Stories from Sunday, February 5, 1995

Cape Girardeau native Lonnie R. Nagel, 49, of Cresco, Pa., and formerly of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Feb. 2, 1995, at the Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg, Pa. He was born April 4, 1945, in Cape Girardeau, the son of the late Alvin Nagel and Elizabeth Cribaum Nagel, who survives. He married Janice Blandford Nagel, who also survives...

Carol Keeler-Daniel of Cape Girardeau has been named one of the Missouri Jaycees' 10 Outstanding Young Missourians for 1995. Keeler-Daniel is a reporter and talk show host for KZIM radio station. The 10 Outstanding Young Missourians, sponsored by Missouri Public Service, recognizes the achievements of individuals between the ages of 21 and 39...

The doctors will present a strong case to the lawyers on the basketball court next Friday at the second annual Doctor-Lawyer Basketball Game. The game benefits the Community Counseling Center. The team of doctors is headed by Dr. Charles Pancoast. John Harding of Limbaugh, Russell, Payne and Howard heads the team of lawyers...

Carl Klose has developed a habit of taking chances lately. On Friday he reaped the biggest financial reward for such behavior by drawing the winning Show Me 5 ticket worth $25,000. "I guess leaving a full-time job to do something that isn't so secure is risky," Klose said. "But I took a chance on a lottery ticket and it paid off."...

The kindergarten class used preparation for snack time to learn to count to 100 in tens. Kindergarten students at Jackson's Primary Annex School last week celebrated the closest thing they know to a centennial -- the 100th day of school. With the start of school last fall, the 300 students at Primary Annex's six kindergarten classes began counting each day that school was in session by marking the days off on a graph -- one mark for each day. ...

Presson entertains children during a birthday party. Kelly Presson doesn't mind being known as a clown. As a matter of fact, he's spent many years cultivating that image. Presson, who recently moved here to assume duties as youth and children's pastor at the First Assembly of God Church in Jackson, got his start as a clown many years ago during a visit to a Memphis gag shop...

An enamel cup, saucer and box, a hand-painted wooden egg, wooden nesting dolls and framed oil paintings were among the souvenirs the Dickeys brought back from Russia. A Jackson couple who helped introduce a new curriculum in Russian schools last fall is considering a return to the country to help further the educational process...

"If it weren't for the people buried around here, probably none of us would be in Bollinger County now. We need to remember all of them," said LaDonna James, who with her husband, John, have spent the past 13 years mapping cemeteries for inclusion in the county's first copyrighted cemetery directory...

Across Missouri, in the two years since 1993 saw passage of Senate Bill 380, the propaganda organs of Big Government have been working overtime. They have been busy relentlessly churning out lofty pieties about that law, which, in the Orwellian manner of Big Governments everywhere, was christened "The Outstanding Schools Act."...

It's Generalissimo Francisco Franco all over again. Deng Xiaoping, China's maximum potentate, refuses to die. The death watch ticks in months, not hours. When the more sagacious future historians chart the great leaders of the 20th century, Deng Xiaoping will be on the list. Not that he's perfect. Great leaders are human too. But he's unquestionably on the list...

Aristophanes was correct, you know, when he declared that man's corruption comes not all at once, but by slow degrees, until total corruption is complete. The same can be said for many of the public and political programs in society today, and perhaps nothing better illustrates this fact more than a report issued the other day by the Missouri Gaming Commission...

There is no need to draw attention to the fact that color in the Southeast Missourian has been iffy the past couple of weeks. But several of you have asked, with what I took to be genuine interest and concern, about the missing color. Here, for everyone, is what's going on...

Dawn Evans knows a little something about the "bad" part of town. She lived there and heard the myths about whites -- that they don't care about black society and never will -- and withstood her share of insults. Now, as president of the local NAACP, she wants to open the lines of communication between the races. Her church, the nondenominational House of Prayer, will sponsor its first Community Unity Breakfast Saturday to start people talking...

For 20 years, high on the list for Americans hoping to tame the runaway excesses of the federal government has been a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. During this entire time, despite overwhelming public support, congressional leaders who opposed the amendment managed to thwart the proposal, although by narrow margins in recent years. ...

SIKESTON -- Ronnie D. Adams, 26, of Wyatt died Friday, Feb. 3, 1995, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Jan. 31, 1969, in East Prairie, the son of Katie Woodruff Adams, who survives of Wyatt and the late Walter A. Adams. He lived in Wyatt his entire life, where he was a member of the Pentecostal Holiness Church...

SIKESTON -- Aljnory Smith, 59, of Charleston died Feb. 3, 1995, in the emergency room of the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Dec. 11, 1935, in Hillhouse, Miss., the son of George Smith and Mary Smith Oliver of Charleston. In addition to his mother, he is survived by his wife, Artina Smith of St. ...

CHARLESTON -- James Otis Chandler, 82, of Mounds, Ill., died Feb. 2, 1995, at the Charleston Manor Nursing Home. He was born Jan. 10, 1913, in Houston, Miss., the son of William Bolden and Sarah Jennings Chandler. He was a Baptist. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by five sisters and two brothers...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Roy Allen Willis, 82, of Olive Branch died Friday, Feb. 3, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 16, 1912, at Miller City, the son of Roy A. and Ersa Morningstar Willis. On Aug. 19, 1934, he married Eshcol Lesar, who survives...

The recent visit of the Harlem Globetrotters to the Show-Me Center brought back memories of my family's adventure with Gator, who was a member of the Globetrotter team in the early 1980s. We lived in Alabama and we took our young daughters and their friends to Huntsville to see the famous team. Since Cara was really into basketball, we stayed around after the game to try to get autographs...

The committee looking at redrawing Cape Girardeau's elementary school boundaries plans to hold parent meetings at each elementary school. Details for the proposed meetings will be discussed when the committee meets Monday. Committee co-chairman Dr. Bob Fox said committee members may look at holding all the meetings on the same evening and having each building principal follow the same format to conduct the meetings...

U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft has promised to push hard for passage of a balanced-budget amendment, but conceded the votes aren't yet there in the Senate. "There is no question in my mind that there are 60 votes," he said, "but the next seven, we will have to work hard to get."...

Cape Girardeau native Jack Oliver is making big waves at a young age on the Missouri political scene. And, those big waves are even drawing attention at the national level. "I just don't know of anybody ever in Missouri politics who has done what he has done by the age of 25," state Sen. Peter Kinder said. "It is just incredible."...

Daily TV listings I THINK the TV coverage in the daily paper is just terrible. I really miss the complete schedule being given, especially since the weekly schedule is often wrong. Just last night, the schedule said absolutely nothing about the country music show replacing two hours of regular programming. ...

Retired Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene E. Huckstep said Friday night he either had a lot of friends or people were just sadistic and wanted to see him suffer. Actually, he was right on both counts. A crowd of about 400 people turned out to roast Huckstep. Although they were all his friends, they were also eager to see him suffer. More than a dozen speakers pummeled the colorful Huckstep for nearly three hours...

SIKESTON -- The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission has awarded a contract to widen the I-55 overpass at Route K, add turn lanes and install traffic signals on Route K in Cape Girardeau. Jim Murray, the department's district engineer at Sikeston, said a contract was awarded to the St. Louis Bridge Co. of Arnold for $3,800,103. The work is scheduled to be completed by Dec. 1...

JACKSON -- With a 30-year history behind it, the Cape County Gun Club is undertaking the mission of turning more shotgun enthusiasts on to skeet and trap shooting. Founded in the early 1960s with seven charter members, the Cape County Gun Club now consists of approximately 50 members and is searching for more...

The original stealth bombers don't target radar installations or missile launchers. They're more apt to rain death upon unsuspecting rodents. Nature's own design of aerial stealth technology was and is fully functional in owls. Nocturnal predators, owls make a living by surprise attacks on small prey animals. For any of a number of potential victims, doom in owl form can lash out instantaneously on the darkest of nights from seemingly nowhere without a whisper of warning...

The second annual Friends of the NRA Banquet will be held Thursday, March 9 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Cape Girardeau. All gun owners, enthusiasts, recreational shooters and hunters are invited to attend. Last year's banquet raised over $10,000 for the National Rifle Association, a goal which the event's sponsor, the Cape Girardeau Area Friends of the NRA Committee, hopes to top this year...

Cleo Johns Sr. is no magician. But he knows how to turn an ounce of scrap metal into a ton of money. He learned that trick from his grandfather, who, some 68 years ago, started the salvage yard that is now shared by a trio of trustees, all of whom go by the name Cleo...

Sometimes I fantasize about walking around town, in and out of restaurants, detaining people, much as did the Ancient Mariner, asking bluntly, "What is your main interest these days?" I would have to have some sort of identifying label pinned on, such as "Authorized Inquirer, AFV", or "Certified Interrogator, DCD." The capitalized letters would mean nothing but would look impressive and maybe incline folks to answer. ...

The dean of the University of Missouri's College of Agriculture, Food and National Resources and a team of scientists and teachers will report on "What's New at Mizzou" in an open forum Tuesday. The session is scheduled from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Drury Lodge...

The local chapter of TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), a nonprofit weight-loss support group, will hold an open house on Monday in Morley. The meeting is scheduled from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Morley Community Building. Women, men, teens and preteens interested in losing weight are invited to attend. The open house is free...