Stories from Sunday, July 3, 1994

Nellie Marie Jacobs, 80, of 439 S. Spring, died Friday, July 1, 1994 at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born in Hornbeak, Tenn., on Jan. 14, 1914, to Frank M. and Sarah Pecolia Lovett Morton. On Nov. 2, 1946, she married Paul L. Jacobs at Paducah, Ky. He preceded her in death on Oct. 10, 1977...

Dear Editor As Independence Day quickly approaches, Americans begin to remember the freedoms and ideals on which our country was founded ... at least most Americans. Unfortunately, today's society tends to see July 4th as a day of fireworks, Bar-B-Ques and good times. All these amenities are well and good, but I hardly believe that our forefathers were thinking of heavenly glitter, food or entertainment when they drafted the Declaration of Independence...

As White House Chief of Staff, Thomas "Mack" McLarty was doomed from the beginning. He was a courteous, nice, gentle person who took a bruising job in an ornery town. Courtesy and gentility in Washington get you a kick in the rear. There is no statutory definition of "Chief of Staff." It's a whole bunch of things including: deputy president, chief policy planner and implementer, head knocker, executioner of bumblers, dispute resolver, cabinet basher, turf partitioner, feeling smoother-overer. ...

A President or Governor can occasionally make or break a career on the basis of one preeminent initiative that becomes known as his or her legislative centerpiece. Ronald Reagan comes to mind. He staked pretty much everything on the across-the-board cuts in marginal income tax rates that he had promised in his 1980 campaign...

Monday marks the 218th birthday of our nation, and we're still trying to get it right. Such is the nature of the United States, a country grounded in freedoms but still polishing the fine points. America's Constitution provides the fundamental principles through which the people of this nation can live freely, but the process of refinement, of deciding the gray areas of the law and our liberty, continues. ...

Brilliant explosions of red, white and blue sparks traditionally light up the sky on the Fourth of July. Unfortunately, this Independence Day tradition results in thousands of injuries related to the misuse of fireworks. "Many people forget that fireworks are not toys -- they are explosive devices and should be handled with the greatest of care," said Linda Brown, emergency department nurse manager at St. Francis Medical Center...

Danny Niswonger, the Cape Girardeau police officer injured in an accident this spring, might be out of the hospital, but that doesn't mean his troubles are gone. To help him offset medical expenses, several area groups are sponsoring benefits for Niswonger this month...

To the Editor, Once in awhile we ought to stop and remind ourselves what we have accomplished over the last 200 years, what we have become as a nation, without making it sound like a worn-out sermon or another boring graduation speech. Leave out the parades and brass bands, wave off the suddenly eloquent politicians with an eye to reelection, drape the flag, snuff out the fireworks, and in a spirit of quiet reflection, without congratulating ourselves in advance, make our pilgrimage to the soul of America: The American people are the most generous, forgiving and self-critical people in the world.. ...

PEORIA, Ill. -- For Dennis and Steve Dickinson, the labor war between Caterpillar Inc. and the United Auto Workers shakes the family tree. Between them, the brothers have nearly 50 years service at Caterpillar. Like their father, Steve, 44, is in management...

ZALMA -- Agnes Veronia Winkler, 82, of Zalma, died Saturday, July 2, 1994 at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 15, 1911 at Tamms, Ill., daughter of Edward Ellis and Ethel May Willtrout Tindall. She first married Thomas Pattie, who preceded her in death. She then married James Henry Pattie, who also preceded her in death. She later married Walter Winkler, who preceded her in death...

Geneva M. Pennington Bobo, 76, of St. Louis, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Saturday, July 2, 1994 at Alexian Brothers Hospital in St. Louis. She was born March 2, 1918 in Butler County, daughter of William Thomas and Leona Hoffman Pennington. She first married Norman Morgan...

ORAN -- Burl L. Anthony, 90, of Oran died Saturday, July 2, 1994 at the Missouri Delta Medical Center. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Oran.

Thomas L. Reddick, 72, of the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau, formerly of New Madrid, died Saturday, July 2, 1994 at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau...

MARBLE HILL -- Louise Robins Browne, 91, of Marble Hill, died Friday, July 1, 1994 at the St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born at Marble Hill on July 28, 1902, a daughter of J. Monroe and Flora Anna Williford Robins. In 1937, she married Leonard W. Brown. He preceded her in death...

EAST PRAIRIE - Lillie Bell Wright, 84, of Whiting, near East Prairie, died Friday, July 1, 1994 at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born April 15, 1910, in Cherry Valley, Ark., to Holden and Luticia Lampkins Sides. On Aug. 19, 1928, she married Oscar Bright. He preceded her in death on Nov. 6, 1990...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Phillip Joe Patrick, 32, of East Prairie, died Saturday, July 2, 1994 at 2:30 a.m. near Anniston of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. He was born July 5, 1961 in Cairo, Ill., the son of Dorothy Staggs Patrick, who survives of East Prairie, and the late Robert Patrick...

Critics of Missouri's education reform claim it takes control away from local boards of education, question if new standards will actually improve performance and believe the changes resemble outcomes-based education. John Ritland, senior principal engineer at McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis, served on the ad hoc committee charged with looking at statewide academic performance standards after teachers had written the draft...

PADUCAH, Ky. -- When Samuel (Mark Twain) Clemens was growing up in Hannibal, the daily arrival of the packet steamboat always brought the sleepy little river town to life. In his "Life on the Mississippi," Twain recalls: "There was a time when the cry `Steamboat A'Comin' would shake the air and stir the soul. Townsfolk would grab their hats and walking sticks, bonnets and little ones and hurry down to the levee to wave the steamboat in."...

(First of a two-part series) Good-bye to dependence on memorization and multiple choice tests. Missouri school children will be asked to demonstrate, apply and integrate the skills they learn. Statewide education reforms outlined in Senate Bill 380 are taking shape this summer...

The ornamental downtown clock, standing in the intersection of Themis and Main Street, should be moved, according to a study of the impact of a riverboat casino on Cape Girardeau. Moving the clock is on a list of recommendations for handling increased traffic downtown as a result of the proposed downtown development by the Boyd Gaming Corp...

The Southeast Missourian newspaper has received two honors from the Missouri State Teachers Association for its news coverage of education. The Missourian earned the top award for photography among daily newspapers in the contest. The newspaper also earned an honorable mention for features coverage...

One hundred years ago, the world was a different place. Henry Ford had just built his first automobile, athletes were trying to found the modern Olympic Games and Thomas Edison was opening the precursor to the movie theater, the Kinetoscope Parlor. And 100 years ago, a Cape Girardeau woman, Laura St. Ann Keller was born on the Fourth of July. Monday, her friends are throwing her a bash...

A Cape Girardeau County Health Department sanitarian says she is concerned by reports that someone may be impersonating a health officer with local restaurants. Jo Nell McNeely, one of four sanitarians employed by the health department and the group's supervisor, said someone went to several restaurants on Kingshighway last month posing as an inspector...

Building and flying model airplanes remains a popular hobby among both young people and adults. By the middle 1980s, more than 100,000 people and more than 1,900 model airplane clubs belonged to the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA). Herb Prater and Carl Whitener have been modeling airplanes since their youth...

In the large, grassy, playground space, back of the latticed fence, children's voices at play can be heard when the dusky twilight falls and it is heat bearable to be outside again. Interspersing the laughter, squealing and sometimes arguing will be the dull thud of a kicked ball or sharp crack of a bat. At this particular time it is also firecrackers exploding...

"Picnic in the Park" is the theme for the July 11 luncheon sponsored by Cape Girardeau County Christian Women's Club. The luncheon and meeting will be held from noon to 2 p.m. at Holiday Inn. Cost is $6.50 per person. Complimentary day care is provided for children birth to 10 years...

PERRYVILLE -- The Dreyer family reunion was held recently at Perryville Park. Descendants attended from Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Germany and South Africa. The oldest family members attending were Dorothy Doerner of St. Louis and Natalie Dreyer of Frohna...