Stories from Saturday, December 11, 1993

The Damian Williams case, tried this fall in Los Angeles County Superior Court, has become a metaphor for a failing criminal justice system, a society unhinged and a nation in danger of losing its moorings. We pause here to applaud the moral courage, proper outrage and plain good sense of Judge John Ouderkirk, who this week rejected the call to diminish personal responsibility further and instead imposed the maximum sentence allowed to him on Damian Williams...

Every reform however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess, that itself will need reforming -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge The 19th century English poet, philosopher and critic who wrote these words could not have envisioned how applicable they would be a century and a half after his death. America is awash in reform; our state is flooded with it; and society cries out for more and more of it...

Two current Cape Girardeau city councilman will square off in April in a race for the mayor's seat. On Friday, the last day to file for the April 5 municipal election, Councilman Al Spradling III filed an election petition for mayor. He will challenge Councilman Melvin Gateley, who filed for the mayor's seat on Nov. 10, the first day for filing...

The chairman of the Missouri House Insurance Committee says he is concerned about the impact of a workers' compensation bill approved by the legislature earlier this year. Rep. Dennis Ziegenhorn, D-Sikeston, said he fears the bill is not causing the kind of interest that had been anticipated from private insurance companies to provide coverage to some companies now in the Assigned Risk Pool...

Southeast Missouri State University students living in Towers North were within their rights to reject a proposed mid-academic-year move to other campus residence halls, regents said Friday. President Kala Stroup and SueAnn Strom, the university's vice president of student affairs, told the Board of Regents Friday that school officials abandoned plans to move students out of the Towers North residence hall because of strong student opposition...

JACKSON -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency will open a disaster application center Sunday at the Missouri Army National Guard Armory, 224 West Park St. in Jackson. The center will be open for three days -- Sunday, Monday and Tuesday -- to accept in person or by telephone requests for assistance from individuals and families whose properties were damaged by flash flooding and storms Nov. 13-19...

A lot of time during the week -- perhaps more so during the Christmas season -- people have time for little else than work, dinner and time with the family. But on the weekend, families have both the time and the mind set to brave the malls and area department stores on a quest for a gift for that "special someone" in their lives...

Christmas day will be observed pretty much just like any other day by Miss M. No need to go to much bother just for herself, she believes. Miss M never married and has no children. Her brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews are all planning family celebrations of their own...

After 16 years, the Cape Girardeau Central High School new gym may have a "real" name. Renaming the structure is among action items on the Board of Education agenda for Monday's meeting. The proposed name is Tiger Fieldhouse. The recommendation has been a long time coming...

Show Me Center officials have implemented a new method of collecting parking fees in an effort to reduce traffic congestion on streets leading to the arena's parking areas. Instead of collecting a parking fee at the entrances to the parking areas during major events, a 50-cent fee will be added to the price of each ticket...

The stage is set in Cape Girardeau for four spring municipal races, two of which will include February primary elections. The election filing period closed Friday with eight candidates seeking election to three seats on the council and two mayoral candidates...

AWAKE support group meets Monday at 7 p.m. at St. Francis Health and Education Center. A program on stress management will be presented by Celia McGaha, who is with St. Francis Pain Management Center. AWAKE stands for Alert, Well and Keeping Energetic. The support group meets every other month for persons interested in sleep disorders...

Dr. Richard L. Kies will discuss common eye problems on Thursday's "Ask Your Doctor" program. The show airs at 8 p.m. on cable channel 5. "Ask Your Doctor" is a call-in medical show featuring local doctors. It is sponsored by St. Francis Medical Center, Southeast Missouri Hospital, the Cape Girardeau County Medical Society and channel 5...

When Angila Tripp graduated from high school she had a plan for her life: college, a career, marriage and then a family. But an unplanned teenage pregnancy changed those plans. "I never thought it could happen to me," said Tripp, now 20. "I was taking precautions against it. Well, it didn't work."...

Parents and professionals in the Cape Girardeau area have combined efforts to form a local support group called ChADD (Children with Attention Deficit Disorders) of Southeast Missouri. The local organization is one of more than 500 chapters of a national non-profit group offering monthly meetings to provide information and support to parents of children with attention deficit disorders...

Funeral service for Winifred S. Gross of St. Louis, formerly of Cape Girardeau, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Neil Stein will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-6 p.m. Sunday...

ANNA, Ill. -- Nichole Amber Hammack-Webster, 15 months, of Anna, died Friday, Dec. 10, 1993, at Union County Hospital. She was born Aug. 21, 1992, in Elgin, daughter of Rick and Cherry Hammack Webster of Anna. Survivors include her parents; a sister, Lisa Hammack of Elgin; a half brother, Justin Webster of Murphysboro; maternal grandparents, Mr. ...

Aloysius Gilbert Backfisch, 63, 410 Themis, died Friday, Dec. 10, 1993, at his home. He was born Feb. 7, 1930, at New Hamburg, son of Joseph W. and Rose Whitefield Backfisch. He and Mary Joan Kieffer were married April 7, 1953, at Kelso. Backfisch had farmed near Benton, later moving to Zalma and then to Cape Girardeau in 1986. He was a member of World Wide Church of God...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Marjorie Doretta Jones of St. Louis will be held at 1 p.m. today at McCombs Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Carl Scheble will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park at Cape Girardeau. Friends may call at the funeral home from 10 a.m. to service time...

JACKSON -- Lorene Love, 92, of Jackson, died Friday, Dec. 10, 1993, at Cape LaCroix in Cape Girardeau. She was born Oct. 8, 1901, in Oak Ridge, daughter of William Bennett and Elizabeth Ann Dalton Crites. She and Rev. Francis Love were married Jan. 28, 1922, in Cape Girardeau. He died Sept. 6, 1990...

Myrtle Lucille Doty, 91, of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, Dec. 10, 1993, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Nov. 6, 1902, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Samuel W. and Daisy Taylor Kimmich. She and Kenith Doty were married Oct. 16, 1930, in Cairo, Ill. He died in May 1972...

DUTCHTOWN -- One person was injured in a three-car accident Friday morning at the Blomeyer junction south of Dutchtown, the Missouri Highway Patrol reported. Jane Simpson, 42, of Chaffee, a passenger in one of the cars, was treated and released at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau...

BRAGGADOCHIO -- A 21-year-old Bragg City man was killed in a single-car accident on Route Z, one mile south of Braggadiochio. A spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol said that Michael Palmer was heading north at about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday at a high rate of speed when his truck left the roadway at a curve and struck a tree...

PERRYVILLE -- Marie "Ottana" Lawrence, 83, of Perryville, died Friday, Dec. 10, 1993, at Aspen Forest Cape Center. She was born Sept. 10, 1910, in St. Louis, daughter of Carl and Henrietta Milfelt Michaud. She and Wilbert Joseph Lawrence were married June 8, 1935. He died Feb. 23, 1982...

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral service for Nola C. Sanders of Scott City will be held at 2 p.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel here. The Rev. William Dickey will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park in Cape Girardeau. Sanders, 81, died Wednesday, Dec. 8, 1993, at Ratliff Care Center...

The weekly quotations for the New York Stock Exchange, mutual funds and NASDAQ do not appear on today's Finance page because they were not received by the Southeast Missourian Friday. Repeated attempts by The Associated Press late Friday to transmit the quotations failed. The problem apparently was with our receiving equipment...