Stories from Sunday, December 3, 1995

Short, quiet and unassuming, Mary Alice does not strike you as an inspirational teacher. But when the 38 kids at Westboro Elementary School put on their first Christmas program under Mary Alice's tutelage, I knew we had something special. Our Christmas program is a wonderful piece of Americana, with a message that would make an ACLU lawyer salivate. ...

The Cape Girardeau area Chapter of American Association of Retired Persons will meet at 1:30 p.m. Monday at Grace United Methodist Church, Caruthers and Broadway. The program will be a Christmas party with entertainment, games and refreshments. Members are reminded to bring gifts for the May Greene School Christmas project...

The Cape Girardeau Public Library will host a family holiday program at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16. The program will include readings of holiday stories, a visit from Santa and refreshments. Parents may bring cameras to photograph their children with Santa...

The traditional Christmas Home Tour sponsored by the Jackson Swim Team will be held from 1-5 p.m. today. New on the tour this year will be a church where several musical groups will perform throughout the afternoon. St. James United Church of Christ in Tilsit will be the site...

Sharon Hopkins of Marble Hill trained this horse over the summer in France. From left to right; Connie Collins, president, Appaloosa Horse Club; Jennifer Castor, Miss Appaloosa America, Secret Bull, horse; Sharon Hopkins, trainer and exhibitor; Hugh Williams, judge; Lois Whitener; Pascal Dunod, French owner of Secret Bull; Larry Edwards, judge; Bod Spedden, judge. (photos courtesy Sharon Hopkins)...

In her attempts at getting her children's Christian coloring books published, Laura Marie Stoner of Jackson has had her ups and downs. She began working on the series of books in 1978, starting with the life of Christ. She was driven by a purpose -- and it wasn't to make money...

The Bollinger County Sheriff's Department, under the direction of Sheriff Dan Mesey, was presented the County Achievement Award by the Missouri Association of Counties at its annual convention at Kansas City last week. Bollinger County was one of five counties out of Missouri's 114 to be honored. Jasper, Lincoln, St. Louis and Polk counties were also recognized...

The Jackson Jaycees are once again sponsoring their annual Bundle of Joy project which supplies needy families in the Jackson R-2 school district with food and toys for Christmas. There will be donation boxes set up at Wal Mart, Town and Country Supermarket, IGA, Save-A-Lot and Sanders True Value Hardware. All donations will be greatly appreciated...

The streets were busy recently as folks crowded into the Wisecarver Store, some to browse and others to do their Christmas shopping early. The event was a joint effort of the Bollinger County Historical Society and the Lutesville Presbyterian Church forming the Annual Christmas Bazaar...

The Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation was organized in 1991 for the sole purpose of preserving the historic 150-year-old St. Vincent's Seminary property and developing it as a historical, cultural and educational center to serve Cape Girardeau and the surrounding region...

Students in Gretchen Fee's eighth-grade reading classes at Cape Girardeau Central High School wrote the following essays. By Tasha Woods The best Christmas was when I was 13. I had wanted a coin ring since I was 7 or 8. I asked for it every Christmas. ...

By April Slinkard I really don't have a best Christmas, but my family and I have a really great tradition. Every Christmas Eve we open one gift. I love Christmas and we have so much fun. Although, when we do open the gift it usually has to be the smallest one and is usually batteries or something that makes a bigger present work. But you have to wait until Christmas morning to find out what it is. Then we go to my grandma's house and gather with my extended family...

One of the more intriguing issues before the city of Cape Girardeau is what to do with the seminary property on Morgan Oak. Colonial Cape Foundation has recently purchased the seminary and has asked the city of Cape Girardeau to participate in certain aspects of funding. What level of funding is not clear at this point in time. At some point in time the level of funding must be made clear to the city before any decision on the city's potential involvement in the project can be determined...

When Dan Tallent was named principal at Central High School in Cape Girardeau at the start of the 1994-95 school year, there were high hopes that he could accomplish some tough tasks, particularly in the area of discipline. By all accounts, Tallent did an exceptional job and, in the process, earned the respect and admiration of students, teachers and many parents...

According to law enforcement officials and families who have been victimized by drunk drivers, a state law enacted two years ago to discourage habitual drunks from driving contains sizable loopholes. The 1993 law allows for successive charges of driving while intoxicated to carry more punishment for each conviction and elevates municipal charges to carry the same weight as state charges. ...

It is not uncommon in this Era of Political Distrust and Discontent to hear the expression that our system of governance is broken, in a state of disrepair, beyond fixing and well past redemption. Such views are expressed when some outrageous, egregious act has been committed by one of the two parties or by any number of their leaders. Voters say they are "sick of politics," a somewhat shopworn term by now, not to mention the impreciseness of its language...

Do you know why I don't like to drink plum brandy, why I drink beer always? Because the Serbs sometimes do their killing after drinking plum brandy. Do you know what it is to throw a child in the air and catch it on a knife in front of its mother? To be tied to a burning log? To have your ass split with an axe so that you beg the Serbs, beg them to shoot you in the head and they don't? And they go to their church after. ...

This afternoon, at Tan-Tara Lodge at the Lake of the Ozarks, delegates to the annual meeting of Missouri Farm Bureau will gather. At 3 p.m., the resolutions committee will meet to consider adopting policy statements on a variety of issues. Among the issues to be considered will be whether to adopt a resolution that could be read as endorsing so-called academic performance standards for all Missouri schools. ...

By Tara Murakami My family doesn't really have any special traditions. We do basically the same thing as every other family. On Christmas Eve we all get to open one present. We watch "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" and read the "Night Before Christmas" or watch whatever movie happens to be on. My nieces leave cookies out and we all go to bed. The next day we open the rest of our presents and then my whole family comes over to eat Christmas dinner. That's about it...

By Willie B. Long My family Christmas is almost the same every year. First we get up and sit and wake up for a while. Then we open our presents from under the Christmas tree. After that we sit and enjoy our presents and get ready to leave at the same time. ...

By Nick Hobbs We have a tradition every year on Christmas Eve night at my grandma's and uncles, aunts and cousins we all come and eat dinner. After that we go into the living room where we open presents all night long. By Dustin Masterson On the 23rd of December I get up at exactly 11:58 and look out my large window and watch it snow. ...

Dr. Bill Atchley, president of Southeast Missouri State University, will address graduating students at the fall commencement ceremony Saturday in the Show Me Center. Commencement exercises are set for 2 p.m., during which 541 undergraduates and 41 graduate students will receive diplomas...

I was going through an old box of papers when I found a photo that brought back a flood of memories. On the photo was seven goofy college kids standing in the back yard of a house. They were all holding beers, and one of them had his can raised, as if making a toast...

Velda P. Bollinger, 80, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Dec. 2, 1995, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. She was born Feb. 25, 1915, at Scopus, daughter of Phillip F. and Azie Limbaugh Bollinger. She graduated from the Cape Girardeau beautician school. She owned the Marquette Beauty Shop on Broadway for 50 years...

SIKESTON -- Geneva Cauthorn, 90, of Sikeston died Friday, Dec. 1, 1995, at Sikeston Health Care. She was born Oct. 26, 1905, at Thebes, Ill., daughter of Robert Lee and Hattie Grogan Cauthorn. She was a member of the First Baptist Church and was employed at International Shoe Co. for almost 50 years...

CHAFFEE -- Jewell Southard, 62, of Chaffee died Friday, Dec. 1, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Sept. 25, 1933, at Tiptonville, Tenn., daughter of Harv and Sophia Glass. She was a member of the First Assembly of God at Chaffee...

SIKESTON -- Claude Wesley "Buster" Harper, 65, of Glendale, Ariz., a native of Bertrand, died Wednesday, Nov. 29, 1995, at the Boswell Hospital in Sun City, Ariz. He was born Oct. 9, 1930, in Bertrand, son of Thurman Orville and Florence Hicks Harper...

Claude Edward McGee, 67, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Dec. 21, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born at Alamo, Tenn. He retired from Mr. C's IGA Grocery. He was a veteran of the Korean War and a life member of the VFW. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Mill Creek, Ill...

ALTENBURG -- Donald Hecht, 49, of St. Louis, formerly of Altenburg, died Thursday, Nov. 30, 1995, at his residence in St. Louis. He was born April 4, 1946, in Perry County, son of Benjamin Charles and Olga Pilz Hecht. He was a systems technician with Southwestern Bell. He was a member of Communications Workers of American Union Local 6310...

MARBLE HILL -- A memorial service for Mary Lou Hoxworth will be held at 2 p.m. today at Liley Funeral Chapel in Marble Hill with the Rev. Bill Rhodes officiating. Private burial will be in Lessley Ridge Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home today from 12:30 to 2 p.m...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Shooting matches, an Indian artifacts display, horseshoe pitching tournament and a number of children's games are on schedule for the second day of the annual Alexander-Pulaski County Sportsman Club's Goose Festival today. The sportsman's club at Roth's Crossing near the Horseshoe Lake Wildlife Refuge's public shooting area, will open at 9:30 a.m. Food and refreshments will be available throughout the day. Today's horseshoe pitching contest will start about 1 p.m...

JACKSON -- Beryl F. Collins, 66, of Jackson died at Southeast Hospital Friday, Dec. 21, 1995. She was born Feb. 5, 1929, at Hillview, Ill., daughter of Harvey and Ruby Price Schutz. She married J.D. Collins July l7, 1952. She moved to Jackson in 1964 from Cape Girardeau. ...

This is one of 14 historical photos featured in the Jackson Heritage Association's 1996 calendar. It is the Herman Petzoldt Sr. threshing outfit in 1896. The steam engine was self-propelled and pulled the threshing machine and the straw carrier. Mr. Petzoldt is in his buggy leading the procession. Herman Petzoldt Jr. is driving the steam engine. At the far left is a water wagon pulled by two horses...

Take one newfangled space man. Add to a gunless cowboy, a delicate porcelain beauty who has lost her sheep, a know-it-all pig bank, and an insecure dinosaur and you have a few of the unique characters that make up the latest Walt Disney movie, "Toy Story."...

Cape Girardeau County Jerry and Susan Schweain to Jerry Schweain Jr.; Dean and Marjorie Hecht to The Dean and Marjorie Hecht Trust; Mary E. Rosenberg to the Mary E. Rosenberg Trust; JB Properties Inc. to John and Angie Randol; JB Properties Inc. to Robert and Jonna Berry...

R.F. "Peg" Meyer, 92, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, Dec. 2, 1995, at the Lutheran Home. He was born at Oak Ridge Sept. 29, 1903, son of William Otto and Hulda Kurre Meyer. A riverboat jazz musician during the 1920s, Meyer was well known for his musical contributions to Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri. During his work on excursion boats, he traveled the Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois rivers, playing at various towns along the way...

Mr. G lives alone in the small, country home he and his wife shared for years. After she died, he couldn't bear leaving the memories or the house behind, so he stayed. But Mr. G was lonely out on the farm with no one for company. He faced colon and stomach cancer by himself...

Who doesn't remember the excitement of waking up Christmas morning and finding their first two-wheeler under the Christmas tree. Every child should have a chance to find the toy they've always wanted some Christmas morning. But sometimes parents don't have the means to make those wishes come true...

The health and well-being of Missouri children declined between 1990 and 1994, says a report released this weekend by the Citizens for Missouri's Children, a nonprofit children's advocacy organization. Cape Girardeau County, however, showed improvements in seven of 10 areas compared to last year's report. The county ranked 17th among the 114 counties in the state...

FRUITLAND -- When G.G. House rushed off the kindergarten bus Thursday, she looked more like an excited 5-year-old than the center of a complicated, nasty custody battle. But her father, mother and grandparents have spent thousands of dollars each for the legal right to keep G.G. with them...

WASHINGTON -- Glenn Poshard used to ride a motorcycle when he taught high school history and government more than two decades ago in the Southern Illinois coal towns of Galatia and Thompsonville. A helmet was not always part of the ride. "I couldn't hear a darn thing when I had a motorcycle helmet on, and my peripheral vision ... was always bothered," said Poshard, now a Democratic congressman from Marion...

Having won nine titles in their 10 previous tournaments, Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians are usually the favorites in their early-season event. But a talented and powerful Mississippi Valley State squad bucked the odds Saturday night, beating Southeast 84-80 in the championship game of the Capital Bank Classic before 5,375 fans at the Show Me Center...

Paul Webber coached Jackson High's football team for 20 years and had plenty of success. He then went to the high school he once attended, Poplar Bluff, and turned that program around, compiling an undefeated regular season along the way. But Webber would be hard-pressed to find a high school football season more enjoyable than 1995 -- and he wasn't even coaching...

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Southeast Missouri's Otahkians emerged with a split in Washington State's Dial Classic with an 83-64 victory Saturday night over Western Illinois. Gray C. Harris scored 34 points for Southeast, which improved to 2-2 on the season. The Otahkians were able to rebound from a 89-50 loss to Washington State in Friday's action...

ST. LOUIS -- The Jackson High wrestling squad took second at the eight-team Fox Tournament with eight wrestlers earning top four finishes. Host Fox won with 210 points. Jackson had 119.5, Sikeston finished 4th with 110 and Cape Central placed 8th with 37...

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball roster expanded to 12 over the weekend. The Indians picked up a pair of players off this year's Southeast football team, 6-foot-4, 270-pound senior Albert Bateman and 6-4, 200-pound junior Maurice Sanders. They worked out with Southeast last week in practice and were in uniform for Friday and Saturday night games in the Capital Bank Classic...

If your trophy is good enough for the wall, it might be good enough to also hang inside 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 Southeast Missourian...

Look, up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Well, it could be either one. But if it's a bird that looks as big as a plane, then chances are pretty good that you are seeing a bald eagle. While bald eagles have been designated as an endangered species by the federal government since 1987, they are relatively common throughout Missouri and Southern Illinois during the winter months. ...

For 40 years, the National Christmas Tree Association has provided a tree for the White House. Last year, the tree came from a Missouri farm. But unlike the first family, some American families choose their own tree from a lot or farm. However, it's often a difficult task to find one that fits inside the house but doesn't resemble Charlie Brown's needle-bare tree...

A little after-school visitor stayed longer than intended recently, the book we read being of more than the usual pages. When she stepped out the back door, she said, somewhat alarmed, "Oh, look what time it is!" She was observing the sun already half down at its appointed place on the western horizon. I sensed a note of half apology for staying so long, half fear that she had violated some home rule to always be home by sundown. She went flying down the walk, blond hair streaming out behind...