Stories from Tuesday, September 4, 2001

BURBANK, Ill. -- A standoff with police ended when a man who barricaded himself in a garage allegedly set off an explosion that seriously injured both him and a police lieutenant. Both men were rushed to a nearby hospital and then airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Jaroslaw Dabrowski, 29, was listed in critical condition with burns over more than 30 percent of his body. Lt. Michael Summers, 46, was in serious condition with burns over 15 percent of his body...

Untrademarked domain names are unprotected GENEVA -- Celebrities like Madonna and companies like Microsoft have already proved they have a commercial interest in protecting their names from cybersquatters who set up Web sites using their the famous monikers...

CARDENAS, Cuba -- Elian Gonzalez's father on Monday denied reports that the 7-year-old boy would go to the United Nations later this month for a conference on children. "I have been consulted about everything that happens with my family," Juan Miguel Gonzalez said, holding Elian's hand as he walked him to the front of his school for the first day of fall classes. "I'm not going anywhere," and neither is Elian, the father added...

BRISBANE, Australia -- The U.S. men's basketball team at the Goodwill Games is making plenty of believers. First, it was Phil Smyth, coach of the Australian team. Then, it was five-time Australian Olympian Andrew Gaze. Finally, it was the Mexican team...

Business counseling sessions available The Small Business Development Center will conduct counseling sessions at Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Perryville and Malden. The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office. The counseling sessions (about one hour) are free. Call 335-3312 for appointment...

NEW YORK -- The summer of 2001 will likely be a bitter memory for investors who watched their already battered stock portfolios sink yet again as hopes of a business turnaround evaporated. Unfortunately, the market's plunge this past week, including a 503-point drop in the Dow Jones industrials over four days, suggests an increasingly bleak prognosis for September and perhaps beyond...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- Aletha Emma Varnon, 84, of Scott City, died Sunday, Sept. 2, 2001, at Parkview Health Care Facility in Bolivar, Mo. She was born Feb. 9, 1916, at Ancell, Mo., daughter of Otto Walter and Anna Sander Walter. She and William "Bill" Varnon were married. He died Nov. 13, 1959...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Loy Mac Baugher, 53, of Oran, Mo., died Sunday, Sept. 2, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born April 15, 1948, at Sikeston, son of Loy M. and Mary V. Baugher. He and Sheila D. Mitchell were married July 21, 2001, at Sikeston...

Five people were reported killed in accidents on Missouri roads over the Labor Day weekend, including a Perryville, Mo., woman. Verlene Verseman, 43, suffered fatal injuries when a vehicle she was riding in was struck on Route D just south of U.S. 61 in Perry County...

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. -- A mother allegedly shot two of her sons, killing the 6-year-old and inflicting minor injuries on his 16-year-old brother, whose Bible absorbed the shotgun blast. Leslie Ann Wallace, 39, was shot and seriously wounded later Sunday by Lee County Sheriff's deputies after she fired at them, officials said. She was in serious condition Monday after undergoing surgery, according to a hospital supervisor...

CHICAGO -- Welcome to the real world, MTV. That's the message in a Chicago neighborhood, where cast members from the network's latest installment of "The Real World" have had to contend with shouting protesters, graffiti calling them "DORKS" and even an unrelated shooting that ended with a dead man outside their building...

HOLLY HILL, Fla. -- A former homeless day laborer had a happy meal at a McDonald's over the weekend. McDonald's corporate managers awarded Patrick Collier with a $1 million prize they said was randomly given out as part of the restaurant chain's effort to restore consumer confidence in its sweepstakes promotions...

BURBANK, Calif. -- "ER" star Laura Innes has an Emmy nomination -- for directing a couple of turkeys. The joke is corny but true, and the actress laughs softly as she discusses her burgeoning directing career over lunch at the Warner Bros. studio commissary...

SOUTH PEKIN, Ill. -- Bill and Cheri Miller stand amid a sea of pumpkin plants as they check on their beehives, each full of thousands of buzzing, darting honeybees that are doing most of the work in these fields until harvest time rolls around. In addition to producing honey for the Millers to collect in the fall, they also are earning the Millers rent money (about $40 per hive) from the farmers who own these fields. ...

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- About 80 of the 6,000 employees Cisco Systems laid off in April have found a good reason to hold their heads high at a time when many suddenly unemployed tech workers are having a tough time coping. In lieu of severance, they agreed to work for a year at homeless shelters, food banks and other charities, earning just a third of their Cisco salaries but keeping their benefits and stock plans...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A therapist who was treating a woman suspected of killing her children and herself says the state social services department mishandled the family's situation. But Division of Family Services officials say they are satsified that they properly investigated and handled the case of Judy Baldwin and her children...

SAN DIEGO -- Bud Smith became the 16th rookie in modern history to throw a no-hitter and the second unlikely pitcher to do it to San Diego this season in St. Louis' 4-0 win Monday night. Smith, making his 11th career start, showed the poise of a veteran in becoming the first rookie to throw a no-hitter since the Cardinals' Jose Jimenez did it in a 1-0 win against Arizona on June 25, 1999...

PROTEM, Mo. -- It's a tiny Ozark species, almost unrecognizable to the naked eye. Yet it has managed to draw attention as far away as Washington. It's known as the Tumbling Creek cavesnail, a grain-sized creature living in stream gravel only in one place in the world -- a dark Missouri cave. And last week the eyeless, almost clear snail was named for emergency review under the Endangered Species Act...

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco's Barry Bonds hit his 58th home run, but that was about the only mistake Colorado rookie Jason Jennings made as the Rockies knocked off the Giants 4-1. Jennings (3-0) pitched seven innings of three-hit ball for his third straight victory...

Cape Girardeau Tuesday, Sept. 4 DWIA subject was taken into custody Saturday pending filing of formal charges for driving while intoxicated. SummonsIgnacio Morales Salinas, 28 of 2839 Hemlock, was issued a summons Sunday for stealing. TheftTools were reported stolen Sunday at 3440 Lowes Drive...

ANNA, Ill. -- Verla Russell Griffin, 91, of Anna, died Sunday, Sept. 2, 2001, at Union City Manor and Rehab Center in Union City, Tenn. She was born June 5, 1910, in Union City, Ill., daughter of John and Sarah Russell. She and James Lee Griffin were married Nov. 5, 1962, in Texarkana, Texas. He died March 30, 1988...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Verlene L. Verseman, 42, of Perryville, died Sunday, Sept. 2, 2001, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. She was born May 2, 1959, at Perryville, daughter of Lewis and Louise Weber Petzoldt. She and David D. Verseman were married June 25, 1977...

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Terrified Roman Catholic schoolgirls clung to their parents Monday as riot police held back crowds of angry Protestants trying to keep them from walking to school through their neighborhood on the first day of classes. A Catholic mother was hit in the face with a bottle and hospitalized as police pushed Protestants away from the disputed road in Ardoyne, a mostly Catholic district of Belfast torn by riots this summer...

Four people were injured in three separate accidents on Southeast Missouri roads during the Labor Day holiday weekend. Owen Sandler, 23, of Friedheim, Mo., was injured and taken by ambulance to Southeast Missouri Hospital Monday afternoon after an accident on Route KK...

BOSTON -- Mike Mussina already had struck out 13 of 26 batters and had Carl Everett in a 1-2 hole. One more strike and Mussina would have a perfect game. Then Everett swung. Mussina knew immediately. "I thought it was a hit," he said. The pitcher who had been right all night was right again. He watched left fielder Chuck Knoblauch race in and shortstop Derek Jeter rush out. But they never had a chance...

Two schools receive state's highest rating The Kelly School District received the highest rating by the state's Missouri School Improvement Program review, conducted in March. Don Moore, district superintendent, and Dorothy Deason, MSIP coordinator, attended the state school board meeting June 21 in Jefferson City, Mo., to receive the banner recognizing the district's accredited with distinction honor...

DURBAN, South Africa -- The United States and Israel pulled out of the World Conference Against Racism on Monday, denouncing efforts to condemn Israel in the meeting's proposed declaration. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had remained in Washington and was not part of the U.S. delegation, denounced the draft declaration's "hateful language."...

Cape Girardeau woman marks 104th birthday Florence Robinson Poe celebrated her 104th birthday Aug. 24. She received well wishes from President Bush and the first lady as well as many phone calls and cards. Poe was born near Farmington, Mo., then moved to Canalou, Mo., before the town had a name. She now lives with her daughter, Iris Jackson, in Cape Girardeau...

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican President Vicente Fox sets out today for Washington, hoping to sell the U.S. Congress on the first "integrated" approach to migration: temporary work visas for Mexicans, amnesty for undocumented migrants and U.S. aid for their impoverished hometowns...

MOUND CITY, Ill. -- Roy L. Walls, 83, of Urbandale, formerly of Mound City, died Monday, Sept. 3, 2001, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Jan. 22, 1918, in Mound City, son of Charlie and Kitty Clyde Rothman Walls. He and Edyth Holdman were married; she survives...

Cape Girardeau Central won the championship of the Notre Dame Soccerfest with a 1-0 squeaker over the defending champion host squad Monday night. The battle of the two undefeated rivals, at the Notre Dame Soccer Complex, was decided on an unassisted goal by the Tigers' Arthur Pilsner at the 23-minute mark of the first half...

New general manager at home center Bill Wooten of Jackson is new general manager at Monty's Manufactured Homes Center, 602 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau. Wooten's appointment was announced recently. He has been in sales more than 20 years and has been with Monty's mobile home five years...

The Excelsior Optimist Club in Cape Girardeau is sponsoring a Project CHARLIE educator training course from 6-10 p.m. Thursday at La Croix United Methodist Church. Anyone 18 years or older is eligible for the course to help teach drug prevention to students in the second and fourth grades. The courses require a half-hour commitment each week from volunteers...

ST. LOUIS -- A 10-year-old boy who emigrated from Bosnia with his family two years ago drowned Sunday in the Meramec River. Elmin Medyseljac was swimming with family and friends near Fenton, a southern suburb of St. Louis. Elmin and a friend apparently got caught in an undercurrent about 12:30 p.m. Sunday, police said...

10 years ago: Sept. 4, 1991 Cape Girardeau County chapter of American Family Association is organizing effort to urge Cape Girardeau cable television company to drop MTV from its service; Linda Lawrence, founder of local chapter, says group will have informational booth at SEMO District Fair next week and will be seeking signatures from Cape Girardeau residents on petition asking cable company to drop MTV; group is concerned about sexual overtones of videos shown on MTV and impact it has on youth.. ...

A merger that turns two midsize U.S. paper and packaging companies into the dominant force in the coated-paper market involves a giant operation in the Tri-State area -- Westvaco Corporation, which has operations in Western Kentucky and Southeast Missouri...

WASHINGTON -- A mechanic crawls under an Army tank with a computer strapped to his belt and a keyboard on his wrist. A tiny camera clipped to a futuristic headset beams pictures back to colleagues, who whisper repair instructions through the headset speaker...

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4 City Hall Public Hearing Hearing to consider the voluntary annexation of 19.1 acres of property owned by the Southeast Missouri Medical Center Inc. Action Items Power and Light Committee Consider motion to set Fall Cleanup/Fixup Days for Oct. 1-5...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Jack T. Burnett 78, of Sikeston, Mo., and formerly of Chaffee, died Monday Sept. 3, 2001, at John Pershing Veterans Administration Hospital in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Jack was born March 29,1923 at Chaffee, the son of Harvey and Jessie Marie Litzelfelner Burnett. He married Mildred Rose Schlitt Graviett on May 13, 1978, at Sikeston...

Larry Coker has more than just his first coaching victory at Miami. He has the No. 1 team in the nation. Following a dominating 33-7 victory over Penn State, the Hurricanes replaced the Florida Gators at No. 1 in The Associated Press media poll on Monday...

TORONTO -- Alfonso Soriano hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the ninth inning as the New York Yankees rallied for their fifth straight win, 7-5 Monday over the Toronto Blue Jays. New York, a season-high 9 1/2 games ahead of second-place Boston in the AL East, rallied from a 5-2 deficit on Derek Jeter's RBI single in the seventh and Enrique Wilson's two-run double in the eighth off Paul Quantrill...

JACKSON, Mo. -- An item not on the agenda could draw the most people to tonight's meeting of the Jackson Board of Aldermen. People who oppose a preliminary city proposal to extend West Lane through to Route D, which would increase the amount of traffic that runs by some city schools, are planning to attend the meeting to demonstrate their concern...

LOWELL, Ind. (AP) -- Nine people were taken hostage by a gunman Tuesday morning in a downtown bank, and two adults and a child were released by mid-morning, police said. Authorities negotiated with the gunman for the release of the hostages, Deputy Lake County police chief Melvin Maxwell said...

Editor's note: This is a chapter from Jean Bell Mosley's book "Wide Meadows" that was first published in 1960. Aunt Hannah and Uncle Joe were out first visitors after the linoleums. Lou met them at the door: "You got any tacks in your shoes?" she inquired ungraciously. But after all, we felt very proprietary about the linoleums and wanted them to last our lifetimes....

The future of medical savings accounts will likely be decided this fall as congressional negotiators iron out some final version of the patients' bill of rights that has already been approved by the U.S. House. Results of a five-year-old experiment that made some 750,000 Americans eligible for the accounts have been mixed. ...

NEW YORK -- Pete Sampras rediscovered his greatness Monday, dominating a dangerous opponent with nearly flawless tennis punctuated by a brilliant sequence of shots on the final point. Disproving detractors who contend he's washed up, Sampras won a rare fourth-round showdown of former champions at the U.S. Open, beating Pat Rafter 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-4...

Cape Girardeau Tuesday, Sept. 4 Firefighters responded to the following calls Saturday:At 6:39 p.m., emergency medical service at Benton and Good Hope streets. At 7:12 p.m., emergency medical service at 917 Linden. At 7:15 p.m., emergency medical service at 3439 William St...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A shark attacked a couple wading in the surf off North Carolina's Outer Banks on Monday, killing the man and leaving his wife in critical condition. The death came just two days after the first fatal shark attack this year in the United States. A 10-year-old boy was killed Saturday at Virginia Beach, Va...

LOS ANGELES -- Kevin Brown wasn't as sharp as his first start off the disabled list. Still, he was good enough to win. Making his second start since returning from the DL, Brown allowed three runs in five innings Sunday night and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for a 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals...

A new study has exonerated the IUD, the birth control device that has been shunned in the United States since the 1970s because of fears it makes women sterile. The federally funded study found that never-pregnant women who had used a modern intrauterine device had no increased risk of their fallopian tubes becoming blocked...

Associated Press WriterLOWELL, Ind. (AP) -- A man trying to rob a bank took a group of people hostage Tuesday morning before surrendering hours later. No one was injured, police said. Police initially reported there were nine hostages, but news reports put the number as high as 20. Police did not release further information, pending a news conference...

AP Business WriterNEW YORK (AP) -- Motorola Inc. says it has developed a computer chip that runs 35 times faster than today's models, an innovation it hopes will lead to faster, smaller and cheaper cell phones, computers and other telecommunications equipment...

Associated Press WriterMIAMI (AP) -- Former Attorney General Janet Reno officially began her bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination on Tuesday, saying the people of Florida want a governor who is not afraid of making tough decisions...

Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Phil Gramm announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election next year. The Texas Republican said his decision followed "a long and difficult period of soul searching." Gramm's retirement, announced in a statement ahead of a news conference, will conclude a career that spanned two political parties and a quarter-century of unflinching conservatism...

A slowing economy might mean people are spending less in some parts of the country, but the Muscular Dystrophy Association saw a jump in its donations during the 36th annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon Monday. The telethon raised $381,902 from pledges and donations throughout Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and parts of Kentucky. That amount exceeded the $362,175 raised last year by almost $20,000...

Maggie listens to the radio every day from her home in rural Jackson. That's not so unusual -- except that Maggie is a Simmental heifer who calls a barn home. Jenny Eakins, Maggie's owner, says the radio is an integral part of the heifer's "stage presence" training for the SEMO District Fair, which runs Sept. 8 through 15...

WASHINGTON -- The share of HIV infections that are drug-resistant will jump to 42 percent in San Francisco by 2005, according to researchers. Estimating the current rate of drug resistance at 28.5 percent, the group used a mathematical formula to calculate its likely increase over the next few years...

Don't call them hand-me-downs. Instead, call them "sell-arounds." Consignment merchandise is no longer considered second-class. It's economical, with a good selection and growing number of outlets in which everything from suits to suitcases can be found...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Daniel William Griffin Jr., age 43, of Bridgeton, Mo., died Sunday, Sept. 2, 2001, as a result of a motorcycle accident near Fredricktown, Mo. He was born Oct. 9, 1957, at Clayton, Mo., son of Daniel W. Griffin and Imogene R. Thele...

Tuesday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m. City Hall, 401 Independence Study session at 5 p.m. Public hearings Consent ordinances A public hearing regarding the proposed issuance of tax-exempt certificates of participation in a principal amount not to exceed $2,750,000 to finance a portion of the costs of a project to be leased to Renaissance Aircraft, LLC...

JERUSALEM -- Four bombs exploded on the streets of Jerusalem early Monday, and Israel responded with a helicopter strike that sent missiles through the roof of a Palestinian security building in the West Bank. In a day of violence on several fronts, two Palestinians were killed and at least 20 were wounded, while at least six Israelis were hurt...

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Allen Nelson, a native of Cape Girardeau, passed away Sept. 1, 2001, at the age of 70. He was the former husband of Mary Kay Nelson of Foster City; father of Mary Ann Nelson of Belmont and Jessica Garcia of Foster City; brother of Edward Howard Nelson of Cape Girardeau, Mo.; uncle of Lynn Birk and her husband, Dan, Ricky Sue Koenig and her husband, Larry, all of Cape Girardeau, and Robin Holaves and her husband, Nick, of Florida and their families...

PHOENIX -- Archaeologist Gina Gage pulls a fragment of red pottery decorated with black stripes from the ground and begins to explain how it might fit into the history of one of America's most advanced and mysterious ancient cultures. Then her voice is drowned out and the shard trembles as a 747 takes off a few yards away and another of the seven jets lined up on the taxiway revs up...

WASHINGTON -- Most workdays, Clarence Thomas beats his eight Supreme Court colleagues to the office. He drives his black Corvette through the suburban Virginia dawn and scoots into the court's garage by 6 a.m. After a decade on the nation's high court, Thomas has settled into a comfortable routine that balances the court's heavy workload of reading and writing with a busy life of travel and raising a young grandnephew...

Southeast Missouri State University's football team could not quite pull off an upset at Eastern Michigan Saturday night as the Division I-A Eagles scored late to rally past the I-AA Indians 16-12. But despite the setback, Southeast linebacker Corey Mathis made enough of an impression in the Indians' season opener to nab the first Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week honor for the 2001 campaign...

GRANT CITY, Mo. -- Most Missourians probably have never heard of Worth County, one of the state's 114 counties. Those who know of the county's existence probably know it as Missouri's least populous county, which the U.S. Census Bureau says contains only 2,382 residents after losing 2.38 percent of its population over the past 10 years. The county has been losing population for decades, although not at the 12.23 percent rate of St. Louis...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. - James Richmond Sanders, 78, of Winter Park, Fla., formerly of Scott City, Mo., died Saturday, Sept. 1, 2001, at his home in Florida. He was born Nov. 22, 1922, in Fornfelt, Mo., the son of Henry W. and Hulda F. Sander Sanders. He married Virginia Gibson on May 4, 1946, and she preceded him in death. In 1969 he married Nancy St. Germain...

MIAMI -- Janet Reno plans to take the first official step Tuesday in the race for Florida governor, setting up a possible matchup between the former U.S. attorney general and the president's brother, sources said Monday. Reno will open a campaign account to enable her to raise money for the gubernatorial bid, two Democratic sources said Monday. The sources, who are close to Reno, spoke on condition of anonymity...

Welfare reform has come a long way since the Welfare Reform Act of 1997 was passed and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Millions of Americans who were part of multigenerational dependency on state and federal handouts have found jobs, many of them after completing tax-funded training programs...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Marvin Speer, 57, of Advance, died Sunday, Sept. 2, 2001, at his home. He was born Nov. 19, 1943, at Columbia, Ill., son of Virgle and Geneva Hogue Speer. He and Emma Wood were married Oct. 25, 1996, at Marble Hill, Mo. He worked as a construction superintendent for Penzel Construction Co. in Jackson, Mo. He served in the Army 182nd Airborne Division...

Positive article I'D LIKE to commend the Southeast Missourian on the article on Monroe Hicks. You need to run articles that are positive. Turnaround story THE STORY about Monroe Hicks brought tears to my eyes. I want to congratulate Monroe on turning his life around. Thank God for people like the Yates family who took him into their home. You go for it, Monroe. Don't let anything get you down. I'll be watching for you in the paper. Remember, God loves you...

WASHINGTON -- For the first time, researchers have used embryonic stem cells to produce human blood cells, a step that could lead to a new source of cells for transfusion and other therapies. Primitive human blood cells, known as hematopoietic precursor cells, were produced from human embryonic stem cells by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, led by James A. Thomson...

ST. LOUIS -- Joe Germaine, who lost his backup job at quarterback with a poor performance in the final preseason game, was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs Monday for a sixth-round draft choice. The Rams also signed quarterback Jamie Martin, who had been cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Martin previously was with the Rams from 1993-96, when coach Mike Martz was an offensive assistant with the team, and also spent the last month of the 1997 season with Martz in Washington...