Stories from Thursday, December 3, 1992

EAST PRAIRIE -- Gus Aters, 75, of East Prairie died Wednesday, Dec. 2, 1992, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Aug. 1, 1917, in Mt. Vernon, Ind., the son of Charles and Sophia Reed Aters. On Oct. 10, 1936, he married Marie Johnson, who survives of the home...

Don Wideman is executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention. So now that we have riverboat gambling, just exactly what do we have? We have the beginning of a continuous and continuing barrage of efforts to expand the gambling industry in Missouri...

The Jackson Swim Team Parents Club will present its annual Christmas Home Tour Sunday from 1-4 p.m. The cost of the tour is $2 in advance, available from members of the club, or $2.25 at the door of the first home. Homes included on the tour are: The Jim and Karen Turner home at Bent Creek...

The Cape Duplicate Bridge Club held its regular open game on Friday, Nov. 27. Winning pairs were: first place, Ken Schaefer and Ed Stoever, and second place, Paul Fleurdelys and Corina Ho. Club games are open to all. The club meets in the Hirsch Room of the Cape Girardeau Public Library on the second and fourth Fridays of each month. Play starts at 7 p.m...

GORDONVILLE -- Topped off in black George Strait hats, teenagers Josh Rice and Justin Tanner have just sung the last words to Strait's "This is Where the Cowboy Rides Away." Out in the audience, a woman five times their age raises up an appreciative yipping noise...

Stitchery, a technique James Parker learned many years ago when he couldn't paint because of tendinitis, now is the essence of his art work. Twenty-four of Parker's creations will be presented in a one-man show opening Sunday at Gallery 100 in Cape Girardeau...

The Southeast Chamber Players will present a concert of wind chamber music at 3 p.m. Sunday at Old St. Vincent Church. The concert will include two marches by Beethoven, "Suite Francaise" by Francis Poulenc, a serenade by Dvorak, Stravinsky's "Octet" and an arrangement of the overture from "The Barber of Seville."...

ST. LOUIS James Sifferman, a professor of music at Southeast Missouri State University, will perform Monday in a special program at the St. Louis Art Museum. Sifferman will play German piano selections during a program called "A Musical Celebration of German Art." The program will be presented from 9:30 a.m. to noon and is free with a reservation...

Between Charles Dickens and merry olde Ste. Genevieve, the Christmas spirit is ranging far and wide this weekend. Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" will be presented at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Show Me Center. The full-scale musical production is being staged by the American Family Theater...

Do Missourians have any idea how much was spent in this year's primary and general election campaigns to win their votes? Does anyone realize that more than $4 for every man, woman and child in the state was spent on campaigns for only five statewide offices in the August and November elections? Do citizens feel uncomfortable knowing that more than $19 million was spent in two campaigns to win offices with salaries that range from $37,000 to $87,000 annually?...

America has been fighting the "war on poverty" since 1966, when President Lyndon Johnson declared the conflict. Wars are ultimately defined by who wins and who loses. And what is the outcome of this battle? It is ongoing, but research shows that big government is trailing in its attempt to solve the problems of the poor...

The University Players will present "The Spirit of Christmas," a collection of Christmas plays and stories, tonight and Friday night in the Forrest H. Rose Theatre. This year proceeds from the annual benefit go to the Cape Girardeau Head Start program...

OAK RIDGE -- Silver S. Hall, 83, of Star Route, Oak Ridge died Wednesday, Dec. 2, 1992, at his home. He was born July 7, 1909, at Oak Ridge, the son of Moses and Vina Harrell Hall. He married Freida Bufford at Jackson, and she preceded him in death on May 8, 1989...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Marie Jackson, 51, of Cypress, formerly of Cairo, died Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1992, at Union County Hospital in Anna. Barkett Funeral Home at Cairo is in charge of arrangements.

SIKESTON -- Fredia P. Penrod, 76, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1992, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Oct. 16, 1916, at Bessville, daughter of Rona and Lillie Greer Parsons. She married Steve Penrod Feb. 14, 1957, at Doniphan...

Memorial service for Claude Lee Allmon, 31 N. Hanover, will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Cy Smith will officiate. There is no visitation. Allmon, 66, died Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1992, at Lucy Lee Hospital in Poplar Bluff...

ORAN -- Funeral mass for Joe A. Vogel of Oran will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Guardian Angel Catholic Church. The Rev. Normand Varone will officiate, with burial in the church cemetery. Friends may call at Amick-Burnett Funeral Home here after 4 p.m. today. The rosary will be recited at 7, and KC prayer service will be held at 7:30...

JACKSON -- Irma Edwards, 84, of Mission, Kan., died Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1992, at a nursing home in Mission. She was born Dec. 9, 1907, at Jackson, daughter of Henry C. and Mary Emelia Zeller Sievers. She and Ray Edwards were married in 1934. Edwards attended Southeast Missouri State University, and was an elementary teacher in area schools several years...

BELL CITY -- Yvonne Elizabeth Warren, 71, of Bell City died Wednesday, Dec. 2, 1992, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 18, 1921, near Bell City, the daughter of Floyd and Hazel Barks Wright. On Feb. 16, 1943, she married Clifford Warren at Mt. Vernon. He survives of the home...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Lee Atkinson, 93, of Mounds, died Dec. 2, 1992 at the Cape Nursing Center. He was superintendent of highways for Pulaski County, Ill., before his retirement. He was a member of the First Congregational Church in Mounds, a 50-year-member of Grand Chain Masonic Lodge No. 660, and a 50-year-member of the Order of Eastern Star in Mound City...

JACKSON -- Eugene V. Himmelsbach, 67, of Jackson, died Tuesday, Dec. 2, 1992, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born April 9, 1925, in Fornfelt, son of Chris J. and Gertrude M. Porter Himmelsbach. He and Thelma M. Smith were married Feb. 3, 1946...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. John Tucker of Marble Hill, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 4:56 a.m. Friday, Nov. 27, 1992. Name, Chelsea Anne. Weight, 5 pounds 9 ounces. Third daughter. Mrs. Tucker is the former Brenda Stevens, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Odell Stevens, Marble Hill Route 2. She is employed in the composition department at the Southeast Missourian Newspaper. Tucker is a paramedic with Bollinger County Ambulance Service, and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Tucker, Marble Hill Route 2...

ANNA, Ill. -- Bunny Bread Bakeries is closing its flagship operation. The bakery, which was founded in a log cabin at Anna in 1925 and is now headquartered in Evansville, Ind., announced Wednesday that it would close its Anna baking operations in January...

Cape Girardeau businessman James Drury was the major contributor to the Elect A Neighbor Committee, which supported a general-election ballot proposal that Cape Girardeau City Council members be elected by zones instead of at-large. A campaign report filed Monday with the Cape Girardeau county clerk's office at Jackson for the period 30 days after the election showed that Drury contributed $2,100 to the committee on Oct. ...

At age 7, Jason has a thirst for knowledge well beyond his years. Jason and his mother live alone in a small apartment. She works, but her modest income doesn't leave a lot of money for extras. But they are happy; Jason and his mother love to play games and read books together...

A Cape Girardeau Central High School junior will witness the inauguration of President-elect Bill Clinton on Jan. 20 as an added bonus to a Washington Workshops seminar. "I'm pretty excited about it," said William Lon Ogborn. "It's going to be the fourth or fifth time I've been to Washington, D.C., but I've never seen a president inaugurated."...

Just because children start school doesn't mean a parent's role as teacher ends, said Carla Aufdenberg, parent educator and facilitator of the Cape Girardeau public school's new Practical Parenting Partnerships program. Aufdenberg, formerly a parent educator with the district's Parents as Teachers program, said the new program is an offshoot of Parents as Teachers, which serves parents of children ages birth through 3. ...

State Sen.-elect Peter Kinder of the 27th District is among a group of about 40 incoming state legislators participating this week in an orientation session and tour of state agencies and facilities in Jefferson City. Kinder, who will take office Jan. 6, said Wednesday he has learned much from his first two days on the tour and is getting considerable insight into state government...

Mrs. D is determined to remain independent no matter what it takes. She's a bit of a maverick, standing up to the tough kids who live in her neighborhood and taking care of herself. But as Mrs. D gets older, her health is deteriorating. She has diabetes and cataracts...

JACKSON -- A Christmas tradition that dates back four decades or more continues this weekend, when the annual Jackson Jaycee Christmas Parade winds through the uptown business district. The parade will form at 12:30 Saturday afternoon at the intersection of South High and Madison streets...

JACKSON - The Cape Girardeau County Commission Monday received about two dozen health insurance proposals from 10 different agencies, but it will take a while to sort through the stacks of paperwork to determine whether premiums will go up or down. The bids were accepted by the commission and referred to a special committee of County Clerk Rodney Miller, Deputy County Clerk Judy Beussink, and County Auditor H. Weldon Macke...

If you drape your house or yard with Christmas lights, plant reindeer and sleighs in your now-defunct flower bed, and wrap your mailbox in ribbons and bells, then you may want to consider entering your house in a city-wide decoration contest. The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Beautification Committee is seeking entries in the second annual Holiday of Lights competition...