Stories from Tuesday, January 28, 1992

Many Cape Girardeau business people favor a proposal for a 6-cent gasoline tax increase that would be phased in over a five-year period in Missouri. "The infrastructure of highways and the transportation system is critical to most retail businesses," said Harry Rediger, manager of JCPenney in West Park Mall. "Anything that will improve on roads will help us," he said...

President Bush's State of the Union address tonight won't make or break his prospects for re-election, maintain U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson and local political science professor Peter Bergerson. "I don't see this as a potential Pearl Harbor," said Bergerson, chairman of the political science department at Southeast Missouri State University. "Generally speaking, that's not the way politics works."...

JEFFERSON CITY - Efforts to pass a 6-cent fuel tax increase are focused on the Missouri House of Representatives, but if the measure passes there, area senators believe it stands a good chance of getting quick approval in their chamber. "We're waiting for the House bill," said Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence. "I'm in favor of going for a quick vote. We have got to pass this. I have analyzed the bill the last few days and I am in favor of it."...

About 100 people packed City Hall Monday to protest TCI Cablevision of Missouri's local programming. The Cable TV Citizens Committee hosted the "town hall" meeting to solicit public comments concerning local cable TV service. The committee was formed in 1990 to negotiate a new cable franchise with TCI. The meeting was held as part of the committee's responsibility to gather public comment on cable TV service...

CAIRO Ill. Closing the state Drivers License Bureau in Cairo is another example of state government's insensitivity to the economic needs of small communities, according to Cairo's Mayor Jim Wilson. The Cairo facility is one of 33 full-time Illinois driver examination centers that will be closed Feb. 15. Each of the state's 19 part-time facilities will also be closed...

Americans with disabilities have more civil rights today than they had last week. On Sunday the Americans with Disabilities Act became a federal law, giving a big boost to an estimated 43 million handicapped Americans. For governments and their facilities, and businesses with more than 24 employees, ADA bans discrimination against people with disabilities and requires "reasonable accommodations" to enable the handicapped to perform jobs or use services almost everywhere...

Union Electric is donating $1 million to charitable organizations in Missouri and Illinois, the company announced Monday. The money will be used to provide food, shelter and energy assistance for needy families, and to provide health care for children. It will go to the Dollar More program, the United Way, Salvation Army and two St. Louis children's hospitals...

Let's all stipulate to the fact that Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton has had extramarital affairs during his 16-year marriage to wife Hillary. I have several friends who've lived in Little Rock, the state capital, for some years. Little Rock is a large small town (not much bigger than Springfield, Missouri). ...

Trans-Pacific bashing has become something of a pastime lately, with individuals in the United States and Japan engaging in not-always logical chiding of one another over trade practices. The rancor is distressing. Despite legitimate disputes, America and Japan have a significant and reciprocal trade relationship, something harsh rhetoric does not take into account and does much to damage. ...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Lillie Mae Zook, 88, of East Prairie, died Sunday, Jan. 26, 1992, at Lucy Lee Hospital in Poplar Bluff. She was born July 16, 1903, in Edgar County, daughter of Frank and Minnie Pendleton Martinsville Phillipps. She married Willie Wallace Zook Oct. 29, 1924. He died Nov. 8, 1977...

MATTHEWS -- Margaret Wilson, 80, of Matthews, died Sunday, Jan. 26, 1992, at Sells Rest Home. She was born Nov. 25, 1911, at Cooter, daughter of Finis and Minnie Huey McClure. She married Michael E. Wilson in September 1940 at Cooter. He died Nov. 1, 1972...

Funeral service for Ralph F. Gruebmeyer, 2801 Bloomfield, was held Sunday at Pettett Funeral Chapel in Murphysboro, Ill. The Rev. William Matzat officiated, with burial in Pleasant Grove Memorial Park there. Gruebmeyer, 68, died Friday, Jan. 24, 1992, at the Lutheran Home...

SIKESTON -- Dr. David M. Gilmore, 40, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., formerly of Sikeston, died Friday, Jan. 24, 1992, in Ft. Lauderdale. He was born Nov. 14, 1951, in San Antonio, Texas, son of Weber and Mildred Dooley DeField Gilmore. Gilmore was a 1969 graduate of Sikeston High School, 1973 graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and 1980 graduate of University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry...

CHAFFEE -- Emory Charles Stacy, 67, of Chaffee, died Sunday, Jan. 26, 1992, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born June 15, 1924, at Festus, son of Charles James and Ollie Dorothy McCormick Stacy. He and Maxine Marie Evans were married Feb. 13, 1953...

FRIEDHEIM -- Elmer William Friese, 78, of Friedheim, died Monday, Jan. 27, 1992, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 1, 1913, here, son of William and Martha Brune Friese. He and the former Jewel B. Statler were married May 3, 1936...

Lilly May Giroir, 90, 1620 Ridgeway, died Monday, Jan. 27, 1992, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born March 20, 1901, at Boekerton, daughter of John William and Mollie Hurse Nicholas. She and Jean L. Giroir were married in July 1920. He died Aug. 31, 1985...

BELL CITY -- Earl Franklin Weeks Sr., 90, Bell City Route 1, died Sunday, Jan. 26, 1992, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born July 28, 1901, in New Madrid County, son of George C. and Ada Henry Weeks. He and Harriet I. Branum were married Dec. 7, 1921, at New Madrid. She died Oct. 7, 1987...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Florence Fults, 87, of Olive Branch, died Saturday, Jan. 25, 1992, at Southwest Regional Medical Center in Ft. Myers, Fla. She was born Feb. 18, 1904, in Willard, daughter of William Eli and Minnie Emaline Edwards Chism. She married Allen Fults Dec. 31, 1941...

CHARLESTON - Flora Mae Williams, 69, of rural Charleston, died Sunday, Jan. 26, 1992 at Charleston Manor. She was born in Charleston on Aug. 18, 1922 to the late Leonard and Estella Burnett. She was a member of the Bethlehem Baptist Church of Charleston. A sister preceded her in death...

PERRYVILLE -- Minnie C. Pingel, 86, of Perryville, died Sunday, Jan. 26, 1992, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. She was born June 29, 1905, in Perry County, daughter of Joseph and Suzanna Buerck Zoellner. She married Frank Pingel, who preceded her in death...

Virginia Lee Bartling, 69, of St. Petersburg, Fla., died Monday, Jan. 27, 1992, at her home. She was born Jan. 31, 1922, in Cape Girardeau. daughter of William and Magdalena Anna Schwettmann Foeste. She married Howard Bartling May 21, 1949, in Cape Girardeau...

The Salvation Army will serve Meals with Friends today through Friday at its community center, 701 Good Hope. Free meals will be served from 4:30-6 p.m. TUESDAY-Chili with crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, fruit Jello. WEDNESDAY-Spaghetti with meat sauce, tossed salad, green beans, pudding, bread and butter...

Two Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department classes in cheerleader/pom pom and creative wood will begin this week. The eight-week cheerleading and pom pom class starts today. The fee for the classes, which will be held Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30, is $4 for residents and $5 for non-residents...

MILLERSVILLE -- Bobbie Lynn Hitt of Millersville has been named to the dean's list for the fall semester at Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff. To be eligible for the dean's list, a student must earn at least a 3.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale...

U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson's Eighth District mobile office will be visiting Marble Hill and Jackson on Feb. 6. The mobile office provides residents a chance to talk with a representative of Emerson's office. The office is scheduled at Town & Country Foodliner in Marble hill from 12:30-1:30 p.m. and at the courthouse in Jackson from 2-3 p.m...

The Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School PTA will meet Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. Junior high counselors will talk with parents about pre-enrollment for next year. Parents of seventh grade students who will attend the junior high next year may attend also. National school counselors week will also be recognized at the meeting with a discussion of "Parents as Navigators: Exploring Human Potential."...

Craig W. Felzien, area manager of community relations for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. in Cape Girardeau and S. Kirk Hawkins, vice president of broadcast production for Weintraub & Associates Advertising in St. Louis, have been selected as recipients of Southeast Missouri State University's 1992 Young Alumni Merit Award...

St. Francis Medical Center's "Freedom from Smoking" course will be offered beginning Feb. 3 at the hospital's Health & Education Centre. The class meets at 7 p.m. weekly over a 7-week period on Feb. 3, 10, 17, 19, 24 and March 2 and 16. The program was developed by the American Lung Association and is led by former smokers who understand the motivations that drive smokers and the rationalizations they use to continue their smoking habits...