Stories from Monday, November 15, 1993

A recreational trailer is blown over in Chaffee on Dorothy and Lary Glaus' farm during a tornado Sunday morning. The Glaus' also had damage to their barns, chicken house and power lines. A barn adjacent to Blomeyer Junction convience store in Delta is destroyed by a small tornado which hit the area Sunday morning...

Only about a third of Southeast Missouri State University's beginning, full-time freshmen graduate within six years, records show. Thirty-five percent of beginning, full-time freshmen who entered Southeast in 1985-86 graduated within six years, Southeast officials say...

The Cape Girardeau City Council tonight will consider a plan for soliciting proposals and selecting an excursion gambling boat operator for the city. Voters this month approved riverboat gambling in the city by a vote of 6,471 to 6,046, which requires that the city must submit to the Missouri Gaming Commission a plan for how it will proceed to select a boat operator...

Cape Girardeau attorney John L. Oliver, Jr. could be in line to become chairman of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission when the group re-organizes within the next few months. Oliver, who was appointed to the commission by Gov. John Ashcroft, has two years remaining on his six-year term. He presently is serving as vice chairman of the commission...

Jeni Kafka had been thinking about switching her college major from vocal performance to something with a more practical sound. That was before she won a prestigious award Saturday in St. Louis in a contest sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera. At 18, she is the youngest singer ever to enter the St. Louis District Awards competition much less the youngest ever to win a prize. Her $500 award was for the most promising contestant from Missouri or Southern Illinois...

Auditions for the Broadway Community Theatre's presentation of "Cheaper by the Dozen" will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Gallery 100. Anyone interested in working backstage or in learning more about the theater company also is invited to attend the auditions...

To the Editor: In the best interests of our community, we would like to affirm the sentiments of the Yes Group Directors as expressed in their letter to the editor in the Southeast Missourian, Nov. 9. Their comments were reconciliating and addressed to the Citizens Against Riverboat Gambling:...

Ten months ago, the Southeast Missourian, in a joint investigative project with KFVS-TV, began publishing a series of articles detailing the crack cocaine problem in Cape Girardeau. When we embarked on "Zero Tolerance," most people in Cape Girardeau remained numb to the far-reaching consequences induced by the availability of cocaine in our community...

To the Editor: I read, in amazement, the first page account of Mr. Roll's "personal pain and sacrifice" that led to street drugs, and eventually murder. My amazement was not because the story broke my heart. I was amazed that Mr. Roll and his attorney would have the gall to offer us this as an excuse for cold-blooded crimes...

JACKSON -- A storage facility was partially destroyed by a fire which started in front part of the building early Sunday morning. Jackson firefighters responded to the building at 1011 Highway 72 West in the city at 3:19 a.m. When they arrived, flames were shooting out of the roof of the front portion of the building...

JACKSON -- Gertrude W. Wachter, 80, of Jackson, died Saturday, Nov. 13, 1993, at the Deal Nursing Home in Jackson. She was born Aug. 9, 1913, at Altenburg, Mo., daughter of Ernest F. and Martha Fiehler Wachter. She worked as a house cleaner. Wachter was a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg and volunteers with the Trinity Ladies Aid...

Two people were killed early Sunday in their vehicles as they tried to cross rain-swollen creeks. At 10 a.m., Dallas Landers, 60, of Patterson, Mo., tried to cross a flooded creek on Stony Battery Road, about five miles north of Patterson. A spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol said Landers' car was swept downstream by the current. He was pronounced dead at the scene after his car came to rest on an embankment...

Augusta H.R. "Rose" Vasterling, 2825 Bloomfield Road, died Nov. 14, 1993, at the Lutheran Home. She was 95. She was born Sept. 5, 1898, in Tilsit, the daughter of Fritz C. and Emma Nagel Vasterling. She had worked at the Florsheim Shoe Factory. She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church...

CHAFFEE -- Ada Jean Wagoner might be "75 years young" as she tells people, but she won't allow her age to keep her from doing the things she wants to do. Every Friday, Wagoner drives to the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau to operate a canteen for the residents...

During my years on the Southeast Missourian business beat, I've had the opportunity to work with several outstanding individuals -- too many to name. It's always a bittersweet moment when one of these individuals bids farewell to his colleagues because of retirement or change in employment...

The statistics are sobering: -- A Cape Girardeau woman was injured when an armed robber broke into her home and struck her on the head with a hammer before fleeing with her purse. -- During one quarter in 1992, 159 burglaries were reported in Cape Girardeau, the highest total in any three-month period during the past decade...

JACKSON -- Warranty deeds issued at the office of Janet Robert, Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds: Capital Bank of Cape County to Christopher Jung; Arthur W. and Mildred L. Seboldt to the Arthur W. Seboldt Family Trust; J.W. and Lennie Denning to A & A of Cape Girardeau Inc...

Nathan Pernia, a graphic designer for the Southeast Missourian, has received a first-place award in the 1993 Missouri Advertising Managers Association's "Best Ad Contest." Pernia designed a full-page, color advertisement for the opening of Lorimont Place. The ad received a blue-ribbon in the Best Use of Full Color competition at the annual association meeting in Jefferson City...

Garfield's Restaurant and Pub in West Park Mall will celebrate its grand opening Tuesday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. with a special event designed to provide funds for the Area Wide United Way. Tickets for a special visit to Garfield's are available for $10 from members of the United Way Board of Directors, Garfield's, West Park Mall office, and the Mercantile Bank facility in the mall...