Stories from Friday, October 11, 1996

To the editor: Here we go again concerning prayer in school. This is in regard to a recent letter to the editor advocating this practice. It has never been wrong to pray as stated in the aforementioned letter. It has only been required not to make a united display of prayer in public schools, where many and diverse beliefs exist...

"Ghosts Still Speak" does what good theater always does: create its own world so that the chosen truths may reveal themselves. The play, which opens at 8 tonight at Southeast's Rose Theatre, conjures that world initially through Technical Director Dennis Seyer's extraordinary set, a microcosm of tectonic plates gone askew. ...

"This sounds a little strange," said a spokesman for the Coalition for Government Procurement, which monitors Pentagon contractor. Indeed, it sounds a whole lot strange. The odd topic is massive government spending on new construction at military bases that have been closed or are in the process of being shut down. To compound the strangeness, the Pentagon says it can't even put its finger on how much money is at stake...

Each month the Cape Girardeau County Bad Check Unit in the prosecutor's office receives 500 to 600 bad checks. Retailers want the unit to find the check writers and collect the money that is due. And the unit has been fairly successful since it was started in 1989: more than $1 million in restitution so far...

There are two places in this state where civil defendants in personal injury, products liability and other cases of this type simply do not receive a fair trial. The greatest miscarriage of justice occurs to those defendants who are sued in St. Louis. Jackson County is not far behind...

To the editor: Greenscam occurs when corporations or politicians with atrocious records on health and environmental issues use misinformation or deceit to convince the public that they are really sensitive to these issues. Because 42 percent of Americans (ABC News/Washington Post poll September 1996) rate the environment as the most important issue in this election year, it is not surprising that greenscam rises as November approaches. ...

To the editor: In reply to Nancy Burk's letter supporting Proposition A, she cannot see the forest for the trees. While some of what she says is true, it would also be a disaster for the small businessman. My wife runs a small business. She devotes seven days a week to this business and is by no means getting rich. ...

The $1.6 million federal grant awarded the Missouri State Highway Patrol Wednesday will put more troopers on the road and initiate a statewide computer-aided dispatch system. The COPS MORE grant was awarded under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act by the U.S. Department of Justice. The grant was acquired through a joint effort between Gov. Mel Carnahan and the patrol...

The city of Cape Girardeau has seen a decline in sales-tax revenue while sales-tax growth in Cape Girardeau County has been sluggish. That concerns city and county budget officials. The downturn is in sharp contrast to the last four years when the county and the city experienced a healthy growth in sales-tax revenue...

While a nine-man commission looks for ways to convince the public that a TIF District is a good idea for Cape Girardeau County, at least one city councilman is finding ways he feels it isn't. Local economic developers would like to establish the Tax Increment Financing District soon. State law provides a mechanism for counties to establish the districts, which earmark certain taxes for infrastructure improvements...

It's fairly easy to think up logical explanations for stuff that happened a thousand years ago. Go ahead, try it yourself. Whenever we travel, my wife and I manage to find out-of-the-way sites that even most locals haven't heard about. We once tried to get directions to some dinosaur footprints in New Mexico. The best the hotel clerk (a native of the area) could tell us was to stay away from the nearby lake, because a second cousin had drowned there. More than 30 years ago...

The Boy Scouts are ready to pop up their annual fund-raiser. The Scouts will sell Trails End popcorn beginning Oct. 18 and running through Nov. 8. In 1995, more than 300 packs, troops and posts in the Greater St. Louis Area Council raised more than $285,000 through the sale of popcorn...

At the end of a long day, she likes to go home, kick off her high-heeled shoes, put away her crown and curl up with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Being Miss Missouri is a full-time job for Kimberly Massaro. "There's some days when I don't want to get up in the morning and put on high heels and wear makeup," Massaro said, during a stop at the All American Kids shop in Cape Girardeau Thursday. ...

Daughter to Gregory Alan and Misty Eileen Brazel, 172 A Street, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 4:28 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, 1996. Name, Tabitha Kasey. Weight, 8 pounds 2 ounces. Mrs. Brazel is the former Misty Romine, daughter of Jack Romine and Jennie Romine of Thayer. She is employed by Department of Social Services. Brazel is the son of Connie Ferguson and Jim Ferguson of Perryville. He is employed at TG(USA)...

DEXTER -- Ethel Cutler Reed died Thursday, Oct. 10, 1996, at Advance Nursing Center. Watkins and Sons Funeral Home at Dexter is in charge of arrangements.

Harold E. Uptegrove, 75, of Eddyville, Ky., died Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996, in the emergency room of Caldwell County Hospital of an apparent heart attack. He was the son of James Belfield and Rose Abell Uptegrove. Uptegrove had been a salesman with Graybar Electric in Evansville, Ind., and realtor with Palisades Realty in Lyon County. He was a member of Central Presbyterian Church in Princeton, Ky., and Junior Achievement Program in Cincinnati, Ohio...

JACKSON -- Nora A. Clark, 80, of Lake St. Charles died Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996, at St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield. She was born Feb. 8, 1916, in Jackson, daughter of Henry H. and Anna Louise Siebert Lange. She and Marvin Clark were married May 1, 1938, at Tilsit...

DUDLEY -- Rose A. Brown, 89, of Dudley died Thursday, Oct. 10, 1996, at the Vintage Villa Nursing Center in Dexter. She was born Feb. 24, 1907, in Paragould, Ark., the daughter of Perry D. and Lula Walker Feagan. On Nov. 11, 1922, in New Madrid, she married Lee Brown. He died March 29, 1979...

JONESBORO, Ill. -- Betty Smith of Jonesboro died Thursday, Oct. 10, 1996, at her home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete with Hileman & Parr Funeral Services in Jonesboro.

A memorial service for Edward Russell McDaniel of Memphis, Tenn., will be held at 7 p.m. today at Roller-Citizens Funeral Home in Memphis. The Rev. Roger Joseph will officiate. A second memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Park Mausoleum, with Chaplain Cozette Garrett officiating...

MATTHEWS -- Funeral service for Ricky D. Skelton, Matthews Route 1, will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie. Burial will be in Dogwood Cemetery near East Prairie. Skelton, 43, died Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston...

Funeral service for Kenneth Abbott Verhines of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Mark Lutheran Church. Dr. Neal O. Zeilinger will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel from 4-8 p.m. today...

ANNA, Ill. -- Orville A. Miller, 99, of Anna died Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996, at City Care Center. He was born Dec. 6, 1896, in Mill Creek, son of Jacob and Dora Brown Miller. He and Kedron Hunter were married Nov. 7, 1918, in Jonesboro. She died July 19, 1969...

Funeral service for Mabel Ruth Pulliam of Kansas City will be held at 1 p.m. today at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Kansas City. Burial will be in Mt. Moriah Terrace Park, with Mt. Moriah Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. Pulliam, 83, died Tuesday, Oct. 8, 1996, at North Kansas City Hospital...

JACKSON -- Burvie H. Murrell, 91, of Jackson died Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996, at Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 4, 1905, in Poynor, son of Thomas J. and Dovie C. Franklin Murrell. He and Thelma Schaaf were married June 23, 1943, in St. Charles. She died April 8, 1995...

Ruby Ellen Jacobs, 95, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, Oct. 10, 1996, at Heartland Care and Rehab Center. She was born Jan. 10, 1901, near Portageville, daughter of Albert and Amelia Till Ayers. She and Brian Jacobs were married in 1919. He preceded her in death...

JACKSON -- George A. "Skin" Hellwig, 78, of Jackson died Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

FROHNA -- Edgar Arthur Versemann, 87, of Frohna died Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 19, 1909, in Perry County, son of Herman and Marie Koenig Versemann. He and Edna Lorenz were married June 7, 1936. She died Jan. 15, 1996...

ZALMA -- Violet G. Pack, 76, of Zalma died Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 24, 1919, in Greenbrier, daughter of Marvin and Opal Camren Abernathy. She and Jeff Pack were married Jan. 18, 1941, in St. Louis...

CHARLESTON -- Clarence Shively, 76, of East St. Louis, Ill., died Thursday, Oct. 10, 1996, at St. Louis University Medical Center. He was born Feb. 24, 1920, at Charleston, son of Fred Nolen and Rose M. Dugan Shively. He and Lillie Britt were married March 17, 1947...

PUXICO -- Alfred Beeman, 84, of Puxico died Thursday, Oct. 10, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 29, 1912, in St. James, the son of Roy and Minnie Carter Beeman. On April 6, 1940, in St. Louis, he married Verna Walker. She died Sept. 23, 1985...