Stories from Friday, November 8, 1996

The Area Wide United Way is well on its way to its 1996 campaign goal of $525,000. The campaign recently passed the halfway mark. It is good to hear that donations are ahead slightly from last year at this point. That means the agency is on track to reach its target...

In late October, the Cape Girardeau City Council voted to ban political signs placed closer than 10 feet from any public street. Two weeks later, the City Council asked the city staff to draft an ordinance to rescind that ban. Don't criticize the councilmen for being wishy-washy. Their action reflects just the opposite. Members of the council made a decision, had second thoughts, admitted a mistake may have been made and are looking to right the wrong...

DOESN'T IT frighten you that we have a president who appointed John Huaing to the Department of Commerce, an executive with the Indonesian Lipo Co. which had given huge sums of money to Clinton for many years. He did not receive clearance but was given access to top-secret information. ...

Laura Green's fifth grade class learned a lesson in written and oral communication when they hosted a "meet the authors" reading at Clippard Elementary School Thursday. The 22 students completed a two-week language arts project Thursday that required them to write, illustrate and bind a storybook for first-graders. They then visited Diane LeGrand's first grade class, read the books and told the class about themselves...

Jack Buck, a noted sportscaster for more than 40 years, and Porter Wagoner, a country music entertainer for more than four decades, will be in Cape Girardeau today to help dedicate the Missouri Wall of Fame Mural. Buck and Wagoner, two of the famous Missourians featured on the mural, a multi-color painting featuring portraits of 45 Missouri faces on the Mississippi River wall in downtown Cape Girardeau, will be on hand for the noon dedication of the mural...

Republican Jo Ann Emerson has a leg up in seniority over some 70 other new House members. The newly elected 8th District congresswoman from Cape Girardeau said Thursday she hopes to get seats on the agriculture and transportation committees. Emerson requested the assignments in a telephone call Wednesday to House Speaker Newt Gingrich...

A battle of the seasons is raging, and as you might suspect, winter is winning. The on-again, off-again warmer temperatures may have left the area for a while, according to the National Weather Service in St. Louis. A weather front stalled over much of the state Thursday, dumping up to 5 inches of rain on parts of central Missouri...

The federal government has allocated an additional $1 million for construction of a new Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau. Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., announced the fiscal 1997 funding Thursday. The new bridge will be named in honor of her late husband, Bill Emerson, longtime 8th District congressman...

Listen, my readers, and you shall hear of how the Sullivan household became, for seven sweet days in autumn, the apple butter capital of the world. Wednesday: Jason, our older son, arrives from his home in Boston for his first visit in a year, owing to the fact that he has been in Africa bicycling 5,000 kilometers and hitching rides with military transports and arms smugglers and itinerant, sometimes directionless captains of ocean-going catamarans. ...

Legal services should be available for those who need them, not just those who can afford them. That was the main message representatives of the Missouri Bar relayed to about 15 members of the media and judiciary Thursday at a luncheon at the local branch of the Missouri Department of Conservation at Cape Girardeau County Park...

The Cape Girardeau Police Department is reminding citizens that burning leaves on city streets is prohibited by law. Doing so dries the oil from the asphalt and causes potholes. In addition, embers from the burned leaves can cause street sweepers to catch fire...

To better access healthcare information, Southeast Missouri Hospital has established The Generations Center, to provide services for people of all ages. Located on the first floor of the hospital near the new lobby, the Center features a home-like atmosphere, designed with the community in mind. ...

Again stressing the Missouri Department of Transportation's desire to form a partnership with the people, District 10 Engineer Scott Meyer addressed a group of 150 Thursday night. The event was the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's Transportation Dinner, conducted at the Drury Lodge. Jim Ham, chairman of the chamber's Transportation Committee, said the yearly event focuses on the importance of all forms of transportation to Southeast Missouri's economy...

JACKSON -- Precautionary environmental studies are being done before progress can be made on the jail facility expansion in Cape Girardeau County. An environmental service is drilling test holes to take soil samples in the area where the jail expansion is to be built. A gas station on the corner near the proposed expansion site had underground tanks that may have produced contaminants in the surrounding areas...

JACKSON -- City, county and school officials aren't supporting a tax increment financing district anymore, but they still want the improvements it would have provided. The Interstate 55 Corridor TIF Commission met Thursday at the County Administration Building in Jackson. Members were to determine if they wanted to continue work on a TIF district, expected to be established by mid-December. They voted to stop and divert their attention to another financing mechanism...

BLOOMFIELD -- Margarette Evans, 75, of Bloomfield died Wednesday, Nov. 6, 1996, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter. She was born Jan. 10, 1921, at Clines Island, daughter of Arthur and Ethel Mossman Magee. She and James L. Evans were married in May 1938...

THEBES, Ill. -- Lester Martin Brown, 89, of Thebes died Thursday, Nov. 7, 1996, at Jonesboro Health Care Center in Jonesboro. He was born Feb. 26, 1907, in Thebes, son of Thomas and Adeline Buster Brown. Brown was a retired farmer, and a veteran of World War II...

McClure/East Cape Girardeau residents voted downed a proposed tax rate increase for the fire protection district Tuesday. A total of 375 residents voted, with 225 saying no. The vote was to permit a maximum allowable tax rate of 0.40 percent of all taxable property as assessed by the Department of Revenue. The present rate is 0.30 percent...

MARBLE HILL -- Funeral service for Anna Marie Heise of Mt. Vernon, Ill., will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Hughey Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon. The Rev. Wilbert Iffert will officiate, with burial in Smith Cemetery. Heise, 61, died Wednesday, Nov. 6, 1996, at Good Samaritan Regional Health Center...

BURFORDVILLE -- Cletus Brown, 85, of Burfordville died Thursday, Nov. 7, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 6, 1911, in Ridgeway, Ill., son of James Issac and Lottie Evelyn Dillard Brown. He first married Esther Wiley July 6, 1946. She died April 22, 1978. He later married Tessie Taylor Aug. 3, 1980...

Roy Everett Haupt, 68, of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, Nov. 7, 1996, at Missouri Veterans Home. He was born June 24, 1928, in Sedgewickville, son of Robert and Maggie Moore Haupt. He and Pauline Reed were married March 4, 1949. She died Nov. 30, 1992...

JACKSON -- Dora E. Fluegge, 84, of Jackson, died Thursday, Nov. 7, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 30, 1912, at Tilsit, daughter of Henry and Katharina Nagel Fluegge. Fluegge had worked at International Shoe Co. in Jackson, at a number of restaurants, and had also cared for the elderly in their homes. She was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church at Tilsit...

Daughter to Rick and Vicki Ruebel of Navarre, Fla., Eglin Air Force Base Hospital, 2:49 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1996. Name, Hannah Nicole. Weight, 8 pounds 1 ounce. First child. Mrs. Ruebel is the former Vicki Kraemer, daughter of Larry Kraemer of Jackson and Judy Kraemer of Fruitland. Ruebel is the son of Roger and Clara Ruebel of Navarre. He is serving in the U.S. Air Force...

EAST PRAIRIE -- J.R. Terry, 65, of East Prairie died Thursday, Nov. 7, 1996, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born July 23, 1931, in Dixie, Ark., son of the late Jodie and Susie Belle Holmes Robins. He had lived and worked as a carpenter in Mississippi County most of his life. He was a sergeant in the Marines during the Korean War...