Stories from Monday, June 5, 1995

From left, Bill Tipton, Tom Tipton and Don Harper operate Tipton Linen and Uniform Co. in Cape Girardeau. A 6,000-square-foot expansion is palnned adjoining Tipton's present building, 1415 Independence. Bill Tipton made two big decisions in 1988. Both were winners...

EGYPT MILLS -- There aren't any crumpets served. Nor do highbrow women ceremoniously stomp the divots. The Little Egypt Polo Club is 10 easy-going folks, nine men and one women, who often play not before royalty, but for a small entourage of truck-driving fans in Carbondale, Ill., or just outside the entrance to Trail of Tears Park, north of Cape Girardeau...

They're a river traffic dream team -- nine men from the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard and various barge companies -- and they spend the better part of each day eyeballing flood data. Based at the Coast Guard's Traffic Information Center in St. Louis, the group must decide when barges can move on the Mississippi again...

The Southeast Missourian asked: "With the dwindling juror pool in the O.J. Simpson trial, do you think the case will go end with a verdict or a mistrial? David Weber I think the case will end up in a mistrial. The court is running out of jurors quickly, and it seems like there isn't enough solid proof to convict O.J. anyway...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Robert E. Hedger, 65, of Mounds died Sunday, June 4, 1995, at his home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Barkett Funeral Home in Mounds.

Jackson Board of Aldermen Monday, June 5 7:30 p.m. Power and Light Committee Authorize purchase of a new 500 KVA 3 Phase Transformer from Delta-Y Electric of Sedgewickville in the amount of $6,190. Authorize the advertisement for bids on renovation of the new Jackson City Hall...

POCAHONTAS -- A 28-year-old Cape Girardeau man building a house near Pocahontas was killed Saturday when he fell beneath the backhoe he was operating. Jay J. Piper was working around noon on Route C, just outside Pocahontas, when the accident occurred. Cape County Coroner John Carpenter said the exact time of death hasn't been determined, but Piper died instantly...

Cape Girardeau County James Thomas Hunt, 31, and Tammy Ann McClanahan, 27; James Frederick Waltz, 47, and Cathy Lynn Mehner, 38; Patrick Kendall Conrad, 56, and Glenda Darlene Hastings, 47. Todd Edward Marler, 31, and Robin Kay Jones, 31; Timothy Wayne Pickens, 31, and Caroline Rose Macke, 24; Robin Wayne Simms, 22, and Shawny Lynn Camp, 20...

CHAFFEE -- Nora Lee Cannon, 80, of Chaffee died Sunday, June 4, 1995, at Deaconess Medical Center in Billings, Mont. She was born March 9, 1915, in Kennett, the daughter of John and Pearl Hall Pryor. She married Louie Lee Cannon on Nov. 30, 1933, and he preceded her in death Feb. 12, 1994...

Jay J. Piper, 28, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, June 3, 1995, in an accident at Pocahontas. He was born Sept. 28, 1966, at Cape Girardeau, the son of Miles Piper and Glenna Buchholtz. Piper served in the United States Navy and was a welder for Farrar Welding Service in Jackson. He also was a member of Universal Physique Center...

To the editor: Recently Steve Lee had a letter published in which he listed his son Chris' accomplishments as a candidate for Central High School's Lou Muegge Award, an honor which had been given to another young man. Subsequently, Mr. Lee was publicly rebuked for "sour grapes" and "a low blow" by the paper's sports editor...

To the editor: U.S. government trade negotiations with Japan (namely the declared intent to impose 100 percent tariffs on Japanese luxury cars on June 28) seem to me to highlight recent government failures to identify and adopt a recognizably American style of negotiation at international bargaining tables. What I have read of fixed (and unilateral) U.S. positions now and in the past sound more like the Japanese custom of "consensus" than the U.S. custom of Yankee know-how...

Yet another potential employer is eying Cape Girardeau as a site to build single-engine business jets. VisionAire Corp., which has its headquarters at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield near St. Louis is looking for a production facility for the plane, which is a five-passenger model expected to cost well under $2 million when it finally rolls off the assembly line...

If prisons are sought-after employers, what about chicken-processing plants? Until last Friday Sikeston was pursuing a Tyson Foods plant that would have employed several hundred people. The Sikeston Department of Economic Development received word at the end of the week it was being eliminated from further consideration by Tyson...

Once upon a time, prisons were the bane of communities seeking to provide a base of employment for residents. Towns all over Missouri still bear the years-old scars of fighting over whether it was a good thing to have a prison as a neighbor. Even in the face of closing other major state employers, like the state hospital for the mentally ill in Nevada on the western side of the state 20 years ago, townspeople fought each other about being selected as the site for a minimum-security prison...

The City of Cape Girardeau is preparing to enter a 10-year cable franchise agreement with TCI Cablevision of Missouri Inc., following new rules and requirements. A public hearing is set for Monday at 7:30 p.m. at city hall, 401 Independence, so people can express their opinion about the agreement...

The hard work and long projects finally paid off for 22 area Girl Scouts Sunday afternoon. On Sunday, the girls received the highest award available to any girl scout, the Gold Award from the Girl Scouts of America. The girls who received the award were required to earn at least four interest patches, the leadership award and the career exploration pin, as well as complete the Senior Girl Scout challenge. They also planned their own Gold Award project...

Now that trade talks with the Japanese are halted until June 20, U.S. dealers marketing Japanese cars can't do much more than hope a trade war doesn't explode. Feeling the Japanese auto market is all but closed to American exports, the Clinton administration has threatened to level a 100 percent tariff on some Japanese luxury cars, including the Acura, Lexus, Infiniti, Mazda 929, Millenia and Diamante...

Barge tows are still piling up and snarling river transportation throughout the Midwest river system. More than 2,000 barges are stalled in and around the St. Louis harbor because of flooding conditions, according to Paul Werner, an executive with American Waterways Operators, a trade group for barge operators...

Dr. R. Brent Voszler and Dr. Randy G. Naeger have joined Regional Primary Care Inc. as new providers for the practice of family medicine. Voszler will work out of the office at 60 Doctors' Park, and Naeger will work out the office at 69 Doctors' Park...