St. Joseph News-Press from St. Joseph, Missouri • 9

Obituaries 2 Records 3 Qftm lisD" mm Metro Compouncfing Wound Care Walters Respiratory Equipment Turning back the pages 100 years ago: No sidewalks lead to St. Joseph's new high school. Property owners near the school don't want them. 50 year ago: Bright silk and rayon prints and flowers disappeared as women of a gypsy tribe purchased finery for a wedding. 10 years ago: Increases in salaries and a reallocation of money from one area to another prompted questions at the school board meeting.

ROGERS PHARMACY 2524 Frederick Ave. 232-3348 Toll Free 1-888-261-5400 Tuesday July 15, 1997 nursibor: 271-S500 St. Joseph News-Press 0M ii DDI (MUBiBilg Gir, 4, dies in pool at 01 MacDonald 's Farm By RONA KOBELL ronak npgco.com St Joseph News-Press Four years ago this month, Lisa Simbro wept after learning her cousin had drowned in the Missouri River. Tragedy again engulfed the 29-year-old St. Joseph mother of four Sunday Mrs.

Simbro said she had gone to the bathroom while her friend watched the eight children and four others playing in the pool. Emma had gotten out of the pool when her mother did, but slipped back into the shallow end, Mrs. Simbro said. She said the friend "didn't notice Emma had gotten in over her head." The guilt, Mrs. Simbro said, is unfathomable.

"It was the worst thing you could possibly feel," she sobbed. She said Emma, the id dle of three sisters, was an adorable child who loved to cook especially scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes. "If she burned herself, she'd give her hand a quick kiss and keep cooking," Mrs. Simbro said. The Simbros had adopted a baby boy and had just baptized him earlier that day.

A religious family, the evening, when her daughter drowned in a swimming pool at 01' MacDonald's Farm. Emma Danielle Simbro, 4, was pronounced dead at 8:24 p.m. Sunday in Heartland Regional Medical Center's emergency room, said Andrew County Coroner Terry Powell. Mr. Powell said the girl drowned when she drifted into the deep end.

"Basically, she was unnoticed for a while," WW. lAWHON JR.St. Joseph ress Emma Danielle Simbro: drowns at age 4 Xalne Hoekaday, 10, St. Joseph, stands with some of the pen exhibiting at the American Pencil Collectors Society conveners from her collection of more than 1,000 that she is tion Monday at Missouri Western State College. Girl sh ows passion for pencils Simbros sent young Emma to St.

Mary's Catholic Church Cathedral Pre-School in St. Joseph. She had a lot of friends at school and especially loved trains, requesting a birthday party with a train theme two years in a row. Named after her uncle, a local railroader, young Emma loved playing with her 18-foot plastic train track. Her mother said she was planning a train trip for Emma and her uncle, who had called her "the railroader for the next generation." Mr.

Powell said. "When they started looking for her, they found her at the bottom of the pool." Mr. Powell said the pool has no lifeguard and a sign reminding people to swim at their own risk. In his five and a half years as a coroner, he said, nobody ever has drowned in that pool. At first, Lisa Simbro said, she thought a swim before bedtime might help the children fall asleep later.

But, after suggesting it, she said she "just kept thinking I didn't want to go to the pool." But she'd already mentioned the idea to the kids, and she and a friend packed a picnic and headed for the farm. Between them, they brought eight children. It's unlikely that any pencil in your possession contains lead. Page B3 Obituary, Page B2 cils. He said having advertising on pencils is "very much an American phenomenon." Collecting advertising pencils has opened up a whole new collecting area for him, he said.

He now has more than 5,000 American advertising pencils. Mr. Sorensen and Xaine agreed that, although collecting pencils may seem a little odd to some people, they don't care. Both said their hobby was "fun and a great way to meet people." Ron Dougan of St. Joseph, the society's vice president, is the host for this year's con- a vention.

He said the public is invited to view mem-' bers' collections from 20 states and to meet some of the 100 members who are attending this year's convention. "People will never see so many pens and pencils under one roof," Mr. Dougan said. The American Pencil Collectors Society's annual convention runs through Wednesday at Western. 10-year-old Xaine Hoekaday displays collection at convention By MARSHALL WHITE mwhitenpgco.com St.

Joseph News-Press One young lady was eagerly waiting for the American Pencil Collectors Society annual convention to open on Monday morning. Xaine Hoekaday, a 10-year-old student at Mark Twain School, attended the 1995 convention and was ready to go again. "I started collecting a few pencils because of the many neat designs being printed on them," she said. At the '95 convention, she said, she was amazed to learn that so many other people shared her love of pencils. What had been a small collection has been steadily growing.

Her collection has bal- looned to more than 1,000 pencils. Monday morning, Xaine proudly arrived at Missouri Western State College with her pencil display. One of the first people she met was Finn Sorensen from Struer, Denmark. Mr. Sorensen is a former English teacher who now drives a taxi in Struer.

He has been collecting for 17 years and is one of two members from Denmark who belong to the American Pencil Collector Society The two collectors found they had duplicates and began to work out the details of a trade. When they finished, Xaine had more than a hundred new pencils for her collection. Me Sorensen said he was particularly pleased to be acquiring so many advertising pen Possible chemical leak closes eatery Driving down the lane TT 4 A Board changes faculty position Vice principals, renamed interns, only allowed to remain in post for 5 years DIANNA BORSI diannabnpgco.com tionary" measures were taken with employees to ensure their safety before reopening. A dispatcher said four people were taken to Heartland Regional Medical Center for a checkup after the incident. Mr.

Goebel couldn't confirm that, nor could he say whether those four individuals were employees. He said he did not know if any customers were in the store when the incident occurred. Officials with the St. Joseph Fire Department contacted Mary Sanders, director of the St. JosephBuchanan County Health Department, to determine whether any food had been contaminated.

Ms. Sanders said that's routine whenever a restaurant is involved in a possible contamination case. "In this case," she said, "there's no reason for concern (about carbon monoxide in the food)." She said health department workers reported the scene "smelled like plastic." Mr. Goebel said he is investigating the incident. Boston Market's manager said the restaurant plans to reopen today.

Officials at the St. Joseph Fire department couldn't be reached for comment. Boston Market workers report unfamiliar odor By RONA KOBELL ronak npgco.com St. Joseph News-Press An alert to potential carbon monoxide contamination caused Boston Market, 301 N. Belt Highway to close its doors Monday afternoon.

Emergency personnel and the St. Joseph Police Department dispatched firefighters and rescue workers to the restaurant about 12:30 p.m. Monday after employees called to report a possible carbon monoxide leak and a smell of burning plastic. Local Boston Market employees wouldn't comment on the incident. But Dave Goebel, chief operating officer of Finest Food Service, which owns the local Boston Market, said the restaurant voluntarily closed after the incident.

"We were cleared by the Board of Health and the Fire Department to reopen," he said, "but we closed down to make sure everything was OK." t. Mr. Goebel said some "precau St. Joseph News-Press You call them vice principals, the district will call them interns at least at Bode and Robidoux middle schools. At Monday's meeting, the St.

Joseph School District Board of Education approved changing the vice principal slot at those two middle school to mtern positions. The change is mostly in name, with the pay teacher's salary plus $5,000 the nine-month contract and the main duties staying the same. What will change is how long anyone can hold the position. Tenure in the intern spot will be limited to five years. This is to allow the position to be used as a training ground for principal candidates which are in short supply these days.

Please see BoardPage B3 IVAL LAWHON JR.St. Joseph News-Press Heidi Steltenpohl, 16, hides a yawn as she plays she Is the passenger In a make-believe car driven by Taylor Ogden, 2, at Bartlett Park on Monday afternoon. Heidi lives In St. Joseph with her mother, Stacy Steltenpohl, and Taylor lives with her parents, Teddi and Jody Ogden. 26-year-old man sentenced to 100 years in prison for assaulting 6 men said he plans to appeal.

"This is not the kind of person who should be locked away for the rest of his life," he said of Me Ewing, who has prior convictions for felony stealing and misdemeanor assault Ms. Donaldson said she's, unsure if the other assailant will be charged. "At this point it's an unknown individual," she "We would be interested in who that was." Michael Wilson, Ronald Stanton and Russell Donaldson, who is not related to the- assistant prosecutor. Each victim was between the ages of 16 and 21. Mr.

Ewing, who must serve 85 percent of the 50-year sentence for the four first-degree assault charges, maintained his innocence Monday "I wouldn't have done that to those boys," he told Mr Robb. Defense attorney Todd Schultz in 1996. Buchanan County Circuit Judge Patrick Robb sentenced Mr. Ewing, 26, to 100 years in prison for 13 felony charges connected to the April 12, 1996, assault at 225 Clayton St. A jury convicted Mr.

Ewing in April on one count of burglary, two counts of second-degree assault, four counts of first-degree assault and six counts of armed-criminal action. aluminum baseball bat. The only victim to attend Monday's sentencing hearing was 17-year-old Josh Zaenker, who had his spleen removed and underwent brain surgery after the assault. "I don't want anyone to go through what I went through," Mr. Zaenker said.

"It made me very paranoid." Others injured in the assault were Jack Richey, Terry Richey, "There were at least 13, this is at a minimum, repeated criminal acts," Assistant Prosecutor Laura Donaldson said. "Several of those caused serious injuries. He is directly responsible for at least three of those assaults." Authorities said Mr. Ewing, who is from St. Joseph, and at least one other man broke into a house full of teen-agers at 225 Clayton St.

and attacked six people with an Reginald Ewing attacked victims with baseball bat By OREO KOZOL gregknpgco.com St. Joseph News-Press Reginald Ewing was sentenced Monday to 100 years in prison for a baseball bat rampage that sent five St. Joseph men to the hospital.