Stories from Sunday, July 19, 1992

o the Editor: We at the Convention & Visitors Bureau would like to take this opportunity to publicly recognize and thank the many individuals who have helped make Cape Girardeau "the place" to be the past few months. Mark Seesing at the Cape Municipal Airport and the many hardworking people who helped make May's Aviation Days a complete and well managed success...

In a part of America that too often seems rapidly passing away, the downtown shopping districts of most small towns were dominated by a handful of merchants, representing local ownership and known and respected for their service, their character and the quality of their goods. ...

Progress is at times a painful enterprise. For all the long-range good that comes of collective advancement, small instances of individual reversals are inevitable. Such is the case with the proposed bridge to replace the existing span over the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau. ...

SIKESTON - Two area men are among the 35 troopers who graduated last month from the 64th recruit class of the Missouri State Highway Patrol Academy in Jefferson City. The new officers began their training Jan. 1, and reported to their new duty stations July 1, the patrol said...

Horizon Manufacturing, Inc., with a new electronics division in its operation, has received its third MO BUCKS loan for an expansion project that will create 50 new jobs. Missouri Treasurer Wendell Bailey an~nounced Friday that he had approved a $1.25 million deposit of state funds with Capital Bank of Cape Girardeau under the "MO BUCKS for More Jobs" program that provides low-interest loans so industry can create new jobs...

MARBLE HILL -- Construction of a municipal pool will start in two weeks in Marble Hill without the blessing of the mayor. Adrian Shell, who was elected in April, insists that the money endowed to the town for building a pool is being misused because a complex housing municipal offices will also be built with the money...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Municipal Band will hold its weekly concert Thursday at 8 p.m. in the band shell at City Park. The special guest will be Steve Schaffner, described as a "fiddler extraordinaire." He is a native of Cape Girardeau and string instructor and orchestra conductor for the Cape Girardeau Public Schools. Schaffner is a former member of the Narvel Felts Band and has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry...

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. - The Illinois Department of Transportation said Wednesday the resurfacing of 2.3 miles of Route 3 from the Route 3 and 146 junction near East Cape Girardeau, to near Gale, Ill. will begin July 27. One lane of the highway will be closed to traffic while the work is going on, IDOT officials said. The contractor, Southern Asphalt Co., Inc., of Mt. Vernon, Ill., will remove the old asphalt surface and replace it with a new asphalt pavement...

Blake Gerard stood at the rear of a late model GMC Sierra pickup truck, its bed filled with ears of sweet corn that he was selling for a $1 a dozen. Nearby, an older man dressed in blue-and-white striped overalls broke open an ear and still scanning the corn jestingly threw a question to Gerard, decades his junior: If any of the ears had worms, was Gerard going to charge him extra?...

The B-29 Superfortress, a high-flying plane operated during World War II, was designed and built for one reason "to bring the Japanese to their knees," says Alvin Kamp, who spent more than two years keeping some of the big air machines flying during the war...

The statistics of poverty can seem intimidating. To Dennis Reagan, they are more than mere numbers. As director of the Missouri Division of Family Services office in Cape Girardeau, he sees the faces behind the statistics. "The figures aren't real. They may reflect reality, but they are not real. People are real," he said...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Marguerite B. Ward has faith in the latest efforts to rid the city of more than seven million pounds of tires that are stacked on property owned by ADM-GrowMark company here. "I think that James Sheible will get the job done," said Ward, mayor of this small Southern Illinois community, located about seven miles north of Cairo...

Bill Burch, who formally declared his candidacy for the Missouri Senate in Cape Girardeau in January, has opened a campaign office at 1858 Broadway here. "The office will be open every day except Sunday," said an office spokesman Saturday. Burch, the first to file for the 27th District spot to be vacated by the retiring Sen. John Dennis (D-Benton), served as mayor at Sikeston six years...

The last time Mike Smith worked closely with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall was to help bring it to Cape Girardeau in 1989. This weekend he'll serve in St. Louis as part of an honor guard liaison emissary for the wall. Smith said he is one of five members in the Headquarters Company of the Missouri National Guard's 1140th Engineers at Cape Girardeau who will carry out the duty, all voluntary. The five are also Vietnam veterans...

HOBBS, N.M. (AP) - The founder and publisher of The Hobbs Flare, is dead at the age of 88. Agnes Kastner Head died July 9 in at Lubbock, Texas, hospital after a brief illness. Mrs. Head owned the Lovington Leader from 1944 to 1958 but is best known for founding The Flare, a weekly Hobbs newspaper, in 1948. She operated the newspaper until her death...

PERRYVILLE -- Milford R. Nenninger died Friday, July 17, 1992, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was 81. He was born Feb. 9, 1911, in Leopold, the son of John and Kate Snyder Nenninger. He married Gladys Moore on June 12, 1937. She survives. He was a retired printer for Miraculous Medal in Perryville. He was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and the Holy Name Society...

JACKSON -- Vergie R. Hoffmeister, 87, of Jackson, died Saturday, July 18, 1992, at her home. She was born on Feb. 19, 1905 at Whitewater, daughter of Robert and Lilly Smith Brown. She married Philip Hoffmeister on Dec. 5, 1925 in Jackson. He died on Dec. 7, 1983...

Morris "Horsey" Gaines, 76, of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, July 17, 1992, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 2, 1916 in Gideon, Mo., son of Frank Gaines and Minnie Lee Steele Gaines. He married the former Janet Doughty on Nov. 15, 1946, in Cape Girardeau. She preceded him in death on July 25, 1990...

JACKSON -- Elmer A. Buck, 73, of Jackson, died Saturday, July 18, 1992, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He had lived at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau for the past two years. Prior to that, he had resided for several years at the Lutheran Home...

Funeral service for Samuel Earl Leaton of Kansas City will be held at 3 p.m. today at Campbell-Lewis Funeral Home in Marshall. Burial will be in Smith Chapel Cemetery. Leaton, 87, died Thursday, July 16, 1992, at Kingswood Manor in Kansas City. He was born Sept. 6, 1904, at LaMonte, son of Lewis N. and Ethel Faye Pace Leaton. He and Mildred Fyrne White were married Aug. 7, 1927. She died Sept. 29, 1984. He later married Martha Jane Stouffer Nov. 23, 1985...

Daughter to Larry Martin and Vickie McGuire of Marble Hill, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 6:23 p.m. Monday, June 22, 1992. Name, Nicole Rose. Weight, 6 pounds 4 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Ms. McGuire is the former Vickie Jansen, daughter of David and Glenda Jansen of Lutesville. Martin is the son of Larry Martin Sr. of St. Louis...

JACKSON - Some area law enforcement authorities boned up last week on civil disturbance and riot control techniques. The training also covered how to respond to natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and major floods, said Chief Deputy Leonard Hines of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department...

Rin-n-ng! Rin-n-ng! "Hello." "Is this the home of Jean Mosley?" "Yes." "Hello, Jean. How are you today?" Brightly spoken. "All right." Suspiciously spoken. I glanced at my watch. It was shortly after 6 p.m. when I get such brightly spoken concerns, and most of my real friends who had any reason to be concerned about me had already called...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Charles Stadelbacher can almost always find a thrill at Blueberry Hill. Stadelbacher and his brother, Robert, own Blueberry Hill Farm, a 500-acre fruit and vegetable farming operation in Cobden. The backbone of the operation, as one might guess, is blueberries. The farm includes 20 acres of blueberries, ripe and ready to pick now. Stadelbacher anticipates the blueberry crop will last until about the first of August...

When a prominent doctor left Cape Girardeau recently to relocate in Idaho, he spoke most highly of our community, but said that he would not miss two things about Missouri July and August. The hot, humid, dry weather of the past two weeks certainly explains that statement. It has meant water, water, water just to keep our plants alive. However, many of us recall the scorchers of 1935 and 1936 and are thankful for our modern methods of watering and also for air conditioning...

The health needs of school children both emotional and medical will highlight "Current Social and Medical Issues in Education," a conference sponsored annual by Southeast Missouri Hospital for teachers, school nurses, principals, counselors and others...

Taco John's has expanded its Cape Girardeau operations. "We've added more than 1,000 square feet to the building and can now seat about 120 customers," said Scott Coleman, general manager of the restaurant at 111 N. Kingshighway. The interior of the restaurant was completely remodeled in June 1990, a few months after it changed ownership from Mike Halvorson to his brother, Pat Halvorson...

Papa John's Pizza has opened in Cape Girardeau at 839 N. Kingshighway. The restaurant offers indoor dining with 40 seats, and delivery service. The menu includes pizza, breadsticks and cheesesticks. Papa John's employs 25, with another 10 to be hired here...

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has confirmed that it is coming to Cape Girardeau. "There will be a Cracker Barrel restaurant-retail operation at Cape Girardeau," said a spokesman at the firm's Lebanon, Tenn., headquarters. "We have put the job out for bids, and hope to see construction under way in a few weeks."...

Plans for a new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in the Cape Girardeau area have been announced by Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc., headquartered at Marion, Ill. The plans were included in an announcement by Browning-Ferris and Procter & Gamble of Cape Girardeau to jointly expand P&G's recycling program...

Twenty-nine employees of Dana Corp., Spicer Axle Division, Cape Girardeau, recently completed a 40-hour, in-house training course on "Excellence in Manufacturing." Larry Tidd, training coordinator for Dana here, was instructor for the course, which teaches employees how to achieve accelerated continuous improvement in their jobs through the eight E.I.M. objectives...

"Standard Oil Co., of which Clem Hoeller is Cape Girardeau manager, is arranging to build a handsome filling station for automobiles on Themis Street at corner of Sprigg." The news item above appeared in the Southeast Missourian more than 75 years ago. Although the business is long gone, remnants remain...

Capital Bancorporation's net income for the three months and six months ending June 30 were $1,257,000 and $2,292,000 respectively. Earnings per share were 47 cents and 87 cents respectively. The company's total assets June 30 were $6,740,000. Capital Bancorporation's non-performing loans were $2,113,000 June 30, compared to $2,915,000 March 31. ...

Jay Asbell and Chuck Thurman have been appointed as shift coordinators at Dana Corp. Dave Blanchard, plant manager of the Cape Girardeau Dana facility, announced the promotions last week. Asbell has been with Dana since March 1990, and Thurman has been with the firm since April 1990...

Attorney Richard G. Steele, Dr. Charles H. Cozean and bus~iness~man John Mehner, all of Cape Girardeau, have been named to the advisory board of AmeriFirst Bank in Cape Girardeau. Steele, a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, earned a degree from University of Missouri law school. ...

David Braden of McLeansboro, Ill., has joined the firm of Schott & Van de Ven, Certified Public Accountants, as a junior accountant. Braden, a 1987 graduate of McLeansboro High School, attended Southern Illinois Uni~versity-Carbondale, where he received his bachelor's degree from the School of Accountancy. While attending SIU, he was a member of the Accounting Society...