Stories from Sunday, November 17, 1996

Newt is the nerve center and the energy source. Going after him is like taking out command and control. -- Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. Over the last three years, Speaker Newt Gingrich has: Strategized and fought his way to the first Republican House majority in 40 years, gaining and holding nearly 60 seats; managed his way to the first re-elected House Republican majority in 68 years; and, as the last session ended, led that Congress to the body's highest public approval ratings in a decade. ...

With the elections thankfully behind us, Missourians can now begin to address how their state will deal with an assortment of serious problems facing them between now and the start of the new millennium. It is no exaggeration to say the preparatory work that is done between now and the year 2000 will determine to a large extent how the state's nearly five and one-half million residents and their progeny will spend the next century...

Monday morning's Veterans Day ceremony at Central High School was one of the finest such events I have ever attended. My heartiest congratulations to Julia Jorgenson and her Renaissance Program students, the Chamber Choir and everyone involved for a stirring and unforgettable commemoration...

MINER -- Aldermen have voted to hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday on a proposed bond election to improve the city's water facilities. The cost of a water treatment facility was estimated at $1.5 million. Ed McLiney of McLiney & Co., a Kansas City firm dealing with investment banking and municipal bonds, will have the proper ordinance at the meeting...

SIKESTON -- Some 20,000 traveling, twinkling Christmas lights will come down the tracks into Sikeston with the arrival of the Santa Claus Express Dec. 11. The Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce will be host to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe's train from 6:10 to 6:50 p.m. Dec. 11 at the railroad tracks off North West Street near Bess Supply...

After a month of soliciting comments, the Cape Girardeau Board of Education stands poised to adopt a master plan that would launch the school district on a course toward new buildings. As part of the process, the board will also consider a new committee to study how to change attendance areas at Monday's meeting...

Southeast Missouri Child Care Resource and Referral has received a three-year, $180,000 child-care development block grant from the Missouri Department of Health. The agency provides child-care referrals by linking parents and potential child-care providers. It also offers consumer education for parents, resource information for families and child-care professionals, data collection, training and newsletters...

CAIRO, Ill. -- A Dexter man was killed in a one-vehicle accident early Saturday on the I-57 Mississippi River bridge. The Illinois State Police reports that Michael C. Brown, 38, was northbound on the bridge in his Ford pickup truck when the truck struck the bridge railing and overturned. Brown was partially thrown onto the roadway. The police said he wasn't wearing a seatbelt...

Tyne Swain sits at the computer as, left to right, Erin Fields, Jessica Ribbel, Bethany Smothers, Justin Greable and Brenda Crain in back watch. Rebecca Richbourg uses the computer in class at Gordonville Attendance Center. The Gordonville Attendance Center received a $5000 grant for a reading project named "Bookworks," recently...

Sara Davie and her friends from Girl Scout Troop 286 in Gordonville were intrigued by the variety of languages people throughout the world speak. The girls were among about 400 Girl Scouts who gathered Saturday at Southeast Missouri State University for an international festival. International students at the university spoke with the girls, answered questions and taught a little about their homelands...

Jon Kridelbaugh of Cape Girardeau is only 9 years old but he expresses sentiments than some adults can't seem to grasp. "You've got to help people who need it," Kridelbaugh said. "Some people can't take care of themselves all the time and they need a little help to make it through."...

This year, Christmas-like cold weather hit Cape Girardeau early, and so will the 22nd annual Christmas Toy Box toy drive, sponsored by Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian. The 12th annual Christmas for the Elderly program, which is co-sponsored by the Southeast Missourian and the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Department, will also occur earlier than normal...

FARMINGTON -- Emily Firebaugh doesn't dwell on the past. The Farmington Democrat failed in her first election campaign to win a seat in Congress. But she remains an optimist. "I have no regrets," she said last week from her Farmington home. She said she plans to return to running her Madison County timber business. "My timber business has been neglected. I will go back in and restructure that," she said...

PERRYVILLE -- An artist's renderings of the planned Perry County Multipurpose Center make it look like a slice of heaven. Children sit quietly, reading books in a state-of-the-art library. Music lovers intently watch a piano recital. Bikini-clad women stroll around the enclosed swimming pool while young men play basketball in a bright, airy gymnasium...

When cleaning out the refrigerator, hand grenades are the best option. Is your fridge a frightful sight? Is the odor enough to make you faint? If you answered yes to these questions, you need to clean out your refrigerator, or at least don a gas mask...

Marriage Licenses Jackson Jimmy Joseph Schott, 27, Cape Girardeau, to Peggy Lynne Hamlin, 19, Cape Girardeau; Scott Alan Layton, 24, St. Louis, to Kimberly Ruth Dayton, 23, St. Louis; Bobby Gene Brotherton, 61, Marble Hill, to Wilma Louise Shirrell, 57, Marble Hill; Carl Joseph Landewee, 24, Chaffee, to Jennifer Therese Hinkebein, 20, Chaffee; Brandon Heath Watson, 25, Columbus, to Kimberly Dawn Joyce, 24, Columbus...

Sand and gravel in streams can be good or bad news for Missouri landowners. Some use it to pave farm roads; others curse it for causing stream channel problems. However, we haven't always had large amounts of sand and gravel in our streams. Over the last century deep pools, stable streambanks and narrow stream channels slowly changed to shallow wide, eroding streams; the "old swimming hole" was often buried under sand and gravel. ...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Every day, workers in the Missouri Department of Conservation's Fisheries Division field dozens of questions. Often, the query is something like, "I want to take a float-fishing trip on the Gasconade River. Can you tell me where I can rent a canoe?" Or perhaps, "Do you know of any fishing guides on Courtois Creek?"...

Sheila Jane Layton, 45, formerly of Sikeston, died Thursday, Nov. 14, 1996 at the St. Thomas Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. She was born Jan. 28, 1951, daughter of Freda Williams and Jack Layton in Sikeston. Layton was a customer representative for Roadrunner Freight systems...

SIKESTON -- Edna Cutrell, 90, died Friday, Nov. 15, 1996, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born May 16, 1906. She married Raymond Cutrell, who preceded her in death. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Sikeston and had been a resident of the Sikeston Convalescent Center...

ULLIN, Ill. -- Charles E. Hull Sr. 65, of Ullin died Nov. 16, 1996, at his home. He was born Jan. 14., 1931 at Mitchell, Ill., son of William Henry and Alma Blanch Beacock Hull. Hull was a veteran of the U.S. Marines and was a member of the Occidental Lodge #623 in Overland...

The Cape Senior Center will hold a membership meeting at 12:45 p.m. Nov. 25 at the center at 921 Clark Ave. Don and Sue McNeely will be guest speakers. The McNeely's will talk about their trip to Austria. The meeting also offers door prizes. The senior center is situated at 921 Clark Ave. People who eat at the center are members...

Virginia Pauline Siebert, 92, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Nov. 15, 1996, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center. She was born Dec. 7, 1903, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Clement B. and Pauline Hilleman Hoeller. She and George Siebert were married Aug. 20, 1929 in Cape Girardeau. He preceded her in death on April 13, 1995...

The finished nets are more than 20 feet long and dipped in tar. Hoops are added to hold the net open in the Mississippi River current. Harry Allen of Cape Girardeau doesn't have to tell fish stories anymore -- he's caught the mother of all Flathead catfish...

The holiday of Thanksgiving, so they say, depends upon the President's proclamation for the day to be set aside. What if he didn't do it? Forgot it? You think we wouldn't celebrate? Silly thought. A special day for Thanksgiving is so ingrained in our nation's history that few people know that the day has to be officially proclaimed...

The Cape Girardeau Public Schools Parents as Teachers program will hold a storytelling workshop for parents and children ages 3 to 5 Thursday, Nov. 21. In addition to storytelling, children have a chance to make and take home an art project and drawings will be held for three books to be given away...