Stories from Sunday, July 5, 1992

The Bell City Community Betterment Association is in the process of building a city park in downtown Bell City. The park will enhance the downtown area with decorative tress, flowers and shrubs. In the center of the park will be park benches and a flag pole...

Great names in the airline industry like Pan American, Eastern and Braniff are gone. Ozark and Republic were merged out of existence. Midway recently succumbed. Not so great names Air West and Continental are about to go over the cliff. TWA, an on-and-off great name, is close to its final flight...

Vice President Dan Quayle attracted a huge crowd in St. Louis recently even though the dinner cost $250, which is no small potatoe, even if your name is Murphy Brown. --- Bill Webster's campaign platform borrows heavily from a book that bears the title "Reinventing Government." Apparently Bill decided to reinvent all those jokes about Sen. Joe Biden...

For several years now, the Cape Girardeau Municipal Court has found itself in a quandary in cases of judge disqualifications. The issue has elevated from a mere philosophical dispute to an actual stalemate between Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court judges and the city of Cape Girardeau. In the past, when the city municipal court judge was disqualified, an associate circuit court judge was appointed to hear the cases. Now, a legal rift has left these cases hanging in limbo...

The Tri-County Health Related Services has scheduled a number of health screenings in July. The screenings are for blood pressure, heart rate and blood sugar. Cholesterol screenings also are offered at some locations for a small fee. Screenings are planned:...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Memorial Hospital of Carbondale will benefit from the new Medicaid tax approved by the Illinois legislature last week, but administrator George Maroney is opposed to the measure. "It's a horrible piece of legislation," Maroney said Saturday...

JACKSON -- Area residents greeted the Fourth of July with lawnchairs and mud at the annual Independence Day celebration at the Jackson City Park. Lawnchairs were a common sight at the park Saturday as families and friends celebrated the nation's birthday at the Jackson Fourth of July Celebration...

Carol Miller might sleep at night, but her scanner gets no rest. "When I'm in the house, the scanner is on," said Miller of Cape Girardeau. "It's always on, even through the night." "I'm kind of a scanner nut, I guess. I love it." Miller, head cashier in the city of Cape Girardeau's finance department, said she has listened to a scanner probably eight or nine years. Personally, she said, she wouldn't like it if Cape Girardeau police began scrambling their transmissions...

The possibility of scrambling Cape Girardeau police transmissions is being considered after a Cape Girardeau businessman burglarized more than 55 businesses here while armed with a portable scanner. In all, a police spokesman said, the one-time cost for the scrambling capability would run from $35,000 to a maximum of $47,000, depending on the method used and sophistication of equipment purchased. ...

A statewide task force has proposed a set of standards and goals on everything from college admission policies to graduation rates in an effort to improve higher education in Missouri. "The purpose of this task force and this report, which sets very strong standards, is to really raise the aspirations and expectations for high academic achievement and for the quality of instruction and learning," said John Lichtenegger of Jackson, chairman of the Task Force on Critical Choices for Higher Education.. ...

SIKESTON -- "A small explosion" abruptly ended a July Fourth display at Sikeston Saturday night when nearly $7,000 worth of fireworks exploded within seconds. Two members of the Sikeston Elks Lodge No. 2319 received minor injuries. They were treated and released from the Missouri Delta Medical Center Hospital in Sikeston...

Mohammad Shakil, M.D., will discuss living with Parkinson's Disease on this week's Ask Your Doctor program, airing Thursday at 8 p.m. on cable channel 13. The local medical show is sponsored by St. Francis Medical Center, Southeast Missouri Hospital, the Cape Girardeau County Medical Society and channel 13...

Graduation ceremonies were held Friday for 15 students in Southeast Missouri Hospital's School of Nursing. The School of Nursing class is the first in more than half a century to wear a Southeast Missouri Hospital School of Nursing pin. The hospital's new school of nursing opened in August of 1991 at 2851 Professional Court in Cape Girardeau. The intensive 48-week LPN to RN diploma program is the only one of its kind in Missouri...

CAIRO, ILL. A "campathon" will raise money for the Alexander County Ambulance Service. At 10:30 a.m. Monday, WKRO radio personality Randy Scheiding and his faithful dog companion, Sundance, will climb the ladder to the roof of the Classics restaurant and camp out there until 400 people have pledged $14.90 per month for a year...

Southeast Missouri State University would be a "moderately selective" institution with a goal of having 55 percent of its first-time, full-time freshmen graduate within six years, under a higher education plan unveiled recently. A plan by the Task Force on Critical Choices for Higher Education calls for classifying Missouri's public colleges and universities on the strength of their admission requirements...

Student parking permits for the 1992-93 academic year will go on sale July 27 at the public safety office at Southeast Missouri State University. Office hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.. The fee is $35 for a commuter permit and $40 for a residence hall permit...

An estate sale from the family of Kathryn Sackman will be held July 11 at 8 a.m. at the Plaza Galleria, with proceeds going to the Safehouse for Women. Sackman, a long-time social studies teacher at Cape Girardeau Central High School, died April 14, 1992. In recent years, she had resided at Chateau Girardeau...

A cooperative effort between Southeast Missouri State University and Jefferson College will make it easier for students from the Jefferson County area to complete a bachelor's degree in elementary education at Southeast. Sheila Caskey, interim provost and dean of Graduate Studies and Extended Learning at Southeast, announced the cooperative effort Friday...

Eleven-year-old author and "whiz kid" Tara Koosak of Cape Girardeau will have an opportunity to show off her talent on the Phil Donahue Show. The show, airing on Friday at 9 a.m. on WPSD-TV, Channel 6, will feature Koosak talking about her two books of cartoons, "School-Biz Is..." and "Boy Girl Daze Craze."...

St. Francis Medical Center is moving to a performance pay plan and away from across-the-board wage hikes for its approximately 1,300 full- and part-time employees. "It is true merit pay," said Bob Owen, human resources director at the Cape Girardeau hospital...

CHARLESTON -- Marcus Earl Moss, of Charleston, died Thursday, July 2, 1992. He was born Dec. 8, 1983 in Charleston. He was a member of Kingdom Hall at East Prairie. Moss attended Hearnes Elementary School, and had completed the second grade. He is survived by his mother, Brenda Moss of Charleston and father, James Moss of Sikeston; one brother, Anthony Levar Sinks of Charleston; two sisters, Shelly Branigan and Shetoya Rigney., both of Charleston; and other relatives...

CHARLESTON -- An East Prairie woman was killed and seven people were injured in a three-vehicle accident on Missouri 105, one mile south of Charleston Friday night. Linda Gale Brown Counts, 28, was fatally injured about 11 p.m. Friday when the northbound car she was driving crossed the center line and struck a pickup truck in oncoming traffic. The car then careened back to strike another northbound vehicle, said the Missouri State Patrol...

JACKSON -- Duell R. Grantham, 75, died Friday, July 3, 1992, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 17, 1917 at Sedgewickville. son of Ed and Eva Yamnitz Grantham. He married Jean Browning on May 19, 1945. She survives. Also surviving are a son, Tom Grantham, Eden Prairie, Minn.; brother, Kelly Grantham of Sedgewickville; three sisters, Ruby Nettler, Wilma Kuhlmann and Geraldine Kaiser, all of St. Louis; and two grandchildren...

PERRYVILLE -- Frieda V. Kirn, 84, died Thursday, July 2, 1992 at the American Care Nursing Center in Perryville. She was born Jan. 4, 1908 in Ste. Genevieve County, daughter of Frank X. Gegg and Sophia Schmelzle Gegg. She married George W. Kirn on Oct. 6, 1930 at Weingarten. He survives...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Maurice M. Armstrong was held Saturday at Crews-Welsh and Ponder Funeral Home with the Rev. Charles E. Buck officiating. Burial was in Memorial Park Cemetery. Armstrong, 78, of Sikeston, died July 1, 1992, in Nashville, Tenn., where he had lived with his son since March...

JACKSON -- Mrs. Mae Keisker of Jackson died Thursday, July 2, 1992, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 17, 1903, in Yount, Mo., daughter of Jacob Fikuart and Dora Yount Fikuart. She was married to the Rev. W. Walter Keisker Nov. 29, 1923. He survives...

Funeral Mass for Elizabeth E. Kiefner will be conducted Monday at 10 a.m. at Old St. Vincent Church by Msgr. Richard Rolwing. Burial will be in Home Cemetery at Perryville. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Funeral Chapel today from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m...

JACKSON -- Nellie Lee Scheper, 89, of Jackson died Saturday, July 4, 1992 at Deal's Nursing Home in Jackson. Arrangements were incomplete, and will be announced by Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home in Jackson.

Southeast Missouri State University has received approval from the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education to offer a master of science in nursing program. University officials made the announcement Friday. "There has long been a need for a master's in nursing program in the Cape Girardeau area," said Catherine Taylor Foster, chairperson of the nursing department at Southeast...

Two vehicles collided head-on early Friday morning on the Mississippi River Bridge at Cape Girardeau. Following the accident, a third vehicle also crashed into one of the vehicles. The accident tied up traffic on both the Missouri and Illinois sides of the bridge for more than 20 minutes, police estimated...

EAST PRAIRIE - Linda Gale Brown Counts, 28, of East Prairie, died Friday, July 3, 1992 as a result of an automobile accident. Her body will be at the Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie, where funeral arrangements were incomplete Saturday.

Several area families reap benefits while enjoying hosting high school students from the International Student Exchange Program of Iowa. "The program is a real benefit all-around for everyone," said Lina Takacs, who helps place international students in area homes...

A commercial property tax surcharge would be subject to the same rollback provisions as other tax rates if voters in Missouri approve Amendment 9 in the Aug. 4 primary election. "It will benefit some businesses who are having a hard time keeping up with the surcharge," said Rep. Joe Driskill, D-Poplar Bluff, who handled the legislation that sent the constitutional change to voters...

The hollyhocks begin at the bottom of the big healthy stalk and bloom right up to the tiptop bud, never missing a sky-reaching step along the way. The bumblebees bumble right along upward with them. We're friends, the bumblebees and I. Of course I've never sat on one nor tried trapping one in my hand. ...

Chris Cordes carefully diapered the baby doll during his Super Sitter class. But as he lifted the doll, the diaper slipped off. He re-diapered the doll, making sure the diaper was snugly fastened at the waist and passed what students called one of the toughest parts of a Super Sitter babysitting seminar last week...

It is tea time! Can you think of anything more delightful in a garden of roses, completely surrounded by the fragrance and delightful blooms of many varieties of roses? That is just what the members of Cape Girardeau Council of Garden Clubs is planning for next Sunday, July 12, from 3 to 7 p.m. ...

MARBLE HILL -- Egyptian art and history will illustrate stories of the Old Testament in the program scheduled for the Bollinger County Historical Society's quarterly meeting July 12. The meeting will be held at 2 p.m. at the Bollinger County Courthouse. It is free and open to the public...

JACKSON -- Warranty deeds issued at the office of Janet Robert, Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds: Jerry L. and Ellen Kay Sneed to Ellen Kristine Sneed; Beth Ann Wright and R. Steven Hall to Larry G. and Peggy S. Lacey; Jack Franklin Dalrymple Jr. and Shelly H. Dalrymple to John E. and Elsie B. Miller...

SIKESTON -- Plans have been announced for a 120,000-square-foot factory outlet center here. "We'll start construction in September for the Sikeston Factory Outlet Center," said Philip Boyer, president of Boyer Construction Co., which has developed plans for the center. "We're looking for an opening in April of 1993."...

Unemployment rates increased in all Southeast Missouri counties in May, but officials said the rise was not unusual. "Students joining the labor market after school is dismissed traditionally pushes the rate up in May," said Jackie Cecil, manager of the local Job Service office...

Sunny Hill Garden Center Inc., known for its green thumb expertise for more than six decades, has moved to 206 N. Kingshighway. Schnare, who has been involved in the lawn and garden business since 1974, also owns Accu-Grow Lawn and Tree Service Inc. at 1110 N. Cape Rock Drive and Accu-Grow Lawn Care Service at Carbondale, Ill...

Port Cape Girardeau, a downtown restaurant, has expanded to the west. "We opened a new facility in the former Tantrums Restaurant-Lounge Friday," said Dennis "Doc" Cain, president of Doc Cain Inc., which owns the downtown restaurant. Cain's wife, Karen Pobst Cain is vice president of the company...

Marvin L. Miller of Cape Girardeau, a special representative for Franklin Life Insurance Co., has graduated from the company's Trainee Associate Program Congress VI. Miller, a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University with a bachelor's degree in business administration, is owner of Miller Accounting and Financial Services in Cape Girardeau. He has been in public accounting for more than 15 years...

Allen Bradshaw has been promoted to data processing manager at Wetterau Inc.'s Scott City Division. Bradshaw graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 1983 with an associate degree in computer science. He started with Wetterau in January 1984 as terminal operator, was promoted to systems coordinator in August 1988, and to assistant data processing manager in March...

NEW MADRID -- Associated Electric Cooperative has scheduled major modifications at its power plant near New Madrid this fall. The project will pave the way for reduced sulfur-dioxide emissions from the coal-fired generating units. The modifications, which get under way Oct. 1, will include changes to boilers and ductwork, along with the addition of a dry-ash handling system and construction of a new ash-disposal pond...

Jim Litzelfelner has joined Homedco as branch manager of the Cape Girardeau operation. Litzelfelner, of Jackson, has a number of years of medical and management experience. He was medical resource manager of the 22nd Medical Group at March Air Force Base in California, where he was responsible for the administration and management of the medical group. Prior to that he served as medical expense and performance reporting manager for four years at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa...