Stories from Saturday, November 26, 1994

In Cairo, public school students got out a week early for the Thanksgiving break. The extra days were courtesy of striking teachers, who have rejected a 4 percent pay increase and continue to ask for a 7 percent raise. The losers, of course, are the students whose learning has been disrupted. ...

When the winds are wailing and the snowflakes are blowing, many exercisers become couch potatoes. Cold winter weather should not deter one from exercising and keeping fit. Numerous options are available to people who prefer to remain fit during the holidays and the dreary months of January and February. These include walking on indoor tracks or the mall, swimming, working out at fitness centers and exercising at home...

Perry County Memorial Hospital has joined the Missouri Poison Network, based at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis. Through its membership, the hospital has expanded so it can treat emergency department patients for accidental poisoning, drug overdose and all types of chemical accidents...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- One of the anesthesiologists from Brigham Anesthesia Associates will offer a class on epidural anesthesia for childbirth at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. The class will be held Dec. 14 from 7 to 8 p.m. in the hospital's conference rooms 1 and 2...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Memorial Hospital of Carbondale is offering a program directed toward children 3 to 7 years old whose parents are expecting a baby. The program, entitled "Big Kids And Babies," is going to be held Dec. 14 from 4 to 5 p.m. at the hospital in the Obstetrics Education Room...

There is no better time of year to celebrate Thanksgiving than during the most enjoyable season of the year. The holiday has lost some of its historical ties to agriculture and the fall harvest. But what better time to reflect on the year -- its triumphs and disappointments -- than in poignant autumn?...

The busiest shopping day of the year at West Park Mall Friday meant security guard Al Lloyd would have to do his talking on the run. "I don't even have time to sit down today," Lloyd said while walking briskly through the mall during a midafternoon interview. "We've got to be on the lookout for just about anything today."...

The three sisters couldn't be happier. They had money in their pockets, gasoline in the car and each other as shopping buddies. The smell of bargains permeated the air. Pam Bollinger, Lena Payne and Donna Seets were a few of the thousands of Cape Girardeau-area shoppers who crowded into Wal-Mart, West Park Mall and downtown on Friday. They were determined to wrap up as much of their Christmas shopping as they could...

Merchants opened their doors early and closed them late Friday to accommodate the busiest shopping day of the year. The strategy worked. Stores that opened long before the average 9 or 10 a.m. reported shoppers standing at the doors, waiting to be let in...

It's here, and there's nothing you can do to stop it: The Christmas Shopping Season. Not to be the proverbial Grinch, but I have some major problems with this time of year. Not the kind of problems that deep people, those in touch with their feelings, have...

SCOTT CITY -- The St. Joseph Home, along with the church's school and booster club, will sponsor a benefit dance for Alex Ressel from 6:30 to 11 p.m. today at the parish center in Scott City. The son of Craig and Tammy Ressel, Alex was born prematurely. Proceeds will go to help pay medical expenses. No alcoholic beverages will be allowed...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Randy Rodgers, an aging program specialist with the Missouri Department of Social Services Division of Aging, was recognized by Gov. Mel Carnahan as State Employee of the Month for October for his quick thinking in helping an elderly couple who were robbed...

JACKSON -- Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep has been tying up a lot of loose ends for the year's end, and the end of his 16-year tenure on the commission. Since announcing more than a year ago that he wouldn't seek a fifth term in 1994, Huckstep has been preparing for Dec. 31, 1994, when his stint as the county's highest elected official ends...

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Jason Green, a Cape Girardeau native, recently took fourth place in informative speaking at dramatic interpretation at the Wayne State College Forensics Tournament in Wayne. Green is a student at Nebraska Wesleyan University and is on the school's forensics team, which placed third overall in the tournament...

JACKSON -- Rita Marie Steinnerd, 64, of Jackson, died Thursday, Nov. 24, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Feb. 13, 1930, at Kelso, daughter of John W. and Bertha Scherer Kirn. She and Melvin J. Steinnerd were married Dec. 27, 1950, at Leopold...

BELL CITY -- Funeral service for Sandra Kay Midkiff, Bell City Route 1, will be held at 1 p.m. today at Bell City General Baptist Church. The Rev. Doyle Stogsdill will officiate, with burial in Oak Hill Cemetery near Poplar Bluff. Friends may call at the church from 11 a.m. to service time...

Karl E. Grose of Indianapolis, Ind., formerly of Cape Girardeau, died Monday, Nov. 21, 1994, at his home. Grose retired in 1968 as manager with Dan Rivers Clothing. He was a member of American Legion in Michigan. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II...

OAK RIDGE -- Funeral service for Charles H. Daume Jr. of Oak Ridge will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday at McCombs Funeral Chapel in Jackson. The Revs. Bill Ellis and Rodney Travis will officiate, with burial in St. James Cemetery at Tilsit. Friends may call at the funeral home after 4 p.m. Sunday. A Masonic service will be held at 7:30...

MOUNDS, Ill. -- Graveside service for Anna Jaynes of Paris, Ark., will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at Dutch Ridge Cemetery near Carbondale. The Rev. Gilbert Gee will officiate. Friends may call at Barkett Funeral Home in Mounds after 6 p.m. Sunday. Jaynes, 81, died Wednesday, Nov. 23, 1994, at Logan County Mercy Hospital in Paris...

Donald M. Abernathy, 57, of Cape Girardeau, died Thursday, Nov. 24, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born Aug. 28, 1937, in Longtown, son of Milton John and Violet Mae Graves Abernathy. He and Zona Gale Mueller were married Aug. 15, 1964...

JACKSON -- Gilbert E. Sewing Jr., 79, of Jackson, died Friday, Nov. 25, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 27, 1915, in Arnsberg, son of Rudolph and Catherine Dickmann Sewing. He and Irene Statler were married Nov. 7, 1936...

Funeral service for Marlys Jean Brindisi of Cape Girardeau will be held at 2 p.m. today at the United Methodist Church in Valentine, Neb. The Rev. Carroll Plisek will preside, with burial in Mt. Hope Cemetery at Valentine. Brindisi, 34, died Monday, Nov. 21, 1994, at St. Louis University Medical Center...

COLUMBIA -- A sea of red gave the Jackson High School football Indians one final ovation after they received their trophy from state officials Friday afternoon at Faurot Field. Playing in the Class 4A state championship game against Excelsior Springs, the Indians had just completed a typical second half. They had nearly tripled their opponent's second-half yardage while shutting them out the final 24 minutes...

COLUMBIA -- The Jackson High Indians' dream of the school's first-ever state football championship died Friday afternoon, but it found a proper burial ground -- Faurot Field. While a few tears flowed after Jackson's 12-6 loss to Excelsior Springs in the Class 4A state championship game, the Indians found some consolation in the burial site...