Stories from Monday, October 5, 1992

A committee is being established by the Area Wide United Way to distribute its half of the money raised during the YELL for Newspapers promotion last month. About $9,000 will be available for programs that involve youth, education, literacy and learning...

JACKSON - About 21 high school marching bands and nearly 1,500 band performers are expected to participate in the 48th annual Southeast Missouri Marching Band Festival Tuesday in Jackson. The event, which dates back to World War II, is sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Band Association and hosted each October by Jackson High School...

From across the United States they came to Harris Field at Cape Girardeau during the darkest days of World War II. They were young men in their late teens and early twenties, many of them fresh from the Army Air Force's civilian instructor pilot training school at Randolph Field, Texas...

The year was 1962 and a 19-year-old Cape Girardean was singing and playing electric piano in a local pop band called Mert Mirly and the Rhythm Steppers. The band played the Airline Lounge on Kingshighway, a building now occupied by the Golden Dragon restaurant. Also the White Star in Anna, the Seven Cedars north of Jackson and every VFW Hall in the area...

The Southeast Missourian asked people what they thought about Ross Perot officially entering the presidential campaign. Jim Welk: "It could mess things up, but a third choice may be appealing to a lot of people. I don't think a lot of people, including myself, know what he stands for. He's hard to figure out, whether he is in for the good of the country or for the good of Ross Perot."...

A program for child care providers, "Creative Movement, Music and Group Games," will be presented Thursday at 7 p.m. at A Small World Preschool, 1215 N. Kingshighway. The program is sponsored by the Human Environmental Studies Department, Southeast Missouri State University, and the Area Licensed Providers Association...

PORTAGEVILLE - William C. "Bill" Stephens, 80, of Portageville, died Sunday, Oct. 4, at his home. He was born Oct. 22, 1911, in Crossett, Ark. to Matthew A. and Melinda Nicholson Stephens. On April 23, 1932, he married Allena Simer in Portageville. She survives, along with one daughter, Joy Ashby of Portageville; four brothers, Walter Stephens and Joe Stephens, both of Cape Girardeau; Harvey Stephens of Advance, and Charles Stephens of Bloomfield...

JACKSON -- A 24-year-old Jackson woman sustained minor injuries in a single-vehicle accident one mile north of here early Sunday morning. Lora Hawn of Jackson was taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital after her southbound car ran off the left side of County Road 439 and struck an embankment at about 1 a.m...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Roth, Perryville Route 7, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 7:05 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, 1992. Name, Kiarra Christina. Weight, 7 pounds. First child. Mrs. Roth is the former Mary Winschel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Winschel of Perryville, and is employed by Buerkle, Beeson and Ludwig at Jackson. Roth is employed at BBL Buildings and Components at Perryville, and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Roth of Uniontown...

Cecil D. Schatte, 92, of 3120 Independence, died Saturday, Oct. 4, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 27, 1900, at Oriole, to John W. and Nancy Reynolds Noland. On April 24, 1918, she married Walter H. Schatte in Jackson. He preceded her in death on Oct. 28, 1932...

COMMERCE -- Mary Grace Upchurch, 73, died Oct. 4, 1992, at the Chaffee Nursing Center. She was born July 4, 1919, in Lake County, Tenn., to Richard Smith and Bessie Barbie, both of whom preceded her in death. On August 21, 1937, she married West Miller Upchurch, who preceded her in death on May 26, 1988...

~Correction: Name should be HELEN WULFERS Helen Wuefers, 83, of 418 Spring St., died Sunday, Oct. 4, at the Cape LaCroix Nursing Care Center. Arrangements are pending at Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson is praising a decision by President George Bush to waive the Clean Air Act restrictions on the use of ethanol. Emerson, who has worked with other corn-belt state lawmakers in urging the administration for eight months to issue the waiver, was on hand at the White House Thursday when Bush made the announcement...

Finding a solution to the federal government's financial distress is no simple endeavor. There are simple contributions that can be made to the entire project, however. One idea seems inarguable: All citizens who owe tax money to the federal government should pay up. The Internal Revenue Service announced an effort last week to bring wayward citizens back into the taxpaying fold. We are encouraged by this action and hope it meets with success...

Missourians should view with jaundiced eye the current television campaigns being carried out by their two candidates for governor, Mel Carnahan and Bill Webster. Rather than discuss the issues in one of the most important elections in the history of the state, both candidates have chosen to trash each other, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to accomplish this senseless, non-productive goal...

Earlier this year, I responded to a questionnaire that asked for my position on proposals to enact a form of vouchers to effect full parental choice in education. I responded with these words: "I generally look with favor on parental choice and voucher proposals as a promising reform in education. I realize that many in public education are alarmed at such proposals. Opponents advance persuasive arguments, and I am no expert...

During July of this year, the Gallup Organization, Inc., conducted a national sampling to determine Americans' attitudes toward parental choice in education. The findings of this poll, which were reported at a briefing for Congress in the U.S. Capitol in September, include the following:...

It is very enticing for the casual observer to say that choice in education is a right that we should have for our children. However, there are many complex issues that must be addressed before we accept this as a reality, regardless of politics. Because of federal program and civil rights legislation for persons with disabilities, the issue of choice, if accepted as a right for any child, must then be addressed as a right for all children, including those with disabilities...

The issue of choice has become one of the most debated issues in educational strategies. School critics find school choice attractive, albeit for different reasons. More than 20 states have either passed choice legislation or are considering such action testimony to the popularity of the idea...

I have great reservations about choice of public schools even though I recognize that research indicates that higher academic performance is frequently associated with schools of choice. However, I must note that this association does not imply causality...