Stories from Wednesday, August 11, 1993

Historically low interest rates combined with creative financing spell big savings for citizens of Cape Girardeau. Two separate refinancing efforts in recent months will generate more than $1.6 million in cash savings to the city of Cape Girardeau over the next dozen years...

Visiting the small Missouri towns and urban neighborhoods where flood waters threatened homes, businesses and thousands of acres of farmland, I felt like Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" as he joined the embattled students behind their barricades...

The original minutes of the proceedings of the Old Bethel Church one of the first permanent non-Catholic churches established west of the Mississippi River have been loaned to Southeast Missouri State University. The documents have been loaned by Terry Begley, whose family has held the records for more than a century...

JACKSON -- Leaders of the October Good Old Days celebration are encouraging organizations and individuals to stage a period-type contest or demonstrate an old-fashioned skill during the day-long reenactment on Oct. 2. The Jackson Merchants Association is spearheading the day. Activities will include dramatic gunfights in the streets near the Courthouse Square, live entertainment, Indian teepees, period games and authentic craft demonstrations...

Volunteers who plan to hawk newspapers on street corners in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City next month need to reserve their spots for the third annual YELL campaign. On Sept. 14, hundreds of people will be working to raise money for Youth, Education, Literacy and Learning YELL...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will allow local governments to include volunteer labor and equipment as part of their share of flood-relief costs. FEMA officials Tuesday briefed city and county officials from Cape Girardeau and Perry counties on the public assistance program that will provide federal money for emergency work and the repair or replacement of public facilities damaged by the flood...

Since its formation in May, the Cape Girardeau City-County Narcotics Enforcement Unit has nabbed 23 suspected drug dealers in the area, as well as having found answers to unsolved crimes related to the drug market. On Friday the unit orchestrated the arrest of two males who were carrying "a considerable amount" of crack cocaine and a gun in their vehicle, authorities said...

Surviving on North Water Street these days is a 24-hour job. Pumps run day and night, keeping the Mississippi floodwater away from Woody and Virgie Sadler's house. And next door at Brian and Amanda Hartis' house. And Kenny and Bea Poole's house four doors down. Over on the east side of the street, everyone already has given their houses to the river...

The Cape Girardeau Area Safe Kids Coalition advises parents to be protective of young children as the floodwaters recede and cleanup begins. "They're meant to be helpful, but harmless-looking buckets of water and cleaning solutions as well as gas-powered fans drying out the basement could kill or seriously injure your child," said Cathy Magas, coordinator of the Cape Girardeau Area Safe Kids Coalition...

The nation's colleges are coping with a crush of students applying for financial aid under a new federal loan program. "We have more loans to process because of the unsubsidized loan program," said Karen Walker, interim director of financial aid services at Southeast Missouri State University...

Three women climbed from an overturned vehicle unhurt Monday after the car in which they were riding ran off County Road 638 into a drainage ditch alongside the roadway. "I turned around to see what my granddaughter was doing with the video camera in the back seat and just lost control of the car," said the driver, Delia Reynolds, 56, of Cape Girardeau...

SIKESTON -- Country western singer Pam Tillis will perform Wednesday at the Sikeston Jaycee Rodeo. Tillis replaces Tracy Lawrence, who is hospitalized with an illness. The daughter of Mel Tillis, Pam Tillis has had a string of hits the last several years including "Maybe It Was Memphis" and "Queen of Denial."...

ADVANCE -- Funeral service for Jon Stephen Deckard of Kirksville will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Morgan Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Keith Price will officiate, with burial in Berrong Cemetery near Gipsy. Friends may call at the funeral home from 6-9 p.m. today...

MORLEY -- John Leroy Hayes, 92, of Morley, died Monday, Aug. 9, 1993, at his home. He was born Jan. 21, 1901, at Lena, Ill., son of William and Alice Hayes. He and Alice Albright were married June 20, 1936, at Lena. Hayes was a mechanical engineer, and member of the Church of the Brethren in Rockford, Ill...

LEOPOLD -- Charles J. Holzum, 63, of Leopold, died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 16, 1929, in St. Louis, son of Fred M. and Rose J. Vandeven Holzum. Survivors include his mother of Leopold, and a sister, Mary Florish of St. Louis...

The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band will perform at 8 tonight at the Capaha Park band shell. Guest performers are the Cape German Band. Special guest conductor is Mary Miller, new director of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau. The band will perform a Festival of American Spirituals, which includes "Little David, Play on Your Harp," "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel," "Were You There?" "Joshua," "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," and Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit.". ...

The visit to Cape Girardeau of Billy Sunday, known as "the baseball evangelist," will be the subject of the next Bicentennial Lecture. The lecture by John P. Coleman, a faculty member in the department of history at Southeast Missouri State University, will be presented at 7:30 tonight in Crisp Hall Auditorium at the university...

Son to E4 and Mrs. Michael S. Brunke of Virginia Beach, Va., DePaul Hospital in Norfolk, Va., 11:25 p.m. Wednesday, July 21, 1993. Name, Collin Wayne Hunter. Weight, 9 pounds 3 ounces. First child. Mrs. Brunke is the former Sondra Blankenship, daughter of Roy and Pat Blankenship of Scott City. Brunke is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. He is the son of Jim and Jean Ann Pierce of Jackson, and Tom and Paula Brunke of Scott City...

URBANDALE, Ill. -- Goldie M. Burke, 82, of Urbandale, died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was born April 28, 1911, in Unicoia County, Tenn. She married Clarence Burke, who died in 1978. Graveside service will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Spencer Heights Cemetery in Mounds. The Rev. Raymond Whitaker Jr. will officiate, with Barkett Funeral Home of Cairo in charge of arrangements...

Gary J. Voelker, 55, 1405 Mississippi, died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1993, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Gretna Mae Kestner of East Prairie will be held at 3 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel. Burl Britt and Mike Johnson will officiate, with burial in Dogwood Cemetery. Kestner, 69, died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1993, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...