Stories from Friday, May 7, 1993

Rev. Arnold E. Thomure, 77, of Cape Girardeau, Rt. 1, died Thursday, May 6, 1993, at the Cape Girardeau Lutheran Home. The body is at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. Visitation is tentatively scheduled for Saturday evening.

Grace Hoover of Cape Girardeau has donated $10,000 to sponsor an annual award recognizing an outstanding member of the Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball team. The donation was made in both her name and that of her late husband, L.D. "Jim" Hoover...

"Positive Coping Skills" will be the program topic when the United Ostomy Association meets on Wednesday at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Speaker for the meeting, to be held at 7:30 p.m. in the first floor classroom of the Regional Cancer Center, is Yvonne Menke, certified recreation specialist with Southeast Missouri Hospital...

State and county offices are closed today in observance of Truman's birthday, which is Saturday. Whenever state holidays fall on a Saturday, they are observed on Friday; when it falls on a Sunday, it is observed on a Monday. Also scheduled to be closed today and Saturday are the license bureaus in Cape Girardeau and Jackson...

All good things must come to and end, and the teaching career of Col. Henry H. Gerecke is no exception. Students, faculty members and friends of Gerecke assembled in the Johnson Faculty Center at Southeast Missouri State University Thursday afternoon to salute the former Cape Girardeau police chief, who is retiring after 10 years of teaching...

The Cape SEMO Chapter of Parents Without Partners has scheduled an orientation for prospective new members at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Community Counseling Center. The meeting will be held in the Harris Room. Parents who are divorced, widowed, legally separated, or never married are encouraged to come learn about Parents Without Partners...

A "publish or perish" syndrome on many university campuses has led to a decline in the quality of teaching. We fear Southeast Missouri State University may be embracing the publication bandwagon to the detriment of classroom instruction. The case of Richard Hansen, an associate professor of economics, illustrates the point. ...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Brad Collins, Jackson Route 1, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 12:51 p.m. Friday, April 30, 1993. Name, Travis James. Weight, 8 pounds 8 ounces. Second child, first son. Mrs. Collins is the former Janet Deck, daughter of Jake and Doris Deck of Glen Allen. She is a receptionist for Drs. Patrick and Janet Ruopp. Collins is employed at Dana Corp., and is the son of Ray and Sylvia Collins of Marble Hill...

THEBES, Ill. - Leslie E. "Bean" Parnell, 62, of Thebes, Rt. 1, died at his home on Thursday, May 6, 1993. He was born June 20, 1930, in East St. Louis, to Horace and Zola Boswell Parnell. Parnell married Juanita Burns. She survives of the home. Other survivors include one son, Richard "Dicky" Parnell of Dupo, Ill., one daughter, Cindy Palmer of Pulaski, Ill., one sister, Lucille Patterson of Thebes, and four grandchildren...

Clara M. Halter, 94, 114 S. Benton, died Thursday, May 6, 1993, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Aug. 25, 1898, at Longtown, daughter of Bernard and Mary Tuschoff Meyer. She and Ben J. Halter were married May 27, 1924, at Apple Creek. He died in 1951...

Funeral service for L.T. Tackett of House Springs will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Britton Funeral Chapel of Potosi. The Rev. Danny Anderson will officiate, with burial in Sunset Hill Cemetery. Tackett, 66, died Tuesday, May 4, 1993, at Vencore Hospital in St. Louis...

SCOTT CITY -- A memorial service for Mary Minnie Decker of Scott City will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at 217 E. Ash Street in Scott City. Amick-Burnett Funeral Home here is in charge of arrangements. Decker, 49, died Sunday, May 2, 1993, at her home. She was born Dec. 27, 1943, in Alabama, daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Leona Alderson Decker...

Mabel L. Ritter, 89, of Chateau Girardeau, formerly of Jackson, died Wednesday, May 5, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born July 25, 1903, at Kurreville, daughter of Monroe and Albenia Clingingsmith Kurre. She and Clarence J. "Brick" Ritter were married June 27, 1930, at Jackson. He died Oct. 21, 1976...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Shara Elizabeth Faye Suggs of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Jim Guffie will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery. Shara, 2 months, died Wednesday, May 5, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

JACKSON -- Florence "Polly" Lowes, 90, of Jackson, died Wednesday, May 5, 1993, at Deal Nursing Home. She was born Oct. 8, 1902, at Uniontown, daughter of Marvin Elliott and Marcella Ann Hoffman Martin. She and Edmund Wilkens were married in March 1924. He died in November 1949. She later married Emory Lowes Aug. 15, 1950. He died Dec. 1, 1966...

JACKSON -- Genevieve Mary Slinkard, 86, of Jackson, died Tuesday, May 4, 1993, at her home. She was born Oct. 30, 1906, at Serno, daughter of John and Laura Prue Bernard. She and Luther Marion Slinkard were married Sept. 25, 1926, in St. Louis. Slinkard was sales manager 25 years with Stanley Home Products in Kansas City, retiring in 1957. ...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Perlie Mae McRaven, 62, of Buncombe, died Wednesday, May 5, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 17, 1931, in Tennessee, daughter of Jimmy and Mildred Smith. She and Lynn McRaven were married April 15, 1972. He died June 7, 1989...

Few first-time offenders are in the court system. In Scott County, Circuit Judge Anthony Heckemeyer presides over juvenile and adult courts. He said many first-time drug offenders in adult courts are familiar to him from juvenile court. A drug and alcohol treatment program administered by the Missouri Department of Corrections is filled with young men who began a life of crime at an early age...

JACKSON - Owners of about one-third of Cape Girardeau County's 30,000 parcels of real estate are receiving Impact Notices advising them of an increase in their property assessments. "Many of the notices have already gone out, and all of them should be out by next week," said Roger Arnzen, director of the Cape Girardeau County assessor's mapping and appraisal office...

Decked out in her cap and gown, Honey will graduate Saturday from Southeast Missouri State University without having taken a test. University officials say they plan to give her a "diploma." After all, it's not like she didn't attend class. In fact, for 4 years, the German shepherd guide dog has accompanied blind student Angie Carnell to class...

A new, weekly television series filmed in Cape Girardeau will premier late night Friday on ABC. "The Search for Humor in America's Heartland" will be broadcast at 12:30 a.m. Saturday and again at 12:30 p.m. on local ABC affiliates WSIL-TV of Carterville, Ill. and WPOB-TV, Poplar Bluff...

Dr. Robert F. Sacha will discuss non-surgical treatment of sinus disease on Thursday's "Ask Your Doctor." The show will air at 8 p.m. on Cable Channel 5. Also appearing as Dr. Sacha's guest will be Dr. Edward J. O'Connell. The show is sponsored jointly by St. Francis Medical Center, Southeast Missouri Hospital and the Cape Girardeau Medical Society...

ORAN -- A 21-year-old Oran man was killed Thursday when he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed. Sgt. J.J. King of the Missouri Highway Patrol said that Steven Schumaker was killed after running off of County Road 267, one-half mile south of Oran...

Since the fire that ended the lives of dozens of Branch Davidians and their leader David Koresh, government officials have been pointing fingers at each other trying to pin the blame of the inferno on someone. Craig Nessan, pastor of the St. Mark Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau, places the blame on the misleading nature of Koresh's teachings...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri streams and lakes are "muddy, high and rising," and the "fishing is poor to good." That's the water condition and fishing report of Missouri in a cupsule. Wappapello Lake, one of the larger water impoundments in the Southeast Missouri area, is muddy, high and rising...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri turkey hunters paid little attention to the gloomy prediction facing them for the 1992 season. Hunters took 34,239 turkeys during the fourteen day spring season, an increase of 1,305 birds over last year's tally and the third best harvest on record...

Coming up: May 8 Alexander County Spring Bird Count, Horseshoe Lake Refuge, Olive Branch, Ill. May 8 The Velo Girardeau Bicycle Club Mother's Day, 50 miles. Riders to leave Kent Library at 2 p.m. May 21 Missouri Conservation Commission meeting, West Plains...