Stories from Saturday, February 23, 2002

Students would pay more to eat and sleep at Southeast Missouri State University in the next academic year under a fee plan that includes a new $40-a-year charge for students in residence halls for cable TV whether they have a television or not. The Board of Regents will vote on the proposed fee hikes when it meets at 1:30 p.m. Monday in the University Center Ballroom...

SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia -- Colombian paratroopers and counterinsurgency forces stormed rebel territory Friday, launching an offensive to reconquer an area twice the size of New Jersey after a 3-year-old peace process failed. Hundreds of soldiers recaptured an old army base outside the main rebel town of San Vicente Del Caguan on the zone's western fringe, raising the Colombian flag and singing the national anthem...

VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka's government and separatist rebels signed a cease-fire deal Friday, renewing hopes for peace in a ravaged tropical paradise where 65,000 people have been killed in 18 years of terrorism and government retaliation. The sunny island off India's southern tip has been ripped apart by one of the world's worst terrorist campaigns. ...

PARIS -- At its best, marketing executives say, it's a direct way to target people from sports fans to chocolate lovers to business travelers with information they want. At its worst, it's wireless spam. Throughout Europe, advertisers and marketers are turning to cell phone text dispatches to get their message across. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Richard B. Teitelman, believed to be the state's first legally blind appellate judge, is to be the next member of the Missouri Supreme Court. Gov. Bob Holden said Friday that he would make the "groundbreaking appointment" effective March 1, the date Judge John Holstein has set to resign...

The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A Springfield man was charged with murder in the death of another man who was killed when a tank of chemical gas used to make methamphetamine exploded in their car. Prosecutors alleged that because Christopher Clark, 29, was illegally carrying anhydrous ammonia to make meth, he is responsible for the death of Brandon Riffell, 24. ...

ST. LOUIS -- A group of black community leaders on Friday accused a state lawmaker of racism for suggesting that Cardinals fans might want to carry rifles to baseball games if a new stadium was built in East St. Louis, Ill. But a news conference soon devolved into a yelling match when the lawmaker unexpectedly showed up to defend himself...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Paul Thomas has stuck it out in downtown Kansas City, basing his rubber stamp and sign business there for 42 years. He's seen neighbors come and go -- mostly go -- and watched property owners tear down their buildings instead of renovate them. In their place, uncovered parking lots lie like fallow fields in this city's core...

HERCULANEUM, Mo. -- The United Methodist Church has instructed a pastor to leave his home, and is considering closing an 87-year-old church building, as a massive lead-contamination cleanup continues. "Keeping a congregation here is not a responsible thing to do," the Rev. Paul Lathum told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for Friday's editions. "I'd like to be out of here."...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Springfield Public School District is being sued by a woman whose 6-year-old son was injured when he fell under a bus. Shane Carlson, a first-grader at Westport Elementary School, was on his way home from class on Jan. 16 when he stepped off the bus and fell backward, landing under the vehicle, said attorney Joshua Roberts, who represents the boy's mother, Melisa Gray...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Two sixth-graders who found $4,000 in the street and turned it in at school cashed in on their honesty Friday as officials surprised them with baseball tickets, honorary titles, keys to the city and a call from the governor. "This must be worth $2,000," said Jarvarious Jones, 13, surrounded by caps, uniforms, gift certificates, bike helmets, shirts and tickets to the New York Yankees opening day of spring training...

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A severely beaten toddler found bruised and unresponsive in her home died Friday. The family of the 23-month-old girl decided to remove her from life support at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, a spokesman said. The girl was found unconscious in her apartment Thursday...

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Kenny Lofton is looking forward to playing for the top team in the American League Central division again. It just won't be with the Cleveland Indians. Lofton signed a free-agent contract with the Chicago White Sox after hitting a career-low .261 for the Indians last season...

SALT LAKE CITY -- When last seen, Michelle Kwan's eyes were red, her makeup washed from her face by tears. Somewhere, beneath her thick black sweater, was her Olympic bronze medal. The gold she craved belongs to someone else, again. A teen-ager, again. This time, it's Sarah Hughes who stars in Kwan's recurring Winter Games nightmare...

SALT LAKE CITY -- Apolo Anton Ohno has lived up to the hype. Now, the teen-ager has a chance to go down as one of America's greatest Olympians. With gold and silver hanging around his neck, Ohno can become just the second U.S. athlete to win as many as four medals in a single Winter Games...

SALT LAKE CITY -- This time, the Russians knew just who to blame for an Olympic failure: The U.S. hockey team. The Americans, 22 years to the day after the infamous "Miracle on Ice" victory in Lake Placid, nipped the Russians 3-2 to reach the gold medal game for the first time since 1980. Among those cheering the U.S. team on: 1980 captain Mike Eruzione...

JUPITER, Fla. -- When Woody Williams joined the St. Louis Cardinals at the trade deadline last season, it hadn't been a stellar season for the team or its new pitcher. The Cardinals, favored to make the playoffs, were barely over the .500 mark. Williams was right at .500, 8-8 with a 4.97 ERA...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- In the rubble and mud of Kandahar, in the weary heart of a battered land, a laughing 10-year-old held up her hands Friday to show what the Eid al-Adha holiday means in the new Afghanistan: "Nail polish!" To the whistle and pop of fireworks, to the beat of a once-outlawed band, the people of this most traditional of Afghan cities, old bastion of the stern Taliban, could again celebrate a joyous Muslim holiday in the most joyous ways they could. ...

CIUDAD HIDALGO, Mexico -- Mexico's attorney general said Friday that officials were investigating whether one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted fugitives, alleged drug boss Ramon Arellano Felix, had been killed. Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said he could not rule out the possibility that a man whose body was missing after he was fatally shot by police was Arellano Felix, but he could not confirm it either...

MOSCOW -- A military cargo plane carrying Russian naval officers and their relatives crashed as it tried to land amid heavy snow in northern Russia, killing 17 people and injuring three, officials said Friday. The An-26 was making its third attempt to land late Thursday at the airport in Lakhta, near the White Sea port of Arkhangelsk, some 600 miles north of Moscow, the Interfax-Military News Agency reported...

Cape Girardeau fire chief Michael W. Lackman likens a fire department to a standing army. "We meet people at what might be the darkest times of their lives," Lackman said. "What's absolutely critical is reliability and response times. We need to be able to perform at a moment's notice."...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- They live barely 10 miles apart in suburban St. Louis. They both are married with three children and a nanny. They both drive vans. They both got involved politics only after graduating from college. Now May Scheve and Ann Wagner -- both in their late 30s -- are the first women in Missouri history to head the state Democratic and Republican parties...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Is he or isn't he? Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle isn't saying for sure. The South Dakota Democrat was quoted Wednesday in the Black Hills Pioneer newspaper as saying he was considering a run for president in 2004 but was "concerned about keeping a majority in the Senate."...

By John O. Norquist MILWAUKEE -- With the legal battle over the religious component of Cleveland's school-choice program now before the Supreme Court, the fate of other cities' programs hangs in the balance. In Milwaukee, many families now fear that the system that has brought higher achievement, fostered diversity and contributed to urban renewal may be taken away...

In 1998, the Miami City Ballet stopped at Southeast for a master class and an eclectic concert before 850 people at Academic Auditorium. Fifteen dancers in rehearsal clothing and Artistic Director Edward Villella provided what amounted to a classical ballet demonstration...

ABOARD THE USS JOHN F. KENNEDY -- Far below the thundering flight deck, the largest floating chapel in the United States military offers solace and spiritual guidance for 5,100 sailors and crew members. In an atmosphere that's as much like home as the Navy can make it -- right down to fake stone walls and faux-stained glass windows -- people of many religions go to worship as the ship heads to war...

NOBLE, Ga. -- A judge declined to set bail Friday for the operator of a north Georgia crematory where nearly 300 decaying bodies have been discovered. Magistrate Judge Jerry Day said he would decide in the next few days whether Ray Brent Marsh should be eligible for bail...

SAN DIEGO -- A neighbor of a 7-year-old girl abducted from her bedroom three weeks ago was arrested Friday after her blood was found on his clothing and in his motor home, police said. The girl was still missing. David Westerfield, 49, was taken into custody for investigation of kidnapping in the disappearance of Danielle van Dam, who vanished in the middle of the night...

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The Air Force's civilian leader wants to end the post-Sept. 11 practice of continuous fighter jet patrols over U.S. cities and instead leave fighters on "strip alert" at airfields, ready to launch in case of emergency...

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- The eight Army soldiers presumed dead Friday after their helicopter crashed into the sea in the southern Philippines were members of an elite special forces regiment depicted in the new film "Black Hawk Down." The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, based at Fort Campbell, slips special forces commandos behind enemy lines aboard Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters. ...

HOUSTON -- Andrea Yates moaned, cried and pulled at her hair the morning after she was arrested for drowning her five children, a jail psychiatrist testified Friday in defense of the Houston woman. The testimony came as Yates' lawyers began making their case to jurors that Yates is innocent of capital murder by reason of insanity...

MUSKEGON, Mich. -- A judge ordered an estranged couple handcuffed together and jailed during a divorce hearing. When Sabrena and Kirk Smith's stories contradicted each other during a hearing Jan. 25, Muskegon County Judge Gregory Pittman ordered them cuffed together and shackled to a holding cell bench "until somebody decides that they're going to not lie to the court."...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Sen. Jesse Helms' 180-degree turn on AIDS funding -- from staunch opponent to a man who admits shame for his earlier stance -- elicited praise from women who founded an anti-Helms group after their sons died of AIDS. "Of course, I'm thrilled," said Patsy Clarke, co-founder of Mothers Against Jesse in Congress. "I really never thought I would live to see the day. ... I'm particularly grateful that he would say he's ashamed."...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's president vowed on Friday to hunt down every one of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's kidnappers and to treat terrorism with "an iron hand." Police said they were no longer restrained in the hunt for the kidnappers by concern for the safety of the hostage...

LUANDA, Angola -- Jonas Savimbi, leader of the rebel group that has fought the government and frustrated peace efforts for nearly three decades, was killed Friday in a military attack on UNITA forces in southeast Angola, the army and government said...

BEIJING -- President Bush softened his "axis of evil" rhetoric in Asia, but his strong words already had gotten North Korea's attention, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday. Indeed, North Korea shot back that Bush was "a politically backward child."...

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- PGA champion David Toms birdied the 18th hole to beat Steve Flesch and become the only top-10 seed to advance to the quarterfinals of the Match Play Championship. Paul Azinger made a gutsy comeback against Niclas Fasth of Sweden with birdies on four of the last five holes Friday. Azinger won in 20 holes, giving the United States seven players in the quarterfinals of the World Golf Championships event...

WASHINGTON -- The reclusive Mississippi gopher frog and the fearsome grizzly bear are among a host of rare animals facing an even more uncertain future, conservationists say. They say habitat protections, recovery programs and funding are being neglected or scaled back -- allegations the Bush administration denies...

WASHINGTON -- The government and Miss Cleo's psychic hot line have reached a temporary meeting of the minds allowing the telephone service to keep predicting while an investigator looks into charges that it has defrauded customers. U.S. District Judge Alan Gold of the Southern District of Florida has approved a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission under which a court-appointed auditor will monitor all past, present and future activities of Access Resource Services Inc. ...

Kevin Roberts could have received a college basketball scholarship at a small program. But Roberts was confident he could play at the NCAA Division I level, so he decided to accept Southeast Missouri State University's offer to join the Indians as a recruited walk-on...

The opening weekend was disappointing, but not entirely discouraging for Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team. The Indians (0-3) were swept by Oklahoma, losing 5-4 in 10 innings, followed by 10-1 and 18-5 losses. "We had some opportunities and it was disappointing to get swept," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "But we accomplished some things we wanted to do. I saw a lot of positive signs."...

The stinging feeling is still there from the last game against Austin Peay. Today, the Southeast Missouri State University women have a chance for redemption when they end the regular season against the Lady Governors in Clarksville, Tenn. The tipoff will be at 5:30 p.m...

Basketball Trail Blazers forward Shawn Kemp was suspended without pay by the NBA for violating terms of the league's anti-drug agreement. An NBA spokesperson said the suspension will continue until he has "resumed full compliance with his treatment program."...

Backing Big Business PETER KINDER runs for office to represent everyone, but he only represents the rich and Big Business. This is clear from the way he likes to hammer the labor unions and collective bargaining here in Missouri. This shows in the paper where you claim victory on the defeat of the nomination of Renee Slusher as chairman of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission. ...

Richard Charles Todt, the eldest son of Herman and Louise Todt, passed away Friday, Feb. 15, 2002, with his brother, George, nearby. He was at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Richard had lived in Los Angeles the past 20 years. He battled cancer and a brain disorder for many years...

Karen Sue Clingingsmith, 53, formerly of Cape Girardeau, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2002, at her home in Terre Haute, Ind. Friends may call today between 4-8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 24, after 2 p.m. at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson, Mo. A memorial service will be held Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the funeral home. The Rev. Sam Roethemeyer will officiate...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- Annice Mae Mirly, 83, of Advance died Friday, Feb. 22, 2002, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 21, 1918, at Oak Ridge, Mo., daughter of Benjamin and Nora Davenport Sadler. She and Edwin Albert Mirly were married Jan. 16, 1938, at Shawneetown, Mo. He died Aug. 24, 2000...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Tessie Pearl Reynolds, 95, of Chaffee died Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002, at Chaffee Nursing Center. She was born July 2, 1906, at Whitewater, Mo., daughter of Jesse Robert and Columbia Arbelle Proffer Wilkinson. She and Linder "Bill" Reynolds were married April 12, 1922. He died Sept. 21, 1982...

OAK RIDGE, Mo. -- Rubye Aryls Hulsey, 99, of St. Clair, Mo., died Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002. She was bornon Sept. 5, 1902, at Oak Ridge, daughter of Thomas Joseph Miller and Dove McLane Miller. She and Homer Ulysses Hulsey were married May 20, 1933. He preceded her in death...

ANNA, Ill. -- Henry A. Piercy, 81, of Anna died Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002, at Illinois Veterans Home in Anna. He was born March 30, 1920, at Thebes, Ill., son of Algernon and Sarah Hunter Piercy. Piercy retired from Chicago Transit Authority. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II...

Hurst Son to David G. and Ann R. Hurst of Annandale, Va., Fairfax INOVA Hospital in Fairfax, Va., Thursday, Jan. 24, 2002. Name, Oliver Gordon. Weight, 8 pounds. Third child, first son. Mrs. Hurst is the former Ann Sargent, daughter of Charlotte Black Sargent of Cape Girardeau and William C. Sargent of Phoenix, Ariz. Hurst is the son of Lynn Burgess of Birmingham, Ala., and the late Gordon G. Hurst. He is a senior research analyst at American Institute of Research in Washington, D.C...

10 years ago: Feb. 23, 1992 Businessman and philanthropist Martin Hecht of Cape Girardeau receives National Leadership Award at dinner in New York City; award is from Beth Din of America, highest tribunal of Jewish faith; presenting award to Hecht is his brother, Ambassador Charles Hecht, former U.S. senator from Nevada...

Standard Democrat BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- With the federal aid of a Rural Business Enterprise Grant for $65,000, the Stars and Stripes Museum/Library can now march forward in its goal to preserve the past. U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and Greg Branum, state director of USDA Rural Development, presented a mock check Wednesday to Jim Mayo, president of the Stars and Stripes Museum/Library Association...

ULLIN, Ill. -- Shawnee Community College will host a financial aid workshop for students and parents from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the main campus near Ullin. Financial aid counselors will be on hand to help parents and students understand the financial aid application process...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A former Perry County newspaper reporter will be on the campaign trail this year instead of following it. Cecilia Fallert of Perryville is challenging state Rep. Tom Burcham of Farmington in the Aug. 6 Republican primary for the 106th District seat in the Missouri House of Representatives. Fallert resigned her job as features editor at the Perry County Republic-Monitor on Thursday to begin her campaign...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Jackson held Poplar Bluff close for the final three quarters, but a 10-0 first-quarter run by the Mules proved to be insurmountable. Poplar Bluff (24-3), the state's fourth-ranked team, held on to capture the Class 4A, District 1 girls' championship 45-32 Friday night...

Notre Dame Regional High School's boys and girls basketball teams will carry top seeds as Class 1A and 2A schools launch district tournaments today. Both teams enter the Class 2A, District 2 Tournament in Bloomfield, Mo., as defending champions and their paths will be lined with varying degrees of resistance...

African speaker to visit First Baptist Church Dr. Henry Mugabe will speak during worship services at 10:45 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday at First Baptist Church. Mugabe is president of Baptist Theological Seminary in Zimbabwe, Africa. He also is associate professor of African missiology at Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., and at Memphis Seminary in Tennessee...

WASHINGTON -- Bomb-blackened runways and shattered aircraft scar what's left of Kandahar's airfield in one satellite image. The walls and towers of the fortress prison at Mazar-e-Sharif -- where a CIA officer was killed -- dominate the landscape in another...

WASHINGTON -- A Saudi offer of Arab peace with Israel in exchange for land to Palestinians could provide an opening as the United States makes a new push to halt the region's rising violence, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday. U.S. officials called the proposal by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia significant because it came from a ruler viewed as a strong Palestinian supporter and was immediately praised by moderate Arab nations including Egypt. ...

WASHINGTON -- The General Accounting Office sued Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday in unprecedented legal action seeking lists of executives from Enron and other energy companies who met last year with President Bush's energy task force. The White House, which has resisted the congressional demands, said it would "defend our principles."...

The Depressive-Manic Depressive Association of Southeast Missouri is sponsoring a presentation entitled "When is it OK to be Angry?" at 7 p.m. Monday at St. Francis Medical Center. The Rev. Barry Pfansteil will present the topic, and refreshments will be served...

When Delores Needham works her final day as city attorney secretary March 1, she'll take a lot of secrets with her. One tends to accumulate a lot of inside information after 32 years and seven months in an attorney's office. "So many situations have come up that you couldn't even dream up in a novel," Needham said. "But the confidentiality of this office is very important. I don't even discuss a lot of things with my husband."...

Parents can have specialists from the Cape Girardeau Police Department and Southeast Missouri Hospital check their children's car seats free of charge today. From 9 a.m. to noon, safety specialists will be at Ford Groves, 1501 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau. The checks take about 10 minutes...

A Sikeston, Mo., man was sentenced Friday to 14 years in federal prison in a sweeping drug-trafficking crackdown that includes the U.S. government's push to seize nearly an entire block of a local street alleged to have been a drug-dealing haven. U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel ordered Martin Taliaferro Sumlin to serve the prison sentence consecutively to the four-year term the 47-year-old man got last March on a Scott County cocaine-possession charge...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, Feb. 23 DWIWilson Conrad Hubbard, 26, of Caruthersville, Mo., was arrested Friday for driving while intoxicated. Christopher Shawn Bailey, 23, of Lilbourn, Mo., was arrested Friday for driving while intoxicated. ArrestsArthur Daniel Williams Sr., 37, of Scott City, Mo., was arrested Thursday for stealing...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, Feb. 23 Firefighters responded to the following calls Thursday:At 4:26 p.m., an emergency medical service at 429 N. Frederick. At 7:09 p.m., a house on fire at 514 S. Middle. At 8:08 p.m., an emergency medical service at 1112 Linden...

BENTON, Mo. -- A Benton teen-ager sustained moderate injuries Friday in an accident just east of Benton. Valerie Harp, 17, was taken to St. Francis Medical Center after the 4:45 p.m. accident on Highway 77, two miles east of Benton. The driver of the other vehicle was Alvin Blades, 66, of Oran, Mo. He was not injured...

The missing-children posters at Wal-Mart and on other bulletin boards and billboards have become a sad part of the American landscape. There are so many that sometimes it seems useless to take a look. Not so for Keisha Riegert, a remarkable 8-year-old from Gordonville, Mo...

Jefferson Elementary School is an island in southeastern Cape Girardeau, sitting in a quiet neighborhood with a grove of trees on one side and little access from the rest of the city. For some, this might sound ideal. But it isn't. Because of the lack of access, there's plenty of traffic around the school on Minnesota Avenue, leaving children to dart around the cars before and after school. ...

When Cora Fonda was a student at Southeast Missouri State University in the mid-1990s there wasn't any campus ministry geared specifically to black students. She visited area churches but didn't find a place she felt comfortable, and transportation was difficult since she lived on campus but had no car...

Today Shed Invasion '02 for youth, beginning at 7 p.m. at The Shed, 503 Cadmium Lane in Cape Girardeau. There will be live music, giveaways, food and indoor basketball. There is no charge. For directions or information, call 334-3069. Sunday...

VATICAN CITY -- For years, it was seen at the Vatican as mere sensationalism, as a so-called "American problem," or as an orchestrated campaign against the Roman Catholic Church's celibacy requirement for priests. But with reports of pedophilia involving priests rocking the church in various parts of the world, Pope John Paul II has begun to raise his voice...

Imelda Nenninger has taken on a variety of roles in her work at St. Mary's Parish. A lifetime parish member, Nenninger volunteers once each week in the office, teaches Confraternity Christian Doctrine classes for students and serves on the women's council. The classes are for elementary- through high-school age children...

By Gov. Bob Holden JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- After five successful years, the State Children's Health Insurance Program must be reauthorized by the Missouri General Assembly this session to ensure continued health-care coverage for nearly 77,000 children...