Stories from Sunday, April 25, 1993

With just three weeks remaining in the legislative session, the single most important piece of legislation this session seems a long way from passage: a rewrite of the school foundation formula. Legislators are already facinging the possibility of a special session, if resolution can't be achieved by the May 14 adjournment. Hanging over head is a ruling by Cole County Circuit Judge Byron Kinder that declared the state's formula for distributing school funds was neither equitable nor adequate...

"We Negroes, Jews, and Catholics had better stick together or else the white man will run us out of town." So spoke a young black man at a Washington University anti-Klan rally seventy years ago. To be sure, the main target of the Klan was black people, but a secondary Klan focus was on Catholics and Jews...

To the Editor: The present partisan "gridlock" is an example of "the pot calling the kettle black." We're observing "business as usual." The fact of American economic life is that cutting government spending ultimately cuts jobs. Then deficit funded stimulus programs are needed to produce jobs. ...

More than a month after the first day of spring, much of the country, including Southeast Missouri, hasn't seen much in the way of spring temperatures. Cool, wet weather has delayed growth of plants, development of leaves on trees, and peach and apple crops...

The contractor renovating the terminal building at Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport apparently won't make the completion deadline. The deadline, which city officials said either is Monday or was on Saturday, is the deadline cited by the project's architect...

For those who wonder what life was like when Louis Lorimier founded his trading post here two centuries ago, the Zenon River Brigade provides a moving picture made of hides and muskets and hand-sewn clothing. Stephen Winingnear, a 25-year-old security guard and sales clerk from Cape Girardeau, carries a musket and a knife with a deer-antler handle. He wears a breech cloth and leggings an adaptation from the Indians below his hand-made linen shirt. He eats with hand-forged utensils...

The new adjutant general of the Missouri National Guard, Maj. Gen. Raymond Pendergrass, says he wants to be sure the importance of spouses and children are not overlooked as a key to the organization's success. "If it wasn't for spouses and kids willing to make sacrifices, there wouldn't be a Guard," said Pendergrass during a break at the annual meeting of the Missouri National Guard Association held in Cape Girardeau this weekend. "Our spouses deserve high marks."...

JACKSON -- Eighteen Jackson High School seniors found out first hand on Friday what it's like to be in charge of city government in Jackson and Cape Girardeau County. For many, it was an eye-opening learning experience. The Jackson students were among a large group of seniors from Central and Notre Dame high schools in Cape Girardeau, and high schools in Delta and Oak Ridge who participated in the annual Optimists' Youth in Government Day...

Following is a chronological listing of events that have transpired in regard to the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport terminal renovation: December 1990 The Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport Advisory Board approves a motion to go forward with a terminal building renovation project after more than a year of deliberation over whether to renovate the building or construct a new one...

SEDGEWICKVILLE -- A crossroads about half way between the larger towns of Jackson, perryville and Marble Hill, Sedgewickville once had five grain mills within three miles of its borders, and was a stop along the freight line that ran from Neelys Landing to Marquand. But people quit making their own bread. Now Sedgewickville is becoming known for hats...

The city's parks have an extra sparkle today, thanks to the work of hundreds of volunteers who spent their Saturday morning picking up trash, painting and planting. Most of the activity during the seventh annual Friends of the Park Day was concentrated at Capaha Park, where up to 500 adults and children scoured the park with trash bags, separating the limbs from trash, painted the outside of the pool and swept clean the inside, and planted flowers most everywhere...

The chairman of the Missouri House Budget Committee contended Saturday that citizens of Missouri are not overtaxed and that state government is not as inefficient as many people want to believe. "To say we are overtaxed is ludicrous; we are the lowest taxed state in the nation," said Rep. ...

A new facility to house the district office of the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole is now under construction on Mount Auburn Road. The building is being built under contract with H&H Co. of Farmington, which entered into an agreement with the Missouri Department of Corrections to build the facility and then lease it to the state...

SIKESTON - Joseph Michael Schuchart, Jr., 16, of Lenexa, Kan., formerly of Sikeston, died Friday, April 23, at the Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Merriam, Kan., of natural causes. He was born Aug. 5, 1976, in Sikeston, to Joseph M. Schuchart, Sr., and Kay Cruce Calhoun Schuchart...

ADVANCE -- Funeral service for Opal R. Hendrix of Advance will be held at 2 p.m. today at Morgan Funeral Chapel. The Revs. Dan Sitze and Ray Placher will officiate, with burial in Morgan Memorial Park. Hendrix, 82, died Friday, April 23, 1993, at her home...

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral service for Roberta Ivern Woods of Scott City will be held at 2 p.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel here. Elder Bill Bowen will officiate, with burial in Lightner Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 8 a.m...

CHARLESTON - Mittie Lee Reeves, 93, of Bertrand and formerly of Charleston, died Friday April 23, 1993 at the Bertrand Nursing Center. She was born Oct. 6, 1899 in Bucoda, the daughter of Arthur Augusta and Sarah Ford Parker. On Sept. 1, 1921 she married Oda Augusta Reeves, who preceded her in death on July 27, 1972...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Carolyn R. Chrestman, 57, of Cairo, died April 24, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was the daughter of the late Harry and Marguerite Everhart McCarty. She was the manager of Cairo Cablevision and a member of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors...

Rusby V. Cook, 81, formerly of 840 College St., died April 24, 1993, at the Missouri Veterans Home. He was born April 13, 1912, in Sedgewickville, the son of Oda Andrew and Minnie May Seabaugh Cook. He married Clara A. Hartle on Dec. 24, 1935, in Cape Girardeau. She preceded him in death on May 10, 1989...

Norma D. Meyer, 68, 2852 Independence, died Friday April 23, 1993 at Southeast Hospital. She was born Dec. 8, 1923 in Cape Girardeau, the daughter of George and Mary Kaempfer Rubel. On Aug. 4, 1945 she married Joe H. Meyer in Cape Girardeau, and he died on May 5, 1985. She was of the Baptist faith...

SIKESTON - Richard George "Dick" Whiffen, 65 of Matthews, died Friday April, 23, 1993 at his home. He was born Jan. 19, 1928 in Kewanee, Ill., the son of Charles F. and Grayce Johnson Whiffen. On Aug. 2, 1952 he married Shirley Douglas, who survives...

CAIRO, Ill. - Marie Boalbey Homsey, 83, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, formerly of Cairo, Ill., died Friday, April 23, 1993, at the Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids. She was born in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 4, 1909, to Solomon and Rosa Joe Boalbey. She is survived by one son, Walter Homsey, Jr., of Cedar Rapids; three sisters, Lutefa Malooley of Terre Haute, Edna Parker of Marion, Ill., and Lorene Nassif of Anamosa, Iowa; two brothers, Joseph Boalbey of Cairo, and Richard Boalbey of Rock Island, Ill. ...

PERRYVILLE -- Keith E. Cragg, 73, of Perryville, died Friday, April 23, 1993, at his home. He was born Feb. 17, 1920, in the state of Washington. On June 19, 1991, he married Grace Y. Parker. He was a chief warrant officer in the Air Force and served in World War II and Korea. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, the American Legion and Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, and was active in the Perry County Democratic organization...

JACKSON -- Graveside service for Jay E. Eakins of Toulon, Ill., was held Friday at Fairview Cemetery in Millersville. Hammitt Funeral Home in Princeville, Ill., was in charge of arrangements. Eakins, 64, died Wednesday, April 21, 1993, at the home of a daughter in Lacon, Ill...

Elmer O. "Elec" Hirsch, 90, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, April 23, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born April 10, 1903, in Cape Girardeau, son of John and Selma Ourth Hirsch. He and Halcy Riddel were married in October 1929 at Benton. She died in 1974...

Clara Anita Daume of Cape Girardeau died Friday, April 23, 1993, at the Lutheran Home. She was born April 22, 1898, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Carl and Bertha Mehner Helwege. She and Louis A. Daume were married Oct. 29, 1922, at Gordonville. He died April 4, 1977...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Robert D. Lambert of Sikeston was held Saturday at Ponder Funeral Chapel. The Rev. John Hoover and Pat Hogan officiated, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery. Lamberg, 83, died Thursday, April 22, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Eva May Brown of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel in East Prairie. Pat Hogan and Paul Presson will officiate, with burial in Dogwood Cemetery near East Prairie. Brown, 88, died Thursday, April 22, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

Funeral service for Ervie L. Brown of Cape Girardeau will be held at 2 p.m. today at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Kendal Hicks will officiate, with burial in Lindsey Cemetery at McClure, Ill. Friends may call at the funeral home after 11 a.m. A Masonic service will be held at 1 p.m...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. John Percy Huston IV, 2025 Yorktown, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 4:31 p.m. Sunday, April 18, 1993. Name, John Percy V. Weight, 6 pounds 6 ounces. Fourth child, third son. Mrs. Huston is the former Bernadette Samson, daughter of John P. and Helen Samson, Marshall Route 5. She is a registered nurse in ICU at St. Francis Medical Center. Huston is president of South East Missouri Bank, and is the son of John P. and Donna Huston III of Marshall...

Being involved in the wholesale grocery business, it's only natural that Darrell Long of Cape Girardeau should have an extensive collection of old Pepsi-Cola advertising memorabilia. Long, 45, is president of the Scott City Distribution Division of Wetterau Foods, Inc. He was born in Oklahoma, but moved to Marble Hill at age 13, when his father began working at the Natural Gas Pipeline Corp.'s Gravel Hill compressor station...

In preparation for the annual spring Spruce up, Clean up, Make-the-Town-Shine campaign, I walked slowly around my digs to see what needed to be spruced, cleaned and made to shine. There is painting to be done, high up painting. Hasn't that been done again and again and again? Many things need to be hauled away or propped up. Deja vu? Some loosened shingles need to be tacked down, or maybe a new roof needs to be contemplated. It will be No. 4. Some bare places in the lawn need reseeding...

The housing market continues to ride a wave of consumer optimism in the Cape Girardeau area. "Things were a little slow for a while in January and February," said Carl Blanchard of Coldwell Banker Blanchard and Associates Realty. "But things have really picked up the past two months, and we're ahead of 1992 sales at this point."...

JACKSON -- Commerce Bank of Southeast Missouri will open a branch at 2025 E. Jackson Boulevard May 3. Timothy M. Sievers has been appointed vice president, and will serve as branch manager. Sievers has been with Commerce Bank since last year. He has nine years of experience in banking with the former Jackson Exchange Bank...

Capital Bancorporation's net income for the three months ended March 31 was $1,581,000. Earnings per common share for the three months were 48 cents, up from the 40 cents for the first quarter of 1992. The allowance for possible loan losses was $10,183,000, representing approximately 225 percent of nonperforming loans and approximately 1.78 of total loans...

Step-By-Step Shoes has opened at 105 Independence. The women's shoe store is owned by Andy and Dorothy Lui. "We're still in the process of stocking the store," said Lui. "We have a wide variety of ladies shoes." Lui previously worked with a shoe import retail-wholesale operation...

ST. LOUIS - Union Electric Co. reported first-quarter profits this year were up 43 percent because of higher power sales, lower debt expenses and better cost controls. UE said revenue for the three months that ended March 31 was up 5 percent because of a return to more seasonal winter temperatures during the period...

SIKESTON -- Allen Small of Sikeston has been named a 1992 Star Performer by Norwest Financial Inc., headquartered at Des Moines. Small is manager of the firm's Sikeston office. He was one of 30 Norwest mangers out of more than 760 nationwide to receive the award...

Some changes are being made in the antique and collectible business in downtown Cape Girardeau. Greg Hahs announced earlier this month that Heartland Antique Emporium will close its doors at 5 N. Main on April 30. Some of the dealers now in the mall will relocate in the downtown area...

Wolohan Lumber Co. has agreed to acquire a group of seven retail stores owned by the Fisher Big Wheel retail chain. The acquisition will give the Wolohan group, based at Saginaw, Mich., a total of 60 stores. "The seven-store acquisition is the largest growth in a single step in the company's 29-year history," said James L. ...

SCOTT CITY -- Thomas D. Neumeyer has been named vice president of merchandising for the Scott City Division of Wetterau Inc. Darrell L. Long, Scott City Division president, announced Neumeyer's appointment recently. Neumeyer joined the company's Bloomington, Ind., division in 1971 as a warehouse person, and has served that division as warehouse supervisor, buyer, head buyer and director of warehousing and transportation...

JACKSON -- C&S Professional Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning Inc. recently opened operations at Jackson. Mike Clippard and Bill Schweer have teamed up to provide more than 45 years of experience in plumbing, heating and air conditioning. Clippard has been involved in plumbing for more than 20 years and Schweer has over 25 years of experience in heating and air conditioning...

ST. LOUIS Boatmen's Bancshares Inc.'s purchase of two failed Kansas City banks, announced recently by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, will contribute about 8 cents a share to 1993 net income. The acquisitions involve Missouri Bridge Bank, established last November to continue the banking services of the closed Metro North State Bank, and the Merchants Bank in Kansas City...