Stories from Sunday, August 4, 1996

To the editor: I have been reading a book that I had checked out at the local library. It's called "The Cherokees" by Grace Steele Woodard. This book goes into great detail about the Cherokee people and their customs and way of life, then and now. The book also explains the events that had taken place and that had led up to their journey from the homeland they were driven off of to new territory westward known as the Trail of Tears...

Every election is important, even though voter-turnout statistics clearly show that some elections generate far more interest than others. In Tuesday's primary election, voters are likely to go to the polls in moderate numbers at best, even though there are some crucial choices to be made. In those primaries that are contested, the winner will become the candidate in November's general election...

When thousands of lawmakers gathered the other day in St. Louis for the annual convocation of the National Conference of State Legislatures, one of the more pressing problems discussed was how best to involve John Q. Citizen in formulating public policy. It was a timely question, made all the more so by a number of recent events that have highlighted the absence of the public's input into the public policy decision-making process...

I WANT to comment about the qualities of leadership in a president, and I want to compare two of them: Reagan and Clinton. Remember when Libya was sponsoring terrorism all over the world and blew up American bars in Germany and had the children machine gunned down there in Rome airport? Reagan sent the bombers over and dropped a bomb, and the terrorism stopped. ...

I'M CALLING about the recreational lake Whitewater Development Association. You're taking away homes and lands from people who are trying to maintain a way of life, not only for themselves but for generations to come. Sons and daughters will not have a choice in the life they want to live. ...

Suzanne Holland said she's not even dealing with the fact that her last day with Easter Seals is Aug. 9. After 13 years as an Easter Seals teacher and director in Cape Girardeau, Holland, 43, said she has "learned so much and is still not prepared for the leaving part."...

Alan Gerecke (left) stands with some Mayan children in the Belize town of Uaxactun. Tortillas are being made in the hut. There is no electricity in the town. This is a typical bridge in Belize. Gerecke and his friends have to pull themselves across the river. Belize is a country with only about 150 miles of paved roads and you can't drive from one end of the country to the other on a paved road...

The Jackson High School Marching Chiefs' Drum Majors and Majorettes, the Senior High Spear-It Dancers and the Junior High School Freshman Majorettes earned All-American Team Honors at Marching Auxiliaries Camp at SEMO held July 13-15. Each group received invitations to appear at the half-time show during the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., and the Aloha and Hula Bowls in Hawaii...

Kimberly Massaro, Miss Missouri 1996, came back to Jackson Friday to sign autographs and visit with her special friends in Jackson. Massaro represented Jackson in the 1993, 1995 and 1996 Miss Missouri pageants. She was crowned on June 8 and will represent Missouri at the Miss America Scholarship Pageant, which will be televised on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m...

You've waited long enough without explanation of why this column is named "Where's Charlie Hodge?" Here is why. That is the title of a movie I was writing in college and still from time to time mess with today. It all began when my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time) and our friend Jason, who has changed his last name for acting purposes, were going to "Memphis in May" in 1994...

"Alas! how swift the moments fly! How flash the years along! Scarce here, yet already gone by, The burden of a song. See childhood, youth, and [wo]manhood pass, And age with furrowed brow; Time was -- Time shall be -- drain the glass -- But where in time is now?"...

They say no one can predict the future, but one has to wonder about Cape Girardeau's city fathers. In 1963, the public school board bought about 55 acres of land on the mostly undeveloped northeast side of town. Today, the district's two tracts sit at one of the city newest, most accessible intersections...

SIKESTON -- Somewhere in the crowd of writers gathered for the 7th annual Heartland Writers Conference could be the next John Grisham or Robert James Waller. But it's really unlikely, said Shirleen Sando, conference coordinator. Instant fame and a climb to the top of the best-seller list isn't common...

At one time, auto technicians and "shade-tree" mechanics never thought about capturing and recycling the refrigerant R-12 Freon. That all changed in 1992 with the passage of the Clean Air Act. The R-12 Freon has since been linked to possible ozone depletion, leading to increased ultraviolet radiation. This, the government says, increases the risk of skin cancer and other diseases...

When you're 4, you have a different perspective on life than when you get older. First and foremost, it's a perspective of someone who is only 4 feet tall. At that height, you see the world somewhat differently. That fact was clearly evident when I looked at the photographs that my daughter, Becca, took with her disposable camera on our recent trip to Disney World...

When Ted Hirschfield first came to Cape Girardeau in 1964, in his spare time he investigated the mounds and village sites built by the Indians who occupied these lands many hundreds of years before Europeans came. Within a 10-mile radius of Cape Girardeau, in towns like Ware and McClure, Ill., and a few spots within the city itself, he found places where walks in the fields yielded pottery fragments and projectile points. There he says he also found peace and a link to an ancient people...

Registration for Delta R-V School District students will be held from Aug. 12-16 from 8 a.m. until noon each day in the high school and elementary school principals' offices. During high school registration, students will receive class schedules and locker assignments. ...

If you want more deer on your farm, the formula is not too difficult. Mix heavy cover with a year around supply of food. Be careful to not over-harvest the female deer. Protect them from running dogs and poachers. Watch the results. The best and easiest source of food is acorns, agricultural row crops, well-managed legume pastures and well-managed forests. If food is lacking, you should try to provide. The unanimous top choice of food plots among professional deer managers is winter wheat...

KENNETT, Mo. -- The Missouri Conservation Commission's next meeting will take place Aug. 16 at the offices of the Kennett Chamber of Commerce, 1601 First St., Kennett. The Commission will meet in closed executive session at 8:30 a.m. The open session to consider regular business will begin at 10:15 a.m...

Ralph W. Holcomb, 84, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Aug. 2, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Jan. 28, 1912, in Cape Girardeau County, son of John Thomas and Martha Jane Hopper Holcomb. Holcomb was a graduate of College High School in Cape Girardeau and had worked as a dairy farmer with his father in Cape Girardeau County. He had lived at the Lutheran Home for several years. Holcomb was a member of the Hobbs Chapel United Methodist Church...

JACKSON -- Glenn Williams, 79, of Jackson died Saturday, Aug. 3, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born July 24, 1917, son of C.F. and Deliah Boswell Williams. He worked in the Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney's office for many years and was a member of the Masonic Lodge...

WICKLIFFE, Ky. -- Iva Lee Johnson, 79, of Wickliffe died Friday, Aug. 2, 1996, at Western Baptist Hospital in Wickliffe. She was born Nov. 15, 1916, daughter of Bryce Hiram and Mary Beulah Copeland McCallon. Johnson was a homemaker and a member of North Ballard Church where she was an organist for more than 50 years...

Douglas Koch, 67, died Friday Aug. 2, 1996, at Cape Girardeau. He was born June 23, 1929, in Cape Girardeau, son of Gilbert Emil Louis and Avis Anna Rhyne Koch. He and Daisy Myer were married Sept. 3, 1949, at Jackson. Koch was a veteran of the Korean Conflict before being employed at Lone Star Cement Plant as a supervisor...

MONETT -- Joe V. Kenney, 93, of Monett died Saturday, Aug. 3, 1996, at Monett Health Care Center in Monett following a lengthy illness. Kenney was born June 29, 1903, at Rocky Comfort, son of William and Nancy Senters Kenney. He married Edith Long on Feb. 27, 1932, in Pineville...

Frank Alvin Brooks, 93, of Cape Girardeau and formerly of Olive Branch and Mound City in Illinois, died Saturday, Aug. 3, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born March 12, 1903, at Metropolis, Ill., son of John and Ellen Garrett Brooks. His wife, Mary Emma Brooks, died in 1985...

MARBLE HILL -- Delphia Myers Baker, 93, of Marble Hill died Friday, Aug. 2, 1996, at the Heartland Care and Rehab Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 21, 1902, at Hahn, daughter of Hiram and Susan J. Mouser Gaines. She and Oscar L. Myers were married Nov. 27, 1928. He died May 6, 1961. She later married Noah E. Baker. He died Feb. 16, 1973...

WYATT -- Terry Joe Everett, 39, of Wyatt died Saturday, Aug. 3, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 6, 1957, at Malden to Leroy Everett and Leta Scott Bailey. He and Lori Cossey were married May 7, 1990. Everett was employed by Sullivan Logging Co. at Wickliffe, Ky. He had lived in Wyatt for the past 15 years...

Children at Laura Criddle's Day Care Home eagerly anticipate the breakfast menu. "They'll ask me, 'What are we having today?'" Criddle said. Fresh fruit is always in youthful demand. "Are we having green grapes or red grapes?" she intoned, her voice finding the enthusiastic resonance of preschoolers...

Special events are part of the summer schedule at Land Between the Lakes. Here are a few upcoming activities. Today -- Visitors to the Homeplace-1850 will be treated to a demonstration of common bread making methods of the period during "Hearth Cooking: Bread," from 1 to 2 p.m. ...

First, there are the fantastic doilies of the garden spiders that spin their delicate, lacy webs in the dark. How do they see? How can they measure so exactly the distance between the threads of the framework? One evening I leave the porch, late, with all the usual adornments in place, the potted flowers watered, the swing cushions fluffed. ...

Imagine an island filled with quiet forests, a place where deer and buffalo roam grassy meadows, bald eagles and hawks build their nests, and herons and osprey fish shimmering waters. Imagine the island is alive with the history of people who once tilled the soil and raised families on the land...