Stories from Saturday, July 20, 2002

PLATEAU DE BEILLE, France -- Lance Armstrong was so far ahead and so relaxed after a grueling final climb Friday that he even had time to zip up the bright yellow jersey worn by the leader of the Tour de France. A fourth straight title now seems almost as easy to secure...

STANTON, Calif. -- A factory worker acquitted of molesting two girls two years ago was arrested Friday in connection with the slaying of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, the youngster whose abduction sent a chill across Southern California. Alejandro Avila, 27, had been taken into custody at his mother's apartment in Lake Elsinore, about 50 miles from Stanton and about 10 miles from where the body was found...

Morocco: No talks until troops withdraw CEUTA, Spain -- Morocco will not negotiate with Spain over a disputed Mediterranean island until Spain withdraws its troops from there, Morocco's foreign minister said Friday. Mohamed Benaissa said in Paris that Spain's show of force on the tiny rock outcrop -- called Isla Perejil, or Parsley Island, in Spanish -- was only making a compromise between the two countries more difficult...

Hijackers' roommate to remain in INS custody BALTIMORE -- A judge ruled Friday that a Jordanian man who lived with two Sept. 11 hijackers will remain in custody until his immigration case is resolved, the man's attorney said. Rasmi Al-Shannaq, 27, has been charged with overstaying his visa. His hearing Thursday before an immigration judge in Baltimore was closed to the public...

LONDON -- Dr. Harold Shipman, the once-beloved family doctor who is serving 15 life sentences for killing patients, murdered at least 200 more, a judge announced Friday, after a yearlong investigation to try to determine how many of the people who died in his care were killed...

ATHENS, Greece -- An alleged leader of the elusive November 17 terrorist organization was charged with 13 murders Friday as Greek authorities bore down on the violent, left-wing group that had operated with impunity for 27 years. Handcuffed and wearing a bulletproof vest, 58-year-old Alexandros Giotopoulos, an alleged founder and ideologist for the secretive group, was taken to an Athens court and read the murder and attempted murder charges against him. He denied them all...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Wrapped in blankets and bright scarves, the six inmates were scattered like wallflowers on the side of a cell inside Kabul's women's prison. There was Marzia, 28, whose 55-year-old husband won't give her a divorce. She claimed he chained her feet and locked her in a small damp room in his house for a month...

KARACHI, Pakistan -- DNA tests have confirmed that a body found in a shallow grave in Pakistan is that of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, a U.S. official said Friday. Pakistani police have been informed of the results, the official said in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said the test results had been known for some time...

MOSCOW -- Extremists creeping across thinly guarded mountain frontiers, drug-runners willing to fight to deliver their goods, disputed borders and weak governments: The former Soviet republics of Central Asia are full of reasons for Russia to be anxious about its vast underbelly...

JERUSALEM -- Opening the door to a tough new policy, Israel's attorney general determined Friday that relatives of West Bank suicide bombers can be expelled to the Gaza Strip if they encouraged or were linked to terror attacks, officials said. The decision on deportation came after Israeli forces detained 21 relatives of two Palestinians suspected in back-to-back attacks this week, in which 10 Israelis and two foreign workers were killed -- the first deadly attacks on Israeli civilians in nearly a month.. ...

19 CHILDREN IN HOME The Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A child care worker was convicted Friday of second-degree murder in the death of an infant who was one of 19 children she cared for in her home...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate climbed to 5.4 percent in June, the highest level in more than eight years, the state Economic Development Department said Friday. The adjusted rate, which accounts for normal changes in employment patterns, was up from 4.8 percent in May, but just two-tenths of a percentage point higher than the April and March rates, the department said...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Premium Standard Farms took federal and state officials on a tour of farms Friday to show off some alternative methods for reducing environmental problems at its hog operations in the state. Premium Standard, the nation's largest hog producer, is under pressure to come up with ways to solve pollution problems on its 17 farms in northern Missouri...

DETROIT -- A Jordanian-born man carrying $12 million in phony cashier's checks was arrested at the Detroit airport and is being investigated by a terrorism task force, federal authorities said. Omar Shishani, 47, was charged with possessing fraudulent bank notes. A bail hearing Friday was postponed to give his attorney more time to prepare...

FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- After watching Army helicopters drop troops and howitzers from a steel-blue sky, President Bush answered a soldier's shout of "Let's get Saddam!" with a promise Friday to defeat the "mounting danger" of terrorist regimes. "We will use diplomacy when possible and force when necessary," Bush told thousands of flag-waving members of the storied 10th Mountain Division, many of whom served in Afghanistan...

Paying for college just got a little easier for Frances Jenkins. The Oak Ridge, Mo., mother, who currently works three jobs including a night shift at a local convenience store, is one of nearly 200 financially strapped Southeast Missouri State University students who will receive a Bridge to Success grant for the 2002-2003 academic year...

The Washington Post Unlike generations ago when devout Catholic boys were encouraged to enter seminaries at an age when they presumably knew little of love and sexuality, now priests typically get ordained in their mid-thirties, according to a study by sociology professor Dean Hoge at Catholic University...

"The Fantasticks' opens Monday at The Muny ST. LOUIS -- "The Fantasticks," the longest running musical in history, opens Monday July 22 at The Muny and continues through July 28. The show includes such songs as "Try to Remember," "Soon It's Gonna Rain" and "They Were You."...

HOUSTON -- With fan hopes at Super-Bowl level and team officials trying to lower them, the Houston Texans assemble for their first training camp as the NFL's 32nd expansion team. While owner Bob McNair preaches patience, expectations already are through the retractable roof of Reliant Stadium, with 57,000 season tickets already sold and fans clamoring to see first-round pick David Carr in action...

ENDICOTT, N.Y. -- Paul Gow, at home again on a course far from his native Australia, shot a 6-under 66 Friday to sit atop a B.C. Open leaderboard clogged with relative unknowns. Gow had a two-round total of 11-under 139 on the En-Joie Golf Club course, where lightning and rain around midday Friday forced a weather delay of nearly 4 hours, 15 minutes...

The Washington Post The summer after college James Stack fell in love. He was managing a suburban swimming pool when he met her. He had dated before but this relationship seemed special. There was only one problem: He planned to be a Catholic priest...

CINCINNATI -- Mike Piazza, Edgardo Alfonzo and Roberto Alomar hit solo home runs, and the New York Mets took advantage of a missed call in a 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds Friday night. The Mets led 3-1 in the fifth when the Reds loaded the bases with one out...

DETROIT -- Corey Koskie and David Ortiz homered on the first two pitches of the fourth inning to back Kyle Lohse's solid pitching as the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 5-1 Friday night. Doug Mientkiewicz added a home run as the Twins handed the Tigers their fourth straight defeat and took a 12-game lead over Chicago in the AL Central...

MIAMI -- Reliever Graeme Lloyd, appalled by the prospect of pitching again for Florida owner Jeffrey Loria, has asked an arbitrator to reverse the eight-player trade that sent him to the Marlins from the Montreal Expos. Lloyd says the deal July 11 violated a no-trade clause in his contract. It listed the Marlins as one of 12 teams he couldn't be traded to, but his agents apparently missed by one day a deadline to renew the clause last Nov. 1...

NEW YORK -- As baseball players and management finally got around to talking about revenue sharing Friday, baseball commissioner Bud Selig reversed course again and told owners to stop talking about labor matters in public. Negotiators, joined by eight players from the Boston Red Sox, had what both sides called a productive session, and agreed that they were not that far apart on the amount of money they want to divide unequally among clubs from baseball's national broadcasting and licensing contracts.. ...

Briefly Baseball Minnesota Twins outfielder Torii Hunter was suspended for three games and fined Friday for throwing a ball at Cleveland's Danys Baez. Hunter decided not to challenge the penalty and will start serving the suspension, imposed by baseball vice president Bob Watson, today...

From staff reports Paul Simpson has lived near the corner of Normal and Sprigg streets for nearly 40 years, and he's never felt safe trying to maneuver his way through the tricky intersection. "You just can't hardly get across," said Simpson, who lives at 712 Normal, about half a block from the intersection. "College kids are walking across, cars are really coming down Sprigg pretty quick. It's been a difficult corner for years."...

More than 150 junior high and high school students from southeastern and eastern Missouri will close out the 45th annual Summer Music Camps at Southeast Missouri State University today with a concert at Academic Auditorium. For the last week they have spent hours upon hours perfecting ensembles and full orchestra pieces that will be presented to family and friends this afternoon...

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Crawling on his hands and knees down the smoke-filled hallway of a burning senior citizen highrise, St. Louis firefighter Mike LeBrun's oxygen tank suddenly, without warning, went empty. The emergency alarm never sounded to alert LaBrun that his breathing apparatus was about out of air. The malfunction caused brain damage for LaBrun, who is in his 40s, a 19-year veteran of the department...

WASHINGTON -- In the second-largest meat recall in U.S. history, a Colorado company asked Americans nationwide Friday to check their refrigerators, stores and backyard grills and destroy 19 million pounds of hamburger meat because of E. coli concerns...

Southeast Missourian Some area Catholic youth are seizing an opportunity most only get once in a lifetime: seeing the pope in person. Thirty-one area youth and adults are traveling to Toronto, Ontario, on Sunday to attend the World Youth Day activities. Pope John Paul II is expected to attend and celebrate Mass July 28...

To the editor: "Write an essay in which you recall an event in which you changed your mind. Describe why you held the first opinion and then, marshaling your reasons, tell us why you changed your mind." We were having a conference, and he told me that after wrestling in high school for three years and coming to college with a wrestling scholarship, he was giving it up. ...

To the editor: Eight students, two police officers and one dispatcher from the Cape Girardeau Explorer Law Enforcement Post recently returned from the 2002 National Law Explorer Conference in Flagstaff, Ariz. The seven-day conference was held at Northern Arizona University, where students participated as a team in competitive events such as bomb-threat response, crime-scene search, shoot-don't shoot and white-collar crime. ...

Pining for tomatoes YOU KNOW why I want to move south: more tomatoes. Up here in northern Illinois, we get one crop of tomatoes from our tomato plants, and it's almost August before one turns ripe. I grew up just north of I-70 and had nice long summers and plenty of tomatoes. We do have a farmer who brings his truck to church loaded with sweet corn for about three Sundays every summer. That's great -- but not tomatoes...

ADVANCE, Mo. -- John H. Jarrett, 66, of Advance died Thursday, July 18, 2002, at his home. He was born Nov. 9, 1935, in Tunica, Miss., son of James Thomas and Ollie Coleman Jarrett. John had been manager at Kentucky Finance, Personal Finance, Warehouse manager at Georgia-Pacific and had worked at Wib's Drive-In. He was a member of First Baptist Church and Cape Optimist Club. He was a member of Parents Without Partners and Beginning Experiences...

ANNA, Ill. -- Colonel A. Hawk Sr., 76, of Anna died Thursday, July 18, 2002, in Union County Hospital. He was born Jan. 6, 1926, at Makanda, Ill., son of Joseph Wesley and Dorothy Hogg Hawk. Hawk retired as a security officer in the Peoria, Ill., area, and had been a bus driver with Cobden Unit School District...

Audrey Leora Dolle, 89, formerly of Sedgewickville, Mo., died Thursday, July 18, 2002, at Fountainbleau Lodge. She was born June 11, 1913, in Sedgewickville, daughter of Barney C. and Maude B. Cook Seabaugh. She and Vern W. Dolle were married Dec. 24, 1932. He died March 28, 1995...

ANNA, Ill. -- Laura Ann Smith, 62, of Anna died Friday, July 19, 2002, at her home. She was born Sept. 6, 1939, in Cobden, Ill., daughter of Herbert Lee and Esta Mae Guynn Clutts. She and Carl Lee Smith were married Sept. 29, 1979, in Alto Pass, Ill. He died May 22, 2002...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Leonard Lawrence Scheffer, 59, of Chaffee died Thursday, July 18, 2002, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. He was born March 11, 1943, at Charleston, Mo., son of Lawrence Edward and Adella Marie Heisserer Scheffer. Scheffer was a bricklayer with Ervin Eichhorn and then was a clerk at Rhodes 101 in Chaffee. He was a member of St. Ambrose Catholic Church and St. Ambrose Men's Club in Chaffee, and Knights of Columbus Council 4311 in Oran, Mo...

JACKSON, Mo. -- John E. Whittington, 77, died Friday, July 19, 2002, at his home. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

Brinson Daughter to Percy Lee Brinson and Gwendolyn Faye Johnson of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 12:02 a.m. Sunday, June 23, 2002. Name, Camry SaMore. Weight, 7 pounds 11 ounces. Seventh child, third daughter. Ms. Johnson is the former Gwendolyn Clark, daughter of Lucy Polter of Centralia, Ill., and Jessie Williams of Greenville, Miss. She is employed by Manpower. Brinson is the son of Lucky English of Paducah, Ky., and William Webster of Chicago...

10 years ago: July 20, 1992 Cape Girardeau officials are recommending changes in a construction trades licensing law that was adopted nine months ago; the city council will consider changes, which were ironed out in months subsequent to council's adoption of licensing rules last October after five months of debate...

STRUGGLING TOGETHER Southeast Missourian A summer youth camp program has expanded to a community event that includes several area churches and a diversity theme. Greater Dimension Ministries, an arm of Greater Dimension Church, is sponsoring the event called "Xtreme Xperience" for area teen-agers today. As many as 1,000 youth are expected to attend...

Editor's note: The Rev. Bob Towner, rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Cape Girardeau, is at Oxford University in England, studying at the C.S. Lewis Summer Institute. This is the second of four articles Towner will be writing about his experiences. ...

Broderick Brevard wants more youth to be a part of their community, learning early to break down racial barriers and cultural stereotypes while working together for something good. "We know that Sunday is still the most segregated day," said Brevard, a youth worker at Greater Dimension Church in Cape Girardeau...

WASHINGTON -- A divided House committee voted Friday to create the giant Homeland Security Department sought by President Bush, but not before a contentious debate that led to a one-year extension of a looming deadline for airports to begin screening airline bags for explosives...

Southeast Missourian JACKSON, Mo. -- A former legislative assistant to the Cape Girardeau County Commission will manage the county's transit operation. The county's five-member Transit Authority hired Jeff Brune of Cape Girardeau as its executive director and planner. Officials announced the hiring on Friday...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- R-1 School District employees will be getting a surprise - a raise. The board of education approved a $350 raise on the base salary for certified teachers and an additional 10 cents on the base salary for others. Superintendent Randy Winston said there was $600,000 in the balance that could be used to give raises. That money was saved from a move to put all students in a centralized kindergarten center...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, July 20 Firefighters responded to the following calls Friday:At 9:18 a.m., an emergency medical service at 1248 Linden. At 1:46 p.m., a motor vehicle accident at Independence at West End Boulevard. At 3:49 p.m., an alarm sounding at 4072 Nash Road...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, July 20 DWIJohn Willet, 27, of Union City, Tenn., was arrested for driving while intoxicated at Highway 74 and South Sprigg. ArrestsKimberly Burford, 27, of Benton, Mo. was arrested Thursday for burglary/assault, possession of a controlled substance with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia with the intent to manufacture meth...

Just the announcement that the Marquette Hotel in downtown Cape Girardeau will be transformed into an office building to house state offices and more was enough to cheer downtown supporters. As it stands, the 74-year-old abandoned hotel is nothing short of depressing. There are still hints of the grandeur that attracted stars to its rooms and regular folks to its restaurant, but time and lack of care have taken a heavy toll...

Scott City is known for a small-town way of life and neighbors who know and care about each other. Many residents live in Scott City and work in Cape Girardeau because they embrace small-town values. All of this made it so much more shocking when Scott City was the site of two brutal incidents last week...

Breast-feeding is a major factor that helps to reduce a woman's lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, according to a new analysis of research data from 30 countries. The relatively high breast cancer rates found in developed countries are largely explained by the fact that women in those countries have chosen to have few children and to breast-feed them briefly or not at all, according to the detailed analysis of 47 studies by a British research group...

Associated Press Coordinating pink and green fabrics, one floral and the other diamonds, are designed to be used together in no-fail decorating projects, such as pillow shams, winow treatments and comforters. By Laura Johnston ~ Southeast Missourian...

Today Xtreme Xperience for youth from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Greater Dimension Church. For information, call 334-0616. Sunday Men of Westminster from Westminster Presbyterian Church will perform at 6 p.m. for Evening Praise at Hanover Lutheran Church. Monday...

Hanover Lutheran plans to start VBS Monday Hanover Lutheran Church will host the "SonCanyon River Adventure" from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday at the church. The Vacation Bible school theme is a rafting adventure that includes skits, crafts, games and stories from Scripture...

The Washington Post Unlike generations ago when devout Catholic boys were encouraged to enter seminaries at an age when they presumably knew little of love and sexuality, now priests typically get ordained in their mid-thirties, according to a study by sociology professor Dean Hoge at Catholic University...

Editor's note: This story is part of a series on money collected by candidates in Southeast Missouri running for the General Assembly. By Marc Powers ~ Southeast Missourian JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Political donors gave Democrat Brent Robinson more than double the amount they contributed to Republican Otto Bean Jr. in the campaign for the 163rd District seat in the House of Representatives, finance disclosure reports show...