Stories from Thursday, October 14, 1993

SIKESTON -- Grace Geneva Stephens, 76, of Sikeston, died Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1993, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born April 3, 1917, at Blodgett, Mo., daughter of Robert Raymond and Mary Elizabeth Burns Hampton. She Harvey Louis Stephens, Dec. 5, 1936, at Benton. He died Jan. 7, 1984...

CHARLESTON -- James Cossey, 55, of Charleston, died Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. McMikle Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

ESSEX -- Glenn D. Farr, 52, of Rockford, Ill., died Saturday, Oct. 9, 1993, at Rockford Memorial Hospital. He was born March 18, 1941, in Essex, son of James William and Mary Farr. He and Almarie Smith were married June 10, 1962. Farr was a member of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Rockford, Welcome Star Lodge 36 PHA, Balthasar Consistory 92 and Al Waris 220...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Stevens of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 6:41 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1993. Name, Taylor Wynn. Weight, 8 pounds 8 ounces. First child. Mrs. Stevens is the former Teresa Whaley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Whaley of Jackson. Stevens is employed in the shipping department at Lee-Rowan, and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ted Clark of Jackson, and Marion Stevens of Marble Hill...

Oct. 14, 1993 Dear DC, The trees have gone psychedelic again and Central beat Jackson in football, so almost everything must be right with the world. I know you never were a football fan, but you'd be cheering for deciduousness if you were here. We're slowly beginning to win the wrestling match with the new pagination system at work, but reporters and dress codes -- especially one of our own -- always will see eye-to-knuckle. Tie-dye ties for Christmas, please...

THEBES, Ill. - Nestled along the bank of the Mississippi River in north Alexander County, the tiny village of Thebes is struggling to recover from twin blows it suffered this year at the hands of Mother Nature. In early June the town was raked by hurricane-force winds that caused extensive damage to property and trees throughout the community. In August parts of Thebes were heavily damaged by prolonged, record flooding of the Mississippi River...

A view of a dry dock, fuel farm, scrap metal operation and now possibly a junk yard will welcome motorists crossing the Mississippi River into Cape Girardeau on the planned bridge and relocated Highway 74. The dry dock and fuel tank storage site already are situated within a block of where the new bridge route will go...

THURSDAY, OCT. 14 At 7:26 p.m. Tuesday, firefighters responded to 338 N. Park for medical assistance. At 10:47 p.m. Tuesday, firefighters responded to the intersection of Sprigg and Morgan Oak for report of a power line down. At 10:50 a.m. Wednesday, firefighters gave medical assistance to someone who walked into Fire Station No. 1, at 1 South Sprigg...

In the aftermath of the Oct. 5 election failure of a school improvements package for Cape Girardeau, the second time such an issue has failed, the Southeast Missourian published a clip-and-mail coupon seeking comments on the negative outcome. Several dozen people responded to our request. What follows are comments offered concerning the second question on the coupon. We publish them basically as submitted, hoping to draw from them something of the reasoning of those who voted against this issue...

Bill Emerson has served nearly 13 years as U.S. representative from this part of Missouri. In recent months, he studied the idea of broadening the reach of his representation, musing over a run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated in 1994 by John Danforth. In deliberative fashion, he has chosen not to try. Though we think his character, experience and good judgment would serve all Missourians well in the upper chamber of Congress, we understand why he would forsake such a campaign...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral service for Patrick James O'Connor of Charleston will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at McMikle Funeral Chapel. Burial will be at a later date in IOOF Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 11 a.m. Friday. O'Connor, 53, died Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1993, at his home...

Ervin W. Nagel, 70, 1233 Marilyn, died Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born May 7, 1923, in Cape County, son of Herman and Lena Koechig Nagel. He and Laura Birk were married Feb. 1, 1948, at Jackson. Nagel was a route salesman 35 years with Harts Bakery. He was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church and its Men's Club, had been an usher, and played on the dart ball team more than 30 years. He was a member of the Teamsters Union...

BLOOMFIELD -- Juanita Minich, 85, of Bloomfield, died Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1993, at Bloomfield Nursing Center. She was born June 7, 1908, in Princeton, Ky., daughter of Robert Logan and Lottie Caroline Towery. She and Ruben Minich were married June 25, 1932. He died Dec. 5, 1985...

FARRAR -- Eugene W. Brueckner, 78, of Farrar, died Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1993, at his home. He was born June 2, 1915, in Perry County, son of Dietrich and Emma Lohman Brueckner. He and Leona Kaempfe were married June 17, 1945. Brueckner was a retired farmer, and member of Salem Lutheran Church...

WHITEWATER -- Aaron F. Helderman, 73, of Whitewater, died Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Nov. 30, 1919, at Burfordville, son of Dennis and Zelma Helderman. He and Mildred Williams were married Nov. 8, 1946. Helderman was a self-employed farmer and carpenter, retiring in 1980. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II...

To the Editor: I was amazed when I read your paper the other day and saw that the results of a bad auto accident were going to be shown on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. Some person -- who is not an "artist" under even the most liberal and loosest definition of that word -- has pulled off the joke of the century on the local college folks...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Clinton Harold "Jim" Judd II of Poplar Bluff will be held at 2 p.m. today at McCombs Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Rodney Travis will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 1 p.m...

ADVANCE -- Denzil Bloyce Miller, 83, of Advance, died Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 20, 1909, at Greenbrier, son of George and Eva Etta Stiles Miller. He and Etta Garner were married June 9, 1928, at Marble Hill...

COMMERCE -- Dorothy Barnstone, 72, of Azusa, Calif., died Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1993, at Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora, Calif. She was born Nov. 26, 1920, at Commerce, daughter of Frederick Thomas and Mollie Adeline Sanders Bretzel. She first married James Beggs in 1936. She later married Al Barnstone in 1950...

CHARLESTON -- Vanettea Burton, 82, of Charleston, died Monday, Oct. 11, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Aug. 13, 1911, in Pine Bluff, Ark., daughter of Robert and Sarah Oliver. Burton was a member of Mercy Seat Missionary Baptist Church...

SCOTT CITY -- Davis Thomas "Tom" Eaton, 65, of Scott City, died Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 28, 1927, at Peachtree, son of Davis Wingate and Ellen Coleman Eaton. He first married Betty Becraft Jan. 18, 1950. He later married Geraldine Cromwell May 5, 1974...

Stella May Haynes, 94, of Ashville, N.C., died Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1993, at Hendersonville Retirement Center in Hendersonville, N.C. She was formerly of Cape Girardeau. Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

FRUITLAND -- If the wooly bears collected this week by the 26 students in Martha Short's fifth-grade class at North Elementary School are any indication, the coming winter will begin and end on the cold side, but will be mild in between. The students report most of the wooly bears, or wooly worms as they're called in some parts of the country, had broad, brown or orange bands of hair in the middle, and smaller black bands of hair at each end...

City sales tax revenue is growing at near record rates, revealing a steady recovery from the flat sales of two years ago. Cape Girardeau's Finance Director John Richbourg said Tuesday that this summer's devastating flood apparently had little effect on sales in Cape Girardeau as tax receipts since July are up 7.3 percent over totals for the same period last year...

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene E. Huckstep is being honored Friday with the "Governor's Award for Local Elected Official of the Year." Gov. Mel Carnahan will present the award to Huckstep Friday morning at the conclusion of the governor's job training conference at the Lake of the Ozarks, sponsored by the State Division of Job Development and Training of the Department of Economic Development...

A new communications giant is being formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic Corp., Tele-Communications Inc. -- the nation's largest cable TV systems operator -- and Liberty Media Corp. The three companies announced Wednesday they have signed a letter of intent to merge. The transaction would be one of the biggest corporate mergers ever...

A variety store which has had a Cape Girardeau connection for almost 80 years is one of more than 700 Woolworth Corp. stores targeted for closure under the latest cutbacks announced by the firm Wednesday. "We don't have a timetable for closing yet," said Kent Eernisse, manager of the local store, located in the Town Plaza Shopping Center. "But this store will be one of those to be turned over to liquidators."...

Rick Wilferth, co-chairman of the Reaching Out To Neighbors Campaign of The Salvation Army, announced Wednesday there will be a ground-breaking ceremony for the new Salvation Army building at 701 Good Hope. The ground-breaking will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday...

DELTA - Construction of an addition to Delta's high school is set to begin today. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled at 8 a.m. at the school, said Superintendent Larry Beshears. The need for the high school addition, Beshears said, was brought home last January when classes were canceled two days because of crumbling bricks at the old facility...

Cape Girardeau's A.C. Brase Arena Building will be transformed Oct. 27-31 into a hair-raising, haunted hall of horror. Admission to the haunted hall in Arena Park is $3 for adults and $2 for children. Concessions will be available, and Wednesday, Oct. 27, is "bargain night," featuring $1 off the regular ticket prices...

Where else could you hear Ted Hirschfield read his searing poetry, watch Nanci Joplin's Drawing Group try to capture a human being's essence, and hear Jack Smoot play melancholy mountain dulcimers while Mark Farmer, who freezes time with his pen and ink drawings of local edifices, grazes about costumed as city founder Louis Lorimier?...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Heritage Association will sponsor its second annual Cruise Party Oct. 23, with proceeds going to support the Oliver House. The event will begin at 6 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Highway 61. A travel package worth $4,000 will be given away at 10 p.m. Last year's winners, Jim and Judy Sanders, used their gift to travel to Russia...