Stories from Saturday, November 20, 2021

Residents very close to Williamsville, Missouri, may have felt the ground shake a second time Wednesday night, but the force of the magnitude 2.5 aftershock was 50 times less than the main quake, according to researchers with the University of Memphis...

A former Poplar Bluff, Missouri, funeral home operator and his wife are facing Class C felony charges of receiving stolen property after a lengthy investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Missouri Attorney General's Office into alleged thefts from the business...

Jackson's Board of Aldermen will take up next month a $39,500 proposal from a Southeast Missouri engineering firm to provide "construction phase services" for a new single-lane bridge across Hubble Creek in Jackson City Park. "The design is done and is out to bid," said Jackson Public Works director Kent Peetz, regarding a span to replace the current low-water crossing...

In breezy 45 degree weather, the new Cape Girardeau riverfront mural was celebrated Friday, a different scene from the 100 degree day it was started on back in September. Representatives from Visit Cape, Old Town Cape and the City of Cape Girardeau joined area residents and head artist of the mural, Craig Thomas, at the ceremony to mark the mural's completion...

Every working day since September, lead artist Craig Thomas has donned his paint splattered clothing and climbed onto scaffolding and lifts to work on the new river wall mural in downtown Cape Girardeau...

When Dan Zembsch was hiking steep hills and trails in Arizona with his wife in October 2020, he thought to himself, "Man, for 62 years old, I'm in pretty good shape!" Little did Zembsch know, he was walking around with five large blockages in his heart...

Today is Saturday, Nov. 20, the 324th day of 2021. There are 41 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Nov. 20, 1945, 22 former Nazi officials went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. (Almost a year later, the International Military Tribune sentenced 12 of the defendants to death; seven received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life; three were acquitted.)...

A dismal record isn't the only major ramification from Southeast Missouri State University's 1996 football season; on Monday the school announced the contracts of all three full-time offensive assistant coaches -- Greg Bamberger, Tony Gilbert and Kevin Verdugo -- will not be renewed next year...

Egypt Mills Home Decor and More is a one-of-a-kind store featuring clothing, jewelry, Amish-made furniture, lighting, soaps, candles, linens, and home decor for every season. Egypt Mills Sweet Shoppe is right next door to Egypt Mills Home Decor and filled with homemade ice cream, balloons, delicious desserts, and specialty candy from years gone by. Situated in a colorful, cozy log cabin, Egypt Mills Sweet Shoppe is a great place to gather, relax...

Larry Don and Edna Yarbro of Jackson announce the engagement of their daughter, Ashley Nicole Yarbro of Jackson to Russell Francis Beussink of Cape Girardeau. He is the son of Brad and Elaine Beussink of Jackson. Ashley is a 2016 graduate of Jackson High School. She earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Southeast Missouri State University. She works in the ICU at Southeast Hospital...

Submitted by Jim Wente Brantley James Wente, age 7, harvested his first deer harvested the morning of Nov. 13. Brantley was hunting with his father, Shawn Wente.

Submitted by Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary How cute is this little guy? His name is Henley and he is a four month old Chihuahua mix. He is only 4.2 pounds but may get to about eight or 10 pounds. Come see for yourself! If you are ready for a rewarding experience, come see us at Safe Harbor. Call (573) 243-9823...

A frost flower is not truly frost nor is it a flower. The ribbons of ice form from sap slowly freezing as it oozes from a living plant during a period of freezing temperatures. The night of Nov. 6 was calm. A cold front brought light rain a day earlier making everything wet. Nighttime temperatures fell to a few degrees below freezing. Lingering moisture on low-lying plants turned to frost, alerting me to the possibility that I could find a frost flower...

Jackson High School Varsity Scholar Bowl team posted a 7-0 victory recently at the Notre Dame Invitational meet. Competing against seven other schools, the team earned decisive victories in each round to secure the title. Participants were: Arden Coots, Ethan Robbins, Tormey McManaman, Puma Saysanan, Noah Lynch, and Sydney Beussink. Two members were recognized for their individual performance against 46 other competitors: Puma Saysanan earned a second-place medal for individual performance, and Tormey McManaman earned a fifth-place medal for individual performance. Submitted by Kristen Lewis

Fort B, located on the hill where Academic Hall and Kent Library now stand on the Southeast Missouri State University campus, played a key role in the Battle of Cape Girardeau, April 26, 1863. Construction of this fort began shortly after the commencement of construction on Forts A and D in summer 1861. Along with Fort C, Fort B provided defense of the center of Cape Girardeau...

I don't know about you all, but COVID has made a mess of our church attendance. I've had problems with my lungs, so we have been extra careful about being in crowds or close to people. Heck, I even slowed down shaking hands. I did fist bumps! We would get up Sunday morning and listen on TV or Facebook. Many of my older friends have been in the same boat. It has been a tough time for everyone...

The Torchbearer Iota Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi met on Nov. 15 at Joy Church in Jackson with nine members present. Joyce Hays was hostess. Patty Taylor presided over the meeting. Marsha Parrish and Linda Belote announced that Centenary Methodist Church will present two programs in December. "Search Light" under the direction of Mike Dumey will be presented at 6 and 8 p.m. on Dec. 3. Reservations are required. The Cantata will be presented at 9 a.m. on Dec. 12...

The Scott City Knights Of Columbus will host its third Sunday breakfast from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Nov. 21. Come out and enjoy breakfast and help support the youth groups from St. Augustine Catholic Church and St. Joseph Catholic Church. They are also taking orders for pork sausage. Call Gary at (573) 576-6451 to order. Available in link or bulk...

Monday: Chicken strips with seasoned potato wedges or beef and noodles, seasoned baby carrots, whole-grain bread and banana or poor-man's peach cobbler. Tuesday: Ham and beans or chuck-wagon steak with potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes, seasoned spinach, cornbread or biscuit and mixed fruit or iced spice cake...

My favorite Coldplay album "A Head Full of Dreams" ends with the song "Up&Up." It is a song of hope and imagination amidst a world that can sometimes be filled with drudgery and despair, a song about continuing even when it seems hard and all efforts could potentially come to nothing, a song about seeing and believing in possibility even when everything says not to. ...

Psalm 100 says, "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."...

Psalm 9:1 says, "I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds." This psalm gives us three essentials when it comes to giving thanks. First, giving thanks is critical. No doubt you could easily create a "not-thankful for" list. What we need encouragement to do, what is harder to do, is to give thanks. Giving thanks is a decision is beyond circumstances. A decision impacting your health, demeanor and faith...

Thank you Jeff Maurer for pointing out how some of Cape Girardeau City leaders deceived voters into voting yes on the Internet sales. The truth is sales taxes collected in Cape are at an all time high. I'll be waiting on a public comment acknowledging their misrepresentations...

O Lord God, our provider, may we count our blessings every day. Amen.

It has come to my attention that throughout this whole process of presenting the facts for the city's financial information in regards to the use tax proposal, there are questions concerning the city's current revenue numbers. Our latest figures presented were through the end of fiscal year of 2019. I will give you the actual revenue figures in the chart nearby both for our fiscal year (June-June) and by calendar year and show the inflation rate for each year...

Jeff Maurer's guest commentary in Thursday's paper (Nov. 18) regarding the use tax issue was both enlightening and troubling. It seems old information was used to claim that sales tax revenue was declining, while current information shows just the opposite. Sales tax revenue has increased in the most recent years. Yet city officials used that old information to urge approval of the new tax. We were led to believe that new revenue was needed to curb a decline. It seems we've been tricked...

How is inflation like critical race theory? A lot of voters have a hard time explaining how either works, but they know they don't like it when they see it. Obviously, it's a silly comparison on the merits. For starters, some voters actually like critical race theory while nobody likes paying higher prices. But, politically, the comparison is apt for two reasons...

As Democrats regroup to try to pass their $2 trillion Build Back Better Act, pressure grows for shining the light of fiscal responsibility on all this. Given President Joe Biden's crashing approval ratings, there is some hint that the American people smell a rat...

Son to William Ross and Hannah Smith of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Hospital, 2:37 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. Name, Zaydriel Lashawn. Weight, 7 pounds, 8 ounces. Second son. Smith is the daughter of Dewayne Smith and Shirley Smith of Kennett, Missouri. She works at Outback Steakhouse. Ross is the son of Janis Calvert of Anna, Illinois, and William Ross of Cape Girardeau. He is mployed by Buffalo Wild Wings...

Emergency management associations in 10 Southeast Missouri counties, including Cape Girardeau, will receive cellular phones, pagers and free air time to provide improved communications during disaster recoveries; Ameritech Cellular and Paging will provide 24 cellular phones and 20 pagers to emergency agencies surrounding the New Madrid fault line...

CAPE GIRARDEAU Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to the following calls. Nov. 17 n Medical assists were made at 12:08 a.m. on North Sprigg Street; 11:55 a.m. on South Henderson Avenue; 2:25 p.m. on Towers Circle; and 9:05 p.m. on Pioneer Drive...

JOHANNESBURG -- Liberator of Nelson Mandela? Or a leader responsible for racist murders? South Africa is engrossed in debate over the legacy of apartheid's last president, F.W. de Klerk, who died last week at 85 and is to be buried Sunday. The controversy following de Klerk to the grave comes 27 years after the official end of the brutal regime that oppressed the country's Black majority for generations. Stoking the furor is a video that he released posthumously in which he said he was sorry...

President Joe Biden announced plans Friday to nominate two new members to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, a potential first step in removing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. A Trump-era appointee, DeJoy became a political lightning rod during the 2020 elections as changes he made to the Postal Service slowed delivery times during a key period when voters were trying to mail in their ballots. ...

LOS ANGELES -- Lightning-sparked wildfires killed thousands of giant sequoias this year, adding to a staggering two-year death toll that accounts for up to nearly a fifth of Earth's largest trees, officials said Friday. Fires in Sequoia National Park and the surrounding national forest that also bears the trees' name tore through more than a third of groves in California and torched an estimated 2,261 to 3,637 sequoias, which are the largest trees by volume. ...

KENOSHA, Wis. -- Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges Friday after pleading self-defense in the deadly Kenosha shootings that became a flashpoint in the debate over guns, vigilantism and racial injustice in the U.S. Rittenhouse, 18, began to choke up, fell forward toward the defense table and then hugged one of his attorneys as he heard a court clerk recite "not guilty" five times. A sheriff's deputy immediately whisked him out a back door...

NEW YORK -- A rare first printing of the U.S. Constitution sold at Sotheby's in New York for $43.2 million, a record price for a document or book sold at auction. The buyer, hedge fund manager Kenneth Griffin, will loan the document to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, for public exhibition, Sotheby's announced Friday...

WASHINGTON -- A fractious U.S. House handed President Joe Biden a marquee victory Friday by approving a roughly $2 trillion social and environment bill, as Democrats cast aside disputes that for months had stalled the measure and hampered efforts to sell their priorities to voters...

NEW DELHI -- In a major reversal, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Friday that he would repeal the controversial agriculture laws that sparked yearlong protests from tens of thousands of farmers and posed a significant challenge to his administration...

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- At a busy market in a poor township outside Harare this week, Nyasha Ndou kept his mask in his pocket, as hundreds of other people, mostly unmasked, jostled to buy and sell fruit and vegetables displayed on wooden tables and plastic sheets. As in much of Zimbabwe, here the coronavirus is quickly being relegated to the past, as political rallies, concerts and home gatherings have returned...

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- The defense attorney who caused an outcry by saying Black pastors should be barred from the murder trial over Ahmaud Arbery's death declared in court Friday that a courthouse rally supporting the slain Black man's family was comparable to a "public lynching" of the three white defendants...

GREENVILLE, Mo. -- Rulen Spies, 82, son of the late, Rulen "Sam" and Reva Pruitt Spies, was born June 11, 1939, in Zalma, Missouri, and departed his life Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021 at his home in Greenville. On May 20, 1967, he was united in marriage to Norma Darlene Lufcy in Benton, Missouri. She survives of the home in Greenville...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Larry McCann, 70, of Poplar Bluff passed away Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, at his home. Larry was born Jan. 11, 1951, to William and Billie Sue Thomas McCann in Sikeston, Missouri. He married Vickie Brown on April 14, 1979, in Millersville. She preceded him in death...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Johnathon Lutker, 22, of Olive Branch passed away Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, at his home. He was born Oct. 10, 1999, to Tracy and Robin Sams Lutker in Carbondale, Illinois. Johnathon enjoyed shopping and target shooting. Survivors include his parents, Tracy and Robin Lutker; brother, Toby Warren; grandfather, Jerry Sams; and many other relatives and friends...

Mary Jane DeBrock, 77, of Cape Girardeau passed away Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, at Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 23, 1944, in Glennon, Missouri, the daughter of Frank and Elizabeth Broshuis DeBrock. Mary worked for VIP Industries for more than 48 1/2 years and started working for Marble Hill VIP in 1972, transferring to the Cape Girardeau VIP in 1980. She was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Cape Girardeau...

The Rev. Billy L. Burke, 69, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday at First Church of Nazarene in Cape Girardeau. Funeral will be at noon Tuesday at the church...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Few fully vaccinated Missourians later caught COVID-19 and even fewer died from the virus, data released this week by the state health department show. Data released this week by the agency show 2% of fully vaccinated people caught the virus, or about 5,500 out of more than 3.1 million vaccinated Missourians. Of fully vaccinated Missourians, 655 died from the illness, or about .02%...

Student Santas helps children and their families for Christmas. To date they have helped over 30,000 children in Missouri and surrounding states. Student Santas provides toys, clothes, bedding, and food to those who are struggling. Families can send a letter and include child’s age, gender, items they want/need, as well as a bit about circumstances surrounding the family. There must be a working phone number and address on the letter. Please mail letters to:...