Stories from Wednesday, August 7, 1991

If it were not for newspapers, we would not be as well informed about the details of state, national and world news. Years ago when newspapers were scarce, news was often spread by messengers on horseback or carrier pigeons. Fast communications were yet to be invented...

The Area Wide United Way fundraising campaign division charged with raising the largest percentage of this year's $470,000 goal is the employee division. Ken Hosp and Sharon Drum serve as co-chairmen of the that division. Hosp said: "I really believe that people who have a lot of blessings have an obligation to help those who are less fortunate," he said "The United Way is nice way to collectively help a lot of people."...

Two area congressmen want to cruise ahead with a federal transportation bill that would include funding for highway projects in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, and Rep. Glenn Poshard, D-Carterville, Ill., said they support the $153.5 billion measure...

SCOTT CITY -- Voters in Scott City on Tuesday rejected for the second time a half-cent increase in city sales tax that would have funded street repairs. The measure failed by a margin of 57.3 percent against and 42.7 percent in favor of the increase...

The Southeast Missouri tourism industry is sending some strong messages to the Missouri Division of Tourism: Get tough with the state legislature. Gear key advertising markets to include some Tennessee and Arkansas areas near the Southeast Missouri area...

Terry Risko, director of Cape Girardeau's Public Library, has launched an effort to repeal a 26-year-old state law that bars some residents from the city's library district. Risko is attempting to garner support for legislation that would rescind state regulations prohibiting cities from expanding library districts beyond their 1965 boundaries. The legislation will be introduced by state Rep. Mary Kasten of Cape Girardeau...

Greyhound buses are not stopping in Cape Girardeau, a company spokesperson clarified Tuesday. "If a person from Cape Girardeau wants to catch the bus they have to go to Perryville or Sikeston, to the station there, and they'll transport them," said Tom Clayton, customer service manager for Greyhound Bus Co. in St. Louis. Customers must buy their tickets at those places, he said...

JACKSON -- Although the Cape Girardeau County Senior Services Board won't have any money to distribute until early next year, it is now accepting requests for funds from agencies and organizations that provide services to Cape County residents over age 60...

SIKESTON -- Herbert Guy Denton, 86, of Sikeston, died Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1991, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born Aug. 6, 1905, at Barlow, Ky., son of Ernest Steven and Myrtle Major Denton. He and Maudie Abernathy were married Jan. 8, 1969, at Raytown...

CHARLESTON -- Voters in Charleston Tuesday turned back a 70-cent increase in the school district tax levy that would have funded a new junior high school building. A $3.7 million junior high building was planned to replace the one that burned in May. Twenty-nine cents of the increase would have gone toward upgrading earthquake safety measures in the present school buildings...

BENTON -- Leon Edward Compas, 64, of Benton Route 1, died Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Aug. 29, 1926, at Kelso, son of Edward and Hermina Dumey Compas. He and Wilma R. McCallister were married June 5, 1949, at Wolf Island...

John M. Litwicki, 61, 1915 Grandview, died Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Dec. 10, 1929, in St. Louis, son of Prokop and Maria Steckow Litwicki. He married Virginia Selliman in 1952 in St. Louis. She died Nov. 5, 1972. He then married Patricia Flanagan Oct. 22, 1976, in St. Louis...

PERRYVILLE -- Mary J. Keller, 84, of Perryville, died Monday, Aug. 5, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born May 2, 1907, in Perry County, daughter of William and Mary Whistler LaRose. She married Conway J. Keller Nov. 27, 1926, at Silver Lake. He died Oct. 8, 1990...

C.P. "Tubby" Koch, 84, of Cape Girardeau, died Monday, Aug. 5, 1991, at Cape Girardeau Nursing Center. He was born March 13, 1907, in Cape Girardeau, son of Henry and Pauline Sailer Koch. He and Mary Elizabeth Hahn were married March 13, 1933, in Cape Girardeau. She died Aug. 27, 1987...

JACKSON -- Floyd C. Zimmerly, 72, of Jackson, died Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1991, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born May 11, 1919, at Hermann, son of John F. and Minnie Schlenving Zimmerly. He and Dolly Sharp were married Aug. 27, 1964. She died March 8, 1990...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Lucy Jewell Forrester, 59, of St. Charles, formerly of East Prairie, died Sunday, Aug. 4, 1991, at St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles, following an extended illness. She was born May 13, 1932, at Anniston, daughter of Sidney and Nellie Grounds Grubbs. She married Ollie Forrester June 27, 1953, in St. Louis. She moved to St. Charles 35 years ago from here...

SIKESTON -- Kristin N. Hays, 2, of Sikeston, died Monday, Aug. 5, 1991, at Missouri Delta Medical Center, following an extended illness. She was born April 2, 1989, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of David Jeffrey and Sheryl Denise Staggs Hays. Survivors include her parents of Sikeston; a brother, Scott Hays of the home; paternal grandparents, Mr. ...

JACKSON -- Lawrence Williams of Route 2, Jackson, died Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1991, at his home. Service will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home. Friends may call at the funeral home after 5 p.m. today.

CHARLESTON -- Leo S. Carr, 95, of Charleston, died Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1991, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born April 19, 1896, in Prairie Du Rocher, Ill., son of William and Julia Boyer Carr. He and Maude Perkins were married Oct. 8, 1918. She died Feb. 24, 1969...

Terry Sutton is a professor of economics at Southeast Missouri State University. The Cape Girardeau resident has been on the faculty at Southeast since 1972. He is a member of several campus organizations, including Faculty Senate, and the university's Budget Review Committee...

Saddam Hussein's claim that Iraq won the recent Middle East war is like the losing Missouri candidate who declares his humiliating defeat at the polls was a valuable contribution to public understanding of the issues. --- Under Missouri's non-partisan court plan, a nominee is just a nominee until he's a friend of the governor and then he becomes a judge...

In the global marketplace, the United States has failed in some areas, giving ground to foreign nations that can generate products of greater appeal and with increased efficiency. One area where American strength remains steadfast is agriculture. Despite reports of a diminishing number of farms, America still does it better than anyone...

The sound you hear in Springfield, Ill., where the Great Plains commence and the Great Emancipator once held forth, is the gentle pitch of civility whirring into motion. Gov. Jim Edgar is the hero in this version of "Dances With Controversy." In a state where the Illini are discussed each autumn weekend and the Kaskaskia flows, political correctness (the Native American variety) has led to some general correctness...

Efforts to add to our language range from admirable to acceptable to godawful. According to an article in the Florida-Times Union (thank you, Esther), no one gets fired any more. Employees are "de-hired", or they are victims of "de-staffing". Some companies are satisfied just to dump the dead wood. Others make conditions so miserable for an unsatisfactory employee, they "miserize her outta here."...

Jazz vocalist Pat Blackwell will be the featured guest performer at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band concert tonight. The free concert begins at 8 p.m. at Capaha Park Bandshell. Blackwell will sing "Basin Street Blues," "The Nearness of You," and "Mack the Knife."...

Gov. Jim Edgar trudged through dry corn and soybean fields Tuesday in an effort to assess the drought problem in northeastern Illinois but he warned that any help from the federal government is at least three weeks away. Ironically, as northern Illinois suffered through another two days of dry weather, farmers in central Illinois saw the skies turn to gold as steady rainfall Monday and Tuesday provided up to 5 inches of rain and perked up their troubled bean crops...