Stories from Friday, April 26, 1996

To the editor: Of the many, varied and special topics featured in the April 21 issue of the Southeast Missourian, the one that caught the eye most among its readers and made the greatest impact was the honor bestowed to the Southeast Missourian for receiving five awards in this year's Missouri Associated Press newswriting contest...

To the editor: March was Women's History Month, and we want to highlight the Clinton administration's accomplishments on behalf of women and their families. The first bill President Clinton signed was the Family and Medical Leave Act allowing 43 million workers to care for children or sick loved ones without losing their jobs. ...

When the Southeast Missourian's managing editor, Joni Adams, heard about Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Beauty, she was struck by its simplicity and its potential. Soon she learned that several newspapers across the country had sponsored Random Acts of Kindness Week, and she quickly won this newspaper's endorsement to promote such a week here...

Developments in the school desegregation programs in both Kansas City and St. Louis this week indicate a great deal of hesitancy on the part of the federal judges administering those cases to make tough decisions to end state funding. Missouri taxpayers now have contributed more than $2 billion to those urban districts, and it appears the money has produced mediocre results at best and outright failures in many instances. ...

Traditionally, Earth Day is the day Americans make special note of how precious our environment is and how important it is to protect. That is as true today as it has been since the first Earth Day was observed in 1970. Unfortunately, today some Democrats in Congress are so motivated by the opportunity to manufacture a campaign issue that they are intentionally misleading the public about what we are doing to protect the environment. ...

By their friends, goes the old adage, we shall know them. That venerable wisdom came to mind with this week's announcement that former (1983-95) Missouri Congressman Alan Wheat will be deputy campaign manager for President Bill Clinton's re-election campaign. ...

Karen Hendrickson believes that a good ministry must deal with both body and soul. The body will be the focus of a community health fair Saturday at Grace United Methodist Church, Broadway and Caruthers. Hendrickson, assistant administrator and chief nursing officer at Southeast Missouri Hospital, is heading up the project...

A golf tournament and evening barbecue will highlight first-day activities at the annual Rotary District 6090 Conference being held in Cape Girardeau today through Sunday. The conference doesn't actually begin until Saturday, but registration opens today at 1 p.m. at the Drury Lodge...

METROPOLIS, Ill. -- A strong gust of wind Wednesday caused the Players Riverboat Casino riverboat's boarding gate to open and smash into boat's ticket barge where passengers board, officials said. The riverboat was approaching the ticket barge facility for mooring during its loading and unloading period. Six persons suffered minor injuries and were treated and released at Massac Memorial Hospital in Metropolis...

Carrie Suedekum, a charter member and past president of the St. Francis Medical Center Auxiliary, was named recipient of the Vernice Baumstark Award for outstanding service to the organization and the hospital Thursday. Auxiliary president Fran Rediger also presented the hospital with a $39,000 contribution representing proceeds from gift shop sales and other fund-raising activities...

The scene would have been disconcerting to a real patient. Ten girls, ages 9 to 16, dressed in scrubs and latex gloves, surrounded the surgical table. They were listening to directions on how to administer anesthesia, then injecting the substance into an intravenous tube...

The Southeast Missouri Hospital Association honored volunteers and longtime trustees for outstanding service to the hospital Thursday night. Receiving the Special Service Award were volunteers Traci Taylor, a Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School student who established the Toy Train in the hospital's pediatrics department, and Wenona Harrison, a longtime member of the hospital auxiliary. ...

St. Francis Medical Center, adopt-a-school partner with the Cape Girardeau Junior High, will field a team for the school's donkey basketball game tonight. The game, sponsored by the PTA and the BETA Club, is a fund-raiser for the school. Participants in the basketball game will play while riding donkeys. The game starts at 7 p.m. in the Central High School old gym. Tickets are available in advance and at the door...

You can take us away from a garden spot, but that won't keep us from finding a way to do a little flower farming. Springtime yanks at some hidden strings within us. Call it a primal urge to survive. Call it planting fever. Call it too many garden catalogs in the mail...

SIKESTON -- Alan Wire Company will create about 10 more jobs thanks to a $119,000 Community Development Block Grant. Officials from the Missouri Department of Economic Development announced Wednesday that Sikeston won the grant. City Councilman Alan Keenan, who owns Alan Wire Co., said the money would solve some safety issues for his plant and allow expansion...

This year's annual auction in downtown Cape Girardeau will be held May 4. Derby Day is the theme of the Downtown Merchants Association's fund raising auction and gala, to be held at Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant. The upstairs doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the auction starting at 8 p.m. A silent auction will continue throughout the evening. A $10-per-person admission includes a hors d'oeuvres buffet. A cash bar will be available...

The 80 people or so who turned out in the rain Thursday night for Queen Bey & Her Trio heard a Missouri treasure, a Kansas City jazz singer with a 76-trombone voice and more charm than most of the divas currently on the charts. A vision in blue satin pants and a jacket of many colors, Queen Bey came out of the chute with "Lover Come Back to Me" and never looked back. ...

A Loyalty Day ceremony will be held Wednesday at the Veteran to All Wars Memorials in Brookside Park in Jackson. It will begin at 6 p.m. The Rev. Grant Gillard, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, will be the guest speaker. Guest soloist will be Marsha Caughlin of Cape Girardeau...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Violet Elizabeth Wiggins of Jackson will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at New Bethel Baptist Church near Pocahontas. The Rev. Don Slatton will officiate, with burial in the church cemetery. Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson from 4-8 p.m. today...

SIKESTON -- Ella Leah Ladd, 92, of Sikeston, died Wednesday, April 24, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born July 21, 1903, in Yellville, Ark., daughter of George Washington and Susan Elizabeth Maxie Cooper. She and Samuel Austin Ladd were married Dec. 7, 1922, in Ravenden, Ark. He died June 24, 1986...

ANNA, Ill. -- Graveside service for Clifford Warren Nance of Anna will be held at 10 a.m. today at Alto Pass Cemetery, with the Rev. Dewayne Taylor officiating. Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home at Cobden is in charge of arrangements. Nance, 75, died Tuesday, April 23, 1996, at City Care Center...

ULLIN, Ill. -- Leland McIntosh, 78, of Ullin, died Thursday, April 25, 1996, at his home. He was born Sept. 20, 1917, in Dongola, Ill., son of Arthur and Mary Arminda Lingle McIntosh. He married Gail Schluter on June 29, 1940. McIntosh was a member of the Beech Grove United Methodist Church and was a retired farmer...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Louise Williams, 88, of Orange, Texas, formerly of Cairo, died Thursday, April 25, 1996, at her home. She was born June 14, 1907, in Mounds, daughter of Edward and Bessie Scully Smith. Survivors include a daughter, Joy Lamm of Sedalia, Mo.; three grandchildren, and a great-grandchild...

KELSO -- Barbara Jean Sample, 69, of Kelso, died Thursday, April 25, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 24, 1926, in Denver, Colo., daughter of Dewitt and Wayne Misner Constant. Sample was a secretary at IBEW Local 1 for 30 years...

COBDEN, Ill. -- Everett H. Ripley, 69, of Cobden, died Thursday, April 25, 1996, at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale. He was born May 27, 1926, at Wolf Lake, son of Charles and Maggie Smith Ripley. Ripley was a grave digger many years. He was a member of Immanuel Baptist Church...

MCCLURE, Ill. -- Ruth Miller, 83, of McClure, formerly of Olive Branch, died Thursday, April 25, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 6, 1912, in Illinois, daughter of Fred and Oma Abernathie Monroe. Miller had been a cook at Egyptian School...

Rita M. Glueck, 74, of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, April 25, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born on Feb. 3, 1922, in Cape Girardeau, the daughter of Edward and Clotilda Seib Wulfers. She married Orville J. Glueck on May 7, 1958, and he preceded her in death on May 17, 1993...

PULASKI, Ill. -- Lottie M. Lutz Palmer, 73, of Pulaski, died Wednesday, April 24, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was born July 25, 1922, in Ullin, daughter of Oscar and Florence Aldridge Ryan. She first married Theodore R. "Tony" Lutz, who died July 23, 1977. She later married Earnest "Tom Cat" Palmer...

BENTON -- Danny E. Kirsch, 48, of Jacksonville, Fla., died Wednesday, April 24, 1996, at his home, following a brief illness. He was born Aug. 26, 1947, in Cape Girardeau, son of Karl and Flossie Hopper Kirsch. Kirsch served 24 years in the U.S. Navy. He had lived in Jacksonville since 1976, and was a crane technician with Jacksonville Port Authority...

Mildred Genevieve Adams, 73, 336 S. Fountain, died Wednesday, April 24, 1996, at Cape Girardeau Nursing Center. She was born June 6, 1922, at Malden, daughter of Samuel Earnest and Hattie Earnestine Simmons Duty. She first married Louis Harry Burris Jan. 1, 1947. He died June 30, 1969. She later married Asa Thomas Adams Jan. 12, 1970...

ANNA, Ill. -- Lanie Clayton, 92, of Anna, died Wednesday, April 24, 1996, at Union County Hospital. She was born Nov. 6, 1903, in Anna, daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Viola Vaughn Smith. She and William A. Clayton were married Aug. 22, 1922. He died Oct. 16, 1975...

KELSO -- Laura F. Radwick, 72, of Bellefontaine Neighbors, died Thursday, April 25, 1996, at Village Northwoods Nursing Home there. She was born Aug. 27, 1923, at Kelso, daughter of Benjamin V. and Bertha B. Dumey Blattel. She and William Radwick were married June 29, 1946...

JACKSON -- Juanita "Nita" Cromer, 84, of Jackson, died Wednesday, April 24, 1996, at Heartland Care and Rehab Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 23, 1912, at Millersville, daughter of Luther M. and Belvy Niblack Proffer. She and Earl Cromer were married in 1945...