Stories from Saturday, April 20, 2002

By Jean Maneke KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The week of April 29 to May 3 has been designated Juror Appreciation Week in the state by the Missouri Supreme Court. It is right that citizens in this state should pause to recognize the important role played by those who are drafted, sometimes unhappily, to make those tough decisions that help our wheels of justice turn...

Central football coaches will have a great view of the action next season on Friday nights. The catch is, they might not be watching Central games. Due to scheduling conflicts at Houck Stadium, on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University, the Tigers could have as many as five home games on Thursday nights...

CHURCH LAW The text of Canon 1395, on clergy sexual misconduct, from the Roman Catholic Code of Canon Law, issued in 1983:1. Apart from (civil marriage, treated in canon 1394), a cleric living in concubinage, and a cleric who continues in some other external sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue which causes scandal, is to be punished with suspension. ...

Associated Press/Darren Hauck, file Roman Catholic priests kissed the altar of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist during the dedication of the renovated church in Milwaukee, in this Feb. 9, 2002, file photo. Widespread allegations of sexual abuse by priests have raised questions about canon law and interpretation...

Today Bishop John J. Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese will visit St. Vincent de Paul Church. He will celebrate Mass at 5 p.m. when 43 confirmation candidates will be presented. Combined choirs and orchestra of Anna Heights Baptist Church will present We Will Worship at 7 p.m. today. Soloists are Gary Roach, Leslie Betts, Bob Dawes and Sharon Laster...

Ladies Evening Out event planned for May 3-5 The House of Prayer Outreach Mission is celebrating its seventh annual Ladies Evening Out/Exhale Plus conference. Guest speakers for the May 3-5 event are pastor Mary Wiggins of Atlanta, Ga., evangelist Ruby Jennings of Clarksville, Tenn., pastor Gail Hundlley of Sikeston, Mo., and pastor Jo Ann McCauley of Cape Girardeau...

Churches sometimes miss opportunities to reach business people because they aren't willing to use current technology in ministry or don't want to make changes without being certain of the outcome. Yet they could be places of great influence and impact on their community, say a trio who are motivational speakers and Christians participating in a national telecast, with a downlink site in Cape Girardeau...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, April 20 Firefighters responded to the following calls Thursday:At 7:04 p.m., a citizen assist at 1240 Linden. At 8:08 p.m., a still alarm at 35 S. Kingshighway. Firefighters responded to the following calls Friday:At 12:41 a.m., an emergency medical service at Dearmont quad, Southeast Missouri State University...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, April 20 ArrestsMarcus Tyron Hempstead, 25, of 221 S. Lorimier was arrested Thursday for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, tampering with evidence, resisting arrest and assault of a police officer. Michael David Owens Jr., 21, of Charleston, Mo., was arrested Thursday for failure to appear...

LOCARNO, Switzerland -- Authorities seeking to unravel why a small plane smashed into a Milan office tower offered possible explanations Friday, including mechanical failure and two focusing on the Swiss pilot: Did he fall ill, or was it suicide? Friends at a small, private airstrip in this Swiss town say Luigi Fasulo, 67, was in good spirits when he took off Thursday, and none believe he would have killed himself. ...

UNITED NATIONS -- With Israel's approval, the Security Council unanimously adopted a U.S. resolution Friday welcoming the dispatch of a U.N. team to find out what happened in Jenin during the Israeli military's sustained attacks. Arab nations have accused Israel of a massacre in the Jenin refugee camp but Israel says the deaths and destruction were the result of gunbattles between its soldiers and Palestinian gunmen...

The Community Caring Council elected new officers and gave awards for outstanding community service during its annual awards breakfast Friday. More than 50 members of the council attended the breakfast, held at the Holiday Inn. The late Joyce Ann Holekamp won the Horizon Award for outstanding dedication to her job. ...

WASHINGTON -- The FBI publicly warned more than 1,200 banks in the Northeast on Friday of possible terrorist attacks, and government officials said the unconfirmed information that led to the dramatic alert came in part from a high-ranking al-Qaida leader in U.S. custody...

WASHINGTON -- In the struggle for control of the U.S. Senate, Missouri's closely watched race pits a seasoned challenger against an incumbent with just 16 months of experience. They are campaigning for a seat that changed hands in bizarre fashion two years ago. Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash while campaigning against then-Sen. John Ashcroft, but voters chose Carnahan anyway, knowing his widow would serve...

WASHINGTON -- The world's top finance officials faced deep divisions Friday over how to reform foreign aid to better the lives of 1 billion people living in abject poverty. Foreign aid, choking off terrorist financing and the state of the global economy are all on the agenda at Friday evening's dinner for the Group of Seven large industrial countries. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan are serving as hosts...

NEW YORK -- At the 1986 NFL draft, Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers traded down and down and down, ending up with eight players who had key roles on two Super Bowl champion teams. Three years ago, Mike Ditka traded away New Orleans' entire draft to get Ricky Williams. The Saints are still trying to recover, although they got back some of their lost choices by trading Williams to Miami last month...

ST. LOUIS -- Just like virtually the entire season, the St. Louis Blues find themselves pursuing the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blues passed the Blackhawks in Game 81 of the 82-game schedule to grab the fourth seed in the Western Conference and home-ice advantage for the first round. Now, heading into Game 2 today in St. Louis, the Blackhawks have the upper hand again...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Jackson track coach Bob Sink says pole vaulter Stuart McIntosh "can be the guy." The guy who can, Sink says, who can win a state pole-vault title this year. The 6 foot-2, 180 pound McIntosh has the ideal body type, the confidence and the work ethic to accomplish that goal, and he's only a junior...

AREA Otahkians gain sixth player in spring period Yashika Sidbury, a sophomore with the Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College women's basketball team, has signed a national letter of intent to play at Southeast in the fall...

Sara Evans, Phil Vassar and Carolyn Dawn Johnson warmed up a young and near sold-out audience at the Show Me Center Friday night with pounding, energetic music that demonstrated how hybridized country music has become -- "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" notwithstanding...

Southeast Missouri State University is now taking registrations for Camp Capaha, a summer day camp at the Student Recreation Center. Camp Capaha is open to children ages 6 to 12. Children will participate in water games, crafts and sports such as soccer, basketball, racquetball, tennis, badminton, kickball, whiffleball, ultimate Frisbee and volleyball. In addition, campers will swim at Parker Pool...

ST. LOUIS -- Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Regents on Thursday approved the issuance of 30-year revenue bonds to finance a $6.5 million project to build two parking garages on the car-crowded campus. The regents also approved the issuance of $15.6 million in bonds for a campus energy savings project that includes improvements to the university's power plant. The money saved from reduced energy costs will be used to pay off the bonds over 10 years, school officials said...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Unless the home-rule charter is amended in the future, Phil Boyer will be the last mayor selected by his fellow council members. And now charter commissioners are only "commentators, not actors," said Harry Sharp, who served as chairman of the commission. "Our task has been completed, and our commission has closed and gone away."...

"Beyond the JFK Assassination: The Evidence of Conspiracy" will be the topic of a lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Southeast Missouri State University. The lecture, in Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium, is open to the public. Presenters include Dr. J. Christopher Schnell, Southeast history professor, and Steve Richardet, a history teacher from Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School...

Prisoner may have died of diabetes complications CHARLESTON, Mo. -- An official report has not been released yet on the April 10 death of the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service prisoner at the Mississippi County Detention Center, but local officials believe it may be attributed to diabetes...

10 years ago: April 20, 1992 Hoping to better manage and hasten play at Cape Girardeau Jaycee Municipal Golf Course, city has hired full-time manager to operate course; Robert Casey, 27, of Kansas City, previously worked as assistant manager of golf course there; Casey's salary will be $21,000 annually...

Mark Allen Oswald, 33, of Cape Girardeau was arrested in error April 12 on an incorrect Ste. Genevieve County warrant. The warrant was withdrawn due to misidentification. Oswald was listed in the April 13 edition's police report, provided by the Cape Girardeau Police Department...

Donaldson-Michael Daughter to Brandi Renee Donaldson and Coire Devin Shane Michael of Cape Girardeau, St. Francis Medical Center, 1:12 p.m. Friday, April 12, 2002. Name, Anabella Marie Donaldson-Michael. Weight, 6 pounds 9 ounces. First child. Ms. Donaldson is the daughter of Jack and Unda Donaldson of Cape Girardeau. Michael is the son of Victoria Michael of Cape Girardeau...

LEOPOLD, Mo. -- Bernadina Elizabeth "Dina" Wubker, 93, of Leopold died Friday, April 19, 2002, at the home of a daughter in Jackson, Mo. She was born Sept. 3, 1908, in St. Louis, daughter of Anthony and Rose VanDoren Stoverink. She and John Henry Wubker were married Sept. 11, 1929. He died Jan. 13, 1978...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Jesse Wayne Moonier, 1, of Perryville died Wednesday, April 17, 2002, at Children's Hospital in St. Louis. He was born March 31, 2001, in St. Louis, son of Wayne and Earlinda Adams Moonier. Survivors include his parents of Perryville; maternal grandparents, Earl and Anna Mae Adams of Dexter, Mo.; and paternal grandparents, Elvin "Hap" and Margie Moonier of Perryville...

PATTON, Mo. -- Kelly Brotherton, 80, of Patton died Thursday, April 18, 2002, at Madison County Medical Center in Fredericktown, Mo. He was born Jan. 17, 1922, in Patton, son of John F. and Nola E. Reagan Brotherton. He and Ruby I. Douglas were married Dec. 4, 1943...

HAYTI, Mo. -- James H. Braxton, 80, of Hayti died Wednesday, April 17, 2002, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 10, 1921, in Mississippi, son of Plez and Annie Mae Braxton. He and Flora Mae Thompson were married Sept. 25, 1954, in Clarksville, Ark...

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- John Allen McMikle, 44, of Charleston died at 12:50 p.m. Thursday, April 18, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. He was born Dec. 2, 1957, in Sikeston, son of Elgin and Sue Allen McMikle. John lived in Charleston most of his life, where he was a 1976 graduate of Charleston High School. ...

It was shaping up to be a big weekend for local sporting events. Thanks a lot, Mother Nature. Rain wiped out three high school sports tournaments scheduled for Friday and today, and the threat of more rain today and Sunday could put a damper on the rest of the weekend's outdoor plans...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Gary Pinkel is mincing no words when it comes to assessing last season at Missouri, his first as coach of the Tigers. "I would suggest we were one of the slowest, weakest, 'unquick' teams in the (Big 12 Conference) last year," Pinkel told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "To play at a high level in the Big 12? Not even close."...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon headed for driver introductions before a recent race, fighting his way through a throng of fans. Alone. Joining the other drivers, he looked for a friendly face and sat down next to Ricky Craven behind the stage, laughing and joking before it was time to go to work...

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Phil Mickelson showed the maddening and marvelous sides of his game Friday, shooting a 7-under 64 to tie Jack Nicklaus' 36-hole scoring record in the WorldCom Classic. Mickelson, who began play five strokes behind early second-round leader Justin Leonard, had a 13-under 129 total to match the mark set by Nicklaus in 1975...

MOSCOW -- After skinheads declared "war on foreigners" and killed an Afghan interpreter, Russian police launched a nationwide operation Friday to thwart attacks by extremist youth groups ahead of Adolf Hitler's birthday. Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov ordered increased police patrols starting Friday at places where violence is expected, including foreign embassies, soccer stadiums and outdoor markets where people from Central Asia and the Caucasus Mountains region often work as vendors...

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Police have found a suspected Irish Republican Army list of targets, including British lawmakers and army bases, the government and police chief said Friday. But they said the outlawed group is not preparing to break its cease-fire...

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- A patched and battle-ready USS Cole returned to duty with a flag-waving, horn-blasting send-off Friday, a year and a half after a terrorist bombing in Yemen blew a hole in its side and killed 17 sailors. Hundreds of people cheered along the shore as the Cole, gleaming in the sunlight, set off from Northrop Grumman's Ingalls Shipyard for its home port in Norfolk, Va...

BELTSVILLE, Md. -- President Bush got behind the wheel of a sports car Friday, dropped it into reverse and executed an escape maneuver during a tour of the Secret Service training center. Under the watchful eyes of Secret Service experts, according to his spokesman, Bush backed a 2002 Chevrolet Camaro down a practice track and spun 180 degrees at 40 mph. ...

TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey's attorney general agreed Friday to drop criminal cases against 100 defendants who claimed they were targets of racial profiling. The cases involve minority motorists who were stopped and searched by state troopers and later charged with various drug and weapons offenses...

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Law enforcement officers led by the FBI arrested 27 people in a suspected software piracy ring that cost Microsoft Corp. and other companies hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales. FBI Director Robert Mueller said "Operation Cyberstorm" was one of several active federal investigations into software piracy. Software companies claim the problem is so widespread it costs the industry $12 billion a year...

CRESCENT CITY, Fla. -- The engineer of the Amtrak train that crashed near this hamlet told investigators he threw on the emergency brakes just before the deadly derailment because he saw misaligned tracks ahead, the NTSB said Friday. More than half of the Auto Train's 40 cars skidded off the tracks Thursday. Four people were killed and more than 150 injured...

Generous Jerry Kinder of Cape Girardeau and Richard Kinder of Houston deserve another round of thank yous for continuing a program that rewards good teachers for the outstanding work they do. For the second year, the brothers have funded the Edna C. Kinder Excellence in Teaching Awards...

Statistics are wrong IT IS noteworthy to see that one of the many lies about life in the African American community is still replicating itself like an evil virus. Despite the skewed figures, manufactured statistics and warped logic behind this absolute drivel, the number of single-parent households in the African American community is nowhere near 66 percent anywhere in the United States. ...

Southeast Missourian JACKSON, Mo. -- The crowd cheered as the athletes took the court Friday, but team members merely twitched their ears and moved into position, determined to make asses of themselves. The traveling team of donkeys was in Jackson for donkey ball night, a fund raiser to benefit R.O. Hawkins Junior High...

SMASH MOUTH By Sam Blackwell ~ Southeast Missourian Ticket sales for the April 30 concert by pop-rock band Smash Mouth are sluggish enough that Show Me Center director David Ross refuses to say how many have been sold so far...

'OUTSIDE THE BOX' By Bob Miller ~ Southeast Missourian Cape Girardeau's new mayor has met with the city manager on several occasions. He's met with department heads and examined budgets...

LONDON -- Charges were dropped Friday against a man accused of harassing Elizabeth Hurley after the model-actress failed to provide a statement to a London court. Petar Mihajlovic, 32, was released from custody by the West London Magistrates Court after prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence to continue the case...

HOUSTON -- Enron Corp. President Jeffrey McMahon, who complained two years ago about financial partnerships that helped fuel the company's downfall, said Friday he would resign. McMahon, 41, said he decided his resignation, effective June 1, was necessary to help ensure Enron's successful reorganization into a mover of electricity and natural gas...

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Several World Trade Center families and those who lost loved ones in the Oklahoma bombing comforted each other Friday at ceremonies marking the seventh anniversary of what had been until Sept. 11 the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil...

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department Saturday, April 20 DWI Ricky R. Weaver, 43, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., was arrested April 6 for driving while intoxicated. Brandon D. Thornton, 25, of Cape Girardeau was arrested April 6 for driving while intoxicated...

GENEVA -- A U.S. scientist was voted off an international climate panel Friday after what campaigners claimed was pressure from the oil industry and Washington, a claim rejected by the United States. Atmospheric scientist Robert Watson was seeking re-election as head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He has been vocal in warning governments about the danger of fossil fuel emissions contributing to global warming...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- On his first stop since returning to his homeland, Former Afghan king Mohammad Zaher Shah made an emotional visit to the grave of his father Friday, looking with dismay at a once glorious crypt wrecked by war. Accompanied by interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai, the former king prayed over the grave of his father, Nader Shah, who was assassinated before his sons' eyes 68 years ago. Nearby, a man recited verses from the Quran, Islam's holy book...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Pedro Martinez pitched one-hit ball for eight innings, and Shea Hillenbrand had a bases-loaded triple to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Kansas City Royals 4-0 Friday night. Martinez (2-0) struck out six and walked none, lowering his ERA from 6.91 to 4.43. He gave up only a single to Mike Sweeney in the fourth and ended the inning by fanning Michael Tucker for his 2,000th career strikeout...

ATLANTA -- Darren Holmes won for the first time in three years and Chipper Jones hit a go-ahead grounder as the struggling Atlanta Braves overcame two Cliff Floyd homers to beat the Florida Marlins 3-2 Friday night. The Braves had lost four of five coming into the season-high 10-game homestand and had been last in the NL East since Sunday, their longest stay in the cellar since April 21-26, 1992...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- While the nation's economy has shown some signs of recovery, Missouri remains stuck in a recession, state officials said Friday. Missouri's economy is lagging behind those of its neighbors and likely is "some months away" from showing significant improvement, said Joe Driskill, director of the state Department of Economic Development...

Cleanup efforts in Herculaneum should be broadened and hastened to resolve public health concerns over lead contamination in the Missouri town that's home to the nation's largest lead smelter, according to a report released by the state Friday. The so-called "health consultation," requested by the state Department of Natural Resources and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, also questions whether many of the remediation efforts in the 2,800-resident town 30 miles south of St. ...

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Dead or alive, you can get a ticket from the Bloomington Police Department. Although a dead person cannot be prosecuted, the department requires that the tickets be written. "Anytime there is fault in an accident, we do issue the responsible person tickets," said officer Verne Hughart, an accident reconstructionist...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri is trying to clean up its act. Missouri's first anti-littering campaign -- dubbed "No MOre Trash!" -- began Friday with a target audience of young people considered most likely to litter. The state departments of Conservation and Transportation outlined a campaign complete with "hip" television commercials, a Web site and a contest offering $200 prizes for the most creative anti-littering videos...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It may have been a pin prick, but a prosecutor says it's also a punishable offense. A city prosecutor in Riverside, Mo., charged a high school student with assault for allegedly poking another student with a pin used to prick fingers before blood is drawn...

ST. LOUIS -- For a company still smarting from losing the huge Joint Strike Fighter contract, the news Friday out of South Korea couldn't have been more welcomed by Jerry Daniels, the Boeing Co. military division he heads, and Missouri lawmakers. Boeing, South Korea's defense ministry announced, gets a $4.5 billion deal to build 40 F-15K fighter jets for the Asian country's air force by 2009. ...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- An investigation is under way to determine whether the Greene County circuit clerk discouraged citizens from seeking temporary restraining orders against suspected dangerous individuals. Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore said Thursday that he asked the sheriff's department to investigate Circuit Clerk Mike Carr...

A Roman Catholic seminary at the center of sexual abuse allegations involving former Bishop Anthony O'Connell will shut down next month because of financial difficulties blamed partly on the scandal. St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal will close May 20, at the end of the 2001-2002 school year. Jefferson City Bishop John Gaydos on Friday blamed "insurmountable" financial difficulties and low enrollment. The seminary is operated by the diocese...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- After more than a century of digging into the matter, researchers have identified and mapped all 44.6 million acres of Missouri's soil. The key finding: Missouri has about 5,000 different types of soil. The project was conducted continuously since 1899, although it was accelerated over the past 25 years. Farmland in northern Missouri was the first to be surveyed and Ozarks timberland the last...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Pharmacist Robert R. Courtney watered down drugs for the past decade, possibly affecting 4,200 patients, federal authorities said Friday. The U.S. Attorney's Office said Courtney now admits diluting drugs on a far larger scale than at the time of his guilty plea in February...

PARIS -- They've been a couple in a bristly arranged marriage, and now they're facing off to see who gets the furniture. After five years bound together in a delicate power-sharing arrangement, conservative President Jacques Chirac and Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin will compete Sunday in the first round of France's presidential elections, the front-runners among 16 candidates hoping to occupy the gilded halls of the Elysee Palace...

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The leading candidate in Colombia's presidential campaign has called off all campaign trips after a bomb ripped into his motorcade this week, killing three people, a spokesman said Friday. Alvaro Uribe will make public appearances only in the capital...

EDMONTON, Alberta -- The accidental killing of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan by a U.S. bomb has brought sadness to this western Canadian city where the battalion is based and started a national debate over Canada's military role in the war-torn country...

JERUSALEM -- A militant blew himself up at a Gaza Strip checkpoint and Israeli army fire killed seven Palestinians on Friday, even as Israeli troops withdrew from one West Bank town. In Jerusalem, the U.N. envoy to the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, said Israel's 3-week-old military campaign in the West Bank created a "dire" humanitarian situation and was largely counterproductive...

Nobody is denying that Jackson city officials, business owners and residents are very late in organizing opposition to a highway plan they feel is not in their best interests. Their concern now must be whether they will find receptive ears in their fight to make the Missouri Department of Transportation widen Highway 34-72 in the manner Jackson residents, not highway officials, see fit...