Stories from Thursday, April 16, 1992

Area kids who have yet to enjoy the thrill of a three-ring circus will have their chance next week when the Kelly-Miller Brothers Circus comes to Cape Girardeau and Charleston. And for a preview, one of the circus clowns will visit schools in Cape Girardeau on Tuesday. The clown will entertain kids at Franklin, May Greene and Clippard schools...

Cape Girardeau's Community Concert Association is in the midst of its annual membership drive, and membership chairman Ruth Knote said the upcoming concert season is one of the best the association has sponsored. "I think it's going to be a very exciting season," she said, "one that will appeal to a lot of people."...

Area residents are invited to explore the remote nooks and crannies of the great Mississippi River Valley during the second annual Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive April 25 and 26. More than a dozen villages and towns are cooperating to showcase the region's beauty and heritage during the two-day, 131-mile self-conducted tour coordinated by the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University...

SCOTT CITY -- Police Chief David Beck resigned Wednesday after 10 years at the Scott City Police Department. He said he plans to start a new job in St. Louis in two weeks, but it won't be at a police department. "I've got an excellent job opportunity and I'm going to take it," Beck said...

JACKSON - In addition to the unexpected defeat last week of the 35-cent tax levy, the Jackson School Board is faced with yet another problem: how to prepare for the estimated 300 kindergarten students that will start school in August. As of Wednesday, 250 students are pre-enrolled for the 1992-93 school year. Joe Crain, director of elementary education, says by this time of the year, pre-enrollment would usually be at about 230...

Kindergarten enrollment figures being gathered next week for Cape Girardeau elementary schools may indicate if youngsters will be transferred from their neighborhood schools. School officials expect many parents to arrive early at schools, including Alma Schrader and Charles Clippard, in an effort to ensure their children are not transported to other schools...

PERRYVILLE -- Ernest Motley has claimed his winning lottery ticket, making the Perryville man $2.3 million richer. Workers at the Express Lane convenience store in Perryville had been wondering about the lucky person since finding out they sold the only winning Missouri Lotto ticket in Saturday's drawing...

Cape Girardeau City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said Wednesday that the city this year will eliminate a dozen employee positions as part of an ongoing "reorganization" effort to save personnel costs. The latest series of personnel changes is expected to save about $250,000 in payroll expenses from the city's $10 million general fund...

The Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents Wednesday voted unanimously to hike tuition and keep the university's athletic budget intact. Regents said they oppose a recommendation by the university's Budget Review Committee to cut $250,000 out of the intercollegiate athletic budget...

The Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Advisory Board has recommended that the City Council approve the bureau budget at the same level of a year ago. "We have reviewed the 1992-93 budget," said Bob Hoppmann, advisory board chairman. "It is our recommendation that the $303,210 budget be approved by the council."...

Cape Girardeau Central High School inducted students in the National Honor Society Tuesday. Students who receive invitations to membership in National Honor Society are juniors and seniors who uphold the standards of scholarship, leadership, service and character as determined by the faculty council...

Members of the Cape Girardeau area Taxpayer's Action Network gathered Wednesday outside the Cape Girardeau post office to tell last-minute income tax filers of wasteful government spending. Julie Kridelbaugh, Taxpayer's Action Network (TAN) executive director for Southeast Missouri, said the group hoped to garner grass-roots support for a national protest against government waste and financial mismanagement...

POPLAR BLUFF -- Two people were killed Wednesday when a pickup truck collided head-on with an ambulance on Route 53, eight miles south of Poplar Bluff. The Missouri Highway Patrol said a pickup truck driven by Douglas Ratliff, 30, of Poplar Bluff was northbound at about 12:30 p.m. when it crossed the center line and struck a southbound ambulance from Doctor's Hospital in Poplar Bluff...

Funeral service for Helen F. Arnold, 3833 Valley View Lane, will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Oak Grove Mausoleum Chapel in St. Louis. Entombment will be in Oak Grove Mausoleum. Friends may call at the chapel from 1-2 p.m. Tuesday. Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel is in charge of arrangements, where friends may call from 4-8 p.m. Monday. Parish prayers will be at 7...

Anthony "Tony" Ruch, 20, 25 S. Sprigg, died Wednesday, April 15, 1992, at his home. He was born Sept. 16, 1971, in Cape Girardeau, son of Richard L. and Angela Leimer Ruch Sr. Ruch was a 1989 graduate of Jackson High School. He had worked for Defenders at Procter & Gamble, and for approximately 18 months had worked at Del Farm. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Unit in 1988-89...

MATTHEWS -- Lala Mae McCann, 89, formerly of Canalou, died Tuesday, April 14, 1992, at Sells Rest Home here. She was born Jan. 5, 1903, at Cooter, daughter of Finis and Minnie Huey McClure. She married L.A. McCann in June 1921, at Cooter. He died Dec. 2, 1966...

ADVANCE -- Delcy Louise Collins, 46, Advance Route 2, died Tuesday, April 14, 1992, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 14, 1946, in Missouri, daughter of Romaine and Edith Swears Peck. She married David Collins Jan. 24, 1965, at Van Buren...

Lena Jane Morris, 96, Fountainbleau Lodge, died Wednesday, April 15, 1992, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born June 30, 1895, in Upshur County, W.Va., daughter of R.W. and Laura E. Snyder Alkire. She and Okey W. Morris were married July 3, 1919...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Michael Lincoln of Marble Hill, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 11:41 a.m. Monday, April 6, 1992. Name, Cody Robert. Weight, 6 pounds 12 ounces. Mrs. Lincoln is the former Rhonda Eskew, daughter of Robert Eskew and Mary Eskew of Sedgewickville. She is assistant manager at Waldenbooks. Lincoln is an operator at Lutesville Pallet, and is the son of Bobby Joe Lincoln Sr. and Helen Lincoln of Glen Allen...

JEFFERSON CITY - Legislation to increase the number of members on school boards and establish a procedure for dissolving bankrupt school districts was approved Wednesday by the Missouri General Assembly. The bill, which was finalized by a House-Senate conference committee Tuesday, contains an emergency clause to put it into effect immediately...

Maryann "Miki" Gudermuth of Cape Girardeau is director of the SEMO Alliance for Disability and Dependence. She is also the state representative for the National Organization on Disability. I have read with deep interest the Perspectives on health care in the United States by all specialists in the medical industry, an insurance company, as well as administrators of the local hospitals. ...

On this day, you have either paid federal and state income taxes, have a refund on the way, have sought an extension or have violated the law. Feel better? In case the psychological hangover from Tax Day 1992 isn't enough to dampen your mood, consider that Tax Freedom Day is still more than three weeks away. If you're in no mood for more revenue obligations, better keep the headache relief close at hand...

"What You Should Know About Lyme Disease" is the topic of the April Woman to Woman luncheon today. The meeting will be held at St. Francis Medical Center, conference rooms A and B. Pam Lynxwiler, Lyme disease coordinator for Dr. Ed Masters, will speak on how to prevent tick bites, the proper way to remove ticks and how to identify the ticks that carry Lyme disease...