Stories from Thursday, February 1, 1996

The Southeast Missouri Regional Juried Art Show will open Friday and continue through February at Gallery 100. Paintings, drawings and sculpture by artists living within a 75-mile radius of Cape Girardeau will be on display. The opening reception and awards ceremony will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Gallery, 1707 Mt. Auburn Road in Cape Girardeau...

A group of conservative Republicans and Democrats have signed a "Civility Pledge" intended to clean up the image of the U.S. House of Representatives. The movement is being led by the 40-member Mainstream Conservative Alliance, known as Republican Blue Dogs, and the 21-member Conservative Coalition, known as Democratic Blue Dogs. As their first bi-partisan initiative, both groups vow to bring respect and civility back to Congress by urging their House colleagues to honor the signed promise...

Larry King, retired St. Louis police officer and crime prevention specialist, will be guest speaker at a personal safety seminar to be held in the JCPenney corridor at West Park Mall Saturday. King, a 22-year veteran of the St. Louis Police Department, will discuss home safety, car safety and safety in public places. He will also discuss what to do if approached by a stranger or would-be assailant...

Nationally syndicated radio talk-show host Ken Hamblin will speak in Cape Girardeau in March. Hamblin is slated as featured speaker for the Cape Girardeau County Republican Women's Club's Lincoln Day Dinner. Hamblin's show airs locally from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays on KZIM-960 AM...

JACKSON -- The filing deadline for local public office was 5 p.m. Tuesday, and there will be plenty of competition for seats on the Jackson Board of Education and Jackson Board of Aldermen. Five incumbents and three challengers filed for seats on the Jackson Board of Aldermen. Last year nobody challenged four aldermen, the mayor or the city collector...

Do mice potatoes ride in `limiceines'? At last, a group of educators are conceding that memory work is a significant tool for learning. Professors at Illinois University, Champaign, are researching the effects of drugs and alcohol on memory. This news gives us yet another reason to write a column on the value of memorization in learning to spell...

NEW YORK CITY -- Beverly Lee of the Shirelles is bothered that female performing units from the '60s still are called "girl groups." "They don't identify the guys from that era as `boy groups,'" she observes. Girl group or not, the Shirelles will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at Shryock Auditorium. Tickets are available by calling (618) 453-ARTS...

For my people standing staring trying to fashion a better way from confusion, from hypocrisy and misunderstanding, trying to fashion a world that will hold all the people, all the faces, all the adams and eves and their countless generations; Let a new earth rise...

Pipes are freezing, car batteries are dying and there's very little red stuff visible on the thermometer. It's darn cold out there, and forecasters don't expect a warm-up anytime soon. Low temperatures and stiff winds from the west and northwest are combining to put the region in the deep freeze...

The Board of Regents is set to approve a strategic plan today designed to usher in a new era of learning and educational service at Southeast Missouri State University. The regents also will hear a consultant's report on the development of the campus master plan and will discuss Gov. Mel Carnahan's budget recommendations for Southeast for fiscal 1997...

Feb. 1, 1996 Dear Julie, Where is the heart of a city? In your town it's easily found. The square, with all the extraordinary stores and most colorful bars. I still tell people about the Jambalaya. All those guitar buskers and sunners and the All-Species Day Parade and good old weird Don selling hotdogs on the corner. The life of the town begins and ends there...

ST. LOUIS -- Ruby E. Lowder, 83, formerly of Blodgett and Diehlstadt, died Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1996, at the Alexian Brothers Hospital in St. Louis. She was born May 30, 1912, at Blodgett, daughter of William F. and Catherine Huey Lowder. For more than 20 years, Lowder worked at the Commercial Credit Bureau in St. Louis. She was previously employed as a dietitian at St. Mary's Hospital in Cairo, Ill. She also was a member of the Corondelet Baptist Church in St. Louis...

Daughter to S. Dale and Jill K. Holman, 1400 S. West End Boulevard, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 11:47 a.m. Friday, Jan. 12, 1996. Name, Breanna Reneah. Weight, 8 pounds 7 ounces. Third child, second daughter. Mrs. Holman is the former Jill King, daughter of Frank and Goldie King of Poplar Bluff. Holman is the son of Rev. Sidney and Brenda Holman of Festus. He is youth minister at Cornerstone Church...

SCOTT CITY -- Percy C. McCormick, 79, of Scott City died Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

CHARLESTON -- Sylvia Irene Morrison, 66, of Charleston died Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born April 13, 1929, in East Prairie to the late Jack Owens and Minnie L. Whitlock Kell. In 1953, she married Robert Eugene Morrison, who died in 1987...

CHARLESTON -- Funeral service for Glenn A. "Pete" Eddleman of Charleston will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston. The Rev. Gerald Penn will officiate, with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 10 a.m. to service time...

Anna Margaret Schwarzer, 80, of St. Martins, died Tuesday, Jan. 30, 1996, at Capitol Regional Medical Center-Madison Campus. She was born Dec. 23, 1915, in Centertown, daughter of Henry and Caroline Hentges Wekamp. She and Joseph Paul Schwarzer were married Oct. 14, 1944, in St. Martins...

PATTON -- Marion David Smith, 86, of Patton, died Tuesday, Jan. 30, 1996, in Des Arc. He was born April 29, 1909, at Patton, son of Jasper N. and Janie Tinnin Smith. He and Florence Scott were married Nov. 18, 1930. Smith attended Patton Church of God...

ANNA, Ill. -- Esther Pherigo, 78, of Anna, died Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1996, at Union County Hospital. She was born Oct. 19, 1917, in Jackson County, daughter of Alvin O. and Polly Deming Collier. Pherigo formerly owned and operated a tavern. Survivors include a brother, Wade Collier of Carterville...

CHAFFEE -- Funeral service for Samuel Dale Austin of Chaffee was held Wednesday at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee. The Rev. Patrick Tankersley officiated, with burial in Lorimier Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. Austin, 39, died Monday, Jan. 29, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...

Beatrice Sewell, 87, of Wewoka, Okla., died Friday, Jan. 26, 1996, at Holdenville General Hospital in Holdenville, Okla. She was born April 19, 1908, in Augusta, Ark., daughter of Primous and Josephine Vains West. She first married Charles Freeman, who preceded her in death. She later married Albert Sewell, who also preceded her in death...

ANNA, Ill. -- Betty Ann Mowery, 66, of Anna, died Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. She was born May 29, 1929, in Jonesboro, daughter of Guy and Hulda Reischauer Bowen. She and Harold "Jake" Mowery were married Jan. 20, 1951, in Piggott, Ark...

BLOOMFIELD -- Pearl Mae Cook, 88, died Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1996, at Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter. She was born Dec. 19, 1907, near Clines Island, daughter of James Monroe and Lottie Curd Baker. She and John Clyde Cook were married Aug. 5, 1922. He died Aug. 23, 1973...

Scott County Dorothy Ann Kirn Voluntary Trust to Joe and Lois Spalding and Ron Wright Sr.; Georgia Mae Ikerman Voluntary Trust to Joe and Lois Spalding and Ron Wright Sr.; Bobby Gene Causey to U.D. Wethington Jr.; Daniel B. and Amy M. Teasley to Danny A. and LInda J. Newton; Henry J. and Susan E. Retz to Henry G. Retz, custodian for Matthew Retz; Henry J. and Susan J. Retz to John Edward Retz; Henry J. and Susan E. Retz to Andrew Retz; Henry J. and Susan E. Retz to Robert A. Retz...

The following marriage licenses were issued by the Cape Girardeau County Recorder's Office: Norman Slinkard, 77, and Wanda Jayne Vaughn, 76; Kenneth James Surface, 22, and Karen Louise Miles, 25; Kenneth Bernard Robinson, 34, and Sonya Annette Thomas, 28; Sameer Abdulmohsin Alhumaidan, 39, and Launa Jane Norris, 34; Ralph Arnold Nussbaum, 56, and Sandra Kay Nussbaum, 42...

To the editor: In 1819 Chief Justice Marshall wrote that the "power to tax involves the power to destroy.'In 1861 President Lincoln signed into law the first nationwide income tax. Only citizens with incomes above $800 a year were subject to a 3 percent annual tax. He did this to fund the war...

To the editor: In reference to your Jan. 29 editorial: If a simpler, fairer tax code is in store for Americans, it could address more than the simple flat-tax ideas we have seen so far. It is a costly travesty that so much time and energy is needed for compliance with regulations that even the IRS often has trouble interpreting. ...

Ask any high school student to list what is most important to him. If he is honest, he will likely list his wheels in the top five items. Some prefer muscle cars, others sporty sedans or compacts and still others wouldn't feel right in anything but a pickup truck...

Businessmen in Missouri are beginning to notice a slowdown in the state's economy. As businesses react to economic conditions, employees feel the pinch reflected in meager pay raises or none at all. In some cases there are layoffs. But don't expect to gauge the condition of the economy by looking at the state's budget. ...

Gov. Mel Carnahan is echoing the national Democratic line on the economy that we're hearing out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.: Things are booming, and we've nothing to worry about. As Bill Clinton phrased it in his State of the Union address last week: "Our economy is the healthiest it has been in three decades." Well, maybe. Then again, maybe not...

To the editor: This letter is in response to the Jan. 13 editorial about chain gangs. There is no debate whether or not inmates should work. They should. They do. The debate is under what conditions they make reparation. As a matter of departmental policy, the work inmates perform must meet three tests. One, prisoners should be as productive as possible. Two, they should work at the lowest cost to taxpayers. Three, they should present the least risk to public safety...

ORAN -- Election races are heating up in this Scott County town of 1,164. Three of the city races to be decided in April are contested. Three men have filed for mayor; two for alderman in ward 4 and ward 2, and two women are running for city collector. There are also two uncontested races for aldermanic seats...

Board of Regents 3 p.m. today, University Center Ballroom Approve strategic plan Approve bachelor-of-science-degree options in applied computer science. Rename the elementary and special education department as elementary, early and special education...

Three Poplar Bluff residents have died in two separate accidents in Southeast Missouri. Paulene Lott, 75, and John Gilliam, 17, both of Poplar Bluff died Wednesday in a two-vehicle accident on Interstate 55 near Sikeston. The accident occurred at 7:30 a.m. ...

The 18th annual High School Arts Symposium will open with a reception at 2 p.m. Sunday at the University Museum. The exhibit will showcase the best recent artwork created by students from area high schools. Art teachers from most Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois high schools have assembled the work...