Stories from Sunday, July 18, 1993

CAIRO, Ill. - Homer Dean, 78 of Paducah and formerly of Cairo, died Saturday July 17, 1993 at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah. He was a retired employee of the Cairo Post Office. Dean was a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Cairo, the Cairo VFW Post 2649, and a veteran of World War II...

Missouri floods have provided numerous terrifying moments for residents, but few more so than when Gov. Mel Carnahan was vacationing in Italy and suddenly realized the political consequences of his being out of the state. --- The state's tourist industry has really blossomed since the floods, with the biggest influx coming from Washington carrying cameras and promises of cash when they get back home...

Our solons on Capitol Hill launched their long-awaited House-Senate conference committee on President Clinton's $500 billion "deficit reduction" tax plan this week. Hold onto your wallet. They have designs on it. Reports from Washington indicate that savvy Democratic pols, both Senate and House, know several things:...

MARBLE HILL - A 2-year-old rural Bollinger County boy was fatally injured Friday night when he fell out of the family car and was run over. Bollinger County Coroner Gene Ward identified the victim as Travis J. Crites, son of John and Heather Crites of Marble Hill Route 2...

A group of parents, alumni and businesspersons led by Kermit Meystedt hopes to raise $75,000 to pay for a wooden gymnasium floor to be installed at Cape Girardeau Central High School's new gym. Meystedt said he signed a line of credit with a local bank, making the project possible this year. The fund-raising effort is already under way...

The flood of 1993 will be remembered in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois as one of the largest natural disasters to hit the region in years. Hundreds of homes and thousands of acres of farmland in our immediate area have been touched by this moving sea. ...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Darren Hoffman of Phoenix, Ariz., Wednesday, June 16, 1993. Name, Deanna Esther. Weight, 5 pounds 1 ounce. Second daughter. Mrs. Hoffman is from Panama City, Panama. Hoffman is employed at an aircraft company, and is the son of Jerome and Jacqueline Hoffman of Cape Girardeau...

ALTENBURG -- Lillian E. Wachter, 74, Altenburg Star Route, died Friday, July 16, 1993, at Deal Nursing Home in Jackson. She was born March 2, 1919, at Commerce, daughter of Benjamin and Hattie Meyr Haertling. She and Otto "Chip" Wachter were married Feb. 8, 1941, in St. Louis. He died Dec. 2, 1967...

SIKESTON - Mamie Bettis, 83, of Sikeston, died Friday July 16, 1993 at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born May 7, 1910 in Malden, the daughter of William Riley and Rosa Thomas Dockins. She was of the General Baptist faith. In 1960, she was preceded in death by her husband, Samuel Bettis...

Hardee Adam Jobe, 86, of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, July 15, 1993, at Cape Girardeau Nursing Center. He was born Oct. 3, 1906, in St. Louis, son of Alfred M. and Kate Schaffer Jobe. He and Florence Herbst were married Aug. 2, 1927, in St. Louis. She died in June...

Funeral service for Kenneth L. Bing of Laguna Hills, Calif., was held Saturday at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home in Raleigh, N.C. Bing, 91, died Friday, July 9, 1993, in Laguna Hills. Bing was chairman of industrial arts department at Southeast Missouri State University from 1940-49. He was professor and chairman of the industrial and technical education department at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., from 1949-68. He was currently professor emeritus at ECU...

Funeral service for Mirly B. Hahs, Cape Girardeau Route 2, will be held at 2 p.m. today at New Salem United Methodist Church at Daisy. The Revs. Fred Rister and Ron Watts will officiate, with burial in the church cemetery. McCombs Funeral Home of Jackson is in charge of arrangements...

Mary Palmer, 56, of 716 Locust, died Saturday July 17, 1993 at St. Francis Medical Center. Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. The funeral is tentatively set for 4 p.m. Wednesday at Lorberg Chapel.

MARBLE HILL - Travis J. Crites, age 2, of Marble Hill, died Friday, July 16, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, as a result of an accident that occurred near his home. He was born July 6, 1991, in Perryvile, to John R. and Heather Wolk Crites...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral service for Virgie Mae Abney of Charleston Manor was held Saturday at McMikle Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Kenneth Gibson officiated, with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery. Abney, 80, died Thursday, July 15, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center...

PAINTON - Wayne D. French, 79, of Hot Springs Village, Ark., formerly of Painton, died Friday, July 16, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 13, 1913, in Competition, to A.L. and Margaret Cook French. On Aug. 10, 1940, he married Libby Painton in Painton. She survives...

Funeral service for Catherine Anne Hancock of St. Charles was held Saturday at Zion Lutheran Church in Harvester. Burial was in the church cemetery. Baue Funeral Home in St. Charles was in charge of arrangements. The child, 16 months old, died Sunday, July 11, 1993, at Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Crystal City, from injuries received in a car accident...

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Eighth District Congressman Bill Emerson toured parts of his flood-ravaged district with officials of the Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi River Commission on Saturday. With Emerson was Colonel Theodore Fox, III, district engineer with the Corps' Memphis District, and R.D. James, a member of the Mississippi River Commission from New Madrid. The tour began at New Madrid and included stops at Commerce, Dutchtown and Cape Girardeau...

Gov. Mel Carnahan's veto of a bill that would preserve right-of-way corridors for proposed transportation projects and prohibit billboards on some "scenic byways" could wind up costing the state millions of dollars, Cape Girardeau attorney John Oliver contends...

Demolition of buildings along the planned Mississippi River bridge route in Cape Girardeau began Friday with the razing of a vacated house at 714 College. Werner Brothers of Herculaneum is the contractor for demolition of 54 buildings, mostly houses, at a cost of $211,573...

From Olive Branch, Ill., to Dutchtown, Mo., the flood battle was waged on both sides of the swollen Mississippi River Saturday. The river is slated to crest at 47.2 feet Wednesday at Cape Girardeau, a record level. At 7:22 p.m. Saturday, the river stood at 45.46 feet on the Cape gauge, nearly 13 feet above flood stage...

ELDORADO, Ill. -- State Rep. David Phelps voted for the 14-cent-a-pack cigarette tax increase that will replace the "granny" tax measure in Illinois. Sen. Jim Rea voted nay. The cigarette tax was a key step as the Illinois General Assembly narrowly voted last week to support health care for the poor...

JACKSON -- The Jackson Jaycees are holding a canned food drive to benefit flood victims and those helping with flood-relief efforts. The food drive began Saturday, with four drop-off sites: Schapers IGA, Town and Country Supermarket, and Save-A-Lot in Jackson, and J&S U Pump in Millersville...

The Southeast Missouri State University Alumni Association has selected five alumni and a Southeast professor to receive the university's annual alumni and faculty merit awards. The six will be honored homecoming weekend during a merit award dinner at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 in the Show Me Center...

State Treasurer Bob Holden, citing record flood conditions across Missouri, has announced he will lift a restriction on agriculture linked-deposit loans that prevent farmers from renewing the deposit arrangements beyond five years. Effective immediately, farmers will be offered a one-year renewal on their loans...

Jess Bolen has been involved with Capahas baseball for more than one-third of the team's existence. And he shows no signs of letting up soon. Bolen, a lifelong Cape Girardeau resident, started playing for the Capahas in 1959 at the age of 17. Now, at 51, he's in the middle of his 27th season as the squad's manager. That's the longest managerial run in the 100-year history of the tradition-rich team...

Sometimes I get a longing to live in a playhouse, the kind one constructed under a shade tree with planks or poles laid down for walls and furnished with old wooden boxes, wagon hubs or some strategically piled lengths of stove wood. It's a summertime longing, of course. No sweeping, mopping or dusting. No windows to do, including curtains. No beds to make other than fluffing up dried leaves or stirring pine needles. No personal property taxes, trash pickup, utility bills...

Last summer, the St. Louis Cardinals pulled out all the stops as they threw a gala party at Busch Stadium to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the club. Without nearly as much fanfare, a Missouri baseball team with a storied tradition in its own right the Cape Girardeau Capahas is celebrating its 100-year anniversary this summer...