Stories from Thursday, December 19, 1996

Charles Kruse has been elected to a third two-year term as president of the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation. Kruse, a Dexter farmer, was re-elected during the Farm Bureau's 82nd annual meeting at Osage Beach. "I am extremely honored that the farmers and ranchers of the state of Missouri have expressed their confidence in me to continue to serve as Missouri Farm Bureau president," Kruse said. ...

The inside of the Osage Community Centre is nothing more than drywall, exposed wiring and support beams. But on Wednesday, the Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board saw conference rooms, concessions stands and thousands of dollars pouring into Cape Girardeau businesses...

Watching Brad Fennel get ready for work is a bit surreal. Sure, he pulls on his pantyhose one leg at a time. But then he applies several layers of foundation, piles on enough eye shadow for three women and nearly empties a can of hair spray on a red wig...

A musical mix of the known and unknown awaits those who attend President's Concert V Friday night. "There's enough familiar they're going to say, `I know this music,'" says Dr. Jordan Tang, conductor of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra. "And there's enough unfamiliar they won't say, `I just went to the shopping mall.'"...

Plagued with financial trouble, the Cape Civic Center will welcome an alternative school with open arms and open palms. The Alternative Education Center, part of Cape Girardeau public schools, will move from the Salvation Army building at Good Hope and Sprigg to the Civic Center building on Broadway...

"This is Toys R Us. Your raincheck is in. You must claim it by Thursday." The message was rather mysterious. The only thing I could remember putting on raincheck at Toys R Us several weeks ago was a Tickle Me Elmo. I called back to check. A polite customer-service representative confirmed "the item" had arrived for raincheck customers only, but she was careful never to actually say the product name. I guess the mere mention could cause a store panic...

He's red. He's furry. He's hot and he's here. Well, he was. With less than a week until Christmas, about 150 people were able to buy Christmas' hottest toy -- a Tickle Me Elmo -- at the Cape Girardeau Toys R Us store. The shipment was enough to satisfy most raincheck requests, but there wasn't enough to go on the shelves...

Everything's ducky at Capaha Park. Cape Girardeau city parks employees feed the ducks daily at the park each winter. The 35 to 40 ducks that live at the Capaha Park Lagoon consume a 50-pound bag of corn each week, said Mark Sullivan, park supervisor...

Dec. 19, 1996 Here's hoping our latest snowfall lasts long enough to glisten with the light of Christmas Eve's full moon, but you know those moments are rare gifts. One of many kinds. Clement Moore, a biblical scholar, wrote a poem for his children nearly 200 years ago. By accident it was published and became "The Night Before Christmas."...

Before the car hit her car Tuesday night, Billie Roth of Cape Girardeau said she watched it slide down the icy hill like it had a will of its own. "I've never driven when it was that slick before," Roth said. "The road was like a solid sheet of ice."...

I WANT to commend KFVS-TV for the fine interview it did with one of our local pastors and a couple of members of that church on the topic of the last coming of Jesus Christ to judge the living and the dead. The Bible reminds us that God gives us many different signs to remind us of Christ's final coming -- signs that we see in nature and in the people of the world around us. ...

My last offering detailed judicial outrages and a growing revolt against judges that bids to be a major fact of American political life over the next generation. In one sense, of course, conservative angst over judicial activism isn't new: Reaction against liberal rulings of the 1960s-era Warren court helped fuel conservative comebacks including Richard Nixon's two victories in 1968 and '72, the George Wallace insurgency of those years, the rise of Ronald Reagan and much more...

Nearly $1 million will be spent on a project to upgrade the Cape Girardeau water system's ability to take water from the Mississippi River, which has been the city's primary source for years. This upgrade is being funded mostly by a federal grant and isn't part of the $26.5 million bond issue for water system improvements approved by voters in November...

There are times when geologists who keep track of tremors in the earth's crust sound like tipsters at a racetrack or professional palm readers. It is hard to forget the prediction of the "big one" that was going to devastate Southeast Missouri a few years ago...

To the editor: There was rejoicing among the 150 members of a Christian congregation of Romanov in the Soviet Muslim Republic of Kirghizistan in the western part of central Asia. But why did the people rejoice? For by widening the street, the workers had bulldozed their prayer meeting house into a heap of rubble. Salvaging what they could, the church members put up kind of a log cabin for worship but continued petitioning authorities for a permit for a new church building...

Several area businesses and agencies are giving an elderly Cape Girardeau resident the gift that keeps on giving this Christmas: heat. The Cape Girardeau Public Health Center and Division of Aging teamed up with Flori Sales and Service, 101 William, to purchase a new furnace for an elderly female whose heat was disconnected Tuesday morning. Her faulty furnace was creating a carbon monoxide danger...

SIKESTON -- The Rev. Charles Buck called his 18 months on the Sikeston Public Schools Board of Education a short but special time. The other members of the school board seemed to feel the same way as none of them was eager to accept his resignation last week...

'Twas the night before Toybox deliveries, and all through the house... There are only hours left before Jaycee Santas and their elves begin their Christmas deliveries to the more than 1,200 children from needy families who applied for gifts this year...

Daughter to David G. and Deanna Lynne Schott of Jonesboro, Ill., Southeast Missouri Hospital, 7:34 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, 1996. Name, Samantha Lynne. Weight, 8 pounds 5 ounces. Third child, first daughter. Mrs. Schott is the former Deanna Bixby, daughter of Leonard and Phyllis Bixby of Baldwin, Ill. Schott is the son of William and Frankie Schott of Cape Girardeau...

Hollis Smith, 87, of Nevada, Mo., died Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1996, at Nevada Regional Medical Center. She was born July 28, 1909, at Swinton, daughter of Jessie and Vader Prentiss Swindell. She and the Rev. Orren Smith were married Aug. 4, 1928. He died in 1968...

PERRYVILLE -- Ruth Irene Harris, 81, of Perryville died Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1996, at her home. She was born July 16, 1915, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Menley Kinney. Survivors include two sons, Kenneth Cole and Tony Anderson of Perryville; five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren...

JACKSON -- Dorothy Cotner, 69, of Jackson died Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 18, 1927, near Oriole, daughter of Robert Loren and Addie McCormick Humes. She and Lee Cotner were married June 8, 1946, at Jackson...

Dorothy Annis, 62, 374 County Road 316, died Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Aug. 28, 1934, at Benton, daughter of Leo and Irene Diebold Urhahn. She and Harold Annis were married June 30, 1951. Annis had worked at the former Ely Walker Co. ...

JACKSON -- Albert R. Townsend, 88, of Jackson died Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was formerly of Ironton. Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson from 4-8 p.m. Friday. Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home, with the Rev. David Stewart officiating. Burial will be in Arcadia Valley Memorial Cemetery at Arcadia...

CHAFFEE -- Clifford G. Proffer, 82, of Chaffee died Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1996, at Chaffee Nursing Center. He was born April 2, 1914, at Bloomfield, son of William Franklin and Olive Bethel Williams Proffer. He and Rosetta H. Gibbs Myers were married March 17, 1951. She died June 21, 1983...

SIKESTON -- Graveside service for Ronnie Wayne DeRoush of Rockford, Ill., will be held at 11 a.m. today in Garden of Memories Cemetery at Sikeston. The Rev. Keith Wilson will officiate. Nunnelee Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. DeRoush, 46, died Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1996, at his home...

CHAFFEE -- Lucille Bertha Gosche, 78, of Chaffee died Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1996, at her home. She was born June 3, 1918, at New Hamburg, daughter of Leo and Regina Bisher Heuring. She and Albert A. Gosche were married June 1, 1940. He died Dec. 29, 1985...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Bessie Lorene Harrison of Sikeston will be held at 1 p.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. Dr. Jim Guffie will officiate, with burial in Sikeston City Cemetery. Harrison, 79, died Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...