Stories from Thursday, September 7, 1995

Hats off to the 108 adults who recently earned general education diplomas through the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School's adult basic education program. For various reasons, the 108 dropped out of high school before getting a diploma. Some languished in dead-end jobs, lacking the necessary skills to advance. Others achieved success despite their inadequate schooling. But all made the choice to go back and earn the equivalent of a high school diploma...

JACKSON -- The St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway will host a Victorian tea party and fashion show aboard the day rides Saturday and Sunday. Antique clothing will be modeled while passengers enjoy tea and cookies. The dinner trip at 4 p.m. Saturday also will include a meal of smoked chicken, sliced roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, baby carrots and cheesecake...

The Cape Girardeau area Chapter of AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) will hold its annual picnic at 11:30 a.m. Monday at Cape County Park South Shelter 20. Each member is to bring a covered dish. Table service and beverages will be provided...

Daughter to Teddy Wayne and Hazel Joyce May of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 5:16 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22, 1995. Name, TiaJoLawana Kay. Weight, 6 pounds 8 ounces. Fourth child, second daughter. Mrs. May is the former Hazel Brown, daughter of Marjorie Brown of Millersville and the late Paul Brown. May is a Diesel mechanic at C&G Feed and Supply. He is the son of June Trovillion and Lowell Trovillion of Millersville and Jack May of Zalma...

BELL CITY -- The annual Bell City Picnic and Horseshoe Pitching Tournament will be held Saturday at Bell City Park. The picnic is an all-day event. Registration for the horseshoe pitching contest will start at noon, with the tournament to start at 1 following the draw for partners. The tournament will be conducted over six horseshoe pitching pits. Winners will receive trophies...

Time after time, reviews of past Aaron Tippin performances say the headlining act -- whether Brooks & Dunn or Sawyer Brown -- might as well have stayed home. Tippin seems to have that effect on people, an ability to charm, entertain and "stand for something," as an early hit advises, without a whiff of pretense or sophistry...

Performing Baroque music on historical instruments is akin to performing Shakespeare as it was written and staged, Sara Edgerton says. "It's like hearing the music in the original language." The originals are interpreted more truly through instruments that either date to the Baroque period (1600-1750 A.D.) or are replicas employing the same construction techniques, she maintains...

The budget battle about to commence in Washington will prove decisive for years to come. As President Bill Clinton frames the issue: "The decisions made in the next 60 to 90 days will determine what kind of country we're going to be heading into the 21st century." For once I agree...

At first glance, the news out of Washington was encouraging. High school graduates turned in their best scores in years on the 1995 Scholastic Assessment Test, known familiarly by college-bound students as the SAT. Math scores averaged their highest marks in two decades...

The government doesn't want a battle to secure a site for a new U.S. courthouse in Cape Girardeau, a federal official said Wednesday. "Certainly, our intent is not to put a courthouse where it is not wanted," said Jim Ogden of the General Service Administration's regional office in Kansas City...

The rides for the SEMO District Fair were erected at Arena Park Wednesday night. With a couple days of fine tuning, they will be ready to go when festivities begin Sunday. Workers with Astro Amusements of Crystal Lake, Ill., went to work at around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday setting up the 25 rides plus the numerous games and concession stands that will line the midway...

Under the theme "Paint a Brighter Tomorrow," United Way campaign chairwoman Donna Hanschen Wednesday challenged volunteers to pick up their brushes. About 100 people gathered at the Drury Inn to kick off the fund-raising campaign. Hanschen said this year's $500,000 goal is only $7,000 more than the amount raised last year...

The National Guard will bring war games to the SEMO District Fair this year. Recruiters at the Cape Girardeau armory came up with the idea, Maj. Dwight Lusk said, and went to the fair board with it. After much wrangling with insurance companies over additional liability coverage, the project was approved just days before the fair was slated to begin...

Sept. 7, 1995 Dear Carolyn, DC and I spent the Labor Day weekend at her parents' cabin on the Castor River. By Monday, the roof was reshingled, chairs were painted, the pond had been relieved of a newly fallen tree and its banks were mowed back to the woods...

WASHINGTON -- A hearing on proposed legislation to make English the official language of the United States is scheduled before a House subcommittee Oct. 18. U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau and the lead sponsor of H.R. 123, the Language of Government Act, announced Wednesday the House Economic and Educational Opportunities Subcommittee on Early Childhood will discuss the issue...

Bid documents for a new Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce headquarters building soon will be available. "All the papers will be ready and on their way to chamber members who are contractors by Sept. 25," said John Mehner, president and chief executive officer of the chamber...

SIKESTON -- Memorial service for Charles "Butch" Sissom of Sikeston will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Smith Street Church of God in Sikeston. The Rev. Larry Arnold will officiate. There is no visitation. Amick-Burnett Funeral Home at Sikeston is in charge of arrangements...

RANDLES -- Della Mae Hutson, 66, of Randles, died Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1995, at Delta. She was born May 9, 1929, at Randles, daughter of Floyd D. and Bullah Beatrice Spain Blue. She and Boyd Hutson were married Dec. 18, 1945. He died Feb. 13, 1977. Hutson was a seamstress 10 years at Thorngate Ltd. in Chaffee...

STURDIVANT -- Leon M. Lewis, 78, of Sturdivant, died Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 12, 1917, at Brownwood, son of W.R. "Bug" and Della Deck Lewis. Lewis was employed at Kroger Co. in St. Louis 33 years, retiring as stock foreman. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II...

MARBLE HILL -- Henry C. "Pete" Lincoln, 61, of Marble Hill, died Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1995, at St. Louis University Hospital. He was born Sept. 29, 1933, at Hurricane, son of Joe and Elevanor Doggett Lincoln. He and Lois Rhodes were married Sept. 19, 1991...

WHITEWATER -- Funeral service for Harold Wilson Rhodes of Farmington was held Wednesday at Taylor Funeral Chapel in Farmington. The Rev. Kevin Miller officiated, with burial in St. Charles Memorial Gardens Cemetery at St. Charles. Rhodes, 71, died Saturday, Sept. 2, 1995, at Farmington, from injuries received in an automobile accident...

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral service for David "Poonie" McCormick of Scott City will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City. The Rev. Larry Rouse will officiate, with burial in Lightner Cemetery. Friends may call at the chapel after 3 p.m. Friday...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Michael T. Conley, 33, of Dongola, died Wednesday, Sept. 6, 1995, at Union County Hospital in Anna, from injuries received in an automobile accident. He was born May 19, 1962, at Dexter, son of John V. and Joyce Ann Monan Poynor. He and Julia M. Pazdera were married March 13, 1992. He was formerly of Charleston, Mo...

He was born March 22, 1960, at Wyatt. Davis was a 1978 graduate of Meadow Heights High School. He was a member of Operating Engineers Local 513 in Cape Girardeau. Survivors include his father, James F. Davis of Reed Springs; a brother, James Davis of Patton, and a sister, Theresa Parker of Patton...

Funeral service for Charles Alfred "Cookie" King, 2801 Bloomfield, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. David Dissen will officiate. Burial will be in Lorimier Cemetery, with graveside rites by VFW Post 3838. Friends may call at the chapel from 4-8 p.m. today...

FREDERICKTOWN -- Roy Henry Cooper, 93, of Fredericktown, died Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1995, at Missouri Baptist Hospital in Sullivan. He was born June 19, 1902,, son of Henry and Elizabeth Whitener Cooper. He and Bessie Hendrix were married Sept. 30, 1925...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Junior L. Sivia, 69, of Dongola, died Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 14, 1926, in Dongola, son of Johnie and Stella Massey Sivia. Sivia was retired from Southern Illinois Electric Co-Op. He was a member of Carroll P. Foster VFW Post 3455...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Harold S. Schluter, 90, of Dongola, died Wednesday, Sept. 6, 1995, at his home. He was born May 11, 1905, in Dongola, son of Charles Frank and Birdie Jane Lee Schluter. He and Beulah George were married Nov. 25, 1928. She died Aug. 18, 1994...

BENTON -- A memorial mass for Kenneth G. Gibbar of Fort Collins, Colo., will be held Sept. 14 at St. Denis Catholic Church in Benton. The Rev. Normand Varone will officiate. Gibbar, 52, died Monday, Sept. 4, 1995, in Fort Collins. He was born Oct. 16, 1942, son of Johnny and Anna Marie Wiedefeld. He married the former Christine Parson...