Stories from Thursday, July 13, 1995

JACKSON -- Cape Girardeau County received a check recently from the Missouri Association of Counties -- a dividend return from the association's Self-Insured Workers' Compensation Fund. The $8,631 check represented 14 percent of the county's premium for workers' comp coverage and will be used to offset the cost of this year's premium...

NEW HAMBURG -- The annual St. Lawrence Parish picnic is set for July Friday and Saturday at the ball field. Events start at 5 p.m. Friday and again at 11 a.m. Saturday. The midway closes at midnight each night. Saturday's activities include children's races beginning at 2 p.m.; pony rides and a petting zoo will be available during the day; a horseshoe tournament begins at noon; and a dance with music by Charlie's Music Revue...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Municipal Band will conduct its weekly concert at 8 tonight at the band shell in the city park. Steve Schaffner, a fiddle player, will be the special guest, along with guitarist Steve Pirtle. Schaffner is a string instructor in Cape Girardeau public schools and has performed with several country stars. Pirtle is an instrument technician at Shivelbine's Music Store...

At the edge of the mountain, a cloud hangs. and there my heart, my heart, my heart, Hangs with it. At the edge of the mountain, the cloud trembles. and there my heart, my heart, my heart Trembles with it. -- Papago rain song The small break that may appear in the design of a Navajo blanket or rug is no flaw. It is a Pathstrand, a symbolic route of escape for the weaver's spirit...

Mary DePeder will part with her 1973 Ford Mustang at this weekend's Classic and Collector Car Auction, but not without severing deep emotional ties to the candy apple red cruising machine. "It's like saying goodbye to your youth," DePeder said. "It's time to make more room in the garage and to help pay for my daughter's education, so it makes sense to sell it. But I hope the new owner doesn't live here because once I make the break, I don't want to see it around town."...

Sally Irvine was a Ph.D. candidate in modern American diplomatic history at Georgetown University when the BBC asked her to help on "The Road to War," a documentary series eventually shown on A&E. The three-month assignment developed into half a year, and in 1989 she was put in charge of the BBC's TV bureau in New York City...

PATTON -- Tom Waller resigned as superintendent of Meadow Heights School District Wednesday after the discovery that he may have reported inflated enrollment figures to the state education department. Much of a school district's state funding is based on those average daily attendance figures...

With the president's historic announcement Tuesday, 20 years of U.S. boycotts against Vietnam ended and American businesses are welcome to trade there. The question is whether any will. Experts say Southeast Asia is ripe for U.S. exports, needing technological equipment to catch up with the rest of the world and agricultural goods to feed its people...

The Cape Girardeau City Council will set up a road and bridge trust fund and ease the special assessment burden to property owners on residential streets. The decisions came at a joint meeting Wednesday evening of the City Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission...

July 13, 1995 Dear Jeff, I guess it's been nearly 10 years since we last heard from each other. My image is of you slapping around a bass guitar, a fat cigar protruding from your beard. Bet you've quit smoking by now. I wonder how Syd is doing, and in record stores always expect to find your son's name among the jazz CDs...

TO THE people who walk their dogs: Will you please pick up after them? I have dogs too but I don't let them use the neighbor's yards. If they happen to get out of the fenced yard, I at least have enough respect for my neighbors to go and clean up after them. ...

Residents of 115 N. Fountain hauled out belongings Wednesday following a two-alarm fire at the apartment building Tuesday. However, work to repair the damage is beginning today, and the building should be ready for tenants to return in 60 days. According to Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Robert Ridgeway, the fire started in a trash can in an apartment on the top floor in the southeast end of the three-story structure...

Property near the 1200 block of North Mount Auburn Road between Ford and Sons Funeral Homes and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. has been purchased as site for a new Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce building. The recently-organized building committee is at the architectural stage, said Lyle Davis, chairman of the committee. "We hope to have some rough plans by our next meeting Tuesday," said Davis, "We have an idea of what we'd like to have."...

Southeast Missouri State University will launch an educational program to inform people on regional, state and national issues. The Public Issues Forum will begin this fall. "As far as we know, this is the very first effort by a higher-educational institution in Missouri to provide comprehensive programs on major topics on a regular basis to the general public," said Dr. Kala Stroup, Southeast president...

Action Wednesday, 7 p.m. City Hall, 401 Independence Hearings Request of Steven and S.L. Volkerding for a special-use permit for a computerized sign and craft business at 2031 Brink. Request of Boyd Missouri Inc., Downtown Parking Inc. and J.D. Main to extend their current special-use permit for land-side-support facilities and parking for a riverboat casino...

DEXTER -- Bertha Ann McClard, 85, of Dexter died Wednesday, July 12, 1995, at the Dexter Nursing Center. She was born April 22, 1909, near Dexter, daughter of Samuel Harrison and Lucy Jane Skelton McClard. McClard was a lifelong member of the Hill's General Baptist Church near Dexter. She was also a long-time resident of the Dexter area...

Bernadine F. Nenninger, 83, of 390 Nenninger Lane, died Wednesday, July 12, 1995. She was born Feb. 24, 1912, at Belleville, Ill., daughter of Hugh and Anna Fox. She married Charles F. Nenninger on Oct. 12, 1933. He preceded her in death. She worked at St. Mary's School for many years as a cafeteria cook...

Shirley "Rip" Phillips Wulfekuehler, 66, of Hartsburg, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Tuesday, July 11, 1995, at her home. She was born April 24, 1929, in St. Louis, daughter of Arthur G. and Lydia Warman Heyne. She and the Rev. Edward Wulfekuehler were married Jan. 3, 1982, at Hartsburg...

SIKESTON -- Mary L. Taylor, 78, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, July 11, 1995, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born July 10, 1917, in Forke Deer, Tenn., daughter of Bryant and Myrtle Irene Riddick Young. Formerly of Morehouse, Taylor was employed at Clark's Grocery Store there more than 20 years. She was a member of Morehouse Assembly of God Church...

CHAFFEE -- Glenn Newton Kinder, 67, of Chaffee, died Tuesday, July 11, 1995, near Chaffee. He was born Nov. 7, 1927, at Chaffee, son of Claude Sylvester and Flo Pauline Witcher Kinder. Kinder was retired from Chaffee Grain Co. Survivors include three sons, Jimmy Kinder of Independence, Lindell Kinder of Cape Girardeau, Danny Kinder of Sikeston; three daughters, Glenna Kling of Overland Park, Kan., Glenda Jeffries of Waynesville, Sharon McGee of Doniphan; a brother, Max Kinder of Chaffee; a sister, Freda Clemons of Oklahoma City, Okla.; 12 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren, and a stepgrandchild.. ...

PERRYVILLE -- Ronald J. Yeager, 75, of Perryville, died Tuesday, July 11, 1995, at his home. He was born March 25, 1920, in Perry County, son of Joseph and Irene Hoff Yeager. He and Mary Aleen Mattingly were married March 29, 1943. Yeager was an electronic technician at Pete and Leo's Sales and Service. He was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church, VFW, American Legion and AmVets...

ANNA, Ill. -- Charles Rosson, 87, of Anna, died Wednesday, July 12, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 27, 1908, in Union County, son of Arlie and Media Ann Wall Rosson. He and Erie McCommons were married Aug. 6, 1931, in Jonesboro...

BLOOMFIELD -- Funeral service for Harry Porter, Bloomfield Route 1, will be held at 2 p.m. today at Morgan Funeral Chapel in Advance. The Rev. David Light will officiate, with burial in Oak Ridge Church Cemetery near Aquilla. Friends may call at the funeral home from 10 a.m. to service time...

A memorial service for Betty M. von Lehsten of Cape Girardeau will be held at 2 p.m. today at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. Burial will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Oak Grove Cemetery in St. Louis County. Von Lehsten, 88, died Wednesday, July 12, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center...

SIKESTON -- James Woodrow "Woody" Lackey, 78, of Sikeston, died Wednesday, July 12, 1995, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Oct. 31, 1916, in Iuka, Ark., son of Charlie A. and Myrtle King Lackey Sr. Lackey was a farmer, and member of Henry Meldrum American Legion Post 114. He had lived in the Sikeston and Matthews area 42 years. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and was a prisoner of war 10 months...

Stop talking about letting the kids escape. -- Keith Geiger, president of the National Education Association, speaking against school choice on "The Larry King Show" in 1992. Against fierce resistance from an educational establishment that fights this reform as it does no other, a breach in the Berlin Wall of American education -- school choice -- is widening. ...

Last month's 11th-hour accord between Japan and the United States on automobile trade appeared on first-glance to be a U.S. victory. After all, President Bill Clinton had threatened 100 percent tariffs on 13 models of Japanese luxury cars unless Japan's government agreed to buy more U.S. autos and automotive parts. Just when the talks seemed doomed, the trading partners -- albeit limited trading partners -- struck a deal...

Despite Cape Girardeau County Commission action in the spring to cease donating public funds to the I-66 project, the county recently received a dubious bill for its "fair share" of costs related to the project's promotion. The county has no intention of paying the $9,200 bill, but the fact the invoice was sent continues to reflect poorly on the lifeless project...

HI, MY NAME is Bob, and I'm a sportsaholic. My partner, Beavis, has been called to the White House, so I'll be writing solo. It's a long way from California to Missouri -- about 2,000 miles, 17,438 bugs on my truck and not a surfer in sight. My guess is it would probably play to about a par of 3,700 -- which includes some nasty doglegs -- and I'd probably still double-bogey the sucker with a three-putt...