Stories from Tuesday, December 24, 1991

A time capsule buried in Cape Girardeau holds the key to planning the city's 200th birthday celebration. A committee appointed to plan the 200th anniversary of the establishment of a trading post in what is now Cape Girardeau will use documents inside the capsule to plan the event. They will also solicit help from organizers of the city's 150th anniversary observance...

ZALMA -- Until last week, Leona Butler was almost totally blind. Yet she felt her way through her daily life, even when it came to caring for her wheelchair-bound son. Now, because of free surgery offered through a cooperative program sponsored by the state's Bureau for the Blind, she sees miraculously better, she said, and plans to do "anything and everything I want to."...

PATTON -- A fire alarm switch had been turned off prior to a Dec. 17 fire in a Patton home for mentally handicapped people that claimed the life of one of its residents. "We're still looking into why the fire alarm didn't function," State Fire Marshall Butch Amann said Monday...

At least 11 persons have been hospitalized for suspected food poisoning following a Christmas banquet held in Cape Girardeau over the weekend. A total of 32 people who attended the Miltenberger & Willing (M&W) and Saueressig Company party at the Show Me Center Friday night sought treatment Saturday morning with symptoms ranging from acute abdominal distress to fever and nausea...

Union Electric officials said a natural gas distribution main that developed a leak Monday in the 1800 block of William Street will be replaced by a new gas line in the coming year. Cape Girardeau firefighters were called to the site at 7:39 a.m., after a strong odor of natural gas was detected. Firefighters discovered gas from the ruptured main was bubbling up though the ground into the air from cracks along the curb in front of 1827 William...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Board of Aldermen met in special session Monday to approve the redistricting of the city's four aldermanic wards to conform with the one man-one vote guidelines of the U.S. Supreme court. The aldermen agreed the boundaries adopted are the best compromise because they meet the guidelines, yet do not change the polling places in the wards and will affect the least number of people in each ward...

JACKSON - Perry County Presiding Commissioner Karl Klaus told Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep Monday that he would like to see the 1992 juvenile budget pared down even more. Huckstep met privately with Klaus to discuss the proposed juvenile budget for the 32nd Judicial Circuit, and later reviewed it with Bollinger County Presiding Commissioner Elwood Mouser...

The Elks Mobile Dental Unit team will visit Cape Girardeau Thursday for initial dental screenings. Individuals who need the services of the unit this year must be present after 2 p.m. at VIP Industries, 1330 Southern Expressway. Handicapped and qualifying individuals are eligible for free dental care. Those who qualify must live in Cape Girardeau Bollinger or Scott counties and must be referred by the Bureau of Special Health Care Needs or a Regional Center for the Developmentally Disabled...

CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS to the residents of the Cape area. The town looks beautiful. I took my family and guests on the bus tour. Such an enjoyable evening. Our bus had a great driver and various ages of happy people. Cape, you can do it. Thanks for all the beautiful decorations. Thank you...

Wynn B. Rust is data processing manager for Concord Publishing in Cape Girardeau. Cape Girardeau is celebrating Christmas. We do it in many lights. We do it with the beautiful nativity scenes that various churches perform in memory of the miraculous birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. ...

The President recently was willing to spend some time with eight economists from the private sector. Odds are that he received eight different solutions to our current economic woes. The other problem with economists is they do tend to be gloomiest just as the economic outlook is about to turn bright again...

Christmas offers a time for rejoicing, reflecting and spending time with family and friends. We have much to celebrate this holiday season. We are a nation at peace, marveling at a changing world. Looking back, 1991 was a truly amazing year. Reversals of fortunes swept through the Soviet Union. ...

MARBLE HILL -- Lyle Lumsden, 70, of Marble Hill, died Friday, Dec. 20, 1991, at Quartz Site, Ariz. A native of Watertown, Mich., he was a retired truck driver. Lumsden was a member of Teamsters Local, and American Legion Post 225 in Lansing, Mich. Survivors include his wife, the former Irma Helderman; a son, Howard Swern of Lawton, Okla.; three daughters, Trudy Leming of Deming, N.M.; Barbara Fifield of Caro, Mich., Evangeline Blanchard of Carleton, Mich.; a brother, James Lumsden of Paris, Mich.; 19 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.. ...

Agnes L. Foeste, 84, of the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau died there Monday, Dec. 23, 1991. She was born July 9, 1907, in Cape Girardeau, the daughter of Karl Charles Foeste and Louise Niemeier Foeste. She was a member of Hanover Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau, where she was a former Sunday School teacher...

KELSO -- Walter Leo Dohogne, 82, of Kelso died Monday, Dec. 23, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born July 15, 1909, in Kelso, the son of Emil and Dora Welter Dohogne. On May 2, 1933, he married Augusta R. Dumey in Sikeston. She survives of the home...

Leonard J. Rehg, 86, of Issaquah, Wash. and formerly of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Dec. 22, 1991 at the Marianwood Care Center near his home. He was born July 1, 1905, in Prairie DuPont, Ill., the son of Fred and Josephine Rehg. He was reared in Cahokia, Ill., and on June 28, 1932, he and his wife, Josephine, were married in Columbia, Ill...

ORAN -- Anna Margaret LeGrand, 87, of Oran died Monday, Dec. 23, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 25, 1904, at Leopold, the daughter of Henry and Christine Spooler Schulte. On May 6, 1924, she married John LeGrand, who preceded her in death Nov. 21, 1973...

CHARLESTON -- Willie Wilson, 88, of Charleston died Sunday, Dec. 22, 1991 at the Sikeston Health Care Center. He was born Oct. 3, 1903 in Gold Dust, Tenn. He is survived by his wife, Johnnie Wilson, Charleston; two sons, Lee Archie Wilson, Battle Creek, Mich., Bobby Wilson, Lawton Okla.; four daughters, Amelia Craven, Charleston, Willa Jean Lawton, Odessa Smith and Autoria Wilson, all of Chicago; 20 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren...

CHAFFEE - George F. Stone, 72, of Chaffee, died Sunday, Dec. 22, 1991 at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Stone was born Dec. 28, 1918 in Chaffee, son of the late George Stone. His mother, Bertie Lee Stone of Chaffee, survives. Stone married Thelma L. Baker on April 7, 1940. She survives at the home...

MARBLE HILL -- Bessie J. Newell, 93, of Wood River, Ill., formerly of Bollinger County, died Sunday, Dec. 22, 1991, at Bond Nursing Care Center here. Survivors include a sister, Jewell Filer of Marble Hill. Baker Funeral Home was in charge of local arrangements...

ADVANCE -- Ralph "Chunks" Mangrum, 61, of Advance, died Saturday, Dec. 21, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 24, 1930, at Dudley, son of Jess and Ruth Frields Mangrum. He and Mary Ervin were married June 18, 1951, in Piggott, Ark...

CHARLESTON -- Joseph O'Neal, 67, of Charleston, died Sunday, Dec. 22, 1991, at Baptist Central Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He was born Dec. 8, 1923, at Charleston, son of George and Mary Jo Stewart O'Neal. He and Dorothy Evans were married June 2, 1946...

SCOTT CITY -- Helen Marie Weaver, 73, of Scott City, died Monday, Dec. 23, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Amick-Burnett Funeral Home here is in charge of arrangements.

MATTHEWS -- Sherman Albert "Bert" Latham, 75, of Matthews, died Monday, Dec. 23, 1991, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Jan. 18, 1916, at Matthews, son of E.B. and Claude Bell Bruce Latham. He married Irene Harwood Jan. 11, 1936, at Canalou. She died Aug. 18, 1982. He later married Mary Ryta Hann April 21, 1984, at Sikeston...

ANNA, Ill. -- Lillian M. Hartline, 61, of Anna, died Monday, Dec. 23, 1991 at the Cape Girardeau Nursing Center. She was born Sept. 3, 1930, in Union County, daughter of Robert and Viola Burns Reynolds. She married Junior M. Hartline on May 1, 1948, in Osceola, Ark. He died Dec. 3, 1981...

JACKSON -- Luther Seabaugh, 77, Jackson Route 4, died Sunday, Dec. 22, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Sept. 14, 1914, at Sedgewickville, son of Wiley T. and Argie Cook Seabaugh. He and Lillian Jacobs were married Dec. 24, 1937. She died Sept. 8, 1985...

Shelba Ann Powers, 53, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, Dec. 22, 1991, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Nov. 21, 1938, at Blodgett, daughter of Charles and Nellie Mayberry Senciboy. She married David Powers Aug. 29, 1959, at Shawneetown, Ill...

Staff Sergeant Jimmy L. Gockel of England AFB, Louisiana, was recently awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal for his performance during Operation Desert Storm. While serving at King Khalid Air Base, Saudi Arabia, Gockel was a security police squad leader in support of the F-117A Stealth Fighter...

The Alpha Epsilon Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, an international history honor society, has won the Best Chapter Award for the 1989-1990 academic year in an annual competition sponsored by the society's international council. The Alpha Epsilon Chapter, chartered in 1942, consists of faculty and students on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. ...

Americans love holidays, and it is hardly news that our best-loved holiday is Christmas. Often spelled Xmas, Christmas derives from the Greek word Christos; the X is the Greek form in the initial letter of Christ's name. Actually, Christmas began as "Christes Maesse", literally translated as Christ's Mass. But who needs a spelling lesson on Christmas Eve? Instead, let us feast on some time-honored misspellings connected with the season...

The city of Cape Girardeau has designated January as "Jammin Gym Month" at the A.C. Brase Arena building. The gym schedule will include: Tuesdays, noon to 6 p.m.; Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sundays from noon to 7 p.m...

When Cape Girardeau was founded 200 years ago on the west bank of the Mississippi River some 45 river miles south of Ste. Genevieve, Christmas was not observed as it is today. Christmas, with all the decorations, the programs in churches, schools, organizations, the commercialism, has mushroomed during the 20th century...