Stories from Tuesday, February 20, 1996

Fruehwald created musical sounds from everyday kitchen items. Myra Patnou listened and watched as composer Robert Fruehwald performed a musical composition based on the sounds his cat Fletcher makes. Through the music video and live flute accompaniment Fruehwald showed students at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School how the creative process works and that music can be very personal...

The students in Shirley Reimann's second-grade class made a likeness of themselves for open house this year. FRUITLAND -- When parents enter Shirley Reimann's classroom they are surprised to see so many well-behaved students. Until they realize the students are just paper-likenesses of the real thing...

It shouldn't cost the taxpayers any money for the Cape Girardeau Board of Education to improve basic education, provide sound financial management, emphasize high academic standards and provide more discipline in the schools. Those suggestions topped the list of public concerns compiled by the Vision Planning Committee, which submitted a report to the board at Monday's meeting...

JEFFERSON CITY -- What's the fastest growing segment of Missouri's population? Officials in the state's Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse don't have to pause a moment before answering this question: compulsive gamblers. The numbers these officials can cite are alarming: Compulsive gamblers exceed the population of the state's fourth largest city, Independence. ...

U.S. Rep. Mel Hancock, a Springfield Republican, says Missouri lawmakers and courts have short-circuited the constitutional amendment that bears his name. Local lawmakers agree but say Hancock's latest proposal might not be the best way to keep taxation under control...

I found the decapitated, partially nude bodies on my living room carpet. It wasn't a pretty sight to see Barbie dolls treated that way. Underneath a pile of unblemished Barbies, I spotted one of the heads with its blonde hair and earrings in place. I haven't found the other head...

A Cape Girardeau woman has earned an exceptional honor. Laurel Adkisson was recently chosen on of the 1996 10 Outstanding Young Missourians by the state Jaycees. Adkisson works a financial services officer with Commerce Bank. She was nominated by the Cape Girardeau Jaycees...

Senate Bill 380 -- the Outstanding Schools Act -- promised sweeping school reforms in Missouri. Those reforms are being crystallized at the local level as each district devises its own set of school standards patterned after state guidelines. After all the rhetoric, posturing and a whopping $300 million-plus tax increase, it is local school districts that the so-called reforms sift down to educating our children. ...

There are lots of reasons fewer people are watching network news, and one of them, I'm more than convinced than ever, is that our viewers simply don't trust us. And for good reason. The old argument that the networks and other "media elites" have a liberal bias is so blatantly true that it's hardly worth discussing anymore. No, we don't sit around in dark corners and plan strategies on how we're going to slant the news. We don't have to. It comes naturally to most reporters...

PERRYVILLE -- Mary A. Abel, 79, of Perryville, died Monday, Feb. 19, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 23, 1916, at Ferguson, daughter of Fred and Anna Eimman. She and Gerald L. Abel were married Dec. 31, 1935. He died Dec. 14, 1963...

ANNA, Ill. -- Versia M. Highland, 84, of Anna, died Monday, Feb. 19, 1996, at City Care Center. She was born Jan. 11, 1912, in Cobden, daughter of Walton and Dorothy Hankla Ballard. She and John N. Highland were married in 1934. He died Oct. 3, 1989...

FREDERICKTOWN -- Funeral service for Sgt. Randy Vincent Sullivan of Fredericktown will be held at 2 p.m. today at Meadow Heights Baptist Church in Fredericktown, with the Rev. Jim DeSpain officiating. Burial will be in Marcus Memorial Park here. Wilson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements...

GIDEON -- Lema Ora Bradshaw, 80, of Gideon, died Sunday, Feb. 18, 1996, at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. She was born Nov. 11, 1915, in Damascus, Ark., daughter of John Oliver and Lucy Hall Dixon. She and William Thomas Bradshaw were married Jan. 28, 1932, in Guy, Ark. He died June 14, 1989...

SEDGEWICKVILLE -- Funeral service for Troy Paul Ackman, Sedgewickville Route 1, will be held at 1 p.m. today at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home in Jackson. The Rev. Roy Michael will officiate, with burial in New Bethel Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 9 a.m. to service time...

Alfred Butrum, 56, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Feb. 19, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel in Cape Girardeau.

MALDEN -- Funeral service for Chester "Toad" Bryant of Malden will be held at 2 p.m. today at First Assembly of God Church, with the Rev. Dale Shoup officiating. Burial will be in Rosewood Cemetery. Bradshaw Funeral Home at Malden is in charge of arrangements...

SIKESTON -- Birdie Ozella Yarbrough, 90, of Sikeston, died Sunday, Feb. 18, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Aug. 17, 1905, in Holdenville, Okla., daughter of John and Julia Pogue. Yarbrough worked 20 years at Sikeston Laundry and Dry Cleaners. She moved here 54 years ago from Arkansas. She was a member of Shady Acres Church of Christ...

Cape Girardeau County Elmer and Wayne Boehme to Jeff Barnicle; Edward Leoni to Paul and Carolyn Bollinger; Paul and Carolyn Bollinger to Donna McDowell; Lee and Lisa Leimer to James and Shirley Ramage; Marilyn Brown et al. to Patsy Harris; Richard and Nona Abernathy to David and Becky Rice; Leonard and Leslie Essner to Gary and Sue Ellyn Miller; Carl and Linda Wallman to Danny Wallman and Tiffany Cook...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Donald G. Lewis, 66, of Cobden, died Sunday, Feb. 18, 1996, at Union County Hospital in Anna. He was born March 26, 1929, in Carbondale, son of Armold and Sada Lingle Lewis. He and Marilyn Lamer were married July 18, 1954, in Anna. Lewis was a graduate of Anna-Jonesboro High School and West Point Military Academy. ...

GORDONVILLE -- Orville F. Deneke, 78, of Gordonville, died Monday, Feb. 19, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born July 9, 1917, at Gordonville, son of William August and Pauline Elvina Nothdurft Deneke. He and Ruth Neumeyer were married Dec. 10, 1942...

Marilda Pauline Anna Koenig, 84, of Arcadia, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Monday, Feb. 19, 1996, in Arcadia Valley Hospital. He was born April 6, 1911, in Bancroft, Neb., daughter of Fred and Anna Tietz Brehmen. She and Frederick Joseph Koenig were married Feb. 25, 1934. He died Feb. 19, 1976...

Funeral service for Anna May Montgomery of Cape Girardeau will be held at 3 p.m. today at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. John Gregory will officiate. Friends may call at the chapel from 1 p.m. to service time. Graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Feb. 27 at Dexter City Cemetery in Dexter...

Son to Gary Joe and Melody Ruth Trout of Bloomfield, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 4:06 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9, 1996. Name, Benjamin Rust. Weight, 9 pounds. Second son. Mrs. Trout is the former Melody Brown, daughter of Joe and Marcella Brown of Bell City. Mr. and Mrs. Trout are self-employed at Trout Enterprises Convenience Stores. He is the son of Verda Trout of Advance...

PERRYVILLE -- Clarence F. Baudendistel, 91, of Perryville died Monday, Feb. 19, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at the Miller Family Funeral Home in Perryville.

BENTON -- Denis F. LeGrand, 85, of Benton died Monday, Feb. 19, 1996, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Benton.

Sgt. Randy Sullivan of the Missouri State Highway Patrol will be laid to rest this afternoon at Marcus Memorial Park following a funeral at Meadow Heights Baptist Church east of Fredericktown. Not only will the residents of Fredericktown mourn the loss of the 17-year veteran of the patrol, but residents of his hometown, Piedmont, also were thinking of his family following the accident that claimed the 40-year-old Sullivan and seriously injured a recruit, Christopher R. ...

Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., City Hall Public Hearings On the 1996-2001 Capital Improvements Program On a proposal to vacate city's interest in a portion of Country Club Drive, Capaha Trail and an unnamed street in the Cape Rock Park area Consent Ordinances (Second and third readings)...

Staff from St. Francis Medical Center will be at the Cape Girardeau Public Library from 8:30-10:30 a.m. March 2 for a cholesterol screening and low-fat diet program. They will take blood pressure readings and do cholesterol and blood sugar screenings. Those interested in the blood sugar screening should fast from after dinner the night before until after the test...

JACKSON -- Residents of Oak Hill Road will have their lawyers with them at a public hearing tonight at Jackson City Hall. Controversy about the street project has stretched over a year, with residents requesting the road and then objecting to the city's engineering and special tax assessment for it...

Mark Berwer of Perryville and Robert Hoppmann of Cape Girardeau had received the District Award of Merit at an annual meeting for the Shawnee District of the Greater St. Louis Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America in January. Another award winner was J. Kensey Russell of Cape Girardeau. He received the District Award of Merit at Boy Scout Troop 10's Court of Honor at the Glenn House in January...

Several area students have been named to the winter semester Dean's List at the University of Missouri-Rolla. To be eligible for the list, students must earn a 3.2 grade-point average during the semester. Students named were Benjamin Baker, Andrew Dial, Edwin Kuntz, Gregory Kuntz and Christina Madrid, all of Cape Girardeau; Craig Sebaugh of Daisy; Michael Byrd, Stacey Cranmer, Dyrk Huffman, Daniel Perry, April Schmidt, Kathleen Stoverink and Shawn Weber, all of Jackson; Doyle Webb of Marble Hill; and Aaron Garland of Sedgewickville.. ...

Joseph Schumer, son of Ronald and Gloria Schumer of Scott City, was selected as the 1995 Outstanding Graduate Student for the Nuclear Engineering department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Schumer, a 1987 graduate of Scott City High School, is expected to graduate in December with a doctor's degree in nuclear engineering...

A number of area students have been named to the University of Missouri-Columbia's fall semester honor roll. Students named were Christy Vangennip of Glenn Allen; Melissa Engelen of Leopold; Susan Eckerle, Robin Thiele and Jeffrey Turner of Marble Hill...

Several area students were graduated in December from the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and will be recognized at the spring commencement ceremonies. They were Brad Dillow, Thomas Walsh, Lea Wright, Jaret Wyatt and Jason Wyatt, all of Anna, Ill.; Crystal Housman, Neil Laster, Michael Robinson, Robert Sadler and Jeff Scherer, all of Jonesboro, Ill.; Donna Essex of Mounds, Ill.; Sheila Shreve of Olive Branch, Ill.; Fairan Naeger and Michael Walker, both of Tamms, Ill.; and Jarrod Ulen of Ullin, Ill.. ...

Four area high school students have been honored as Student of the Month by the Exchange and Elks clubs. They include Sarah Sterrett, Adrian Strahan, Thomas Berkbigler and Angela Fornkohl. Sterrett is the daughter of Jack and Sharon Sterrett of Cape Girardeau. She is a student at Cape Girardeau Central High School and plans to attend the University of Missouri in Columbia and study psychology...