Stories from Tuesday, November 9, 1993

U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, one of 11 congressmen who made a fact-finding trip to Mexico over the weekend, plans to announce Friday if he will support or oppose the North American Free Trade Agreement. Emerson said Monday from Washington, D.C., that he's still assessing the issue but plans to reach a decision by Friday. Emerson will reveal his stand on the controversial issue at a press conference in Cape Girardeau...

School is how you break the cycle of poverty, Charles I. Rankin, director of the Midwest Desegregation Assistance Center in Manhattan, Kan., told a Cape Girardeau Board of Education meeting Monday. Also at the meeting, the board accepted the retirement of Central High School Principal Dan Milligan. Milligan, who has led the high school for six years, will leave his post at the end of the school year...

MARBLE HILL -- Mayor Adrian Shell was visibly irritated after Monday's brief, non-productive board of aldermen meeting. Once again the council refused to approve Shell's nominee to fill the vacancy left by the death in February of alderman F.X. Peters...

WARDELL -- Four people were injured and a child was killed when two vehicles collided at the junction of Pemiscot County Roads 249 and 244 Sunday afternoon. Elizabeth Manley, 8, of Wardell, was pronounced dead at the scene after the southbound car driven by her mother, Lecia Manley, 26, broadsided a pickup truck headed east, driven by Lonnie Goodwin, 55, of Portageville...

SCOTT CITY -- The gaming company which wants a casino at the Southeast Missouri Port Authority has asked commissioners to consider the feasibility of having Scott City annex the port. The suggestion of annexation was made by Casino Magic, said the port's executive director, Dan Overbey. "They brought it up."...

There was a time in the not so distant past when people wouldn't admit to cutting firewood to help defray the winter's fuel bill. It's different now -- it's fashionable, everybody is doing it, and a lot of men have their own chain saws. More and more Americans are utilizing their fireplaces and wood stoves, creating a big demand for firewood...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Biffle D. Dodd, 76, Mounds Route 1, died Sunday, Nov. 7, 1993, at his home. He was born at Parsons, Tenn., March 24, 1917, son of Fred and Edna Riggs Dodd. He was a retired farmer, and Navy veteran of World War II. Survivors include his wife, Emily Reynolds Dodds; a son Harold Dodd of Cedar Grove, Tenn.; two daughters, Kathy Lee of Mounds, Lily Fetzer of Lexington, N.C.; a brother, Fred Dodd of San Antonio, Texas; three grandchildren, and a great-grandson...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Gene Parrow, 509 S. Henderson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 10:39 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 31, 1993. Name, Abraham. Weight, 7 pounds 10 ounces. Seventh son. Mrs. Parrow is the former Jacqeuline Brand, daughter of Geraldine Foster and Williams Sispoa of St. Louis. Parrow is the son of Melvenia Parrow of Cape Girardeau and Percy Parrow of Biloxi, Miss...

Jessie Amelia Thilenius, 90, of Brookings, S.D., a former elementary teacher and composer of numerous songs, died Saturday, Nov. 6, 1993, at Brookview Manor in Brookings. She was born Nov. 2, 1903, at Clarkton, daughter of Walter M. and Margaret L. Young Hubbard. She and Arthur W. Thilenius were married March 10, 1925, at Chaffee...

JACKSON -- Craig Zachary Gibson, 18, of Sacramento, Calif., died Sunday, Oct. 24, 1993, while playing football. He was born Dec. 24, 1974, in Sacramento, son of Jeffrey and Diana Drum Gibson. He was a graduate of Cordova High School, and a student at Sacramento City College...

BLOOMFIELD -- The Rev. Ruth Grace Christian, 86, of Flint, Mich., died Saturday, Nov. 6, 1993, in Flint. She was born March 22, 1907, at Bloomfield, daughter of Ferdnan and Rosetta Chasteen Poe. She and Cecil Christian were married Jan. 12, 1924. He died in 1975...

BLOOMFIELD -- Beulah Aletha Lee, 83, of Bloomfield, died Monday, Nov. 8, 1993, at Dexter Nursing Center. She was born July 23, 1910, at Bell City, daughter of Jessie and Ellen Joyce Lee. She married Leslie Lee in 1928, who died in 1970. Survivors include a son, Leslie Lee Jr. of Peoria, Ill.; four daughters, Betty Evans of Bloomfield, Lois Lee of Iowa City, Iowa, Ruth Anderson of Peoria, Monica Gilmer of Sikeston; 11 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren...

JACKSON -- Burdetta E. Sievers, 80, of Jackson, died Monday, Nov. 8, 1993, at the Lutheran Home. She was born May 14, 1913, at Allenville, daughter of Willis and Kadie Kistner Welker. She and Gilbert Sievers were married Aug. 8, 1931, in Jonesboro, Ark. He died Feb. 21, 1985...

SIKESTON -- Graveside service for Kylie Autumn Young will be held at 1:30 p.m. today at Dogwood Cemetery. Ponder Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. The infant died Saturday, Nov. 6, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center, where she was born earlier that day...

Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Robert L. Ridgeway recently joined 20 other fire chiefs and fire administrators at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md., for a seminar on fire service information management. "It was a wonderful education experience," Ridgeway said after returning from the two-week seminar. "It's the best deal in the country for the price."...

Steven R. Carroll has formally announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated in by John Danforth. Carroll, a Missouri state representative (D-Hannibal), announced his decision to seek the Senate post Friday at the University of Missouri Law School, where he graduated in 1989...

"Accumulative Trauma" will be the topic of Thursday's Ask Your Doctor show on Cable Channel 5. Dr. Rickey L. Lents is the speaker with guest Donna Goodson. The program will air at 8 p.m. This program first ran in May. Ask Your Doctor is sponsored jointly by St. Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital, in conjunction with the Cape Girardeau County Medical Society and Channel 5...

The Salvation Army is gearing up for its annual Thanksgiving dinner, but with the strain put on the organization by the flood and with the construction of its new building, it is having some difficulty gathering supplies and volunteers. Capt. Elmer Trapp said the annual dinner is in fact a community event where volunteers prepare and serve dinners, as well as deliver them to those who are unable to get out...

Malaysian food, traditional dances and a silent auction of items from Malaysia will be featured at a "Pasar Malam" or Night Market. The market will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at the University Center. It's sponsored by the Malaysian Students Association and the Malaysian Scholarship Committee at Southeast Missouri State University...

Let us put things in perspective. Circuit Judge A.J. Seier does not play golf. He works a 70-hour week. He has taken few vacations in the last 15 years. He has also moved his docket swifter than any other judge in Missouri and has one of the best judicial records in the state. Perhaps he was best known until now for being a tough and blunt-spoken adjudicator, who did not hesitate to cross prosecutors and defenders in his courtroom...

To the Editor: We would like to thank everyone who participated in last Tuesday's election, regardless of which way they cast their ballot. The high voter turnout indicates we are fortunate to live in a community that cares, a community that takes itself seriously. The result is the product of deliberate action by a concerned community. We are all fortunate to live in a country, state and city that provides for such free debate and orderly methods for reaching decisions...

The Rev. Cecil Barham sees a growing concern among parents that public schools have become increasingly hostile to Christian morality. Barham, who's pastor of Bethel Assembly of God Church at 1855 Perryville Road, said that's one reason why enrollment at the Cape Christian School increased 50 percent this year...

Becky Hicks had the unenviable job of breaking the news to one of her students that the eight crickets she brought to school were not the classroom pet praying mantis' babies; the crickets were its dinner. Observing the praying mantis has given her second grade students at May Greene Elementary School an insight into nature and learning, said Hicks...

Southeast Missouri State University students Susan Ho and Christy Rothemeyer have received the Margaret Woods Allen Piano Scholarship. They received the scholarships during a presentation Oct. 19 in the Brandt Hall of Music. Ho of Kualelumpur, Malaysia, is pursuing a major in piano performance to complement the bachelor's degree in mass communications she holds from Southeast...

JACKSON -- Jamie Kimbel of Jackson recently completed his Lyndon Baines Johnson Internship with U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson. Kimbel worked as a staff assistant in Emerson's Washington, D.C., office since January. Only one college student per year from southern Missouri is selected by the 8th District congressman to serve as an LBJ Intern...

New officers have been named to the VICA Club at the Cape Girardeau Vocational School. VICA (Vocational Industrial Clubs of America) officers for morning classes are Jamie Cochran, president; Susan Seabaugh, vice president; Janel Gulley, secretary; Kristin Owens, reporter; Ellen Job, historian; Amee Bertrand, parliamentarian; and Pauline Ruhl-Cain, treasurer...

Jim Welker has been nominated to receive the National FFA organization's Honorary American FFA Degree. Welker was nominated for the degree by the Missouri FFA Association and the nomination was approved by the National FFA Board of Directors at their recent meeting. ...

Scott Ringwald of Cape Girardeau was recently awarded the 1993 Cape County University of Missouri Extension Council college scholarship. The annual scholarship is given to a student who has completed at least 60 hours toward a four-year degree. For information concerning 1994 applications, call the University of Missouri Extension Center at 243-3581...

In many ways public education in Cape Girardeau is like the law of physics: for every action there is an opposite, equal or greater, reaction. The reaction is often controversial without schools becoming a battleground where individuals let all their values and allegiances hang out. ...