Stories from Sunday, November 3, 1991

To the Editor: After reading David Goncher's letter in the Nov. 1 edition, I am glad he is not a member of the Cape Girardeau School Board. His comparison of public school and private school educational programs indicates a lack of knowledge about the responsibilities and obligations of public school education. ...

The Area Wide United Way campaign has passed the half-way mark toward its goal of raising $470,000. As of Friday afternoon, $253,000 had been raised, said Dorothy Klein, executive director of the United Way. "We are kind of in the lull of the campaign," Klein said. "The businesses and contributors who wanted to be among the first have already given."...

Paleoanthropoligist Russell Ciochon will speak Thursday about an extinct ape that could be a "giant cousin" to humans. Ciochon, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Iowa, will speak at 7 p.m. in the Academic Hall Auditorium. The lecture is sponsored by the Sociology and Anthropology Club at Southeast Missouri State University...

As a tribute to Edward M. Spicer, Southeast Missouri State University will sponsor a memorial service Thursday at 3 p.m. in Academic Hall Auditorium. Anyone interested in participating by giving brief remarks, oratorical or musical, should contact Debra Mitchell-Braxton at 651-2891 or 651-2953 by 4 p.m. Tuesday...

The St. Francis Medical Center Auxiliary is planning its annual Christmas Tree Gala for Nov. 15 at Drury Lodge. Funds raised from the event will benefit the hospital. The auxiliary purchases equipment with the money and donates it to a different hospital department each year...

AS A TAXPAYER I am voting no for Proposition B. I would like to know who's sending all these cards and who's paying for them. Is it the taxpayer who's paying to encourage people to vote yes? I'm against that. At the bottom of the card it says paid for by Missourians for Quality Education, William Quigg, treasurer...

To the Editor: On November 5, 1991, all Missourians will have the opportunity to vote for one of the largest tax increases in Missouri history. Many are going to the polls believing that Proposition B means good education for the state of Missouri. It has become fashionable to think that if you are against Proposition B you are against education. That is the pressure Missouri voters are under when they approach the polls Tuesday...

Robert Bartman is the Missouri Commissioner of Education. Both our quality of life and economic prosperity are integrally entwined with the quality of our schools. We are beginning to realize that our students' performance level, which has served us well throughout the 20th century, must be raised significantly if we as a state and nation are going to sustain our current quality of life or improve it...

Cape Girardeau voters will be asked Tuesday to make a choice on three questions involving local utilities. Two are similar but separate questions for 20-year franchise agreements with Union Electric Co. for electric and natural gas service. The third is an $11.8 million revenue bond proposal for the city purchase of the local water system from Union Electric. ...

To the Editor: As past chairperson of the citizens Utility Commission I would like to comment on the Utility Franchise agreement and water bond issue to be voted on November 5. In our 1987 report to the City Council, the committee recommended that the city proceed with the process of purchasing the electric and water system, if municipalization would not raise taxes and if the City Council could save the citizens on their utility bill. ...

The Junior Optimist Club of Cape Girardeau will be holding its 12th annual chili supper and talent show Saturday night at the Washington School cafeteria. Entertainment will be provided by members of the club and Division of Youth Services staff, as well as by various artists from the surrounding area...

BERTRAND -- James A. Webb, 45, of Bertrand, died Friday, Nov. 1, of injuries received Friday in a semi-truck motor vehicle accident north of Cairo, Ill. He was born March 12, 1946 to the late James H. Webb and Ruby Brown Webb, who survives. He married Gwen Fears on June 13, 1953. ...

Dennis W. Hartmann, 82, of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, Nov. 1, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born March 17, 1909, in Cape Girardeau County, son of Fred and Edith V. Phillips Hartmann. Hartmann worked at Marquette Cement Co. from 1929-74. He was of the Lutheran denomination...

BRIDGETON -- Oscar ~"Leroy" Taylor of Bridgeton died Friday, Nov. 1, 1991, at age 70. He was born June 23, 1921, in McClure, Ill., and lived about four years in Cape Girardeau. He is survived by three brothers, Jack Taylor, Robert Taylor and Bill Taylor, all of Cape Girardeau; two stepsons, Harold Dees and Joe Dees; and a stepdaughter, Brenda Lacey...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Verneal Hileman, 81, of Route 2 Dongola died Friday, Nov. 1, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 31, 1910, in Union County, Ill., the daughter of Ira and Estelle Heiple Jordan. On April 5, 1924, she married Albert O. Hileman in Cairo, Ill. He preceded her in death Sept. 14, 1977...

Cathy Jean Livingston, 39, of 1613 North Main, died Friday, Nov. 1, 1991 at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Oct. 19, 1952 in Cape Girardeau, the daughter of the Zack DeBoe and Doris Jean Cobb DeBoe. For the last 15 years she was employed at Florsheim Shoe in Cape. She attended Central High School and was a member of Red Star Baptist Church, where she was a member of the Missionary Society and the Young Adult Sunday School class...

MARBLE HILL -- Ransom Jefferson `Mann' Garland of Marble Hill died Saturday, Nov. 2, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was 71. He was born Dec. 23, 1919, the son of the James Joseph and Lillie Myrtle Cook Garland. On march 26, 1938, he married Wilma Maedean Cook, who survives...

CHARLESTON -- Frances McBride, 87, of Cape Girardeau, formerly of Charleston, died Friday, Nov. 1 at the Fountainbleau Lodge. She was born Jan. 25, 1904, in Adams, Tenn., to Irvin and Nancy Stroud Whitehead. She married Russell McBride in August 1933. He preceded her in death on Oct. 9, 1968...

JACKSON - Freda M. Murray, 73, of Jackson, died Saturday, Nov. 2, 1991 at St. Francis Medical Center, where she had been a patient for nine days. She was born June 15, 1918, at Sedgewickville, the daughter of Marion Columbus and Clola Seabaugh Bollinger. On May 10, 1947 at Jackson, she married Clyde Murray. He preceded her in death on Oct. 30, 1980...

CAIRO, Ill. -- A 45-year-old Mississippi County, Mo., man died Friday when the semi-truck tanker he was driving overturned at the intersection of Illinois Route 3 and Highway 51, one mile north of Cairo. The accident occurred at 9:35 a.m. Illinois State Police identified the driver as James Webb of Bertrand...

Wendy Lucero owes much of her success as the top-ranked springboard diver in the United States to her supportive and often exacting mother, Shirley. But when Shirley learned in 1987 she had breast cancer, only eight months before the Olympic trials, Wendy's hopes of becoming an Olympic athlete were nearly dashed...

Cape Girardeau voters Tuesday will decide the fate of the city's water system and whether to approve new utility franchises with Union Electric Co. The three election issues are separated on the ballot, but are related in that they involve city utilities and were negotiated as a "package."...

Voters will decide Tuesday whether to give a passing grade to Proposition B, a $385 million tax-and-reform package for education. The measure has the backing of many of the local and state educators, and business and political leaders. Locally, Southeast Missouri State University officials have been leading the charge for Proposition B, pointing out that the measure could provide an additional $9 million a year in state funding for the institution...

JACKSON - Brian Miller remembers well the charge given his committee last January by Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep. Miller, who is director of the county's Emergency Operations Center, was named to head a six-member committee to investigate the possibility of providing a countywide Enhanced-911 emergency telephone service...

Next time someone starts bragging to you about their excellent physical condition, see if they can: Deliver 50 blows with a six-pound sledge hammer while standing on a slanted ramp; then crawl through a maze of wooden rafters that resemble an attic without any part of their body slipping between the beams...

The Monday meeting of AARP Chapter 4041 will be held at 1:30 p.m. at Maple Avenue United Methodist Church. The meeting had been scheduled for Grace United Methodist Church but furnace problems forced it to be relocated. An article about this meeting elsewhere in this edition, printed before the problem arose, should be disregarded...

A new program for individuals age 70 and older has been created in conjunction with Southeast Missouri State University's Eldercare Center. The schedule at the Eldercare Center has also changed. The new program, called Older Adults Respite Program, began this fall. Two days a week, individuals age 70 or older may attend...

Joyce Lundstrum has battled tonsillitis each winter since she was 10. She is now 16. When Joyce was sick, her mother treated her fever and sore throat at home. "I'd pump her full of Tylenol and keep ice on her," Joyce's mother, Josephine Lundstrum, said. "But it usually got worse. When it was really bad, we went to the doctor. That's not the best way to do it."...

The red-gold shafts of the morning sun filter through the pine trees and thinning pin oaks to find my eastern windows. Glass doesn't stop them. They come on through to caress the brass hands of the ever-in-motion clock, the blue glass bird of happiness and Raggedy Ann and Andy sitting, jauntily, on an upper window shelf...

Cold weather is fast approaching. There are many ways one can outwit fall frosts, and the following are some of them. Are your tomato plants still loaded with large green to partially ripe fruits and the weatherman is predicting the first fall frost? Do not panic. You probably can give the plants enough protection for a night or two to save them. Then enjoy vine ripened tomatoes during Indian summer weather that often follows the first frost...

The second annual Older Worker of the Year contest, a program to honor outstanding senior employees, is seeking nominations. Any employer of a worker who is 65 or older may submit a nomination. Candidates will be judged on their job performance and interpersonal skills...

The November meeting of La Leche League will be held Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at Cape Girardeau Public Library. The discussion will include encouragement and information on how to establish a happy nursing relationship between mother and baby. Nursing babies are welcome at the meetings...

Members of American Legion Post 63 will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the post home, 811A Broadway. Prior to the meeting, Ken Scheer will present a summary of the book by Monika Stevenson on "Kiss the Boys Goodby," which is about POWs/MIAs in Vietnam. Scheer is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force...

PERRYVILLE -- Service and retail businesses continue to enjoy rapid growth throughout a seven-county area of Southeast Missouri, show statistics compiled by a government planning agency. The area recorded a total of 52 business openings during the third quarter of 1991, show figures compiled by the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission in Perryville...

Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar opened in Cape Girardeau last week. The restaurant at Broadview and Route K offers a number of "neighborhood specialties," including steak or chicken fajitas, riblet platter, Bourbon Street steak, Applebee's House sirloin, and baked whitefish...

Bon-Win Inc., a creative gift baskets and decorative bags business, opens Monday. "We provide arrangements of products in baskets and bags," said Winona Crampton. "Each basket or bag will contain products designed for Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays, Valentine's Day, housewarmings and other occasions."...

PERRYVILLE -- The Bank of Perryville will celebrate its 100th anniversary Thursday through Saturday. Bank President James F. Kapp said: "I would like to take this opportunity to extend an invitation to area citizens to visit us and share in the festivities during our anniversary open house. We've been celebrating our centennial with special events throughout 1991, and this open house will mark the end of the yearlong observance."...

JACKSON -- H&S Equipment of Jackson has been named a Top 100 dealer for Cub Cadet, a manufacturer of lawn tractors and outdoor power equipment. Henry and Marie Sappington of H&S received the recognition during a recent Cub Cadet national dealers meeting in Memphis. The awards were presented for dealer sales and service...

French's Feed & Seed Co., 509 Morgan Oak, has added Wayne Feeds to its list of products. The store also handles Purina and Monarch lines. "All three of these companies offer a complete line of livestock, poultry and pet feeds," said Fred French, who operates the business with his wife, Gay French...

JACKSON -- Campus Auto & Tire Sales has expanded. "We opened a new store in Jackson recently," said Gail "Woody" Woodfin. "The new operation will be a tire and service center. We won't have any cars here." The new operation, which also offers tuneups, batteries, starters, and other service work, is at 312 Washington in Jackson. The company will continue to operate its auto and tire sales facility at 1404 Independence in Cape Girardeau...

Suzanne Dufek was elected to the Missouri Association of Nurse Anesthetists Board of Directors during the organization's annual meeting in St. Louis. Dufek will serve as director of Region 3, representing anesthetists of 49 counties in the eastern half of the state, excluding St. Louis...

The Santa Fe Military Hobbies shop is open at 401 N. Clark. "We opened Tuesday," said Jay Sproat, owner of the new hobby and game store. "We'll have military simulation games and role-playing games," said Sproat. "We'll also have military books, miniature figures, and antique military collectibles."...

Marilyn Trankle of Leopold and Mae Marshall of Jackson are winners of $50 gift certificates at the Briar Patch in West Park Mall. Another winner during the special promotion was Judy Huey of Cape Girardeau, who won a 16-by-20-inch print. --- Lisa Zarantanello of Kansas City was winner of a Harley-Davidson leather jacket during the 20th anniversary celebration of Minor's Harley-Davidson and Suzuki Sales Inc., 905 Enterprise...

Shelly Haupt of Cape Girardeau has joined Shear Class Hair Design Group, 2033 Independence. Haupt is a graduate of Stage One The Hair School of Cape Girardeau. She has more than a year of experience as a hair stylist and specializes in nail care. ---...

Selby's Aerosquad and All-Terrain Equipment Co. has opened at 3180 Nash Road. "We offer a variety of construction equipment," said Jerry Verble, a native Cape Girardean who recently returned from the Chicago area. "I had the same type of business there," he said...

The Fantasticks gift shop in Cape Girardeau's Plaza Galleria has added a `Christmas Store' to its operation. The Christmas Store is located in the east end of the building, which formerly housed Malissa's Restaurant. The new operation will feature 14 decorated theme trees...

JACKSON -- Century Propane Company Inc. of Jackson has acquired Killarney Gas of Ironton. R.L. "Rick" Humphrey, president and chairman of the board of the Jackson firm, announced recently that plans had been finalized for the acquisition. It is the third corporate acquisition by Century Propane this year...