Stories from Saturday, December 30, 1995

State Auditor Margaret Kelly is claiming that Missouri taxpayers are owed refunds up to $618 million, or four times greater than the $147 million Gov. Mel Carnahan has announced will be paid to 2 million Missouri taxpayers in 1997. Carnahan's refund works out to $41 for each taxpayer. ...

With the election 13 months ago of a Republican Congress asserting an agenda opposed to that of President Clinton, sharp confrontations became inevitable. Those confrontations recently have begun taking the form of presidential vetoes of bills passed by Congress, followed by congressional attempts to override those vetoes...

Anyone who reads newspapers regularly can see the way reporters and editors use subtle changes in the language to manipulate what readers think. Euphemisms instantly come to mind. In newspapers of a few decades past, lifestyles weren't alternative; behavior was deviant; mentally impaired people were retarded; the disadvantaged were poor; the homeless were bums, hoboes and vagabonds. The examples are myriad...

All over the world, people are looking in the mirror, stepping on the scale or pinching an inch -- or more -- and proclaiming, "It's time to get healthy!" So now what? There are a lot of things people can do for themselves, health experts say. But it's important that new health habits be carried out on a year-round basis, not just until the New Year's glow wears off...

JACKSON -- Both the old and new city halls in Jackson were a shambles Friday, as employees hauled box after box from one building to the other. By 10:30 a.m., the old building on South High Street was pretty much empty. The city collector's office, the only one open during moving day, was the sole room with any semblance of order...

JACKSON -- The city collector's office in Jackson will be open today from 9 a.m.-noon so taxpayers can drop off their 1995 city taxes. Collector Beverly Nelson said about 70 percent of the taxes were in by Friday morning, but she expected a rush in the afternoon and today...

Part of my high-pressure, mentally taxing job at the newspaper is to come up with one of the weekly man-on-the-street questions. You know -- the ones where a reporter runs up and asks how you feel about the Republican view of the energy crisis but you don't know what the heck he's talking about...

THIS IS to the caller who said Slick Willie could never outdo Tricky Dicky. In my opinion, he already has. After all, Nixon was involved in covering up a break-in at Democratic headquarters. Slick Willie's best friend committed suicide. Plus there was Waco with all these young children and pregnant women who were gassed and burned up. ...

NEW WELLS -- Harlen Haertling of New Wells died Friday, Dec. 29, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incompleted at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.

Marie Weiss, 87, formerly of Jackson, died Thursday, Dec. 28, 1995, at the Chateau Girardeau Health Center. She was born Jan. 23, 1908, at Jackson, daughter of William and Minnie Hoffmeister Bodenstein. She and Walter W. Weiss were married Sept. 5, 1935. He preceded her in death May 24, 1990...

CHAFFEE -- Mary Wilson Johnson, 96, of Chaffee, died Thursday, Dec. 28, 1995, at the Chaffee Nursing Center. She was born March 9, 1899, at Oran, daughter of William J. and Louise Metz Wilson. She had been a seamstress for many years. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Sikeston, and the Order of the Eastern Star, Chapter 137...

GOREVILLE, Ill. -- Effie Lorene Poole, 80, of Goreville, Ill., formerly of Tamms, Ill., died Friday, Dec. 29, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 19, 1915 in Elco, Ill., daughter of the late John and Lucy Pearl Brimm Sims...

PERRYVILLE -- Dale Thomas Smith, 61, of Perryville died Thursday at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 10, 1934 in St. Louis, son of the late Clarence I. and Laura Smith. He married LaVerne L. Roth on June 16, 1962. She survives. Also surviving are a daughter, Deborah Lynn Bess of Cape Girardeau; a son, Barry Neal Smith of Grand Rapids, Mich.; a granddaughter; and a sister of St. Louis...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- -- Doial D. Hill, 86, of Jonesboro, died Friday, Dec. 29, 1995, at the Union County Hospital in Anna, Ill. He was born Jan. 28, 1909, at Cobden, Ill., son of Everett and Meda Carraker Hill. He was a member of the Big Creek Baptist Church. He was a veteran of World War II, a life member of the Carroll P. Foster Post No. 3455 of the VFW in Anna, and a member of the Ironworkers' Local 782 at Paducah, Ky...

Glayne Durwood Light, 70, of Winer Haven, Fla., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Wednesday, Dec. 27, 1995, at the Winter Haven Hospital. He was born April 19, 1925, at Bunker, Mo., son of William Henry and Virginia Lela Warfel Light. He and Marie Dunivan were married June 24, 1947, at St. Louis...

BENTON -- Zachary Ryan Black, 15 months, died Wednesday at his home in Benton. He was born Sept. 2, 1994, in St. Louis, the son of Michael Kevin Black and Kimberly Ann Eftink Black. He is survived by his parents; a brother, Steven Michael, and two sisters, Rachel Ann and Sarah Elizabeth, all of the home; maternal grandfather, Arthur Eftink of Oran; paternal grandmother, Dorothy Black of Oran; paternal grandparents, Darrell and Vera Black of Oran; and paternal great-grandmother, Lorene Patterson of Oran.. ...

PERRYVILLE -- Sadie E. Wittram, 92, of Perryville died Thursday, Dec. 28, 1995, at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, Ill. She was born July 24, 1903, in Sedgewickville to Emerson and Mary Seabaugh Bollinger. She married Paul Wittram. He died July 18, 1973...

An American Red Cross blood drive will be held Jan. 8 at the Jackson American Legion Hall on North High Street. The blood drive will start at 1:30 p.m. and continue until 6:30 p.m. Donors will receive a home cholesterol test kit. Cold weather and flu season prevent some donors from giving blood, so donors are needed this time of year. For more information, call the American Red Cross at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE...

A foot-care clinic will be offered at Southeast Missouri Hospital in the Regional Cancer Center weekdays from 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. The clinic will also be offered at Southeast's Jackson OUtreach facility in the Main Street Fitness Center from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 17 and 18, and at Southeast's outreach facility at Doctors' Memorial Clinic in Frohna on Jan. 31 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m...

The Mended Hearts Club, a national, non-profit service for heart patients and their families, will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Drury Lodge. Karen Mazzolla, emergency services outreach educator at Southeast Missouri Hospital, will present a program about LifeBeat, the hospital's air ambulance service...

Leading medical and scientific experts say that you really don't need to fret about that morning cup of tea or after-dinner cappuccino. Caffeine -- one of the most studied ingredients in the food supply -- has been the subject of hundreds of research studies worldwide, in areas ranging from cancer and heart disease to reproduction and osteoporosis...