Stories from Saturday, February 17, 1996

To the editor Newspapers all across Missouri are reporting on a hearing held Feb. 12 in the Missouri Senate Lounge regarding specific rules on the education standards that have been adopted by the Commission on Performance and the Missouri State School Board...

To the editor: My comments pertain to a front-page item Feb. 9. The focus of the item is current efforts to reduce the frequency of divorce in the Cape Girardeau area. I felt greatly affirmed by the citing of the necessity for preparation for marriage (not wedding, but marriage). ...

Senators and congressmen have returned to their districts during the current recess to weigh the sentiments of local folk on the pressing issues in Washington. The budget battles, government shutdowns and media hype of the last few months have left many taxpayers scratching their heads. The political rhetoric may seem like business as usual in the nation's capital...

Riverboat gambling casinos that cruise on rivers are a thing of the immediate past in all but one of the Missouri communities that offer gambling. The Missouri Gaming Commission has granted requests from three more planned or existing riverboat casinos to operate from permanent dockside moorings...

The city of Cape Girardeau and Boyd Gaming Corp. have come to terms on a development agreement expected to be approved and signed over the next two weeks. The first reading of the ordinance authorizing the city's participation in the agreement is scheduled to occur at Tuesday's city council meeting. Boyd officials also are expected to attend...

PATTON -- The Meadow Heights Board of Education has fired the high school principal who blew the whistle last year on financial problems in the district. On a tie vote, the school board behind closed doors voted Thursday night not to renew the contract of Principal Rick Chastain when it expires at the end of June...

Law-abiding Missourians should be allowed to carry concealed weapons for protection, all eight legislators participating in a discussion of issues affecting the state said Friday. The four Democratic and four Republican members of the Missouri General Assembly spoke at Academic Auditorium on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University during the first of a series of public issues forums to be sponsored by the school. Approximately 75 people attended...

A community attitude survey originally scheduled to run in Friday's newspaper will be in Sunday's edition. The survey asks Cape Girardeau County residents how they feel about the effort to lure a Missouri Division of Youth Services juvenile facility to Cape County. The $3.8 million facility would be built in Klaus Park in Jackson...

On Valentine's Day, we ran a story about a couple who signed a 16-page prenuptial agreement before they wed. They believed those 16 pieces of paper would keep them married for the next 50 or 60 years, according to the wife. The document outlined who would care for the chores, where they would spend holidays and how many times a week they would make whoopie (three to five times -- I knew you'd want to know)...

IN THE most recent issue of Ollie North's Frontlines publication, the following paragraph appears: "Ironically, even as the Clinton administration chooses to endanger funding for the military with a veto of the defense authorization bill, because the bill contains a missile defense system, Secretary of Defense William Perry offered to have the U.S. ...

PERRYVILLE -- Earl "Smokie" Koenig, 75, of Perryville died Friday, Feb. 16, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements are incomplete at Young and Sons Funeral Home in Perryville.

CHARLESTON -- Fred Coleman Jr., 36, of Charleston, died Thursday, Feb. 15, 1996, at St. Louis University Hospital, from injuries received in an automobile accident Jan. 25 near Charleston. He was born July 12, 1959, in Charleston, son of Fred and Estella Murray Coleman...

SIKESTON -- Bradley Mathis Keck, infant son of Brad and Julie Lambert Keck of Sikeston, formerly of East Prairie, died Thursday, Feb. 15, 1996, at the University of California Medical Center Long Hospital in San Francisco. Shelby Funeral Home at East Prairie is in charge of arrangements...

JACKSON -- Carl George Wilhelm, 69, of Jackson, died Thursday, Feb. 15, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Nov. 22, 1926, in Jackson, son of Willie and Myrtle Schweer Wilhelm. Wilhelm was a self-employed carpenter. He was a member of St. ...

JACKSON -- Graveside service for David Brian Miller of Jackson will be held at 2 p.m. today at Russell Heights Cemetery. The Rev. Grant Gillard will officiate. There is no visitation. Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Miller, 50, died Thursday, Feb. 15, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau...

Eugene David "Dave" Comte, 61, 1137 N. Fountain, died Thursday, Feb. 15, 1996, at his home. He was born Oct. 28, 1934, in Murphysboro, Ill., son of Eugene A. and Lillian Marie Mileur Comte. He and Marilyn Phillips were married Dec. 26, 1959. Comte was employed by the Social Security Administration 30 years, and was manager of the office in Cairo, Ill., 16 years. He retired in 1986...

PERRYVILLE -- Funeral service for Alfred P. Schmidt of Perryville will be held at 2 p.m. today at Young and Sons Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Jerry Kelly will officiate, with burial in Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 11 a.m. to service time...

OLD APPLETON -- Edwin A. Amschler, 90, of Old Appleton, died Friday, Feb. 16, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Feb. 18, 1905, at Apple Creek, son of George and Sophia Unterreiner Amschler. He and Rosa J. Winschel were married May 15, 1934, at Apple Creek. She died Jan. 24, 1984...

Daughter to Karry Jo Bazzell and Edward Lee Dodd Jr. of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 1:32 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16, 1996. Name, Ashley Nicole. Weight, 7 pounds 6 ounces. First child. Miss Bazzell is the daughter of Karen Bazzell of Cape Girardeau. Dodd is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Dodd of Cape Girardeau...

A man who spent over 20 years fighting fires lost his battle with bone cancer on Friday. Mike Carlton, 50, died Friday afternoon at St. Louis University Medical Center. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau...

ALTO PASS, Ill. -- Mary Rendleman, 90, of Alto Pass, died Friday, Feb. 16, 1996, at Nature Trail Nursing Home in Mt. Vernon. Lutz and Rendleman Funeral Home at Alto Pass is in charge of arrangements.

The Community Caring Council honored the Cape Girardeau County Division of Family Services and Community Counseling Center with Community Partnership Awards Friday at the council's seventh annual Caring Conference. "These are organizations that best exemplify the goals and ideals of the Community Caring Council," said state Rep. ...

Bad weather forced cancellation of the Healthier Communities Committee town hall meeting Friday at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center. Committee members, however, will keep working to gather public input on making Cape Girardeau County a healthier place to live...

While a legislative committee sets the final guidelines for the state's speed limits, the Missouri Highway Patrol plans to strictly enforce the increased speed limit with little excessiveness allowed. Sgt. Brent Davis of the patrol's Troop E said more people will be involved in accidents and die as a result of raising the speed limit. "You hate to see a value put on life but people feel the increased speed is worth it," he said...

In the event that one of them unexpectedly died, Kathy and Paul Breitenstein made clear to each other they wished to be organ donors. While the Breitensteins supported organ and tissue donation, that support was tested in an unforeseen and tragic way...