Stories from Wednesday, December 8, 1993

Dear Sirs; I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Downtown Merchants Association and KBSI-FOX 23, to thank the citizens of Cape Girardeau for making the 1ST Annual Christmas Parade of Lights a great suceess. The participation from the community made this a special event. From those who worked hard and long on entries for the parade and those who braved the cold to line the streets from Broadway to Main Street to watch the parade. It was a sight to behold...

Pablo Escobar was a violent man who died a violent death last week. Leader of a brutal cocaine exporting enterprise, Escobar used bombs and bullets on his fellow Colombians to build a financial empire. Our instinct, savage as it sounds to speak that way of the dead, is to say, "Good riddance." In the case of Escobar, however, he is not quite gone, either in Colombia or in cities like Cape Girardeau. His unfortunate legacy lives beyond his gruesome death...

The third annual "Christmas in Southeast Missouri" Christmas ornament, designed by Cape Girardeau artist Mark Farmer to benefit the Southeast Missouri Easter Seal Society, is now available. The 1993 edition is the third in a series of ornaments based on Farmer's drawings...

JACKSON -- a 15-year-old girl was injured early Tuesday after the car in which she was a passenger struck another vehicle stopped for a school bus. Julia Grindstaff, of Millersville, was transported to the St. Francis Medical Center where she was treated for moderate injuries and released...

Bootheel farmer Paul Crouthers Jr. has no ocean to play in, but he's got several hundred miniature military ships. Crouthers farms 3,000 acres near New Madrid, raising soybeans, milo, corn and wheat. But Crouthers would rather be standing on an old battleship than driving a tractor...

Cape Girardeau City Attorney Warren Wells said on Monday that one of four candidates for Ward 6 in the spring municipal election likely will be ineligible to run. But another candidate who's eligibility also was questioned apparently will be allowed to run...

Merideth is a single mom trying to keep her children fed, clothed and in school while holding down a job to support her family. "Their father left home and it's very hard at this time of year," she said on her Toybox application. "Anything (the children) receive would be appreciated."...

Fifty two years ago, on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, at 7:55 a.m. in Hawaii, the United States sustained the worst military defeat in its history. Waves of Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes based on Japanese aircraft carriers far out to sea attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor and neighboring Hickam Air Field and Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu...

Cape Girardeau's Ward 6 is the first of four municipal races next spring that will require a February primary. Richard L. "Butch" Eggimann of 235 Hillview filed an election petition Tuesday, the fourth candidate to file in Ward 6 on the city's west side...

KANSAS CITY -- The Southeast Missourian was recognized Monday by the Missouri-Kansas Associated Press for its commemorative edition on the 1993 flood. "The Flood of 1993," an insert published in the Sept. 3 Southeast Missourian, received an honorable mention in the small-newspaper category. The award was presented at the Associated Press annual Editors and Publishers Meetings in Kansas City...

County and city elected officials will be guests Sunday of the League of Women Voters of Cape Girardeau County. The league's annual public officials open house will be held from 2-4 p.m. at the home of Judith Crow, 323 Themis. Fran Harris, local league president, says the annual gathering is held to allow league members and other citizens to express appreciation to public officials and to engage in informal conversations with them and their spouses...

Woman's Christmas cheer is family's call Christmas for Mrs. J means waiting by the telephone for her annual Christmas eve telephone call from her daughter and the Christmas day call from her son. Her children live far from home and financially cannot come for a visit...

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Department says the flood of 1993 and new federal Environmental Protection Administration regulations are delaying sandblasting and repainting of the northbound Interstate-55 Diversion Channel bridge south of Cape Girardeau...

MARBLE HILL -- Funeral service for Vonda Smith of New Athens, Ill., will be held at 1 p.m. today at Liley Funeral Chapel in Marble Hill. James Merritt will officiate, with burial in Hurricane Fork Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 9 a.m...

Martin L. Langley, 69, of Nesbit, Miss., died Saturday, Nov. 27, 1993, at Baptist DeSoto Hospital in Southaven, Miss. He was born March 9, 1924, in Butler County. He was a 1943 graduate of Poplar Bluff High School and received national recognition in Future Farmers of America for public speaking, and received the American Farmer Degree in Kansas City. While living in Butler County he was active in Morgan Corner Church...

GRAND CHAIN, Ill. -- Ruby Jane Cutler, 81, of Carbondale, died Monday, Dec. 6, 1993, in Rapid City, S.D. She was born Dec. 2, 1912, in Grand Chain, daughter of James Wesley and Edna Ann Presgrove Ablett. She and Homer Claude Cutler were married Dec. 13, 1931, in Murphysboro...

PERRYVILLE -- Esther C. Streiler, 87, of Perryville, died Monday, Dec. 6, 1993, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. She was born April 5, 1906, in Perry County, daughter of Arthur and Eva Klump Sutterer. She and Wallace A. Streiler were married April 16, 1929. He died Oct. 30, 1976...

MILLERSVILLE -- Rada Fellows, 92, Millersville Route 1, died Monday, Dec. 6, 1993, at Jackson Manor in Jackson. She was born June 22, 1901, at Sedgewickville, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Hanners Statler. She and Harvey H. Fellows were married March 26, 1925. He died in June 1966...

ADVANCE -- Agnes Almeta Jackson, 92, of Advance, died Monday, Dec. 6, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 6, 1901, at Leora, daughter of William and Jenny Rue Proffer. She married Thomas Jefferson Jackson, who died March 21, 1961...

SCOTT CITY -- When Jim Burton was deer hunting near the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority property on the morning of Nov. 23, he stumbled upon a little bit of history. Burton spotted what he later told sheriff's deputies he initially believed to be a turtle's shell. When he began to push the earth away from the dull-colored object, he realized what he had found -- a human skull...

SIKESTON -- Minnie Ditto, 83, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Dec. 20, 1909, in East St. Louis, Ill., daughter of Otto J. and Ruth Baselo Hahn. She married Paul Martin, Arch Hobbs, J.L. Goetz, Tom Taylor and Goldman Ditto, all of whom preceded her in death...

Requests and stupid promises for another column on spelling have had me simmering in a stew of guilt long enough. But before we begin, let me remind readers that no rule book will ever teach anyone how to master English spelling. A teacher can do little more than offer advice. It is up to the student to learn...

The Southeast Missouri Music Academy will hold a series of winter recitals next week at Southeast Missouri State University. The recitals are scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday in the University Center Ballroom, and 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday in Brandt Music Hall Room 205...

The Southeast Missouri Beagle Club will host its annual Licensed Field-Certified Hunting Beagle Trial this weekend at the club's grounds west of Crump. Field trials will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. "We're expecting a big turnout of beaglers from several of the surrounding states," said Tom Schulte, club president. "Last year we had well over 150 dogs entered into competition, and we expect an even greater number at this year's field trials, if weather conditions are favorable."...

The Southeast Missouri State University chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity contributed to the largest single-day fraternity philanthropic project by collecting 2,104 pounds of food from donations received from neighborhoods near the Southeast campus...

JACKSON - A Southwest Missouri State University business management student from Jackson now holds the highest state office in the Order of DeMolay. Robert C. "Rob" Schreiner was installed last month as Missouri State Master Councilor for DeMolay. The ceremony was held at the St. Louis Moolah Shrine Temple...

Toy manufacturers generally give a suggested age range for a toy. But parents know their own children's abilities and should use their own judgment. Make sure the toy is safe for young children. Toys that have small pieces which could be broken off and swallowed should be avoided...

When most people think of Christmas presents, they visualize material gifts -- new toys under the tree. But sometimes the best gift is the one of giving, reaching out to help others, said the Rev. Mike Parry of the Baptist Student Center at Southeast Missouri State University...

For many Christmas shoppers, the holiday season is an adventure in toyland, full of Talking Barneys and Aladdin video games, Stretch Armstrong and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. "Barney is really hot," said Elaine Estes, manager of the toy department at Cape Girardeau's Wal-Mart Supercenter...

We sing "Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly" and now following that Christmas carol more and more holly is being used in decorations. Holly stays green throughout the winter and is a logical choice for Christmas decorations. Ancient people believed its greenness was a promise that the sun would return to the earth for another year, and because it bore fruit in winter, it was a symbol of immortality to them...