Stories from Tuesday, April 19, 1994

At its annual meeting Thursday night, the League of Women Voters will celebrate its silver anniversary. Scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Country Club, the dinner meeting will also involve election of officers. Reservations may be made by calling Nelda Steffen at 334-4394. Visitors are welcome...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Eighth District Congressman Bill Emerson will be a featured guest this morning on National Empowerment Television. (NET). Emerson will discuss the need for English to become the official language of the U.S. government. The Cape Girardeau Republican has authored several pieces of legislation to insure the importance of English in American society...

Construction of competitive on-campus medical office buildings by Cape Girardeau's two hospitals would prove a poor prescription for the community, the administrator of a medical office complex said Monday. Sarah Holt, administrator of Doctors' Park, said the Cape Girardeau complex has sufficient room to house more medical offices in existing buildings or in new construction...

The National Weather Service had good news for flood-weary residents of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois: the Mississippi River is falling rapidly this week, and for a welcome change, no rain is forecast in most of the bi-state area through Friday...

The chairman of the board of directors of the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association has written a letter expressing concern about plans to open five regional offices of the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Joe Gambill said his group wants the department to leave things alone and continue to make referrals to organizations like his, not establish satellite offices around the state that could confuse potential prospects and duplicate efforts...

SCOTT CITY -- The Scott City Council will waste no time selecting a riverboat operator for the city. It plans to choose between three firms that have expressed an interest in the city by April 25. At Monday's regular council meeting, Scott City Mayor Larry Forhan announced an open, special meeting of the council at 7 p.m. Thursday, to hear bids from riverboat gambling operators interested in a Scott City site...

After listening to testimony from several Cape Girardeau residents, the Cape Girardeau City Council voted Monday to form a committee to study minimum housing standards. The committee will have 60 days to draft a recommendation. "I think we need to move on with this," said Ward 2 Councilman Tom Neumeyer, one of three newly elected city council members. ...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Board of Aldermen approved plans on Monday for improvements at Brookside Park that will make the veteran's memorial at the west end of the park accessible to the handicapped. Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said of the project: "We've got a $200,000 plus memorial out there and the city still does not have a nickel in it. We have a memorial that a lot of veterans cannot get to. That's not a good situation."...

Sleeping Beauty wasn't a mom. Parents don't get sleep, they just stumble through life in sort of a voodoo trance. My 2-year-old daughter Becca is still bouncing around at 11 p.m., while my wife Joni and I have virtually collapsed from exhaustion. Children don't seem to have a biological clock that tells them it's bedtime...

ALLENVILLE -- James O. Schrum, 17, of Chaffee drowned Sunday after jumping into the flood-swollen Diversion Channel from the Allenville railroad bridge. Schrum was with a group of Chaffee teenagers who intended to swim in the channel, when he jumped from the west side of the bridge at about 6:55 p.m. and disappeared in the muddy floodwater...

Wallace Chaney, 69, of 611 Albert in Cape Girardeau died Monday, April 18, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.

STE. GENEVIEVE -- Norman H. Grass Sr., 84, of Ste. Genevieve, died Sunday, April 17, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Dec. 27, 1909, in Ste. Genevieve, son of Frank X. and Johanna A. Schilly Grass. He and Mathilda A. Boetticher were married Dec. 18, 1946, in Bremen, Germany...

CHAFFEE -- James Oral Schrum, 17, of Chaffee, drowned Sunday, April 17, 1994, in the Diversion Channel near Allenville. He was born Nov. 28, 1976, in Belleville, Ill., son of Ollie Oral and Linda Jimerson Schrum. Survivors include his parents; seven brothers, Tom Schrum of Ferguson, Bobby, Ronnie and Kenny Schrum of Chaffee, Gary Schrum of Phoenix, Ariz., Charles Jarvis of St. ...

SCOTT CITY -- Ervin A. Burger, 89, of Scott City died Monday, April 18, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete Amick-Burnett Funeral Home in Scott City.

Funeral service for Roy Harold Collins, 3501 Hopper Road, will be held at 2:30 p.m. today at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Harold Henderson will officiate, with burial in Lorimier Cemetery. Collins, 70, died Saturday, April 16, 1994, at Cape Girardeau Nursing Center...

ALTENBURG -- Clara Amanda Braeuner, 88, of Altenburg, died Sunday, April 17, 1994, at Aspen Forest Care Center in Perryville. She was born Dec. 7, 1905, at Altenburg, daughter of Herman and Mary Sophie Hesse Walther. She and Alvin Martin Braeuner were married April 24, 1927. He died Nov. 24, 1974...

She was born Nov. 21, 1907, at Bloomfield, daughter of Noah Lee and Ida Mae Ellis Woods. She lived in the Dexter and Bloomfield area until moving to St. Louis in 1927 and then to Herculaneum in 1988. Harbin worked in the office at Endicott-Johnson Shoe Co. in St. Louis many years, and was a member of Southwest Church of the Nazarene there...

Funeral service for Myrtle A. Clendenin, formerly of Portageville, will be held at 2 p.m. today at DeLisle Funeral Chapel in Portageville. The Rev. Bob Bullock will officiate, with burial in Portageville Cemetery. Clendenin, 95, died Saturday, April 16, 1994, at the Lutheran Home...

SCOTT CITY -- Ruby Rudy, 87, of Scott City, died Sunday, April 17, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Nov. 4, 1906, at Allenville, daughter of William and Nancy Jane Mills Sanford. She and Peter McCllen Rudy were married Juy 19, 1926, in St. Louis...

JACKSON -- Larry C. Dye, 50, of Jackson, died Sunday, April 17, 1994, in Corinth, Miss. He was born May 10, 1943, at Morley, son of Vane Cameron and Velma Margaret Elsperman Dye. Dye had been a driver with Pullen Trucking Co. 20 years. He was a member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in St. Louis...

Funeral service for Michael Estes Sturm, 3206 Kage Road, Southeast Missourian circulation manager, will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Christian Church. The Revs. Leigh and Mary Earley will officiate. Private inurnment will be in the columbarium at Memorial Park Mausoleum...

SCOTT CITY -- Graveside service for Brett Aaron Warren of Scott City will be held at 1 p.m. today at Friend Cemetery in Oran. Amick-Burnett Funeral Home here is in charge of arrangements. The infant, five weeks old, died Sunday, April 17, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

Dear Editor, Am I the only person aware of the contradiction in sending the Endeavor Shuttle into space? The Endeavor is being sent up to observe the earth's environment. Each time a space shuttle is launched, it destroys .25 percent of the ozone layer (source: "Ain't Nobody's Business" by peter McWilliams). ...

When the word "reform" is uttered in any context (welfare, health care, tax ... take your pick), it is usually a prelude to finger-pointing. Nothing, it seems, gets done until some blame is assigned. As a result of the energy spent in this wasteful endeavor, little ever gets done in the way of reform. ...

To the Editor, April 17-23, 1994 is National Organ/Tissue Donor Awareness Week. During this week, we honor those families who have given the most precious gift in the world, the gift of life to others through organ and tissue donation. At this time, we also recognize the importance of organ/tissue donation and the serious shortage of organs and tissues available for transplant...

JACKSON -- The Jackson School District's Reading Recovery program has only been in operation for one year, but it's already getting rave reviews from teachers and parents of first grade students who have been identified and helped as at-risk readers...

CHAFFEE -- Sue Duncan began her teaching career a little younger than most. She was in the first grade. "It was in a little school in Vanduser, Mo.," Duncan recalled. "I knew how to read before I went to school. I recall that my first-grade teacher gave me the assignment of helping one of my classmates, who needed some extra help learning to read. I knew then that I wanted to be a teacher."...

"High Hopes/Long Odds" is the name of a study commissioned by the Lilly Endowment to research the future of high school students. The basic purpose of the study is to spark an in-depth discussion in communities on how to ensure that children are able to meet their goals for success...

PERRYVILLE -- Jared Hotop of Perryville has been awarded a Regents' Scholarship to attend Southeast Missouri State University during the 1994-1995 academic year. The Regents' Scholarship is awarded to high school seniors who graduate in the top 10 percent of their class and who have achieved an ACT score of 28 or SAT score of 1160. ...

Tara B. Blechle of Jackson and Aaron R. Kaiser of Gordonville have been awarded President's scholarships to attend Southeast Missouri State University for the 1994-1995 academic year. The President's Scholarship is awarded to high school seniors who rank at least in the upper 20 percent of their high school class and score 25 on the ACT or 1030 on the SAT. The scholarships are also awarded to students who are their class valedictorian or salutatorian and complete the core curriculum...

Jenny Broom and Allison Knaup have been named Students of the Month for April by Cape Girardeau Elk's Lodge 639. Broom, 18, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Broom of Cape Girardeau. She is a senior at Cape Girardeau Central High School, where she is involved with the tennis team, Spanish Club, Patriotic Club, Pep Club, Student Council and chamber choir. She was also named to All-District and All-State Choir...

Three area students are among 30 chosen from more than 230 applicants to participate in the 1994 Missouri Agribusiness Academy. The academy acquaints students with agribusiness leaders and operations. Chosen were Kadin Boardman and Annette Ruesler, both of Jackson, and Crystal Rhodes of Marble Hill...

A team of 21 students at Franklin Elementary School placed sixth in Missouri during the 11th Elementary Knowledge Master Open academic competition. Some 24,000 fifth and sixth grade students at nearly 2,000 schools across the country and in several countries faced 100 questions on computer to vie for top scores based on the accuracy and speed of their answers...

The Cape Girardeau Vocational Technical School will host an Adult Re-Entry Conference Wednesday from 8:30-noon for persons needing to go back to school. "Looking for a job can be discouraging for anyone," said Dorothy Hardy, director and counselor of the Single Parent Program. "But for the individual without specific skills, it can be devastating."...

Eight Southeast Missouri entries have advanced to the National History Day contest, to be held in June at the University of Maryland-College Park. The students qualified after placing first or second in their category and division at the State History Day contest held April 9 at the University of Missouri-Columbia...