Stories from Sunday, January 21, 1996

MARQUAND -- Myrtle Mae Starkey, 84, of Marquand died Saturday, Jan. 20, 1996, at the Madison Memorial Hospital in Fredericktown. She was born Nov. 6, 1911, at Marquand, daughter of Robert and Dovie Bollinger Cureton. She and Dolph Starkey were married. He survives...

Scott County Land Transfers John A. and Myrna M. Johnson to Jerry and Loretta Pullen Living Trust; Francis Inez Comer to Francis Inez Comer, John Barney Rhodes, et al; Paul and Betty Asbridge to Tonya Burke; Dwight and Mary Jean Crader to David and Mary Lynn Crader; Becky G. ...

Christopher T. Richards Air Force Airman Christopher T. Richards has graduated from basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. During the six weeks of training, the airman studied the Air Force mission, organization, customs, and received special training in human relations...

An antique store, Through The Years, located at 125 W. Main in Jackson, recently was awarded the Merchants Award for the float that was in Jackson's Christmas Parade. The award consisted of a plaque, and two $50 checks, one from the Merchants Association, and the other from Jackson Jaycees. The award is given to floats every year...

It's no secret that Jackson is growing, there are new businesses going up frequently. It's also no secret why. "It's just a nice community," said Jackson Chamber of Commerce President Larry Hall. "We're growing along with all of the Southeast Missouri region. But Jackson is an especially pleasant place to live."...

Mary Jane Sauer, Bent Creek Golf Club pro shop manager, sells a box of golf balls to Gene Crippen of Jonesboro, Ill. Sauer says many Illinois residents play golf at the club. Michael Robbins of Jackson puts for a birdie at the golf course, while Jim Daybe of Cape Girardeau holds the pin. Also pictured is Trae Thrower of Cape Girardeau. Barring snow and soggy conditions, the course is open seven days a week year-round...

Pearl Jam, REM, Jimmy Buffett, Counting Crows, RUSH, Miles Davis; toss the styles of all these bands into a mixing bowl and you'll have culminated the inspiration for a new local band with a unique style -- Crystal Linen. The band's four members, Kyle Burk, lead vocals and guitar; Chris Dittmer, backup vocals and rhythm guitar; Ryan Harper on drums; and Dan Mackey, bass guitarist, all live in Jackson...

Let's take a break from wallowing in Whitewater and Travelgate to discuss specifics of the proposed radical overhaul of our nation's tax system announced this past week by former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp. Last year, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich appointed Kemp to head a panel charged with investigating how to make our tax system flatter, fairer and above all, simpler. ...

We live in an age of immediacy. In fact, we have grown so accustomed to instant service that when we fail to achieve it, we often cancel our order. We wanted it yesterday, and if delivery can't be accomplished by tomorrow, we can't be bothered. This immediacy syndrome permeates much of our society. ...

In the early Reagan years, Sen. Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., gave a speech in the Senate describing the difference between the ostensible purpose of supply-side economics and the real purpose. The ostensible purpose was to reduce taxes to a point where money saved by the taxpayer would engender an avalanche of investment, creating tens of thousands of new jobs and generating a flood of additional tax revenues even at the reduced tax rates. ...

After a week's wrangling, caucusing and deal-making, the Missouri House of Representatives finally elected a new speaker to replace Bob Griffin, at 15 years the longest serving speaker in the state's history. The new House leader is 38-year-old Rep. Steve Gaw, a Moberly Democrat and, like every speaker since 1940, a lawyer...

Missouri's senior U.S. senator, Kit Bond, has taken a lead in the tough but essential work of reining in the Environmental Protection Agency. Bond, who is chairman of the Senate's appropriations subcommittee that writes the EPA budget, has identified an area of needless duplication in the gargantuan federal bureaucracy. ...

POPLAR BLUFF -- Veterans continue to receive health care at the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center despite the government shutdown. "We're working," said Dewayne Coleman, the hospital's public affairs officer. "We're here and it's business as usual. We're still taking care of the veterans, but we're not getting paid."...

BLOOMFIELD -- Lois Richard Harrison Jr., 72, of Bloomfield died Thursday, Jan. 18, 1996, at Dexter Memorial Hospital. He was born Nov. 11, 1923, at Cairo, Ill., son of Lois Richard and Rue Davenport Harrison. He had been a resident of Bloomfield since 1984. He retired from the Navy as a chief petty officer in 1961 after serving 20 years. He was also retired form General Electric Co. in Morrison, Ill...

PERRYVILLE -- Mary Bertha Thomure, 86, of Perryville died Friday, Jan. 19, 1996, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born Aug. 3, 1909, at Silver Lake, daughter of Simon A. and Mary A. Brewer Tucker. On April 27, 1938, she married Herschel W. Thomure. He preceded her in death Oct. 29, 1977...

RISCO -- Billy Joe Walker, 63, of Risco died at his home Friday, Jan. 19, 1996. He was born May 12, 1932, at Risco, son of the late Jessie Walker, and Elaner Fowler Walker, who survives of Malden. He lived in Risco his entire life, was a retired farmer and a member of the First Baptist Church of Risco...

Irene Ervin Adams Berry, 86, of Denver died Friday, Jan. 19, 1996, at El Paso, Texas, while staying with her son. She was born Jan. 23, 1909, daughter of Hezakiah and Lydia Martha Ulrich Ervin. She was married to George Ulen "Pete" Adams. He died in 1963. She later married R.C. Berry, and he died in 1994...

SCOTT CITY -- Goldie May Stinnett, 81, of Scott City died Friday, Jan. 19, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Aug. 6, 1914, in Parma, daughter of Robert Lee and Mary Elizabeth Lowery Walker. She and Homer Stinnett were married Nov. 25, 1939. He preceded her in death...

RENTON, Wash. -- Gladys Mildred Biladeau, 87, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Saturday, Jan. 20, 1996, at the Highlands Care Center in Renton. Arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

BLOOMFIELD -- Victoria McCollum, 72, of Bloomfield died Saturday, Jan. 20, 1996, at the Dexter Memorial Hospital. She was born Dec. 22, 1923, at Clines Island, daughter of Arthur and Mary Mitchell Knight. She was retired from Elder Manufacturing Co. after 32 years of service. She served as president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union...

Son to Coy Dwayne and Laura Ann Vetter of Commerce, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 12:09 a.m. Monday, Jan. 15, 1996. Name, Zachary Lance. Weight, 7 pounds 8 ounces. Mrs. Vetter is the former Laura Knight, daughter of Sandra Gallatin of Fulton and Jerry Knight of Scott City. She is a secretary at Pendergrass Enterprises. Vetter is the son of Buddy and Mary Vetter of Commerce. He is employed at Tower Rock Stone Co...

CANALOU -- Larry V. Drake, 54, of Canalou died Friday, Jan. 19, 1996, at the Auto Express Co. in West Memphis, Ark., of a heart attack. He was born March 13, 1941, in Canalou, son of the late Grover T. Drake and Helen Bean Drake, who survives of Canalou...

SIKESTON -- Ida Louise Cravens Hill, 75, of Sikeston died Thursday, Jan. 18, 1996, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born July 31, 1920, in Sikeston, daughter of Monroe and Zelma Lee Cravens. She was a member of the Tanner Street Church of God. She worked in food service at the Sikeston Public Schools for 22 years...

It is mid-January and all the males in my family have contracted a highly contagious, dreadfully caloric, and extremely over-publicized Super Bowl neurosis. I use the phrase "highly contagious" because, inevitably, the moment that any red-blooded American male mentions the words "Super" and "Bowl" in a sentence, all males within an eight-mile radius will come galloping forth, chips in hand...

MOREHOUSE -- Ronnie Lee McIntyre Jr., 27, of Morehouse, died Saturday, Jan. 20, 1996, at his home. He was born Aug. 26, 1968, son of Ronnie Lee and Barbara Kay Pfifer McIntyre, who survive. He was a carpenter and had worked as a farm hand for the Don Rodgers Farm. He was a 1986 graduate of Sikeston Senior High School...

NEW HAMBURG -- They start filing in with guns and small squares of wood about an hour before the match -- leaving plenty of time for a burger and a couple of beers. They may take a few practice shots and brag to their friends about their new guns, but then it's down to the serious business of running a shooting match...

Before Illinois lawmakers ever legalized waterways wagering, experts had estimated the state would earn from $3 million to $15 million annually in floating riverboat casino revenues. The success of riverboat gambling has far outstripped those projections. With 10 casinos now in operation, the state receives that much or more every month...

AREN'T YOU all just sick to death with politics and politicians? I am. That's why I am going to vote for a non-political figure come this November. His name is Steve Forbes. I know he's a great businessman and doesn't know anything about politics, and that is precisely why I'm going to vote for Steve Forbes...

The audience will learn unique ways to make quilts and the benefits of walking at two Cape Girardeau Public Library presentations. The first, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 10, will feature Judy Robinson talking about how to combine quilting and computers. She will demonstrate how to design a quilt using particular programs and where to go on the Internet to access quilting information...

Plans are in the works for the Southeast Missouri District Fair. "We don't know who the entertainment's going to be," said Pete Poe, vice president of the fair board. "That's usually the first thing people ask." Attendance for the fair was up about 16 percent from the 1994 event, he said, estimating attendance at approximately 92,000 people last year. Poe said 1995 was a profitable year...

Educational staff from the St. Louis Art Museum will be at the Cape Girardeau Public Library at 7 p.m. on Feb. 1 to present a program on the library's artistic offerings. Cape Public Library is a satellite center for the art museum and has resource kits available to area teachers. Some are slides with teacher's guides and others are touch kits with actual artifacts...

The future of education is taking shape today in a high-tech, computerized classroom in the basement of Southeast Missouri State University's Kent Library. This isn't your typical classroom. Everything about it is different, from its sleek, charcoal gray desks outfitted with computers to its state-of-the-art, ceiling mounted, color projector...

As the eastern sky reveals the first hint of the approaching dawn, the hunter finishes his cup of coffee and steps from his vehicle. He quickly climbs into his camouflage clothing and mentally runs through the checklist of equipment that he will take with him. He stuffs camo gloves and headnet into his pockets. He pats his breast pocket to be sure that he hasn't forgotten his call. Next he locates his ammunition and finally withdraws his shotgun from the guncase and closes the vehicle door...

The furry phantom of the cold night has made his/her presence known. Let's call him Mickey because I think it is a mouse. Late in coming this year, he was. I never see him, therefore the appellation, phantom, but I sort of wait for his arrival as one waits for a seasonal solstice...

The Cape Girardeau Civil War Round Table will start a new lecture series Sunday. The free lecture will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Hanover Lutheran Church meeting room. Dr. Frank Nickell will be the guest speaker. The Civil War Round Table is a historical interest group that coordinated the project to relocate a Confederate Memorial in Cape Girardeau...

STE. GENEVIEVE -- The annual Ste. Genevieve King's Ball will be held Feb. 3 at the VFW Hall. It will begin at 8 p.m. The pre-Lenten festival is a 250-year tradition here. Area men are treated to a piece of "Galette des Rois," or king's cake. The man who finds a special bean hidden in the cake becomes the king...

The Salvation Army will be serving Meals with Friends Monday through Friday at 701 Good Hope. Serving time is 4:30 to 6 p.m. Any individual is welcome to attend. Monday - Chili with crackers, carrot and celery sticks, Jello with fruit, bread and butter...

The 1950s reunion committee will hold a meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Public Library. Anyone interested in helping plan a reunion for the Central High School Classes of 1950 to 1959 is welcome to attend. The reunion of all 10 classes is scheduled for the summer of 1998...

A late change in "The National Issues Convention" will lead to scheduling changes Sunday on WSIU-TV 8. "The National Issues Convention" is a major component of PBS' Democracy Project, a multimedia initiative with the goal of offering a new approach to news and public affairs programming. The three-part series is moderated by Jim Lehrer of PBS' "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer."...

A support group for bereaved parents will meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. The group meets at Lutheran Family and Children's Services, 2911 Breckenridge Dr., in Cape Girardeau. The program topic is "When Will I Get Over It?" Any bereaved parent may attend. For more information, call Lutheran Family and Children's Services at 334-5866...