Stories from Sunday, October 22, 1995

OAK RIDGE -- Edgar H. "Tudor" Moonier, 72, of Oak Ridge, formerly of Perryville, died Saturday, Oct. 21, 1995, at the Mineral Area Regional Hospital in Farmington. He was born Feb. 20, 1923, in Perry County, son of William and Rose Zahner Moonier. He was a retired farm worker and a Navy veteran of World War II...

Brian R. Cook Navy Airman Apprentice Brian R. Cook, son of Allan R. and Glenda J. Cook of Burfordville, has returned from a six-month deployment while serving with Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 141 embarked aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, which most recently participated in NATO air strikes in support of United Nations operations in Bosnia...

Trick shots are a big part of "Fast Eddie's" show. He tells the audience what balls are going to go where. He once won $30,000 from a rich Kentucky playboy. Light on his feet, he plays pool like Fred Astaire danced. In the 1961 classic, "The Hustler," Paul Newman played "Fast Eddie" Felson, a roustabout pool shark who hustled games for big money across the country. ...

PIEDMONT -- A 20-year-old Piedmont man was killed in a one-car accident at 1:50 a.m. Saturday on Route B, three miles east of here. The driver of the car, Ryan Young, was killed when he attempted to pass another vehicle. Young's car left the roadway and overturned, the Missouri Highway Patrol said...

Eight Southeast students talked about hot-button cultural diversity issues Saturday morning without a voice being raised or a tear dropped, all because the conversations took place within the circuits of a computer network. The four international students, three Student Government officials and a historic preservation major gathered in the Crisp Hall Computer Center with a common goal: finding ways to integrate the school's diverse populations into campus life...

Mary Kiser says Cape Girardeau voters probably need to increase taxes for public schools -- a little, but higher taxes should be the last step in improving funding for the school district. "Nobody likes to get into their purse," Kiser said. She was among a handful of people at a Vision Planning Meeting Saturday at Jefferson Elementary School to talk about school finances. ...

WASHINGTON -- Autumn, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, this year will also be a season of mayhem as congressional Republicans reach the climax of their attempt to get the government on a shorter leash. To get in the mood to enjoy this blood sport, consider the way the people at radio station KTOZ-AM in Springfield, Mo., spent their summer. ...

While responding to interviewer Charles Jaco on KMOX radio last Monday, Missouri's commissioner of elementary and secondary education, Robert Bartman, said yet again that what his department is imposing on Missouri schools isn't outcome-based education. ...

Most people have either watched or participated in the old carnival shell games, which still pitch their tents at county fairs and other celebrations when the local sheriff isn't too alert. Rubes of all ages are attracted by the carney's spiel, which is a delight to hear, and his deft movement of cheap, plastic shells that promise so much and never, ever deliver. ...

There's nothing close to defensible about Louis Farrakhan's racist beliefs. Most politicians or near-politicians from President Bill Clinton to Sen. Bob Dole to Speaker Newt Gingrich to Gen. Colin POwell have condemned him for his repeated anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, homophobic utterances,...

Quick: in the same week that noted anti-Semite and practiced hater Louis Farrakhan led his march on Washington, what group was being labeled as "extremists" by Clinton administration figures such as Vice President Albert Gore? If you guessed the Republican majority in Congress, go to the head of the class. Of course, this is the same administration that, having remained silent on Farrakhan and his abundant venom, lectures us about how we need more civility in our public discourse...

To the editor: On behalf of the Knights of Columbus, we want to sincerely thank the citizens of Cape Girardeau and surrounding areas for their support during our annual Tootsie Roll Drive for the mentally handicapped. We are specifically grateful to the area businesses that allowed our membership to solicit donations from in front of their stores and the local city governments for their support of our cause. ...

To the editor: I would like to take this opportunity to thank you in helping publicize Fire Prevention Week activities. Through your efforts we can ensure the message has reached the residents of Cape Girardeau and the surrounding communities. This will hopefully help in reducing life and property loss that unfortunately occur in our country each year. Again, thank you for your participation...

The "Consumer Guide to Hypnosis" defines hypnosis as a state near sleep but one is aware of the surroundings and consciousness is not lost. Tim Morgan of Gordonville defines his job as a certified hypnotherapist as simply dealing with normal people who are coping with normal life circumstances and their character traits...

The Burfordville School recently closed its doors but it will always live on in the hearts and minds of many of the students that attended there. Larry Sides, who still lives in Burfordville, attended the old Burfordville School in the late 1940s, the one that stood before this one, and he says he only has fond memories of the school house...

To the editor: David Shor, environmental wacko and head of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, is fast becoming a political embarrassment to Gov. Mel Carnahan, who appointed Shor. Carnahan exercised poor judgment in appointing Shor in the first place...

ALTENBURG -- Charles G. Grebing, 103, of Altenburg, formerly of Frohna, died Friday, Oct. 20, 1995, at the Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born Aug. 20, 1892, in Altenburg, son of Karl Tobias and Emma Rust Grebing. He was a farmer, a member of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, the Concordia Men's Club and had served on several boards of the church. He also served on numerous community and county organizations...

JACKSON -- Harriett Grace Abbott, 77, of Woodland, Calif., formerly of Jackson, died Friday, Oct. 13, 1995, at the home of her daughter in Woodland. She was born Dec. 26, 1917, at Jackson, daughter of Adolph E. and Grace Vinyard Kies. She lived in Jackson, attended Jackson Public Schools and Southeast Missouri State University. She then attended Miss Hickey's Secretarial School in St. Louis...

BERNIE -- Melvin "Joe" Medlin, 67, of Bernie, died Friday, Oct. 20, 1995, at his home. He was born Feb. 29, 1928, at Malden, son of John D. and Ethel Montgomery Medlin. He was a retired truck driver and a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He lived in St. Louis for 43 years, moving there from Dexter. He had lived at Bernie for about a year...

ANNA, Ill. -- Violet Foreman Butts, 76, of Anna, died Friday, Oct. 20, 1995, at her home. She was born Sept. 4, 1919, in Union County, daughter of David and Alice Newbold Miller. She was married to Percy Foreman, who died in 1967. She later married Robert Butts, who died in 1993...

ANNA, Ill. -- Curtis M. Caraker, 75, of Anna, died Friday, Oct. 20, 1995, at his home. He was born May 20, 1920, at Cobden, Ill., the son of Everett Brady and Martha J. Smith Caraker. He was a veteran of World War II, a life member of Anna VFW Post 3455, and a member of the Hi-Neighbors Square Dance Club at Carbondale, Ill. He retired as a mental health specialist from Choate Mental Health Center...

VANDUSER -- Bob Barrick, 46, of Caddo Gap, Ark., formerly of Vanduser, died Thursday, Oct. 19, 1995, at Caddo Gap. He was born in Sikeston on Nov. 26, 1948, son of Kenneth Barrick and the late Vella Marie Woods Barrick. He had lived most of his life at Vanduser...

ZALMA -- Oliver F. Jackson, 70, of Zalma, died Friday, Oct. 10, 1995, at his home. He was born Sept. 1, 1925, at East Prairie, son of Frank and Mamie Carrol Jackson. He was retired from Granite City Steel. He and Christine Davis were married July 7, 1946, at Alton, Ill...

Lessie Nelson, 86, of Cape Girardeau, longtime owner of People's Cafe, died Friday, Oct. 20, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Oct. 22, 1909, in Biggers, Ark., daughter of John and Diana Foster. She and J.T. Nelson were married in 1942 in Jackson...

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- A grass-roots effort has been launched to save the caretaker's lodge at the Mound City National Cemetery. Veterans from Southern Illinois have joined with other citizens to win a reprieve for the 120-year-old building at the entrance of the 12-acre national cemetery. The cemetery holds the remains of about 7,500 veterans and spouses, including many Civil War soldiers...

Cape Girardeau needs new blood on its city advisory boards, Councilman Richard Eggimann says. A special committee composed of Councilmen Eggimann, Dr. Melvin Kasten and Tom Neumeyer will meet soon to consider the issue. Back in August and early September, the city encouraged interested citizens to turn in forms indicating which boards they would be interested in serving on...

FIRST OF THREE PARTS EDITOR'S NOTE: With improvements on both literal and information highways, area medium-sized cities are being pulled ever closer. The Southeast Missourian examined progress and perils at four cities: Paducah, Ky., Carbondale, Ill., Jonesboro, Ark.; and Cape Girardeau...

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Department has released its first-ever long-range plan, a blueprint for meeting the state's transportation demands while promoting walking and bicycling, limiting the use of herbicides and attempting to minimize the impact of humans on the environment...

The Mound City National Cemetery was established in 1864 as a burial place for those who died at Civil War military hospitals located in Mound City and at nearby Cairo. Although neither city was in the combat theater of the war, their locations near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers made the areas important to the war effort on both sides...

THIS IS for Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. If he thinks he's so smart and can do all this, why doesn't he get them first to go get a job and quit doing drugs and quit doing all this other junk and make it a better world? WHEN I saw how many black people went to Washington, D.C., it really made me sick why those black people couldn't stay home and work and make a living for their family like everybody else. ...

Shoppers swayed to the sound of jazz Saturday at West Park Mall. KRCU, the Southeast Missouri State University public radio station, held a jazz fest to promote the station's jazz programming. The Southeast Missouri State University Jazz Band and a smaller ensemble, Faculty Three and Friends, performed at Center Court...

The Mossbacks Fishing Club of Cape Girardeau captured first place in the recent Missouri Bass Federation Tournament held at Truman Lake. It marked the first time a team had won three times in a row on the same non-home lake. The Mossbacks averaged 6.78 pound during the two-day tournament for its 10-man team...

Scoot over largemouth bass, the big boys are moving in. Well, they weren't exactly big boys on Thursday, but in five years fishermen at Lake Girardeau are expected to start hauling off muskellunge in excess of 42 inches long and weighing over 20 pounds...

Ask most people to tell you how many different kinds of snakes there are in Missouri and they will tell you that they don't have any idea. Unfortunately, there are those who would answer the question by telling you that there are only two kinds of snakes in the entire world: there are snakes that are alive and then there are snakes that are dead. These same people are usually quick to inform you that the dead snakes are the "good" ones...

MAP - SCENIC FALL FOLIGE TOUR Leaf-peepers on the lookout for colorful hickory, sweetgum, sugar maple and oak trees, should take the opportunity this weekend to enjoy fall foliage. This should be the peak weekend for fall color, said Rocky Hayes, urban forester with the Missouri Department of Conservation...

I hate to sit around with no purposeful project in mind, even though it may be subject to much ridicule by the general public and possible litigious activity against the charter members should the plan involve a group. My thoughts are revolving around a protest movement. The acronym would be WARS, standing for Women Against Runny Stockings...