Stories from Wednesday, May 26, 1993

MARBLE HILL -- Dudley Smith of Marble Hill died May 25, 1993, at the family home following a lengthy illness. He was a retired barber who owned and operated Dudley's Barbershop in Lutesville for many years. He was born in Illinois to the late William Thomas and Helen Harrison Smith...

The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is seeking applications for volunteers who would like to be counselors at MDA summer campus. Each volunteer acts as a companion to a child or teenager with a neuromuscular disease during a five- to seven- day camp session. Volunteers must be at least 16 years old and able to lift a child, said MDA Patient Service Coordinator Carla Fee...

Cape Girardeau firefighters hope an elementary school student in the city will color his or her way to a trip to Dallas, Texas, and win a $150,000 rescue fire truck for the fire department. Fire Chief Bob Ridgeway said it's an unorthodox way to obtain a piece of equipment. But, he said, "If we're able to win a $150,000 vehicle for the city for just the cost of postage for sending in the entries, I don't think that's a bad investment."...

The Cape Girardeau Bicentennial Commission will sponsor the next presentation in its lecture series June 8. W.T. Doherty of West Virginia University will speak on Louis Houck. The presentation will take place at 7 p.m. in Crisp Hall's Dempster Auditorium at Southeast Missouri State University...

Maryanne "Miki" Gudermuth is a long-time resident of Cape Girardeau and previous contributor to this column. It interests me that many people, including those who run profitable businesses can say that the issue of Riverboat "Gaming" is not a moral issue, but an economic one. ...

To the editor: I moved to Cape three years ago and as the father of three children I have to say that I would have thought twice about moving here had the gambling industry already owned a piece of this city. I wonder if those who favor gambling in Cape have answers to the following questions: Do productive industries like Thorngate or Procter & Gamble prefer to move to a community with gambling or without? Will families choose to move to Cape if given a choice of a city without gambling? As the city changes its character from a family-oriented city to a gambling city, and families choose not to move here, what will happen to the price of a family residence? Will families choose not to send their children to a university in a town that promotes gambling? Will those who do come here to study spend their money in our stores and restaurants or on the thrills and cheap food offered by the riverboat?. ...

Don't do drugs and don't bring them to school. The message arrived loud and clear in the form of three drug-sniffing dogs at Cape Girardeau's Central High School last Friday. We applaud the district officials for not only taking a tough stance on drugs, but demonstrating they mean business...

An Open Letter to President Clinton: Oh! Come on now! Just how naive do you think we are? Your trust fund proposal is similar to President Bush's 1992 proposal, which all the liberal socialists ridiculed. What makes it more credible when presented by a ~lying, pot-smoking, draft-dodging, promise-breaking, tax and spend big g~overnment guy?...

I could not believe the statements of Sen. Danny Staples during the debate on the School Funding Formula Bill last week as reported in an article on May 20, 1993. "I want everyone to know who is responsible for this miscarriage of justice...I blame it on the superintendents. The blame for this is not ours. The blame should be placed where it's due, and that is the 89 school districts who filed the lawsuit." That is the most asinine statement I've read in a very long time from a legislator...

To the editor: "Vote No on Riverboat Gambling" These words must strike fear in the hearts of some riverboat gambling proponents. This must be the case due to the mysterious disappearance of yard signs with the Vote No message. Approximately 40 yard signs remain from a beginning total of 300. There would appear to be an organized effort to remove the signs from the community's view. Maybe this is just another attempt to "stack the deck" for riverboat gambling...

To the editor: On May 18, I heard one of our city councilmen, David Limbaugh, speaking on radio. He seemed to be unsure about riverboat gambling being good for our city. A good thing to remember is, when in doubt, DON'T! I feel riverboat gambling would change the character of our fine city. ...

SCOTT CITY -- Louis Odell Miller, 43, of Arnold, formerly of Scott City, died Monday, May 24, 1993, at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Louis. He was born Feb. 17, 1950, in Cape Girardeau, son of Raymond Joseph and Betty Held Miller. Miller had worked at Stark Printing Co. in St. Louis. He was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church here...

For most writers, writing is an incurable disease. Old writers never die they just scribble away. I made this up years ago, but how do I know it's original with me? Keep reading! When Peg Bracken remarried two years ago, she told me over the phone that she had had her say and would never, ever, take up the pen as a professional writer again. I replied that repetition is an excellent tool for teaching, and I hope to continue as long as the Good Lord and Gary Rust remain willing...

THEBES, Ill. - No shots were fired around Thebes during the Civil War because it was well fortified and occupied a strategic location overlooking the Mississippi River. The nearest hostilities occurred downstream, at the Battle of Belmont, Mo., across the river from Columbus, Ky., and at Cape Girardeau, when a Confederate force made a feeble attempt to attack the city...

OLMSTED, Ill. -- Don Kraatz, 58, of Olmsted, died Tuesday, May 25, 1993, at his home. He was born Jan. 24, 1935, in Olmsted, son of Roy R. and Cecil Earnhart Kraatz. He and Gwen Shaffer were married Dec. 24, 1967. Kraatz was a member of Grace Christian Fellowship Church in Mounds...

BELL CITY -- Newell Uptain, 82, Bell City Route 1, died Monday, May 24, 1993, at Dexter Memorial Hospital. He was born Sept. 7, 1910, in Clarksville, Ark., son of John Wesley and Martha Isabell Boen Uptain. He and Lena Amy Wilkins were married Nov. 13, 1938...

DELTA -- Tula Waddle, 87, of Delta, died Monday, May 24, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 1, 1906, near Delta, daughter of Thomas Lee Roy and Sophia Elizabeth Pool Ashby. She and Harlen E. "Pete" Waddle were married Jan. 26, 1926. He died April 12, 1982...

STURDIVANT -- Lovie Powell, 82, of Malden, formerly of Sturdivant, died Tuesday, May 25, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 9, 1910, at Dorena, daughter of Arthur and Nancy Celina Brown Williams. She married Joseph Powell, who died Jan. 17, 1993...

CAIRO, Ill. -- James Wilson is still interested in a floating casino operation in or near Alexander County. Wilson, mayor of Cairo, the largest city in the southernmost county of the state, headed up a Cairo Chamber of Commerce committee in 1991 to attract a riverboat casino to Cairo...

SIKESTON -- Hubert Allen Huggins, 35, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, May 25, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Aug. 25, 1957, at Dexter, son of Hubert and Helen Evelyn Jackman Huggins. He and Brenda Bonee Carlisle were married Dec. 1, 1989, at Matthews...

The Jackson School Board approved the sale Tuesday of $4.7 million in general obligation bonds to a Kansas City bond firm. The company submitted a low interest bid of 5.420229 percent. The bonds will be used to help the district build a $5 million middle school at the intersection of Broadridge and West Independence (Route D). In April, school district patrons overwhelmingly approved the bond issue...

Cape Girardeau's two hospitals have vowed to work together to improve health care services. At a joint press conference Tuesday afternoon at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office, officials of Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center announced that the two hospital boards of directors will "explore collaborative efforts."...

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education will meet tonight with members of Central High School's Student Senate to discuss renovation of the school's auditorium. The board is also scheduled to address 1993-94 salaries for faculty members. Clark declined to outline the salary proposal, saying some provisions might change depending on teacher input today...

Reforms contained in Senate Bill 380 should provide better accountability for schools and insure that students are prepared for jobs of the 21st century, State Board of Education member Rebecca Cook said Tuesday. At last week's meeting, many of the reforms included in the bill were reviewed by the board. Cook believes the changes are generally positive. Those changes also mean that the state board will be busy the next few months trying to implement the reforms...

More than 285 people attended a forum Tuesday on riverboat gambling, where opponents claimed legalized gambling would impoverish Cape Girardeau morally and proponents lauded a casino's economic benefits. "I don't believe this is a moral issue," said Charles Ruthe, president of The Boyd Group, a Las Vegas-based gaming company that has proposed bringing a riverboat casino to Cape Girardeau. "It's a jobs issue...

MARY E. WATKINS Occupation: Teacher's aide (with autistic children). Pet peeve: "Drivers who don't use their blinkers." The best part of my job is: "The wonderful kids I get to work with." What do you do in your spare time? "Spend time with my family, read."...

The first phase of a search for a new president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce is winding down. "All applications have to be in by Tuesday," said Harry Rediger, chairman of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. "Then our screening process will get under way."...

The Cape Girardeau County coroner has determined that the death of a two-year-old girl Tuesday was accidental. Tendora Jackson of Cape Girardeau was struck by a northbound truck at about 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, when she ran out into the street in the 100 block of South Lorimier...

The Cape Girardeau Downtown Merchants Association Board of Directors voted Tuesday to endorse the riverboat gaming issue. At a meeting Tuesday night, the board endorsed the measure "based on the positive economic benefits" riverboat gambling would bring to Cape Girardeau...

STEELE, Mo. (AP) - Long-time Mayor Joe Saliba collapsed in his office here Monday and was pronounced dead a short time later, authorities said. Officials said Saliba, who was 66, died of an apparent heart attack. Saliba served a two-year term as mayor from 1982 to 1984 and had held the office since he was elected again in 1986. Mayor Pro-Tem Tom Yandale has been named acting mayor...

GORDONVILLE -- More than 50 residents of the Gordonville Fire District turned out to hear the department's pitch for the approval of a tax incentive to upgrade fire protection within the district. "We hope to enlighten you on what this measure means to us as voters and as citizens of this district," said Gordonville Fire Chief Patrick Jett...

MARBLE HILL -- Music teacher Shirley Illers Cooper instructs her students first to work together, then to work independently. "You learn to work together, to blend your voices as one for unison songs," Cooper said. "The students must listen, pay attention and follow directions in order to perform...