Stories from Friday, December 3, 1993

Everybody loves a parade, especially when it's a good one. Such was the case for the first Christmas Parade of Lights last Sunday in Cape Girardeau. We commend parade organizers for a colorful and festive kickoff to the holiday season that drew larger-than-expected crowds of onlookers. The parade included 57 entries -- an admirable turnout for the first year. And its overwhelming success will no doubt spur entries by leaps and bounds next year...

If ever there is a universal experience, it is this: You get in the line at a grocery store, bide your time for a few moments and anxiety begins to surface on discovery other lines are moving more rapidly. You look up and down the rows of check-out stands, and customers who were still fishing through the frozen food shelves when you joined your line are getting their groceries bagged...

JACKSON - If you owned a licensed vehicle on Jan. 1 or currently own real estate -- regardless of when it was purchased this year -- Cape Girardeau County Collector Harold Kuehle has a tax bill for you. Whether or not it has been received, the tax bill is waiting, and after Dec. 31 it will begin collecting interest and penalty charges...

Two educators from the former Soviet Union are studying the American education system in hopes of easing changes under way in their countries. As their countries move toward independence and democracy, the education system must change also, they said Thursday in speaking with students at Cape Girardeau Central High School...

JACKSON -- The Yes Group, a committee formed last June to spearhead a second effort to win approval of riverboat gambling in Cape Girardeau, spent a total of $66,884 on its successful campaign for the Nov. 2 election. Campaign reports covering the period from Oct. ...

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission Thursday voted to reduce the surcharge on basic telephone bills that covers costs of a 911 emergency telephone system from 15 percent to 8 percent. The reduction will show up on telephone bills sent out by Southwestern Bell in January. The charge is applied only to the base rate for residential and business customers...

Recruiting doctors to the Cape Girardeau area takes big bucks. It's estimated that doctors and medical groups, the two local hospitals and the Cape Girardeau County Medical Society combined currently spend more than half a million dollars a year on physician recruitment...

After nearly two years of wrangling over a minimum property standard for Cape Girardeau, the city's board of appeals on Thursday turned the matter over to the city council. But following a two-hour meeting of the council and the board, it's still unclear what action the council will take...

Two investigators from the state fire marshal's office and a Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department sergeant for the last two days have been sifting through the blackened remains of the Hobbs Chapel United Methodist Church. They found some square nails, evidence of the chapel's age, and the transistorized skeleton of the church organ. But they were looking for clues to what started the fire that destroyed the 101-year-old church the day after Thanksgiving...

Christmas can be a hard time for parents who are unemployed, raising children on their own or have children who are ill and in need of costly medical attention. Betty, mother of four girls, wrote to Toybox asking for help this holiday season because her 6-year-old daughter Christina had surgery on her ears the day after Thanksgiving...

When nurses from the health department delivered a small bundle of gifts to Mrs. E last year, she invited them in to sit down for a few minutes while she opened the packages -- a sweatshirt, some canned goods and a fruit basket. It turns out the impromptu Christmas party was Mrs. E's only holiday celebration; the gifts from Christmas for the Elderly her only remembrances during the season...

Rugraff Son to Mr. and Mrs. Donald Rugraff Jr. of St. Charles, St. John's Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, 12:23 p.m. Monday, Nov. 29, 1993. Name, Austin Russell. Weight, 7 pounds 9 ounces. First child. Mrs. Rugraff is the former Cheri Meyer, daughter of Claude and Colleen Elrod of Bell, and Ron and Linda Meyer of Orlando, Fla. ...

SIKESTON -- Opal M. Basham, 86, of Sikeston, died Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1993, at St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis. She was born Dec. 10, 1906, in New Madrid, daughter of Benjamin S. and Mary Jane Hart Mason. She and Charles Howard Basham were married Dec. 1, 1927, in Charleston. He died April 26, 1939...

Alberta J. Fischer, 90, 1211 Sailer Circle, died Thursday, Dec. 2, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Oct. 3, 1903, at Cape Girardeau, daughter of John and Rose Zapf Meystedt. On May 29, 1931, she married Arthur M. Fischer at Frohna. He preceded her in death March 2, 1973...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Leslie E. "Sonny" Sanderson, 67, of Mounds, died Thursday, Dec. 2, 1993, at Hillside Terrace Nursing Home in Cobden. He was born Oct. 7, 1926, in Cairo, son of Warden and Grace Ramsey Sanderson. There are no survivors. Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Jones Funeral Chapel in Villa Ridge, with the Rev. Quinton Davis officiating. Graveside service will be at 1:30 p.m. at Oak Grove Cemetery in Grayville...

CHAFFEE -- Bessie M. Prater, 69, of Chaffee, died Thursday, Dec. 2, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 19, 1924, in Nashville, Tenn., daughter of Will and Eula Coleman Wright. She and Charlie Prater were married Aug. 13, 1938...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Mildred Lee Brown, 69, of East Prairie, died Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 9, 1924, in Obion County, Tenn., daughter of Jesse and Mary Fobar Priest. She and William Raymond Brown were married March 20, 1941. He died Dec. 31, 1980...

SIKESTON -- Robert E. Kent, 65, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, Nov. 30, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Jan. 23, 1928, in Tennessee, son of Jennie Trout Kent. He and Carolyn Roper were married April 23, 1975. Kent was a retired Diesel mechanic, moving to Sikeston four years ago from Riverside, Calif. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Wilbur E. "Wib" Crites of Jackson will be held at 11 a.m. today at McCombs Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Sam Roethemeyer will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery. Crites, 81, died Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...

"Santa's Been Kidnapped," an original play written and directed by Southeast Missouri State University student George Kralemann, will be presented Friday and Saturday. Proceeds will go to flood victims. The annual Christmastime benefit by the University Players will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Rose Theatre on campus...

Tickets for the Holiday of Lights Bus Tours go on sale today at Schnucks. The tours will be held Thursday, Dec. 9, Friday, Dec. 10, and Saturday, Dec. 11. Tickets are $1 per person. Buses will depart from Plaza Galleria each night at 7 and will return after ending the tour by driving through Cape County Park...

Firefighters quickly extinguished a fire they believe started as the result of an electrical short in the basement of an apartment building at 129 S. Frederick Wednesday. Crews from three fire stations responded to the blaze that was called in at 6:38 p.m. Wednesday...