Stories from Sunday, December 8, 1996

With President Clinton's choice of Madeleine Albright to become secretary of state comes the interesting question about what happens in the unlikely event that it becomes necessary for a Cabinet member to assume the duties of president. The Constitution prohibits anyone but a natural-born citizen from occupying the Oval Office. Thus, Albright -- whose family escaped oppression in Eastern Europe -- would be skipped in the line of succession...

Professor William Whitson is a leader in the area of bone growth research and he says he owes it all to Dutch Meyr. Meyr, owner of Fruitland Dressed Meats, has been helping Professor Whitson collect the samples he needs to grow bone matrix in his laboratory in Alton, Ill., at the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine...

Kids at Franklin School had so much fun Saturday they hardly realized they were learning. "Making stuff is a lot of fun," said 8-year-old Christopher Griffith as he made another cut into a piece of white construction paper that would eventually be a box...

I THINK this year's a good chance for our Electoral College to prove that there's a reason for their existence. They have an opportunity now to elect Bob Dole as president, and I think they have a reason to do that. If they don't use that power this time, it seems to me they should be disbanded, and we should elect people strictly on the one man, one vote principle and do away with the electors of the Electoral College...

For me, the great health-care debate's defining moment occurred quite early in 1993, when First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton allowed us to glimpse the little touch of Stalin lurking in her heart. Asked by a worried Democratic Congressman from Virginia how small businesses could pay the huge new taxes in her vast health-care scheme, Hillary snapped, "Look, I can't save every undercapitalized entrepreneur in America."...

It's the season to be jolly, and it's also the season to crunch the numbers. For a change, the crunchers are fairly jolly this season. Now that the election is over, the budget formulators for the president and the Congress sharpen their pencils and make their forecasts not only for the year ahead, but nowadays for the year 2002 as well. ...

This is an update on a column that appeared in this space a couple of months ago. The piece dealt with my foolish belief that if enough Missourians knew how their money was being wasted, they would rise up and do something about it. I guess Missourians were too busy in September to voice much complaint, and so the plans that were outlined in that commentary are proceeding apace...

President Bill Clinton was no sooner re-elected than he began dropping hints that he intended to include Republicans in his Cabinet for a second term. This was of a piece with the new mood in Washington, echoed by most of the national media, that the time had come for bipartisan cooperation in all things. ...

Mrs. M is a diabetic with heart disease and vision problems, but the lady has a talent her illnesses have not been able to take away from her. She plays the spoons. She enjoys performing for others, and she has a quick smile and a ready laugh that she also likes to share...

Construction industry spending in Cape Girardeau has increased for a second straight month over last year, and is near the $44.5 million level of 1995. November permit totals were reported at $3.8 million, compared to $2.9 million in November of 1995...

D&K Wholesale Drug Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, will start making shipments from its Cape Girardeau facility, 1823 Rust Ave. next week. Sam's Club will open a 114,000-square foot facility in Cape West Business Park, adjacent to the Wal-Mart Supercenter, in early spring...

Every Missourian who leaves his home will agree that the state has transportation needs. City dwellers want to ensure there is public transportation to get them around. Airport managers want working control towers to divert disaster. Port authorities want rail spurs to serve their barges...

Do you remember going back to school after the Christmas holidays? You put on your favorite new outfit and took that special toy to school to show everyone what you got for Christmas. Unless donations greatly increase to the Toy Box toy drive in the next week and a half, there will be many children without any toys to show others...

You better not pout, and you better not cry if you want to sit on Santa's lap. But if you do, Santa will keep smiling. It's his job to be happy. Nick Roberts, a 19-year-old Southeast Missouri State University college student from Portageville, is one of Santa's helpers this year...

Dear Santa: I know you love to see all those Christmas trees when you're out riding around in the sleigh, but it isn't easy putting up a tree with young children around. It took a whole week to get our tree decorated this year. Of course, we had to rearrange our house before we could even get the tree...

For many years, Missouri's streams have been suffering due to poor stream and watershed (the area of land that drains into a stream) management practices. Removal of trees and other vegetation along the stream, channelization or stream straightening, timber clearing in the watershed, poor farming practices and urbanization are some of the causes of degraded streams...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri hunters killed 6,302 fewer deer during this year's firearms deer season and 542 fewer turkeys during the fall turkey season than in 1995, according to figures from the Missouri Department of Conservation. Deer hunters checked 180,395 deer during the statewide firearms deer season Nov. 16 through 26. Last year's record-setting harvest for the 11-day November season was 186,697. The MDC recorded 11 deer-hunting accidents -- none fatal -- during the firearms deer season...

JEFFERSON CITY -- A system that has been used to divide the waterfowl hunting pie at conservation areas for 50 years is on its way out. Next year it will be gone entirely. The reason: An abundance of public wetland areas and surging waterfowl populations that have made the system of waterfowl hunting reservations obsolete...

Aleta Crawford Massey, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Dec. 6, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 18, 1917 near Romance, Ark., daughter of Harvey J. and Eula A. Barnett McDowell. She and Walter Crawford were married Dec. 21, 1958. He preceded her in death Feb. 14, 1984. She later married Harvey Massey on Aug. 14, 1992...

Joseph Edward "Little Joe" Goza, 69, of Saginaw, Mich., died Friday, Dec. 6, 1996, at St. Luke's Hospital in Saginaw. He was born Sept. 5, 1927, in Cape Girardeau, son of James A. and Audrey M. Pence Goza. He and Marie Finke had been married. Goza lived in California from the early 1960s until his return to Cape Girardeau in the early 1980s. ...

FRIEDHEIM -- Edmund A. Wibbenmeyer, 86, of Friedheim, died Saturday, Dec. 7, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 22, 1910 at Biehle, son of Bernard and Juliana A. Buchheit Wibbenmeyer. He and Clara M. Renner were married in Biehle Nov. 24, 1931. She preceded him in death Dec. 30, 1966...

SIKESTON -- Donald R. Beggs, 58, of Sikeston died Friday, Dec. 6, 1996, at his home. He was born March 13, 1938, at Oran, son of W.A. and Virginia Lee Dunn Beggs. He married Margaret Lou Goehri Beggs on July 15, 1961. She died July 31, 1976. He then married Judy Smith on Sept. 11, 1981, at Sikeston...

COMMERCE -- Mary Catherine Terrill Dodson, 59, of Commerce died Friday, Dec. 6, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born Jan. 28, 1937 at Clarksville, Ark., daughter of William N. and Eva Emmaline King Terrill. She and Glenn Dodson were married May 1, 1986 at Commerce...

Scott County Marriage Licenses Laurel Andrew Sadler, 30, and Michelle Marie Wilson, 28, both of Chaffee; Michael Shannon Warden, 28, and Deanna Lynn Ives, 23, both of Cape Girardeau; Delmar Jack Jones, 25, and Carol Louise Oliver, 27, both of Sikeston; Spencer Lee Edwards, 32, and Carolyn Monroe Rutherford, 27, both of Sikeston; Charles Brant Pratt, 26, and Judith Ann Shelton, 25, both of Sikeston; Argus Wayne Coonts, 43, and Tammy Lou Clark, 33, both of Scott City; Hershel E. ...

Scott County Land Transactions Buford R. and Sharon L. Austin to James M. and Robin G. Kindle; Lena Matthews et al. to Fred Jr. and Candice Ann Matthews; Donald and Pamela Bedell to Circle B Enterprises Inc.; Raymond Bruenderman et al. to Wade Williams; John and Myrtle Nunnelee to Susan Howle Werner and Jane Howle Clymer; Susan and Norman Werner to John and Marilyn Klueppel; Jane and Thomas Clymer to John and Marulyn Klueppel; Jack and Patricia Patterson to Michael and Kimberly Hill; John and Judy Archie to Edward Jr. ...

Just when you think the complexities of living are approaching a critical mass leading to the production of a million, simultaneous, primordial screams, comes the solace of winter. It is the winding down time, the nadir of the year, at which point there can only begin the upswing...

The kitchen has a custom-made wood cook stove that was built in Cincinnati. Christmas ornaments decorating the home are for sale. The master bedroom is decorated for the holidays in traditional fashion along with the rest of the house. CAIRO, Ill. -- Tim Slapinski weaved through the card tables and chairs in the drawing room as he began a tour of the historic Magnolia Manor...

Volunteers are needed to help youngsters build positive self esteem and make good decisions through Project Charlie. A training session will be held Jan. 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Woodland High School in Marble Hill. Project Charlie is a drug and alcohol prevention program taught in all Cape Girardeau and Jackson public schools in grades 2 and 4. The Excelsior Optimist Club of Cape Girardeau sponsors the project and local businesses have donated money...

The Cape Girardeau Antique and Collectible Market will be held today at the Holiday Inn Convention Center. The event, originally scheduled last weekend at the A.C. Brase Arena Building, had to be re-scheduled. Exhibitors from four states will be selling antique furniture, glassware, jewelry, Christmas collectibles, toys, sports cars, dolls and paper Americana...