Stories from Wednesday, August 5, 1992

The primary is over, and the races have been won and lost. Now, Democrat and Republican candidates will be setting their sights on each other. With 90 days remaining before the general election, however, it's time to reflect on what has been Missouri's most negative primary election yet...

In an upset in the 162nd District, Democratic challenger Donald Prost defeated incumbent state Rep. Opal W. Parks with just over 52 percent of the vote. The final tally registered 3,561 votes for Prost and 3,188 votes for Parks. Parks was seeking her fourth term in the Missouri House. As no Republican filed for the seat, Prost will be unoppsed in the general election...

POPLAR BLUFF -- In a hotly contested 25th District Missouri Senate race, which turned bitter in the last four days, incumbent Jerry T. Howard held off Poplar Bluff businessman Louie Snider and one-time Poplar Bluff city attorney, Mike Black. With no Republicans having filed for the seat, Howard will be unopposed in the fall...

BLOOMFIELD - Stoddard County Republican Sheriff Arthur "Sug" Lee of Bernie will square off against Democratic challenger, Steve Fish in November. Lee, who won a special election last year after Sheriff Don Mayberry resigned, easily outdistanced his three primary challengers in Tuesday's primary election that featured a total of 10 candidates...

Fiddler Steve Schaffner will be the special guest at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band's 10th concert of the summer season tonight. The performance begins at 8 p.m. at the band shell in Capaha Park. Schaffner is orchestra instructor in the Cape Girardeau public school district. ...

St. Francis Medical Center has achieved a marriage of high technology and age-old bedside manner. Newly-installed bedside computer terminals in the inpatient neurosurgical unit will improve patient care, hospital officials said. Other units of the hospital are expected to get the computers in November, said Director of Patient Care Pauline Elliott...

JACKSON - Longtime Cape Girardeau County Associate Commissioner Leonard F. Sander was defeated in the Republican primary Tuesday. Two other incumbent Republican officeholders survived primary election challenges. Sander, seeking his ninth two-year term on the commission, lost to Larry Bock by a margin of 267 votes. Bock will face George Cox in November, who was not opposed in the Democratic primary...

U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson easily won the Republican nomination for Missouri's 8th District congressional seat. But no winner had emerged late Tuesday night in a tight race for the Democratic nomination. With 58 percent of the district's 512 precincts reporting at press time, Emerson held a 16,332 to 6,903 lead over challenger Earl Durnell of Cabool...

Betty C. Hearnes claimed an overwhelming victory Tuesday in the Democratic primary for 27th District state senator, defeating her closest rival by over 5,000 votes. Hearnes, who served five terms in the Missouri House and was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1988, claimed over half the votes in five of the six counties of the district...

BENTON -- State Rep. Dennis Ziegenhorn narrowly won re-election to a seventh term Tuesday, defeating fellow Democratic lawmaker Ollie Amick of Benton. Ziegenhorn won by 133 votes in a Democratic primary race for the 160th House seat that pitted two incumbents against each other due to redistricting. Ziegenhorn received 3,720 votes to 3,587 for Amick...

CAIRO, Ill. -- The city of Cairo has received a check for $115,994 for payment of work on the Ohio River boat ramps at the 8th Street levee. The check was one of three presented by Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar during a ceremony held recently at Pinckneyville...

JEANNINE PROST Occupation: Office manager, Blue Cross and Blue Shields of Missouri. Pet Peeve: "Scraping ice off my car windows." Describe your oddest experience: "Probably being a mohter to a high school Japanese student for 10 months. The book I'd recommend is: "Health Insurance Association of America textbooks because they are the only books I have had a chance to read lately; they would lead to a better understanding of the insurance industry; the climax of the story is yet to be written."...

NEW MADRID - All three New Madrid County incumbents easily defeated their opposition in Tuesday's Democratic primary. Sheriff Jake C. Rone received 3,029 votes, turning back challenges from Thurman Beeson, with 1,357 votes, Herschel E. Lott, with 393 votes, Claude J. McFerren, with 302 votes, and W.W. Wayne Thacker, who got 30 votes...

FREDERICKTOWN - In an above average turnout, voters in Madison County strongly rejected a proposal to impose a county wide sales tax of one half cent for a period of eight years. The temporary tax, listed as Proposition J on the ballot, was to have been used to help encourage economic development in the county. The final tally was 1,136 in favor and 1,806 opposed...

CHARLESTON - Mississippi County voters chose Larry Turley over incumbent Sheriff Avery T. Hutcheson in Tuesday's Democratic primary election. As a result Turley will face Republican Roger Paul Crites in a runoff for sheriff in the November general election. The runoff will be the only countywide race in the election...

PERRYVILLE -- The police chief of Perryville was successful Tuesday in his bid for the Republican nomination for sheriff of Perry County in a heated race that dominated the primary election. Gary J. Schaaf received 1,659 votes to win over four other candidates. He will face republican incumbent Franklin "Dutch" Schmidt in November...

PERRYVILLE -- Voters rejected a school bond issue proposal for the second time in Perry County Tuesday, and a school official said it's time to come up with an alternative way to fund building improvements. The $4.9 million measure would have allowed the district to borrow money to begin what school board members called a 10-year building plan for the district. It is necessary to handle ever-growing enrollment in the district, they said...

BENTON -- Three Scott County incumbents were defeated in Tuesday's Democratic primary, while three others, including Sheriff Bill Ferrell, were re-elected. Voter turnout was heavy, with 10,568 voters or 46 percent of Scott County's 22,890 registered voters casting ballots, election officials said...

Chester G. Myklebust, 93, 1512 Jessica, died Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1992, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

CHARLESTON -- Joe S. "Pete" Quertermous, 64, of Charleston, died Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1992, at his home. He was born March 21, 1928, in Mississippi County, son of Clarence and Thelma Smith Quertermous. He and Joyce Anderson were married Jan. 14, 1951. Quertermous worked a number of years at Brown Shoe Co. here, and then was a brick mason until ill health caused his retirement in 1984. He was a member of VFW Post 4294. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II...

SCOTT CITY -- Alene Catherine Heisserer, 83, Scott City Route 1, died Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1992, at her home. She was born March 29, 1909, at Kelso, daughter of Joe and Cecilia Dumey Messmer. She married Edward A. Heisserer March 7, 1942, at Kelso. Heisserer was a member of St. Augustine Catholic Church and St. Ann's Sodality...

The Cape Girardeau Better Breathers' Club will meet Tuesday at the Cape Girardeau Public Library at 2 p.m. The guest speaker will be Marina Coffer-Wildsmith of the American Lung Association St. Louis office. She will give a program on indoor air pollution and in-home chemical substitutions...

BERTRAND -- Linnie Duncan, 61, of Bertrand, died Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1992, at Bertrand Retirement Home. McMikle Funeral Home at Charleston is in charge of arrangements.

ORAN - Oran resident Kathy J. Keene Morgan died Monday, Aug. 3, 1992 at St. Francis Medical Center. She was 42. A former resident of Puxico, she was born Aug. 2, 1950 in New Madrid County. On Oct. 1, 1966 she married Corbit Morgan at Puxico. He survives...

SIKESTON -- Bryan Keith Turner, 20, of Sikeston died Saturday, Aug. 1, 1992 of a gunshot wound. He was born Nov. 27, 1971 in Haywood City, the son of Shirley Turner and the late Mack C. Henry Jr. He was a student at Scott County Central Schools and later attended Sikeston Public Schools...

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. John Caldwell, 2146 Belleridge Pike, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 6 p.m. Thursday, July 30, 1992. Name, Hillary Elise. Weight, 7 pounds 8 ounces. First child. Mrs. Caldwell is the former Mary Lou Milner, daughter of George and Harriet Milner of Poplar Bluff. ...

MARBLE HILL - Republican Donald L. Barks and Democrat Junior Cook led in their respective primaries late Tuesday night for Bollinger County associate commissioner. As of midnight, Bollinger County had only 12 of 13 precincts reporting. In the Democratic primary for county sheriff, Jerry D. Benfield had a substantial lead over his opponents. Bollinger County Sheriff Dan Mesey ran unopposed in the Republican primary...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide credit to the Commonwealth of Independent States for $30,000 metric tons of pork, under at program announced Sunday by President George Bush. The credit under the Export Enhancement Program will be effective this week, Bush said. The program was announced at a meeting of the National Pork Producers Council in Chicago...

JACKSON -- The Farm Bureau of Cape Girardeau County will be hosting its annual meeting Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Jackson. The annual meeting consists of an election of the Board of Directors and entertainment. Derry Brownfield of Brownfield Network will be the featured speaker...

PORTAGEVILLE -- The 1992 field day at the University of Missouri's Delta Center will feature root growth, ways to protect cotton from insects and the environment, soybean varieties and disease and weed control. Jake Fisher, Delta Center superintendent, says the field day, slated for Sept. 3, will include four tours to cater the special interests of visitors...

A primary election was held on Tuesday in preparation for the November general election, and on Monday Missouri will observe its 171st anniversary of statehood. The desire of Missourians to join the Union started in 1817 but took four years to materialize. There was great rejoicing throughout the state on Aug. 10, 1821, when residents learned that after many disappointments Missouri would be represented as the 24th star on the American flag. Missouri voters would have a voice in government...

A recent headline in this newspaper prompted a phone call from a reader who had lived on a farm most of her life. The lady felt "tow" should have been spelled "toe." Farm jargon being unfamiliar to me, I sought to satisfy her with dictionary definitions. Briefly, to "toe the line" is to conscientiously conform; "in tow" means under one's say or control. The newspaper story was about a project that was under way, so the use of tow in the headline was appropriate...

Twenty-eight dancers from Ballet Royale Midwest recently brought home top honors from the Showstoppers National Competition held in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Thirty-five states plus Canada were represented with over 2,000 acts competing during the week-long showcase...