Stories from Sunday, October 5, 1997

Fast Eddie performed a massee shot, one of the hardest shots to make in straight pool. Tyler Kremer, 7, left, and his brother Brandon, 11, watched Fast Eddie Felson perform trick shots and was later invited to help Felson with a pool shot. The legendary "Fast Eddie" Felson put on a show for onlookers at Lloyd's Tavern in Jackson on Tuesday night. A crowd of about 70 people gathered around the legend pool shark to witness shots most could only dream of making...

Above, Bill Thompson and a 1948 Dodge Firetruck. The truck was used to fight fires in Wamego, Kas., until the Thompsons purchased it eight years ago. Left, Bernard Schaper, left and Bill Thompson discuss the fire truck display at the Oliver House on Wednesday...

The Jackson Heritage Association is now offering its sixth historical photo calendar. The association, in this manner can showcase some of the numerous historic area photographs in its collection. This year's calendar offers views into the past of the Jackson courthouse, Bollinger Mill, the 1912 Jackson baseball team and much more. ...

25 years ago, 1972 Graduate of Jackson High School and member of Future Farmers of America chapter here, Ronald Huffman, has been recommended to receive American Famer Degree, highest degree of membership for students of vocational agriculture; award will be presented during National FFA Convention to be held in Kansas City Oct. 11-13...

You can tell a lot about a region by the food the people eat, says Angie Holtzhouser, author of the new cookbook "Drop Dumplin's and Pan-Fried Memories ... Along the Mississippi" "I read cookbooks like most people read novels," she says. Holtzhouser was 10 years old when she made her first pecan pie as a surprise for her Daddy. Food and family stories have always been entwined for her...

When rhythm and blues legend Rufus Thomas turned 80, the state of Tennessee and the City of Memphis declared it Rufus Thomas Day. A section of Hernando Street in the Beale Street historic district was renamed Rufus Thomas Boulevard. Thomas, best known for the song "Walkin' the Dog" and for creating the dance called the Funky Chicken, will headline the first City Of Roses Festival Oct. 16-18 in downtown Cape Girardeau...

JACKSON -- Jack Floyd has worked for the Jackson Sanitation Department for 15 years but can't recall finding any treasures by the curb during the annual Fall Clean-up Week in Jackson. "By the time we get there it's pretty well picked over," the city's sanitation superintendent says, referring to the scavenging that traditionally occurs after the trash has been put beside the road...

What would they say at the Grand Ole Opry? Country star Tim McGraw wowed an audience of 5,003 people at the Show Me Center Friday night with a show indistinguishable from a rock 'n' roll extravaganza: Rising stages, colored lights, deafening bass and a bit of posing by the goateed star...

To the editor: An employee of a customs office in another land one day dropped and damaged my typewriter. I was a bit annoyed and said that I would hold him responsible under the law for ruining or destroying my typewriter. He simply responded, "What difference does the law mean to me?" He seemed unconcerned...

In late March 1996, I stopped off for a seven-day visit with our mission team working in Moscow, Russia. It was great to spend time with Marion and Belinda Ferrell, although I had just finished a whirlwind 21-day tour of Athens, Israel, and Egypt. I was exhausted...

ANOTHER SCHOOL year has started, and the streets are full of little children selling pies, cakes, pizza and nuts. Prices on these are $4.50 and up. One first grader told me she must sell 30 items so she can have an afternoon off from school for a pizza party and play games. This is ridiculous. I will not buy a thing even from my grandchild...

A friend is a local surgeon and avid outdoorsman who, like me, favors passage in Missouri of a bill already law in more than 30 other states: the right for law-abiding citizens to apply to the local sheriff for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. With characteristic pungency, this friend has listened to those politicians who piously denounce this bill and asks: "What, exactly, does some politician have to fear from a law-abiding citizen who carries a weapon?"...

Many Washington pundits are all agog with the need for something they love to call campaign finance reform. The object of their current fancy is the McCain-Feingold bill currently being debated in the U.S. Senate. About that bill, nationally syndicated columnist George Will has done some of the most penetrating analysis. ...

The Missouri State Teachers Association convened a meeting of 100 or so teachers from 75 area districts last week in Cape Girardeau to consider resolutions establishing that group's positions for the next legislative session. What came forth was quite remarkable and speaks to the fundamental good sense of this mainstream teachers' group...

To the editor: Back in August, when Southeast Missouri State University announced the formation of a commission to study the causes of a declining minority student population, I read the article with a mixture of curiosity and bewilderment. I was curious because I had both personal professional acquaintances with various university employees and local alumni who had never mentioned this unusual phenomenon in recent conversations about the university. ...

Shirlene Voerg has worked at the Florsheim shoe factory for 30 years. But the Cape Girardeau woman worries that cheap labor outside the country could leave her unemployed. Fellow employee Cindy Gosnell of Commerce has a similar worry. "I have to wonder about my future," said Gosnell, who has worked at the factory for 10 years...

Three months ago Richard Murray would have been happy with the prospect of $30 million per year in Cape Girardeau construction totals. Now, he's looking at a $40 million year, which would mark the fourth time in five years that permits issued were valued over the $40 million mark...

Southeast Missouri State University isn't color blind when it comes to hazing, two former students said Saturday. Shermone Kirkwood of St. Louis and Windy Branch of Minneapolis charged that the school takes a tougher stand against hazing by black fraternities and sororities than it does for similar violations by the traditionally white Greek organizations...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Theories about why businesses abandoned Cairo's downtown district are plentiful, from the arrival of the interstate highway to racial strife of the '60s. But now the city and state are investing in an attempt to make history Cairo's calling card...

In the land of children, it's tough to be neat. In life, there isn't a "10-second tidy" like that shown on "The Big Comfy Couch" video tapes. Too bad, I could have used such a thing Saturday. I came home for lunch only to find my daughters dipping their spoons into gooey, colored icing and pouring it onto sugar cookies shaped like stars, pumpkins and apples...

I've received some strange press releases over my years as a sportswriter, but the one that Southeast Missouri State University sent out last Tuesday just might take the cake. Here is the entire release issued by SEMO's news bureau: "Southeast Missouri State University announced today that local enforcement authorities notified university officials of two incidents over the past three days allegedly involving several Southeast student athletes...

After having their 34-match regular-season winning streak in the Ohio Valley Conference snapped by Murray State on Thursday, the Southeast Otahkian volleyball team came out in front of a Family Weekend crowd Saturday at Houck Fieldhouse ready to start another streak...

The Village People, the popular band from the disco-crazed 1970s, held a concert at Houck Stadium Saturday night following Southeast Missouri State University's football game. Eastern Illinois couldn't attend as the Panthers headed back to Charleston, Ill., after the contest...

ST. LOUIS -- With Lutheran North High's leading rusher out with an injury, Jackson showed the Crusaders what they were missing. The Indians rushed for 297 yards on 38 carries and beat Lutheran North 49-7 on a steamy afternoon in St. Louis. "When you can run the ball like that, that's the best defense you can play," said Jackson coach Carl Gross...

Down 3-0 in the seventh inning, Jackson High's softball team scored three times in the inning and once in the eighth to upset Northwest-House Springs 4-3 Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A, District 1 tournament at Arena Park. Also Saturday, No. 6 Mehlville beat No. 3 Cape Central 2-1 to end the Lady Tigers' season at 14-8. No. 2 Seckman beat No. 7 Oakville 2-1...

Defensive football players rarely get to score a touchdown, but Ronnie Smith is starting to make a habit of reaching the end zone. Smith, Southeast Missouri State University's standout strong safety, scored his second touchdown in two weeks Saturday when he returned a fumble 17 yards for the Indians' lone score during a 32-7 loss to Eastern Illinois...

The signs of fall are all around us. Shorter days and cool crisp nights, together team up to produce one of mother nature's most spectacular events, the annual process of tree leaves changing colors. This rather complex process, whereby leaves change from green to a variety of the characteristic colors of fall and finally turning into brown, can be primarily explained by a decrease in the amount of solar energy or sunlight a leaf receives. ...

St. Vincent's punt return team came up big in Friday night's Jefferson County Conference victory over Crystal City, earning eight points in the Indians' 19-14 road win. The Indians blocked a Hornet punt in the first quarter, returning the block for the first score of the game and earned a safety late in the game when the snap went over the head of the Crystal City punter and into the end zone...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Jackson's girls won the 19-team Carbondale Invitational on Saturday. Jackson, behind race winner Julie Wunderlich, totaled 71 points, which beat second place Cape Central (83) and eighth-place finisher Kelly (202). McLeansboro (Ill.) won the boys race with 59 points. Central was third (128), Kelly was eighth (184) and Jackson was ninth (220)...

ANNA, Ill. -- Emma Lou Boyd, 68, of Anna died Saturday, Oct. 4, 1997, at her home. She was born Aug. 9, 1929, at Anna, daughter of Ralph E. and Ara Wayne Bird Casper. She married Don E. Boyd on Sept. 12, 1947, at Anna. He died March 8, 1991. Survivors include two sons, Terry and Jay Boyd of Anna; a daughter, Becky Bass of Anna; a brother, Wayne Casper of Las Vegas, Nev.; and 10 grandchildren...

CHAFFEE -- Max D. Kinder, 63, of Chaffee died Saturday, Oct. 4, 1997, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born in Chaffee on Dec. 26, 1933, the son of Claude and Flo Witcher Kinder. He married Rose Mary Evans on Dec. 21, 1962. She survives...

BLOOMFIELD -- Charles William Bess, 74, of Canalou died Friday, Oct. 3, 1997, at the John Cochran V.A. Medical Center in St. Louis. He was born Aug. 5, 1923, at Bloomfield, son of George and Ethel Evans Bess. He formerly lived in Bloomfield, but had lived in Canalou for the past several years...

MORLEY -- Marie Dozier, 74, of Morley died Saturday, Oct. 4, 1997, at the Sikeston Convalescent Center in Sikeston. She was born in Medicine Lake, Mont., June 25, 1923, to the late Joseph and Adeline LaFrance Brien. She was a retired cook. She was a member of the Church of God of Morley...

PERRYVILLE -- Melvin Anton Brewer, 67, of Perryville died Saturday, Oct. 4, 1997, at his home. He was born Feb. 20, 1930, in Perry County, son of Edgar and Clorcie Wingerter Brewer. He was a machinist with Meramac Mining Co. before his retirement. He served in the Navy during the Korean War...

Yvonne Steinhoff Hisey, 62, of Tampa, died Sept. 27, 1997, in Tampa. She was born in Egypt Mills and moved to Tampa in 1982. She was retired from SunTrust, where she worked as a signature verifier. Survivors include her husband, Edgar Hisey; a daughter, Dana Powell of Brandon, Fla.; two sons, Clifford Wagner of Riverview, Fla., and Russell Wagner of Tampa; a brother, Alvin Steinhoff of Santa Ana, Calif.; two sisters, Vera Pickrell of Salem, Ore., and Norma Stauter of Garden Grove, Calif.; and seven grandchildren.. ...

JACKSON -- A tournament at Jackson Saturday included Cape Central, Jackson, Perryville, Poplar Bluff and St. Vincent. St. Vincent defeated Jackson 16-14, 15-11 in the finals.

Southeast Missouri State University recruit Johnny Cobb has been declared academically ineligible because he failed to meet degree requirements at Hutchison Junior College. The 6-foot-8 Cobb enrolled at Southeast this fall but left school when declared academically ineligible. Cobb, a junior, averaged 10 points and five rebounds per game last season at Hutchison...

Being a foster parent isn't for everyone, Janet Woods warns. The Jackson woman and her husband have been foster parents for seven years. Each child is unique, and so is each foster family. Prospective foster parents have to undergo 12 hours of training, a criminal background screening, a child abuse and neglect check, a home study and a physical, said Cindy Stone, a social services worker with the Cape Girardeau County Division of Family Services office...

Jamesetter and Ronnie Abraham have been foster parents for about five years. Janet Woods was working at the Family Learning Center seven years ago when she "fell in love with" one of her charges. "He got put in foster care, and I saw the effect it had on him," she said. "He cried a lot every day. I told my husband, Mike, if we can get him, let's do it."...

Jean Bell Mosley's new autobiography, "For Most of the Century," is only available in serialized form in the Southeast Missourian. Return each week for her continuing story. Our early Christmases were very simple but the best. Childhood wonderment, expectancy and fulfillment made them so...

The Cape Girardeau County Chapter of American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) will meet at 1:30 p.m. Monday at Grace United Methodist Church, Broadway and Caruthers. The program on "Sleep Disorders" will be given by Desma Reno, director of the Institute of Gerontology at Southeast Missouri State University...

Mary Catherine Bergerson, a junior at the University of Kansas at Lawrence, served an eight-week internship at the White House over the summer. She served in the White House press office during July and August. She is an American studies major from Cape Girardeau...