Stories from Monday, July 1, 1996

Engineers have been in the driver's seat when it comes to shaping improvements to three heavily traveled streets in Cape Girardeau. The public will get its first opportunity to cruise through plans for Perryville and Bloomfield roads, Broadway and traffic signal upgrades at open houses this summer and fall...

Almost 60 million newspapers were sold every day in 1995. With an average of 2.29 readers per copy, that translates into more than 130 million readers. Advertising revenue in 1995 was $36 billion, up 5.7 percent from 1994, Advertisers invested more in U.S. newspapers than in any other medium. Newspapers received 22.4 percent of all advertising dollars, compared to 20.4 in broadcast television and 20.4 percent for direct mail...

The on-again, off-again, Sam's Warehouse is on-again for Cape Girardeau -- maybe! A set of plans for a $2.9 million, 114,000-square-foot Sam's Club is on file at the Cape Girardeau Inspection Service. The proposed site for the newest Sam's facility is between Wal-Mart and Lowe's Home Center...

Rejecting a lower offer for St. Vincent's Seminary, the Vincentian Fathers of St. Louis will begin foreclosing on the property this week. The Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation struggled for more than a year to raise $600,000 owed the Vincentians on the seminary property and buildings. After months of loan extensions, time has run out, the Catholic group's attorney said Sunday...

JEFFERSON CITY -- After approving and then opposing certain provisions of Wisconsin's welfare-reform plan, President Bill Clinton has added another chapter to an already lengthy process that has become more voluminous than a metropolitan phone book. A White House spokesman said the president revised his earlier enthusiastic approval of the plan that has become known as W-2 (Wisconsin Works) after reading the "fine print."...

With the long Fourth of July weekend approaching, even more people than usual will be heading for the nearest river or lake. With an estimate that as many as 60 deaths will occur on the nation's waterway over the holiday, officials are urging safe boating...

COMMERCE -- In its 206-year history, Commerce has seen both the good and bad that the river can bring. After the latest bout with the river led to a government buyout of flood-prone homes, residents who remain are determined to preserve and build on what is left of the town...

I'm waiting for the Supreme Court to declare central air conditioning an inalienable right. For the last few weeks, I've tried desperately to think of polar bears and icebergs and the North Atlantic, but apparently I'm not trying hard enough. It's still hot. It's still humid. It's still summer, and it's still Southeast Missouri...

Agenda 7:30 p.m., July 1 Public Hearing -- Hearing to consider the proposed annexation of property owned by the Jackson Elks Lodge No. 2652 into the city of Jackson Action Items -- Power and Light Committee -- Consider motion authorizing quarterly payment of $5,500 to Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association for services provided...

WATER VALLEY, Miss., -- Glenn E. Faulkner, 69, of Water Valley, Miss., died Friday, June 28, 1996, at the Baptist Memorial North Mississippi Hospital in Oxford, Miss. He was born May 16, 1927, in Chaffee, son of John and Ruth Givins Faulkner. He was a veteran of the Korean War, an engineer for Burlington Northern Railroad, a member of the Elks and VFW...

Agenda City Hall Monday, July 1, 7:30 p.m. Public Hearings -- A public hearing regarding the request of LaCroix United Methodist Church Inc. and Commerce Bank to rezone 1800 Cape LaCroix Road from R-1 to C-1. -- A public hearing regarding the request of Melvin G. Barks and Bruce A. Jateff to rezone a 52-by-150 foot section of 620 Emerald from R-4 to C-1...

Mamie L. Goehman, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, June 30, 1996, at Cape Girardeau Nursing Center. She was born Nov. 23, 1910, in Iuka, the daughter of Charles and Kathy Adel Blunt Curtis. On Sept. 11, 1958, in Marble Hill, she married Earl Albert Goehman. He died March 8, 1973...

Since 1991 the Great Steamboat Race has made a special stop in Cape Girardeau as a kickoff to the area's July 4th celebration. This year is no exception. Steamboats represent the romance and splendor of the Wild West when it was young. Brightly painted and suitably adorned, two of those Southern ladies, the Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen, will be docking at the Broadway floodgate between 9 a.m. ...

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- Ruby Williams McRae, 94, formerly of Mound City, died Friday, June 28, 1996, at her home in St. Petersburg, Fla. She was born in Mound City on Aug. 6, 1901, the daughter of Hugh and Artie Walker Williams. She attended the First Baptist Church in Mound City and was preceded in death by her husband, Hansel McRae, in 1974...

FARMINGTON -- Wilburn J. Boesch Sr., 78, of Farmington, formerly of Perryville, died Friday, June 28, 1996, at Parkland Medical Center in Farmington. He was born Nov. 11, 1917, in Perryville, son of August and Mabel Voelker Boesch. He married Ina Opal Head on Nov. 1, 1941...

SIKESTON -- Marguerite Deason, 74, of Sikeston died Saturday, June 29, 1996, at her home. She was born Oct. 14, 1921, in Memphis, Tenn., the daughter of A.C. and Nora Bourland Owens. On Aug. 15, 1936, she married Claude Deason. Deason was a member of the Shady Acres Church of Christ. She had been employed at International Shoe Co. in Sikeston and owned and operated the Blodgett Beauty Shop...

EAST PRAIRIE -- P.L. Carlyle, 68, of East Prairie died Friday, June 28, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston due to an extended illness. He was born Dec. 25, 1927, in Millageville, Tenn., the son of Pleasant L. and Hester E. Wyatt Carlyle. On Oct. 1, 1949, in Wyatt, he married Bonnie L. Weems...

BLOOMFIELD -- Gertrude Menley, 85, of Bloomfield, died Friday, 28, 1996, at the Dexter Memorial Hospital in Dexter. She was born Sept. 27, 1910, in Bloomfield, daughter of Will and Hariett Swindell Smith. She was married to Joel Freeman Menley. He died Oct. 12, 1963. She and her husband owned and operated a restaurant in St. Louis for several years, and she had been a resident of Bloomfield the past 20 years...

COLD SPRING, KY., -- Martha Marilyn Kuppersmith Uptegrove, 70, of Cold Spring, Ky., died Friday, June 28, 1996, at her home. She was born Sept. 29, 1925, in Carlock, Ill. She is survived by two daughters, Mitzi Faulkner of Cold Spring and Marsha Kay Frye of Cape Girardeau; two grandsons; two granddaughters; and a great-granddaughter...

The nation has watched as churches serving black congregations -- and whites too -- have gone up in smoke in recent months. The scene has been reminiscent of similar burnings and lynchings in the 1930s. And there have been echoes of the turbulent years of the civil rights movement...

The Good Hope neighborhood of Cape Girardeau was once a thriving commercial district. But the area has fallen on some hard times in recent years. Whether deserved or not, the neighborhood has gained a reputation as a high-crime zone. There have been efforts to stem that tide. The Salvation Army built its new building, which includes a much-used recreation center, in the heart of the Good Hope neighborhood. And the police department began focusing its community policing effort in that area...

To the editor: The other day I discovered a word which to a degree affects all of us. It was defined as that morbid and extreme desire to possess material things. It begins in early childhood as that innate desire expressed by a small child who clutches a toy he doesn't want to share and says, "It's mine." Later, it becomes that greed which causes many to feel life's only values are in material things...

Boy, those Clintons are something else, aren't they? First Bill goes around imitating old tap dancers as he softshoes around every political hot potato in the Washington ballroom. Then Hillary starts talking to old presidents' wives, most notably departed Eleanor Roosevelt, in an attempt to gain some wisdom about how to handle White House duties and keep Republican wolves from the door...

This week the Southeast Missourian asked, "What do you think about the Citadel military academy's decision to admit women?" Tracey Dunn, Cape Girardeau "I think it's a good thing. I think it's long past time." Judy Weber, Cape Girardeau "I guess if it's all right with the guys ... I think it's the all-American thing now to admit women to these academies but it's still nice to have the old traditions as well."...

JACKSON -- Seventeen new deluxe home sites on and around the Bent Creek Golf Course and its new, 10-acre lake have been opened. Bent Creek Developers of Jackson have sold the last of their condominiums, marking the end of the $3.2 million project, said Mike Litzelfelner of Bent Creek...

Dr. Ken Heischmidt, professor of marketing at Southeast Missouri State University, has been named director of the university's master of business administration program, scheduled to start this fall. Between 60 and 100 students are expected to enroll in the program, which includes four night classes this fall...

Solar Communications of Naperville, Ill., is observing its 35th year in business. The company was originally founded as John F. Hudetz & Sons in Chicago in May 1961. It relocated to Naperville in 1972 and was incorporated as Solar Press. In 1986, members of the Hudetz family decided to install an "Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), extending ownership to all Solar employees...

The Small Business Development Center will conduct counseling sessions in four areas this month. The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available July 24, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office. The counseling sessions (about one hour) are free. Call (314)-335-3312 for appointment...

Lane's Salvage Grocery Store has opened at 1227 Old Cape Road in Jackson. The new business in a 6,000-square-foot facility previously occupied by Save-A-Lot, is owned by Jack Lane, and is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Lane also owns and operates a store in Piedmont...

Gil.Co Systems, a search program for financial aid for colleges, has opened in Cape Girardeau. The service matches student applications to the "Financial Aid for College" database, which reveals information concerning scholarships, grants and awards available to college students...

Angelic Phrases, a company that specializes in the manufacture of "poetic Guardian Angels," is now available on the wholesale market. The idea of miniature angels began with a dream more than two years ago and has grown into a business that provides products to retail establishments from St. Louis to Memphis...

A beef states summit will be held at Omaha July 9. Experts from the beef industry will help officials from several states seek solutions for the troubled industry. The meeting called by Gov. Ben Nelson to address the causes of the depressed beef market will feature a diverse group of panelists...

Perry County unemployment figures dropped under the 4 percent mark in May, to 3.9. The decrease followed the pattern of the state, which fell 0.1 percent, from 4.1 in April to 4 in May. Cape Girardeau County's rate also dropped 0.1 percent, form 4.4 in April to 4.3 in May...

Building permits in the amount of 3.8 million were issued at the Cape Girardeau permit office in June. Seven residential permits were issued in the amount of $955,000, ranging from $90,000 to $185,000 for an average of $136,000. One of the largest permits was for the $1.4 million, 60,000-square-foot D&K Wholesale Drug facility...