Stories from Sunday, April 19, 1992

The weatherman forecasts April showers today. But cloudy skies can't dampen the celebration that is Easter. Nearly 2000 years ago today, those first Christians learned of the miracle in the tomb. He is not here, but is risen. (Luke 24:6) Jesus Christ's resurrection assures believers that we can count on life after death. He died for our sins so that we may live...

H. Ross Perot is not the first person of gigantic wealth to contemplate the presidency. Back in the early 1920s, when a billion dollars was real money, billionaire Henry Ford figured that just maybe he ought to turn his assembly-line talents to streamlining the nation's capitol. Things weren't going as he thought they should. Politicians didn't know how to run anything. He the Ford of Ford Motor Company could bring a businesslike efficiency to the inherently inefficient federal government...

Tax cut update Two tax cuts were passed by citizen initiative in the past 15 months: in the state of Oregon and in the city of Colorado Springs. We remain intrigued by the fact that both places are showing browth during a national recession. Revenues for schools and the city of Portland are up, contrary to the warnings issued when the property levy was approved in November 1990. ...

Thirty-seven years ago, Martie Smith handed her 6-day-old daughter to an adoption attorney and feared she would never see the child again. She was wrong. This weekend, mother and daughter met each other for the first time since that 17-year-old girl gave up her baby for adoption...

Libby and Robert Roeger's kindergarten son rides the bus to school this year. Next year he probably won't. The 7-year-old will either walk from Northfield Subdivision to Alma Schrader School or his parents will arrange a car pool with neighbors. "We will car pool," Libby Roeger said. "We can't have him crossing Perryville Road. It's just too dangerous."...

A plan announced last week to eliminate 12 city employee positions will result in the forced retirement of one assistant fire chief and the demotion of a second assistant fire chief to captain. City officials said the cuts are necessary to help reduce the city's $10 million budget by about $250,000. ...

The Finishing Touch has opened at 101 S. Frederick. The new business, a subsidiary of the Finish Line Penzoil Oil and Lube Centers, specializes in detailing of cars, trucks and vans with wash, wax, buff and cleaning of interior and engine detail. "We offer free pickup and delivery for Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City," said Jim Mungle, president of the firm...

The top two Democratic candidates for governor are feuding over the intent of remarks made on a St. Louis radio talk show Thursday morning. In an interview on WGNU Radio, St. Louis Mayor Vince Schoemehl referred to Lt. Gov. Mel Carnahan as "some redneck from Rolla." The statement prompted Carnahan to call a press conference later in the day in downtown St. Louis to chastise the mayor...

Daniel J. Lauer will be guest speaker at the Southeast Missouri Trade Expo at the Show Me Center May 5. Lauer, inventor of the Waterbabies Doll, will address participants of the Expo during the opening session of the daylong event at 8:30 a.m. He is a native of St. Louis and president and chairman of the board of Lauer Toys Inc...

Officials involved in organ and tissue donation are asking families this week to talk about donation and to sign and witness their driver's licenses. National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, which starts today, is designed to promote public information on the need for organ and tissue donation and how one can become a donor...

The Cape Girardeau County Christian Women's Club invites all men and women to the annual guest night to be held April 25 at Holiday Inn. This will replace the April luncheon meeting. The event begins with dinner at 7 p.m. in the Jackson Room. Cost for the meal and entertainment is $11 per person...

SIKESTON -- Edwin Carr Willis, 74, of Sikeston, died Friday, April 17, 1992, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born July 2, 1917, in Kentwood, La., son of Edwin Clarence and Sadie Carr Willis. He and Betty Jean Halvorson were married Dec. 22, 1943, in South Dakota...

SIKESTON -- Irene Helen Haynes, 86, of Sikeston, died Thursday, April 16, 1992, at Sikeston Convalescent Center. She was born Jan. 7, 1906, in Scott County, daughter of August and Ida Glous. She married William Haynes in August 1934, in St. Louis. He preceded her in death...

Dorothy Quarles Weirich Garner, 84, of Webster Groves, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Tuesday, April 14, 1992, at her home. She was a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, received the Alumni Merit Award in 1969 from Southeast, and received a master's degree from Washington University...

MARBLE HILL -- Hobert Daniel James Garland, 69, of Marble Hill died Friday, April 17, 1992 at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born near Sedgewickville on Feb. 27, 1923, the son of James and Myrtle Cook Garland. On Jan. 26, 1946, he married the former Wanda Lee Cook. She survives...

ORAN -- Lois E. "Dude" Griffin, 70, of Oran died Friday, April 17, 1992 at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 10, 1921 in Hornesville, Mo., son of William Hoad Griffin and Cordia Atteberry Griffin. He was a retired garageman for Union Electric and a U.S. Army veteran of World War II...

James Alfred Smith, 64, of 1537 N. Water died Friday, April 17, 1992, on a family fishing trip at Kentucky Lake. He was born May 4, 1927 in Cape Girardeau, the son of Charles and Gertrude Davie Smith. He was a lifetime resident of Cape Girardeau. On Feb. 25, 1950, he married the former Martha Lynn Chappell at Piggott, Ark. She survives...

CHARLESTON -- Juanita Mathis, 88, of Charleston died Wednesday, April 15, 1992, at Loyola University Hospital in Maywood, Ill. She was born May 22, 1903 in Tennessee, the daughter of Andy and Puller Churchwell. She was a member of Mercy Baptist Church, the choir, and the Mississippi County Community Churches organization...

MCCLURE, Ill. -- Funeral service for Eva Elvada Wells of Granite City was held Saturday at Irwin Chapel there. The Rev. Don Allred officiated, with burial in Lake View Memorial Gardens in Belleville. Wells, 57, died Wednesday, April 15, 1992, at her home...

JACKSON -- Norma M. Lichtenegger, 74, Jackson Route 4, died Friday, April 17, 1992, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Dec. 3, 1917, at Tilsit, daughter of Bernard and Meta Loos Meyer. She married Melvin Lichtenegger Jan. 5, 1941. Lichtenegger was a secretary at the Land Bank from 1938-43. The family owned and operated Lichtenegger Finer Foods from 1947-80...

MARBLE HILL -- Patrick F. Stoffel, 36, of Marble Hill Route 2, died Friday, April 17, 1992 at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born May 31, 1955 in Somerville, Mass., the son of Luther and Teresa Stoffel. On July 4, 1986, he married the former Jan Cogdill. She survives. He is also survived by a son, Jason, and a daughter, Tracy, of Marble Hill...

The Missouri Division of Liquor Control has announced the suspension of liquor licenses at four area businesses. The suspensions take effect Monday at these businesses: Hitchin Post, 351 Christine, licensee, So Sim Williams; suspended four days for employing a disqualified person and failure to report employment of a disqualified person...

PATTON -- The entire art program in the Meadow Heights School District is being eliminated. So is the high school vocational agriculture program and the softball and baseball programs. A number of positions are also being eliminated and three teachers are being dismissed...

SEDGEWICKVILLE -- The village of Sedgewickville came into being in 1867, when a small, Southeast Missouri community applied for a U.S. Post Office. "At that time, the name of the community was Smithville," said Sharon Smith. "It was found that a Smithville, Mo., already existed, and the name of the town had to be changed if it was to have a post office."...

Dear sister Anna: I have saved all your letters to me since you moved south to Bethlehem so long ago. They have been so precious to me. I know that writing materials do not come easy. But far more precious are the words you put upon the papyrus. They are like jewels in a crown. ...

Easter Greetings! Even though there was spring in January and February and then winter in March, spring has finally arrived with all of its glory. Tulips, grape hyacinths, scilla, dwarf iris, pansies, creeping phlox, azaleas and dogwood all are making it a beautiful Easter...

JACKSON -- Warranty deeds issued at the office of Janet Robert, Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds: William L. Brune to the William L. Brune Trust; Stephen E. and Patricia F. Strom to the Stephen E. and Patricia F. Strom Trusts; Naomi B. Williams to the Naomi B. Williams Trust...

A week ago airfare to Orlando, Fla. home of Disney World, MGM Studios, Universal Studios, and the site of the 1992 Rotary International Convention in June carried round-trip price tag around $350. Last week, a special reduced fare of $238 was introduced for a round trip to the nation's number one vacation spot...

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was calling for planes, tanks, ships, and billions of dollars. The year was 1942, and Roosevelt was telling the nation what it would take to win a that was triggered by the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese...

CAIRO, Ill. -- David Barkett, owner of Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo, has added operations at Mounds and Mound City. "We recently purchased Crain Funeral Homes at Mounds and Mound City in Pulaski County, and acquired the equipment from Crain Funeral Home at Cairo," said Barkett, a Cairo native who has been in the funeral business 25 years...

Whippersnappers is observing its first anniversary this month. "We've planned a day of activities for our birthday Saturday," said Christina Tanksley, owner of the children's retail clothing store, with sizes from infants through pre-teen to 14 boys...

James Evans, a professor in the department of quantitative analysis-information systems of the College of Business Administration at the University of Cincinnati, will be seminar leader during a "Statistical Process Control for Quality Improvement" workshop in May...

Craig Schnuck, chairman of the board and chief executive officer for Schnucks Food & Drug headquartered in St. Louis, and Scott Schnuck, president and chief operating officer of the firm, were in Cape Girardeau last week to present employee awards. A total of 20 employees at the Schnucks store at 19 S. Kingshighway received 15-year recognition Tuesday night at the award banquet at the Holiday Inn...

ORAN -- Jim Gosche has joined First Financial Bank of Southeast Missouri as vice president. Joe W. Gooch, president and chief executive officer of the bank, announced Gosche's appointment. Gosche will be responsible for the management and lending function of the bank's northern trade area of Oran, Benton and Scott City...

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ST. LOUIS The first Pear Tree Inn by Drury opened recently at Collinsville, Ill. Owned and operated by Drury Inns Inc., Pear Tree Inn represents a new economy concept for the Drury chain. Rates range from $37.50 to $42.95 per night, but a special rate of $29.95 is available for a limited time...

Lyn Muzzy, director of the Cape Girardeau Convention & Visitors Bureau, has been elected secretary of the Missouri Travel Council. Other officers of the organization are Carla Schnelt, Schnelt's Family Farm, St. James, president; Marty Asel, Jefferson City Convention & Visitors Bureau, first vice president; Rose Ann Hoffstetter, National Bowling Hall of Fame, St. ...

Several Cape Girardeau County Board of Realtors members are helping young people make choices about buying and renting property. Together with local high schools, they will be involved in "It's Your Move," a consumer education program for high school juniors and seniors...