Stories from Wednesday, April 28, 1993

When tax bills come due, Americans are all too familiar how the federal government invites itself into our wallets. What may be more obscure but just as aggravating is the federal government's intrusion into our daily lives through endless rules and regulations...

A workshop, "Understanding the Homeless", is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. at Southeast Missouri State University's Johnson Hall. Jerry Winsor, professor of speech communication at Central Missouri State University, will discuss the effects of homelessness on children and families...

While Charles Osgood was on vacation some weeks back, his stand-in announced that a dictionary of Middle English has been in progress for years. Researchers have just begun on W, he enlarged, and W alone could take years to complete. Much as we appreciate this massive effort, we have trouble enough with the first 22 letters of the English alphabet without access to what our Middlemen have discovered. All we are trying to do is preserve what's left of our language as we know it today...

JACKSON - Players in the annual American Heart Association Golf Tournament Friday will have a shot at up to $17,000 in prizes. The four-person 18-hole scramble will be held at Bent Creek in Jackson. It is sponsored annually by the Regional Heart Center at Southeast Missouri Hospital...

John Fidler, administrator at St. Francis Medical Center, and James Wente, administrator at Southeast Missouri Hospital, will be the speakers on "Ask Your Doctor" Thursday at 8 p.m. on Channel 5. They will speak on the topic of "Current Health Care Issues." This is a repeat of a previous program that aired Jan. 14...

Dr. Michael C. Wulfers os a Cape Girardeau physician. He is a graduate of Notre Dame High School, Southeast Missouri State University and University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine. He has been in private practice here since 1985. On June 8, the citizens of Cape Girardeau will be asked to make a decision which could profoundly change the complexion of your community. ...

Strapped in two buckets suspended above the flooding Mississippi River, bridge inspectors from the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department are examining the steel superstructure of the 68-year-old Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau this week and next...

The staff and board of the Southeast Missouri office of the Area Agency on Aging were praised in a compliance peer review presented Tuesday at the agency's monthly board meeting. "I am pleased to state that there were no significant findings of non-compliance noted by the experts who conducted the review," said Floyd D. Richards of St. Louis, president of the Missouri Alliance of Area Agencies on Aging. He headed the 10-member review team...

SCOTT CITY -- Scott City has paid its first quarterly dues to the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association, but not out of the city's pocket. Exactly whose pockets the money came from was not disclosed. The Scott City Chamber of Commerce received a $1,250 "gift" through the Regional Commerce and Growth Association to pay its first quarter dues to the recruitment association...

KATHIE BRENNAN Occupation: Secretary to the principal at Cape Central High School. The best part of my job is: "Making a student smile when they're having a bad day." I've always looked up to: "Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Inc. He taught me how important it is to treat people right and how important your family is to your success...

JACKSON -- Financial advisers told the Jackson Board of Education Monday that the timing of the sale next month of the $4.7 million middle-school bond issue couldn't be better. Marge Mack of Commerce Bank of St. Louis, one of the district's financial advisers in the bond sale, said: "The timing for the sale of the bonds is excellent. Interest rates are at a 30-year low. We haven't seen this level of rates in a long time."...

JEFFERSON CITY - Sen. Danny Staples was the only one of 19 Democrats in the Missouri Senate to vote against a new school foundation formula bill Thursday, as issue regarded as the top priority of Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan. On Monday, when Senate Bill 380 came up for final passage, the number of yes votes increased from 21 to 24. But Staples was not among the new "aye" voters...

Two St. Louis physicians who are experts in preparation of blood and blood products for transfusion will speak at a Blood Banking Symposium here today. Sponsored by Southeast Missouri Hospital, Heart of America Association of Blood Banks and Baxter Diagnostics Inc., the dinner meeting will be from 6-9 p.m. in Southeast's Harrison Room...

Mary Shelton prefers to use an overhead projector when she teaches her classes at Cape Girardeau Central High School. "You can teach and watch your students," she said, "so you know if they are understanding. "The work remains until the end of the hour, and students who missed something can turn back to get it."...

Carol Strattman may find herself being called "sister" next school year even though she's not a nun. The St. Mary's Cathedral School teacher was recently hired as the Catholic school's principal, the first lay person to serve in that position in the 118-year history of the Cape Girardeau institution...

Bessie Marie Biddison, 93, of Cape Girardeau, died Tuesday, April 27, 1993, at Fountainbleau Lodge. She was born Aug. 6, 1899, in Exline, Iowa, daughter of Ellsworth E. and Laura Caldwell Caster. She and Dr. Elmo A. Biddison were married Dec. 6, 1921, in Centerville, Iowa...

CHARLESTON -- Eugene Scott, 79, of Charleston, died Friday, April 23, 1993, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born March 28, 1914, in Clarksdale, Miss., son of Paul and Marilla Carson Scott. Scott was a retired farm worker, and member of Mercy Seat Baptist Church...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. James Kenney of North Syracuse, N.Y., St. Joseph Hospital in Syracuse, 12:05 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, 1993. Name, James Harris III. Weight, 8 pounds 10 ounces. First child. Mrs. Kenney is the former Nancy Spinner, daughter of George and Carolyn Spinner of Cape Girardeau. Kenney is in the master's program at Syracuse University, and is the son of Edith Kenney of Dunlap, Calif., and the late James Kenney...

The Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents will consider adopting a new system of parking permit fees when it meets Friday. The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. in the University Center Ballroom. Newly appointed regents Don Dickerson and Patricia Washington are scheduled to be sworn in at the start of the meeting by Missouri Court of Appeals Judge Stanley Grimm. Dickerson is a Cape Girardeau attorney and Washington is a St. Louis newspaper editor...

A fire swept through a home at 131 S. Benton Tuesday night. No one was injured but the house was severely damaged. Cape Girardeau firefighters were summoned to the home of Sam Egson at approximately 8:45 p.m., when neighbors called 911 after seeing flames shooting out the windows...

PERRYVILLE -- Harry W. Fassold, 77, of Perryville, died Tuesday, April 27, 1993, at American Care Center. He was born Sept. 27, 1915, at Perryville, son of William and Odeal M. Prevallet Fassold. He and Stella M. Pecaut were married June 8, 1957. Fassold was retired from International Shoe Co., and was a bartender at American Legion Post 133...

Terry Birk is keeping watch on the weather report. "Right now, the outlook is good," said Birk, of the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) office at Jackson. The forecast is for sunny conditions with high temperatures expected from 70 to 80 degrees."...