Stories from Saturday, August 27, 1994

In the past, hospital officials in Cape Girardeau have avoided the "M" word. In their minds, "merger" was somehow a signal of financial troubles. But in today's climate of managed care and health reform, more hospitals are opting to combine operations and streamline as a way to keep costs down...

The last week has been a busy one for area school nurses and county health centers as classes began and students no longer had a grace period to comply with the law on immunizations. Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, and Warren Manning, administrator for the Scott County Health Department, both said their offices have been busy...

Extensive damage was reported in an early morning fire Friday to a two-story frame house at 1018 Independence. Firefighters responded at 1:21 a.m. Fire department officials estimated the loss at $25,000 on the $40,000 two-family dwelling. The fire department responded with four engines, one ladder truck and a utility vehicle with 23 firemen to the blaze. Firemen spent 3 hours and 17 minutes on the scene...

A bill signed into law Friday by President Bill Clinton eliminates a portion of user fees that were included in the president's 1993 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson of Cape Girardeau, who voted against the act, mounted an effort in May to repeal the user fees at Army Corps of Engineers facilities...

Earl T. Shinhoster, newly-appointed interim executive director of the NAACP, canceled his speaking engagement in Cape Girardeau Friday night. Shinhoster, who was named to the position last weekend, was scheduled to address the Cape Girardeau branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Two Tamms, Ill., men were taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau early Friday evening after they suffered major injuries in a motorcycle accident on Grapevine Trail near Olive Branch, Ill. Illinois State Police said Raymond Brown, 19, was driving a motorcycle eastbound on the trail about .2 mile from the Olive Branch blacktop when the accident occurred at 5:05 p.m. ...

Jackson public schools hired 12 teachers based on added money from Senate Bill 380. Cape Girardeau schools are implementing an A-Plus Schools program, thanks to a Senate Bill 380 grant of $203,828. Scott County Central teachers this year received their first pay raise in four years because of added money from Senate Bill 380...

Wednesday was one a day I will remember for a lifetime. No, I didn't win the lottery. My oldest child, Levi, started school. Parents who have been through it understand, but I know non-parents are thinking, `Big deal.' But to think of a little guy, who has never been to day care or preschool and has never gone anywhere without his parents, boarding a school bus on his way to a classroom in a strange building with 21 other kids he has never met is quite an event -- for his parents, if not for Levi.. ...

Teri Froemsdorf can point to the moment she decided to pursue a career in law enforcement or the law. It was in 1985, moments before the verdict was announced against Jerome Mallett. He was accused of fatally shooting her father, Missouri State Trooper James Froemsdorf. Her dad was killed was making a routine traffic stop near the 134-mile marker on Interstate 55...

Area doctors and lawyers will go head to head today in a benefit softball fundraiser for the Area Wide United Way. The game will begin at 2 p.m. at the Capaha Park baseball field. Tickets can be purchased at Boatmen's Bank on William Street and Schnucks, or can be purchased at the ball park...

Boatmen's Bancshares will become the largest bank-holding company in Arkansas following the acquisition of an Arkansas bank. With the purchase of Worthen Banking Corp. of Little Rock, the second-largest bank-holding company in Arkansas, will come added earnings for Boatmen's shareholders, bank officials say...

PUXICO -- Raymond W. Wiseman, 81, of rural Puxico, died Thursday, Aug. 25, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born at Lutesville May 14, 1913, son of Ralph and Maggie Shell Wiseman. He had lived in the Zalma and Puxico areas all of his life. He owned and operated a grocery store north of Kinder for many years. He was also a farmer and trucker...

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral service for Mary "Bert" Jackson, 79, of Biloxi, Miss., will be held at 11 a.m. today at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Scott City. Prior to the service, friends may call from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. at the Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City. The change in visitation hours was announced Friday...

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Alberta Henry Flowers, 86, of Sikeston will be held at 1 p.m. today at the Westend Missionary Baptist Church, with the Rev. Ronald Williams officiating. Burial will follow in the Westend Cemetery with the Williams-Farr and Purnell Funeral Home in Sikeston in charge of arrangements...

Lendle Hendershott, 61, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Aug. 26, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Nov. 15, 1932 in Hahn, Mo. On Feb. 7, 1956, he married the former Virgie Kinnison in Tacoma, Wash., She survives. He is also survived by one son, Michael Hendershott, Jackson; two daughters, Kathy Ringwald, Gordonville, Jean Blumenberg, Dallas; three brother Jim Hendershott, Fruitland, Charlie Hendershott, Senath, Donald Hendershott, Zalma; five sisters, Mable Dinkins, Grassy, Clara Hemmann, Uniontown, Laura Tallent and Lillian Rougger, both of St. ...

SIKESTON -- Jessie E. Halford, 66, of Sikeston died Thursday, Aug. 25, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born April 8, 1928 in Cooter, Mo., the son of Jessie Thomas and Bertha Lee Wallace Halford. He was owner of Halford Radiator Repair and a member of the North Acres General Baptist Church...

JACKSON -- Warranty deeds issued at the office of Janet Robert, Cape Girardeau County recorder of deeds: Gail D. Woodfin, et al. to SEMO Rentals Inc.; the G. Keith Deimund Trust to Hey Martin Roe Beussink; Velma U. Lee et al. to James B. Orear and Amy J. Roberts...

FREDERICKTOWN -- Billie Looney, 68, of Fredericktown died Wednesday, Aug. 24, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 4, 1926, at Burfordville, daughter of Clyde and Stella Rush Proffer. On Sept. 30, 1948, at Houston, Texas, she married Joe Looney. He survives...