Stories from Friday, May 6, 1994

SIKESTON -- Eugene V. Kindred, 85, of Sikeston, died Wednesday, May 4, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Aug. 27, 1908, in McMullin, son of William Jerome and Minnie P. Poole Kindred. He and Gladys Marie Alcorn were married July 4, 1931. She died Aug. 6, 1993...

With only seven votes to spare in the House, the General Assembly approved a pension-increase bill that may return to haunt lawmakers when they face voters later this year. Attached as an amendment to a broad retirement measure for thousands of state employees, the legislative pension hike not only increases payments but greatly reduces the number of years members must serve before qualifying for top rates...

The flow of the Mississippi River is swift and sure. The flow of progress in designing a bridge to cross that river is slow and often encumbered. For years, this community has recognized the need for construction of a new bridge to replace one that has served the region well but stands dated and deteriorating. ...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri hunters have shattered their turkey harvest record, taking 1,967 more gobblers than ever before in a spring hunting season and leaving turkey management experts to ponder a wildlife management paradox. The 14-day season, which ended at noon May 1, offered hunters almost ideal spring turkey hunting conditions. ...

KENNETT -- Richard Cooksey is accustomed to dealing with wet, belligerent animals on his own. As a commercial angler, he makes his living taking finned and scaled fare from the St. Francis River. But what he found in one of his hoop nets recently made him stop and go for help...

Photographers from all over the United States will exhibit their work in Gallery 100's Photo '94 National Juried Exhibition, which opens today. The photo competition, sponsored by Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts, will be exhibited in the Gallery 100's new facilities at 1707 Mount Auburn Road. A reception is planned tonight from 5-7 p.m. The display will be open through May 27 from 1-4 p.m. weekdays...

Union Electric Co. will reduce its natural gas rates of customers in three counties by approximately 4.4 percent to reflect a change in natural gas costs, the Missouri Public Service Commission announced. Under present rates, a typical residential customer using approximately 53 cubic feet of gas during May would have paid $33.01 for the gas. That customer instead will pay $31.57 this month...

While reading a recent "Opinions" column written by Dan Quayle (USA Today, April 14, 1994), I began to reflect on its general thesis that large sections of America are becoming moral wastelands as a direct result of unwed teenage mothers, a problem Quayle refers to as the "illegitimacy trend," a trend which like a vicious cycle results in poverty, a bloated welfare system, absentee fathers, crime, more illegitimacy, and on and on...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral service for George A. Harrison of Charleston will be held at 1 p.m. today at McMikle Funeral Chapel. The Rev. J.L. Laughlin will officiate, with burial in IOOF Cemetery. Harrison, 82, died Thursday, May 5, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston...

ORAN -- Funeral service for William Calvin Comer of Oran will be held at 2 p.m. today at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Oran. The Rev. Jack Bishop will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park at Cape Girardeau. Comer, 70, died Wednesday, May 4, 1994, in a vehicle-train accident at Oran...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Ronald Eugene Dallas, 47, of Jonesboro, died Thursday, May 5, 1994, at his home. He was born Jan. 29, 1947, in Anna, son of Carl and Lucille Cox Dallas. He and Joan Koelling were married Oct. 9, 1971, in Anna. Dallas received a master's degree in 1984 from Southern Illinois University, and was certified in higher education administration in 1990...

SIKESTON -- Minnie B. Fletcher, 56, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, May 3, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. She was born Aug. 14, 1937, in Dyersburg, Tenn., daughter of Fred and Elizabeth Peet Barnhill. She married Joseph Lee Fletcher Sr., who preceded her in death...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. William Potts of St. Louis, St. John's Mercy Medical Center, Monday, April 4, 1994. Name, Nicholas William. Weight, 9 pounds 5 ounces. First child. Mrs. Potts is the former Kim Call, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Call of Jackson. She is sales vice president of Reinsurance Group of America. Potts is product manager with Ralston Purina, and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Potts of Houston, Texas...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri voters will get to decide on issuing $250 million in bonds to pay for prisons and higher education projects. The Senate voted 22-9 on Thursday to send the House-approved package to voters. The bond package would finance, among other projects, a $12.3 million business administration and classroom building at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau...

Linda Godwin finds it easy to be light on her feet, particularly when she's orbiting the Earth in a space shuttle. "While floating up there is certainly different, it never feels strange," Godwin said in a telephone interview Thursday from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, two weeks after returning from her second voyage in space...

For different reasons, neither U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, nor Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard "Butch" Boyd believe a ban on assault weapons will put a significant dent in crime. "As one who believes strongly in protecting our constitutional rights, I am deeply troubled about the outcome of this vote," said Emerson Thursday. ...

SCOTT CITY -- Few people attended Thursday's public hearing on the Nash Road extension, slated to be completed by the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department in late 1996 or early 1997. But it's construction will affect many. Dan Overbey, executive director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority said the impact the projected $11 million project could have on Scott City and Cape Girardeau -- not to mention the port itself -- is boundless...

There are plenty of reasons to be repulsed by John Wayne Gacy, the least of which is the irony represented by his name. It stands as wry coincidence now that his parents supplied him the names of America's foremost cinematic hero, a man's man, one who was often on a short side of the odds and still prevailed...

"1994 -- New Outlook -- New Focus" is the theme and 65 new members is the goal of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's annual one-day membership blitz, which will be conducted next week. "Sixty-five new members will put us around the 1,150 mark again," said John Mehner, president and chief executive officer of the chamber. "Our present membership is about 1,085."...

Don Harrison, president of Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents, was honored this week for an endowment he provided to the College of Business. Harrison's donation and the subsequent naming of the College in his honor -- now the Donald L. Harrison College of Business -- was announced last fall at the President's Council dinner. Harrison's generosity was formally recognized Wednesday in the Show Me Center...

To a novice standing outside a burning building, it often looks like firefighters are not doing a whole lot to put it out. They walk around the outside of the building, generally doing a lot of pointing and talking to each other, while dragging hoses and ladders around. Some of the braver souls dart in and out of the building as their air supplies dictate...

Recognition of more than four decades of individual service to Southeast Missouri Hospital, a progress report of the past year at Southeast, an update on health care reform in Missouri and a salute to the 10th anniversary of the Regional Heart Center highlighted the annual dinner meeting April 28 of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Association...

Al Spradling III raised and spent more than three times as much money as Melvin Gateley in his successful campaign to be elected mayor of Cape Girardeau last month, according to campaign finance disclosure reports on filed with the county clerk's office...

Sixteen 16x20 reproduced turn-of-the-century photographs of the Cape Girardeau riverfront business district are featured this month in downtown window displays. May is National Historic Preservation Month. The photos were made available by the Southeast Missouri State University Center for Regional History. ...