Looking Back in Time at Oct. 10

SIKESTON - The Homestead Hotel, Highway 60 East, announced the reopening of The Homestead Dining Room scheduled for Oct. 11.

CHARLESTON - Mississippi County voters turned down a $165,000 bond issue Tuesday for the remodeling of the interior of the courthouse with a 341-232 vote. The issue required a two-thirds majority and lacked 122 votes in passing.

SIKESTON - The Sikeston Park Board unanimously approved a motion granting land in the northeast corner of the city's recreational complex for use as soccer fields.

SIKESTON - In 1992, it was a "Party with the Best or Die Like the Rest." This year, it's merely "Bumweiser." But both slogans, chosen to adorn Sikeston High School Bleacher Bumz' T-shirts, equally irritated school administrators. Organized by senior boys in 1972 as an equivalent to the all-female Red Peppers, the group isn't sponsored by Sikeston High School and isn't recognized as a legitimate school club. The 35-member organization's T-shirts drew the attention of SHS Principal Randie Fidler again this year, debuting on the day of the school's second football game of the season. A Budweiser can design, with the changed title, is on the front of the shirt. On the back, a cigarette-smoking Bulldog holds an unidentified can. Above him are the words, "Just Say No." "They were approved before Red Pepper initiation," said Bleacher Bumz President Matt Fitzgerald. "Then, after we did the usual thing of taping people up on initiation night, then Mr. Fidler said no shirts." Fidler denied granting final approval to the designs. Bleacher Bumz and other students decided to demonstrate against the T-shirt decision.