Stories from Sunday, December 5, 1993

ANNA, Ill. -- John G. Hubbs, 81, of Anna died Friday, Dec. 3, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 17, 1911, near Anna, the son of William Walter and Annie Belle Johnson Hubbs. On Oct. 22, 1932, he married Ruby Menees, who preceded him in death Oct. 1, 1987...

When Roger Fields was a boy, he stacked straw and collected bottles for recycling to scrape together enough money to attend one of Ron Shumate's basketball camps at Southeast Missouri State University. Now, as a Cape Girardeau police officer, Fields wants to offer an opportunity to the city's youth to take part in a similar program, in an environment which would allow boys to meet police officers in a non-threatening manner...

The Jackson High School instrumental department will present its annual Christmas concert Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. in the high school gym. Both high school bands and the municipal band will be featured, along with the mother-daughter duo of Cheryl Reinagel on harp and daughter Sarah on flute...

Tiffany Parker hopes the caring spirit of the Christmas season will carry over in recruitment of foster parents for troubled youth. "We are trying to do a new recruitment campaign for our Foster Family Treatment Program," said Parker, the program's local coordinator...

Wendell Rayburn, president of Lincoln University in Jefferson City, will present the fall commencement address at Southeast Missouri State University. Commencement exercises are scheduled for Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. in the Show Me Center. Leading the class of 525 undergraduates are Faiq Mihlar of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Barbara Porter of Granite City, Ill., Gautam Bhimani of Calcutta, India, Cheryl McAllister of Lowndes, Mo., and Kenneth Keesee of Piedmont...

The Cape Girardeau Public Library will exchange food for fines during the month of December. The library will accept canned and dried (non-perishable) food items for overdue fines. Fines will be credited at 50 per item donated. The food will be donated to FISH, which will distribute it to the many local families the organization helps...

This week's decision by National Football League owners to bypass St. Louis in favor of Jacksonville produced plenty of nervous state legislators around Missouri. About three years ago, responding to appeals from St. Louis interests, the General Assembly passed a measure obligating the state to pay half the cost of retiring the bonds on the $260 million domed stadium and convention center. St. Louis County and city split the other half...

At what point did the presumption of innocence become a lost idea in this nation? While perhaps impossible to trace that question, a high-water mark in its examination might have occurred in recent weeks with extensive media coverage of an accusation of sexual molestation against Catholic Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago. ...

To the editor: I read with some amusement John Cook's letter in yesterday's newspaper. Mr. Cook raised the issues of politics and qualifications in the appointment of John Grimm to the Circuit Court. Apparently Mr. Cook would have your readers believe that there was no "politics" in the appointment...

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department will have its sixth annual "Calls From Santa" program Dec. 13-16. Parents can register their children by mailing in the form from the Parks and Recreation Fall Brochure, by filling out a form at the A.C. Brase Arena, or by calling the parks and recreation office at 335-5421...

To the editor: John Cook is shocked, shocked! that when KFVS asked, I agreed that John Grimm's appointment as circuit judge was a political appointment. Generally, our trial judges are elected in a partisan system. I am an elected Republican associate circuit judge just as Marybelle Mueller is an elected Democrat...

Clifford Graham Ashby, 72, a resident of the Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau and formerly of Mississippi County died Friday at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 20, 1921, in Mississippi County, the son of Oscar Thomas and Willie Graham Ashby. In 1946 he married Mary Jane Curtis, who survives of Cape Girardeau...

ZALMA - Ina Erlene Mckee, 73, of rural Zalma, died Dec. 2, at her home. McKee was born in Zalma on Feb. 22, 1920, to S.B. and Myrtle Glassner McKee. She owned and operated McKee Oil Company in Zalma for many years, and was a member of the Order of Eastern Star...

PERRYVILLE - Thelma Kitchen, 94, of Perryville, died Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Perry County Nursing Home in Perryville. She was born in Perry County on Nov. 3, 1899, to Francis M. and Sara E. Tucker Bass. She married Jess Kitchen, who preceded her in death...

PERRYVILLE - Robert E. Boxdorfer, 57, of Perryville, died Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. He was born in Perry County on Sept. 8, 1936, to Fred and Edna Klobe Boxdorfer. He survives. Boxdorfer married Nancy Weisbrod. ...

Mary H. Sander, 67, of 1340 West Cape Rock Drive, died Saturday, Dec. 4, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

SIKESTON -- Cutbacks in federal highway funds and the prolonged flood of 1993 affected several highway construction projects in Southeast Missouri this year. But Freeman McCullah, district highway engineer for the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department, said three area projects are progressing nearly on schedule...

The number of Illinoisans employed in the coal mining industry has dwindled from 8,500 in October 1992 to 4,891 a year later. And many of the unemployed are from Southern Illinois, where almost 3,000 workers have been idled by a strike that has stretched nearly seven months...

For the second time in less than two years, the Cape Girardeau City Council will consider the unpopular act of raising citizens trash fees. In June 1992, a split council approved a $1.64 per month trash-fee hike that took effect in August 1992. The council's action prompted citizen reproach and calls for privitization of solid waste services...

Lee Spalt's art imitates his life -- a da Vincian sojourn into teaching, fatherhood, manufacturing, a little farming, medicine and now art. His ardent search for new stimulation is reflected in an experimental approach that often combines colors and mediums that aren't supposed to go together, and sometimes results in what he calls "happy accidents."...

For many people Christmas is a time to count their blessings. Happy children, good health, loving families and friends. One way to acknowledge our blessing is to help someone else in the community who may not be as fortunate. Toybox provides an avenue for people to reach out to children who otherwise might find little under the tree Christmas morning...

The Salvation Army has raised $30,000 of its $115,000 goal, announced Carol Keeler, Salvation Army Tree of Lights chairman. Keeler said they have noticed somewhat of a decline in giving, but still expressed optimism that it can be reached by Dec. 24...

Mrs. G puts on a brave front. She doesn't want her neighbors and friends to worry. But the truth is Mrs. G's life is anything but easy. As a child, she suffered a debilitating disease which has resurfaced. She tires easily and has trouble walking. The disease is progressing and Mrs. G's health will only get worse...

The skin, the largest human organ, is examined in the third Science Screen Report for the 1993-94 school year. This graphically illustrated report is titled "Your Skin: The Inside Story." It takes a close look at the epidermis, which provides the first line of defense against the outside worlds, and delves into the mysteries of the dermis -- the inner skin...

The city recently has added two new police officers and a firefighter to their ranks. Alvin Spencer, who formerly worked for the Cape Girardeau Police Department from October 1984 to November 1990, rejoined his old department after working as a special deputy with the U.S. Marshal's office in the Federal Building in Cape Girardeau...

Poinsettias, a holiday decorating tradition, bloom into best sellers for greenhouses and florists this time of year. In fact, by the end of the Christmas season the bright red flowers will be a sellout at most locations. Charles Korns, professor of horticulture at Southeast Missouri State University, said the poinsettia business generates over $100 million wholesale each year in the four-week period from just before Thanksgiving to just before Christmas...

Bringing up the cookie tins is a ritual at my house almost akin to trimming the tree. It is probably the first act of the joyous season, for a lot of the cookies, especially the lebkuchen and fruit cake ones need to ripen. The cookie tins have their own special niche in the wide basement shelves, that being any empty space I can find to place them when they are washed and put away in January. ...