Stories from Friday, August 25, 1995

SIKESTON -- Private graveside service for Lucy Herring will be held today at Dogwood Cemetery near East Prairie. McMikle Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Herring, 89, died Thursday, Aug. 24, 1995, at Sells Rest Home in Matthews. She was formerly of Sikeston...

On the heels of the successful vote on a city sales tax for transportation, there are other key indicators that Cape Girardeau is thriving and continuing on a positive course of growth and development: Construction is up this year, continue the trend of the past several years. Retail expansion is vigorous. And travel and tourism are becoming important facets of the city's overall economic health...

ORAN -- The annual Oran Fall Festival will be held this weekend at Tilles Memorial City Park here. The event is sponsored by the Oran Jaycees. On Friday, the grounds open at 5 p.m. for a softball tournament. A square dance exhibit will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m., and Charlie's Music Revue will provide music for a dance at 9...

The Mississippi Queen is scheduled to stop in Cape Girardeau from 8 to noon Sunday. A German band composed of members of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band will greet the paddle wheeler. Contrary to its previous schedule, the boat will not stop in Cape Girardeau on Wednesday during its return down the Mississippi...

SHEBOYGAN FALLS, Wis.-- Recording an album has always been a dream for Steve Sandfort. And now it's a reality. Sandfort, a former resident of Cape Girardeau, last month released his first album, "Shake It Off." And sales have been good, he said, adding that the primary venue for his album has been concerts and performances at churches...

Karen Hendrickson of Cape Girardeau was elected Wednesday president of the Missouri State Board of Nursing. Her term begins immediately. Hendrickson, the assistant administrator and chief nursing officer at Southeast Missouri Hospital, was appointed to the board in 1993 by Gov. Mel Carnahan. She has served as secretary and vice president of the nine-member board since her appointment...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Betty Cooper Hearnes of Charleston has been elected chairperson of the Missouri Mental Health Commission. She assumed her duties during the commission's monthly meeting this month and has served on the commission since April 1993. The state Mental Health Commission oversees the Missouri Department of Mental Health, providing services to about 100,000 people each year...

Scott County James G. and Eleanor M. Robbins of Tennessee to Ag-Lands Investment Co. of Tenn.; Ag-Lands Investment Co., to Jeffrey L. and Karyn J. Placek; Estate of William Kendall Sikes to Marcia W.Sikes, administrator; Larry and Ann S. Hall to Doyle Burgess; Doyle Burgess to Toby James Simons; Douglas M. and Judy K. Watson to David A. and Julia C. Dolan; David A. and Julia Crader Dolan to Donald R. and Teresa J. Cobb; Jack and Tammy Huckstep to Julia Jeffrey...

Frank Rycyk Jr. of Jefferson City has a lonely job. He is seeking 120,000 signatures on an initiative petition that, if approved, would force state government to seek voter approval on all tax increases. This is one person who wants to change the tax-and-spend mentality of Missouri. It is a good indication of the frustration of taxpayers who see state revenue growing at record levels without a hint of relief at tax time...

ANNA, Ill. -- Troy S. Winters, 79, of Anna, died Wednesday, Aug. 23, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 4, 1916, in Hardin County, son of George and Hattie Ledbetter Winters. He and Helen Frances Williford were married Aug. 3, 1948, in Anna. She died March 4, 1982...

BURFORDVILLE -- Funeral service for Hubert Dewitt Bishop of Burfordville will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee. The Rev. Eldo Eaker will officiate. Friends may call today and tonight at the chapel. Bishop, 89, died Wednesday, Aug. 23, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...

Graveside service for Anna Josephine Davis of Cypress, Calif., was held Thursday at Fairmount Cemetery. Ford and Sons Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Davis, 86, died Friday, Aug. 18, 1995, at Buena Park Nursing Center in Buena Park, Calif...

Daughter to Gary and Julie Gray of Herrin, Ill., Memorial Hospital in Carbondale, Ill., 8:26 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9, 1995. Name, Megan Lynndale. Weight, 6 pounds 2 ounces. First child. Mrs. Gray is the former Julie Fronabarger, daughter of Randy and Sharon Fronabarger of Jackson. She is a math teacher at Herrin Junior High School. Gray is an investment representative with Edward D. Jones in Herrin. He is the son of Ron and Esther Gray of Cape Girardeau...

PATTON -- Cheri Fuemmeler says she has her work cut out for her. She is the new school superintendent at Meadow Heights. Fuemmeler, who has been serving the past six weeks as interim superintendent, was selected Tuesday at a closed meeting of the Meadow Heights Board of Education...

ANNA, Ill. -- Ted Smith admits that sometimes harness racing can be a little rough. Sitting on a tiny wooden rig directly behind a horse and cruising at 30 mph in tight quarters with other racers, there is little one can do if the unexpected occurs...

JACKSON -- Nobody at Jackson City Hall knew about the city's new 204 telephone prefix until people began listing it on their utility start-up forms. When City Clerk Mary Lowry got curious and called Southwestern Bell, she found out the strange phone numbers are correct. Back in June, without fanfare, Jackson had received its second telephone prefix...

The road to progress can be a weedy one. Sure, those tall weeds are unsightly. Councilman Melvin Gateley calls them an eyesore. But the contractor on the Walker Branch flood-control project says the weeds along the concrete channel are just part of a plan to put down a good turf...

Isn't it funny how you can go along in life for about half a century with a toothache here, a nice holiday dinner there and a couple of sons growing up in between, and then the woman who was your first-grade teacher nearly 45 years ago decides to give you a hug? Isn't life funny that way?...

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WICKLIFFE, Ky. -- The largest crowd to visit Wickliffe Mounds last year came to see the First Nation Dancers, a St. Louis-based troupe of Native Americans who say their mission is to bridge the gap between native and non-native people. The First Nation Dancers will perform again Saturday and Sunday at the Wickliffe Mounds Research Center...

JACKSON -- A Perry County judge dismissed Richard Schmidt's case against Cape Girardeau County last month, but the horse enthusiast is bucking Judge Michael Bullerdeick's decision. Schmidt and seven others from rural Cape Girardeau County appeared before the county commission Thursday to once again ask for County Road 507 to be reopened...