Stories from Monday, November 25, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ann Landers' desk, antique furniture and letters from presidents went on the auction block Sunday, along with her combat boots. Landers, whose real name was Esther "Eppie" Lederer, died of multiple myeloma on June 22 at age 83. For four decades she had delivered snappy, timely advice on topics ranging from finances to broken hearts to sexuality...

TORONTO -- The French scholar who discovered the purported burial box of Jesus' brother, James, strongly defended the artifact's identification Sunday against skeptical points raised at a convention of religion scholars. Despite the doubts, Andre Lemaire asserted that "myself, I have been very cautious. I say it is very probable."...

KUWAIT CITY -- In Kuwait, two American soldiers are shot on a quiet stretch of desert highway. In Lebanon, an American nurse is murdered at a clinic. In Jordan, a U.S. diplomat is gunned down in his front yard. As U.S. soldiers prepare for possible war with Iraq, and as violence continues in American-allied Israel and the Palestinian territories, a series of attacks on Americans in the Middle East has sparked fears that even friendly nations like Kuwait are no longer enclaves of safety...

QUITO, Ecuador -- A former coup leader viewed as a crusader against corruption won Ecuador's presidential runoff Sunday, defeating a billionaire businessman who socializes with America's rich and powerful. With 97 percent of the votes counted, Lucio Gutierrez, a cashiered army colonel, had 54.3 percent of the votes compared with 45.7 percent for Alvaro Noboa, who heads a banana and shipping empire that includes 110 companies...

LAGOS, Nigeria -- The death toll from sectarian violence over the Miss World pageant in Nigeria rose to at least 215 -- more than double previous estimates -- a Red Cross official said Sunday. The violence in Kaduna -- and to a lesser extent in the capital, Abuja -- began after a newspaper article suggested that Islam's founding prophet might have taken one of the contestants for a wife. The contest was moved to London after the outbreak of rioting among Muslims and Christians...

BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- On the first Sunday since Israel reoccupied Bethlehem, troops barred Christians from worshipping at the Church of the Nativity, one of Christianity's most sacred shrines. Soldiers in another part of the West Bank searched four mosques for suspected militants...

JAMMU, India -- Security forces used rocket launchers Monday to end the siege of two Hindu temples by Islamic militants in India-controlled Kashmir, police said. Twelve people, including two rebels, were killed. At least 50 others, mostly Hindu devotees visiting this city of temples, were injured, said Ashok Suri, the police chief of Jammu-Kashmir state...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- In a point-by-point protest, the Iraqi government complained to the United Nations Sunday that the small print behind the weapons inspections beginning this week will give Washington a pretext to attack. The new U.N. resolution on the inspections could turn "inaccurate statements" among "thousands of pages" of required Iraqi reports into a supposed justification for military action, Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan...

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's premier accepted the resignation of Finance Minister Lee Yung-san amid controversy over government efforts to reform the island's debt-laden credit unions, the Cabinet said today. When Lee tendered his resignation last week, he told reporters that health reasons were behind his decision...

SEDALIA, Mo. -- Missouri farmers need to understand how to market their farm lands to attract tourists anxious to get a glimpse into the rural life. "We need to realize how unique we are, and how unique our experiences are to people who live in the city, whether it be a bird nest or a line of ants," said Ernie Bohner, who operates Persimmon Hill Berry Farm in Lampe...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The arena talk is heating up in the Kansas City area, with officials in downtown Kansas City, Olathe and Wyandotte County pursuing building the metropolitan area's first arena in nearly three decades. In Kansas City, the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission, backed by Mayor Kay Barnes, is expected to release a study in early December on the feasibility of building a downtown arena...

LONE JACK, Mo. -- Paul J. Nance sat in front of his Bedouin tent, which is bigger than a living room and woven of black goat hair. Peering through bifocals, Nance hardly gave a hint that he lost most of his eyesight after a stroke. After decades, he knows every inch of his little museum near Lone Jack, where the tent is the centerpiece among about 2,500 Saudi Arabian artifacts...

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. -- Miss America Erika Harold is speaking out in favor of delaying sex until marriage, even though that irritates pageant officials. "It's not that I'm trying to preach. I'm standing up for a lifestyle that I have chosen," Harold told dozens of Chicago-area students Saturday...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Martha Johnson, a managed-care specialist at Boone Hospital Center, knows better than most parents how frightening a hospital operating room can seem to a child. Her son Ben had open-heart surgery when he was 3 at a hospital in St. Louis...

CHICAGO -- Cook County prosecutors have taken the somewhat rare step of charging five men with perjury for their testimony during the trials of a man convicted of murdering a Chicago police officer. One of the five pleaded guilty last week and was sentenced to 2 years in prison. Three others have been arrested, and police continue to search for the fifth person, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office said...

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- The attorney for a teenager accused of killing his classmate has asked to withdraw from the case. Joseph Johnson filed the motion Friday in the case of Zacheriah Tripp, citing the Buchanan County Court's refusal to provide taxpayer money to help fund Tripp's defense...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay intercepted Brett Favre four times and Brad Johnson threw two second-half touchdown passes as the Buccaneers defeated the Green Bay Packers 21-7 Sunday in a showdown of the teams with the best records in the NFL. Favre was sacked three times and had little success against the vaunted Bucs defense after taking advantage of Tampa Bay's only turnover to give the Packers (8-3) a 7-0 lead in the first quarter...

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld watched approvingly as Slovene soldiers repelled a mock assault on a checkpoint, then swooped into an abandoned building to apprehend assailants armed with Kalashnikov rifles. The demonstration ended a week in which a globe-trotting Rumsfeld urged leaders of countries from Chile to the Czech Republic to transform their armed forces to battle 21st-century threats: trafficking in drugs and weapons, international terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.. ...

MEXICO CITY -- Not long ago, while still settling in as presidents of their respective countries, George W. Bush and Vicente Fox were giving off high hopes for a new deal to end the long-running dispute over migrant workers and legalize the status of undocumented Mexicans in the United States...

LAS VEGAS -- Jethro Bodine intends to prove he's no fool. Max Baer Jr., who once played the doltish character on "The Beverly Hillbillies," recently signed a deal with International Game Technology of Reno to produce hundreds of penny slot machines featuring the show that once drew millions of loyal viewers...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- To protest a menace in their school, nearly 1,000 students at East High School in Memphis skipped homeroom one day. Across the state, another 1,000 students spent a month at Bristol Motor Speedway -- not watching NASCAR races, but studying in the skyboxes while a threat was removed at Sullivan East High School...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Endeavour chased after the international space station on Sunday, bringing a relief crew for its three longtime inhabitants. "We're on our way," said the shuttle's skipper, James Wetherbee. The 250-mile-high linkup will occur this afternoon...

'Frankie and Johnny' gets new faces NEW YORK -- Broadway has its new "Frankie and Johnny." Rosie Perez and Joe Pantoliano will replace Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci on New Year's Day in the hit revival of "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune," Terrence McNally's blue-collar romance...

The Jackson Fire Department called in assistance from Millersville and Cape Girardeau Monday to put out a fire at a white work shed at 552 E. Main Street, across from the K-9 Training Center, near the Co-Op. The fire was called in at 9:35 a.m. The building was being rented by Jason Laster, who has been running a cabinet-making business there for about nine months...

SAN FRANCISCO -- West Coast dockworkers and shipping companies have reached a tentative contract agreement that could end the drawn-out labor dispute that shut down the coast's major ports for 10 days and prompted the president to intervene. The six-year deal would provide wage and benefit improvements for union members, plus technology and dispute-resolution improvements that the companies needed, said Peter Hurtgen, head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service...

With the opening of Cape Girardeau's new head shop, Hempies, marijuana is once again the talk of the town, but just don't talk about it in the store, warns co-owner Sean Wibbenmeyer. Laminated signs posted over Hempies' collection of smoking accessories warn customers not to mention illegal substances...

When Bonan Wang was a little girl in China, her mother took her to her piano lesson once a week. Yifeng Ren pedaled a bicycle with a cart behind for her daughter. The trip took an hour each way. Even when it was raining or snowing, Bonan never missed a lesson. Though they lived in Wuhan, a sophisticated city of 7 million people in central China, they traveled far because Ren wanted the best teacher for her daughter...

ALTO PASS, Ill. On any given day during the grape-growing season, Paul Renzaglia can usually be found floating through his family's 10-acre vineyard that for years has sat serenely in the hills of Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. "I love the outside work," said Renzaglia, a second-generation winemaker who helped start Alto Vineyards with his father in 1988. ...

KENNETT, Mo. -- If you were the governor of Missouri, some constituents might understand if you were looking around for another job these days to replace the one that hasn't provided much satisfaction during your nearly two-year span of employment. You even might have heard the rumors going around town that your future was shaky at best, with some betting you wouldn't last out the next 700-plus days remaining in your contract...

NEW YORK -- Some insurance companies are trying yet another tactic to drive down health care costs, using tiered medical coverage to steer patients from high-priced hospitals and doctors to less expensive ones. The new plans establish price categories for hospitals and doctors in the same way that many plans now are "tiering" prescription drugs, requiring patients to pay more themselves for the costlier alternatives...

Unofficially we're just hours or minutes (depending on when you read this) from the high school basketball season. The Southeast Missourian's high school basketball preview falls on your driveway Saturday. But since you're sweating butter to find out who's who this year, here's a preview of the preview...

Grace Cafe is moving and owner Grace Parry says anyone who's tried to find a seat during a "packed out" lunch or dinner will know why. "We need more space, definitely," said Parry, who opened Grace Cafe and the adjacent A Touch of Grace Herb Shop in 1996 at the corner of Themis and Spanish. "Right now, our maximum occupancy is 32. We end up being full all the time."...

NEWTON, Mass. -- Monsignor Michael Smith Foster made an emotional return to his former parish Sunday for the first time since he was cleared of child sexual abuse allegations. "Your letters, cards, phone calls and prayers kept my spirit alive," he said, thanking friends and strangers for their kindness. "You will never know how grateful I am."...

Icy conditions in Rockies cause highway crashes CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Icy conditions caused dozens of accidents on the highways in the Rocky Mountain foothills Sunday, injuring at least five people and causing authorities to temporarily close a 90-mile stretch of Interstate 80...

HOUSTON -- A judge has granted documentary filmmakers full access to an upcoming capital murder trial -- including the traditionally secret jury deliberations -- and prosecutors are mounting an effort to stop it. Legal experts believe it would be the first time deliberations were included in a video documentary of a trial that could lead to a death sentence...

LOS ANGELES -- Halle Berry used to plead with filmmakers to look beyond her beauty and realize she could act. Now that she has an Academy Award to validate her dramatic talents, Berry's out to prove she knows how to kick butt, too. After her anguished performance in the low-budget "Monster's Ball," Berry takes a sharp turn back to big-studio work as James Bond's latest love interest in "Die Another Day."...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Annika Sorenstam was determined at the start and dominant to the end. Playing her best golf when she had nothing left to give, Sorenstam won her 11th tournament Sunday in the ADT Championship, a fitting finish to the best season on the LPGA Tour in 38 years...

LANDOVER, Md. -- The St. Louis Rams were just a chip shot away from overtime when Kurt Warner lost the ball. LaVar Arrington made the strip, and Daryl Gardener made the recovery at the 13-yard line. The Washington Redskins won 20-17 Sunday, giving coach Steve Spurrier an improbable victory based on defense, ball control and an error-free game from Danny Wuerffel...

ST. LOUIS -- Years ago, Wayne Hagin landed what he thought was his dream gig as the radio voice of the Colorado Rockies, then a National League expansion team in his hometown of Denver. "I want 30 years in the broadcast booth here," Hagin said then. "Believe me, this was my goal in life. I've found the place I want to live. I've found the place I want to work. I would like to die here. This is the opportunity of my lifetime, and I could not have written a better script."...

Businessman graduates from Leadership Missouri Phillip Brinson, president of Chase Properties and co-owner of the Buckner Brewing Co., was one of 29 statewide Missouri business leaders who recently graduated from Leadership Missouri, a seven-month leadership enhancement program sponsored by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce...

Hospital's projects honored for excellence Southeast Missouri Hospital's Marketing and Communications Department has received statewide recognition for seven projects that the hospital produced this year to educate and inform community and area residents on a variety of health-related issues...

Cape Girardeau long has boasted about its unofficial designation as the biggest center for medical care between St. Louis and Memphis. With its two hospitals, massive Doctors' Park, walk-in clinics, nursing homes and medical support businesses, the city welcomes those seeking treatment from throughout a large region...

The numbers are staggering. Even with all the billboards with heartbreaking pictures of children killed by drunken drivers, even with all the publicity over harsh prosecution of offenders, and even with all the slogans -- "Friends don't let friends drive drunk," for example -- the number of DWI arrests in Cape Girardeau County is skyrocketing over last year. The number of arrests made by sheriff's deputies is almost double last year already, with more than a month to go...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Unlike typical 11-year-olds, Travis Gray avoids candy bars and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. His friends serve as food-tasters at parties, making sure sweets and treats don't contain peanuts, which could threaten his life if he ate one. His mother scans restaurant menus ruthlessly for any hint of peanuts...

SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- State officials are trying to sort out the best plan to deal with poultry litter, after hearing several ideas from researchers. Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri officials met last week in Siloam Springs to talk about the best way to dispose of excess litter from chicken farms in their area...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Roses are red, and a variety of other colors. But they've never been blue -- an omission legions of rose breeders have sought for centuries to remedy. "It would be a beautiful thing to see," said James Armstrong, an award-winning flower show exhibitor and consultant with the San Francisco Rose Society...

Baseball Third baseman David Bell agreed to a $17-million, four-year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday. Bell hit .261 with 20 homers and 73 RBIs last season, helping the San Francisco Giants reach the World Series. The free agent will replace All-Star third baseman Scott Rolen, traded by Philadelphia to St. Louis in July. Bell chose the Phillies over the Giants, where he played one year after 3 1/2 seasons with the Seattle Mariners...

Central Methodist College coach Jeff Sherman says his team is capable of challenging for a conference title and playing well in the NAIA Division II national tournament. Even so, Sherman knows the chances of the Runnin' Eagles from Fayette, Mo., upsetting Southeast Missouri State University tonight are slim -- not that they won't try to pull off the shocker, however...

To the editor: It is very sad that Alan Journet is so isolated in academia that he cannot relate to mainstream America. Unfortunately, his political biases are evident in his classroom. Perhaps it is time for Journet to realize that those of us whom he seems to despise are the same people who are asked to donate to the university where he teaches...

Aquatic center support AS A Cape Girardeau native and resident, you bet I'll support a tax to build a new aquatic center. The economy in our area remains vibrant despite the national situation. But to keep it that way, we need to look to the future and fund a project that will bring people -- and their dollars -- to our town. I hope other voters will consider the long-term benefits of supporting this project and not see it as a flimsy excuse to raise taxes...

Oliver "Ollie" M. Lange, 83, passed away Sunday, Nov. 24, 2002, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. today at McCombs Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau. An American Legion service will be at 7 p.m. Funeral service will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral chapel...

Myrtle Mae Thompson, 91, of Cape Girardeau died Sunday, Nov. 24, 2002, at the Lutheran Home. She was born May 14, 1911, in Allenville, Mo., daughter of the late Fred and Lulu Harmon Thompson. She was a member of Illmo Baptist Church. Survivors include one sister, Claudine Caldwell of Cape Girardeau...

Willard C. Bergman, 83, of Perryville, Mo., died Sunday, Nov. 24, 2002, at the Perry Oaks Manor in Perryville. Arrangements are pending with Young & Sons Funeral Home in Perryville.

10 years ago: Nov. 25, 1992 Activity fee revenue of $220,000 has been allocated to Southeast Missouri State University student groups, including gay and lesbian organization, while funding for two Christian organizations remains in doubt; issue is whether separation-of-church-and-state laws preclude funding for religious organization on campus, says Bob Boedeker, director of University Center and campus activities, and adviser to Student Government...

Nobody believed the score. Chaminade 77, Virginia 72. The 800-student NAIA school from Honolulu beat the nation's No. 1-ranked school on Dec. 23, 1982, in the biggest upset in college basketball history. Virginia had a 7-foot-4 center who was en route to his third straight national player of the year award...

NEW YORK -- Executive coach Mary Genkins was working with a young woman who was soon to go before her boss for a year-end evaluation. She was prepared to talk about the projects she had completed and all the new clients she attracted. But there was nothing on her list about a raise or a bonus...

A hunting trailer on County Road 532 near Fruitland caught fire Sunday, burning around a square half-mile of woods. According to Shane Johnston, chief of the Fruitland Area Fire Protection District, the 14-by-70-foot trailer was used by a local couple for hunting purposes but was not occupied at the time of the fire...

Cape Girardeau Monday, Nov. 25 Firefighters responded to the following calls on Saturday: At 4:04 p.m., an illegal burning at 1360 Randol Ave. At 4:55 p.m., a moving vehicle accident at the intersection of Big Bend Road and Bertling. At. 3:03 p.m., an emergency medical service at 316 S. Lorimier...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The last taste isn't what Missouri coaches and players will remember most from this season. Although the Tigers were thoroughly outplayed in a 38-0 loss to No. 10 Kansas State on Saturday, quashing their hopes of becoming bowl-eligible, it doesn't erase the good feeling and confidence they generated with their double-overtime victory at Texas A&M a week ago...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jean Carnahan arrived in Washington amid the tragedy of a plane crash that killed her husband, but despite losing the Nov. 5 election, she left with a sense of possibility about her future. A moving van arrived Thursday to take her belongings to a new home in suburban St. Louis. However, Carnahan is keeping the Capitol Hill apartment she bought just yards away from her Senate office building...

WASHINGTON -- During the busy Thanksgiving travel week, police will be looking out for motorists who are not wearing seat belts. More than 12,000 law enforcement agencies are participating in the stepped up enforcement of seat belt laws. In the campaign that runs from today through Dec. 1, officers will set up checkpoints, increase highway patrols and ticket drivers who do not buckle up or properly restrain children...

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers pressed for answers Sunday on a possible Saudi money trail in the Sept. 11 hijackings and said regardless of whether one exists, the kingdom must stop its "duplicitous" coddling of terrorists. Saudi officials spent the weekend having bankers pore over the records of Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of their ambassador to the United States, to see how thousands of dollars from her account might have ended up in the wrong hands, said Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir.. ...

WASHINGTON -- Even without the use of Saudi Arabia's vast desert expanses to launch a ground invasion of Iraq, the U.S. military would have plenty of room to operate from tiny Kuwait and elsewhere, defense experts say. There already are more than 12,000 U.S. ...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Richard Shelby, an eight-year veteran of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned Americans on Sunday to expect another major attack from al-Qaida terrorists. "Oh, absolutely. It's going to happen," Shelby said on NBC's "Meet the Press."...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Beginning at 1 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, historic Cairo invites everyone to experience a Victorian Christmas as Magnolia Manor hosts its 50th annual Holiday House. The manor, a four-story Victorian mansion owned by the Cairo Historical Association and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will celebrate this year's upcoming holiday season with the theme "The Magic and Splendor of a Golden Christmas."...

After collecting and saving canned goods for the past two months, participants of the Horizons Enrichment Center in Cape Girardeau recently delivered baskets of food to a local school for distribution to a needy family in the community. "Everyone got in the spirit of giving early, and it did not take long before we had filled two large boxes," said Cindy Schmoll, center director...

As a lighthouse guides navigators, so do volunteers show society an example of how life really could be, and maybe even, really should be if we would all demonstrate a little more compassion for others. So it is fitting that volunteer Marje Engleman of Cape Girardeau is being recognized today as a Daily Point of Light by the Points of Light Foundation, an organization that supports and mobilizes volunteers in communities across the country...

Governor's Christmas tree to come from Jackson The Christmas tree that will adorn the Missouri governor's front lawn this year will come from Dorothy Meier of Jackson. The tree cutting is scheduled to take place at 9 a.m. today. Meier lives at 2805 County Road 330...

What was once the John A. Vandeven Dry Goods & Groceries store at the corner of Harmony and Pacific and most recently the Craftsman Office Supply Co. at the same corner of Broadway and Pacific is getting yet another face-lift. Grace Parry, owner of A Touch of Grace Herb Shop and Grace Cafe, will be moving her businesses to the old Craftsman/Vandeven site in January...

Educational toys are always on the holiday wish lists received through the Toybox program. And this year is no exception. Chris, 8, would like some educational books and games that would help with his reading skills, his mother says on the family's application...

Dust flew from more than two miles of gravel roads inside the Cape Girardeau city limits in 1995. Cars backed up at stoplights on a then-narrow, bumpy two-lane Broadway. Post office trucks blocked traffic on Bloomfield Road because the carriers had no shoulder to use...

Mrs. B has no family nearby and spends her time in the company of her two dogs. Hers is one of several cases that will be featured during the coming weeks as part of Christmas for the Elderly. It is a joint program of the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian that provides holiday gifts to needy senior citizens in the community...

Holy See to explore increased U.N. presence VATICAN CITY -- The Holy See will explore stepping up its presence at the United Nations and does not rule out a bid for membership, according to media reports Sunday. The Vatican, a city-state, is a permanent observer at the United Nations, a status that lets it participate in U.N. conferences and deliver speeches in the General Assembly but gives it no voting power...

Cape Girardeau Monday, Nov. 25 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Johnathan Lester Thompson III, 19, of Imperial, Mo., was arrested Sunday on Nash Road on a Cape Girardeau warrant for failure to appear in court on a seat belt charge and contempt of court...

Even against a daunting task, Southeast Missouri State University coach Gary Garner believed the Indians, if they played well, could upset Arkansas State in Friday night's season opener. Well, Garner said the Indians did play fairly well -- except they got hammered on the boards, which paved the way for an 83-71 ASU victory in Jonesboro, Ark...