Stories from Friday, January 26, 1996

To the editor: New Missouri license plates are to be issued in January 1997. I believe the new design of this plate is to be decided on by April. A committee with Rep. Larry Thomason as chairman is in the process of redesigning the license plates. I would like to see the name of the county in which the plate is issued stamped on the new plates. A number of states, including Iowa, have the county name on the plates...

Nominations for the 1996 Womancare Award sponsored by St. Francis Medical Center are being accepted. Deadline for nominations is Feb. 1. The award, which recognizes women from the area who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement, will be presented at the Womancare Conference March 8...

BENTON -- Wayne Petitt of Scott City has been appointed to the Scott County Commission to succeed Joe Spalding, who died in December. Gov. Mel Carnahan Wednesday appointed Petit, who was recommended by the Scott County Central Democratic Committee. Committee Chairman Michael G. Marshall said the committee was looking for someone to help develop the county's economy. "We didn't want a caretaker who sits back and reacts to the people or the business," Marshall said...

A number of state legislators have introduced bills meant to end so-called drive-through births in Missouri. The bills are prompted by concerns that mothers and their newborns are being rushed out of hospitals because of cost-cutting pressures from insurance companies...

At-risk students in the public school system are a big concern for educators. They also are a concern for future employers who some day will either reject students who didn't complete high school or, in some cases, waste money trying to make them productive. And the at-risk students are a concern for taxpayers who wind up spending far more for many dropouts because of extra social-service costs, rehabilitation or prison upkeep...

Adopt A Farm Family Of America is a national outreach program that combines practical agriculture with the spiritual needs of farm families. It is the brainchild of Peter C. Myers Sr. and his wife, Mary, of Sikeston. Peter Myers is a former deputy secretary of agriculture in the Reagan administration...

To the editor: The Christmas season has finally come to an end. We now can enjoy our two-sizes-too-small sweater from Aunt Cleta (which you have given to the kids to fight over), our deluxe can opener/salad tosser from the parents and the new CD which now is not-so-new (you know, the one with the song on it that you can't get out of your head for anything). ...

To the editor: To anyone who cares about good government, another federal shutdown is like a preventable death in the family: distressing and mournful. I care enough to send Washington my very best sympathies about it. Might you? If we fly our colors upside-down for dire distress and at half-staff for mourning today, both Congress and the president should get it...

To the editor: Probably a most interesting and revealing scenario took place recently during Government Shutdown No. 2. Some of the harshest critics of big, complex government were observed standing in line, pleading to have their favorite federal programs put on a growing list of activities that Congress would agree to fund through next September...

BENTON -- Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell started the new year with a plan to boost morale in his department. But better morale could cost the county some money. Last week, Ferrell asked the Scott County Commission to approve a $500,000 budget for the department. That compares with a budget of $402,000 approved by the commission last year...

SIKESTON -- Sikeston public schools won a race into the future Thursday, becoming the first district in the state to offer Distance Learning. Students at Bell City High School watched a television monitor as Steve McPheeters, executive director of the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce, lectured to an economics class at Sikeston High School...

It doesn't matter if the memory is correct. It's the best you've got to work with. So tell everyone how cold, hot, rainy, snowy, icy, windy (choose one) it really was. Whenever the sky frowns and starts to spit ice, most folks around here do something interesting: They act like the world has gone nuts...

TO "CHILLY attitude": The way the Cardinals have been playing the last two or three years, I'd much prefer to listen to a lawn mower blasting. I'M A 50-year-old male. The only money I ever received from the government were my paychecks while serving in the military. ...

The Area Wide United Way announced allocations of more than $392.000 to 23 community service agencies Thursday. The allocations will be made from the $503,818 collected during the United Way's 1995 fund-raising campaign. The goal for the campaign was $500,000...

Southeast Missouri State University and the school's foundation won't fill a key fund-raising position until the university hires a new president. Meanwhile, Don Ford, who has battled bone marrow cancer, has resigned as director of development for Southeast...

The chairman of the Missouri Republican Party says most Missourians dislike policies instituted during Gov. Mel Carnahan's first term. Unfortunately for Republicans, those feelings haven't transferred to the governor himself. "Our polls indicate people don't like Carnahan's policies," said John C. "Woody" Cozad, state Republican chairman. "But they don't yet connect those policies with Carnahan."...

JACKSON -- Paul and Charolette House still are grappling with legal fees to keep custody of their granddaughter, G.G. House. They began battling their daughter-in-law, Karen House of St. Louis, in February 1994, claiming she was an unfit parent due to occult practices and alleged child abuse...

CHAFFEE -- Funeral mass for Gilbert Anton Welter of Maryland Heights, formerly of Chaffee Route 1, was held Tuesday at St. Blase Catholic Church in Maryland Heights. Burial was in Calvary Catholic Cemetery in St. Louis. Collier Funeral Home in Maryland Heights was in charge of arrangements...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for John W. "Jake" Hodges of East Prairie will be held at 11 a.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel in Charleston. The Rev. Ted Wimberley will officiate, with burial in Odd Fellows Cemetery near Charleston. Hodges, 74, died Wednesday, Jan. 24, 1996, at Bertrand Retirement Home...

ORAN -- Funeral service for Opal Mae Bradshaw of Oran will be held at 1 p.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Chapel in Morehouse. The Rev. Gary Teague will officiate, with burial in Essex Cemetery at Essex. Bradshaw, 74, died Wednesday, Jan. 24, 1996, at Sikeston Convalescent Center in Sikeston...

Virginia Lockhart, 54, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Jan. 25, 1996, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Oran.

OAK RIDGE -- Funeral service for Ruby Lorene Probst of Oak Ridge will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at McCombs Funeral Chapel in Jackson. The Rev. Howard Huddle will officiate, with burial in Goshen Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. Saturday...

Daughter to Barry Joseph and Susan Annette Glastetter of Chaffee, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 12:03 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, 1996. Name, Anna Elizabeth. Weight, 7 pounds 11 ounces. Fifth child, fourth daughter. Mrs. Glastetter is the former Susan Pence, daughter of Rita and Bob Neal of Lebanon Junction, Ky. The Glastetters own ServiceMaster Lawncare of Cape. He is the son of Eugene and Rella Glastetter of Chaffee...

GORDONVILLE -- Funeral service for Johnnie Pinkey Cook of Decatur, Ill., will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shafer Funeral Home in Taylorville, Ill. The Rev. Rodney Blomquist will officiate, with burial in Oak Hill Cemetery at Taylorville. Cook, 89, died Tuesday, Jan. 23, 1996, at his home...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Dr. Dewey E. Urban of Sikeston will be held at 11 a.m. today at Ponder Funeral Home. The Rev. Ken Jarvis will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery. Urban, 82, died Wednesday, Jan. 24, 1996, at Clearview Nursing Center...

ADVANCE -- Pearl Markham, 81, of Advance, died Thursday, Jan. 25, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Morgan Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Joe M. Rapp of Colorado Springs, Colo., formerly of Jackson, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at McCombs Funeral Chapel in Jackson. The Rev. Sam Roethemeyer will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home Saturday from noon to service time...

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission appointed two new members to the Planning and Recreation Board, which oversees the County Park on Highway 61. Virgil Chirnside and David Hitt recently were appointed to the board. Hitt has served on the Jackson Park Board for six years...

CHARLESTON -- Freddie Scott, 78, of Charleston died Tuesday, Jan. 23, 1996, at the Audubon Health Care Center. He was born Aug. 13, 1917, at Charleston, son of Alex and Tiny Scott. He and Laura P. Brewer were married in 1937. She preceded him in death...