Stories from Thursday, May 2, 1991

The Missouri General Assembly acted Tuesday to make it a crime for news organization to identify sexual assault victims. The measure has good intentions; however, it is also inappropriate, unnecessary and reactionary. We would hope Gov. John Ashcroft, in whose hands the issue now rests, will put the brakes on this endeavor...

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department will hold an Arts and Crafts Festival at the A.C. Brase Arena Building May 11 and 12. The event will be held from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. May 11 and 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. May 12. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend...

What has become a tradition during the second week of May will be bigger and better than ever next weekend in Perryville. Organizers of the town's annual May Fest are hoping for good weather for the festival, which regularly draws thousands of people...

A slide lecture on the culture of lowland farmers of the Mississippi Valley will be presented at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Southeast Missouri State University Museum. The lecture marks the re-establishment of the Thomas Beckwith Memorial Lecture Series at the university. The museum is in Memorial Hall...

The Broadway Community Theater will present "Our Town," the American classic by Thornton Wilder, at a dinner theater May 31. The event will be held at the Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau beginning with a cash bar at 6:30 p.m. Dinner follows at 7 and the performance begins at 8...

Musicians from Cape Girardeau Central High School earned top honors at state music competitions recently. In the vocal categories, three ensembles won I ratings, the highest rating possible. Earning the top honors were a girls' trio, Jeni Kafka, Sarah Deimund and Erica Wilson; a men's foursome, Rodney Bird, Clayton Hahs, Jason Green and Mark Shoger; and a Madrigal group, Leslie Maxwell, Tonia Stott, Jenny Adams, Tonja Larsen, Rodney Bird, Keller Ford, Jason Green and Billy Keys...

Tickets go on sale Wednesday for the first-ever "Battle of the Bad," an open boxing competition to be held at the Show Me Center. Contestants must be 18 years or older and must pass a pre-fight physical. Pro boxers or amateur boxers who have competed in the previous eight years are ineligible...

STE. GENEVIEVE The historic town of Ste. Genevieve will hold an air balloon exhibition, called "Voyage de Ste. Genevieve" to commemorate the first manned ascent of a "lighter-than-air machine" over Paris in 1783. The exhibition will take off at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Pierre Marquette City Park soccer field on North Main Street. Maning the balloon will be John Esserman, former Balloon Federation national points champion and member of the U.S. team in the World Hot Air Balloon Championships...

Gallery 100 will host its second annual juried photography exhibit during May. An opening reception and presentation of awards will be held Sunday from 2-4 p.m. at the gallery. The photographs will remain on display through May 31. Jan Chamberlain, chairman of Photo 91, said: "We received 337 entries from 95 artists in 24 different states. This was a very difficult show to judge."...

Hillsdale College of Michigan is a small liberal arts college which, in its more than 150 years of existence, has earned a national reputation for fierce independence. Beyond educating its own student body, one of the many services Hillsdale performs is that they publish a real gem of a monthly newsletter called Imprimis. Each civilized issue is a breezy oasis of well-written good sense in the grim desert that passes for academic writing on contemporary issues...

Actually, the need to improve schools' accountability for results in education simply is a byproduct of new international competition that is affecting all of us, whether we are manufacturing cars, selling farm products or educating students. Governor John Ashcroft...

THIS IS ADDRESSED to the citizens of Scott City. It's time to stand up and be counted. Do we want to continue to let a few people operate our school who say they are for the students and the good of the school and yet they decide to let go of a teacher, a coach, who has not only proven himself by having a first-year winning season but also teaches PE and doesn't just throw a ball to them and say go play? What kind of a basketball coach do we want at Scott City? Certainly not one who wins basketball games or teaches class or cares for kids. ...

JACKSON -- The St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad in Jackson will host Indian Weekend Saturday and Sunday. In addition to train rides, the railroad will present a museum-like display of Indian artifacts, some of them rare and lent by private collectors...

When doctors recommended to Pauline Gibson early this year that she put her ailing, 74-year-old husband, Russell, into a nursing home, she knew immediately where she would take him. As a veteran, she reasoned, he could be cared for at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau...

National Tourism Week will begin Sunday but a Cape Girardeau County attractions group got an early start on planning for tourists and visitors this week. The small group, which includes a variety of area attractions, discussed "how to get the word out" during a special session, held at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office Wednesday afternoon...

Agencies receiving money from the Area Wide United Way have until May 10 to submit their budget requests to the agency. The United Way budgeting process goes on throughout the year, explained Dorothy Klein, executive director of the agency. Money for the 1990-91 campaign year was allocated in the fall and agencies are spending that money. They must now apply for funding that will be allocated next year...

Mid-America Teen Challenge near Cape Girardeau plans to use its best-selling strawberries this month to let people know the center's story. On May 18, the first-ever Mid-America Teen Challenge Strawberry Festival will be held. "It's kind of a public relations thing," said Office Manager Nadine Fontaine. "We want people to know more about us. Also, it's a way to let people know the strawberries are for sale."...

BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. Eaker Air Force Base, located west of Blytheville, will hold its 18th annual Visitors' Day Sunday. The public is invited to attend the show which starts at 11 a.m. Operation Desert Storm Aircraft, the Air Force Academy Honor Guard Rifle Drill Team, and the Army's Golden Knights Parachute Team will highlight the six-hour program. Eaker is home to the Air Force's 97th Bombardment Wing...

Rhonda Abbott will observe two anniversaries this month. Abbott, of Cape Girardeau, will observe her 11th wedding anniversary Friday. A few days later, she will observe the first anniversary of receiving a lung transplant. Abbott, who participated in a special transplant awareness march last week, from St. Francis Medical Center to West Park Mall and back, said she misunderstood a question when she was asked how long she had been married and answered "one year."...

CHAFFEE -- Safety Week activities week on the Burlington Northern Railroad at Chaffee next week include special events for the public, a railroad spokesman said. All events will be held at the BN yard office on East Yoakum. BN Safety Week begins Monday, and continues through May 11, said Ralph Lape, chairman of the BN's Springfield Divisions Safety Committee...

CAIRO, Ill. -- The 1244th Transportation Company should return from the Persian Gulf in June. That's the latest word from Rep. Glenn Poshard, Democrat congressman from Southern Illinois. "A letter from Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Sonny Montgomery indicates the 1244th, headquartered here, will return to the U.S. sometime in June," said Poshard this week. "This is the first official notice of when the reserve unit could expect to end their active service."...

ANNA, Ill. -- Funeral service for Mrs. Helen File, 79, of Anna, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Crain Funeral Chapel in Anna. The Rev. Verlee Eaker will officiate, with burial in Anna Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 5 p.m. Friday...

SIKESTON -- Clyde J. Boyd, 74, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, April 30, 1991, at the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He was born March 3, 1917, in Chattanooga, Tenn. to Albert L. and Viola Black Boyd. He was an Army veteran of World War II and was the owner of an upholstery business. He was a member of the North Acres General Baptist Church in Sikeston...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Rick Brashear of Longwood, Fla., 12:45 a.m. Friday, April 5, 1991. Name, Eric James. Weight, 6 pounds 9 ounces. Third child, first son. Mrs. Brashear is the former Julia Keller, daughter of Russell Keller of St. Charles and Sharon and Charles Rogers of Scott City. Brashear is a supervisor with Siemer's Stromberg Carlson in Lake Mary, Fla., and is the son of Dick and Barbara Brashear of Scott City...

ANNA, Ill. -- The Rev. Earl W. Braun, 90, of Warsaw, Ind., died Tuesday, April 30, 1991, in Warsaw. He was born Aug. 4, 1900, in Warsaw, son of William and Hattie Burch Braun. He and the former Zelma Sitter of Anna were married Dec. 17, 1922. She died July 20, 1981...

Jasper McKeller, 83, 227 South Fountain, died Tuesday, April 30, 1991, at his home. He was born June 9, 1907, in Dorsey, Miss., son of Jim Edmond and Willie Pounds McKeller. He and the former Arguther Mae Marks were married July 4, 1946, at Parma. McKeller was a retired farmer...

SCOTT CITY -- Russell Allen Hale, 19, of Scott City, died Tuesday, April 30, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Sept. 7, 1971, at Chaffee, son of Lloyd Lester and Mary Ann Owen Hale. He attended Scott City High School, and was employed at Havco Wood Products Inc...

Cape Girardeau Assistant City Manager Al Stoverink last week was named to the board of directors of the Missouri City Management Association. The association is a professional organization of about 115 city managers or administrators and assistants, representing cities across the state...