Stories from Friday, December 9, 1994

MIDLOTHIAN, Ill. -- Samuel Verble, 75, of Midlothian, formerly of McClure, died Thursday, Dec. 7, 1994, at his home. He was born Nov. 15, 1919, in Ullin, the son of Daniel and Mary Bailey Verble. He was married to Rosetta McCrite. Verble was a retired die welder for Modern Drop Forge in Blue Island. He had lived in Midlothian for 34 years...

Whitewater returned to center stage in Washington this week, only days after Hillary Rodham Clinton labeled it a partisan "sideshow." Her urgings to the media to "ignore" the matter were swept aside by the guilty pleas of two Clinton associates in Arkansas. Information revealed in the pleas drew a spate of withering newspaper editorials, including comment in the New York Times and Washington Post. Following are excerpts from these two papers, which are closely read in Washington...

JACKSON -- Wednesday night's blaze at the Jackson McDonald's Restaurant destroyed the building, but employees won't be out of a job. A spokeswoman for Rich House Inc., the company that owns the Jackson and Cape Girardeau McDonald's restaurants, said workers from Jackson would be reassigned to the Cape Girardeau restaurants...

SCOTT CITY -- The Scott City High School Student Council is looking for a boost in donations to its Toybox project. The project, now in its sixth year, is designed to meet the needs of 90 underprivileged Scott City children this Christmas. "We're about halfway there, so we could use some help from now until the deadline of Dec. 15," Scott City High School student adviser John Helderman said...

JACKSON -- Max Stovall, who narrowly lost a race for 2nd District associate commissioner last month, apparently won't seek a recount. Stovall lost to Republican Joe Gambill by 39 votes out of a total of 11,489 ballots cast. In a letter to Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller after the election, Stovall requested a recount...

The founding director of one of the nation's major education policy centers will lead the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents in a strategic planning session today. The 3:30 p.m. session will be held as part of the regular meeting of the Board of Regents...

Friday, Dec. 9 2 p.m., University Center Ballroom Action items Discontinue the food and nutrition option and approve a new program in food service and hospitality management. Reappoint Anne Bradshaw to another three-year term on the Show Me Center Board of Managers...

Mr. S, widowed and living alone, recently learned that he has cancer. He also is recovering from surgery. Mr. S, 78, has no way to tell friends and relatives when he is unable to leave his home because he doesn't have a telephone. All of his children live outside the Cape Girardeau area...

Students at the Christian School For The Young Years in Cape Girardeau are no strangers to the essence of Toybox. The school has been an annual contributor to the holiday project since its inception. Students will bring new toys from now until next week to the Southeast Missourian in time for the Dec. 20 delivery to needy children...

Even when there are no disasters at hand, agencies served by the Cape Girardeau Area United Way and other charitable efforts need support to maintain their many worthwhile programs. But the wallets and purses aren't yielding as many dollars as hoped, despite the need for strong support...

Another seasonal effort worthy of notice is the red-ribbon campaign of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Several thousand red ribbons have been handed out by the Cape Girardeau Police Department as a part of this campaign. Motorists are encouraged to put the ribbons on their cars and trucks to remind themselves and others not to drink and drive...

Whitewater returned to center stage in Washington this week, only days after Hillary Rodham Clinton labeled it a partisan "sideshow." Her urgings to the media to "ignore" the matter were swept aside by the guilty pleas of two Clinton associates in Arkansas. Information revealed in the pleas drew a spate of withering newspaper editorials, including comment in the New York Times and Washington Post. Following are excerpts from these two papers, which are closely read in Washington...

To the editor: I write in reference to the Dec. 5 editorial cartoon in which the statue of Blind Justice is depicted holding the skull of Jeffrey Dahmer on a plater with the caption, "Justice is served." That cartoon betrays the American heritage that we are a nation under law. It betrays the Christian heritage that vengeance is an unacceptable attitude...

ORAN -- The Oran Board of Alderman has agreed to hire an accountant to check city records for the $11,893 reported missing in the last audit. The audit for the fiscal year ending March 31 said with the "lack of adequate records, there is no assurance as to which city monies are short."...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Margaret "Peggy" Clements DeHart of Bloomsdale will be held at 11 a.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Sikeston. Ted Wimberley will officiate, with burial in Garden of Memories Cemetery. DeHart, 64, died Tuesday, Dec. 6, 1994, at Deaconess Hospital West in St. Louis...

Mayme Adel Ikerman, 90, of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, Dec. 8, 1994, at Ratliff Care Center. She was born Aug. 11, 1904, in Oran, daughter of Cephas and Sudie Frances Stoffel Niswonger. She and Harry Ikerman were married Dec. 31, 1921, at Jackson. He died in August 1975...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for James Petty Read of Sikeston will be held at 9 a.m. today at Ponder Funeral Home, with the Rev. Jim Guffie officiating. Burial will be at Memphis Memory Gardens Cemetery in Memphis, Tenn. Read, 81, died Wednesday, Dec. 7, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

PERRYVILLE -- Funeral mass for Wilbert G. "Wib" Farrar of Perryville will be held at 10 a.m. today at St. James Catholic Church, with the Rev. Charles Rice officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Friends may call at Young and Sons Funeral Home from 6:30-9:30 a.m...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Flora Mae Groves of East Prairie will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Home here. The Revs. Burl Britt and Pete Morton will officiate, with burial in IOOF Cemetery near Charleston. Groves, 88, died Wednesday, Dec. 7, 1994, at East Prairie Nursing Center...

ANNA, Ill. -- Florence Tole, 88, of Anna, died Tuesday, Dec. 6, 1994, at Union County Hospital. She was born March 2, 1906, in Donnellson, daughter of Emery and Martha Jett. Survivors include a daughter, Anita Young of Bedford, Mass., and a brother, Raymond Jett of Mill Creek...

CHARLESTON -- Ronnie Lee Dunnigan, 51, of Charleston, died Wednesday, Dec. 7, 1994, at Charleston Manor. He was born Oct. 13, 1943, son of Will Gee and Cordia Dunnigan. Survivors include four sons, David Williams of San Diego, Calif., Mark Williams of Wilson City, Jim and John Williams of Fort Wayne, Ind., and a sister, Cornelia Dunnigan of Wyatt...

CHAFFEE -- Betty Lou Dumey, 67, Chaffee Route 1, died Wednesday, Dec. 7, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born April 26, 1927, at Fornfelt, daughter of Charles and Luvada Harmon Miller. She and Joseph William Dumey were married May 15, 1951. He died June 4, 1984...

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral mass for William Paul Gibbar of Scott City will be held at 11 a.m. today at St. Joseph Catholic Church. The Rev. Pat Wissman will officiate. Burial will be in Oakdale Cemetery at Commerce, with military graveside rites by VFW Post 6407...

Annabel S. Watkins, 77, of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., died Wednesday, Dec. 7, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Nov. 11, 1917, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Dr. O.L. and Anna M. Smith Seabaugh. She married W.T. "Bill" Watkins, who died Feb. 27, 1971...

PERRYVILLE -- Earl J. Layton, 87, of Perryville, died Wednesday, Dec. 7, 1994, at Perry County Nursing Home. He was born May 15, 1907, in Missouri, son of George F. and Mary Grace Duvall Layton. Layton was a farmer. Survivors include a sister, Mary Layton of Lexington...

SIKESTON -- William Roy McAnulty, 64, of St. Louis, died Wednesday, Dec. 7, 1994, at his home. He was born April 25, 1930, in Russellville, Ark., son of William Roosevelt and Mary Atha McGarity McAnulty. McAnulty had been a shipping clerk for National Tailoring Manufacturing Co. and a custodian for Community Tire Co., both in St. Louis. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War...

JACKSON -- Jackson city officials said a lack of water pressure due to fast growth hampered firefighters' efforts Wednesday night in battling a blaze at the McDonald's restaurant, 2220 E. Highway 61. Firefighters had trouble fighting the fire because they weren't getting enough water pressure for their hoses...

Unemployment in Cape Girardeau County is a scant 3.2 percent, but the number of area residents qualifying for food stamps has increased in the past year. In fact, 217 more households in Cape Girardeau County have qualified for food stamps since July 1993. Of the Cape County population, which is approximately 60,000, 5,457 people receive food stamps...

Yes, Virginia, there are still good cooks who make fruitcakes. A couple of weeks ago you wondered why fruitcakes have fallen on such hard times. You even rhapsodized about the noble fruitcake in verse. One gracious reader, Frances Miner, responded immediately. As a matter of fact she had recently baked a fruitcake, and Mrs. Miner believes she has a plausible answer to why so few fruitcakes are made at home anymore: cost...

FRUITLAND -- The 40-minute drive three nights a week for her son's tutoring takes its toll on Shelly Stone. She has four children at home and is a foster parent for others. She works in Cape Girardeau daily, teaching special education. She is a room mother for her son and a former Parent-Teacher Organization president...