Stories from Friday, August 28, 1992

While Cape Girardeau may not be a metropolitan area, the region acquires a cosmopolitan flavor from its people. International students and exchange programs help bring the world home. Southeast Missouri State University has extended its academic welcome mat across the globe, and many countries have answered the invitation...

Brandi N. Springmeyer of Cape Girardeau and Cynthia M. Decker of Jackson have received Viola Boyce Vogel scholarships to attend Southeast Missouri State University during the 1992-93 academic year. The Vogel scholarship is open to entering freshmen or students currently enrolled at the university and majoring in business...

An elderly woman was robbed Thursday night after a man accosted her outside her home in the 200 block of North Pacific Street. Cape Girardeau police reported the woman had walked outside her home and was approached by the man as she was returning to the house...

Three area business education teachers were recently selected as members of Who's Who in Missouri Business education. Inductees are Wilma Wilcoxson, Jackson High School; Barbara Lohr, Cape Girardeau Area Vocational School; and Linda Henson Wiggs, Southeast Missouri State University...

The Missouri Public Service Commission soon will consider a proposal that would reduce Union Electric Co.'s electric rate by $40 million effective Jan. 1, the PSC staff announced. Filed Aug. 24, the agreement was submitted by UE, the PSC staff, several UE industrial customers and the Office of the Public Counsel. As part of the agreement a rate increase or decrease could only be sought under certain conditions prior to Sept. 1, 1994...

It's hard to realize those respectable-looking Republicans you saw on TV at Houston were the same ogres the Democrats described last month on TV at New York City. --- Even if you weren't a Republican, watching the party's convention in Houston was fun. Where else could you see portly millionaires jumping up and down and wearing outrageous hats?...

There was a time when riverboats ruled the Mississippi, farmers plowed with oxen or mules and the soda fountain at the corner drug store was the local hot spot. -- Official State Manual The quotation above appearing in the current edition of the Missouri "Blue Book" came from an introduction written for the publication by Secretary of State Roy Blunt, who prefaced a section entitled "Vanishing Missouri." Included in this portion of the book were photos of Missouri life in a simpler age, an earlier era spanning the first decades of this century, from such communities as Independence, Brookfield, Agency, Odessa, Cape Girardeau and Dutzow.. ...

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education Thursday hired an architectural firm in the next step toward its goal to build new school facilities. The board approved a contract with The Christner Partnership, Inc. of St. Louis to help the district formulate its facilities plan...

Criminal charges are being considered against a Cape Girardeau police officer disciplined for allegedly assaulting two people in separate incidents, authorities said. Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said his office is reviewing the incidents involving Patrolman Louis Jordan after receiving results of an internal investigation by Cape Girardeau police. Swingle said the department asked him to review the matter to see if criminal charges should be filed...

The first major capital campaign in Southeast Missouri State University's history raised more than $28.5 million, exceeding its goal by 14 percent. The five-year "New Vision of Excellence" campaign officially ended June 30. University and capital campaign officials disclosed the dollar figures at a press conference late Thursday afternoon at the university's alumni center...

Cape Girardeau parent educators in the Parents as Teachers program face a tough task at the beginning of this school year. They will notify about half the families in the program last year that they have been discontinued as participants. The Parents as Teachers staff was cut by 50 percent as part of the district's $1.2 million budget cuts. As a result, the number of families will also be cut by about half...

JEFFERSON CITY - A candidate who lost the 8th Congressional District Democratic primary earlier this month must wait for state certification of the results before filing for a recount. Steve Byers, director of elections for the office, said Thursday he anticipates having to conduct a recount...

Daughter to Dr. and Mrs. Robert Bret of Dallas, Texas, 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, 1992. Name, Erin Elizabeth. Weight, 8 pounds 12 ounces. Mrs. Bret is the former Laurie Shivelbine, daughter of L.J. Shivelbine of Cape Girardeau. She is a registered nurse. Bret is a physician at Baylor Medical Center...

SIKESTON -- Beryl E. Houchin, 88, of Sikeston, died Thursday, Aug. 27, 1992, at Sikeston Convalescent Center. She was born Oct. 28, 1903, at Bloomfield, daughter of Chester and Stella Poe Freeman. She and Roy C. Houchin were married Nov. 24, 1922, at Bloomfield. He died Sept. 14, 1972...

Funeral service for Timothy Richard O'Connell Jr. of Guntersville, Ala., will be held at 11 a.m. today at Carr Funeral Chapel in the Pines in Guntersville. The Rev. Rudy Guess will officiate, with burial in Crestview Cemetery. O'Connell, 71, died Tuesday, Aug. 25, 1992, in Humana Hospital in Huntsville, Ala...

Funeral service for Harry Dallas Robinson, 1436 rear Jefferson, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Chapel. The Rev. Rennie Phillips will officiate, with burial in Fairmount Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home 4-8 p.m. today...

CHARLESTON -- Tommie Robinson, 75, of Charleston, died Wednesday, Aug. 26, 1992, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Oct. 6, 1916, in Little Rock, Ark., son of Filmore and Lena Simpkins Robinson. He and Leodies Gaines were married Aug. 17, 1942...