Stories from Thursday, August 29, 1991

Of all governmental record keeping, we find none more grim or demeaning to civilized existence than recent tallies of climbing homicide rates. In New York, where daily murder counts reach double digits, in St. Louis, where killings threaten to set a record in 1991, across the nation and even in this typically placid area, the human-produced mortality is depressing. ...

Contemporary Christian artist Brian Becker will perform in Cape Girardeau Sept. 5 at Academic Auditorium on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. Becker, a native of Missouri, performs nationwide and in Canada and has just released his third album, "No Longer the Wayward Son."...

The first fall meeting of the Cape Girardeau County Area Retired Teachers will be Wednesday at First Christian Church, 829 North West End Blvd. Coffee will be served at 9 a.m. with the program starting at 9:30 a.m. Vernon Meyer of Altenburg will talk about Australia, and show a series of slides. All retired teachers and/or educators are invited to attend...

The Salvation Army is continuing its Meals With Friends today and Friday. Serving time is 4:30 to 6 p.m. Any individual is welcome to come by and share a hot, nutritious meal in a cool, friendly atmosphere. There is no admission charge. The following menu will be served today: Goulash, tossed salad, peas, pudding, bread/butter; and Friday: Chili with crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, celery and carrot sticks, and applesauce...

WASHINGTON, D.C. Several Eighth District Future Homemakers of America were in Washington, D.C., recently to participate in a national FHA/HERO leadership meeting. While in Washington, the group visited with Eighth District Congressman Bill Emerson...

Four Cape Girardeau Central High School students attended a journalism workshop administered by the Missouri Interscholastic Publications Association. The workshop was held Aug. 5-9 at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The students were accompanied by publications adviser Elizabeth Lockhart...

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Eagles Lodge has set Oct. 19 as the date for the annual charity walk to raise funds for the Kenny Rogers CP Center. Prizes will be given for top fund raisers, with the grand prize being a trip to Florida. For more information, call the CP center at 472-0397 or the Eagles at 471-9913...

The MDA Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon will air this weekend with a local broadcast from West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau. The 22-hour telethon will begin at 8 p.m. Sunday and continue until 6 p.m. Monday. Last year the telethon nationally raised a record $44,172,186 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. More than $218,000 of that was raised from local pledges...

A fall bridal show for the entire wedding party, "A New Tradition," will be held Sept. 7 at Famous Barr in Cape Girardeau. The show, which will last from noon to 3 p.m., will feature visits from table-top and housewares vendors, tips on wedding cakes, floral arrangements, wedding attire, and accommodations for wedding guests. Door prizes will be given away...

The Cape Girardeau Community Concert Association has announced its 1991-1992 schedule for the concert season. Tickets and full schedules including reciprocal concerts in Paducah. Ky., Carbondale, Ill., Sikeston, Malden and Poplar Bluff, will be mailed out in mid-September...

"The Modeled Figure: Ceramic Sculptures" by St. Louis area artist Jack Decoteau opens at the Southeast Missouri State University Museum Sunday. Approximately 30 of Decoteau's pieces will be shown at the museum. The exhibit will be displayed through Sept. 27...

Two Cape Girardeau residents have been nominated for the Dewar's Profiles Performance Art Awards for 1991. The two are James Solheim and Robin Rebecca Mack. They are among 500 people from across the country who have been nominated for the award. They will compete to become one of five people to receive cash awards in five categories: jazz piano composition, solo voice, choreography, poetry and acting. Solheim and Mack are competing in the poetry category...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Tony-award winning musical "Barnum!" leads the parade of live performing arts and entertainment this season at Shryock Auditorium at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. "Barnum!" will turn the dome of Shryock into a big top for a night at the circus, opening the 26th Celebrity Season at Shryock on Sept. 10...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- The Olive Branch Labor Day Festival will be held Sept. 2, featuring a pancake breakfast at 6 a.m. followed by a pork barbecue later in the day. Country and western bands and gospel groups will provide entertainment throughout the daylong festival...

BELL CITY -- The 11th annual Bell City Community Days festival is scheduled for Sept. 6-7 at the Rotary Park. The festivities begin Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. with the Mid-South Fair Talent Show. Two age groups may compete in the show: up to 12 years old and 13-21 years of age. The entry fee is $10...

SIKESTON -- Contestants are being sought for the 1991 Cotton Carnival Queen Contest, scheduled for Sept 28, in conjunction with Sikeston's American Legion Cotton Carnival. The contest is open to all unmarried teenagers attending high school in Southeast Missouri. Those attending Sikeston Public Schools are ineligible, according to contest rules...

ELLIS GROVE, Ill. -- Music lovers of all ages are invited to attend the Traditional Music Festival at the Fort Kaskaskia State Historical Site near Ellis Grove. The festival is scheduled for Sept. 21-22. The event, which is free, will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 21, and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sept. 22. Food and soft drinks will be available, and visitors are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Camping is available at the newly-renovated Fort Kaskaskia campgrounds...

Melvin Gateley, chairman of one of the city's newest citizen advisory boards, the Bicentennial Commission, wants residents to know they're needed to plan and prepare a celebration of Cape Girardeau's heritage. The commission was established in July to begin preparations for a bicentennial celebration of the establishment of the community of Cape Girardeau in 1792-1793...

JACKSON - The combination of flat sales tax revenue, reduced interest income, and an increase in the cost of living has the Cape Girardeau County Commission wondering whether it needs to find some additional revenue. For the last nine years, because of revenue from a half-cent sales tax, the county commission has not levied a property tax for general revenue, forgiving over $2 million in taxes during that time...

Speakers at Cape Girardeau Public Schools annual staff meeting Wednesday foretold a season of change for the coming academic year. School begins Sept. 3 for students, but staff members ranging from teachers and administrators to cooks and custodians reported for their first day of work Wednesday at the Show Me Center...

It's apple-picking time in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, and the news is good for both producer and consumer. There are plenty of apples, and the quality of the fruit this year is good, growers say. Thanks to a mild winter, an early spring and good growing conditions, some varieties of apples have matured about 14 days earlier than normal...

The stock market's late-summer rally came back to life Wednesday, pushing prices to record levels with encouragement from falling interest rates. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, which had slipped 14.09 points over the week's first two sessions, climbed 29.07 to 3,055.23...

Missouri's public universities are gearing up efforts to pass Proposition B, including efforts to register students to vote. At Southeast Missouri State University, 1,000 students were registered last week, university President Kala Stroup said at Wednesday afternoon's Faculty Senate meeting, held at the University Center...

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education met briefly in the bleachers at the Show Me Center Wednesday morning to revise the district's 1991-92 tax rate. The meeting was held just prior to welcome back to school activities. Superintendent Neyland Clark apologized for the "unorthodox" meeting place, but said the meeting would be brief. It lasted about 5 minutes...

The Federal Building, a two-story, 48,500-square-foot structure, which was dedicated in Cape Girardeau on Nov. 7, 1968, will undergo some strengthening renovations in the near future. The purpose of the project is to give the 23-year-old building added structural integrity in the event of an earthquake...

I WOULD LIKE to thank the employee security and everyone else that was involved in finding my little girl Friday afternoon at Famous Barr. Everyone was very understanding and helped me through a terrible experience. It seemed like hours. I would especially like to thank the woman who found her and brought her back to me. I didn't get her name. Thank you all very much again...

State Rep. Gene Copeland, D-New Madrid, said Tuesday night he was optimistic that a legal challenge to a plan for new Missouri House districts would be successful. Copeland is chairman of the Missouri House Democratic Caucus, which met Monday and agreed to challenge in court the plan drawn by a commission. Tuesday in St. Louis, Copeland testified on behalf of the caucus at the first of three public hearings on the plan being conducted by the redistricting commission...

PERRYVILLE -- Ella E. Weber, 81, of Perryville, died Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1991, at American Care Center. She was born Feb. 18, 1910, at Wittenberg, daughter of Theodore and Pauline Gerler Schattauer. She married Albert Weber Dec. 26, 1933. He died June 29, 1979...

SIKESTON -- Brenda Joyce Roberts, 44, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, Aug. 27, 1991, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born May 24, 1947, in Michie, Tenn., daughter of George S. and Hattie Gray Anditon. She was a bartender for the American Legion Henry Meldrum Post 114 in Sikeston, a member of the American Legion Boosters Society, and she formerly managed and worked at the Dollar General Store in Sikeston. She attended Sikeston High School...

Charles E. Stallings, 67, 510 N. Fountain, died Saturday, Aug. 24, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born July 20, 1924, in Cape Girardeau, son of Everett S. and Mabel Babb Stallings. Stallings was a graduate of Central High School, and graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 1950. He was an apartment manager and salesman, and member of VFW Post 3838. Stallings served in the U.S. Marines during World War II...

Funeral service for Dammie E. Graves, Fountainbleau Lodge, will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Memorial Funeral Home in Columbia, Miss. The Rev. Jody Lightfey will officiate, with burial in Society Hill Cemetery in Goss, Miss. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of local arrangements. There is no visitation or service here...

The Area Wide United Way's public service division, led by Jo Peukert and Robert Foster, will target the local education community to support this year's fundraising drive. The annual United Way campaign kicks off Sept. 4. Organizers hope raise a total of $470,000...