Stories from Sunday, December 26, 1993

Irene Catherine Hoffer, 83, of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, Dec. 24, 1993, at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 15, 1910, daughter of George and Anna Bank Hoffer. Hoffer was a member of St. Mary's Cathedral, National Council of Catholic Women, West Side Senior Citizens, and Friends of St. Francis...

Consider the following scenario. It's the Nixon White House, 1973. A suicide has rocked the place, the suicide of attorney John Doe, a deputy to White House counsel to the President John Dean. John Doe was a healthy, 47-year-old attorney known for handling complex legal matters, under pressure, with great skill and dispatch. ...

In this holiday season, it's fitting to recognize the generosity of Walter Annenberg. His latest gift of $500 million is directed at enhancing public education which he and many others deem to be in a crisis condition. Annenberg still has lots of money left from a remarkable fortune developed on the humble base of the Daily Racing Form. ...

POPLAR BLUFF - A Poplar Bluff woman has been named to fill a longstanding vacancy on the Coordinating Board for Higher Education from the 8th congressional district. Appointed to the position by Gov. Mel Carnahan was Mary K. Findley, 53, who returned to college several years ago as a non-traditional student. On Dec. 11, she graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a master's degree in secondary school administration...

The Federal Communications Commission has fined a Cape Girardeau-based communications company for unauthorized construction and operations. The FCC ordered Data Investments Inc. to pay the fine for the unauthorized operation of facilities of station KUC843 and station KWU516 in the Public Land Mobile Service at Bainbridge and Cape Girardeau...

Missouri's system of workers' compensation is broken. Five straight years of double-digit rate increases have signalled this troubling reality. Widespread recognition of this fact led the General Assembly to enact this year's Senate Bill 251, a stab at a comprehensive effort to get control of spiraling costs. ...

Son to Dr. and Mrs. Greg Tobin, 2320 Perryville Road, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 9:37 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, 1993. Name, Bryce Alan. Weight, 6 pounds 6 ounces. Third child, second son. Mrs. Tobin is the former Elizabeth Tope, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Tope of Gallipolis, Ohio. Tobin is a surgeon, and is the son of Harvey and Dorcas Tobin of Cape Girardeau...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for David R. Dement of Memphis, Tenn., will be held at 2 p.m. today at White-Sanders Funeral Chapel in Fisk. The Rev. Larry Ward will officiate, with burial in Brown Chapel Cemetery at Broseley. Friends may call at the funeral home at 1 p.m...

SCOTT CITY -- Joe D. Skinner, 85, of Scott City, died Friday, Dec. 24, 1993, at his home. He was born Dec. 29, 1907, in Trenton, Tenn., son of James and Leonard Morgan Skinner. He and Robbie Beatrice Smith were married Jan. 4, 1927, in Blytheville, Ark. She died May 29, 1992...

Graveside service for Cletus H. Pattberg of Granite City, Ill., will be held at 2:30 p.m. Monday at Lorimier Cemetery. The Rev. Robert Daniel will officiate. Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Irwin Chapel in Granite City, with the Rev. David Fielding officiating...

Thelma Hensley Bollinger, 87, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993, at the Chateau Girardeau Health Care Center. She was born May 9, 1906, at Cape Girardeau, the daughter of A.A. and Elizabeth Friedrich Beeson. In 1925, she married Joe W. Hensley, who preceded her in death July 25, 1945. She later married Harold J. Bollinger on Dec. 16, 1961, at St. Louis. He preceded her in death on March 25, 1986...

JACKSON -- Vivian E. Savers, 81, of Jackson, died Friday, Dec. 24, 1993, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 7, 1912, at Cape Girardeau, daughter of Purl B. and Emma Wilson Adams. She married John A. Savers, April 12, 1931. He died Dec. 2, 1982...

SIKESTON -- Jefferson "Jeff" Dodds, 47, of Sikeston, died Friday, Dec. 24, 1993, at his residence. He was born Aug. 10, 1946, at Sikeston, son of William and Isa Bell Copeland Dodds. Survivors include his mother of Sikeston; a daughter, Ida Davis of Sikeston; three sisters, Dellar Dodds and Ruby Ryan, both of Sikeston, Ida Lou Wimberley of Sikeston; and four grandchildren...

Forest W. Bierschwal, 53, of 560 Vincent Park Drive, died Friday, Dec. 24, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Sept. 19, 1940, in Cape Girardeau, to Cecil and Margie Webb Bierschwal. Bierschwal worked for the Cape Grocer's Association, and the Cape Girardeau Park Department...

Juanita N. Hosea, 89, of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday Dec. 23, 1993 at the Lutheran Home She was born May 13, 1904 at Perkins, the daughter of Robert and Susan Francis Wolff Willett. She married Walter S. Hosea on Sept. 2, 1921 at Benton. He died in 1986...

ANNA, Ill. -- Peggy Perry, 63, of Anna, died Saturday, Dec. 25, 1993, at the Union County Hospital in Anna. She was born May 27, 1930, at Dupo, Ill., the daughter of Floyd and Helen Williams Hale. Survivors include two sons, Greg Perry and Terry Hale, both of Anna; two daughters, Kim Pribble of Anna, Lisa Sowers of Vienna, Ill.; her companion, Claude Tucker of Anna; and six grandchildren...

The summer's record flood, riverboat gambling and a new system of city elections were just some of the issues that made 1993 an eventful year in Cape Girardeau. J. Ronald Fischer, who's approaching the end of his sixth year as Cape Girardeau's city manager, said the flood dominated the lives of many residents throughout the summer...

The parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter exemplified Christmas Day in Cape Girardeau -- closed for business and devoid of cars. While many people were at home enjoying Christmas with their families, a skeleton crew of hard-working people watched over and took care of those enjoying their holidays...

JACKSON -- For the past two years as president of the University of Missouri Board of Curators, attorney John Lichtenegger of Jackson has helped direct a major restructuring of the four-campus system. But while restructuring has gotten most of the publicity, Lichtenegger believes the board's biggest accomplishment has been the hiring of the University of Missouri system's top administrators...

Despite a law requiring rapid cable television hookup in newly annexed areas, residents of Cape Girardeau's Stonebridge subdivision still are without the service. Thomas R. Carnes lives at the subdivision, which is comprised of about 20 duplexes, with another 20 to be built...

William Ellis, professor of agriculture at Southeast Missouri State University, has been named to the board of directors of the National Swine Improvement Federation. A member of the organization for 15 years, Ellis was elected to the board in early December and will serve a three-year term...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Secretary of State George H. Ryan has renewed his push for a lower legal intoxication limit for motorists in Illinois. Under current law, drivers are presumed legally drunk if their blood alcohol content is .10 or above. Ryan wants that figure lowered to .08...

One of the first actions taken by the Cape Girardeau City Council in 1993 was to place the issue of riverboat gambling on a June 8 ballot. Now, 12 months and two votes later, the city is soliciting proposals from riverboat operators with hopes of recommending a gaming operation to the state March 7...

Seven Southeast Missouri State University students will serve legislative internships in Jefferson City next semester. For Southeast, it's the largest class of legislative interns since the school began participating in the program four years ago. The students will begin their internships Jan. 3...

JACKSON - About a third of the $18.5 million the Cape Girardeau County collector's office is charged with receiving in 1993 taxes has been taken in, which means the final days of the year will be busy for office staff. "We're around 30 to 35 percent of what we are charged with collecting," Collector Harold D. Kuehle said last week. "We still have a lot left to come in, but this is about normal for this time of the year. There doesn't appear to be any different kind of pattern this year."...

The leather strap with bona fide jingle bells attached has been removed from the knob of my platform rocker and replaced by a semi-rusty cowbell tied on with a perky red bow. Even though visitors might have seen the jingle bells hanging on the knob, it always startled them when they sat down in that chair. The merry, silvery jingling was usually accompanied by the exclamation, "Oh," in some decibel of surprise...