Stories from Friday, December 15, 2000

This weekend's tour of Cape Girardeau holiday decorations will provide an opportunity to look for someone every mother's child is trying to spy this time of year. Chances are Santa Claus might pop up unexpectedly during the Holiday of Lights Search for Santa Bus Tour beginning tonight and continuing Saturday night...

NEW YORK -- The clock is ticking for America's stores. The holiday season opened with a strong start the day after Thanksgiving, but mall traffic has been down and sales have been lackluster since then in some areas of the country. Retailers in the Cape Girardeau area report season sales about the same as a year ago...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- A swarm of rescue workers stopped traffic on Interstate 55 in both directions Thursday while fighting to pull a critically injured Benton, Mo., woman from the steering column of a mangled Chevy Blazer. Connie Washburn, who was the driver, and four others went to Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau in the two-vehicle accident...

JACKSON, Mo. -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission Thursday approved a new court fee to aid a Cape Girardeau domestic-violence shelter. The three commissioners voted to impose a $2 fee on all future civil cases filed in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court, meeting a year-end deadline set by a new state law. The fee will be charged the plaintiffs in civil cases...

Only two cases of flu have been reported to Cape Girardeau County's public health officials in the last month despite a delay in vaccine shipments that set shot clinics back by weeks. Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Department, said the low number is even more surprising considering the major flu outbreak this time last year...

To look at me, you wouldn't think I was old enough to remember half the stuff crammed into my brain. That's what you think, right? When the snow and ice and freezing rain came this week, I didn't worry about the streets. The city street crew did an amazing job...

Owners of a Cape Girardeau car dealership might be looking for new location after a burglary and arson destroyed their office. Vehicles from West Park Motors at 3427 William St. were being moved to another dealership on Thursday after their office was gutted by a fire late Tuesday, said Tom Wilson, co-owner of the car lot...

JACKSON, Mo. -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission wants assurances of state and federal funding before improving a section of Hubble Creek. The commission opened five bids Thursday from contractors wanting to do the work. ASA Enterprises of Jackson submitted the low bid of $175,678. The engineer's estimate was $212,685...

Two Illinois grant programs, announced this week by Gov. George H. Ryan, will help low-income workers in Southern Illinois reach their jobs, including as many as 60 workers with employment in Cape Girardeau. "The lack of transportation is a significant barrier to many individuals who are attempting to work their way off Temporary Assistance for Needy Families," said Kline Cameron, a spokesman for Department of Human Services. ...

BENTON, Mo. -- The arrest of a burglary suspect who was walking through a field near Oran, Mo., resulted in the recovery of a large amount of stolen property, the Scott County sheriff said. Kevin W. Stacy, 41, was contacted by a deputy as he walked Tuesday night just north of Oran, Sheriff Bill Ferrell said. An area resident had reported a suspicious person in the area...

BERNIE, Mo. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson Fralick, 104, of Bernie died Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter, Mo. He was born July 6, 1896, in Marion, Ky., son of William Washington and Martha Ellen Parish Fralick. He and Ella Gray Thomas were married Aug. 21, 1917, in Marion...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Memorial service for Carmen M. Vaughn of Carbondale will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home in Anna, Ill. The Rev. Larry Gilbert will officiate. Friends may call at the funeral home after 10 a.m. Saturday...

DEXTER, Mo. -- Vera Lee Darling, 73, of Dexter died Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born June 7, 1927, at Dexter, daughter of John A. and Myrtie Bell Summers Cornelison. She and Floyd Darling were married. He died June 7, 1983...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Albert O. Werner Sr., 84, formerly of Tilsit, Mo., died Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2000, at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce, Fla. He was born Dec. 30, 1915, at Tilsit, son of Otto F. and Frieda Siebert Werner. He first married Mabel R. Madison Keefer. He later married Elizabeth Ann Mitten Sept. 10, 1969...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Anna Leigh Scott died after birth Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. Survivors include her mother, Dana Leigh Copeland of Matthews, Mo.; her father, Kevin Wayne Scott of East Prairie, Mo.; a sister, Brittany Copeland of Matthews; maternal grandparents, Vicky Bailey and Randy Copeland of Matthews; paternal grandparents, Gary and Caroline Scott of East Prairie; maternal great-grandmother, Evelyn Huls of Matthews; and maternal great-grandfather, Johnnie Copeland of Kewanee, Mo.. ...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Dr. Jesse Winfred Page, 71, of Sikeston died Monday, Dec. 11, 2000, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Feb. 10, 1929, at Chaonia, Mo., son of Henry Frederick and Estella Elizabeth Beaty Page. He married Florence Evelyn Hughey...

David Kight, 23, died Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford & Sons Funeral Home.

JACKSON, Mo. -- Frieda Grosswiler, 88, of Jackson died Thursday, Dec. 14, 2000, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

PATTON, Mo. -- Martha A. Grindstaff, 82, of Patton died Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000, at Jackson Manor in Jackson, Mo. She was born March 6, 1918, at Patton, daughter of Robert Edward and Callie Yount Presnell. She and Reagan Grindstaff were married Nov. 12, 1938. He died Nov. 23, 1996...

CATRON, Mo. -- James Milton Rutherford, 67, of Catron died Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 25, 1933, in Tuscumbia, Ala., son of John Herbert and Magnolia Smith Rutherford. He and Shirley Greene were married Aug. 12, 1966, in Cleveland, Miss. She died Jan. 25, 1996...

Elizabeth Ann "Betty" Randol, 63, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Sept. 12, 1937, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Georgia Lucille Randol. Randol was a 1955 graduate of Central High School, and member of First General Baptist Church...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Donel W. Fowler, 84, of Advance died Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2000, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born April 11, 1916, near Advance, son of George Washington and Bertie Pohlman Fowler. He and Dorothy Louise Lockhart were married Sept. 13, 1940...

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Robert Lee Mize, 65, of Bloomfield died Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000, at his home. He was born Sept. 5, 1935, in Morley, Mo., the son of Marcus W. and Mary K. Irvin Mize. He was a retired schoolteacher for the Casa Grande School District in Casa Grande, Ariz...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Ercell M. DeBaun, 74, of Annapolis, Mo., formerly of East Prairie, Mo., died Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000, at her residence. She was born May 6, 1926, at the James Bayou Community in Dorena, Mo., daughter of Ted Floyd and Hattie Mae Lindley Bennett. She and Winifred Henry DeBaun were married Feb. 7, 1948. He died Dec. 26, 1982...

IF THERE is anything I despise, it is sending a donation to a charity and, by return mail, getting another plea for more money. THE RECENT accident on the bridge was just a foreboding of what's going to happen if they keep it up. We have a serious problem of people passing on that bridge over the double yellow line. ...

They'll never learn: Political cultures everywhere have one common characteristic: finding additional ways to pick taxpayers' pockets to finance ostensibly worthy critical services and programs. The latest example comes from Britain, where a think tank associated with the ruling Labor Party has proposed a scheme to raise that country's top income-tax rate from 40 percent to 50 percent to help fund the Sceptered Isle's fraying socialized medical system. ...

Don Blankenship, sheriff of Phelps County (Rolla, Mo., is the county seat) checks vehicles traveling along I-44 for drugs. He says he will continue the checkpoints in spite of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found drug stops in Philadelphia were unconstitutional...

Consider this scene: A teen-ager on a bicycle carrying a handgun. Another teen with a handgun hidden in a portable toilet. Another teen firing a handgun in a city park. Another teen grabbing the handgun from his brother on the bike. More shots. The teen on the bike is struck by a bullet and later dies...