Stories from Friday, March 24, 1995

The news was a little unsettling. J. Ronald Fischer announced this week he will retire as Cape Girardeau's city manager as of Aug. 1. The old adage says all good things must come to an end, but his leaving will certainly be a loss to the city. Fischer has served Cape Girardeau and the region admirably in the last seven years. That isn't to say there hasn't been controversy. But with common sense, honesty and integrity, Fischer has helped the city to weather the storms...

To offer some perspective on the rhetoric currently inflaming the debate over welfare reform, it is instructive to go back a few months to re-examine similar rhetoric over the treatment of congressional committee employees. To set the scene, remember: Republicans had just become the majority party in both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years. ...

A former Scott City resident received the 1995 Arthur H. Mattingly Award in historic preservation. The Historic Preservation Association of Southeast Missouri State University honored Richard L. Young at a banquet March 18 at Port Cape Girardeau's River City Yacht Club...

The Area Wide United Way and Ameritech are seeking nominations for the annual volunteer awards. The ceremony will be held April 25. The deadline for completed nominations is Monday. Volunteers will be judged in three categories: youth/young adult, 25 and under; adult, 26 to 59; and senior adult, 60 and older. A fourth category will recognize a group or organization...

The city of Cape Girardeau has changed its procedures for disconnecting water service: Beginning today, the city no longer will use red-tag disconnect notices. "In many delinquent cases, we were actually duplicating efforts when we used the hang tags," City Collector Mary Thompson said...

Max Television Co., a multi-station radio and TV broadcast company headquartered in Virginia Beach, Va., has purchased KBSI-TV, the Fox Network affiliate in Cape Girardeau. The local station, owned by Engles Communications Inc., will change ownership upon FCC approval, which is expected by early summer...

MALDEN -- If raising funds were a college course, the advisory council of the Harry L. Crisp Bootheel Education Center would make straight A's. The council of 15 area residents has seen contributions grow dramatically since its first fund-raising effort in 1991...

The audience of 1,315 at Thursday night's Impact America crusade rose to its feet to honor about 150 veterans who served their country in the armed forces. Evangelist Lowell Lundstrom called the veterans to the front of the Show Me Center during God & Country Night. He asked those who had lost friends in war to come on stage and talk about their losses...

The Missouri Department of Highways and Transportation has delayed bidding on several projects in Southeast Missouri to make sure Proposition A-funded work moves forward. The delayed projects -- part of the state's 15-year construction plan -- "should get back on within 30 to 60 days," said state highway commissioner John Oliver of Cape Girardeau. "It's just restoring the way it was originally intended."...

Hillin and Clark, P.C., has charged Cape Girardeau schools $2,216 as of March 14 for work in regards to Amy Randol's letter. In a news story March 14, the Southeast Missourian incorrectly listed a figure of $4,500 as the auditing company's bill. The $4,500 is a ballpark figure for auditing, legal fees and other costs associated with researching Randol's letter...

The cat still has no name, but in just five months she has become queen of the house, ruler of the two full-time occupants and empress of all she surveys. How did she do that? Cats have a way of taking over. That's why some people hate cats. They can't stand to be under the sway of an animal...

WHAT GOOD is it going to do for poor people to send their kids to college when they can't let their kids finish school if it's going to cost them too much? I JUST read in the Monday paper Amy Randol's Feb. 21 letter to Cape school board asking for information on school district financial records and the school board's March 13 response to all of her many, many questions. ...

Workshop on Wheels will present a workshop titled "Let's Sing This Story" Thursday at 7 p.m. The workshop will be held at A Small World Preschool, 1215 N. Kingshighway. The workshop will focus on creating mini-dramas based on children's stories by using songs, movement and dance, and simple costumes...

CHAFFEE -- Construction on a 14,000-square-foot addition to Chaffee High School will run past the mid-April contract deadline. Two outside and several inside walls, plus a roof have to be built before any inside work can begin. Dennis Quertermous of Bertrand, the masonry subcontractor on the $778,000 project, hopes the block work will be done by the last part of April...

U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft said Thursday the line-item veto under consideration in the Senate "will put a chilling effect" on inserting pork-barrel projects into legislation. "Under the full scrutiny and light of the American people, the line-item veto could be good therapy for stopping the pork," Ashcroft said. "This is a real start in the right direction...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Oma Mahon Boyd of East Prairie will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel in East Prairie. The Revs. Burl Britt and Johnny Bell will officiate, with burial in Dogwood Cemetery. Boyd, 86, died Tuesday, March 21, 1995, at East Prairie Nursing Center...

Roy S. Sitton, 63, of Gilbertsville, Ky., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Wednesday, March 22, 1995, at Lourdes Hospital in Paducah, Ky. He was born Dec. 23, 1931, at St. Peters. He married the former Doris Riehn. Sitton was an electrical engineer at Martin Marietta, and attended Bethel Baptist Church in Gilbertsville. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War...

Dorothy Helen Waltz, 76, 2531 Ranchito, died Thursday, March 23, 1995, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Nov. 23, 1918, in Keota, Iowa, daughter of Samuel C. and Mary Fixmer Singmaster. She first married Raymond E. Beaver March 7, 1946. He died Nov. 13, 1967. She later married Thomas F. Waltz in March 1972 in Cape Girardeau...

TAMMS, Ill. -- Funeral service for Sarah Annette Mueller Kee of Tamms will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Crain Funeral Home in Tamms. The Rev. Tom Bailey will officiate, assisted by Larry Naeger. Burial will be in McCrite Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 5 p.m. Saturday...

Funeral service for Mildred A. Becker, 2528 Meadow Lane, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Jay Gibson will officiate, with entombment in Memorial Park Mausoleum. Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. today...

THEBES, Ill. -- Graveside service for Marcella Caldwell of Thebes will be held at 2:30 p.m. today at Rose Hill Cemetery, with the Rev. Billy Don Heady officiating. Crain Funeral Home at Tamms is in charge of arrangements. Caldwell, 73, died Wednesday, March 22, 1995, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau, Mo...

CHARLESTON -- Spencer Coleman, 24, of Charleston, died Tuesday, March 21, 1995, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, from a gunshot wound. He was born July 30, 1970, in Charleston, son of Ruth Ann Coleman and James Branigan. He attended Charleston High School, and Opportunity Church of God In Christ...

WILSON CITY -- Fannie Simes, 94, of St. Louis, formerly of Wilson City, died Wednesday, March 22, 1995, at Lutheran Medical Center in St. Louis. She was born May 8, 1900, in Prairie, Miss., daughter of James and Rebecca Sykes. Simes was a member of Pleasant Green Baptist Church in St. Louis. She was a former member of Holly Grove Baptist Church in Wyatt, and had been a member of the Mother Board and Sunday School treasurer...

EAST PRAIRIE -- J.W. Clift, 65, of East Prairie, died Thursday, March 23, 1995, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Aug. 1, 1929, in East Prairie, the son of John W. and Elva Coats Clift. On Dec. 25, 1948, he married Marion Ruth Faire...

Missouri Secretary of State Bekki Cook will speak at the accounting and finance club's spring banquet May 5. The Southeast Missouri State University club will hold its banquet at the Show Me Center. Social hour will begin at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7...