Stories from Thursday, January 2, 1997

"By the beginning of the Civil War, the German influence throughout the state had changed the state's political and cultural life. Their love of music and gardens, their regard for education and newspapers, and many of the Christmas customs had spread to their non-German neighbors. The opposition of German immigrants to slavery helped shift the balance of political power in the state."...

The vacant, concrete building sits atop a desolate, hilly site. Outside, more than 30 metal drums are stacked along one wall of the building. Yellow stickers on many of the barrels warn of PCB contamination. A red "no smoking" sign remains on the locked, glass front door of the former Missouri Electric Works building at 824 S. Kingshighway...

Cape Girardeau's African Americans came together New Year's Day, but it wasn't to celebrate the new year. An extended cultural family of approximately 30 people met to celebrate Imani, or faith, during the second annual Citywide Kwanzaa Celebration...

Polar-bear conditions didn't materialize for the Cape River Riders Jet Ski Club, but it was still cool sailing as members of the club performed on the Mississippi River downtown Wednesday. The Ski Freeze, which included trick skiing on jet ski crafts on the river by more than a dozen riders, including two women skiers, was conducted to raise funds for the PTO of the Parkview State School for the Handicapped in Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau's new fire chief doesn't believe in status quo. Daniel White, who begins his duties as fire chief today, said most fire departments need some fine tuning and he doesn't expect the department here to be any different. "When there's a new chief everyone expects some changes," White said. "But those changes are going to be thought through, and not be knee-jerk changes."...

Jan. 2, 1997 Dear Leslie, It's warm for January and has been foggy. The mists remind me of Northern California, where they bathe the redwood trees in almost perpetual moisture in the winter, making it possible for such gargantuan, old life form to exist. To walk through a redwood grove in winter is to feel the exchange that occurs between sky and land, to see sparkling particles of one life force adrift on billows of another...

It is fascinating how strong friendships can develop: First a casual meeting, then visits are exchanged, and finally a formal relationship is a reality. That is pretty much the way the city of Jackson arrived at its decision to explore the possibility of a sister-city relationship with the oldest city in Denmark, Ribe...

I was intrigued recently when I was at a coffee bar where someone was ordering a Cafe Breve for $2.75 and complaining about paying 50 cents for a newspaper. Each newspaper has over 50 cents worth of ink and paper in it plus news content which is gathered either through expensive wire stories or by reporters who travel to an event and then write up the news which is edited by someone else ... ...

Like most of my World War II generation, I was weaned on 30-minute radio shows that ranged from Jack Benny and Fred Allen to Helen Trent and Father Coughlin. One show that was a particular favorite of mine always started with the line, "Who knows what evil lurks in the minds of men? The Shadow knows." The adults who wrote the dialogue for this attempted mystery show surely knew there was more humor than horror in the script, although I must admit, on stormy nights, some of it seemed pretty realistic.. ...

The Trail of Tears has existed since the early 1800s, when thousands of Cherokee Indians were moved from ancestral homes in the southeastern United States and resettled in the Southwest. Various monuments and parks have served to call attention to the devastating resettlement. Now the National Park Service is incorporating the Trail of Tears into its National Trails System...

Community Awareness Corp. of Gray Summit will offer a free seminar on personal safety at 7 p.m. on Jan. 30 at the Cape Girardeau Public Library. The seminar will cover ways to be safe in the car, at home, walking and shopping with children. Community Awareness Corp. staff will provide some brochures that outline steps to avoid becoming an accident victim. The staff also will demonstrate several self-defense techniques...

After 10 years of honorable mentions in the Governor's Town Treescape Awards competition, Cape Girardeau has won its second Citation of Merit from the Missouri Department of Conservation. This time it was for the 70 trees planted in Washington Park on the northeast side of town. Parks and Recreation Department workers, along with help from the community, managed to transform a former city supply holding lot into a family gathering place...

JACKSON -- The room was filled mostly with faces familiar to county government as the winners of November's county elections took their oaths of office Tuesday. Of the seven people sworn in at the Cape Girardeau County Commission chambers by County Clerk Rodney Miller, only one -- 2nd District County Commissioner Max Stovall -- is a freshman officeholder...

Cape Central didn't have a flashy ranking, a sparkling win-loss percentage or any big winning streak Thursday. But four days later, the Tigers left the 52nd annual University High Christmas Tournament with a unique label: Southeast Missouri's Team to Beat...

ST. LOUIS -- Perryville High's boys basketball team continued its early-season success Saturday by winning the 16-team MICDS Tournament. The Pirates, now 10-1, upended Alton (Ill.) Marquette 61-47 in the championship game. Perryville trailed by one point at halftime...

Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball coach Ed Arnzen considers tonight's game against Oakland City University a must-win proposition for the Otahkians. The 1-5 Otahkians, idle since Dec. 12, take on the Division II Mighty Oaks in a 7:30 tipoff at the Show Me Center...

After watching big plays through much of the fourth quarter, Cape Central found room for a pair of its own. The tournament record books will show that fourth-seeded Cape Central bumped off the top two teams in the 52nd annual University High Christmas Tournament, capping the run with a 62-56 win Monday over Scott City...

Son to Gary Martin and Brandy Marie Green Jr. of Bell City, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 6:09 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, 1996. Name, Gary Martin III. Weight, 7 pounds 11 ounces. Mrs. Green is the former Brandy Gaskins, daughter of Kathleen Foley of Piggott, Ark., and Gary Gaskins of California. Green is the son of Tammy Green and Gary Green Sr. of Bell City...

KELSO -- Funeral service for James H. Menz of Interlachen, Fla., was held Saturday at Masters Memorial Chapel in Palatka, Fla. The Rev. Bob Taylor officiated. Menz, 86, died Thursday, Dec. 26, 1996, at Columbia North Florida Medical Center in Gainesville...

Thomas M. Broach, 75, of Cape Girardeau, died Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1997, at his home. Arrangements were incomplete and will be announced later by Ford & Sons Funeral Home.

Emma Rose Wortmann, 86, of Mexico, Mo., died Tuesday, Dec. 31, 1996, at Pin Oak Nursing Home in Mexico. She was born Sept. 24, 1910, at Middletown, daughter of Frederick William Plattenberg and Maude Hickerson Plattenberg. She married Herman William "Bruno" Wortmann at Troy. He died Aug. 24, 1956...

KELSO -- Theon P. Seyer, 88, of Kelso died Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1997, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements were incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City.

SCOTT CITY -- Funeral service for Julia Ellen Lynn of Scott City will be held at 10 a.m. today at Unity Baptist Church in Benton. The Rev. Dale Huff will officiate, with burial in the church cemetery. Friends may call at the church after 9 a.m. Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel at Scott City is in charge of arrangements...

JACKSON -- Funeral service for Ralpherd Jones of Jackson will be held at 2 p.m. today at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson. The Revs. Morris Cobb and Bill Ellis will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 8:30 a.m...

Funeral service for Thelbert Watson of Cape Girardeau will be held at 2 p.m. today at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. The Rev. Virgil Porter will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park. Friends may call at the funeral home after 1 p.m. today. Watson, 86, died Monday, Dec. 30, 1996, at Missouri Veterans Home...

JACKSON -- Mildred Pourney Seabaugh, 76, of Jackson died Tuesday, Dec. 31, 1996, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born July 20, 1923, in Cape Girardeau County, daughter of Marion and Addie Dickman Myers. Seabaugh had worked at Courtesy Dry Cleaners in Cape Girardeau and at Lenco in Jackson. She was a member of Jackson Lady Elks, American Legion Auxiliary and VFW Auxiliary...

BRAZEAU -- Esther Mildred Leigh, 84, formerly of Brazeau, died Monday, Dec. 30, 1996, at St. Peters Manor Care Center in St. Peters. She was born Jan. 27, 1912, in Brazeau, the daughter of Walter Joseph and Henrietta Elizabeth Barber Leigh. Survivors include two brothers, Glen Leigh of Perryville and Raymond Leigh of Alabama, and one sister, Alta Price of Wentzville...

Funeral Mass for Everett Walter Haskell Jr., 1105 Patricia, will be held at 7 p.m. today at St. Vincent's Catholic Church. The Rev. Milton Ryan will officiate. Graveside service will be at 10 a.m. Friday in Memorial Park. Friends may call at the church after 2 p.m. The rosary will be recited at 5, and parish prayers at 5:30...

CHARLESTON -- Thena "Rachel" Banks, 89, of Nevada, Iowa, formerly of Charleston, died Tuesday, Dec. 31, 1996, at Nevada. She was born May 29, 1907, in the Burr community in Ripley County, daughter of Roshier Cursean and Sarah Elizabeth Smelser Cates. On Nov. 23, 1923, she married Luther Elmer Banks, who died Nov. 8, 1949...

CHAFFEE -- Gladys Helen Carter, 84, of Kemah, Texas, died Monday, Dec. 23, 1996, at Southeast Memorial Hospital in Houston, Texas She was born Aug. 14, 1912, in Pottawatomie County, Okla., the daughter of Joseph and Rosa Williams. On April 15, 1939, she married Arnold Lee Carter, who died Feb. 18, 1980...

JACKSON -- Shirley Schreiner, 60, of Jackson died Tuesday, Dec. 31, 1996, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Funeral arrangements were incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.

PERRYVILLE -- Gertrude M. Weiss, 83, of Perryville died Tuesday, Dec. 31, 1996, at PerryOaks Healthcare. She was born July 29, 1913, in Perry County, daughter of Henry and Julia Taylor Grass. On Sept. 15, 1935, she married Clyde B. Weiss, who died 20, 1991...

Jerry Lee Slinkard, 55, of rural Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1997, after a stay in St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Jan. 31, 1941, in Randol, son of Eugene and Christine Clark Slinkard. On July 24, 1987, he married Sandy Kemp, who survives of Whitewater...

CRUMP -- Henry Jones, 86, of Crump died Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1997, at Jackson Manor Nursing Home. He was born Nov. 2, 1910, in the Hickory Grove community, son of Paul and Effie Ervin Jones. He married Lucille "Sally" Andrews Oct. 28, 1933. She died Nov. 25, 1990...

JACKSON -- Rosie Irene Koenig, 75, of Jackson died Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1997, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. Arrangements were incomplete at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.

CHARLESTON -- John Essary, 61, of Anniston, died at his home Wednesday, Jan. 1, 1997. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.