Stories from Wednesday, June 1, 1994

Dear Editor, Many leaders of this great country are regarded with high respect, such as our president, vice president, bishops, and other officials. We regard them as special people. Let us not forget, however; each of these will one day be struck with an illness -- some mildly ill, some terminally. ...

PERRYVILLE -- An autopsy will be performed this morning on the body of a Millersville man who apparently drowned in Apple Creek early Tuesday. Robert Weaver, 30, was reported missing to the Cape County Sheriff's Department Tuesday morning by his wife, when she returned to a boat launch on County Road CC to pick him up...

Trash fees have long been a source of contention in the city of Cape Girardeau. Angry citizens demanded that the city staff seek bids -- contending that commercial trash service would no doubt be lower. It wasn't. Bids from two outside contractors for Cape Girardeau trash service came in higher than the proposed fee for solid waste service...

Missouri has toughened its stance on childhood immunizations. Now children that are not up-to-date on all shots will be barred from school. This rigid rule is quite necessary -- and we commend the state for taking the hard line. Previously, the state gave parents a 15-day grace period...

It's another case of government's good intentions going astray. Concerns over bad beef prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department to impose so-called "white glove" treatment for beef carcasses last March. It stemmed from an outbreak of food poisoning traced to undercooked hamburgers in restaurants...

"Don't reform anymore. It is not an improvement." Mark Twain, 1896 It has been almost a century since Missouri's favorite social critic spoke those words. But if the last two years are any guide, the General Assembly and the governor would do well to heed them...

Dear Editor, The hazing incident at Southeast Missouri State University has been passed off as unfortunate, but I wonder just how much the college administration and faculty work towards preventing this type of harm to our students. What have they done other than ban the fraternity from the campus? What about the other sororities and fraternities?...

Skip the bank and go straight to Uncle Sam. That, in a nutshell, is the new, federal direct student loan program. Southeast Missouri State University has been selected to participate in the loan program, beginning in the 1995-96 academic year, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley announced recently. Southeast is one of 983 schools selected to participate in the new loan program...

An education department report proclaiming improvement in Missouri high-school graduation rates appears to have been premature. Instead, the state graduation rate dropped last year. A year ago state education officials reported that the graduation rate in Missouri's public high schools had improved for the first time in seven years. They said they were hopeful an upward trend was beginning...

SIKESTON -- Seeking information he hopes to include in a welfare reform bill he is co-sponsoring, U.S. Rep. Alan Wheat spent about 45 minutes Monday talking with participants in the Missouri Futures program here. The 15 program participants are working at Delta Medical Center and studying to become licensed practical nurses or surgical technicians. Under the Futures program, men and women who are on welfare are given the opportunity to go to school and learn job skills...

Peggy Barringer feels confident the 1994 Riverfest committee has assembled a potent enough entertainment package to "blow the roof off" of downtown Cape Girardeau June 10-11. "I said let's just blow it out," said Barringer, who is in her final year as Riverfest President. "When I look at the kind of entertainment we have lined up, I feel very lucky to be a part of it."...

Serenity and simplicity joined hands on this holiday evening to form a union of unexpected eloquence. Humility, humor and simple pleasures were close behind. The serenity manifested itself in a sprawling Chicago suburb with lush green lawns manicured to specifications that could have accommodated Nicklaus' needs...

Paul "Tony" Novelly, an executive with Clayton-based Apex Oil, and his children have filed to purchase additional Capital Bancorporation stock that would boost their ownership to 24.99 percent of total shares. The Novellys, who already own 238,071 shares, or about 9.2 percent of the bank's stock, have filed an application with the Federal Reserve Board for permission to acquire up to an additional 15.74 percent of total shares...

The Notre Dame High School school board met Tuesday to draw up a proposal for a high school construction plan, either expansion of the current building or a new facility. The plan will be sent to Bishop John Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese, said Sister Mary Ann Fischer, principal at Notre Dame...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Nettie Irene Terry, 90, of Jackson, formerly of East Prairie, died Tuesday, May 31, 1994, at the Jackson Manor Nursing Home. She was born March 18, 1904, in Fulton County, Ky., daughter of John J. and Fanny McBride Davis. She married Allen Wells, who preceded her in death. She then married Halmar Swanson in 1925, who died in February 1961. She married Bert Terry, April 18, 1969. He died Aug. 30, 1989...

Richard Keith Mayfield, 29, of St. Louis, died Monday, May 30, 1994, at the home of his parents in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 10, 1964, in Cape Girardeau, son of Bob and Marilyn Bragg Mayfield. Mayfield was a graduate of Central High School, and had worked at Lee-Rowan and 7-Eleven. He had lived in St. Louis two years...

CANALOU -- Funeral service for Earl R. Jones, 79, of Canalou, will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel in Sikeston. The Rev. Mike Cartwright will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery. Jones, 79, died Monday, May 30, 1994, at Sells Rest Home in Matthews...

FARRENBURG -- Memorial service for Elmer Enoch "Boog" Eby of Farrenburg will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Farrenburg Brethren Church, with the Rev. Harold Gass officiating. Eby, 82, died Saturday, May 28, 1994, at Hunter Acres Caring Center in Sikeston...

Minerva G. Pett, 93, of 334 N. Fountain, died Tuesday, May 31, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. The Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel is in charge of arrangements, which are incomplete at this time.

Ada Marie James, 91, 900 Melody Lane, died Monday, May 30, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born May 10, 1903, at Patton, daughter of Thomas and Radie Killian Jones. She and John "Mon" James were married July 24, 1921. He died June 4, 1987...

BLOOMFIELD -- James Jackson "Jack" Baker, 67, Bloomfield Route 3, died Monday, May 30, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Oct. 9, 1926, at Matthews, son of Orbra and Gladys Baker. He and Charlene Smith were married June 23, 1947, in Sikeston...

FREDERICKTOWN -- Lowell Paul Pulliam, 70, of Fredericktown, died Monday, May 30, 1994, at his home. He was born Aug. 7, 1923, at Patton, son of Harley A. and Mettie Marie Grindstaff Pulliam. He and the former Grace A. McDowell were married June 17, 1950, in Piggott, Ark...

JACKSON -- Jeffery Guilliams, 31, of Austin, Texas, died Monday, May 30, 1994, in a hospital there. McCombs Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

He was born April 6, 1899, in Bollinger County, son of Charlie and Elmine Rogers Elledge. He and Ada Angel were married Feb. 8, 1922. She died Oct. 25, 1993. Elledge was a General Baptist minister, ordained in 1933. He pastored several churches in the Bollinger County area, and was also a retired farmer...

SIKESTON -- Charles L. Payne Jr., 79, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, May 31, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Sept. 14, 1915, in Pittsburg, Kan., son of Charles Leeper and Maude Helen Graham Payne. He and Alice Healey were married Feb. 11, 1957...

VILLA RIDGE, Ill. -- Hazel L. Smoot, 89, of Des Plaines, Ill., formerly of Villa Ridge, Ill., died Tuesday, May 31, 1994, at Oakton Pavilion Nursing Home in Des Plaines. She was born July 2, 1904, at East Prairie, daughter of Alvin Henry and Mary Eva Overfield Smith...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Gov. Jim Edgar and Department of Corrections Director Howard A. Peters III will be here today to participate in ground breaking for a $7 million-plus prison work camp. The ground-breaking ceremony, at the prison site about a mile and half northwest of Tamms, will be held at 5 p.m., three hours later than originally scheduled...

JACKSON -- The Jackson school board took a look at the district's immediate and long-term facility needs -- and how to best plan to meet those needs -- during a special board meeting on Tuesday. After the 2-1/2 hour meeting, Superintendent Wayne Maupin said the board agreed the district must start planning now for additional space for the high school math, science and computer science classes, and additional classroom space in grades kindergarten through third...

The calendar's always full on Libby Roeger's refrigerator. She and her family are constantly on the go. An English teacher and debate coach at Shawnee Community College in Illinois, Roeger spends her free time chauffeuring her three sons -- Benjamin, 13, Edward, 11, and Tyler, 8 -- to everything from swimming to play practice...

If "Mom's Taxi Service" were a business, Joanie Skinner would be its president. Like many parents, the Cape Girardeau mother knows all about chauffeuring. A teacher by trade, she spends her after-school hours behind the wheel of her two-tone brown van, hauling her four kids to everything from play practice to club meetings...

Everything that has flowered this spring has done its very best. Beginning with the spring flowering bulbs, then the iris, then peonies, some daylilies, the bedding annuals, all have been putting on outstanding shows. And now the colorful clematis, "Queen of the Flowering Vines," are having their time...