Stories from Wednesday, December 11, 1991

People being admitted to the hospital now have another question to ponder in addition to those on the standard admitting forms. Patients must now be informed of their rights concerning decisions about health care treatments. A new federal law, which went into effect Dec. 1, requires hospitals at the time of admission to tell patients about their rights, including living wills and durable power of attorney...

Christmas for Mrs. L this year will be a quiet affair. She'll be alone. Her family lives in southern Missouri but they are very poor. While they care very much about Mrs. L they cannot afford a trip to Cape Girardeau to visit her. She would never ask them for help...

SCOTT CITY -- Scott City Mayor Shirley Young said Tuesday she will not seek re-election to a second term. After 10 years in city government, Young said she's ready to retire. "I'll continue to be very interested in city government, and I urge everyone to work with whomever the new mayor will be," Young said...

Toybox coordinators are about to face a tough choice: which of the more than 1,000 children depending on Toybox for their Christmas gift this year won't get a single toy. Jessica would like a Barbie doll. Austin wants a soccer ball. Christina needs a new winter coat. David wants a fire engine...

For the third Cape Girardeau City Council election in eight years, the eligibility of a candidate has come into question. But this time a candidate will be excluded from the race. City Attorney Warren Wells and City Manager J. Ronald Fischer Tuesday determined that council candidate Jess Hopple isn't eligible to run for one of three council terms that will expire in April...

When it comes to graduating at the head of their class, Tracy and Terri Fisher of Scott City are old pros. From grade school through college, the 23-year-old twin sisters have consistently been at the top of their class. Tracy will lead the class of 448 undergraduates at winter commencement exercises Saturday at Southeast Missouri State University. Tracy has a perfect 4.0 grade point average...

JACKSON -- The senior member on the Jackson Board of Education said Tuesday he will not seek re-election when his term expires next April. The board member, John Lorberg, made the announcement after the board set the filing period for school board candidates...

Four Cape Girardeau homes are featured on the first St. Andrew Lutheran Church Christmas Home Tour Sunday. The tour is a fund raiser for the High School Youth group at the church. The group is raising money to attend the 1992 National Lutheran Youth Gathering in New Orleans...

RITA FISHER Occupation: Principal, Immaculate Conception School, Jackson. Pet Peave: "Pessimists and people who complain but aren't willing to work to change things." The best part of my job is: "The children and the support I receive from the faculty and parents."...

ESSEX -- A Malden man was in serious condition late Tuesday night at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau following a two-vehicle accident in Stoddard County earlier in the day. Steven Kuper, 39, of Malden was injured in the accident that occurred at 7:40 a.m...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Ward of Marquand, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 8:17 a.m. Friday, Nov. 22, 1991. Name, Molly Elizabeth. Weight, 7 pounds 8 ounces. Second daughter. Mrs. Ward is the former Cynthia DeSpain, daughter of Jim and Pat DeSpain of Marquand, and is a customer service representative with Cap America Inc. Ward is a carpenter with Jay Stuckel Construction Co., and is the son of Ervin and Louise Ward of Fredericktown...

Funeral service for Virgil A. Edwards of Caruthersville was held Dec. 6 at First Presbyterian Church there. The Rev. Paul Currie officiated, with burial in Pemiscot Memorial Gardens there. H.S. Smith Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Edwards, 75, died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

Funeral service for Ruth Barbara Brennecke of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10 a.m. today at St. Vincent's Catholic Church. The Rev. Ron Hoye will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel is in charge of arrangements...

WHITEWATER - Erhardt "E.W." Schoen, of Whitewater, Route 1, died Monday, Dec. 9, 1991 at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau, where he lived for three years. He was 90. He was born July 4, 1901 at Pocahontas, son of Ernst and Maria Pilz Schoen. He married the former Linda Sievers at Fruitland on Dec. 25, 1927. She died Sept. 24, 1985...

ORAN -- Elmer Swinson, 95, of Oran and formerly of Chaffee died Monday, Dec. 8, 1991, at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. He was born May 23, 1896, in Plainsville, Ill., the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Swinson. On June 1, 1985, he married Jean Reed, who survives of the home...

The school district closed its elementary, junior and senior high schools Tuesday because a large number of students and faculty members were at home sick or were sick in school. Meanwhile, officials said the number of confirmed flu cases in the state through Monday stood at 64, but the number of cases of flu-like illnesses in Missouri is increasing...

To the Editor: We were members of the City Council when plans were made for the multipurpose building. Mayor Howard Tooke and others carefully designed a method of financing, and we came to see the wisdom of it. So did the citizens of the city, after much discussion and argument. The plan calls specifically for money from the restaurant and motel tax, and some real estate tax, to be used to retire the debt incurred for the building...

A terrifying chapter in American history was closed Tuesday when Terry Anderson, the last American hostage, returned to U.S. soil. The release of the remaining U.S. hostages provides an additional cause for celebration this holiday season. But our elation should not soften the U.S. ...

This Sunday marks the 200th birthday of the U.S. Bill of Rights. Larry Pratt doesn't feel much like celebrating. Things have never looked so bleak for freedom lovers like Larry. "Politicians are stripping away our rights like one strips the layers off an onion," he writes...

Victims of drunk driving accidents now have a Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Community Action Team in Cape Girardeau County to turn to for assistance and support. The team, started by the Cape Girardeau Community Traffic Safety program, will hold its first organizational meeting next month. A time and place remain to be announced, said the safety program's coordinator, Sharee Galnore...

PERRYVILLE -- Sabreliner Corp., with facilities at St. Louis and Perryville, has marked a milestone at its maintenance and modification center at Perryville Municipal Airport. The company also cited Sen. Christopher S. Bond for his efforts in protecting the contract's first-year funding...

JACKSON - The long-awaited traffic signals at the intersection of Donna Drive and East Jackson Boulevard should be up by the end of the week, a spokesman for the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department at Sikeston said Monday. Bob Simpson, highway engineer, said: "I spoke with the man in charge of signal installations last week. He told me the work would start this week. He has allocated all week to get the work done. The only thing that would affect the schedule is the weather."...

CAIRO, Ill. -- The Alexander County Jail will remain open, say Alexander County Commission~ers Louis Maze and Rollie Matlock. "We had some financial difficulty paying the food service people who provide meals to prisoners at the jail," said Maze Monday. "But, arrangements are being made for payment...

A special community meeting will be held Dec. 18 to discuss affordable and accessible health care for Southeast Missouri residents and to seek input on legislative remedies. The meeting will be held at the Drury Lodge from 8-10 a.m. The community meeting is being sponsored by the Missouri Health Care Forum, an organization of leaders in Missouri's business, labor, insurance and health care provider communities that was formed in 1990 to study health care access and cost factors...

Calendars as we know them today and use them in our homes were not available to everyone at the beginning of the last century when the Louisiana Territory became part of the United States. The Gregorian calendar that we use today was the one in use, but they were expensive and not every household had one. The calendar had been in use since Pope Gregory XIII undertook to correct the mistake in the old Julian calendar that had Easter arrive 10-days off schedule according to the vernal equinox...

Saundra Renee Hasenkamp discovered that she had an interest in teaching children while working in day care. She teaches third and fourth grades at Guardian Angel School in Oran. "I was out of high school four years before I decided to attend college," Hasenkamp said...

The following are among honor graduates at Southeast Missouri State University. SUMMA CUM LAUDE Cape Girardeau: Therese S. Gunawardena, 45 S. West End Blvd., Bachelor of Arts-Major, English. Anne E. Lang, 1941 Westwood, Bachelor of Science-Major, Computer Science...

New teaching guides distributed throughout Missouri at no cost to local or state taxpayers are designed to help teachers make major improvements in elementary science and mathematics scores statewide. Representatives of Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. are distributing the newest K-6 Science and Mathematics Improvement Program (KSAM) Activity Guide Series to 1,279 public elementary schools in Missouri...