Stories from Saturday, July 13, 2002

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri State Highways and Transportation Commission's endorsement of a controversial redesign of Highway 34/72 through Jackson will stand, despite pleas from city and county officials on Friday to reconsider the proposal...

ST. LOUIS -- Mary Whitehead and her three children are still homeless in St. Louis, though dozens of people say they want to help. On Wednesday, Whitehead, 31, and Bobby Hughes, a news photographer for KTVI, helped rescue a driver trapped in a burning truck. Spurred by news reports, dozens offered donations and other support to Whitehead throughout the day Thursday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- An inmate accused of conspiring in the shooting deaths of two Randolph County jailers was convicted of first-degree murder, with prosecutors calling the man "an Osama bin Laden type" because he ordered someone else's death. It took Boone County Circuit Judge Frank Conley just an hour on Thursday to find Roy Vance guilty of first-degree murder in the June 2000 shooting deaths of jailers Jason Acton and Leon Egley...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Cairo teachers promise they will start the upcoming school year on time, but they are giving no guarantees about how long they'll stay in their classrooms. Ron Newell, president of the Cairo Association of Teachers, says it all depends on next month's negotiations with the school board...

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals are poised to activate pitcher Andy Benes from the disabled list next week to help shore up the starting rotation. Benes, who has been on the 60-day disabled list with an arthritic right knee, was called Wednesday by Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty, two days after the right-hander allowed seven earned runs and six walks in a rehabilitation start for Class A Potomac...

CLEVELAND -- Right fielder Raul Mondesi hurt himself crashing into the wall trying to catch Omar Vizquel's RBI triple in the 10th inning, and the Indians beat the Yankees 2-1 Friday night. The Yankees already had lost pitcher Roger Clemens to a strained right groin...

HERNANDO, Fla. -- In the last years of his life, Ted Williams grew to depend on his only son as strokes and heart disease took their toll on mind and body of one of the greatest sluggers baseball has ever known. John Henry Williams took control. He made business decisions for his father and kept him on a steady schedule of signing baseball memorabilia, a practice those who knew the ailing star said was motivated by money...

DEARBORN, Mich. -- Hubert Green tied the course record with a 9-under 63 Friday and took a three-stroke lead after the second round of the Senior Players Championship at the TPC of Michigan. Hale Irwin, who began the day with a two-stroke lead after setting nine-hole and first-round records, shot a 1-over 73 and fell into a three-way tie for second with Howard Twitty and Mike McCullough, who both shot 68, at 7-under 137...

HOUSTON -- Charley Casserly was driving along a Houston freeway during a business trip after the departure of the Oilers after the 1996 season when a thought struck him. "I said: 'What's wrong with this picture?"' Casserly recalled. "Here was the nation's fourth-largest city in the heart of football country without a pro football team."...

JOLIET, Ill. -- A couple of NASCAR's precocious kids took the spotlight again Friday, with rookie Ryan Newman winning the pole for the Tropicana 400 and second-year driver Kurt Busch right behind. Newman, who won the pole for the inaugural Busch series race a year ago at Chicagoland Speedway, made it 2-for-2 on the 1 1/2-mile oval, turning a lap of183.051 mph to earn his second Winston Cup pole of the season and the third of his budding career...

WASHINGTON -- Scrambling to restore confidence in American business, the Senate adopted a ban Friday on personal loans from companies to their top officials, a practice that benefited executives from Enron to WorldCom -- and President Bush as a Texas oilman...

WASHINGTON -- In a sobering new assessment, the Pentagon says China's military modernization threatens Taiwan and contradicts Beijing's stated desire for a peaceful resolution of the dispute over reunification. "The Chinese doctrine is moving toward the goal of surprise, deception and shock effect in the opening phase of a campaign," the Pentagon asserted in a report to Congress submitted Friday...

PULASKI, Ill. -- Demolition derbies, tractor pulls, a four-wheel drive mud race and a western show will highlight events at the 43th annual Pulaski County Fair, which starts Aug. 12. Two demolition derby events are on the schedule -- a local derby limited to Pulaski and Alexander County residents only on Aug. 12, and an open-entry event scheduled Aug. 15...

WASHINGTON -- The White House said Friday that this year's federal budget will run a deficit of about $165 billion, the first time since 1997 that Washington has spent more money than it has taken in. The return to red ink was not a surprise, but the deficit's size is larger than anticipated. Bush administration officials also warned that a balanced budget may not reappear until 2005 -- at the earliest...

The Southeast Missourian PULASKI, Ill. -- Demolition derbies, tractor pulls, a four-wheel drive mud race and a western show will highlight events at the 43th annual Pulaski County Fair, which starts Aug. 12. Two demolition derby events are on the schedule -- a local derby limited to Pulaski and Alexander County residents only on Aug. 12, and an open-entry event scheduled Aug. 15...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The debate in one southwest Missouri city over whether alcohol should be sold at certain park and zoo events appears headed for public vote. Springfield city clerks certified 1,500 signatures of registered voters Thursday in the first initiative petition drive in recent memory. That is more than the 1,454 signatures required to move the measure to the November ballot...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- There will be no new design for Missouri's vehicle license plates. Gov. Bob Holden vetoed legislation Friday that would have revived a license plate advisory committee. He said a redesigned plate could have cost the state more than $15 million...

PHILADELPHIA -- Its membership list is straight out of a pulp novel: private detectives, retired FBI agents, polygraph experts, even a forensic scientist specializing in blood spatters. Together they form the Vidocq Society, a 12-year-old Philadelphia-based group specializing in solving murder cases that have stalled or been dropped by police...

For 21 years the aging and deteriorating Marquette Hotel building has sat vacant at the corner of Broadway and Fountain streets in downtown Cape Girardeau. But that's about to change. At a news conference Friday afternoon, in front of the old hotel, Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson and real estate agent Thomas M. Meyer placed a "sold" sign on the building and declared the hotel saved...

NEW YORK -- The man who has led the monumental effort to put names to the remains of the World Trade Center dead has come to the sad realization that the task could end with just 2,000 victims identified. Of the 2,823 people believed killed in the terrorist attack, 1,229 victims -- fewer than half -- have been identified, 519 by DNA alone...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A judge on Friday rejected a free-lance reporter's effort to avoid testifying about his videotaped interview with American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh in Afghanistan last year. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled that journalists don't enjoy a First Amendment privilege to avoid testifying except in limited circumstances involving protection of confidential sources or harassment...

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Two large TVs hang from the ceiling at Granny's House of Soul Food and this week customers have been paying as much attention to the screens as they have to Granny's BBQ meat loaf, smothered chicken and black-eyed peas. They have been focused on the video -- the violent snippet of reality TV that shows a handcuffed black teenager being body-slammed by a white policeman onto the trunk of a car, then rocked by the officer's roundhouse punch...

Shoppers splurge, push up retail sales in June WASHINGTON -- Energized by warm weather and favorable incentives, shoppers splurged on cars, clothes and appliances last month, boosting retail sales by 1.1 percent. With consumers playing a key role in the shape of the economic recovery, the Commerce Department's stronger-than-expected sales figures for June offered a dose of good news Friday...

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to exempt U.S. peacekeepers from war crimes prosecution for a year Friday, ending threats to U.N. peacekeeping operations. The council prepared to immediately extend the mandates of the 1,500-strong U.N. police training mission in Bosnia and the small U.N. observer mission in the Croatian enclave of Prevlaka. Both were set to expire on Monday...

SAN SALVADOR ATENCO, Mexico -- Farmers desperate to keep their land from being seized for a new Mexico City airport threatened Friday to kill about a dozen hostages and spark uprisings across the country. With machetes strapped to their belts and wearing ski masks, about 1,000 farmers demanded police free fellow protesters detained during a confrontation Thursday...

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Sprint Corp. said Friday it will cut 1,100 workers and eliminate another 100 unfilled jobs, bringing the total number of jobs cut since October to at least 13,000. The cuts will come from the Overland Park, Kan.-based company's global markets division, which includes most of Sprint's struggling long-distance business...

AROQ, Afghanistan -- Six Afghan governors are demanding the United States obtain their permission before conducting military operations in their provinces, one of them said Friday -- another sign of fallout after a U.S. airstrike reportedly killed 48 civilians...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A prisoner took a volunteer hostage, reportedly hitting her twice, before releasing her after an hour-long standoff Friday at the Jefferson City Correctional Center, authorities said. The 46-year-old woman, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital but was expected to be released, department spokesman Tim Kniest said...

With the general election four months away, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has an overwhelming advantage over rival Jim Durkin in the battle for campaign funds. Durbin, a Democrat in his first term, had $4.7 million on hand June 30, according to his campaign...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The family of a man killed in a struggle with bounty hunters is mounting a campaign to pressure national leaders into creating a federal law regulating bounty hunters. Ta'Mar J. Grant, 23, died June 13 when bounty hunters went to his mother's home to arrest his brother. The Jackson County medical examiner said he died of strangulation and chest compression, and ruled the death a homicide...

ST. LOUIS -- In a proposed settlement, the U.S. Justice Department wants the city's election board to fix problems that led to chaos at the local polls in 2000. But for the most part those problems have already been fixed, the board's attorney told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for a copyright story in Friday's editions...

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff Saturday, July 13 DWILisa G. Poston, 42, of Cape Girardeau was arrested for a DWI. Jay E. Hammock, 21, of New Madrid, Mo., was arrested for a DWI. Tina L. Graham, 41, of Cape Girardeau was arrested for a DWI. James B. Thompson, 20, of Jackson, Mo., was arrested for a DWI...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, July 13 Firefighters responded to the following call Thursday:At 8:49 p.m., a strange odor at 1310 Sonnet. Firefighters responded to the following calls Friday:At 12:54 a.m., a medical assist at 133 S. Ellis. At 7:40 a.m., a box alarm smoke scare at 515 N. Sprigg...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, July 13 ArrestsJeremy Paul Evans, 22, of Chaffee, Mo., was arrested Friday for an ex parte violation. Rickey Cornell Mosley, 46, of 135 S. Spanish, Apt. 5, was arrested Friday on a state warrant for parole violation. Aric Lashonn Thatch, 31, of Sikeston, Mo., was arrested Thursday for stealing...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Arlene Yvonne McGill, 62, of Sikeston died Friday, July 12, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Jan. 31, 1940, in Maryville, Tenn., daughter of Paul and Maggie Taylor Long. McGill was a member of Powerhouse of God Church...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- John David Mayabb, 48, of Scott City died Wednesday, July 10, 2002, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born Oct. 29, 1953, in Carbondale, Ill., son of Clifford Lewis and Edna Virginia Keppner Mayabb. He and Amy Mae Marie Gipson were married March 20, 1993, at Glen Allen, Mo...

BENTON, Mo. -- Frances Mae Emerson, 80, of Benton died Thursday, July 11, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. She was born Jan. 12, 1922, at Bertrand, Mo., daughter of Arthur and Jessie Houston Stone. She and Raymond Emerson Sr. were married Aug. 3, 1941, at Lutesville, Mo. He died in September 1965...

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Jacob Carl "Jake" Ishmael, 80, of East Prairie died Friday, July 12, 2002, at his home. He was born Sept. 30, 1921, at East Prairie, son of Harry O. and Chessie B. Zook Ishmael. He and Ruth T. Nall were married June 23, 1953. Ishmael was a retired truck driver...

CHARLESTON, Mo.--Curley Jimmie Lee Foster, 88, of Charleston died Friday, July 12, 2002, at the Charleston Manor Nursing Center. He was born Dec. 2, 1913, at Helena, Ark., son of John and Katie Foster. He and Margaret Roberts were married in 1958. Foster was the owner of Fosters' Cab and a member of the Mercy Seat Baptist Church. He was an Army veteran of World War II...

This is like struggling to recall when poor Barry Bonds hit his last home run. Like watching Tiger Woods slice his tee shot into a condo. The words go together like water and WD-40: Jeff Gordon, underdog. It is becoming harder and harder to hate the most enthusiastically booed man in auto racing, perhaps in all of sports. ...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- Penny Denise Rodgers, 33, of Scott City died Wednesday, July 10, 2002, at her home. Arrangements are pending at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson, Mo.

Baylor Daughter to Terry E. and Angela D. Baylor of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 4:55 p.m. Tuesday, July 2, 2002. Name, Breanna Marie. Weight, 6 pounds 5 ounces. Second daughter. Mrs. Baylor is the former Angela Ramsey, daughter of Bill and Barbara Ramsey of Jackson, Mo. She is a bookkeeper at Heartland Industries. Baylor is the son of Eldon M. and Shirley Baylor of Jackson. He is a machinist at ACF Industries...

JACKSON, Mo. -- The funeral for Toby Wayne Bass of Jackson will be at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson. The Rev. Jim Hogue will officiate. Burial will be in Hobbs Chapel Cemetery in Cape Girar-deau. Friends may call at the funeral home from 5 to 8 p.m. today...

10 years ago: July 13, 1992 In attempt to bring change of leadership to Democratic Party in Cape Girardeau County, Thomas M. Meyer is challenging chairman for his seat on party central committee; if Meyer is successful in his effort to defeat Todd McBride as Ward 8 Democratic committeeman, McBride wouldn't be eligible to continue as chairman of county committee or 8th Congressional District Democratic Committee...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Work could begin as soon as next week on a multi-field soccer complex off Route PP in the southwest corner of Jackson. The Jackson Area Optimist Soccer Association (JAOSA) is spearheading the project, being developed on a 27-acre flood plain with a target completion date for the fall of 2003...

Rain was the big winner Friday on the first day of the National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional in Cape Girardeau. Three games were scheduled, but two never got started and not even one was completed. After a rain delay of nearly two hours during the second inning of the tournament opener between the Southern Illinois Merchants and Springfield (Mo.) Slashers, the game was halted for the day when more heavy rain hit and continued to fall in the bottom of the sixth inning...

The state's highway commission awarded the final two construction contracts for the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge on Friday. The contracts include work on the Missouri approach roadway and the Illinois bridge deck. The Missouri State Highways and Transportation Commission gave a $4.19 million contract to Traylor Brothers Inc. ...

By William O. Green SIKESTON, Mo. -- The comments made by Scott Meyer, district engineer of the Missouri Department of Transportation's District 10 in Southeast Missouri, in the July 8 front-page article, "State officials not sold on Kentucky link for I-66," reveal many of the institutional shortcomings which have combined to make MoDOT the least credible, and perhaps most irresponsible, state agency in the history of Missouri governance...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Luther "Bud" Friese, 67, of Jackson died Thursday, July 11, 2002, at his home. He was born Oct. 7, 1934, at Sedgewickville, Mo., son of Albert and Dona Edna Hobeck Friese. He and Alene Wilson were married Sept. 27, 1953, at Sedgewickville...

Emelia C. Meyer, 92, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, July 12, 2002, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Sept. 3, 1909, at Dutchtown, Mo., daughter of Alvin E. and Clara Siemers Feuerhahn. She and Wilson Meyer were married Oct. 17, 1935, at Gordonville, Mo. He died April 28, 1989...

A state-funded program that until recently operated in some schools in the Cape Girardeau School District and elsewhere across the state stands in sharp contrast to the Jackson program to help at-risk students. Caring Communities recently lost its state funding...

Jackson School District has such a can-do spirit and proven record of success, it's little wonder Gov. Bob Holden traveled there personally last year to congratulate the administrators, teachers and students on their performance. And now the district has another success story: a program for at-risk students requested by the community, funded by grants and created by Jackson educators. It is the good example of local people retaining control of the local schools...

Area women attend Lutheran meeting Seventeen area residents recently attended the 17th biennial convention of the Misouri District Lutheran Women's Missionary League. Among them were Dorothy Bertrand, zone president; Becky Heuer, district bylaws chairwoman; the Rev. ...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. When ministers speak about building the temple of God rarely do they mean that church members should take on an actual construction project with wood, bricks and mortar. But that's exactly what the members of First Baptist Church here are doing this summer...

Sunday St. John's United Church of Christ near Fruitland, Mo., will celebrate its 125th anniversay Sunday. Worship is at 10 a.m. and will be followed by a basket dinner at noon. The church will provide meat, bread and beverages. Following the meal, there will be a service at 1:30 p.m. at the cemetery. The choir also will perform. A reception will follow that service...

When the shovels hit the dry, cracked earth last Sunday afternoon, the members of Second Missionary Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau weren't lamenting the lack of rain but rejoicing in God's blessings. The African-American congregation held a groundbreaking service Sunday afternoon to mark the beginning of its construction project. A new building is under construction at Beaudean and Elm streets in south Cape Girardeau...

After spending the past five years as an assistant boys basketball coach at Notre Dame Regional High School, Brian Brandtner believed he was ready to run his own program. Caruthersville High School officials evidently agreed because Brandtner was hired Thursday night as the new head coach of the Tigers. He replaces Kevin Williams, who recently became an assistant coach at Southeast Missouri State University...

Yankees get doubleheader split against New Madrid The Cape Girardeau Sr. Babe Ruth Yankees split a doubleheader with New Madrid late Thursday night, losing 6-4 and winning 10-0 in six innings. Chris Daniel suffered the loss in the opener, allowing 10 hits while striking out nine and walking three...

Briefly Basketball Qyntel Woods signed a three-year contract with the Trail Blazers. Woods, a junior-college star who fell from a projected lottery pick to No. 21 on draft night, averaged 32.3 points at Northeast Mississippi Community College last season...

To the editor: Americans know who is responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, but they want to know who is responsible for letting the terrorists stay in this country. Both Republicans and Democrats are at fault. Democrats relaxed immigration policies to allow Hispanics, who traditionally support Democratic policies, into the country. ...

Message from God GOD HAS given Jackson a message: Stop the fireworks. Feed the poor with the money you would throw away and pollute the air. Read your Bible. Too much fireworks AS A resident, I found it very appalling the amount of fireworks discharged in Cape Girardeau. ...

Sylvia A. McFerron, 92, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, July 11, 2002, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center. She was born May 30, 1910, at Laflin, Mo., daughter of Perry A. and Martha C. Snider Crawford. She and Howard J. McFerron were married Sept. 5, 1925, at Randles, Mo. He died June 26, 1979...

Funeral service for Mrs. Dorothy Braun Sigmund of Cape Girardeau will be held Monday, July 15, 2002, at 10 a.m. at St. Mary's Cathedral. The Rev. Gefford Lamprea will officiate. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery. Friends may call at Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Sunday, July 14, 2002. Parish prayers will be at 7...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Earl E. Hoehn, 77, of St. Louis died Thursday, July 11, 2002, at his home. He was born at Perryville, son of Lonnie and Dora Hoehn. He married the former Eileen Dooley. Hoehn received a degree in chemical engineering from Rolla School of Mines in 1949. He was a chemical engineer...

As soon as the Missouri Department of Transportation approves final architectural plans, volunteers will begin raising the walls of the Red House Interpretive Center on Aquamsi Street. "We're anxious to put something up in the air," said construction supervisor Steve Strom...