Stories from Sunday, October 4, 1998

To the editor: The U.S. government's fiscal year has ended on Sept. 30. The administration has again triumphantly announced the great national lie to ourselves that the federal budget has a surpllus of $70 billion. As explained earlier, this is the result of unified budget accounting. Again, unified budgeting involves combining all income in one total, including the money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund and other trust funds...

Did you know that mental illnesses are more common than cancer, diabetes or heart disease? Or that one out of every five families will be directly affected by a severe mental illness? The most shocking news about mental illnesses is how little people know about them. ...

Junior members of the River City C.B. Club/Class of 2000 in Scott County have received a donation of the popular Bamm Beano beanie bears. Officially licensed by Major League Baseball, the seven to eight inch bean bag style bears feature embroidered numbers and names of current players...

Covers Sept. 26-Oct. 3 25 years ago: 1973 The 27th annual Marching Band Festival will be held here Oct. 2, with 27 bands from Southeast Missouri area participating; events of day will get under way with parade in morning through Jackson business district and end with evening performance in Jackson High School stadium; more than 1,850 bandsmen will participate...

'ROUND AND ROUND THEY GO: Members of The Country WEestern Dancers, Inc. demonstrate a round dance during class Sept. 28. New classes start Oct. 5. Ever wanted to "boot scoot?" How about learning the "rebel stomp?" And what about needing to know the "electric slide" for that next wedding reception?...

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) will hold an open house meeting with property owners located along Route 34/72 west of Route 25 in Jackson to discuss the recommendation of a planning study that examined ways to increase safe and efficient travel from the Jackson area to Cape Girardeau. The study recommended that the current 2-lane Route 34/72 west of Route 25 be upgraded to a 5-lane roadway...

Results of the Jumping Mule Contest at the East Perry County Fair, Sept. 26, 1998 in Altenburg, Mo. Winners of the 47"-and-under class: Tied for first place Cletus -- owned by Sonny Seyer of Oak Ridge, Mo. Smokey -- owned by M&M Farms of Scott City, Mo...

Grassy is a friendly community located no Hwy. 34 west of Marble Hill. The name of the community is derived from Grassy Creek which flows through the area. The creek was named for the numerous stands of sage grass growing along its banks. Some of Grassy's historical and cultural highlights include:...

WASHINGTON -- Senate and House negotiators have reached agreement on a federal funding plan for flood control, river transportation and environmental projects. U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the agreement increases the construction budget for water programs and projects under the jurisdiction of the Corps of Engineers to $1.43 billion, $623 million above President's Clinton budget request...

The West Park Mall is planning a private shopping night Nov. 15, open only to those with special tickets. The mall is looking for charitable organizations to partner with in this unique fund-raising event. Called "Westfield Works Wonders," the program could raise thousands of dollars for area charitable organizations, said Joyce Hunter, director of marketing at the mall, which is owned by the Westfield Corporation...

The influence of German and French immigrants on the region can be seen in our churches and houses, certainly, but also in our conservatism and even in our love of having a beer, says Dr. Michael Roark, who has edited a book on the subject. The book has the unwieldy academic title "French and Germans in the Mississippi Valley: Landscape and Cultural Traditions." But Roark, a professor of geography and tourism at Southeast, says it contains information valuable both to scholars and laymen...

JEFFERSON CITY -- The colors in fall foliage will be bright and beautiful, thanks to rains that arrived just in time. Bruce Palmer, forestry education coordinator for the Missouri Department of Conservation, says hot, dry weather in August and early September could have been bad news for those who treasure the reds and golds of autumn foliage. But rains in recent weeks saved the day...

I'D LIKE to answer the comment in Speak Out under "The devil is waiting." What makes the devil happy is Christians not forgiving others, like in the Lord's Prayer, forgive me as I forgive those. If you don't forgive the sins of others, your sins won't be forgiven. Henceforth, the devil has you. That's what makes the devil happy...

Let me put this as gently as possible to avoid unduly upsetting Missourians who believe the citizenship and governance are spectator sports, requiring nothing from citizens but their casual attention and, at most, their half-hearted interest. I'm afraid I have some bad news for the Missourians who subscribe to the theory that there are obvious answers to any constitutional amendment questions posed to them at election time and that nothing is required from the voter that would even come close to thoughtful research and careful consideration.. ...

Voting to impeach? According to a new poll conducted by New York pollster John Zogby, congressional candidates in close races should vote to impeach President Clinton when the issue comes before them this week. With his survey showing that by a 2-1 margin voters are less inclined for a candidate who strongly defends Clinton or campaigns with Clinton, Zogby advises House hopefuls "to vote for an impeachment inquiry but take 48 hours beforehand to explain it." The Zogby poll found that 51.8 percent of voters "are ashamed to have Clinton as their president.". ...

Leaders of what passes for America's feminist movement will probably never recover from this year's disgraceful performance in responding to the allegations swirling around President Clinton. For months they have been studies in amazing hypocrisy. It would take a novelist of the descriptive powers of Tom Wolfe -- author of "Bonfire of the Vanities," "Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers" and "The Right Stuff" -- to do justice to all its satirical possibilities...

Congressional Republicans appear to be all fouled up on their commitment to cut taxes. After a House vote last week on cutting taxes by only $80 billion over five years, the bill was declared dead by Senate leaders who said there was neither the time nor the will to pass it in their chamber...

To the editor: So President Clinton has an affair and tried to cover it up. What else is new in Washington? What else is new in your hometown? What else is new in Republicanville? The Clinton-Lewinsky matter has nothing to do with justice. It's a dirty political war being waged by the Republicans to get Clinton any way they can. Clinton headhunter Ken Starr's bloodhounds have been nipping at Clinton's heels for five long years...

Southeast Missouri State University football alumni athletes, trainers, coaches and friends during the 1970s and 1980s are invited to an informal reunion in Cape Girardeau Oct. 16-17. The meeting place will be The Playdium on Friday night and before Saturday's 1 p.m. game against Tennessee State at Houck Stadium...

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- A couple of feet. That's all that separated Southeast Missouri State University's football Indians from one of their biggest wins in school history. Nick Reggio's 52-yard field-goal attempt at the buzzer had the distance but drifted wide left as Eastern Illinois held on for an amazing 35-33 victory Saturday afternoon in front of 3,687 fans at O'Brien Stadium...

Southeast Missouri State's second shot at Morehead State this season turned out better that its first. How much better? With Southeast up one game to none and leading 8-2 in the second game of their match with the Eagles yesterday at Houck Field House, a kill attempt by Angie Aschoff was blocked, smacked Aschoff in the forehead and ricocheted back over the net for a Southeast sideout...

Meteors come in three basic types. The first kind are random, isolated events which occur a few times per hour and can be seen on any good, dark, clear night. The second kind are called meteor showers. These are associated with comet debris and happen at regular intervals when the Earth crosses the comet's orbit. ...

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- No, Southeast Missouri State University's football team did not win here Saturday afternoon. And there is no telling how many more games the 2-3 Indians will be able to win this season because the remainder of their schedule is extremely difficult...

Tied 1-1 at halftime, Belleville Althoff spun off three straight goals and beat Cape Central 4-2 Saturday in high school soccer action. Central (5-9-2) led early as Jon Mark Thompson scored on a Brett McNabb pass four minutes in. Althoff answered 15 minutes later...

It was a loss as tough to swallow as a whole, uncooked dinner potato. Fredericktown, which has not beaten Ste. Genevieve Valle since 1979, squandered a 27-6 third quarter lead and lost to Valle 28-27 Friday night. Fredericktown, which has not beaten Valle since 1979, led 27-6 in the third quarter and 27-13 going into the fourth quarter...

Donna VanMatre carded a hole-in-one at Cape Girardeau Country Club Friday. VanMatre accomplished the feat with a 9-wood on No. 8, a 100-yard par 3. Witnesses were Lynn Van Matre, Lee Weed and Catharine Weed.

The numbers are uncannily similar, the rivalry heated. That should make for a rousing Class 4A, District 1 championship softball game between Jackson High and Cape Girardeau Central. No. 1 Jackson, which beat Sikeston 14-0 Saturday in five innings, is 20-6...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Aided by Janelle Quigley's fourth-place finish, Southeast Missouri State University's women's cross country team took third in the 14-team Saluki Invitational Saturday. Southeast's men placed 14th among 14 teams. UT-Knoxville won the women's race with 31 points. UT-Chattanooga (50) and Southeast (95) trailed...

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Bobby Brune found it hard to find too much satisfaction in his scintillating second-half performance Saturday that very nearly led Southeast Missouri State University's football Indians to one of their biggest wins ever. Brune was nothing short of brilliant over the final two quarters as he rallied the Indians to a 33-32 lead in the closing moments...

The sixth annual Notre Dame High School alumni basketball tournament will be held Oct. 23-24. All alumni are invited to participate. The cost is $35, which includes two T-shirts and a party Oct. 24. The games will be played at the new Notre Dame gym and the old Notre Dame gym...

Missourians need someone in the state auditor's office with a background "that shows you can wrestle a bear," says Claire McCaskill. In her second term as prosecuting attorney of Jackson County, where she presides over an budget larger than the state auditor's, McCaskill says she has wrestled some bears...

Martin Goldsmith's classical music performing background consists of playing French horn in high school and singing in a chorus in Washington, D.C. The knowledgeable and articulate host of the National Public Radio Program "Performance Today" grew up loving all kinds of music -- classical, rock 'n' roll and jazz -- and says the genus doesn't matter...

"Does everybody know what time it is?" pilot Mike Mullins asks the 10 or so skydivers packed into his airplane. "It's seat belt-check time," he intones, and the King Air dips, slamming the passengers forward and then back. Mullins performed a lot of seat belt-checks Saturday as the only pilot ferrying skydivers for the Sky-tober Fest Skydiving Boogie at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport...

After three years of discontent brought on largely by a major league baseball strike in 1994, Americans once again this year turned their attention to baseball in a season that will go down in history as one of the best ever. The home run race between the St. ...

Mike Hurst, a dispatcher with the Department of Public Safety, looked at monitors which show views from across the campus. From an office on the north side of campus, Southeast Missouri State University officers can monitor activities across campus on a closed-circuit television system...

From purple pizza to purple worms, the culinary delights served up by our daughters never ceases to amaze us. Becca and Bailey are forever setting up shop in our living room, dining room, computer room and just about everything else in our house. Some day, they'll make great entrepreneurs. They always want to sell you something, and they never take no for an answer...

CARUTHERSVILLE -- Two men died in separate incidents in Pemiscot County Saturday. Dirk Hayes, 18, of Portageville was killed at 4 a.m. when he was struck by a Burlington-Northern train while walking along the railway tracks three miles east of Wardell...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Dwain Johns of Dongola died Saturday, Oct. 3, 1998, at the V.A. Medical Center in Marion. He was 78. Arrangements are incomplete at Crain Funeral Home in Dongola.

Dorothy Heggie Moseley, 95, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, Oct. 1, 1998, in Dallas, Texas. Born Jan. 25, 1903, she was the daughter of Robert Lee and Alice DeLine Heggie. A homemaker, she was married to Dr. Joseph Larch Moseley on Sept. 18, 1923, in Charleston...

Elizabeth N. Froemsdorf, 87, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Oct. 3, 1998, at in the Lutheran Home. Born Nov. 2, 1910, in Jackson, she was the daughter of Francis M. and Lula Browning Van Gilder. On Dec. 26, 1928, she married Henry Carl Froemsdorf, who died Sept. 20, 1983...

Kenneth E. Corse of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Oct. 2, 1998, at the Charlevoix Nursing Home in St. Charles. He was 90. He was born June 16, 1908, son of Alonzo "Lonnie" and Lydia Wadsworth Corse. He married Wanda Cox Aug. 3, 1936. He was a retired construction worker who helped build the Kansas City Bridge. He was a member of the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Crosstown...

BROWNWOOD -- Robert "Bob" Ranschburg, 37, of Brownwood died Saturday, Oct. 3, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 14, 1960, at Advance, son of Robert Edward and Carolyn White Ranschburg. He had worked at McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing Aircraft in St. Louis for 17 years...

REPUBLIC -- William J. "Bill" Finnegan III, 67, of Republic, formerly of St. Louis, died Friday, Oct. 2, 1998, at his home. He was born March 13, 1931, in St. Louis County, son of William and Anna Loraine Webb Finnegan. He was a retired electrician and member of the Grand Chapter Electrical Craftsmen and IBEW Local 1 in St. Louis. He was a 32nd degree Freemason with membership in AF-AM St. Mark's Lodge, Cape Girardeau and the Moolah Shrine and Scottish Rite in St. Louis...

The roads to Busch Stadium were a sea of red. Hopeful fans in Mark McGwire shirts held up homemade signs: Need two tickets. We had four tickets to the last game of the season -- purchased months before the home-run hysteria began. It has been a family tradition for many years to attend the last game. ...

He pushes slowly and suspiciously forward, like an infant attempting his first steps, his arms flailing wildly as he tries unsuccessfully to keep his balance. When he finally falls on his bottom with a resounding thud -- and he will fall several times before he makes it just once around the rink -- he grins, even laughs, then scoots himself to the side, pulls himself up on the wall and tries one more time. A few more steps and the process of balancing and falling begins all over again...

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. By 1990 little bits and pieces of my body were beginning to feel like Old Timers too, particularly my heart which had been pumping so faithfully since that September morning in 1913 when "all the church bells rang as I was born!"...

A section of Interstate 55 will be reduced to one-lane traffic next week as work continues to replace rough pavement between Sikeston and Benton. Missouri Department of Transportation crews will be working in the northbound lanes Monday and then move to the southbound lanes for the remainder of the week...

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department will hold the annual Haunted Hall of Horror Oct. 23 to 25 and Oct. 29 to Oct. 31. The Hall will be open from 7 to 11 p.m. nightly at the A.C. Brase Arena Building in Cape Girardeau's Arena Park. Cost is $3 for adults and $2 for children ages 12 and under. For ticket information, call the Parks and Recreation Department at (573) 335-5421...