Stories from Friday, April 28, 1995

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Marshall Hicks of Sikeston will be held at 2 p.m. today at Ponder Funeral Home. Burial will be in Garden of Memories Cemetery. Hicks, 73, died Tuesday, April 25, 1995, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Oct. 29, 1921, in Jonesboro, Ark., son of Jessie Asberry and Edna Hicks. He and his wife Pauline were married June 7, 1944...

JACKSON -- Third-graders from nine classes at Orchard Drive Elementary School used markers, scissors and glue to encourage other children to stay away from drugs. Under the direction of four students from Southeast Missouri State University, 18 children finished a mural Thursday with the theme, "Life is a circus without drugs."...

A Workshop on Wheels program entitled "Pic-a-dilly Poke" will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Center For Child Studies, Woodland Street in Cape Girardeau. Kathy Dillahay will demonstrate how a take-home library book can be filled with activities like tea parties, songs, rhymes and fingerplays...

Dr. Richard Moore is a chronic pain specialist who has played the piano for jazz bands around the area for many years. Cat Anderson, also known as Dave Andrews during work, began singing and playing the trumpet in Las Vegas-style acts in 1970. He now is the coordinator of video services at Southeast Missouri State University...

PATTON -- Authorities believe a Bollinger County couple were killed Wednesday morning while trying to fight a fire in their Patton house. Charles Hurd Jr., 73, and his wife, Ruby Kathryn Hurd, 71, were found dead inside their house after much of its east side was engulfed in flames. The couple were overcome by smoke, authorities said...

CARUTHERSVILLE -- The first cruise of Casino Aztar's "City of Caruthersville" riverboat is expected before noon today. The casino riverboat was expected to float Thursday at noon after receiving its gambling license from the Missouri Gaming Commission Wednesday morning...

Attempting to halt the flow of money to the state's wealthiest school districts for desegregation, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to stop the court-ordered payments. "We are going to try and stop continuing capital payments to the schools like Clayton, Ladue and Parkway that continue to build with money that's probably not benefiting the students it was intended for," Nixon said...

Efforts to educate crime victims about their rights in Cape Girardeau are "unmatched" by any other area of the state, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said during a visit Thursday in Cape Girardeau. Nixon is making a statewide tour during National Crime Victims' Week to stress his support of those rights...

Scott County Dorothy L. Tetley to Don R. Tetley; William and Barbara Portman Lord to Jerry L. Freshour; Pure Ice Co. Inc. to Edward D. Throop and William Seals. Karren Faye Dame to Jeremy Dame; Ossie Mae Emerson to Patrick Malloy Emerson and Jerry Mac Emerson; James and Cecilia Seiler et al. to Lovetta J. Jackson...

In one of the newspapers I read daily, brief descriptions of the victims in Oklahoma City are printed next to stories about the tragedy. Each day, as new bodies are pulled broken from the rubble and identified, new names are added to the list. "Rebecca Anderson, 37, wasn't in the federal building at the time of the bombing. ...

Have you ever wondered why computers become more advanced and more affordable every day, but cable television and long-distance telephone service prices continue to rise? The answer: The computer industry has something that cable TV and telephone markets don't: Full competition...

Congress is rewriting the laws that govern the nation's telephone industry. The new law will bring big changes affecting everybody in America. The changes could be good, or bad, depending on what Congress does. If Congress opens up local telephone markets to competition -- ending local monopolies and giving consumers a choice among competing providers of local telephone service -- everyone will benefit. ...

Imagine if the Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm had turned suddenly sour and the United States had found itself mired in a desert war with a tenacious, well-armed enemy with impregnable defenses. Now imagine if, at that time, then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney had decided it would be wrong to escalate the Gulf War, send in additional U.S. troops and risk widespread loss of life...

To the editor: In news reports of the Oklahoma City bombing, the makeup of the explosive device was described as some combination of fertilizer and fuel oil. I would suggest there were many more ingredients in that bomb, far more dangerous. It is the other parts that concern me most...

The number of people at Thursday night's transportation sales tax meeting was smaller than usual -- six -- but the concerns expressed were typical. Solve the congestion on Broadway. Widen Perryville Road. Mark intersections clearly. Vision 2000, an organization dedicated to the improvement of Cape Girardeau, conducted its fifth meeting to gauge citizen concern about the city's streets. ...

BLOOMFIELD -- An Oran man was killed in a one-vehicle accident Thursday on Route AB, 10 miles east of Bloomfield. Walter Hubbert, 63, was driving a propane tank truck when he ran off the right side of the road. The truck struck an embankment and overturned several times. Hubbert wasn't wearing and seat belt and was partially thrown from the truck...

JACKSON -- Dylan Ray Werner was stillborn Wednesday, April 26, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Survivors include his parents, Kevin Ray and Beth Coleman Werner of Jackson; maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Coleman of Scott City; paternal grandparents, George and Judy Cozby of Jackson; maternal great-grandmother, Ruby Richie of Cape Girardeau, and paternal great-grandparents, Reba Dow and Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Werner of Jackson...

PATTON -- Charles Hurd Jr., 73, and his wife Ruby Kathryn Hurd, 71, died Wednesday, April 26, 1995, in a fire at their house in Patton. He was born Aug. 4, 1921, in Carrier Mills, Ill., son of Charles and Carrie Conyble Hurd. Hurd was a retired inspector with General Motors in St. Louis. He served with the U.S. Army during World War II. The Hurds moved to this area in 1971 from St. Louis...

KELSO -- Vivian Reeves, 64, of Kelso, died Thursday, April 27, 1995, at Vencor Hospital in St. Louis. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel at Scott City is in charge of arrangements.

OLMSTED, Ill. -- Raymond G. Crecelius, 71, of Olmsted, died Thursday, April 27, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 15, 1923, in rural Villa Ridge, son of Ray and Frances M. Hannan Crecelius. He married the former Lydia Jewell Osborn...

SIKESTON -- Marsha Taylor, 14, of Sikeston, died Wednesday, April 26, 1995, at Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis, from injuries received in an automobile accident. Ponder Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Daughter to Jon Ware and Anna Gowen of Marble Hill, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 10:03 p.m. Saturday, April 22, 1995. Name, Jennifer Marie. Weight, 6 pounds 9 ounces. First child. Miss Gowen is the daughter of Bob and Lisa Gowen of Marble Hill. Ware is the son of Jim Ware of Zalma and Yi Ware of Cape Girardeau...

To the editor: The mass-murder bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City is many bad things to good people. If mere words can help our pain and heal our anger at this historic crime against our nation, three come to mind: Justice. If it is as swift, certain and severe for those responsible as the president has promised, our most sacred word of trust in government is honored...

WOLF LAKE, Ill. -- A number of free educational field trips will be conducted during the eighth annual Larue Pine Hills Appreciation Day Saturday. The Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, Nature Conservancy and the Illinois Department of Conservation, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, will conduct field trips, starting at 7 a.m....

Divorces Scott County Gary Hollis, 32, and Jane Buchheit Hollis, 23, both of Scott City. John Milton Bixler, 28, and Susan Ashley Hobbs Bixler, 21, both of Sikeston. Chester Eugene Hale, 51, and Carol Janet Owen Hale, 52, both of Scott City. Edward Lee Morris, 37, and Betty Jean Bratcher Morris, 44, both of Sikeston...

Semo Camp Wappapello Board will host a Fellowship Welcome Day May 7 for newly appointed camp director John Calgaro and his family. The celebration will be at the 90-acre camp on Lake Wappapello. The camp serves area youth. The public is invited to visit the grounds, beginning at 3 p.m. Vesper service and an installation ceremony will be held at 4:30 p.m., followed by meal and drinks. Guests are asked to bring two dishes...

Cape Girardeau city employees could get a pay raise and the city could buy some needed equipment from $1 million in use-tax revenue collected the past several years. Only a lawsuit stands in the way. City Manager J. Ronald Fischer would like nothing better than to spend the money, which is in escrow pending the outcome of the lawsuit challenging the use tax...

The 14-county region of the Missouri Department of Highways and Trnasportation's District 10 did not lose in the agency's move from a 15-year plan to 3-year goals. What's planned: Completion of 4 laning of Route 60 between Sikeston and Poplar bluff...

Cape Girardeau Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones smiled like a proud father as Cape Girardeau's three new Board of Education members, Harry Rediger, Bob Blank and Dr. C. John Ritter, received congratulations. Commissioners ended their two-week search by presenting the three new board members Thursday morning...

Calling the state's education standards "vague and general," the Cape Girardeau public schools A+ School coordinator said the local school's variation is traditional and academic. Program coordinator Dr. Lanny Barnes said the program won't do away with paper and pencils but will allow more active learning...

Anyone with bifocals will understand this. As you get older and rely more and more on artificial aids to help you see, you get testy from time to time about the blurred images. Then you remember what it would be like not to see at all. These thoughts came to mind when you saw that Sarah Long of Poplar Bluff would be the new regent at Southeast Missouri State University. You don't know Sarah, and you're not sure if you know her husband, Jerry Long, an optometrist in Poplar Bluff...

I AM very outraged at Rush Limbaugh and all the commentators and talk shows on television. I think they have blood on their hands after the Oklahoma City bombing. They spew their hatred against our president and so-called liberals of this country. I think they need to relook their comments and what they've done to this country. ...

Cape Girardeau sixth, seventh and eight-grade students clapped, danced and sang along with Ron Cole of Nashville, Tenn., Wednesday. Cole, 33, presented a mini-concert of music from the 1960s to the 1980s to show students they could have fun without using alcohol or drugs...

METROPOLIS, Ill. -- German foods, a quilt show, Volksmarch and German music and dancers will be in Metropolis Saturday for the first Germanfest at Dorothy Miller Park. The event kicks off at 10 a.m. with registration for the Volksmarch, 5K and 10K walks...

Pay increases for Southeast Missouri State University employees will range from 1.5 to 3.2 percent under salary guidelines the Board of Regents approved Wednesday. Pay raises are expected to cost the university an additional $723,400 for fiscal 1996...

Southeast Missouri State University will eliminate its little-used bowling alley in the University Center and move its textbook services into that space. The Board of Regents approved the move Wednesday and agreed to change the name of the Books & Things campus bookstore to Southeast Bookstore to more clearly identify it as a university operation...

JACKSON -- Jackson residents will have the opportunity to put large appliances, tires and batteries on the curb for disposal during the city's Clean-Up and Fix-Up Week May 8-12. Lesa Floyd, an employee in the Public Works Department, said the week gives residents a chance to do spring cleaning and get rid of heavy items cluttering their homes...