Stories from Thursday, August 12, 1993

JACKSON -- Robert W. Hoffmeister, 81, of Jackson died Aug. 11, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.

Add this now to the list of enterprises Congress wants to manage: television programming. U.S. Sen. Paul Simon is leading a charge on Capitol Hill to curb violence on television. Like Sen. Simon, we believe the savage content of some programs is out of hand. Unlike the senator, we don't believe government should be in the business of dictating what the American public watches on television. It's a bad, if well-meant, idea...

JACKSON -- The annual Homecomers Queen Contest will be held Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. on the courthouse stage. A dozen young women are competing for the title. Each of the contestants represents her hometown. The queen contest is a traditional part of Jackson's Homecomers event, which starts Monday and continues through Friday in Jackson's downtown area...

JACKSON - Students in the Jackson School District scored well above the state average in many instances on their 1993 Missouri Mastery Achievement Tests. The multiple-choice tests, which measure a student's mastery of knowledge in reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, were administered to the second through 10th grade classes between April 13-23...

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has awarded a $240,824 grant to East Missouri Action Agency to weatherize homes of low-income families. EMAA, based in Park Hill formerly Flat River will weatherize homes in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Perry, Madison, Iron and Washington counties. The agency will provide home energy improvements such as insulation, weatherstripping, caulking and other energy-saving materials for those who meet federal guidelines...

The next west-end restaurant for Cape Girardeau, near the intersection of Route K and Interstate 55, apparently will be a long-awaited Red Lobster. The city's Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday approved a record plat for Park West Hospitality Center, which parcels a tract for the development...

To the Editor: Kudos to ~Southeast Missourian~ reporter Jay Eastlick for the excellent series dealing with building codes (~Questions of Codes) that ran in this publication recently. The series was well researched and fairly presented, and served to enhance the knowledge of those who took the time to follow this important topic. However, there is another aspect of the property maintenance code that has yet to be addressed, and that is the issue of public safety...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Diebold of Kelso, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:20 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, 1993. Name, Kahri Alexandra. Weight, 8 pounds 4 ounces. Second daughter. Mrs. Diebold is the former Holly Stevens, daughter of Dan and Leslie Stevens of Benton. Diebold is employed by UPS in Sikeston, and is the son of Calvin and Evelyn Diebold of Kelso...

Shekelia Johnson, 15, 229 S. Middle, died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital, from injuries received in a shooting a short time earlier. She was born Nov. 2, 1977, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Katie Pearl Johnson and Joe T. Ayers Sr...

A memorial service for Gary Joe Voelker, 1405 Mississippi, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at First Church of God. The Rev. Randy Wright will officiate. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel from 4-8 p.m. today. Voelker, 55, died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- John Edward Pender, 61, of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., died Monday, Aug. 9, 1993, at his home. He was born Oct. 27, 1931, in Alto Pass, son of Fred and Helen Rhodes Pender. He was formerly of Jonesboro. He and Carol Schmidt were married Nov. 8, 1957, in South Elgin...

JACKSON -- Norval "Grubb" Short, 77, of Jackson, died Wednesday, Aug. 11, 1993, at Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. McCombs Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Fred W. Thiele, 82, Cape Girardeau Route 1, died Wednesday, Aug. 11, 1993, at his home. He was born March 3, 1911, at Egypt Mills, son of Martin and Carolyn Margrat Thiele. He and Katy Sinn were married Oct. 5, 1958, at Egypt Mills. Thiele farmed, was manager of McSpadden Ranch 12 years, and then drove a school bus for Nell Holcomb School eight years. He was a member of Scriptural Lutheran Church...

SIKESTON -- Graveside service for Emma Jean Whitehorn of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Dogwood Cemetery, with John C. Sargent officiating. Friends may call at Nunnelee Funeral Home from noon to 1:30 p.m. Whitehorn, 56, died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1993, at her home...

BLOOMFIELD -- Edna Layton, 80, of Bloomfield, died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1993, at her home. She was born April 13, 1913, in Monette, Ark., daughter of Columbus and Clarisa Tippy Russell. She and Eddie Layton were married July 7, 1926. He died Nov. 2, 1981...

A broken levee in the McBride area in Perry County will be repaired at federal expense, U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson said Wednesday. "All (federal) levees that have been damaged or have broken will be repaired," he said. The Bois Brule levee break along the Mississippi River near McBride is now about 1,200 to 1,500 feet in length, said Emerson, who toured the flooded area near Perryville by barge Wednesday morning...

Even if there is no additional and significant rain in river basins to the north, forecasters say the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau is not expected to drop below flood stage until early September. On Wednesday, the river stage at Cape Girardeau was 46.4 feet, down more than half a foot from Tuesday's le~vel. The river is expected to fall slowly the rest of the week: to 45.8 feet today, 45.2 feet on Friday and 44.7 feet on Saturday...

When Billy Sunday came to Cape Girardeau in 1926, he brought with him the hope and promise of salvation for his followers and a revitalization of the economy for a struggling city in Southeast Missouri. "Billy Sunday's visits to this city were of mutual advantage to both sides," said John P. Coleman, a professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University who has researched the life of Sunday and his effect on Cape Girardeau...

After spending endless days and sleepless nights doggedly battling the rising Mississippi River, flood victims in Cape Girardeau now are being warned of another menace. Missouri Attorney General Jeremiah W. "Jay" Nixon was in Cape Girardeau Wednesday to caution property owners about scam artists and price-gougers in the wake of the record flood of 1993...

THEBES, Ill. -- For weeks, Anna Robison has been rowing a tiny boat nearly half a mile to feed the animals stranded on an island flood water has created at her farm. Tuesday and Wednesday, with help from Nancy Richards of the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, Robison rescued four dogs and about eight cats...

Autumn McSpadden of Cape Girardeau was elected secretary of the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association at a summer media workshop held in Columbia last week. She also received an honorable mention for front page design in the newspaper editor's seminar...