Stories from Saturday, September 21, 1996

Caring Communities will sponsor another "Walk the Walk" asset mapping survey next week. Volunteers are needed again for door-to-door surveys Saturday, Sept. 28 of residents in neighborhoods in the northern and northwestern sections of Cape Girardeau...

The Missouri Council of Firefighters has endorsed Rick Althaus for state senate. The Cape Girardeau Democrat is running for the 27th District senate seat in Southeast Missouri. John Corbett, president of the firefighters, said the group endorsed Althaus because incumbent Republican Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau has pushed legislation that it feels would adversely affect firefighters...

Sherry Welter, right, a registered nurse, charted information for Glenn Love of Sikeston in the post-anesthesia care unit of St. Francis Medical Center. Love underwent outpatient orthopedic surgery. There was a time when surgery meant spending days -- and sometimes weeks -- in the hospital recuperating...

The Republican candidate for attorney general, Mark Bredemeier, stood in front of the Common Pleas Courthouse Thursday and unveiled his plan to combat the methamphetamine problem in Missouri. "Methamphetamine use and the production is a serious national problem that has invaded Missouri," said Bredemeier. "Its addiction has reached epidemic proportions in California and as nearby as Iowa. Missouri's problem has not yet escalated to those levels."...

Loretta Wilson said if it weren't for Bettie Knoll she never would have made it after her daughter was killed by a drunk driver. "The day that our daughter was killed, we had nobody," Wilson said. "After we met Bettie, we knew we had a friend. Bettie helped me for many a mile."...

ALTENBURG -- For a couple hours on Friday afternoon, Altenburg life came to a standstill. The local bank closed. Storekeepers sat on lawn chairs outside their shops. Traffic was backed up for what seemed an eternity, and drivers passed the time by reading or chatting with passers-by...

It is a little unnerving to know that everything comes down to this one day. Everything that I've trained for, prayed for and anguished over will be decided -- today. I feel like an Olympic diver who has trained his entire life and now stands quiet and still upon the cold concrete tower of the high dive staring down at the shimmering water far below. ...

Students at Louis J. Schultz School had plenty of reasons to celebrate Friday: The seventh-grade students entered the library for a Renaissance assembly to the sounds of "Celebrate" by Kool and the Gang. "It's unexpected, but you could be caught being good," Principal John Eck told the students...

The National Federation of Independent Business has endorsed Jo Ann Emerson for Congress. The NFIB, the nation's largest small-business advocacy group, announced its endorsement during a news conference at one of Cape Girardeau's small businesses Friday afternoon...

THE UNITED States is once again spending millions of dollars to send troops and more fighting equipment to the Persian Gulf. How many times are U.S. taxpayers going to have to foot the bill for protecting these people over there and then back down when they get the troops over there? I feel like what they should do is go ahead with the planned attack on Iraq and make a parking lot out of it. ...

The courts may have outlawed prayer in schools, but it hasn't stopped young people from praying. It also hasn't dimmed young enthusiasm to emphasize the importance of Christian values both at school and home. Wednesday was "See You at the Pole" day, a national event for students. High school students in Cape Girardeau, Scott City, Jackson and other districts quietly gathered around the flag poles and prayed for their schools, administrators, family and nation...

This rebirth of Christian values has not be limited to our schools. Church membership is growing by leaps and bounds nationwide and Cape Girardeau is no exception. At least 10 churches either have new buildings on the drawing board or under construction. Many other churches report an upswing in attendance...

Dear Editor: On July 5, the Missouri Chapter of the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) turned in 120,000 of the 85,000 signatures necessary to place an initiative on the November ballot that will increase the current state minimum wage from $4.75 an hour to $6.25 on Jan. 1, 1997, $6.50 in 1998, $6.75 in 1999 and $.15 an hour every year thereafter...

TROY -- Delbert "Butch" Brotherton, 49, of Troy died Wednesday, Sept. 18, 1996, at his home. He was born June 7, 1947, at Oak Ridge to the late Floyd and Ella Ruesler Brotherton. He married Barbara Riehn Wiggins on March 27, 1992. For the last 26 years, Brotherton had worked in the shipping department at McDonnell-Douglas. ...

DUDLEY -- Raymond "Jockey" Hayes, 81, of Dudley died Thursday, Sept. 19, 1996, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter. He was born June 4, 1915, in Anna, Ill., son of Oliver Oscar and Oma Victoria Smothers Hayes. He and Alberta Thomas were married Nov. 12, 1938, in Dudley...

SIKESTON -- Eveartt Ray Dyson, 39, of Sikeston died Thursday, Sept. 19, 1996, at his home. He was born Dec. 5, 1956, in Doniphan, son of Claude and Dorothy Dyson. He and Catherine Robertson were married March 25, 1982, at Benton. Dyson had lived at Sikeston the past 20 years...

ANNA, Ill. -- Funeral service for Verneal Cobb of Anna will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Hileman and Parr Funeral Home in Jonesboro. The Rev. Bon Reynolds will officiate, with burial in Jonesboro Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 9:30 a.m. to service time...

ADVANCE -- Lloyd Keene, 75, of Advance died Friday, Sept. 20, 1996, at Puxico Nursing Center in Puxico. He was born Aug. 29, 1921, in New Madrid, son of John Wesley and Ida Belle Joiner Keene. He and Mary Gunter were married Jan. 19, 1946, at Kinder...

PERRYVILLE -- Grace E. Blandford, 102, of Perryville died Friday, Sept. 20, 1996, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born Nov. 20, 1893, at Ste. Genevieve, daughter of Samuel and Mary Merkell Thomure. She and Joseph C. Blandford were married Feb. 15, 1924, in St. Louis. He died July 17, 1965...

WARDELL -- Earnest Dan Long, 49, Wardell Route 1, died Thursday, Sept. 19, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 8, 1946, at Wardell, son of Stephan and Elizabeth Baker Long. He and Edith Fowler were married in August 1966 in Cape Girardeau. She died Feb. 24, 1995...

William R. Little, 70, of Van Buren died Thursday, Sept. 19, 1996, in Van Buren. He was born Aug. 30, 1926, in Cape Girardeau, son of Percy R. and Mamie Babb Little. He and Olga Heise were married July 23, 1950, in Cape Girardeau. Little retired as a sergeant with Missouri State Highway Patrol. He had served in Southeast Missouri, moving to Van Buren in 1957 from Cape Girardeau. He was a member of Van Buren Lions Club and served eight years on the Van Buren City Council...

Daughter to Jerry Dale Ipock II and Tammy Lynn Nunnery of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 10:27 a.m. Friday, Sept. 6, 1996. Name, Brittney Marie. Weight, 10 pounds 2 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Ms. Nunnery is the former Tammy McDermott, daughter of Marcia and Tom Steinbrenner of Jackson. Ipock is the son of Jerry and Joy Ipock of Patton. He is employed at Procter & Gamble...

JACKSON -- Perry Grindstaff, 76, of Jackson died at St. Francis Medical Center Friday, Sept. 20, 1996. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by McComb's Funeral Home at Jackson.