Stories from Sunday, May 26, 1996

SIKESTON -- Dorothy G. Danner, 77, of Sikeston died Saturday, May 25, 1996, at her home. She was born Feb. 23, 1919, at East Prairie to the late Guy and Maude Barker Glover. Danner was a teacher's aide for many years at Lee Hunter Elementary School and was a member of the First Baptist Church in Sikeston...

To the editor: I would like to thank our local J.C. Penney Co. store for the recent food drive it conducted. April and May are slow months when it comes to donations, but not when it comes to meeting the needs of people in Cape Girardeau. The canned goods and cash donations will help us to continue to serve the hungry in our area...

Students at L.J. Schultz Middle School will present two encore performances of "The Wizard of Oz" Wednesday. The musical will be performed at 9:15 a.m. and at 7:30 p.m. at the Southeast Missouri State University Center Ballroom. Admission at both performances is free and open to the public...

Memorial Day services planned for Scott City, Cape Girardeau, Jackson and outlying areas: SCOTT CITY Joe Heckemeyer, Missouri State Representative for the 160th district, will make a Memorial Day address at Lightner Cemetery as a part of the Kelso Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6407 service. The service starts at 11 a.m...

Estelee Wood uses quilts in finishing many of the trunks. She says custom-made trunks are more personal to people. The large camel back trunk is probably the most popular trunks they make. Mike Wood is responsible for making the trunks, while Estelee sands them down and decorates them...

Betty and Eugene Wilson hold Elmer, who has lived in their basement in Jackson for 32 years. On May 30, fans of The Nashville Network's "Club Dance" will hear about Jackson native Elmer the Turtle, who has lived in Eugene and Betty Wilson's basement for the past 32 years...

When faced with making a fair and accurate assessment of any session of the Missouri General Assembly, it is possible to use one of these summaries: 1. The session responded to constituent needs and priorities. 2. Many constituent items on the session agenda were left untouched and unattended to...

It's that time during a Leap Year for the Great Mentioners to do lots of Mentioning of possible Republican vice presidential candidates. Peruse the list of potential GOP vice presidential nominees and you'll come across the familiar names of midwestern Republican governors: Michigan's John Engler, Ohio's George Voinovich and Wisconsin's Tommy Thompson, of radical welfare reform fame. ...

It is important, on this Memorial Day weekend, to pause to remember the reason for the three-day holiday. It is so easy to get caught up in the mood of the first long weekend of warm days and overlook the purpose of the celebration. Look around at all the U.S. ...

Several mainline religious denominations have been busy revising hymns, mostly in the name of political correctness. In most cases, God is no longer a father figure, no longer has gender or is recognized as both father and mother. Other changes attempt to remove many references that are regarded as sexist. Some even go so far as to promote world harmony over national enthusiasm...

To the editor: This is the only way I know to contact the person who sent me the anonymous letter containing money to pay for taking the money from my purse a number of years ago which, on impulse, you accepted as yours when the supermarket employee asked if it belonged to you. Yes, the purse and the cards were returned to me intact by the police and the kind man who found them. Thank you for leaving it where it would be found...

To the editor: Thank you very much for all of the coverage that your newspaper gave to the Missouri Court of Appeals during our recent session in Cape Girardeau. We were thrilled to be a part of history in the making with an all-woman panel in your historic courthouse...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Students who have not completed graduation requirements at Cairo High School here will not be permitted to go through graduation ceremonies scheduled at 3 p.m. today. The Cairo Board of Education made the decision during a special meeting held Saturday...

JACKSON -- Edith Cattron Peterson, 84, of Jackson, formerly of Butler County, died Friday, May 24, 1996, at the Fountainbleau Lodge in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 22, 1912, at Williamsville and was a member of the Community Holiness Church. Survivors include two sons, Lowen Cattron of Jackson and Orville Cattron of Arnold; three sisters, Vergie Brooks of Poplar Bluff, Valma Tune of Imperial and Juanity Harris of Winterhaven, Fla.; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren...

GULFPORT, Miss. -- Norval Lee Sams, 71, of Gulfport died Saturday, May 25, 1996. A native of Laflin, Mo., Sams was retired from American Linen Supply in 1962. He served in the 1st Marine Division Paratroopers during World War II. Sams was a member of the First Methodist Church of Gulfport, the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Long Beach and the American Legion in Gulfport...

SCOTT CITY -- Capt. Bob McEwing, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Saturday, May 25, 1996, at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. Ewing was a captain on a riverboat. Arrangements will be announced later by Amick-Burnett Funeral Home of Scott City.

BELL CITY -- Nora Etta Daniel, 80, of rural Bell City died Saturday, May 25, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born April 13, 1916, in Lamar, Ark., to William Claude and Daisy Hill Boley. On Nov. 2, 1933, in Clarksville, Ark., she married James Alvin Daniel. He died Feb. 25, 1990...

Harry Eugene "Nick" Carter, 70, formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Friday, May 24, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Sept. 10, 1925, in Anna, Ill., the son of Dorothy Sisk Carter of Cape Girardeau and the late Nick Carter. He married Virginia Lucille Prewitt on April 10, 1948, in Paragould, Ark. She died Oct. 24, 1987...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Mary Alice Hawkins, 84, of Warrenton, formerly of East Prairie, died Friday, May 24, 1996, in Doctors Hospital in Wentzville. She was born Oct. 25, 1921, in East Prairie, daughter of Lottie and Ida Black Phillips. She lived in East Prairie until 1955 when she moved to St. Louis. She moved to Warrenton in 1994...

SIKESTON - Emily Shepherd, 74, of Matthews died Friday, May 24, 1996, at Sells Rest Home in Matthews. She was born Aug. 13, 1921, at Bardwell, Ky., daughter of Thomas and Dessie Fraser Shepherd. She had lived in Matthews 10 years. She previously lived in St. Louis and Cape Girardeau...

PERRYVILLE -- Edward J. Canter, 77, of Perryville died Saturday, May 25, 1996, at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. He was born May 3, 1919, at St. Mary's. He married Alvina M. Morgan April 8, 1939. She died in 1986. He married Ina Hudson May 5, 1991, in Brewer. She survives...

DEXTER -- Michael Barnett, 22, of Dexter died here Friday, May 24, 1996. He was born in Little Rock, Ark., on Aug. 1, 1973, son of Bobby and Faye Smith Barnett. Survivors include his mother of Dexter; a brother, Farolyn Barnett of Cabot, Ark.,; a sister, Donna Barnett of West Virginia; and grandmother...

In July, one month before my upcoming wedding, I'll finally be moving out of my parents' home. It's a day both my parents and I have been anxiously waiting. (Actually, I'm not sure who's happier.) And it will certainly be an adjustment. But, as my family is all aware, it is one I, at age 24, am decidedly ready for...

ALTENBURG -- Temperatures crept into the 90s Saturday, but the crowd at the East Perry Fairgrounds didn't seem to mind. They ate snow cones or sipped cold beer, chatting with each other and taking in the sights. A voice over the loudspeaker quieted them...

Charlie Clippard remembers seeing hundreds of athletes make history at the Olympic Games, and now he will be part of history as an Olympic torch bearer. Clippard, 70, is a veteran of two wars and will carry the torch past Memorial Park Cemetery on Monday...

If voters want to extend a sales tax for state parks, and soil and water conservation, they will first have to get it on the ballot. State lawmakers left it up to citizens to get the issue on the November ballot. But lawmakers did deal with two other tax issues...

Missourians won't see a state tax cut this year. Lawmakers couldn't agree on proposals to reduce the state's surging revenue by at least $150 million to bring it under a constitutional tax lid. The state must refund income-tax money to Missourians this year and faces the prospect of a continuing series of such refunds in the future if it doesn't cut taxes to comply with the Hancock tax-limitation amendment, Southeast Missouri legislators say...

The Cape LaCroix Creek Recreational Trail concept was broached to Cape Girardeau voters in 1988 when city officials started a campaign to gather support for a sales tax to pay for a flood-control project. The 9-mile round-trip trail designed for hikers and bikers called for a blacktop or concrete pathway varying in width from 6 to 8 feet, snaking its way through parks, past benches, along and over the creek and under streets...

Bicyclists and walking enthusiasts will find a pleasant mix of town and country when they experience the first portion of the Cape LaCroix Creek Recreation Trail. A mile-plus section of the trail opened recently with the completion of a foot bridge across the creek just north of the Bloomfield Road bridge. The completed section of the trail starts at Independence, winds under Route K, South Kingshighway and Bloomfield Road and ends at Brink Street...

A 13-year-old Cape Girardeau youth suffered serious injuries when a go-cart he was driving collided with a parked truck. Brandon Harris of 2902 Bernice is listed in very serious condition at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Cape Girardeau police say Harris lost control of the go-cart while traveling north on Bernice Street, struck a the front of a parked car and slid underneath the vehicle...

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- The Memorial Day service to be held at the Mound City National Cemetery Monday will be dedicated to the late Frederic M. Winkler, long-time mayor of Mound City, who died earlier this month, and was buried in the national cemetery...

All the Olympic torchbearers admit being somewhat nervous about their relay run Monday but say they are up to the challenge. "I wasn't chosen for my athletic ability," said Jeff Krantz. "I'm not a natural." Krantz is just one of 25 "community heroes" chosen by the Area Wide United Way to carry the Olympic flame through Cape Girardeau County. Another six people were chosen by Coca-Cola to carry the flame...

Memorial Day, erstwhile Decoration Day, among other things, means that many people will gather at cemeteries for a special day of memory of loved ones who have gone on to that other dimension. Old tales will be told over again of great-great-grandpas who fought in the Civil War, participated in the Indian territory land rush or cut ties to help build the first transcontinental railroad. ...

More than 700 students from 36 area schools competed in the annual Math Field Day on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. The event was sponsored by Southeast's Department of Mathematics and the Southeast Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Two Dongola students won grand prize in the 1996 "Youth to Washington" program sponsored by Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative. Jacob Panici and Cristy Caylao, both students at Dongola, were winners in this year's contest. They will join some 70 other Illinois students for the all-expense-paid trip to the nation's capital, June 14 through 21...