Stories from Wednesday, November 2, 1994

Funeral service for Roy E. Ross, 1400 S. West End Boulevard, will be held at 1 p.m. today at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Richard Rolwing will officiate, with burial in Fairmount Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 11 a.m. to service time...

To the editor: It is fashionable these days to bash Democrats and socially acceptable to claim membership in any party but the Democrats. A Democrat believes in action for, rather than lip service to, the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity. ...

WASHINGTON -- The conversations on Rush Limbaugh's show are fascinating these days and suggestive of the dismay which has suddenly infected conservative ranks. After months of pronouncing dicta of damnation on President Clinton and the Democrats in Congress, Limbaugh and his listeners are finding themselves wracked by tortuous questions about their own heroes and heroines...

Cape Girardeau and Perry counties face an interesting dilemma. With unemployment rates consistently below 4 percent, both counties are economically healthy. But a robust economy can't expand without new industry and the jobs it brings. Thus the second blade to the two-edged unemployment sword: New workers are tough to find...

After a 33-year career in law enforcement, 29 of them with the Missouri Highway Patrol, Benny Hinton is ready to go a new direction and wants to be elected sheriff of Cape Girardeau County. After more than 14 years working as a deputy sheriff, John Jordan wants to make the ultimate step in county law enforcement by becoming sheriff of Cape County...

Traditionally, the 1st District associate commissioner is responsible for overseeing roads and bridges in Cape Girardeau County. So roads and bridges naturally emerge as the central issue of the Nov. 8 race between Republican Larry Bock and Democrat Jack Piepenbrok...

Here are excerpts from the latest bach of Hancock II letters: ... It's time for Mel Hancock to be honest with the voters of Missouri. Amendment 7 is not about giving voters the right to decide on future tax increases. If it were that simply there wouldn't be any opposition to it. ...

ANNA, Ill. -- A 19-year-old Jonesboro, Ill., man died Tuesday morning at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau from injuries he suffered in a one-vehicle accident near Anna Monday evening. The victim, Matthew M. Clark, had been transported to the hospital by air ambulance Monday...

Daughter to F. Joseph and Sheila Hodges of Marble Hill, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 4:43 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, 1994. Name, Rainey Ann. Weight, 7 pounds 15 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Hodges is the former Sheila Huff, daughter of Bill and Dolores Huff, Marble Hill Route 2. Hodges is a certified welder, and is the son of Rita Hodges of Fredericktown, and the late Floyd Hodges...

WAPPAPELLO -- Frances E. Davis, 72, of Wappapello, died Tuesday, Nov. 1, 1994, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter. She was born Aug. 13, 1921, in Scott County, daughter of Luther and Lula Windsor Kirkpatrick. She and Frank Shelby Davis were married Oct. 24, 1937...

PATTON -- Elsie Mayfield, 72, of Patton, died Monday, Oct. 31, 1994, at her home. She was born April 24, 1922, in Bermuda, daughter of James and Mabel Whitehead Woodmore. She and Eston H. Mayfield were married April 5, 1945. Mayfield moved here in 1974 from Bermuda. She was a member of the Church of England...

WYATT -- Sylvester "Sonny" Banks, 50, of Wyatt, died Saturday, Oct. 29, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born March 13, 1944, in Wyatt. Banks was employed by Morton Farms Inc., and was a member of Mt. Hope Missionary Baptist Church at Deventer...

BLOOMFIELD -- Imogene Anderson, 74, of Bloomfield, died Tuesday, Nov. 1, 1994, at Bloomfield Nursing Center. She was born Feb. 3, 1920, at Aquilla, daughter of Ben and Eva Compton Stafford. She and Clyde "Bill" Anderson were married Aug. 26, 1935. He died Oct. 26, 1981...

ANNA, Ill. -- Everette E. Ballard, 93, of Park Ridge, died Saturday, Oct. 29, 1994, while visiting in Wisconsin. He was born Oct. 11, 1901, near Cobden, son of Watt and Dorothy Hankla Ballard. He and Ruby Stout were married Sept. 26, 1926, in Anna. She died July 12, 1978...

BLODGETT -- Lennis James, 87, of Blodgett, died Monday, Oct. 31, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 22, 1907, in Blodgett, son of John and Florence McCann James. James was a retired farmer. Survivors include a sister, Vercie Shelton of Sikeston...

PERRYVILLE -- Lydia K. Hunt, 45, of Perryville, died Tuesday, Nov. 1, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 6, 1949, in Moorepark, Calif., daughter of Harold J. and Phyllis Carrington Michaud. She and Bill J. Hunt were married March 29, 1969...

A TCI Cablevision crew spent Tuesday afternoon at the intersection of Interstate 55 and Highway 61 videotaping it from every angle. It was a week ago today that their coworker, James Hampson III, 27, was killed there when a motorist allegedly failed to yield right of way and pulled into the path of his TCI vehicle. Hampson's truck rolled several times, throwing him from the vehicle...

George Coffman took a $3.25 pay cut to find some peace of mind. Now he figures he has the means to get a piece of the action in the fast-food business. "Nine months with McDonald's and I'm working as a grill crew supervisor," Coffman said. "I told them I knew more about the food service business than somebody making minimum wage."...

If you have any kind of minimum-wage experience, you can switch jobs in Cape Girardeau with the selectivity and frequency of changing clothes. The reason? The demand far exceeds supply. "There have been people who have walked out of one place and had a job somewhere else in a couple of hours," Ken Augustine, director of Mid-America Hotels, said. Mid-America owns Burger King, which is part of Drury Restaurants Inc...

JACKSON -- After a 60-day search that lured 125 applicants from throughout the country, the Jackson Board of Aldermen picked a hometown boy as its new city administrator. Stephen J. Wilson, 40, of 1217 Lakewoods Drive in Jackson was the only local candidate that made the final cut of three. On Tuesday he was offered the job...

With November 8 approaching, there will be plenty of political messages for voters to consume in the next few days. Or is it messages that consume voters? Anyway, if you don't know about Hancock II, you probably don't know that O.J. Simpson is no longer doing Hertz commercials or that Cheryl Crow just wants to have fun...

Candidates for Cape Girardeau County clerk are asking voters to decide between experience and change. Rodney Miller, 54, is running on his experience and a record he has compiled since gaining the office Jan. 1, 1979. Laura Beggs, 26, is running on an agenda of change; she says 16 years is long enough for anyone to hold the same public office...

A store-to-store, trick-or-treating event at West Park Mall attracted about 2,500 participants, according to Mix 104.7 account executive Steve Arosteguy. The radio station and the mall sponsored the event, along with a costume contest. The top five winners in each category of the contest received $25 gift certificates for stores in the West Park Mall...

CAIRO, Ill. -- The Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center opened recently in the Cairo Mega-clinic. The same-day surgery center will hold its grand opening Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. "We have performed a few surgical procedures at the new center," said Fred Bernstein, executive director of Community Health Services Inc. of Cairo, which operates the 2-year-old mega-clinic, near the intersection of Interstate 57 & Route 3...

Why are you running for Congress this year? I am running because I think change I have long fought for is on the verge of occurring. I don't think the agenda that I have felt strongly about has been addressed during the time that I have served Congress. ...

Wisps of smoke and shoulders sore from pulling a rake are as much parts of autumn as pumpkin pie and frosty mornings. Blankets of leaves provide fertile fields for those who enjoy an afternoon of yard work. When it comes to disposing of the leaves, there are choices...

Of all the spring blooming bulbs, daffodils are possibly the most dependable and most rewarding and easiest to grow. Just dig a hole, drop the bulb in, and there will be a generous flower come spring. Easy, isn't it? Treated right, they will not only return next year, but will multiply...