Stories from Wednesday, September 4, 2002

According to Peter De Vries, the pictures in restaurants are on a par with the food in museums. As a general rule that may be true, but it's not the case at Chicago's Field Museum, at least not while its "Chocolate" exhibit is on display. Recently I toured the exhibit, which is replete with artifacts ranging from pre-Columbian ceramics to 20th-century advertising, and I came away not only visually satisfied but with my chocolate cravings abated as well...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush bore down on lawmakers Tuesday to approve his vision of a new Cabinet superagency to spearhead the nation's defense against terrorism, but a major dispute over executive power is brewing in the Senate. Next week's anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks is raising pressure on Congress to act on Bush's proposal for a Department of Homeland Security, much of which was included in a bill the House passed in late July...

OAK BROOK, Ill. -- McDonald's plans to use a new cooking oil for its french fries that it says will do less damage to the diet. The nation's biggest hamburger restaurant chain said Tuesday the new oil will halve the trans fatty acid levels in its french fries while increasing the amount of the more beneficial polyunsaturated fat. Health experts say replacing saturated fats with unsaturated ones can help lower cholesterol levels...

STORM LAKE, Iowa -- In her dozen years as manager of a Planned Parenthood clinic in small-town Iowa, Sue Thayer thought she had seen it all -- pickets, threats and, locked away in a file cabinet, the records of women with problems she never imagined...

The appeal of seafood is perennial. In late summer, as the season changes, it keeps the flavors of the shore in mind -- and it's blissfully easy to make dishes such as the following, in which the seafood is given an extra lift with lively combinations of seasonings, including orange juice and peel, and hot pepper sauce...

NEW YORK -- Stocks tumbled Tuesday, as investors grew skittish over a series of developments ranging from lower-than-expected manufacturing activity to brokerage downgrades of Citigroup Inc. and Ford Motor Co. The Dow Jones industrials fell 355 points...

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Russia said Tuesday it will ratify an accord directing governments to reduce smokestack emissions and other causes of global warming -- a step that would make the agreement, which the United States rejected, law in much of the world...

London mayor: I feel safer in New York LONDON -- Mayor Ken Livingstone said Tuesday that he feels safer in New York than in London -- a surprising vote of no-confidence in his own city. "I do feel safe in London, but I don't feel as safe as I did when I went to New York," Livingstone told reporters, adding that crime seemed much worse now than when he was a child. "I want to be back to something more like I grew up with. We have lost the visible presence" of the police on the streets...

JERUSALEM -- In a potentially far-reaching case that pitted human rights against a nation's need for self-defense, Israel's highest court ruled Tuesday that the army can expel the relatives of alleged Palestinian militants. The army, backed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, maintained that banishing the families will deter potential suicide bombers from attacking Israelis. Human rights experts countered that targeting relatives is a form of collective punishment forbidden by international law...

MOSCOW -- At a training center of the Russian fire service, intricate homemade models depict some of the worst emergencies a firefighter could ever imagine: an inferno raging at a soccer stadium, a blaze spreading through the aisles of a crowded theater, even a nuclear mushroom cloud hovering ominously over residential high-rises...

MOSCOW -- To 'N Sync star Lance Bass' dream of becoming the youngest extraterrestrial traveler, the Russian Space Agency on Tuesday said: "Bye, bye, bye." Sponsors for the teen idol's October flight aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station failed to deliver the $20 million fare despite repeated extensions, space agency spokesman Sergei A. Gorbunov told reporters...

A man standing in a bus shelter in Kansas City was struck and killed Monday by a vehicle that ran off the road, police said. The victim was a Kansas City man whose identity was not released by police. He died at a hospital about 10:30 a.m. Police said the victim saw the vehicle coming and tried to escape...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- An appeals court has sent the case of a Lee's Summit woman who won a libel award from Wal-Mart to the Missouri Supreme Court, saying the state's requirements for proving defamation need clarification. The Missouri Court of Appeals on Friday reversed a $425,833 award Carolyn Kenney won from Wal-Mart in December 2000, after the retailer posted a missing-child flier that pictured her and her 16-month-old granddaughter...

ST. LOUIS -- Preliminary tests show that nine more cases of West Nile virus have been reported in Missouri, health officials said Tuesday. That brings to 46 the number of cases of the mosquito-borne disease in the state. All nine of the new cases were from the St. Louis area -- seven from St. Louis city, one from St. Louis County and one from St. Charles County...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- After waiting for more than two decades, Patty Buxton now has the final say about where legislation fits into Missouri's voluminous statutes. Buxton was recently named Missouri reviser of statutes and is the first woman to hold the position since Missouri's laws first were revised in 1825 -- just four years after statehood...

ST. LOUIS -- One more weekend of clean air and St. Louis could survive the summer without violating federal clean air standards. Air-quality specialists were confident Monday that southwesterly breezes and ozone-conscious consumers helped ease the St. Louis area through the Labor Day weekend without violations...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- An Independence, Mo., man pleaded guilty Tuesday to unauthorized wearing of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Ralph Ervin Crowder, 46, was originally charged in a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court with impersonating an officer and a military hero...

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. -- A bizarre accident on Interstate 64 in suburban St. Louis during morning rush hour Tuesday left one man hospitalized, another at large, and both facing charges. Chesterfield police say the pair bailed out of their SUV when a tank in the back blew up. Two propane tanks were filled with anhydrous ammonia, a substance often used to produce methamphetamine, officers said...

New York City man dies of West Nile virus NEW YORK -- A man has died from the West Nile virus, the first known fatality from the disease in New York City this year, the city health department said. If confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the West Nile death would be the 32nd in the United States this year...

ATLANTA -- Government health officials confirmed Tuesday that the recipient of a donated organ died of the West Nile virus, raising concern it can spread through blood transfusions and other medical procedures. Federal officials said they were speeding development of a West Nile blood test...

ROLLA, Mo. -- Anyone who doubts the power of water need look only at the devastation of a flood to become a believer. Now researchers are harnessing that power in an inch-wide stream strong enough to cut through concrete and steel yet so controlled and precise it does not disturb anything nearby...

Part of south Cape Girardeau is going to the birds. Hundreds of thousands of birds. Marcia Ritter, the Ward 6 representative on the Cape Girardeau City Council, said Tuesday night that she has received several phone calls about an annoying bird problem in the southwest corner of the city...

A sobriety checkpoint conducted Friday by the Cape Girardeau Police Department resulted in seven suspects being arrested for driving while intoxicated. "We conduct sobriety checkpoints to scare the impaired drivers from the streets," said Lt. John Davis, one of the checkpoint supervisors...

JACKSON, Mo. -- If a grant the Board of Aldermen has agreed to apply for comes through, Jackson area youths could be playing on 19 new soccer fields a year from now. The Jackson Soccer Park Association plan calls for building the fields of varying size on 27 acres donated to the city earlier this year by the Jackson Industrial Development Corporation. The land is located on the south side of the city near the Coca-Cola plant...

The Associated Press ST. LOUIS -- Woody Williams, a major reason for the Cardinals' playoff appearance last season, finally made a meaningful contribution to their stretch drive this year. Williams won for the first time in more than two months and Jim Edmonds hit a two-run home run in a 3-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night. Edmonds had three RBIs, and Williams (7-4) allowed one run on four hits for his first victory since beating San Diego on July 1...

OAKLAND, Calif. Oakland A's closer Billy Koch kept his hat tipped exactly halfway off his brow and held his hands motionless on his lap. His team was down a run in the ninth inning, and it needed all the good karma it could get. It's part of baseball's charm that any run of success turns millionaire players into Little Leaguers afraid to jinx their team. The A's 19-game winning streak is the majors' longest in 55 years -- which simply means there's much more cause for caution...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court building is home to two courts. There's the fancy place with red velvet curtains and robe-wearing justices. Then there's the one with bland concrete walls and backboards, where the attire is sweats and sneakers. The unofficial court is for basketball. It's located in a secluded area on the building's top floor, not listed in tourist information and closed to visitors...

It started out as a plan for a mountain-biking event that would descend into an underground salt mine, but ended up with the people at Red Bull discovering underground caverns near Bonne Terre, Mo. That discovery culminates today with top wakeboarders like Shaun Murray and Parks Bonifay competing in the Red Bull Depth Charge event near Bonne Terre, Mo...

If golfers find the sand at Bent Creek Golf Course in Jackson, Mo., less often these days, sorry to say, it may not be due to dramatic improvements in their game. The course has eliminated a half dozen bunkers this year as it has tackled its most glaring problem...

Southeast Missourian Jeromy McDowell's shoulder appears to be holding up fine, but his knee is not cooperating as well. Southeast Missouri State University football coach Tim Billings said McDowell, the Indians' sophomore quarterback, re-injured his knee during Monday's practice and is scheduled to have the knee examined today by his doctor in St. Louis...

smcclanahan It simply did not seem possible that our Lexie walked in the doors of school to begin kindergarten yesterday. It seems like only a short time ago she was learning to walk and talk, and now she's in school. After she turned 5 years old, it was like this little girl unfolded with a whole new sense of responsibility. She learned to tie her shoes, brush her teeth without being asked and washes her hair all by herself now. Over the summer, she has really changed...

Editor's note: This column originally was published in the Southeast Missourian on Feb. 25, 1995. The Other Half adores the game of basketball. If he's not writing about it for a newspaper, he's watching it at a little high school gym somewhere. To him, small-town basketball is the best...

Lone Star Industries sealed off a leak that had been spewing millions of gallons of Mississippi River water into the cement plant's 350-foot-deep quarry. "We continue to pump water from the quarry, but in the next 30 to 60 days, we should be back to regular operations," company spokeswoman Barbara Sinclair said Tuesday...

A photograph of an event few people can capture was chosen as the People's Choice winner in the annual Foto Fest contest. Alvin Kamp's photo of a lightning flash received the most votes in the contest. His picture was chosen from the more than 1,200 entered in the six-week contest and displayed at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park...

When the first bell rang at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, cars were still creeping through the only entrance into the new Central High School. Impatient-looking parents on their way to work sat for up to 30 minutes, hoping to drop their children off on the first day of classes. A few, frustrated with the long lines, simply let their children out on Mount Auburn Road and turned around...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The state went to court Tuesday to try to block any attempt by the charitable trust that controls Hershey Foods Corp. to sell the chocolate maker, warning that such a deal could lead to major layoffs in the town that bears the company's name...

WASHINGTON -- The Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Md.) High School team was on a roll in the first round of the Saturday morning television quiz competition "It's Academic." Although they won that day last winter, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase scholars had an embarrassing moment when host Mac McGarry asked what seemed like a fourth-grade question: "How much is a 4 percent sales tax if the purchase price is $90?"...

AREA EVENTS Four-person women's scramble, Fredericktown (Mo.) Country Club, Thursday. Two-person men's scramble, Lakeview Country Club, Neelyville, Mo., Saturday. Mixed scramble, Sikeston (Mo.) Country Club, Saturday and Sunday. Two-man four-ball, New Madrid (Mo.) Country Club, Saturday and Sunday...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, who will mark the remembrance of Sept. 11 by visiting three terrorist attack sites, plans to start the observances in prayer and close them with a prime-time address to the nation. The White House on Tuesday released details of the president's Sept. ...

WASHINGTON -- Senators backing a national child abduction alert system said Tuesday that they predict quick passage. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced the Amber alert bill, which would set up a national network for distributing alerts when a child is abducted. They were joined by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the bill...

Ellen Dean Vinyard, 80, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

ANNA, Ill. -- Faye Holmes, 79, of Anna died Sunday, Sept. 1, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born March 29, 1923, in Thebes, Ill., daughter of Hudson and Charolotty Spencer Fisher. She and Raymond Holmes were married Sept. 22, 1941, in Alexander County, Ill. He died Aug. 2, 1974...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Lowell E. Webb, 91, of Sikeston died Sunday, Sept. 1, 2002, at Missouri Delta Medical Center. He was born May 30, 1911, in Hartville, Mo., son of Jesse F. and Bertha Webb. He and Lou Etta McFall were married March 31, 1934. The Webbs moved to Sikeston in 1934, where they founded and owned Webb Electric until retiring in 1970. ...

The funeral for M.J. Quick of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Northside Gospel Church. The Revs. Winferd Wren, Roy Stafford and Bobby Mouser will officiate. Burial will be in Lorimier Cemetery. Friends may call at Ford and Sons Sprigg Street Funeral Home from 4 to 8 p.m. today...

POCAHONTAS, Mo. -- Dorothy Mae James, 70, of Pocahontas died Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. She was born Dec. 13, 1931, at Randles, Mo., daughter of John Henry and Rose Emily Breese Bonds. James was a retired sewing machine operator at Thorngate Ltd. in Chaffee, Mo. She was a member of First General Baptist Church in Jackson, Mo. She moved to Pocahontas 15 years ago from Bradley, Ill...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Marilyn Gail Sexton, 56, of Sikeston died Monday, Sept. 2, 2002, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. She was born Dec. 3, 1945, in East Prairie, Mo., daughter of Leamon "Bud" and Opal Lyons Markland. Sexton had been a waitress at various restaurants in Sikeston. She was a member of Living Grave Fellowship Church, and had been involved with Meals on Wheels program...

ANNA, Ill. -- Margaret Rhodes, 84, of Anna died Monday, Sept. 2, 2002, at Union County Hospital. She was born April 22, 1918, in Alto Pass, Ill., daughter of Albert and Lula Foster Rhodes. Survivors include two brothers, Carl Rhodes of Wolf Lake, Ill., and Billy Rhodes of Alto Pass...

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Graveside service for Lester "Cotton" Thompson of Olive Branch was held Tuesday at Rosehill Cemetery in Thebes, Ill. Audry "Lee" Thompson and the Rev. Leon Wilkins officiated. Crain Funeral Home in Tamms, Ill., was in charge of arrangements...

The funeral for Jeanette M. Ervin of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11 a.m. today at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home. The Rev. Cy Smith will officiate. Burial will be in Cape County Memorial Park. Friends may call at the funeral home from 9 a.m. until service time...

JACKSON, Mo. -- Dr. Douglas Warren Salzmann of Jackson died Sunday, Sept. 1, 2002, at his home. McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson is in charge of arrangements.

Ruth Ann McDonney, 64, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2002, at her home. Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

10 years ago: Sept. 4, 1992 Cape Girardeau Senior Center hopes to host big New Year's Eve bash at its new building; preliminary work has begun at site and construction should begin immediately; if all goes well, building at 921 N. Clark should be finished in about four months; contractor is E.R. Thompson Construction Inc...

Davidson Daughter to William Gregory and Rebecca Jo Davidson of Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 3:58 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, 2002. Name, Mollie Ione. Weight, 7 pounds 4 ounces. First child. Mrs. Davidson is the former Rebecca Burgess, daughter of Lois Burgess of Cape Girardeau, and the late Clint Burgess of Portageville, Mo. She is employed at JCPenney. Davidson is the son of Joan Davidson of Cape Girardeau and Jim Davidson of Jonesboro, Ark. He is employed by the U.S. Postal Service...

Whit Lynn and Trey Willis hooked up twice in Central's 3-0 boys' soccer win Tuesday over Jackson. Lynn scored at the 26-minute mark on a cross from Willis, then again on another long cross from Willis at the 59-minute mark. It took Aaron Bornstein just 12 minutes to score the first goal of the game and the season on a head ball from Bryan Ross...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration could lay out further evidence of the threat posed by Iraq in the coming days and weeks, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday. That information could be released during congressional hearings on Iraq planned for later this month, Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing...

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair, besieged by critics in his own party and by opinion polls showing strong opposition to military action against Iraq, Tuesday forcefully articulated the case against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and delivered a spirited defense of the United States and President Bush...

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Iraq said Tuesday it was ready to discuss a return of U.N. weapons inspectors, but only in a broader context of ending sanctions and restoring Iraqi sovereignty over all its territory. The comments -- repeating a stance that U.N. chief Kofi Annan has rejected in the past -- came at a World Summit here that has seen several world leaders sharply criticize U.S. threats to attack Iraq...

BERWYN, Ill. -- Roy Kenneth Burns, 62, of Berwyn died Friday, Aug. 30, 2002, on his farm near Dongola, Ill. He was born Jan. 24, 1940, in Thebes, Ill., son of Houston Samuel and Wanda Violet Abernathie Burns. He and Patricia Lee Mair were married Sept. 3, 1960, in Cicero, Ill...

Thomas F. Waltz Jr., 93, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He was born July 13, 1909, in Boon-ville, Mo., son of Thomas F. and Ferda Rogers Waltz. He and Norma Peters were married in 1941. She died Nov. 17, 1970. He and Dorothy Beaver were married in 1972. She died March 23, 1995...

Consent Ordinances (Second and third readings) Approved an ordinance readopting Sections 2-76 to 2-83 of the City Code relating to conflicts of interest. Approved an ordinance approving the record plat of Woodland Place Eleventh Subdivision...

Cape Girardeau Wednesday, Sept. 4 Firefighters responded to the following items Monday: At 5:05 p.m., alarm at 4680 Nash Road. At 7:18 p.m., emergency medical service at 619 Koch. At 7:30 p.m., illegal burn at 1900 William. At 9:56 p.m., alarm at 141 N. Silver Springs...

Cape Girardeau Wednesday, Sept. 4The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Eugene Haley, 24, of 518 S. Ellis, was arrested Tuesday on a Sikeston warrant for contempt of court. Sherry L. Gifford, 41, of 106 S. West Lane, Jackson, Mo., was arrested Monday on a Cape Girardeau County warrant for fraud...

Jackson Wednesday, Sept. 4 Firefighters responded to the following items Tuesday: Emergency medical service at South Farmington. Emergency medical service at East Main. Gas leak at Legion Drive. Emergency medical service at Abbie Court....

A formal dedication of the new 203,000-square-foot Central High School on Silver Springs Road will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15, in the high school commons area. "We're trying to create a sense of sophistication and elegance that's fitting to such a major community accomplishment," said high school principal Mike Cowan. "We also wanted to say thank you. The community has obviously made a huge investment in secondary education with the new facility."...

A trend toward naming highways for famous Missourians or for those law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty has been gathering speed in our state. More than 50 segments of state highways and bridges are named after people or events, most of which were approved in the last five years...

Advances in medical science have helped improve the quality of life in many fields, and criminal justice is no exception. So it is with the DNA testing that was unknown just a few years ago. As with all human artifacts, our system of criminal justice is imperfect. Although it is vastly more protective of the rights of the accused than most any other system -- and vastly more so today than it was 50 years ago -- flaws remain, as indeed they always will...

PINDARI, India -- The goddess, they say, should not come to you easily. So the holy man seeks her every year by trekking for three days high into the Himalayas. He climbs to a hand-built hut 13,500 feet up, where oxygen fades and nothing grows but a few wisps of grass...

BANGALORE, India -- When an astrologer warned Anasuya Dhanrajgir that bad luck was on her horizon, she took the road increasingly traveled by modern Hindus looking to appease ancient divinities. Anasuya logged onto the Internet. In the old days, the astrologer's advice might have pushed the 39-year-old Anasuya to take a 900-mile journey to a temple on the southern tip of India. There, she'd pay respects to Shani -- the Hindu god the astrologer said she had angered...

Action Items Power and Light Committee Authorized the mayor to execute an application for a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant. Accepted the dedication of Sanitary Sewer Easement Deeds from Oak Enterprises, L.L.C., Don and Donna Voorhes and Joseph and Frances Willenbring...

BURKEVILLE, Va. -- James Beverly stands in a broken-down, vine-choked lean-to, surveying the rusting feed bins and stacks of moldering 2-by-4s that were supposed to be his pig-breeding farm. They've been sitting there for 20 years, waiting for a government loan that never came...

JONESBORO, Ark. -- Southeast captured its first victory of the season on Tuesday with a three games to one victory over Arkansas State. After dropping their first three matches of the season at the Southwest Missouri State Invitational, the Otahkians cruised through Tuesday's match. Bobbi Carlisle continues to lead the way for the Otahkians, banging out 26 kills for the match. Jessica Houpt had 12 kills and Sarah Frost added 11...

Baseball Bill Mueller is heading back to San Fransico. The Cubs dealt the third baseman to the Giants for a minor league pitcher late Tuesday. Baseball owners will meet Thursday in Chicago for a ratification vote on the labor contract agreed to by their negotiators last week...

Otahks top Arkansas St. for first volleyball win JONESBORO, Ark. -- Southeast captured its first victory of the season Tuesday with a three games to one victory over Arkansas State. After dropping their first three matches of the season at the Southwest Missouri State Invitational, the Otahkians cruised Tuesday. Bobbi Carlisle continued to lead the way for the Otahkians, banging out 26 kills. Jessica Houpt had 12 kills and Sarah Frost 11...

To the editor: In response to a Speak Out comment: The caller who was critical of "a smoking area for teachers" in the schools seemed to imply that this was occurring in the Cape Girardeau School District. All schools in the district have had a "no smoking on campus" policy for everyone for at least the past 8 to 10 years. ...

To the editor: In response to the article "Portion of interstate named for trooper": Trooper James M. Froemsdorf's service weapon was purchased from donations made by Troop C officers in an effort initiated by the troop commander, Capt. Paul Parmenter, who also initiated the campaign to get the portion of I-55 in Perry County named after Froemsdorf...

Downtown park REGARDING Eli Fishman's commentary that we need a park downtown: What, may I ask, is the matter with the Riverfront Park that everyone seems to be so proud of? Punishing the abettors YOUR EDITORIAL regarding the trillion-dollar lawsuit arising out of Sept. ...

U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan's campaign said Tuesday she has agreed to two late-October debates with Republican challenger Jim Talent. Talent's campaign pressed for more and earlier faceoffs. Talent, a former congressman from St. Louis County, has accepted eight debate invitations and would consider more, said campaign manager Lloyd Smith...