LOOKING BACK August 14, 1996
By Dixie Terry
From the August 14, 1996, issue of The Goreville Gazette comes the following: $6000 worth of railroad tracks were stolen from the Union Pacific Railroad, no longer in use, that ran from West Vienna south and over to the county line.
The railroad was in the process of being dismantled by a Nebraska company, who had stacked the tracks. The four, charged with the theft, have been arrested, are from Cypress and Joppa and are incarcerated while awaiting court proceedings.
Berna Dean Whitehead was named “July Employee of the Month” at Magna Bank. She has been employed at the Goreville bank for 26 years. “We certainly appreciate her years of service.”
In the August 5 village board meeting, a request was made for a stop sign at the corner of West Ferne Clyffe Street and South Ferne Clyffe Road. All board members voted yes.
All students of Cedar Bluff School are invited to a class reunion at the Goreville Senior Citizen Center, on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 6 pm. Y’all come–it’ll be fun!
James F. “Jake” Maze, 84, of Goreville, passed away on Aug. 5 at Marion Memorial Hospital. He was born in Goreville to James R. and Bell Treece Maze on April 2, 1912. He married Ruby Newton, who passed away in 1962.
Survivors include two sons, Jim of Vienna and Joe of Corinth, Miss. and two daughters, Nadine Coffman of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Alice Sue Thornton of Fulton. Miss., six grands, nine greats, and a sister, Ruth Brooks of Herrin, and three brothers, Athol, Ivan and Roy Lee, all of Goreville.
The funeral was Thursday at Whitnel Funeral Home, with burial at Busby Chapel, Goreville. Masonic rites were conducted by the Saline Lodge of Goreville.
Six Johnson Countygirls represented their communities well in the NSA National World Series in Columbus, Ohio, held July 31-Aug. 4 and came home in 5th place.
The players of the Southern Express team included:Betsy Prater, Monica Francis, Johnie Billingsley, Kristy Goolsby, Branon Brumley and LeeAnne Childers.
Three residents identified the Mystery Photo of last week as Diane Newton, with Cecile Morgan’s name drawn from those of Mary E. Moore and Helen Stokes. Cecile won a pizza from Dad’s Pizza, compliments of Attorney Glenn R. Tetzlaonff of Marion.
Diane Sue Newton was born at Marion Memorial Hospital on Dec. 6, 1954, to James B. and Dean Walker Newton. She has two brothers, Denny and Jimmy, both of Goreville, and three sisters, Pat Depart of Daytona Beach, Florida, and Cheryl and Carla, both of Goreville.
She attended Goreville Grade School and graduated from Goreville High School in 1973.
Diane works at mowing yards and cemeteries and last worked at Whistler and Whittler Nutrition Center. She is a member of Cedar Grove Church. She lists her hobby as walking her dog.
Five men from Texas were arrested, after a manhunt west of Goreville, by five police agencies late Sunday and early Monday. The incident happened when a state trooper attempted to stop a car for reckless driving and all five passengers ran across the Pulley’s Mill Road after running off the highway. The car had been reported as stolen in Teutopolis the day before. Four men were taken into custody on Wolf Creek Road at 8:45pm and the fifth was apphrehended around 6:30am near the 39-mile marker on I-57. All are being held without bond, awaiting court proceedings.
And so it was, on August 14, 1996, in Goreville and Johnson County.