Stories from Friday, December 27, 1991

To the Editor: I recently read an insert on "The Mini-Page" in your newspaper which served as a sort of primer on drugs and alcohol geared towards young children. I applaud you for your efforts to teach our young people about the dangers of drug abuse...

Several local night spots are planning very special evenings for those planning to ring in 1992 in and around Cape Girardeau. River City Yacht Club The second annual New Year's Eve bash featuring the Jungle Dogs is planned at the River City Yacht Club at Port Cape Girardeau...

Sally Iten, Notre Dame High School senior, has been selected to participate in the 1992 All-State Choir. Matt Strohmeyer, a junior at Notre Dame, has been selected as an alternate. The choir will perform in conjunction with the Missouri Music Educators Association Convention to be held Jan. 15-18 at Tan-Tar-A Lodge near Osage Beach...

An exhibit featuring southwestern images will open at Gallery 100 Jan. 5. The exhibit features the works of sculptor Steve Bertrand and painter Don Yandell. Bertrand, a native of Cape Girardeau and Yandell, of Plano, Texas, are both of Native American descent. Their works reflect their heritage and interests...

Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island and the American Cancer Society are conducting the third annual High School Recipe Contest. The contest is open to high school seniors interested in culinary careers. Students with original recipes can win thousands of dollars in university scholarships...

Nineteen ninety-one is staggering to its conclusion like a drunk leaving happy hour, loaded and uneasy. Any hope found in 1992's approach depends on who you are. Mikhail Gorbachev's summation of the year would be more edgy than most. Dear Diary: This has been a 12-month bummer...

It must be tough to be a judge in today's world. It's a funny thing about law: if you remove its moral foundation, all basis for righteousness and justice continually shifts, like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the winds of relativism. The latest slippery slope judges and attorneys are attempting to scale involves one of the most volatile issues of our time abortion...

Christmas is over, and the new year is just around the corner. That means it's nearly tax time. As of Tuesday, about one-third of Cape Girardeau County's 1991 personal property and real estate taxes were paid. That means just over $6 million of the $17 million in county real estate and personal property taxes due year have been collected. That's about par for the course. The real rush will come today through Tuesday as county residents try to meet the Dec. 31 deadline...

Twenty-eight years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a new movie, "JFK," has sparked renewed debate over the many conspiracy theories that abound about the tragic event. J. Christopher Schnell, a Southeast Missouri State University history professor who has researched the Nov. 22, 1963 assassination, said he doubts anyone will ever unearth the entire story of that fateful day in Dallas...

JACKSON - Final plans have been made for 10 public hearings on a proposed county zoning ordinance. The hearings will be conducted in each of Cape Girardeau County's 10 townships, and will be held from Jan. 6 to Feb. 5. Charles Engelhart, administrator of the Cape Girardeau County Planning Commission, said Thursday he had no idea what kind of turnout to expect at the hearings...

Despite earlier fears of navigational problems this winter due to low water the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Cairo, barge traffic is moving without difficulty to terminals in southeast Louisiana. The National Weather Service said Thursday that forecasts indicate20the good water conditions will continue through January...

The Cape Girardeau School District has developed a process to cut $1.4 million from the district's budget, and the Board of Education likely will consider a reduction package in March. Superintendent Neyland Clark said reduction committee chairmen were selected last week and will begin work immediately to look at ways to save money...

With boundary lines for the 27th senatorial district now official, and as the Jan. 14 start of filing approaches, potential candidates for the seat of retiring Sen. John Dennis are spending the holidays in contact with possible supporters and other likely candidates...

BELL CITY -- Jessica Shelby, a fourth-grade student at Bell City Elementary School, has been selected as one of seven winners in a statewide poster contest. She made a poster on the theme, "The best thing about my family is..." Over 10,000 fourth-graders entered the contest, which was sponsored by the Children's Trust Fund and the Missouri Chapter for Prevention of Child Abuse...

Salmonellosis, a bacteria commonly found in meat, poultry and milk products, has been identified as the bacterial disease that caused illnesses in a number of people following a banquet held in Cape Girardeau Dec. 20. "We have reports from several of the cultures taken at hospitals," said Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Health Department, which is investigating the incident. "The reports tested positive for salmonellosis," she said...

Kathryn McCarney Newman, 87, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Dec. 26, 1991, at Carrollton, Texas, where she was visiting during the Christmas holidays. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, which will be announced later. Newman, who has been involved in civic, educational and religious organizations over the past six decades, was born Sept. 10, 1904, in Des Moines, Iowa...

DEXTER - State Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, says he is pleased with his new 25th District and looks forward to running in it next year for a full four-year term. Howard was elected senator in December 1990, after incumbent Stephen Sharp resigned to take a circuit judgeship in Stoddard and Dunklin counties...

Coast Guard and Corps of Engineers survey boats will sound the bottom of the Mississippi River near Grays Point early next month to attempt to identify a submerged object that collided with a barge tow last week. Authorities said the towboat Alois Luhr was pushing a barge tow of rock rip-rap enroute to Baton Rouge, La., when one of the barges struck a submerged object near the Missouri shore at Mile 47.6. ...

ALTO PASS, Ill. -- Florence Bridgeman, 94, formerly of Alto Pass died Thursday, Dec. 26, 1991, at Eden Village Care Center in Edwardsville, Ill. She was born Sept. 17, 1897, near Cobden, the daughter of George B. and Amy Harris Aldridge. On April 28, 1928, she married Lee Orville Bridgeman, who preceded her in death Jan. 31, 1972...

LONGTOWN -- Otto G. Bohnert, 83, of Longtown died Thursday, Dec. 26, 1991, at the Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. He was born May 25, 1908, in Uniontown, the son of Andrew and Annie Dambach Bohnert. On Nov. 5, 1939, he married Edna Paula Tanz, who survives of the home...

SCOTT CITY -- Ruth Myers, 68, of Scott City, died Thursday, Dec. 26, 1991, at the Cape Girardeau Nursing Center. Arrangements are incomplete at the Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

KELSO -- John D. Mattes, 64, of Kelso, died Thursday, Dec. 26, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at the Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

JACKSON - Arevillie Owens, of Jackson Manor, formerly of Cypress, Ill., died Dec. 25, 1991 at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was 78. She was born Sept. 2, 1913 in Franklin County, Ala. to Robert and Elizabeth Coates Patterson. On Oct. 11, 1930, she married Frank C. Owens at Cherokee, Ala...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Joseph Whitehead, 38, formerly of Mounds, died Monday, Dec. 23, 1991, at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville, Ill. He was born Dec. 19, 1953 in Mounds, son of John and Rose Gholsby Whitehead. Survivors are three brothers, John Whitehead, Chester, Ill., Jack Whitehead, Jonesboro, and Jay Whitehead of Wilmington, Ill.; four sisters, Jeanine Starbuck, Ft. Worth, Texas, Jerelyn Brace, Alze, Texas, Judy Whitehead, Wilmington and Janie Curry, Antioch, Calif...

Mary Lou Smith, 65, of Festus and formerly of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Dec. 23, 1991, at St. Luke's West Medical Center in Chesterfield. She was born Nov. 11, 1926, in Cape Girardeau, the daughter of the late Chester Templeton and Lorene Popst Templeton, who survives of Cape Girardeau...

Minerva L. Willer, 88, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Dec. 25, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Jan. 30, 1903 in Hardin County, Ill., the daughter of Henry and Ida Mason Dossett. On April 20, 1924, she married Edgar Willer in Anna, Ill. He died May 13, 1981...

JACKSON - Funeral services for Robert McEndree Buerkle, a longtime Jackson attorney and civic leader, will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at McCombs Funeral Chapel in Jackson. Buerkle, 73, died Wednesday, Dec. 25, 1991 at St. Francis Medical Center. Visitation will be at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. today. Albert M. Spradling, Jr. will officiate at Saturday's service, and burial will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery...

JACKSON -- Brian Keith Kester, 19, of Jackson, died Thursday, Dec. 26, 1991, at his home. He was born Oct. 22, 1972, in Cape Girardeau, the son of Lloyd Kester and Shirley Sides Kester. He was preceded in death by his father. He is survived by his mother; two brothers, Darrell Kester and Levi Kester; a sister, Robin Kester; three grandparents, a niece and a nephew...

SIKESTON -- Pauline Kaullen, 97, of Sikeston, died Wednesday, Dec. 25, 1991, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 18, 1894, in Chicago, Ill., the daughter of Theodore and Catherine Krier. On June 4, 1924, she married Fred A. Kaullen, who preceded her in death Feb. 25, 1976...

Emory Snider, 91, of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, Dec. 26, 1991, at the Cape Girardeau Nursing Center. He was born Dec. 6, 1900, at Whitewater, the son of George and Mary Proffer Snider. He married Eva Waddle on April 28, 1923, at Jackson. She survives...

PERRYVILLE -- Jess J. Clements, 80, of Perryville, died Wednesday, Dec. 25, 1991, at the Perry County Nursing Home in Perryville. He was born Jan. 17, 1911, in Perry County, son of August and Albertine Behrle Clements. He was married to Stella Boxdorfer on Oct. 5, 1956. She preceded him in death on Nov. 30, 1990...

DALLAS, Tex. James Robert Newton Church, 60, a native of Cape Girardeau, Mo., died at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas Sunday, Dec. 15, 1991. He was born in Cape Girardeau on Nov. 17, 1931. He attended Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau and the University of Missouri-Rolla...

ADVANCE -- Louie Thomas Young, 88, of Junction City, Kansas, formerly of Poplar Bluff, died Tuesday, Dec. 24, 1991, at the Gary Community Hospital in Junction City. He was born Oct. 2, 1903 at Dexter, the son of John Henry Young and Florence Hampton Young...

JACKSON -- Earl Thomas Masters, 89, of Jackson Route 2 died Wednesday, Dec. 25, 1991, at Jackson Manor Nursing Home. He was born Sept. 22, 1902 near Oak Ridge, the son of James and Cora Riehn Masters. He had farmed and was a blacksmith in the Oak Ridge and Millersville areas...

Nina Slinkard Simpher, 54, of Cape Girardeau Route 2 died Thursday, Dec. 26, 1991 at the Lutheran Home. She was born Nov. 18, 1937 in Glen Allen, daughter of the late John A. Slinkard, and Kathleen Abernathy Slinkard, who survives of Cape Girardeau...