Stories from Friday, April 19, 1996

EAST PRAIRIE -- Taylor Elizabeth Deain, three weeks old, died Tuesday, April 16, 1996, at Acuate Care Hospice Unit in Arlington, Va. She was born March 22, 1996, in Bethesda, Md., daughter of Darren LeRoy and Elizabeth Anabele Shehorn Deain of Triangle, Va...

Delta Queen Steamboat Co. Inc. riverboats will make 17 stops at Cape Girardeau this summer. The Delta Queen will make six stops, the Mississippi Queen will dock seven times and the American Queen will stop here five times. Making the first stop of the year will be the American Queen, which will arrive on the Mississippi River in downtown Cape Girardeau at 8 a.m. Saturday, for a five-hour stop...

Cape Girardeau City Council members will be at Black Forest for 10 hours today, participating in a marathon update session about city affairs. The retreat is an annual event but with a new twist this year. Instead of two days of introductions to city departments and staff members, one long day of progress reports is planned...

The Cape Girardeau Public Schools wants to round up every kindergarten-age child in the city and enroll them for school next year. About 300 students are expected to enroll. The district will hold its annual Kindergarten Spring Round-Up next week. Children who will be 5 years old before July 1 are eligible to register. Enrollment hours, which begin Monday, will be from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. each day...

The Student Environmental Action Coalition at Southeast Missouri State University will sponsor a kite flying contest Saturday at the Intramural Fields, corner of Sprigg and Bertling. All age groups are welcome to the event, scheduled as part of Cape Girardeau's Earth Day celebrations. Prizes will be awarded in each age division. An entry fee of $5 will be charged per individual and $10 per group...

They're selling exercise equipment, electric skillets and an intercom; chairs, china and a chain saw; baskets, bar stools and brand new tires; life jackets, lamps and ladies shoes; carpet, clothing, and cordless screwdrivers all for the fund. At the Cape Girardeau Senior Center, the fund is always the building fund, for which the seniors are holding a benefit auction April 27...

The fall campaign of 1996 appears to be shaping up as one titanic struggle and potentially the most crucial and defining election in 64 years. What is abundantly clear is that one side -- Big Labor, to be exact -- is pushing an enormous pile of chips toward the middle of the table in one gigantic bet that it can reverse the results of the 1994 elections. And Missouri voters are as much labor's target and focus as we've ever been...

The Holocaust, which has been remembered with special observances throughout this week, is considered by many to be the darkest shadow on the history of the 20th century. To say that the Holocaust resulted in the deaths of millions of Europeans civilians, mostly Jews, at the hands of Nazis during World War II is fact. But it also is too simplistic. The complex horrors -- and lessons from those atrocities -- continue to unfold more than half a century later...

Today marks the addition of a daily prayer to the Southeast Missourian's Opinion page. It is in the upper left-hand corner just above these editorials. Prayers are not foreign to newspapers, although relatively few of them carry a prayer every day. A couple of readers of this newspaper recently returned from Arizona where they were struck by the dimension a daily prayer added to a major newspaper there. ...

To the editor: It pains one's sense of decency to read the full-column letter in the April 14 issue engaging in an abortive attempt to define the terms liberal and conservative. It proposes to "be helpful to provide a definition that gives a better sense of their meaning." Hardly. The letter is simply another display of a veiled diatribe that says no more than "conservatism is good, liberalism is bad."...

The Salvation Army, 701 Good Hope, will serve Meals with Friends next week. The free meals will be served from 4:30-6:30 p.m. weekdays. Everyone is welcome to attend. Monday -- Spaghetti with meat sauce, lettuce salad, green beans, bread and butter and pudding...

To the editor: Gov. Mel Carnahan has fooled us again. This time he fooled us with Amendment 4. Earlier he fooled us on Proposition A and with his massive attack on Hancock II. In the beginning there was Senate Bill 380, in which he fooled us with the $310 million state income tax increase. You may have noticed last December that this forced local school districts to increase our property taxes to receive their part of the state income tax increase...

SIKESTON -- Thelma Leona Kennedy, 83, of Sells Rest Home at Matthews and formerly of Sikeston, died Wednesday, April 17, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Dec. 25, 1912, in Pocahontas, Tenn., daughter of George Pank and Ollie Doles Gates. She and Willie V. Kennedy were married Aug. 28, 1933, in Ripley, Miss. He died Jan. 4, 1990...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Funeral service and burial for Alvie "Buck" Bradshaw of Sturtevant, Wis., was held Thursday in Sturtevant. Announcement courtesy of Crain Funeral Home in Tamms. Bradshaw, 81, died Monday, April 15, 1996, at St. Mary's Medical Center in Sturtevant...

SIKESTON -- Stella Slinkard, 91, died Wednesday, April 17, 1996, at Sikeston Health Care. She was born June 14, 1904, in Marquand, daughter of J.P. and Minnie Whitener Yount. She married Lee Roy Denbow, who died in 1937. She later married Albert D. Slinkard, who died in 1975...

ANNA, Ill. -- Essie McKinney, 98, of Phoenix, Ariz., died Wednesday, April 17, 1996, at Desert Cove Nursing Center in Chandler, Ariz. She was born Feb. 27, 1898, in Jackson County, daughter of George and Clercy Penrod Bean. McKinney was formerly of Anna and Alto Pass. She was a psychiatric aide and licensed practical nurse at Anna State Hospital. She was a member of Anna United Methodist Church and life member of Order of Eastern Star Chapter 522 in Anna...

DUTCHTOWN -- James F. Lape, 58, of San Jose, Calif., died Tuesday, April 16, 1996, at his home. He was born Dec. 12, 1937, at Dutchtown, son of Arnold and Alma Goetz Lape. Survivors include a son, David Lape of New Braunfels, Texas; two daughters, Pam Everhart and Sandy White of state of Oregon; a sister, Lilla Curnell of Scott City, and five grandchildren...

JACKSON -- George Vrbosky, 82, of Jackson, died Thursday, April 18, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson from 4-8 p.m. today. Funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Robert Henrichs officiating. Burial will be in Russell Heights Cemetery...

Son to Charles Brian and Kathy Sue Slinkard of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, April 9, 1996. Name, Kyle Brian. Weight, 10 pounds 1 ounce. Mrs. Slinkard is the former Kathy Fisher, daughter of Dave and Sue Fisher of Jackson. She is employed at McDonald's Restaurant on Broadway. Slinkard is the son of Charles and Gloria Slinkard and Doris Faulkner of Jackson. He is employed at McDonald's Restaurant on William...

Today is the last day to enter your meatloaf masterpiece in the Southeast Missourian's first-ever Meatloaf Lovers' Contest. Entries should be dropped off the newspaper, 301 Broadway, or postmarked today. Mail entries to: Meatloaf Lovers' Contest, Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701...

A man espousing benefits of a proposed lake in Bollinger and Cape Girardeau counties shared center stage with this year's award recipients at the 8th annual Awards Banquet of the Regional Commerce and Growth Association Thursday night. The recipient of the Dr. John T. Crowe Award was Stan Crader of Marble Hill. He was recognized for his work promoting the lake project...

Officials with the Small Business Administration visited Cape Girardeau Thursday to promote the Enterprise Community program, a key element in President Bill Clinton's community revitalization strategy. The program is designed to help people and government work together to enhance industrial opportunities in inner cities and rural communities to create jobs...

It took longer for the memories of rising floodwaters to fade than for Commerce residents to accept or decline property buyout offers that began four months ago. The State Emergency Management Agency closed its flood buyout office last week even though some offers are still on the table. Residents didn't learn about the closing until it happened...

Like most familiar newspapers, my favorite hometown weekly from the Ozarks is full of memories as well as news. Most of the memories are pleasant. Some are surprising. Take the little game I play every Thursday evening after the mail brings me my hometown paper. I sit in my recliner and look at the pictures -- my hometown paper is full of people photos -- and try to guess who these folks are without reading the information below the photo...

Members of several Southeast Missouri State University sororities will spend their "Service Weekend" posting information from Fruitland to Sikeston about the Safehouse for Women. About 20 women will be placing stickers bearing the safehouse's name and crisis hotline number on mirrors in women's restrooms in restaurants, public buildings, service stations and convenience stores in the region, said Julie Schroeder, a 20-year-old student and coordinator of the Service Weekend project...

Being prepared for the work place requires more than classroom learning these days. That's one of the reasons more than 75 Southeast Missouri State University students have registered to participate in the Fourth Annual Student Research Conference. The conference will be Monday and Tuesday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the University Center...

Keeping children off drugs is a community effort and volunteer leaders are still needed for Project CHARLIE training. A workshop will be held Saturday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Riverside Regional Library in Jackson. Project CHARLIE is a national program that trains community volunteers to teach drug prevention techniques to second and fourth grade students. CHARLIE is an acronym for CHemical Abuse Resolution Lies In Education...

As childbearers, Jewish women living during the Holocaust faced moral dilemmas with no preparation. It made their experiences as survivors unique, Dr. Harry James Cargas said Thursday. The Webster University professor and published Holocaust scholar spoke on the subject before a group of about 40 at Rose Theater, located on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. His audience appeared horrified and contemplative, considering the tragedy...