Stories from Monday, September 19, 1994

JACKSON -- The second annual Jackson Merchants Association's Good Old Days Celebration will be held in uptown Jackson Saturday. People will be dressed in turn-of-the-century attire and games will be played. Horses will stand at hitching posts along High Street and wagons will travel to the local train station. Arts and crafts, music, dancing, antique machinery, a tractor pull for children and a staged bank robbery will be featured...

The Illmo-Fornfelt school reunion will be held Oct. 14 and 15 at Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau. On Oct. 14, a mixer is planned from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Holidome. On Oct. 15, a dinner and dance will be held at the Holiday Inn Convention Center. Registration and cocktails will be held prior to the 7 p.m. meal. The dance starts at 8:30 p.m...

Jean Bell Mosley can sell you on the virtue of seeds. "Nothing in this world impresses me so much as a seed," Mosley wrote in the foreword to her fifth and latest book, "Seeds on the Wind." She wrote: "I hold such a little dry thing in my hand and feel that I have the secret of the universe. Here in this tiny package is the blueprint of life."...

STEELVILLE -- Claims to fame abound in Steelville, the population center of the United States. Steelville Mayor Dennis Bell says the Crawford County town is also the self-proclaimed river floating capital of Missouri and home to Miss Missouri, Amber Green...

SEMO District Fair Board President Bob Nitsch seemed content to rest for a few minutes Sunday night after a long day of cleanup at the fairgrounds. Sunday's cleanup followed eight days and nights of involvement in the fair for Nitsch and the many volunteers who helped organize the annual event...

The Southeast Missourian asked people for their opinion of major league baseball following the strike and cancellation of the 1994 World Series. Lance Craft: "I think the owners ought to just fire the striking players and bring up the Triple A people to play."...

A troupe of teen actors from Columbia will perform at four area schools Friday in an effort to bring attention to teen-age pregnancy and other teen troubles. InterAct: Teen-to-Teen Theater of Columbia will perform at Oak Ridge High School, Jackson Junior High School, Delta High School and Notre Dame High School...

SCOTT CITY -- Public hearings are set for a $1 million grant for flood repairs and a $500,000 housing rehabilitation grant at tonight's city council meeting at 7:30. The city was notified last month that it had been awarded a $1 million federal grant for street repairs and water drainage improvements in the industrial park south of the Diversion Channel...

Ross Perot, that diminutive Texas billionaire and former presidential candidate, is back in the news. The guy who helped George Bush lose the 1992 election to the governor from Arkansas is trying to reinvigorate his United We Stand America organization...

The editorial in the Sept. 15, 1994, Southeast Missourian on Southeast Missouri State University compels me to respond. It is important, I think, for readers to have an opportunity to hear some of "the rest of the story," particularly when such complex issues as institutional staffing and enrollment patterns are being discussed...

Before January 1993, when it came to public education, Missourians had the worst of all worlds. Tax support of public elementary and secondary schools in Missouri was so patently inequitable that it ultimately became the responsibility of educational professionals to challenge the system. ...

HAMLIN, Ky. -- A rural Doniphan woman drowned in Kentucky Lake early Sunday after the boat in which she was riding capsized. The body of Carolyn Sue Wilson, 37, was recovered after daylight Sunday. The Kentucky State Police said Wilson was on a boat with her friend, Roger Workman. Also on the boat was his father, Buddy Workman, with his wife, Belinda Gale Workman...

Graveside rites for Irene O. Hoffmeister will be at 4 p.m. today at Cape County Memorial Park Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. This will follow a funeral service at 11 a.m. today at the Alexander Funeral Home in St. Louis. Hoffmeister, 70, of Bridgeton died Saturday, Sept. 17, 1994...

SCOTT CITY -- Ruby Lucille Broadhacker, 64, of rural Scott City died Sunday, Sept. 18, 1994, at Baptist Memorial Central Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. She was born Aug. 20, 1930, in Mississippi, the daughter of Freddy and Escey Russell McKinney. She first married William L. Speakman, who preceded her in death...

CYPRESS, Ill. -- Ruth Penrod, 80, of Cypress, Ill., died Sunday, Sept. 18, 1994, at Massac Memorial Hospital in Metropolis, Ill. She was born here July 23, 1914, the daughter of William and Mary Turner. She married Carlis Penrod July 3, 1931. He survives...

They look new, drive like new, even smell new -- but much to the delight of cost-conscious buyers, pre-owned cars sell at far less than new-car prices. The used car and truck market is getting better for used vehicle shoppers. More and more former auto buyers have switched from owning to leasing, which is providing the used-car market with a steady supply of low-mileage, well-maintained, 1, 2 and 3-year-old former lease vehicles...

-- Missouri's per capita income is on the rise. -- The state's unemployment is down. -- In 1993, more than 120 new and expanding manufacturing companies created 7,783 jobs and $697.7 million in new investment in the state. -- Missouri exports are expected to increase...

John A. "Andy" Clarke, owner of Mark Twain Appraisal Inc., has completed qualifications to upgrade his appraisal license to an Illinois Certified General Appraiser. The Illinois Department of Professional Regulation awarded the license that allows for appraisal of any type of property, such as residential, farm and commercial properties...

The annual Jackson Chamber of Commerce Barbecue will be held Sept. 26 at Nicky's Whistle Stop Cafe and St. Louis Iron Mountain Railroad. Activities get under way at 6 p.m. with the presentation of the R. A. Fulenwider Award. Tables will be set up on the lawn. Guests will have the option of dining outside or inside the restaurant...