Stories from Sunday, November 5, 1995

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission received high marks when a committee of the Missouri House of Representatives met in Cape Girardeau last week to hear public comments on this vital function of state government. A House interim committee studying the MHTC and its mission held the hearing, one of five to be conducted statewide. ...

The driver's education class at Woodland High School is taught by Harley Eddleman, a veteran teacher there for over 23 years. When asked if teaching this class was difficult he responded that if students had experience driving farm equipment it helped the students...

There is something very unique taking place at Zalma Elementary School each weekday. Students here, in the middle of the daily studies in assigned classes are "dropping everything" -- to read. DEAR, which stands for Drop Everything And Read, through a joint effort of the administration and staff, has crept into the school system, and is paying off for students...

Patton Head Start begins By Melissa Moore SEMO News Service On Oct. 11 the Patton Head Start opened its doors for the first time to the children in the area. Head Start is a pre-school learning experience for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. The children are taught to have good attitudes toward learning and toward themselves...

The Riverside Regional Library has been operating since 1958. On Tuesday the residents of Jackson and a large portion of Cape County will decide whether it would be worthwhile to merge the Jackson and Riverside Regional Libraries. Library officials say it is definitely worthwhile, not only to residents of Jackson, but to the county as well...

Bonnie Ludwit and her husband Charlie recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Bonnie Ludwig says she felt like an old mother hen without her chickens when she retired from teaching in 1975 after 28 years. Ludwig taught at four regional schools during her career -- Schoenebeck, Horrell, Sheppard and Pocahontas...

A tray of freshly baked bread is readied for customers at Trics. Ice cream, tapioca pudding and German coffee cake are also made there. In the background, Marilyn Haertling stirs a pot of apple dumplings. Gift items from local crafters add to the homey atmosphere at the Altenburg restaurant...

DEXTER -- A Dexter man received serious injuries early Saturday morning in a two-car crash 10 miles east of Dexter. The Missouri Highway Patrol said Randol Swindol, 40, was the driver of a vehicle that overturned several times in the intersection of Highways 153 and 114. He was taken to Dexter Memorial Hospital...

Hospital administrators are taking a "wait and see" attitude toward proposals to revamp Medicaid and give the state more control over the program. Medicaid and Medicare are two "hot button" issues in the federal budget proposal now under debate in Washington. Proposed funding cuts in both programs could be devastating for the elderly, disabled and low-income, advocates say...

Gov. Mel Carnahan shook up his staff this past week, announcing that Chief of Staff Marc Farinella will be leaving the government payroll to begin private political consulting. Foremost among his clients will be the incumbent governor, together with several other statewide Democratic officeholders. ...

In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, our neighbors to the east, they have an interesting little dustup of a gubernatorial election under way, outcome to be determined on Tuesday night. I wrote here earlier that GOP nominee Larry Forgy, bidding to become the first Republican to win the governor's mansion since 1967, raised the stakes enormously when he placed all his chips on a bet that voters are ready to repudiate outcome-based education reforms of the kind that were a model for Missouri's Senate Bill 380. ...

Every time I hear some politician talk about today's political revolution or the unique time in which we live or the painful changes now occurring in America, I recall an earlier time in our history when there was indeed a revolution and times were indeed unique and when monumental changes were indeed being made...

The Senator exemplified the Old Guard. His adult life was devoted to politics. When he entered the Senate, he mastered the rules and the procedures. He knew, better than anyone else, how to cut a legislative deal. He had tried, unsuccessfully, to run for president in the past. Yes, he was Mr. Republican, but there was something about him that made you wonder whether he could make it to the White House...

David J. Mansfield Marine Pfc. David J. Mansfield, son of Garry R. and Amelia J. Mansfield of 982 County Road 651, Cape Girardeau, recently completed basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, and was meritoriously promoted to his present rank...

ANNA, Ill. -- Hazel H. Gray, 91, of Anna died Friday, Nov. 3, 1995, at St. Joseph Hospital in Murphysboro. Service will be Monday at 11 a.m. in the chapel of Hileman & Parr Funeral Services with the Rev. Dennis Cooley officiating. Interment will be in Anna Cemetery...

DEXTER -- Lee Westmorian, 75, of Essex died Friday, Nov. 3, 1995, at Doctor's Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. He was born Sept. 3, 1920, at Hornersville, son of James William and Alice Delana Moody Westmorian. He married Madeline Fowler April 6, 1946 at Cardwell, Mo. She survives...

MARBLE HILL -- Margaret Ann Patrick, 56, of Marble Hill, died Friday, Nov. 3, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 26, 1995, at Hamburg, Mo., daughter of Ralph and Luella Zeyen Brockmire. She married Larry Patrick Jan. 7, 1961, in Cape Girardeau. He survives...

FARMINGTON -- Lucille Maurene Kassabaum, 85, of Farmington died Friday, Nov. 3, 1995, at St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis. She was born Aug. 20, 1910, in Elvins, daughter of Wilson and Myrtle Casey Bell. She married Earl Kassabaum in 1934. Kassabaum was long affiliated with the Doe Run Methodist Church and was active in Garden Club activities, interior decorating and senior citizen projects...

SIKESTON -- Cora E. Geske, 92, of Sells Rest Home in Matthews, formerly of Sikeston, died Saturday, Nov. 4, 1995, at Sells Rest Home. She was born Dec. 2, 1902, in Fruit Station, Ill., daughter of Charles and Amelia Louise Freidhoff Gruen. She married Fred Geske Feb. 4, 1925, at Morehouse. He preceded her in death May 6, 1961...

Sylvia Koch, 92, died Friday, Nov. 3, 1995, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 14, 1903, at Bloomfield, daughter of Milton M. Cooper and Emma Lou Pry Cooper. She married Norman C. Koch Feb. 2, 1935 at Mounds, Ill. He survives...

Ann S. Niswonger, 88, of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, Nov. 3, 1995, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 7, 1907, at New Hamburg, Mo., daughter of Jacob J. Urhahn and Mary Hahn Urhahn. She married Earl O. Niswonger Dec. 30, 1936, at New Hamburg. He preceded her in death Dec. 16, 1961...

JACKSON -- Delwin Leroy Wilkinson, 42, died Thursday, Nov. 2, 1995, at the family home. He was born July 25, 1953, at Fredericktown, son of Oscar Leo and Scyrethna Woolsey Wilkinson. He was a self-employed electrical contractor. He was a member of the Jackson Elks Lodge...

DEXTER -- Ruth Ann Berry, 57, of Dexter died Saturday, Nov. 4, 1995, at Lucy Lee Hospital in Poplar Bluff. She was born at Steele, Mo., Feb. 10, 1938, the daughter of C.C. "Jack" and Viva Elizabeth Heathcock Martin. She married Charles Wayne Berry in 1957. He preceded her in death in April 1992...

Dorothy C. "Dodie" Preston, 86, of Winslow, Ark., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Saturday, Nov. 4, 1995, at the Medi-Home Nursing Home. She was born Dec. 17, 1908 in Howell County, Mo., the daughter of Frank and Mary Banks Preston. She was a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau. She worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. for 42 years before retiring in 1970...

Daughter to Bobby G. and Carol Ann DeSpain, Patton Route 1, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:27 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, 1995. Name, Jamie Danielle. Weight, 7 pounds. Mrs. DeSpain is the former Carol Ann Trentham, daughter of Robert C. and Carolyn W. Trentham of Patton. She is employed at McDonald's inside Wal-Mart in Cape Girardeau. DeSpain is employed by Long Livestock at Gordonville. He is the son of the late John DeSpain and Mae DeSpain of Cascade...

The English author George Moore once described something as being as "pathetic as an autumn leaf." When I first read that, I didn't understand what he meant. Autumn is probably the most visually dazzling time of the year, and the autumn leaves that sit on the trees can be described by any number of words excluding the word pathetic...

MILLERSVILLE -- Clara Verna Hahs, 83, of Millersville died Friday, Nov. 3, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 11, 1912, at Advance to Charles and Anna Bock Moore. She married Glen F. Hahs in Marble Hill on June 1, 1929. He died Dec. 1, 1987...

VILLA RIDGE, Ill. -- Mark Hannah Ashworth, 69, of Olive Branch, formerly of Mound City, died at his home Friday Nov. 3, 1995. He was born Feb. 6, 1926, at Mound City, son of Mark Hannah Ashworth Sr. and Ruby Lee Haws Ashworth. He was an Army veteran of World War II and worked as a deck-hand on a tow boat...

Business owners in the Good Hope area of Cape Girardeau are trying to reclaim an era in which their's was a vibrant business district known as Haarig. They maintain, however, that endless and unfathomable city building regulations are standing in their way...

The bumper crop of acorns in Missouri this fall could be good news for motorists. What do acorns have to do with the driving public? "Hopefully, the good crop of acorns will keep deer in the woods and off the state's roads," said Lonnie Hansen, a Missouri Department of Conservation wildlife research biologist...

Few Cape Girardeau residents appear ready to run for City Council next April. With the month-long filing period opening Wednesday for three council seats, only two people have taken out nominating petitions so far: incumbent Dr. Melvin Kasten and former councilman Hugh White. Both live in Ward 4 on the city's north side...

I HAVE just spent over five minutes in voice-mail hell trying to find out about one of my grandmother's Medicare claims. Medicare's new voice-mail system was very frustrating for me to go through. I cannot imagine what elderly persons would do if they had to call this system. ...

Collections were up Saturday for the annual Scouting For Food campaign in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. By 3 p.m. Saturday, more than 15,000 cans of food had been turned in at the 4-H Pavilion in Arena Park. "That's just for Cape Girardeau and nearby Southern Illinois," said Bob Hoppmann, who is working with the Scouting for Food campaign. "That doesn't include foods collected in other Southeast Missouri areas."...

Dr. Kurt Ritter, a professor at Texas A&M and a leader in the field of political communication, will discuss Ronald Reagan in a lecture Tuesday. The lecture will be given at 8 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom at the Southeast Missouri State University...

The widening of the Route K bridge over Interstate 55 should be completed by Dec. 8, the resident engineer says. The engineer, Bob Wilson of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department, said the deadline was moved back a week recently but that the project should be completed before the heavy holiday traffic comes through the area...

Next Saturday, Nov. 11, marks the start of the 1995 Firearms Deer Hunting Season in Missouri. Although the basic challenge and thrills of pursuing white-tailed deer in Missouri haven't changed over the years, deer hunting has come a long way since the season reopened in 1944 after an extended closure. That year, 7,557 hunters took 583 deer during a two-day bucks-only season in 20 Southern Missouri counties...

If your trophy is good enough for the wall, it might be good enough to also hang in the Southeast Missourian. If you've bagged an unusually large deer (or any other animal), or set a hook into a real lunker, submit a photo or contact the Missourian...

Residents of Lambert hope to soon collect enough money to resurface Highway 77, the main street and the road linking Benton and Interstate 55. Heritage, pride and stubbornness are some of the reasons small Southeast Missouri communities remain incorporated...

'Tis the season of the leaves. As they drift and swirl and whirl from yard to yard, some would call them restless. I call it their great Fall Prom in celebration of their season's end and graduation to a new dimension. One would think their flurries across the yard were guided by the black iron weather vane rooster. When he points south, here come the leaves from my southern neighbors' maple trees to inquire of my oak, sweet gum and maple leaves if they may have the next dance...

JACKSON -- Participants are being sought for the Miss Jackson Scholarship Pageant, Miss Christmas, Miss Junior Christmas, Miss Holly and the Little Miss Snowball and Snowflake Pageants. The pageants will be held Nov. 18 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at the Jackson High School auditorium. The competition is open from kindergarten students up to age 24...

The Humane Society of Southeast Missouri and Sunny Hill Pet Center will sponsor pet photos with Santa on Saturday, Nov. 11. The event will be held at Sunny Hilly Pet Center, 355 S. Christine, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. An amateur photographer will take three pictures of each pet and the photos and negatives will be mailed to the owner...

The Cape Girardeau unit of the American Cancer Society honored its outstanding volunteers at an annual Ambassador of Hope reception Thursday. The awards were presented to the Ambassadors of Hope who gave $1,000 or more during the last fiscal year and to patrons who donated $500 or more...