Stories from Friday, December 24, 1993

It's easy to mock the commercialism of Christmas -- the plastic decorations, the early sales, the dash for toys. It's hard, sometimes, to remember the reason for the season. Christmas is the time we celebrate the birth -- and life -- of a most remarkable man. ...

ASHINGTON (AP) -- Excerpts from President Bill Clinton's interview with news services Wednesday: Q. How about all the stories from Little Rock, the state troopers, their allegations, how do you feel about it and are they true? What can you say? A. Well, obviously it hasn't been a pleasant thing, especially coming here at the holiday season. ...

My mother was born on Christmas Day, 1918. When my sister was old enough to take charge of gift-buying for these coincidental occasions, her typically casual demeanor turned downright persnickety. It seemed my sister's aim -- practically a crusade -- was to ensure my mother would never be shortchanged in gifts merely because of a happenstance of calendar...

The Missouri Conservation Commission approved acquisition of four new properties -- two in Southeast Missouri -- during its December meeting. Land purchases approves: 65 acres in Bollinger County as an addition to Castor River Conservation Area in Southeast Missouri, providing additional forest land and public access to a previously isolated 560 acre portion of the 9,123 acre area...

The abolishment of county planning a year ago, which sunk plans for zoning in Cape Girardeau County, hasn't spawned a development nightmare. But county officials and former planning administrator Charles Engelhart say that since the county no longer has any control over development -- except for federal flood-plain regulations -- it's only a matter of time until a controversial development surfaces...

With the Midwest still reeling from the economic impact of the flood of 1993, it's difficult to remember that just four years ago next week the Coast Guard closed a 200-mile reach of the Mississippi River between Cairo, Ill. and St. Louis to commercial barge traffic because of low water and ice floes...

SIKESTON -- A Sikeston man was seriously injured Thursday in a single-car accident on Route HH one mile north of Sikeston. Cortez Baker, 28, was a passenger in a westbound vehicle driven by Jefferson Dodds, 47, of Sikeston, when the crash occurred about 2:52 p.m...

JACKSON -- Lora M. Riemann, 94, of Jackson, died Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993, at Maehill Care Center in Farmington. She was born Dec. 30, 1899, at Leemon, daughter of William Henry and Hattie Noland McDowell. She and Charles E. Riemann were married March 5, 1921. He died Aug. 9, 1968...

Mozelle Spencer, 86, of Carrier Mills, Ill., died Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993, at her home. She was born June 6, 1907, in Saline County, Ill., daughter of John and Elizabeth Baker Maple. Spencer was formerly of Cape Girardeau, and retired from Woolworth here...

SIKESTON -- Mae Colvin, 90, of Sikeston, died Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Nov. 10, 1903, in Corning, Ark., daughter of Hugh Andrew and Mary Elizabeth Myers Shipley. She and the Rev. Ulus C. Colvin were married in September 1921 in Piggott, Ark. He died Nov. 28, 1937...

ANNA, Ill. -- Francis Edward Tucker, 73, of Anna, died Wednesday, Dec. 22, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 17, 1920, in Gorham, son of Frank and Olive Dorway Tucker. He and Adell Miller were married in February 1947. She died Feb. 3, 1993...

Martha R. "Martie" Smith, 57, 105 S. Spanish, died Wednesday, Dec. 22, 1993, in a pedestrian-vehicle accident on Highway 146 in East Cape Girardeau, Ill. She was born June 12, 1936, in South Whitley, Ind., daughter of Virgil and Beulah Bollinger Smith...

PERRYVILLE -- Funeral service for Edgar T. Weinhold of Perryville will be held at 1 p.m. today at Miller Family Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Donald Loesch will officiate, with burial in Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery. Weinhold, 87, died Wednesday, Dec. 22, 1993, at Perry County Memorial Hospital...

SIKESTON -- Vida C. Hornback, 88, of Sikeston, died Wednesday, Dec. 22, 1993, at Sikeston Convalescent Center. She was born June 1, 1905, in Illinois, daughter of Gus and Tina House. She and Norvle Adren Hornback were married May 18, 1924. He died March 18, 1979...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Judy Northington, 44, Cairo Route 1, was pronounced dead on arrival Wednesday, Dec. 22, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo., following an automobile accident in Urbandale. She was born June 25, 1949, in Poplar Bluff, Mo., daughter of Denver and Barbara Flagg Lang...

Juanita Willett Hosea, 89, a resident of the Lutheran Home, died at the Lutheran Home Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, which were incomplete.

CHARLESTON -- Hugh Jefferson Aldrich, 70, of Charleston, died Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993, at his residence. He was born April 24, 1923, in Bollinger County, son of Daniel and Ada Mae White Aldrich. He married Katie Hall in November 1977. Aldrich was a veteran of World War II, having served in the U.S. Army...

CAIRO, Ill. - Alta Rogers Williams, 81, of Cairo, Ill., died Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993, at the Union County Nursing Home in Anna, Ill. She was born Aug. 12, 1912, at Carmi, Ill., daughter of Elmer and Betty Warrick Johnston. She was a member of the St. Patricks Catholic Church...

SIKESTON -- John W. Parsons, 73, of Sikeston, formerly of Matthews, Mo., died Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 26, 1920, at Delaware, Ark., son of Thomas Edward and Rosie Emma Pershall Parsons...