Stories from Friday, May 10, 1996

To the editor: Wake up, Missourians. The bulldozers are at the gates of the park. Did you know that the new route under construction for Highway 21 south of Potosi will take it right outside the entrance to Elephant Rocks State Park? If the construction continues, you'll be able to climb the rocks for a spectacular view of Highway 21. ...

Area children are invited to line the Olympic Torch Relay route with banners from their school, church group or club. The banners will line the route through Cape Girardeau County as the torch passes through on Memorial Day. The banner theme is "Sharing the Olympic Spirit." Each banner will be judged by members of the local torch relay committee sponsored by the Area Wide United Way...

Two of the nation's top Tennessee Walking Horse teams will compete Saturday in the Missouri Versatility Fun Show at Flickerwood Arena in Jackson. The two are Tammey Coffman and her horse Paint's Idaho Laddie, along with Martha Ann Huck and her horse Boy He's Outrageous...

BENTON -- Kelly High School needs some help in creating a fall class list for adult students. The high school is interested in offering adult basic education classes in the fall, but needs more information from potential students. The adult basic education classes, which are free, will be open to all adults age 16 or older who are not currently enrolled in high school. Adults who have completed high school also are eligible to attend...

DELTA -- A 5-year-old child died Thursday at a St. Louis hospital following a train accident near his home in Delta. Cody King, son of Rocky and Tomma King, died from injuries sustained after being hit by a Southern Pacific train pulling 63 cars Wednesday at 5:45 p.m. The accident occurred near Highway 25 northeast of Delta...

Charles L. Hutson of Cape Girardeau was one of five hospital trustees from around the state honored recently for distinguished service to their local hospitals and communities by the Missouri Hospital Association. The MHA annually honors hospital and health system trustees whose service has demonstrated a true understanding of the health care industry and whose dedication exceeds expectations...

Sad to say, the killing of the innocent, the unborn, has Americans going the wrong direction with murder, and some of our Christians are going for it. Hats off to the priest who gave that strong sermon. God bless him. Seems like the Clintons do not know the 10 Commandments or at least the 5th Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." We should fear and love God that we may not hurt nor harm our neighbor in his body but help and befriend him in every bodily need. ...

The unfolding series of events that led to this week's first-round approval of Senate Bill 895, my bill to ban same-sex "marriages," is an interesting case-study in how an aroused public can affect legislation in our form of representative government. ...

The long-awaited news about federal funding for the new Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau arrived this week. Not all the breezes of recent days were caused by passing thunderstorms. Some of them were due to a collective sign of relief and anticipation as the project, currently estimated to cost $134 million, received a big boost...

When Cape Girardeau voters approved a half-cent sales tax last August to pay for street improvements, there was a good deal of optimism that the priority list of some $17 million in projects could be achieved before the tax expired at the end of the year 2000...

Diana Steele climbed the narrow staircase and opened the round window cover to reveal a view of the Mississippi River from the fourth-floor bell tower in the former St. Vincent's Seminary. "Look at that view," said Steele, a member of the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation board of directors. "We can't lose this."...

JACKSON -- Cape Girardeau County commissioners told Randy Rhodes and Lance Tollison to start dreaming of ways to expand the county's juvenile detention center. Commissioners met Thursday with Rhodes and Tollison, the county's juvenile officer and administrator of the juvenile detention center, respectively...

The nation's public schools should set high standards and stress basic skills, Education Secretary Richard Riley said. Society should expect its children to learn more and learn better, he said. But federal vouchers to allow students to attend private schools aren't the answer, he said...

PATTON -- A recount vote in a Meadow Heights School District bond proposal shows that the issue passed. Not everyone in the school district is pleased with the reversal in the results, which were determined Tuesday. The Meadow Heights Board of Education voted 4-3 Thursday night to accept the results...

The city of Cape Girardeau may still buy part of the old St. Vincent's Seminary grounds for a city park even though it failed to secure federal funds for the project. In February Cape Girardeau applied for $440,000 in federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act money to buy 16 acres of the old seminary property from the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation. The city also planned to use a $150,000 payment from Boyd Gaming Corp. to buy the land...

A friend in Kansas is using a small piece of metal to remind him of the caring and prayers that come from the heart. At first, it looked like a chain letter. I don't like chain letters. If someone makes the mistake of sending a chain letter to me, I throw it in the trash, even though I know evil spells have been put on me for breaking the chain. And, if you believe what chain letters say, I have lost millions of dollars because I didn't keep the chain letter going...

The Federal Highway Administration has allocated another $1 million in funding for the Mississippi River bridge project at Cape Girardeau. The move, announced in Washington Thursday by U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, brings to $2 million the amount of federal funds set aside for the project. The initial $1 million announcement was made Tuesday...

Concord Publishing House Inc. of Cape Girardeau has added the Missourian-News, a weekly newspaper in New Madrid County, to its family of newspapers. Erwin and Jean Lloyd, previous owners of the Portageville-based publication, announced the sale Thursday...

JACKSON -- Roy Charles Harris, 71, of Jackson, died Thursday, May 9, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Friends may call at Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home from 4-8 p.m. today. Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home, with burial in Morgan Memorial Park in Advance...

ANNA, Ill. -- Everett F. Davis, 91, of Anna, died Thursday, May 9, 1996, at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Ky. He was born Sept. 20, 1904, in New Haven, son of Joseph and Eliza Hodson Davis. He and Edna Baggett were married May 2, 1936. She died Feb. 5, 1993...

JACKSON -- William Eggers, 78, of Jackson died Thursday, May 9, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

NEW HAMBURG -- Claude William Dirnberger, 86, of New Hamburg, died Thursday, May 9, 1996, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Aug. 8, 1909, in New Hamburg, daughter of Andrew and Catherine Dannenmueller Dirnberger. He and Rebecca Brock were married Oct. 11, 1931, at Benton...

FROHNA -- Dorothea Sophie Predoehl, 93, formerly of Frohna, died May 7, 1996, at Maplewood Good Samaritan Care Center in Minnesota. She was born Aug. 7, 1902, in St. Louis, daughter of Francis H. and Hedwig Marie Koerner Blesse. She and the Rev. Theodore C. Predoehl were married Aug. 2, 1929. He died Nov. 29, 1986...

ANNA, Ill. -- Wilbert "Bill" Watkins, 71, of Anna, died Thursday, May 9, 1996, at Union County Hospital. He was born Nov. 30, 1924, at Mill Creek, son of Charles and Ruth Lindsay Watkins. He and Wanda Ruth McClellan were married Sept. 26, 1947, in Ullin...

PUXICO -- Minnie O'Neal, formerly of Puxico, died Thursday, May 9, 1996, at Dexter Nursing Center in Dexter. Watkins and Sons Funeral Home at Puxico is in charge of arrangements.

DELTA -- Cody Dayton King, 5, of Delta died Thursday, May 9, 1996, at Cardinal Glennon Memorial Hospital in St. Louis. He was born Aug. 1, 1990, in Sikeston, the son of Rocky Lee and Tomma Sue Brown King of Delta. He was of the Baptist faith. Survivors include his paternal grandparents, Dayton and Janet King of Delta; his maternal grandparents, David and Phyllis Watkins of Grant City and Tom and Brenda Sanders of Morehouse; a paternal great-grandmother, Zona King of Delta; two maternal great-grandmothers, Mildred Stroud of Morehouse and Marie Watkins of Morley.. ...

JACKSON -- Olga M. Sander, 99, of Jackson died Thursday, May 9, 1996, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 15, 1896, in Tilsit to Fritz and Minnie Rasche Meyer. She married Charles H. Sander on Oct. 13, 1914. He died Nov. 7, 1984...