Stories from Monday, August 24, 1992

Representatives of the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation, which is seeking to purchase St. Vincent's Seminary and turn it into a museum and Civil War interpretive center, say few people oppose the project. But how funding the ambitious proposal remains the group's biggest obstacle...

Though it's his fourth year at Southeast Missouri State University, Lee Ferrell says he still looks forward to the first week back. Ferrell and thousands of other students returned to Cape Girardeau Sunday and over the weekend to begin fall classes today...

ORAN - Republican state senatorial candidate Peter Kinder says there is a "dramatic contrast" between him and Democratic candidate Betty Hearnes. In remarks last week at the annual meeting of the Scott County Farm Bureau, Kinder offered himself as "an aspiring citizen legislator" running against "a career politician who evidently views herself as a lifetime legislator."...

The Southeast Missourian asked children why they are looking forward to going back to school after their summer vacation. Brian Grim: "I'll be in eighth grade at St. Mary's. The summer started to get boring a couple of weeks ago. I think it will be good to get back to school. I like science. I think I will have to study more, but it should be good."...

Orientation meetings for kindergarten, first- and second-grade students and their parents at Charles C. Clippard Elementary School will be held Tuesday and Wednesday. At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the school is hosting an orientation meeting for the kindergarten students and parents. Teachers Linda Hill and Cathy Bishop will discuss plans for the year...

Cape Girardeau was provided a striking example last week of one of life's unfortunate truths: it is much easier to tear something down than build something up. This unnecessary and regrettable lesson was delivered at the hands of vandals who transacted their business at Franklin Elementary School, destroying plants, breaking windows and generally making a mess of things as the academic year is about to commence. ...

To the Editor: The Senate Finance Committee recently approved a broad tax bill containing provisions that would restore the full deduction for annual Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contributions, currently as much as $2,000, to 92 percent of Americans...

SIKESTON -- Harrison J. Birt, 71, of Sikeston, formerly of Daven, W.V., died Saturday night, Aug. 22, 1992, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Nov. 16, 1920, in Logan County, W.V., to the late John E. and Eva Black Birt. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army and a sergeant in World War II. He was a Baptist...

SIKESTON -- James Edna Freeman, a resident of Sells Rest Home in Matthews, formerly of Sikeston, died Saturday, Aug. 22, 1992, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was 84. She was born Nov. 22, 1907, in Gibson County, Tenn., to the late Robert Lee and Ada Barnes Harris...

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's Industrial Appreciation Dinner will be held Oct. 1 at the Show Me Center on Southeast Missouri State University campus. The highlight of the annual event is the presentation of the "Commitment to Excellence" award honoring the 1992 industry of the year...

ORAN -- Abram S. Hirschowitz, 79, of Oran died Sunday, Aug. 23, 1992, at the Missouri Veteran's Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 25, 1913, in Oran, the son of the late Max and Margaret Ellnan Hirschowitz. He married Verna I. Harris, who survives of Sikeston...

ANNISTON -- Paul William Tatum, 95, of Anniston, died Saturday, Aug. 22, 1992 at the Charleston Manor. He was born Jan. 19, 1897 in Anniston, the son of Nealey and Kate Thurman Tatum. He lived in Mississippi County all his life and was retired from the ASCS Office in Charleston...