Stories from Friday, February 17, 1995

Before Cape Girardeau voters go to the polls on June 6 to vote on a proposed half-cent sales tax for street improvements, they will have ample opportunities to become informed about the tax and how it will be used. Voters also will have ample opportunities to become a participant in the process that sets priorities for street projects. ...

House Republicans scored their fifth and sixth major legislative victories of the 10 points of the Contract With America this week, less than halfway through the 100 days in which they promised to vote on all of the issues. Passed were the National Security Revitalization Act and the final of six crime bills. ...

JACKSON -- Cape Girardeau County commissioners Thursday made their position on supporting the I-66 project clear to the project's executive director, Walt Wildman. Their fists stay closed, for now. Wildman has approached the commission in the past to get a contract with Cape Girardeau County. Commissioner Joe Gambill said the county sent him a letter saying it couldn't support the I-66 Project at that time...

JACKSON -- Under a new contract providing coinless, collect inmate telephone service to the Cape Girardeau County Jail, the sheriff's department would receive between 30 and 36 percent of phone company collections for the service. The County Commission Thursday opened bids for the service from Southwestern Bell Telephone, LDDS and AmeriTel, the current provider...

SCOTT CITY -- The new breakfast program at Scott City School is going well, school superintendent Douglas Berry told the school board this week. Approximately 200 students are eating breakfast each day since the program started under Opaa Food Management Inc. Feb. 6. Berry said...

Amid rows of early music boxes and phonographs, the rare Kelly's Bitter bottles, the primitive kitchen utensils and the boxes of precious tiny marbles laid out on tables at the Bavarian Halle also lies Mildred and Orville Holcomb's lifetime love of collecting...

Ordinarily, food cooked with a piece of paper inside isn't considered terribly appetizing. Not so the Chinese fortune cookie. Most folks regard fortune cookies the way they do those peppermints that come with your bill at some restaurants. They don't add a lot to the meal...

Missouri Treasurer Bob Holden told area Rotary Club members Thursday that "profound changes are coming" from Washington, D.C. that will have a major impact on funding decisions of state and local governments. Holden urged the Rotarians to become familiar with the impact of efforts to balance the federal budget so they can play a role in the decision process...

Daughter to Robert Douglas and Susan Kern of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 3:18 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7, 1995. Name, Jessica Rose. Weight, 5 pounds 12 ounces. First child. Mrs. Kern is the former Susan Appelbaum, daughter of Ed and Helen Appelbaum of St. Louis. She is floral manager at Shop 'n Save. Kern is a drywall worker and painter with Moge Construction. He is the son of Bob and Rose Lee Kern of New Hamburg...

Billy Ray Maintz, 222 Hillview, died Thursday, Feb. 16, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Dec. 2, 1931, in Oak Ridge, son of William and Flora Tuschhoff Maintz. He and Helen M. Schlegel were married Feb. 11, 1956, in Cape Girardeau. Maintz worked in the maintenance department of Florsheim Shoe Co. more than 40 years, and had been foreman since 1969. He attended Grace United Methodist Church. Maintz served with the U.S. Army in Korea during the Korean War...

Lucille Schwab, 91, of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, Feb. 16, 1995, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Aug. 11, 1903, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Luther and Clara Schrock Randol. She and William H. Schwab were married in August 1922, in Cape Girardeau. He preceded her in death...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Dora Ann Skelton of Aiken, S.C., formerly of Sikeston, will be held at 2 p.m. today at Ponder Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Jerry Reynolds will officiate, with burial in Sikeston City Cemetery. Skelton, 70, died Monday, Feb. 13, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...

ANNA, Ill. -- Funeral service for Birdie Huffman of Chester will be held at 2 p.m. today at Crain Funeral Home in Anna, with the Rev. Brian Law officiating. Burial will be in Walker Hill Cemetery at Grand Tower. Friends may call at the funeral home after 11 a.m. today...

Graveside service for William C. Childs of Belleville, Ill., formerly of Cape Girardeau, will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Park. The Rev. Cy Smith will officiate. Announcement courtesy of Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. Childs, 78, died Monday, Feb. 13, 1995, in Belleville...

WYATT -- Mildred Imogene Smith, 53, of Wyatt, died Thursday, Feb. 16, 1995, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Aug. 9, 1941, in Wyatt, daughter of Ernest Edward and Goldia D. Sullivan Brown. She and Frank "Smokey" Smith were married March 14, 1960...

ALTENBURG -- Guenther Beckmann, 73, of Douglas, Neb., died Tuesday, Feb. 14, 1995, in Douglas. He was born June 1, 1921, in Friedrichskoog, Germany. He and Carol Palisch were married Nov. 22, 1987. Beckmann was founder of S.O.O.O. Gute Food Concept, Douglas House Condominiums, Beckmann International Inc., and Beckmann Enterprises Inc. He was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Lincoln, and a veteran of World War II...

BLOOMFIELD -- Vivian E. Lewis, 65, of Bloomfield, died Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born April 18, 1929, at Sikeston, daughter of Kelly and Mabel Sneed Demaris. She and Charles Junior Wise were married June 14, 1947. He died Oct. 15, 1959. She and Wayne Lewis were married June 9, 1962...

WYATT -- Otis Kirk, 86, of Wyatt, died Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1995, at Charleston Manor Nursing Center. He was born April 15, 1908, in Tupelo, Miss., son of Ollie and Luvada Kirk. Kirk retired as a taxi driver in Cairo, Ill. Survivors include three daughters, Beatrice Cross of St. Louis, Lavada Thomas and Lavern Farmer of Chicago, and several grandchildren...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Lee Edward Gibson, 64, Jonesboro Route 1, died Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1995, at John Cochran VA Hospital in St. Louis. He was born Sept. 6, 1930, in McClure, son of Herbert and Pauline Copeland Gibson. He and Tamiko Fujikawa were married Dec. 14, 1951, in Tokyo, Japan...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Corine Elizabeth Dick, 80, of East Prairie, died Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1995, at New Madrid Nursing Center in New Madrid. She was born May 10, 1914, in Huntingdon, Tenn., daughter of Issac Earl and Birchard C. Bennett Dill. She and J.W. Dick were married April 22, 1933. He died May 28, 1983...

Bollinger County Holly K. Lincoln, Lisa K. Beel, Jerry C. Williams, Albert S. Russell, Derek J. Broshuis, Shawn D. Massa, Carrie J. Yount, Calvin John Horrell & Gloria Lou Clowes, all from Marble Hill. Sarah J. Moser of Grassy; Jason D. Holloway of Jackson; Charles J. S. Elledge, Jodie M. Basham, Tammy A. Massa, Danielle E. Lincoln & Stephen D. Ross II, all of Glen Allen...

Bollinger County Marriages James Ross Dowd, 19, of Glen Allen and Saliena Carolyn Early, 18, of Marble Hill were married Feb. 4 in Marble Hill. James Micah Bristow, 24, of Marble Hill and Donna Kay Bollinger, 26, of Marble Hill, applied Feb. 1. Roger Dale Cochran, 33, of Essex to Melissa Renee Stepp, 16, of Advance, applied Feb. 1...