redraw the city's four wards to adapt to a "one man, one vote" court mandate after drawn-out debate on the subject. Unless a special meeting is held prior to the end of the month, the board will have to take up the issue at its next regular meeting, Jan. 6 only a day before the candidate filing period opens...

A state administrative hearing in the case of a St. Louis doctor accused of misconduct and negligence regarding abortions he performed in Cape Girardeau and St. Louis once again has been rescheduled. The hearing in the case of Dr. Bolivar Escobedo, which had been scheduled to start today after having been continued from October, has now been rescheduled for April 28-30...

Three newly-hired firefighters spent their first day on the job at Fire Station No. 1 Monday. Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Gene Hindman and Assistant Fire Chief Jim Niswonger welcomed the rookies, who spent a part of the day being fitted for uniforms and firefighting gear...

SCOTT CITY -- The Scott City Council is considering adoption of a stricter liquor license law for the city, in an effort to cut down on "disorderly conduct" in bars. "We've had major problems in the past with disorderly conduct in bars," said Sgt. Jim Oldham of the Scott City Police Department. Oldham said the current city law regarding such disturbances is vague...

Religious sponsorship of St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau will be transferred from the Franciscan Sisters of Wheaton, Ill., to the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau effective Jan. 1. The announcement was made by St. Francis Board of Directors Chairman Robert B. Hendrix, Bishop John Leibrecht of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, and Sister Rose Mary Pint, provincial directress of the Wheaton Franciscans...

NEW HAMBURG -- Vera Louise Steger, 76, of New Hamburg died Monday, Dec. 16, 1991 at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 7, 1915 to Albert and Lora Jacobson Rodgers. On Oct. 26, 1933, she married Leo A. "Bud" Steger in Red Bud, Ill. He survives...

BENTON - Although the number of season burglaries is down this year from last, Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell suggests residents take several burglary precautions. Ferrell said an unfortunate aspect of the Christmas season is an increase in home burglaries...

THEBES, Ill. -- An 18-year-old Thebes man was injured Sunday when his truck ran off the road and overturned. A spokesman for the Illinois State Police said Chad Moore was driving east on Bean Ridge Road near Route 3 when the accident occurred at about 5:30 a.m...

ADVANCE -- Orville Lee Shirrell of Advance died at 4:10 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was 77. Arrangements are incomplete at Morgan Funeral Home in Advance.

Alma Louise Bremerman, 91, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, Dec. 15, 1991, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Nov. 25, 1900, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of John and Matilda Yeager Bremerman A teacher for more than 50 years, she taught in Scott City and at Chester, Ill. After retiring she moved back to Cape Girardeau. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church...

BLOOMFIELD -- Lillian Pearl Reynolds, 84, of Bloomfield, died Sunday, Dec. 15, 1991, at Vintage Villa Nursing Center in Dexter. She was born April 7, 1907, near here, daughter of John and Minnie Babb Barham. She married George Reynolds in 1932. Reynolds had lived here most of her life, and was a member of First Baptist Church...

SCOTT CITY -- Ruth Elanor Etherton, 88, of Scott City, died Monday, Dec. 16, 1991, at LaCroix Nursing Center. She was born Feb. 20, 1903, at Danby, daughter of David and Carrie O'Dell McClanahan. She married William Grover Etherton Aug. 7, 1920, at Charleston. He died March 9, 1974...

SIKESTON -- Jesse Powers, 89, of Sikeston, died Sunday, Dec. 15, 1991, at Sikeston Health Care. He was born July 5, 1902, in Corinth, Miss., son of Lawrence and Martha Carter Powers. Survivors include two sons, Wilford Powers of Paducah, Ky., Oscar Powers of Chandler, Ark.; two daughters, Lora Everett of Obion, Tenn., Francis Reynolds of Detroit, Mich., and 12 grandchildren...

CAIRO, Ill. -- William Henry Haslauer, 74, of Cairo, died Friday, Dec. 13, 1991, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. He was born April 4, 1917, at Thebes, son of John and Ruth Simpkins Haslauer. He attended Northwest Texas State Teachers College. In 1947 he became co-owner and manager of Farmers Cotton and Grain Co. in East Prairie, Mo. In 1954 he founded MIKCO Grain Co. here, which he sold to Bunge Corp. and later retired as district manager. He also farmed in Southeast Missouri...

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral mass for Otto Frank Hamm of Scott City will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Augustine Catholic Church. Msgr. John Westhues will officiate, with burial in the church cemetery. Friends may call at Amick-Burnett Funeral Home here after 5 p.m. today. The rosary will be at 8...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Mamie Christine Marshall, 80, of East Prairie, died Sunday, Dec. 15, 1991, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Nov. 8, 1911, in Mississippi County, daughter of James T. Townsend and Allie Higgins Futrell. She married John Fayette Marshall Dec. 22, 1925. He died April 20, 1986...

ANNA, Ill. -- Florence E. Ball, 77, of Anna, died Sunday, Dec. 15, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was born Oct. 9, 1914, in Chicago, daughter of Edward and Mildred Law Klasek. She married Harvey L. Ball in 1939. He died in 1978...

CHAFFEE -- Della McBride of Chaffee died at 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16, 1991, at Chaffee Nursing Center. She was 77. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Home in Chaffee.

TO SEE A storybook town or to go through a place that looks like Santa Claus' village, go to Kelso and see the sites. When you come into town it looks like you're coming into a storybook town or storybook village. The lights are beautiful. Good job, Kelso. Thank you...

Let us now consider the mind-boggling frustration and depression of Mr. and Mrs. Average Missourian who have watched helplessly as their state government staggered to the end of a year filled with defeat, humiliation, Tiger football losses and something akin to insolvency. ...

Officials at Marquand-Zion School District found a unique way last week to address the funding dilemma that is afflicting education throughout Missouri. When the school district compiled a $31,237 charge for removal of asbestos from its buildings, Superintendent Gerald Deardorff forwarded the bill to Gov. ...

JACKSON - New boundary lines for Cape Girardeau's two associate commissioner districts are identical to the new lines drawn this year for the county's two state legislative districts. On Monday the Cape Girardeau County Commission unanimously approved a new map, which gives 1st District Associate Commissioner Leonard Sander only one ward in the city of Cape Girardeau instead of three...

CHAFFEE -- Chaffee City Hall is still off limits to any community organizations wishing to meet there. City council members voted at their regular Monday evening meeting to turn down several requests Mayor Ron Moyers said he received from service organizations that wanted to use the council chambers for meetings...

The Supreme Court says it is okay to burn the American flag as a form of protest and that a person desecrating the flag in that manner is protected under the Bill of Rights' First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. John L. Cook agrees. Peter D. Kinder disagrees...