Stories from Sunday, September 18, 1994

PERRYVILLE -- Clyde Joseph Scamell Jr., 63, of Perryville died Friday, Sept. 16, 1994, at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. Scamell was born on June 2, 1931, in St. Louis County to Clyde and Helen Moore Scamell. He married Helen Hoehn Scamell on Nov. 26, 1957. She survives...

Members of the Southeast Missourian news staff and the paper itself received several awards this weekend at the Missouri Press Association convention in Kansas City. Awards are fun to receive. But, more than that, awards recognize the effort the news staff is making to provide a first-rate news product to readers...

The arrival in Jackson two weeks ago of a car full of Laotian gang members is a stark reminder that even small towns are not immune from the criminal violence so common in urban areas. These Laotian punks, from Rockford, Ill., are rough characters, well known to police there...

Running brushes down a chimney is easier than trying to run them up a chimney. Kathy Trimble of Burfordville, a chimney sweep for 15 years, says some chimneys are so clogged residue must be knocked loose with a pole before the brushes can be used. There's something old-worldly about chimney sweeps. Their traditional garb of black top hat and tails dates to 19th century England. They were colorful characters in novels by Charles Dickens and Hans Christian Andersen of that era...

Corresponding secretary Virginia Kies, left, and second vice president Pat Brooks look over Telephone Pioneers of America literature. The benevolent organization dates to 1811, and Alexander Graham Bell was the first member. Pat Brooks and Virginia Kies of Jackson are two of over half a million members of what might be the world's largest voluntary association of industrial employees...

The East Perry Community Fair parade typically marks the start of the two-day event, which takes place for its 75th year Friday and Saturday. A float from the 1970 East Perry Community Fair makes its way down the parade route. The 75th anniversary of the East Perry Community Fair is shaping up to be one of the best yet, according to a fair official...

The Jackson Indians' home opener against the Dexter Bearcats started well and ended well. The start of high school football season is a day to be looked forward to in any town and Jackson is no exception. The Indians' home-opener took place Sept. 9 and began not with a kick-off, but with an old-fashioned tailgate party held outside the high school's multi-purpose building...

The Southeast Missourian captured a dozen awards in the Missouri Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest. The awards were announced Saturday at the annual Missouri Press Association Convention in Kansas City. The Missourian was twice honored with first-place awards: one for best front page for dailies; and again for best editorial for dailies...

There are four Washington, D.C.s. Most Americans only know one: the federal buildings, monuments, and the like. Flying into National Airport, the eyes inescapably focus on the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial. How glorious! Even more glorious at night when all one can see are these marvelous treasures bathed in flood lights and the rest of Washington is deleted from our view -- and from our mind...

SIKESTON -- Service for Ross Harlan Abernathy will be held Monday at 2 p.m. at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Sikeston, with Johnny Hester officiating. Burial will be in Garden of Memories at Sikeston. Friends may call at the funeral home today from 5 to 8 p.m....

ST. MARY'S -- Lawrence M. "Larry" Ritz Jr., 50, of St. Mary's died Friday, Sept. 16, 1994, at Chester Memorial Hospital in Chester, Ill. Ritz was born July 17, 1944, in Lodi, Ohio. On Feb. 10, 1989, he married Joyce E. Sandy. She survives. Ritz was a maintenance supervisor at Gilster Mary Lee in Perryville...

Doily D. Hope, 87, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Sept. 16, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born April 25, 1907, at Bennett, Mo., daughter of Felix Whitwell and Virginia Logan Whitwell. She married Joseph Chester Hope March 6, 1931, in Oregon County, Mo. He preceded her in death March 29, 1981...

CHAFFEE -- Charles A. Lane, of Beaumont, Tex., formerly of Chaffee, died Friday, Sept. 16, 1994 at the Golden Triangle Convalescent Center in Beaumont. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later.

CAIRO, Ill. -- Virginia M. Reid, 75, of Cairo, died Saturday, Sept. 17, 1994, at Meridian Manor Nursing Home in Mounds. She was born in Cairo April 22, 1919, daughter of George and Emma Workman Parker. She was married to George L. Reid. He preceded here in death Nov. 12, 1977...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Robbie Irene Brown, 84, of East Prairie, died Friday, Sept. 16, 1994, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Dec. 16, 1909 at Caruthersville, daughter of John Robert Frye and Macie Francis Bynum Frye. She married Allie Ray Brown on April 13, 1945. He preceded her in death on April 13, 1983...

ANNA, Ill. -- Mrs. Gussie L. Clutts, 93, of Anna, died Friday, Sept. 16, 1994, at City Care Center in Anna. She is survived by two sons, Leonard Clutts Jr., of Mt. Vernon, and Robert D. Clutts of Anna; a daughter, Dr. Sandra Bilinsky of Springfield, Ill.; sisters, Lucille Philbrick and Geraldine Farris, both of Carbondale, and Vivian Hagler of Alto Pass; eight grandchildren; and six great grandchildren...

Irene O. Hoffmeister, 70, of Bridgeton died Saturday, Sept. 17, 1994. She was born July 17, 1924, at Fredericktown, the daughter of Henry J. and Nora M. Herzog Vehlewald. She married Leonard Hoffmeister in 1947, and he survives of the home. Other survivors include two brothers, Lendo Vehlewald and Elmer Vehlewald, and a sister, Florence Durnal...

A little sugar, flour, baking powder, a little more sugar, eggs, a little more sugar, milk, a little more sugar, butter and a little more sugar are the required ingredients for one of the fair's most distinctive foods, a funnel cake. The exact recipe might not mention that much of the sweet stuff, but sugar is why most folks buy the fried treat, and the American Heart Association doesn't recommend it as a fat-free, low-cholesterol food...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- They came! Just as they came 136 years ago, people from the town, from the country and from other states thronged into this small Southern Illinois community Saturday to hear and see a re-creation of the 1858 debate that helped propel country boy Abraham Lincoln into national politics...

SIKESTON -- As a child, Julie Stoner rode quarter horses on her family's farm near Sikeston. In December, she will take her love of quarter horses and her Miss Rodeo Missouri title to the Miss Rodeo America pageant in Las Vegas. She will compete with 31 women in the eight-day contest that includes horsemanship, a speech, an interview and modeling...

The Southeast Missouri State University Museum will present a non-credit adult education course in drawing on six Monday evenings during the fall 1994 semester. Katherine Smith, Southeast adjunct assistant professor of art, will teach the course titled "Drawing: The Light and Line of Form." Course sessions are scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. on Monday evenings, Oct. 3 to Nov. 12, in the museum in Memorial Hall...

ANNA, Ill.-- The Anna Veterans Center, on the drawing board a number of years and under construction the past two years, has become a reality. The veterans center, which opened in late August with two residents, accepted its 10th veteran Friday. The center, located on 16 acres of land east of the Clyde L. Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center, is a 62-bed facility, which includes a 50-bed skilled nursing center...

Cape Girardeau County residents are getting a break on their water with the proposed 5 percent increase, said Kent Turner, St. Louis County vice president for water rates. "Anything around 4 or 5 percent is incredibly reasonable," he said. What people don't understand, he added, is that treatment requirements are different from 10 years ago...

Yarbrough holds up a largemouth bass caught at a stake bed site on Kentucky Lake. Different anglers have their own favorite fishing situations, but there's a pattern on Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley that you don't hear about just every day. Some folks like fishing logs, ledges, stumps or bushes. On Kentucky-Barkley, though, an angler might get excited about the prospect of fishing around wheelbarrow handles...

RIVERS: Castor (Upper): Clear, low; bass & sunfish best catch on live bait, all other species fair. Meramec (Upper): 73o F, clear, normal; bass good on live bait, especially crayfish & worms; bluegill good on live bait & artificial bait. Meramec (Lower): 77o F, dingy, normal; drum fair on live bait & spinnerbaits; all other species poor...

I told him they were here. The cool weather delays the butterfly activity until mid-morning. A great spangled fritillary draws my attention to a thistle. A Leonard's skipper (left) nectars on the same plant, and another basks on a leaf nearby. The prominent row of spots on the brick red underside of the hind wing makes the Leonard's easy to identify. (I've drawn all the subjects twice life-size in my illustration.)...

Judy Wilferth said a local businessman returned her phone call recently, but told her secretary if she was calling about a donation, "I'm not in." The businessman's suspicion that Wilferth might be calling about money was well-founded. Wilferth has participated in a number of capital campaigns in the area, calling business owners in search of money for a good cause...

Give a person or a thing a little publicity and he/she/it gets pushy, puffed up with importance and threatens a take-over stance. In this case it is a thing. More specifically it is Old Stripe, the garter snake. I have spoken of him, not lovingly but tolerantly as a part of the ecosystem around here. ...

The Mid-Western River Cities Chapter of American Association for Medical Transcription will meet Thursday in Conference Room A at St. Francis Medical Center. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. Speakers and their topics are Dr. Hal S. Brown on "Melanomas," and Linda Brown on "Childhood Injuries." Hal Brown is a dermatologist. Linda, a registered nurse, is department director of Emergency Services at St. Francis and co-chair of Cape Girardeau Area SAFE KIDS Coalition...