Stories from Sunday, October 12, 1997

I have been watching the Promise Keepers with great interest. Their gathering in Washington D.C. last weekend generated a lot of publicity. One thing that struck me was the amount of negative reaction to this very positive event. The Promise Keepers met with the express purposes of 1) praying for our nation, and for each other, 2) taking responsibility for their (men's) own part in the downward moral slide of our nation, and 3) pledging to do something about it, by making and keeping promises in their own lives to strengthen families, morals, and relationships. ...

ONBOARD USS GEORGE WASHINGTON -- Ryan Strack is giving his family a unique present this holiday season. While they're busy carving the turkey and giving thanks, Strack will be protecting those things they're thankful for ... with American naval forces on the Mediterranean...

The Southeast Missouri Band Association Central Division Marching Festival was held for the 53rd year in row in Jackson Tuesday. The non-competitive event gave bands the opportunity to play in front of an enthusiastic crowd without the burden of competition, Jackson Band Director Nick Leist said...

25 years ago, 1972 John Ryland Short, 76, of Jackson, died Oct. 6; in March 1915, he was appointed clerk in Jackson Post Office; during World War I, he enlisted in Navy and, after being discharged from active duty in January 1919, he resumed his duties at post office; Short was appointed postmaster of Jackson by president Harry S. ...

To the editor: When was the last time you wrote a letter? Letters have been a source of the life and times of our ancestors. Letters have given us insight into the thoughts of others. Often, letters have been a source of biographical information. The Scriptures contain a body of letters which have been important for our knowledge of the early Christian church...

The members of the Cape County Common Sewer District plans to hold the first of two town hall meetings to inform the public about their organization's plan to become a legal entity. The first meeting will be held Monday at 7 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas...

Four people, including a Ste. Genevieve County sheriff's deputy, were injured in two separate accidents in Ste. Genevieve County Thursday. The first accident occurred at 5:25 p.m. at Interstate 55 and Highway 32 when the driver of a 1993 Dodge made a wide right turn from the northbound I-55 ramp onto eastbound Highway 32 and struck a westbound 1989 Mazda head-on, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol...

The city of Cape Girardeau and NationsBank were scheduled to finalize the deal on the city's purchase of the old Boatmen's Bank building at Broadway and Main Street. City manager Michael Miller said everything looked good for the deal. "We don't think there will be any surprises. If there are, they'll be technicalities," he said...

The first ever City of Roses Music Awards ceremony has been moved to the Show Me Center after outgrowing the first location. The awards banquet kicks off the first City Of Roses Festival Oct. 16-18 in downtown Cape Girardeau. The festival is being organized by the City of Roses Music Heritage Association, a nonprofit group formed specifically for the occasion. Its members are Bob Camp, Fara McSpadden and Bill Shivelbine...

FRUITLAND -- Birthright national director Terry Weaver shared words of encouragement and inspiration with more than 100 volunteers during the state convention held in Fruitland over the weekend. Weaver was the keynote speaker during the two-day convention held at the Bavarian Inn. She and other speakers shared their experiences and encouraged volunteers to continue to keep their focus on providing women with the support they need during their pregnancies...

There can be little doubt that the best Republican move since last November's election was the holding of hearings convened by the U.S. Senate's Finance Committee to look into the Internal Revenue Service. For three days, the nation was mesmerized as four witnesses told riveting stories of their travails at the hands of the IRS. ...

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, has responded quickly to the move to grant members of Congress an automatic, $3,000 cost-of-living pay raise. The raise was buried deep in a big spending bill, but that hasn't hidden the controversy. Emerson, who opposed the move from the beginning, is among 27 lawmakers who sponsored a bill to halt the practice. ...

To the editor: My first day of high school started routinely enough. My brother and I, along with some friends, walked the usual mile and a half to Little Rock Central High School. As we neared the campus, we noticed a number of Arkansas National Guardsmen in jeeps around the school. ...

To the editor: I always liked Halloween as a child. I remember how my father on Halloween night walked down to the corner of Broadway and Ellis with my twin sister and me to watch the children clad as ghosts with a sheet over their heads, a bar of homemade soap in their hands and marking heavily on each window as they passed. There were many little ghosts and goblins...

The Miss Jackson pageant will be held Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Jackson High School. Pageant director Mary Beth Williams and volunteers are getting everything in order for the preliminary pageant for Miss Missouri 1998. There will also be a Miss Christmas crowned that night. At 2 p.m. Miss Junior Christmas, Miss Holly, Little Miss Snowball and Little Miss Snowflake will be crowned...

Officials from Notre Dame High School and the city of Cape Girardeau will meet Monday to try to work out an agreement for extending city water service to the new high school. Hillary Schmittzehe, chairman of Notre Dame's building committee, said the committee met Thursday night and "decided to work with the city."...

Not everyone makes it all the way to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Johnny Bench told youngsters Saturday, but education gives everyone a shot at success. Bench, the legendary catcher for the Cincinnati Reds, said he still enjoys hearing his career achievements read...

Quiet and not-so-quiet supporters of Southeast Missouri State University were honored for their contributions during the 15th annual Copper Dome Society Breakfast held at the Show Me Center Saturday. Otto and Della Seabaugh of Cape Girardeau received the Friends of the University award, the highest honor bestowed by the Southeast Missouri University Foundation...

Some 50 fans partook of pregame fare when they attended tailgate parties held prior to the Southeast Missouri State University Homecoming '97 football game Saturday near Houck Stadium. The university began designating the parking lot just south of Houck Field House as a tailgate party area this season in an effort to generate more interest in the football program. Fans are encouraged to hold pre-game parties in the area prior to every home game...

JACKSON -- Jackson, in the middle of a significant population growth in the 1990s, is heading toward another record year of construction. Unofficially, building permit totals for housing, home improvements, commercial building and educational facilities, were valued at just over $17 million at the three-quarter mark of the year. ...

Let your daughters' girlfriends spend the night and suddenly you are flooded with Barbies. I never knew we had so many Barbies until the sleep-over Friday night. In recent months, the Barbies have been spending most of their time camped out in a storage container on top of the doll house in our daughters' room...

Home sweet home course. For the first time in its nine-year history, the Southeast Missourian Cup competition was held at Cape Girardeau Country Club. And for the first time ever, Cape Girardeau Country Club's contingency won the coveted Cup on Saturday...

The pain etched on Southeast Missouri State University head football coach John Mumford's face told the entire story Saturday. Mumford, his eyes appearing tired and bloodshot, graciously answered questions from a reporter following what had to be one of the most difficult defeats of his coaching career...

The irony in Saturday's gut-wrenching Southeast Missouri State University football loss was plain for all to see. Punting, one of the Indians' main strengths so far this season, cost the Tribe dearly as Tennessee Tech escaped with a somewhat miraculous 17-14 win on Southeast's homecoming...

KANSAS CITY -- Oral Roberts swept aside Southeast Missouri State University's women's volleyball team Saturday, winning in three sets. After posting a 15-11 victory in the opening set, Oral Roberts picked up steam and rolled 15-3, 15-6 in the next two sets to complete the sweep...

ST. LOUIS -- It was a pretty good weekend for Kim Riley. Behind Riley's clutch hitting and excellent pitching, Kelly High's softball team, which finished second in the Class 2A state tournament last year, will return to the state tournament this season...

Although it came in a losing effort, Southeast Missouri State University's much-maligned offense got its act together Saturday and -- thanks to one amazing drive -- nearly helped the Indians upend Tennessee Tech. After struggling through a horrible performance during last week's 32-7 loss to Eastern Illinois, the Indians' offense bounced back with arguably its best performance of the season considering the quality of the opposition...

In a football game played between two parochial high schools, it was only fitting the contest would have a miraculous finish with a "Hail Mary" pass providing the deciding points. That was the case Friday night in Festus, when St. Vincent of Perryville beat St. Pius 21-19 in a Jefferson County small school division contest...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Cape Girardeau's Bob McBride tied for 11th with several other golfers in the Nitro Seniors Tour Tournament that concluded here Saturday. The Nitro Seniors is a professional senior golf tour that primarily features golfers who have not been able to qualify for the main Senior PGA Tour...

Have you ever wondered if there are any fish in our rivers today that lived during the prehistoric period? Have you ever seen a pallid sturgeon and wondered why it looks so different? The pallid sturgeon lives in the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, where it evolved from a group of fish that were dominant during the late Cretaceous period, 70 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed the Earth...

Michael W. Wilson of Cape Girardeau scored a hole-in-one Oct. 4 at The Falls Golf Club in O'Fallon. Wilson, shooting from the white tees on Hole No. 12, used a five iron to ace the 168-yard hole.

WYATT -- Margie Ann Marshall, 55, of Wyatt, formerly of East Prairie, died Friday, Oct. 10, 1997, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston after an extended illness. She was born July 21, 1942, in New Madrid County, the daughter of the William Perry and Delia R. Faust Tanksley...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Gladys Karr Tenkhoff Peyton, 84, of East Prairie died Thursday, Oct. 9, 1997, at the East Prairie Nursing Center. She was born March 2, 1913, in East Prairie, the daughter of Dick and Lyda Cline Karr. In 1953, she married Cornelus J. Tenkhoff, who died in 1973. In 1981, she married Frank Peyton, who died April 25, 1995...

DEXTER -- Jesteen Palmer, 75, of Dexter died Saturday, Oct. 11, 1997, at Dexter Memorial Hospital. She was born May 19, 1922, in Portageville, the daughter of John William and Siner Clement Moss. She had been a resident of California for 22 years, had lived in Dexter since 1981 and had lived in the Crowley Ridge Care Center the past two years...

PUXICO -- Dean Wilhelm, 72, died Saturday, Oct. 11, 1997, at his home. He was born April 23, 1925, in Puxico, the son of John F. and Maude Murdock Wilhelm. He married Madaline Thomas on July 17, 1946, in Pocahontas, Ark. He was a lifelong resident of Puxico and was a member of the Puxico Veterans of Foreign Wars post. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army and before retiring had owned and operated a service station in Puxico. He was a member of the United Methodist Church...

BERNIE -- Elizabeth London, 86, of Bernie died Saturday, Oct. 11, 1997, at her home. She was born in Essex on Sept. 3, 1911, the daughter of James W. and Hydra Greer Darby. She married Francis London on Nov. 18, 1948. He died in 1959. She was a homemaker and had lived in Essex before spending 30 years in Michigan. She moved to Bernie in 1971...

BENTON -- Easter May Miller, 90, of Benton died Thursday, Oct. 9, 1997, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 23, 1907, at Benton, daughter of James W. and May Harbison Farris. She and Lester Miller Sr. were married in 1925 at Benton. He died in 1968...

ADVANCE -- Everett O. Proffer, 65, of Advance died Friday, Oct. 10, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born July 21, 1932, in Bollinger County, the son of "Shorty" Proffer and Ruth Eaker Rhodes. He married Mildred Hinkle on Oct. 17, 1952, at Advance...

BLOOMFIELD -- Willie Ham died Saturday, Oct. 11, 1997, at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. Arrangements are incomplete at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter.

George Baughman, 83, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Oct. 10, 1997, at Ratliff Care Center. He was born April 6, 1914, in Browntown, Ill., the son of Paul and Sylvia Drake Baughman. He married Ethel M. Pulley on Oct. 19, 1936, at Jonesboro, Ill. He was of the Baptist faith and a member of Boilermakers Local 363 in Belleville, Ill. He had worked as a shipyard welder...

Son to Erica Rae Break and Chad D. Smith of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 3:25 a.m. Monday, Sept. 29, 1997. Name, Zachary Tyler. Weight, 8 pounds 8 ounces. First child. Ms. Break is the daughter of Dennis and Susan Break of Cape Girardeau. She is a student, and is employed at Finch and Moss Law Firm. Break is the son of Joe and Karen Wright of Jackson...

PERRYVILLE -- Earl J. Schnurbusch, 76, of Perryville died Thursday, Oct. 9, 1997, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born July 9, 1921, at Apple Creek, the son of William G. and Emma D. Zoellner Schnurbusch. He married Vera B. Funcheon on July 12, 1941, at Perryville...

NEELYVILLE -- Four people were injured in a two-vehicle accident Friday afternoon. Melvin Brock, 34, of Neelyville suffered serious injuries and was taken to Doctors Hospital in Poplar Bluff. Brock was driving a 1972 Chevrolet pickup westbound on Route 142, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol...

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. Loughboro school days now seem so far away, yet so near and dear. Each day brought something new to my mind. ...

One of his current projects is a 1932 Indian Motoplane race bike. The hood ornament gleams on this 1937 Cadillac Convertible that Joe James father had bought new. When Joe James of Cape Girardeau played saxophone with the Bill French Orchestra at the Casa Loma Ballroom in St. Louis several years back, he could feel the ghosts of all the great dance bands who had performed there: Glen Miller, Harry James, the Dorseys...

The Southeast Missouri Area Pachyderm Club will hold its October meeting Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Julian's Restaurant in Jackson. Guest speaker will be John Hancock, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party. The Southeast Missouri Area Pachyderm Club is an official auxiliary of the National Republican Party and this region's only official Republican organization. ...