Stories from Wednesday, January 12, 1994

JACKSON -- The flu bug struck the Jackson school board this week, but that didn't keep the healthy members from getting some work done at Tuesday's meeting. Board members Marvin Adams and Jeanette Bollinger were ill with the virus, while board member Larry Koenig was at home with sick children. However, the remaining board members, including President Darrell Hanschen, and Dr. T. Wayne Lewis, Jack Knowlan, Jr., and Vicki Abernathy, provided the necessary quorum to conduct the meeting...

Southeast Missouri State University must do a better job of selling itself in order to boost enrollment and retention of students, consultants say. That's the bottom-line advice of consultants Lee Noel and Randi Levitz, partners in a nationally recognized firm that helps colleges and universities do a better job of recruiting and retaining students...

Local gun dealers have no qualms about the Brady bill, which will take effect early this year. "It's what may follow that concerns me," said Don Wilson, of Money Time Pawn & Check Cashers, 701 William. "Officials are saying that the Brady bill is just the first step. It's those other steps that may be of concern."...

Southeast Missouri State University has 7,396 students enrolled this spring semester, down 44, or 1 percent, from this time a year ago, school officials said. The figures reflect enrollment as of Monday, the first day of classes. According to the figures released Tuesday, total undergraduate headcount stands at 6,766, down 173 or 2 percent from the spring 1993 semester. ...

Motorists are still reaping the benefits of lower crude oil prices that started edging gasoline prices down locally during the final two months of 1993. Prices of gasoline dropped about a dime a gallon at the pumps since October. The present price of regular unleaded is 89.9 cents a gallon in Cape Girardeau...

JACKSON -- Mike Kasten, an area rancher and businessman, announced Wednesday that he will file as a Republican candidate for presiding commissioner of Cape Girardeau County. Kasten promised to focus on the positive things about Cape County and to formulate a long-range plan that would enable the county to adapt to changing times in innovative ways...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Weisenborn of St. Louis, Christian Northwest Hospital there, 8:10 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 21, 1993. Name, Nicholas Nunn. Weight, 7 pounds 1 ounce. First child. Mrs. Weisenborn is the former Gina Nunn, daughter of Jerry and Barbara Nunn of Desloge. She is an elementary teacher in Hazelwood. Weisenborn is an accountant at Laclede Steel in Alton, Ill., and is the son of Mary Ann Smith of Scott City...

MARBLE HILL -- Toney O. Marler, 77, of Marble Hill, died Monday, Jan. 10, 1994, at his home. He was born Oct. 26, 1916, at Pilot Knob, son of George and Susie Hagger Marler. He and Sarah McDonald were married in 1938. Marler moved to the area in 1965 from Hopedale, Ill...

Vera M. Fornkohl, 81, 2001 North Kingshighway, died Tuesday, Jan. 11, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

PERRYVILLE -- Francis J. "Jerry" Tucker, 70, of Perryville, died Tuesday, Jan. 11, 1994, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born May 1, 1923, at Silver Lake, son of Hubert and Florence Geile Tucker. He and Delphia L. Mangels were married July 3, 1948...

Ryan G. Selby, 16, 2416 Melrose, died Monday, Jan. 10, 1994, at his home. He was born Sept. 23, 1977, in Cape Girardeau, son of John and Janelle Huff Selby. Selby was a junior at Central High School, and was employed at McDonald's. Survivors include his mother, Janelle Selby of St. ...

Memorial service for Arthur Lee Gerhardt of Long Beach, Calif., was held Dec. 29 at St. Luke Episcopal Church in Long Beach. Gerhardt, 78, died Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993, at Palm Crest North Convalescent Home in Long Beach. He was born May 22, 1915, in Cape Girardeau, son of Arthur and Viva Marie Conrad Gerhardt. He and the former Jeanne Helps were married Dec. 12, 1946...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral service for Mary Cothran of Charleston will be held at 1 p.m. today at Sparks Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Murry William will officiate, with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 11 a.m. to service time...

SIKESTON -- Herman Richard Ray, 80, of Sikeston, died Monday, Jan. 10, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Feb. 15, 1913, at Wardell, son of Rev. A.E. and Estelle Maud Owen Ray. He and Leota M. Stark were married in 1933. She died in 1946. He then married Dixie Beauton Helms Sept. 11, 1948...

RANDLES -- Harold Ralph Taylor, 72, Bismarck Route 2, died Monday, Jan. 10, 1994, at his home. He was born Aug. 23, 1921, at Randles, son of William and Lydia Bond Taylor. He and Virginia Kennedy were married Aug. 1, 1942, in Charleston. Taylor was a punch press foreman at Vickers Electric Manufacturing Co. He was a member of American Legion Post 1 in St. Louis, VFW Post 5896 in Farmington, Arcadia Valley Elks Lodge 2330, AmVets, and Disabled American Veterans...

When the roads are covered with ice and snow, we tend to focus more on careful driving. It's human nature. But only a quarter of the 2,090 street accidents in the city of Cape Girardeau last year occurred during rain or snow. Many of these accidents occurred not only on dry pavement, but during the daylight hours. Driver inattention was often the blame...

To the Editor: As a candidate of City Council in the Second Ward, I have some major concerns I would with the current City Council members rushing into an agreement with any of the riverboat companies without giving adequate time for their project proposal, and for us then to look very closely at all the options. I have several major questions that need to be addressed...

Americans have a love for electronic gadgets, all those time-saving, labor-saving devices that have turned our homes into temples of technology. "I think we are very gadget oriented," said Georganne Syler of the human environmental studies faculty at Southeast Missouri State University...

Today's home resembles an electronics store, crammed full of all sorts of gadgets from computers to interactive CDs. Personal computers are becoming as common as telephones. "The pricing has gotten down now to where just about anybody can afford one," said Curtis Smith, owner of the ComputerLand store in Cape Girardeau...

It has been said that one of the best cures for the winter time blues is to think spring. When the weather outside is frightful - cold, dreary, and cloudy - we may still stay in the gardening spirit by thinking of what is soon to come. Visualizing the first crocus, snowdrop, windflower or chinodoxia is a happy thought when looking out at the barren yard, filled with brown crumpled leaves, withered stalks of perennials still standing and blown-over iris and day-lily leaves...