Stories from Wednesday, October 28, 1992

On Nov. 3, voters of the City of Cape Girardeau will be asked to vote on a proposal changing the manner in which city council persons are elected; that is from an at large system to a ward system. A previous article has addressed the policy reasons why such a change is not needed. This article will address the deficiencies that exist in the current proposal voters will be asked to approve...

To the Editor: This is my first ever letter to the Editor. This is also the first year in many that I have become interested enough in an election to actively involve myself to this extent. I mention this so the reader will know that I am not someone who is always spouting off about something or other...

Former U.S. Senator and Democrat Presidential Candidate GEORGE McGOVERN (an honest man) had it right when he identified (in a speech Monday night in Cape) that it would begin a new era of LIBERALISM if BILL CLINTON is elected President of the U.S. At a time when the majority of the people are conservative ... ...

Voters have heard much this presidential campaign about the end of the Cold War, mostly from President Bush, who contends that his role in its end is compelling justification for his re-election. But the real reason to keep Bush, and a Republican administration, in the White House four more years is to ensure a proper response to the natural shift away from massive defense spending and its centralizing affect on government...

Amendment 2 would allow for construction of toll roads and bridges in Missouri. Flaws in the proposed amendment along with transportation funding improvements made in the last year negate the need for this measure. We believe people should vote it down...

Paul Ebaugh is a former member of the Missouri Highway Commission. He resides in Cape Girardeau. On November 3, there will be a constitutional amendment on the ballot to authorize toll roads for Missouri. The legislation proposing the amendment was passed by the legislature last year...

You have asked me to talk about myself, the responsibilities of the office I seek, and my plans to deal with priority issues in that office. I am grateful for the opportunity! I am a former teacher, a wife and a mother. My husband is former Governor Warren E. Hearnes. In 1979, I decided to get involved in government myself. I ran for State Representative for the 160th district and was elected for five two-year terms...

J. Fred Waltz is attorney for the Cape County Planning Commission. The idea of comprehensive planning for the future of Cape Girardeau County is not a new concept. The Planning Commission has been in business for almost 20 years. Since its formation in 1973, the Planning Commission has adopted an official Master Plan, a Subdivision and Mobile Home Park Regulation, and a Minimum Set Back Line Ordinance. ...

As I have visited with thousands of voters all year long, one theme resonates louder than any other: The lifetime politicians have failed us. It's time for term limits and for a return to the citizen-legislator our Founding Fathers envisioned. I am the only state senate candidate pledged to term limits and to serving as a citizen-legislator...

After a year-long slump, Cape Girardeau's sales tax receipts appear to be on the rebound and are at a five-year high. The city this year has collected $4.23 million in sales tax revenue since January, up 5.7 percent from the $4 million collected last year at this time...

The presidential race this year offers voters a distinct choice between bigger government and higher taxes, or restrained government and lower taxes, Gov. John Ashcroft and U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth said Tuesday. At one in a series of news conferences around the state in support of President Bush, the two Republican officeholders maintained that the president is by far the best person to bring about an economic recovery and begin to bring the deficit under control...

Reginald Basil "R.B." Potashnick, who began his construction business in 1926 with three teams of mules and built it into a company once ranked among the largest in the world, died Monday, Oct. 26, 1992, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Potashnick, 91, died at Florida Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where he maintained a residence. He also had a residence in Cape Girardeau, home base of his construction companies...

Teachers from six area schools joined forces to develop a bushel of ideas for teaching reading, math, science, art almost anything using apples. The resulting packet of apple lessons is being presented Friday at the Midwest Regional International Reading Association conference in Kansas City as an example of teaching using a theme...

KARIE HALL Occupation: Assistant Center Manager/Marketing Director, West Park Mall. Pet Peeve: "People who don't use turn signals." The best part of my life is: "Working with so many different people in the community." The book I'd recommend is: "Gone With the Wind."...

Beneath the half century-old A.C. Brase Arena Building runs a maze of hallways and dead-end tunnels. Mostly used for storage, the lightless and musty passageways are hung with ancient pipes and new cobwebs. A perfect place for things that crawl and hide from the sun...

On Saturday, Oct. 18, Republican candidate for Missouri Governor, Bill Webster, was interviewed by Southeast Missourian Editor Ken Newton; Managing Editor Joni Adams; Political Editor Jim Grebing; Perspective Editor Jon Rust, and Publisher Gary Rust. A similar interview with Democratic candidate, Mel Carnahan, will be printed in Thursday's paper...

Voters in Missouri's 27th Senate District will choose Tuesday between Republican Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau and Democrat Betty Hearnes of Charleston. Each hopes to replace state Sen. John C. Dennis, D-Benton, who is retiring. Kinder, who is seeking his first political office, has cited a need for change and has pledged to wage a campaign against big government...

DELTA -- Voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to approve $380,000 in bonds to finance construction of a new water tower, the drilling of a new well and upgrading some of the city's water lines. The city intends to fund the capital improvement project by issuing $190,000 in revenue bonds and $190,000 in general obligation bonds, the latter to be paid for by raising the city's sales tax by one-half cent...

MARBLE HILL - Bollinger County Clerk Diane Holzum is expecting a record high voter turnout on election day. Holzum bases her prediction on the sharp increase in voter registrations the past two months. "There's a lot of interest in the presidential and national elections, and at the state and county level," said Holzum. "Voter registration this year is up a lot from past years."...

The Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 will hold a public meeting Nov. 12, where the agency will present its proposed plan for the Kem-Pest Superfund site in Cape Girardeau. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the Victorian Inn at the corner of Interstate 55 and Route K in Cape Girardeau...

Kathryn Wanner, 62, Cape Girardeau Route 1, died Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1992, at her home. She was born June 3, 1930, in Bells, Tenn., daughter of Jess and Corrine Smith Daniels. Wanner was a cottage counselor with Presbyterian Children's Services, and member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Jackson...

BENTON -- Oma Zena Diamond, 69, of Benton, died Monday, Oct. 26, 1992, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 8, 1923, in Reno, Ark., daughter of Dennis and Ora Freeman Hopkins. She and Wayne Diamond were married April 3, 1937, at Benton...

Marion A. Lueder, 60, Cape Girardeau Route 1, died Monday, Oct. 26, 1992, at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. She was born Feb. 6, 1932, in McClure, Ill., daughter of Albert and Allene Hengst Pierce. She and Arthur C.H. Lueder were married June 9, 1951, at Egypt Mills...

ANNA, Ill. -- Cloman L. Lingle, 81, of Anna, died Monday, Oct. 26, 1992, at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale. He was born Dec. 11, 1910, in Dongola, son of John and Jane Smoot Lingle. He and Edith Bloodworth were married Aug. 31, 1933. She died Feb. 11, 1990...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery Oberndorfer of Altenburg, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:24 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1992. Name, Caitlyn Danielle. Weight, 7 pounds 1 ounce. First child. Mrs. Oberndorfer is the former Angela Buerck, daughter of Robert and Jean Buerck of Uniontown. She is a teller/bookkeeper at Bank of Altenburg. Oberndorfer is employed at East Perry Lumber Co., and is the son of Charles and Flora Oberndorfer of Frohna...

MILLERSVILLE -- Funeral service for Ada Ragsdale of Millersville will be held at 2 p.m. today at Liley Funeral Chapel in Marble Hill. Kelly Francis and Gene Francis will officiate, with burial in Cook Cemetery at Scopus. Friends may call at the funeral home after 9 a.m...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Bessie Mae Estes, 88, of East Prairie, died Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1992, at her home. She was born Nov. 22, 1903, in Winston County, Ala., daughter of John T. and Agnes Pettit Haley. She and John H. Estes were married Oct. 22, 1920. He died July 23, 1956...

SIKESTON -- Amon Humphries, 52, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1992, at Missouri Delta Medical Center Emergency Room, of a heart attack. He was born Dec. 21, 1939, at Red Bay, Ala., son of Isom and Zelma Hammock Humphries. Humphries was a 1960 graduate of Sikeston High School. ...

OAK RIDGE -- Milford Moore, 72, of rural Oak Ridge died Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1992 at his home. Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. today at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home in Jackson. Additional arrangements are incomplete.

Rodney Travis, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Jackson, Tuesday was elected president of the Missouri Baptist Convention during the group's annual meeting. The event is being held at Cape Girardeau's Show Me Center. Travis has been pastor of the Jackson church for 10 years, during which time the church has averaged 40 baptisms annually and more than doubled its budget...

A Cape Girardeau accounting firm has challenged the local business community to help fund the efforts of a regional industrial recruitment organization. Cape Girardeau County, the cities of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City, and the Cape Chamber of Commerce all are represented on the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association...

JACKSON - The Jackson School District received an "A" on the state student immunization report. Superintendent Wayne Maupin told the Jackson School Board Tuesday the district is now in full compliance with the state immunization program that requires all students be immunized within 30 days after the start of school...

CHAFFEE -- Chaffee High School held a whole-school reunion Oct. 9-11. Anyone who attended the high school was invited to the reunion, which was held on homecoming weekend. Alumni participated in the homecoming parade and attended the football game Friday...

Until a month ago, I considered the books on language gracing my shelves more than adequate. Then Quality Paperback favored me with a bonus The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage. I didn't know how needy I was! This new addition new to me though the copyright date is 1989 contains a wealth of information about the history, development, and changes in meaning of a vast number of familiar and unfamiliar words and expressions. ...

With three candidates to choose from, voters in Tuesday's presidential election will be faced with a dilemma similar to that of voters in the presidential election of 1824, when four candidates ran for the office. Since Missourians relish political campaigns, there was a frenzy over the 1824 election that resembles the upcoming election in many ways. Every voter was certain the candidate of his choosing was the best qualified...

Sue LaBryere realizes what makes teaching special. "Every teacher is rewarded when a student's eyes light up after they finally master a concept," LaBryere said. "It is very rewarding to have a student return to tell you of their success in life. That is why we are here."...

PERRYVILLE -- The Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission this fall will again have available topographic maps of Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Iron, Madison, Perry, St. Francois and Ste. Genevieve counties. Each 18-inch by 24-inch map is at a scale of 1 inch equal to 2,000 feet and covers an area of about 63 square miles...

Alumni of the old Fornfelt and Illmo schools attended a reunion at Oct. 10 at Cape Girardeau, with 330 people attending. Clarence Dunger of Ypsilanti, Mich., and Edna Ruth Albrecht of Stratford, Conn., were in charge of ceremonies. Amy White Hargroves of Lake St. Louis, a 1920 graduate of Fornfelt High School, and A.W. Wright of Scott City, superintendent of the Fornfelt Schools in 1947, were honored as the oldest in attendance...

CHICAGO -- A poll that suggests more voters are undecided in Illinois' U.S. Senate race means people are rethinking their support for Democrat Carol Moseley Braun, opponent Rich Williamson said Monday. Braun said she intends to focus on issues in the final week of a race that so far has been concerned largely with character attacks and innuendo...

JACKSON - Cape Girardeau County voters will be considering choices for six county offices next week, but the choice drawing the most attention is whether planning and zoning should be continued. In 1972, county voters narrowly approved an issue that got planning started in the county. Two years ago, as part of that progression, the planning commission began drafting a zoning ordinance for the county commission to implement...

PERRYVILLE -- On Nov. 3, Perry County voters will decide the fate of a one-fourth cent sales tax for paving heavily traveled gravel roads. If approved, the tax would be levied for five years, beginning April 1, county officials said. A simple majority is needed for passage...

On Nov. 3, voters will not only considered a long list of county, state and national candidates, but they will decide eight constitutional amendments and two statutory propositions. It's the most statewide issues on the ballot in 72 years. That does not include city and county issues that may also have been placed on the general election ballot. ...

Pulaski and Union County voters in Southern Illinois will decide on whether to install 9-1-1 systems in their respective counties when they go to the polls Tuesday. In Pulaski County, voters will decide whether to impose a surcharge of up to $3 a month, with the fee added to the monthly telephone bill to install the emergency telephone system...

While most of the voter attention has been focused on the races for president, governor and the U.S. Senate, eight people have been traveling the state trying to gain attention for lesser statewide offices. Three of the eight have campaigned statewide before. All four of the offices are vacant because the present officeholders, all elected in 1984, ran for governor this year...

Republican Bill Emerson hopes voters will re-elect him to a seventh term in Congress; his Democratic challenger, Thad Bullock, hopes after six attempts that 1992 will be his year to head to Washington. The two square off Tuesday when voters decide who will represent Missouri's 8th District...

Voters in Cape Girardeau Tuesday will decide whether to change the way city council members are elected. On the ballot is an initiative that would change from at-large council elections to zone representation. The measure was placed on the ballot after a petition drive secured more than 1,700 signatures enough to force a city-wide vote on whether to amend the City Charter to allow zone representation...

FLAT RIVER - Voters in the Lead Belt communities of Flat River, Desloge, Elvins, Esther, Leadington and Rivermines will decide Nov. 3 whether to merge their six communities into one. The controversial issue has aroused strong opposition, much of it in Desloge, which adjoins Flat River on the north...