Stories from Friday, August 4, 1995

Last month I was pleased to announce a preliminary agreement that will allow the state to cut its court-ordered Kansas City desegregation spending for fiscal 1996 by $80 million. This agreement, which expands upon an initial interim agreement reached in February, is the first time in the history of Missouri's desegregation saga that the state has been able to achieve a reduction in desegregation spending. ...

Highway 177 north of Cape Girardeau isn't the only area road that gets flooded. Although Wappapello Lake in Wayne County is a long way from the Mississippi River, several of the roads that give lake users access to the Corps of Engineers facility frequently flood whenever water is held in the reservoir to control downstream flooding...

It should come as no surprise that businesses catering to a Christian clientele are flourishing in the Cape Girardeau area. This and the fact that churches are booming can be taken as an indication of the values and religious ethic of this area. It wasn't all that many years ago that there was little need for retail outlets aimed specifically at religious-minded customers. ...

A St. Louis firm will manufacture business jets in Ames, Iowa, rather than in Cape Girardeau because local investors there will contribute $2.4 million over the next three months to the project, company officials said Thursday. VisionAire Corp. plans to develop a new single-engine, five-passenger business jet that could operate from runways as short as 2,500 feet in length. The Vantage aircraft, priced at $1.5 million, would be designed for regional business travel...

It's here. The fall fashion catalog featuring fresh faces of 61 local children modeling clothing at sites throughout Cape Girardeau County is being distributed to hundreds of thousands of customers across the country. Customers of Children's Bazaar should receive their copies in the mail this weekend. ...

Officials in area cities that have a transportation tax say the revenue such a tax generates helped them grow and prosper without having to dip into general revenue funds. "The people in Jackson can see how much is being done to improve and build roads," Jackson City Manager Steve Miller said. ...

A half-cent, transportation sales tax would be a small price to pay for road and bridge improvements, proponents say. If voters approve the tax Tuesday, shoppers would pay a nickel more on a $10 purchase. "It certainly is less of an impact than trying to increase property taxes," said Doug Leslie, acting city manager...

Sixty-plus years of marriage. A lifetime of loving children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Some four decades of meals and laundry. Dozens of gardens that were planted, tended and harvested. It will all go on the block Saturday in a small, west-central Missouri town where your wife's parents lived and died...

The Cape Girardeau area chapter of AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) will meet at 1:30 p.m. Monday at Grace United Methodist Church. The program will be given by Judy Aslin, director of Southeast Missouri Hospital Hospice Services. Plans will be made for the September picnic, and a day trip will be announced...

The Alfred Farrow family reunion, will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 20 at Cape County Park North Shelter 1. There will be a basket dinner at noon. Bring table service, lawn chairs and any recent accumulated pictures and history. For more information call Mrs. Joe Schenimann at 334-1470...

MOREHOUSE -- A Morehouse man was killed in a single-vehicle accident early Thursday. Thomas Alford, 47, of Morehouse was killed when his car ran off Route Z in Scott County about a mile north of Morehouse. It struck a culvert and overturned, ejecting him from the vehicle, the Missouri Highway Patrol said...

Local humane society leaders hope a new crematorium will help dispose of the 3,500 animals it must do away with each year. Larry Tidd, president of the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, said the organization started looking at crematoriums in response to stricter Environmental Protection Agency landfill guidelines. While animals may be put in landfills now, Tidd said the time is coming when they won't be allowed...

In six years of business, Dan Byrd has buried dogs, ferrets and goldfish with equal dignity. He is co-owner and operator of Cedar Hill Pet Cemetery on Highway 177, a quarter-mile from Hobbs Chapel. The next closest pet cemeteries are in Murphysboro, Ill.; Paducah, Ky.; and St. Louis, so Byrd has a large customer base. He handles about 10 animals a month for people who want more for their animals than a backyard burial under a favorite tree...

Flags scheduled to be flown today and Saturday at the Brookside Memorial Park in Jackson won't be raised after all to mark the end of World War II. An official said because the flags haven't been flown to mark the end of the Korean and Vietnam wars, volunteers weren't going to raise the flags to mark the end of World War II...

Thomas M. Alford, 47, of Morehouse, died Thursday, Aug. 3, 1995, in an automobile accident on Highway Z. He was born Feb. 28, 1948, in Sikeston, son of Thomas E. and Viola McIntyre Alford. Alford was a 1966 graduate of Richland High School, and was employed by Tim Rowell Farms...

CHAFFEE -- Anton "Tony" Enderle, 83, of Chaffee died Thursday, Aug. 3, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 15, 1912, at Kelso, son of Peter and Katherine Gosche Enderle. He married Lorena Gosche on May 20, 1944. Enderle was a retired farmer and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was a member of St. Lawrence Catholic Church in New Hamburg, the Chaffee VFW Post 3127 and Disabled American Veterans of Cape Girardeau County Chapter 16...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Cletus Johnson of East Prairie will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel in East Prairie. Mike Johnson will officiate, with burial in Dogwood Cemetery. Johnson, 75, died Wednesday, Aug. 2, 1995, at Bertrand Nursing Facility...

BLOOMFIELD -- Hulbert T. Welch, 69, of Bloomfield, died Thursday, Aug. 3, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 11, 1926, in Hickman, Ark., son of Hulbert and Ozella Metzger Welch. He and Ruby Potts were married Dec. 3, 1948...

DEXTER -- Leslie McMunn, 74, of Dexter, died Wednesday, Aug. 2, 1995, at his home. He was born Aug. 17, 1920, at Malden, son of Ira and Nellie Robinson McMunn. He and Ruby Halbert were married Dec. 13, 1941, at Malden. McMunn had worked at Thrower Motor Co. from 1946-56. He and his wife owned and operated McMunn Auto Parts since 1956. He had also been fire chief with Dexter Fire Department, retiring in 1969...

Funeral service for Russell D. Obermann, 1342 County Road 213, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Zion Lutheran Church in Gordonville. The Rev. Jeffrey Sippy will officiate, with burial in the church cemetery. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel from 4-8 p.m. today...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Clyde R. Ozment, 79, of Mounds, died Wednesday, Aug. 2, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He was born Feb. 26, 1916, in Pulaski, son of Robert W. and Lou Etta King Ozment. He married Viola Marie Thompson, who died May 5, 1992. He later married Bertha Neill...

PULASKI, Ill. -- Daisy Louella Dulaney, 85, of Ripley, Miss., formerly of Pulaski, died Thursday, Aug. 3, 1995, at her home. She was born May 22, 1910, in New Albany, Ind., daughter of Pinkney and Rosie McDaniel. She and Ben S. Dulaney were married March 10, 1934. He died Sept. 30, 1951...

FROHNA -- Avery Eugene Jordan, 66, of Frohna, died Thursday, Aug. 3, 1995, at his home. He was born Jan. 20, 1929, at Bessville, son of John and Clara Mae Upchurch Jordan. He and Lilly Elizabeth Harlan were married Dec. 23, 1944. Jordan was a retired machinist with ACF Industries. He was a member of the Church of God at Jackson...

Martha Colleen Elfrank, 73, 1727 Cecilia, died Thursday, Aug. 3, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Feb. 26, 1922, at Matthews, daughter of Edd and Essie Stewart Clinton. She and Fred Elfrank were married Aug. 3, 1940, in Cape Girardeau...

Frances J. Whitmore, 57, 2403 Sunny Lane, died Thursday, Aug. 3, 1995, at her home. She was born April 28, 1938, in St. Louis, daughter of Lawrence and Vivian Skaggs Holbrook. She and John Whitmore were married Nov. 19, 1964, in St. Louis. He died Feb. 4, 1983...

Ella Helen Costello, 92, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Aug. 3, 1995, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Oct. 25, 1902, at Red Bud, Ill., daughter of Nicholas Aloyisious and Mary Susan Meier Hagene. She married Dan Costello who preceded her in death...