Stories from Monday, October 30, 1995

As Cape Girardeau grows, more and more corporate air traffic will make its way in and out of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, pilots say. Not only will the number of airplanes around the airport increase but more corporate pilots might be based in area...

Elvis Presley, king of rock 'n' roll," often sang "Love Me Tender." More than a dozen years after Presley's death, he has become "legal tender." Leader Federal Bank for Savings, a Memphis-based financial institution, and MasterCard International Inc. are issuing an Elvis Presley credit card...

Children are fickle creatures when it comes to Halloween costumes. One year The Little Mermaid is all the rage and the next they insist on being the red Power Ranger. But one thing remains constant about children and the spooky holiday -- no parental supervision on Halloween may spell disaster...

JACKSON -- Vivian Snider came looking for a few oddities and a good buy. She found them both this weekend at the Mid-America Animal Auction. She left the sale with buffaloes, pheasants, hedgehogs, a red fox, a pair of black swans and peacocks. Snider, who operates the Pine Mountain Wild Animal Park in Pine Mountain, Ga., attends at least three exotic animal auctions a year...

The grounds of Common Pleas Courthouse long have been a focal point of downtown Cape Girardeau. An editorial that appeared in the Aug. 16, 1910, edition of the The Daily Republican, forerunner to the Southeast Missourian, provided a glowing description of the area:...

When I was growing up in St. Louis County, everyone in the neighborhood swore Mr. Blattner's house was haunted. It certainly looked haunted to my 8-year-old eyes: It was a sad, abandoned little bungalow with gray asbestos shingles, a sagging roof and cracked windows...

Dr. Charles H. Cozean, a Cape Girardeau ophthalmologist, and Doctors' Park Surgery Inc., soon will be offering outpatient laser operations to correct vision disorders such as nearsightedness and astigmatism. "This is the next generation of eye care," Cozean said of the VISX Inc. Excimer Laser System, which recently was approved by the FDA. "This is big news for everyone. We can now commercially perform these procedures."...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked "How do you feel about President Bill Clinton's proposal to send U.S. troops under U.N. command to Bosnia?" Kathy Lambdin, Wolf Lake, Ill. "I just think we have enough problems at home and they need to stay here. I don't think they need to go."...

PERRYVILLE -- Anita O. Wucher, 93, of Perryville died Sunday, Oct. 29, 1995, at the Perry County Nursing Home. She was born Nov. 4, 1901, at Friedheim, daughter of Henry and Mary Bodenschatz Ruppel. She and Alfred P. Wucher were married Nov. 21, 1925 at St. Louis...

PERRYVILLE -- Virgil H. Head, 69, of Perryville died Sunday, Oct. 29, 1995, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. He was born Oct. 26, 1926, at Yount, son of Charles and Pearl Head. He married Iva Pittman July 3, 1948. Head was a construction laborer. He was a member of Perryville VFW Post 4282 and served in the Navy...

SIKESTON -- Mary Hopper, 82, of Sikeston died Saturday, Oct. 28, 1995, at her home. She was born Sept. 25, 1913, to William and Maudie Beck Hastings in the Big Opening community near Matthews. On Feb. 8, 1935, she married Tennie Hopper, who died Oct. 10, 1984...

DEXTER -- Duane K. Mallory, 61, of Dexter died Saturday, Oct. 28, 1995, at Dexter Memorial Hospital. He was born Nov. 18, 1933, at Chenoa, Ill., to Melvin and Irene Runyon Mallory. He married Gladys Mae Mardis at Bloomington, Ill., Feb. 10, 1957. He represented Ward 1 on the Dexter Board of Aldermen, a position he held for 15 years. He also served on the Governor's Committee for Employment of the Handicapped...

Louise A. Boehme, 76, formerly of Frohna, died Sunday, Oct. 29, 1995, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 17, 1919, at New Wells, daughter of Theodore and Margaret Hemmann Koch. She and Oscar G. Boehme were married June 19, 1950. He died Jan. 17, 1991...

Most Americans who heard the president of the United States, then engaged in a campaign to win a full four-year term in the White House, propose a national health care insurance plan were highly skeptical. Speaking at whistle stops all across the country, Harry Truman told listeners that too many of them were being denied adequate medical care because they couldn't afford it, and then he would add his typical HST kicker: "The reason America is being denied this care is because a do-nothing Congress has failed to act on my proposal for national health insurance." Actually the plans hadn't yet been formulated, since the White House staff had decided not to go through the motions of specificity unless their chief was returned by the voters.. ...

Building highways has become a complicated and time-consuming process in Missouri, not to mention a burden on limited financial resources. Part of the reason highway projects take so long is the bureaucratic system. Decisions on which projects will become reality are made in Jefferson City, and decisions on which projects will get funding are also made in the state capital...

We are at an historic turning point. The Republican Congress has worked hard to bring us to the verge of this great moment which wil bring an end to 30 years of rapidly expanding government, return money to the American taxpayer, save Medicare and reform a welfare system which is destructive and has left so many of our communities devoid of hope...

Health-care reform was a big national issues just a few short months ago, but the politically charged efforts in Washington to deal with this important issue pretty much self-destructed when there was big push to create a government-controlled system run by medicrats in the nation's capital...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Police Lt. Bob Goro and his partner, Sgt. Mike Osifcin, hit the streets over the Halloween weekend, hoping for the best but ready for the worst. Both could easily recall Halloween 1994, when a sea of drunken party-goers stormed up and down a popular section of U.S. 51 known as "The Strip." Police used Mace and night sticks to restore peace after two cars were flipped and more than a dozen people injured...

MALDEN -- Marian Bock of New Madrid has been named chairman of a new six-member committee which will promote tourism in the Bootheel. Other members of the committee, selected by the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission, are Leslie Bruning of Kennett, Tammy Carlyle of East Prairie, Don Lloyd of Caruthersville, Linda Lowe of Sikeston and Jane Coleman of Dexter...

Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. reported an 8.5 percent increase in third-quarter, 1995, net income. Net income earnings for the quarter were $110.6 million, or 86 cents per common share, compared with $102 million and 79 cents per common share during the same quarter in 1994...

Fastenal Co. sales were up 33 percent during the third quarter of 1995. Fastenal, a national distributor of threaded metal products and related construction supplies, reported quarter sales of $57,993,000 million up from the $43.5 million sales during the same period in 1994. Net earnings grew from $5.1 million in the third quarter of 1994 to $7.4 million during the third quarter of 1995, an increased of 43 percent. Earnings per share increased from 14 cents to 19 cents...

Southern Brothers Gospel Music Entertainment will be featured during an open house held at Kessinger Chiropractic Clinics Nov. 11, from noon to 4. Yak Yak the Clown will also provide entertainment. The center, at 1424 Kurre Lane in Cape Girardeau, will provide clinic tours, provide refreshments and door prizes. Admission is free...

Dana Corp. posted its eighth consecutive quarter of record sales and earnings during the quarter ending Sept. 30. Sales for the third quarter were $1.73 billion, up 7 percent over the third-quarter totals of 1994. Net income for the quarter was $60.9 million, up 15 percent. Earnings per share were 60 cents, an 11 percent increase over 1994 totals for the same quarter...

Commerce Bancshares Inc. reported record earnings of $79.4 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 1995. Nine-months earnings were up 10.5 percent compared to $71.8 million for the same period a year ago. Per-share earnings for the nine months were $2.21, compared to $2.13 during the same period in 1994...

Former U.S. Sen. John Danforth will be speaker during a satellite network broadcast, to be held at Edward D. Jones & Co. stock broker offices Nov. 2. Danforth will discuss Social Security and proposed reforms to the system. Joe and Donna Domian and Bob Etherton, Jones representatives in Cape Girardeau, will host the live satellite, which will be interactive. Viewers may call in and present questions to Danforth...

Southwestern Bell is joining the likes of JCPenney Co. Inc., Spiegel and L.L. Bean. The company last week mailed out a 28-page "Busy Household Solutions Catalog" of its products and services to customers throughout Eastern Missouri. The catalog includes products and services from Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., Southwestern bell Mobile systems, Southwestern Bell Messaging Services, Southwestern Bell Yellow pages and Southwestern Bell Telecom...

State Farm Insurance Co., headquartered in Bloomington, Ill., says it will cut its work force by 1,250 in a restructuring designed to save $100 million a year. Reductions to its more than 70,000-person work force will take place mainly through attrition as the reorganization is phased in over the next three years...

Roosevelt Financial Group Inc., holding company for Roosevelt Bank, reported net income of $20.8 million, 46 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30. Net income down 8 percent from the $22.4 million earnings and 50 cents a share reported for the same quarter last year...

Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, of the 27th Senatorial District, is recipient of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce's Spirit of Enterprise Award. Kinder accepted the award recently during the chamber's 23rd annual Legislative Action Seminar at Lake of the Ozarks...

The date has been changed for the annual Cape Girardeau Chamber Board of Directors annual retreat, to be held at Lone Star Natatorium. The retreat, previously set for Nov. 17, will be held Dec. 1, immediately following that month's First Friday Coffee, to discuss goals, set priorities, establish budgets and discuss other issues...

James P. Limbaugh, president of Boatmen's National Bank of Cape Girardeau, has been appointed to serve on the Marketing and Communications Committee for the Missouri Bankers Association (MBA). Limbaugh's appointment was announced by Gary Tribble of Unionville, MBA chairman...