Stories from Wednesday, October 26, 1994

ANNA, Ill. -- Willadean Rice, 70, of Anna, died Tuesday, Oct. 25, 1994, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky. Arrangements were incomplete at Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home here.

To the editor: As a college student, I would like to express my opinion on Hancock II and the U.S. Senate race. If Alan Wheat opposes Hancock II and has the conviction to stand up and voice that opposition, he has my vote for the U.S. Senate. Missouri needs a senator like Alan Wheat who will recognize the issues of concern to Missourians and respond...

Scott City last week officially joined the growing ranks of cities run by a full-time city administrator. John Saxton, 44, comes to Scott City from Peoria, Ill., where he worked as personnel director for Peoria County. A native of the St. Louis area, Saxton brings to the job diverse experience in city management. ...

Good, clean country living is what many Southeast Missourians enjoy in their rural environment: Fresh air, farm fields, myriad streams and ponds and wooded pastures stand in stark contrast to the concrete, steel and smog of life in the city. Aside from aesthetics, country living always was thought to be healthier than an urban existence. But now officials are concerned about a rising number of people in rural areas who die each year from preventable chronic diseases...

Cape Girardeau has joined in the observance of National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October with the signing of a proclamation by Mayor Albert M. Spradling III. Joining Spradling in the signing at the Missouri Job Service office here Monday were Jackie Cecil, manager of the office; Dennis Shuck, employment service supervisor at the office; Ray Doerschlen, Disabled Veterans representative; and Steve Fuemmeler, employment service counselor and American Disability Act representative at the office.. ...

JACKSON -- Patrons of the Jackson School District will have the opportunity Thursday at 7 p.m. at Orchard Drive Elementary School to talk about what they want in a new superintendent. Superintendent Wayne Maupin will retire June 30. The district has had only three superintendents since it reorganized in the 1950s...

To the editor: I would like to suggest some alternate headlines for Jim Grebing's article, "Wheat: Hancock II bad for law enforcement." How about "Hancock II and John Ashcroft bad for law enforcement"? Or "Hancock II and John Ashcroft bad for Schools ... bad for families ... bad for senior citizens"? Or better yet, how about "Hancock II and John Ashcroft bad for Missouri"?...

To lace words together in ways that render their meaning clear is an art. On a rainy Monday morning a short while back, a weatherman declared: "Everybody doesn't like a rainy Monday." Everybody? Time was when I prayed for rain after a lazy Sunday in the hope of keeping drop-in callers away until I'd spent two profitable hours at my desk. What the forecaster meant was that no one likes a rainy Monday. His attitude was clearer than his message...

Son to Craig and Tammy Ressel of Scott City, St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis, 8:50 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, 1994. Name, Alex Anthony. Weight, 4 pounds 1 ounce. Second child, first son. Mrs. Ressel is the former Tammy Steger, daughter of Margaret Steger of Scott City, and the late Malvin Steger. Ressel fills orders at HWI, and is the son of Lucas and Alice Ressel of Scott City...

Ellen Montgomery, 92, of Cape Girardeau, died Monday, Oct. 24, 1994, at her home. She was born Aug. 7, 1902, daughter of James and Ella Luise Kanaley of Northport, Wash. She and John August Montgomery were married in 1927. He died Dec. 7, 1975. Montgomery received a degree in nursing from San Francisco Children's Hospital. She was a registered nurse and did private duty work in Daytona Beach, Fla...

ANNA, Ill. -- Dovie Elkins, 94, of Anna, died Monday, Oct. 24, 1994, at City Care Center. She was born Nov. 15, 1899, in Woodbury, Tenn., daughter of James and Ella Gournigan Merriman. She married James Elkins Nov. 14, 1915. He died July 14, 1974. Elkins was a member of Ware United Pentecostal Church...

JACKSON -- Deborah Penrod, 46, of Jackson died Tuesday, Oct. 25, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements were incomplete at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home in Jackson.

PERRYVILLE -- Adela R. Weith, 83, of Perryville, died Tuesday, Oct. 25, 1994, at Aspen Forest Care Center. She was born Dec. 12, 1910, in Altenburg, daughter of Gustav and Anna Hemmann Heimbecher. She and Earl B. Weith were married May 3, 1952. He died Sept. 19, 1992...

PERRYVILLE -- Clarence E. Brewer, 91, of Perryville, died Sunday, Oct. 23, 1994, at Delmar Gardens in Creve Coeur. He was born July 5, 1903, in Perry County, son of James L. and Annie B. Fassold Brewer. He and Elsie M. Sandler were married Oct. 16, 1924...

PERRYVILLE -- Margaret Irene Asbury, 73, of Perryville, died Monday, Oct. 24, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 15, 1921, in Perry County, daughter of Benjamin D. and Corine Picou Rozier. She and Ivan C. Asbury were married March 7, 1944. He died July 31, 1972...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Richard E. Hartline, 51, Jonesboro Route 2, died Tuesday, Oct. 25, 1994, at his home. He was born May 26, 1943, at Cobden, son of Edward and Vivian Bloodworth Hartline. He and Sue Childers were married June 29, 1963, in Anna. Hartline was a welder at Transcraft Corp. in Anna. He was a member of Union Local 1330, and member of the United Mine Workers Local...

CHARLESTON -- Frankie "Shane" Bostic, 65, of Charleston, died Saturday, Oct. 22, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Nov. 16, 1928, in Wyatt, daughter of James J. and Teola Hill Johnson. She and M.C. Bostic were married in 1947...

With the area blood supply approaching a critically low level, Red Cross workers hope donors turn out for upcoming drives. The Missouri-Illinois Regional Blood Service continues its code yellow blood supply alert, which means supply is low and being watched...

The Cape Girardeau School District will embrace new teaching proficiency standards, but it likely won't be the contentious Outcomes Based Education, Superintendent Dr. Neyland Clark says. "We're not looking at OBE as a teaching method," he said. "We are, however, looking at moving toward Mastery Learning as a way to establish a proficiency standard that all students can meet."...

I would have loved Outcomes Based Education when I was in school. I looked upon mathematics the way I did brussel sprouts. Why consume something I found distasteful? My parents tried to tell me brussel sprouts were good for my digestion. This vegetable would help me grow healthy, wealthy and wise. They said I would thank them as an adult for introducing me to a balanced diet...

Hancock II would be bad news for Southeast Missouri State University, the school's Board of Regents said Tuesday. The regents approved a resolution opposing Constitutional Amendment 7, Hancock II, which is on the Nov. 8 ballot. The regents also reviewed results of the school's strategic planning forums. "The forums were a report card on the university, and I think we made a high B," Regent Lynn Dempster of Sikeston said...

State and local officials Tuesday night painted Hancock II as a budget house of horrors. Speaker after speaker paraded to the podium at the Show Me Center to talk of predicted budget cuts and employee layoffs. About 80 people, many of them Southeast Missouri State University employees, attended the forum on Hancock II or Constitutional Amendment 7...

Like Easter and lilies or Christmas and poinsettias, Halloween and pumpkins go together and enhance the close of the harvest season. Pumpkins can be found everywhere this month, sitting on porches or swings, next to scarecrows and witches, smiling with crooked teeth through windows or maybe hanging from a tree limb...

In much of the Western world, Halloween -- the night of magic and merrymaking, when ghosts and goblins and tricks-or-treaters go from door to door -- is the first harvest holiday. Colors of the evening are black and orange, but could be shades of green, for the customs go back to the time of the ancient Celts and are as Irish as the Shamrock...