Stories from Friday, November 29, 2002

They're bargain-bound and sleep-deprived -- they're Black Friday shoppers. They don't mind standing in chilly parking lots before dawn if it means getting a free game with the new Game Boy Advance or a complimentary snow globe. Retailers call the day after Thanksgiving Black Friday because they say it's the day the can go "out of the red" and "into the black" for annual revenue. It's the kickoff to the holiday shopping season and one of the busiest shopping days of the year...

MEXICO CITY -- The International Olympic Committee on Thursday overwhelmingly upheld the ban on member visits to bid cities, the major reform enacted following the Salt Lake City scandal. Only six out of the 118 IOC members attending the meeting voted in favor of reinstating the trips...

DENVER -- Mike Keane kept the Colorado Avalanche's home record from getting even worse. Keane scored the tying goal in the third period, and Joe Sakic added a goal and an assist in Colorado's 4-4 tie Wednesday night with the Blues. "All we've heard has been the negative talk," Keane said. "The best part about this was we got back up twice after being down. We can build on what we did."...

For the first time in either of our lives, my wife and I spent Thanksgiving Day by ourselves. Wait. Don't feel sorry for us. We chose to be alone. That's just the way things worked out this year. Without holiday guests and without joining the festivities at someone else's house, we saw no need for turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, yeast rolls, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy or pumpkin pie...

So you didn't take one of the 15,183 deer checked in the Missouri Department of Conservation Southeast Region during the November portion of Missouri's firearms deer season. That doesn't necessarily mean your hunting season is over. You can't get a refund for the unfilled "tag," but you do get another opportunity to fill it. The nine day muzzleloader segment of firearms deer hunting season begins Saturday, Dec. 7 and continues through Sunday, Dec. 15...

DELTA, Mo. -- With a single shot, David Parker tripled a collection that, among duck hunters, carries more weight than a mantle full of Grammy Awards. Parker's prize, besides the mallard drake duck, were two small bands wrapped around the duck's legs. One was a tracking band with a nine-digit code, the other a reward band worth $100. Both were placed by wildlife officials in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada...

Americans marked Thanksgiving on Thursday with parades full of music and color, a helping hand for the poor, and the comfort and joy of gathering with family and friends. The 76th annual Macy's parade in New York City featured a dozen marching bands, the debut of a Charlie Brown balloon and the return of Kermit the Frog after a 12-year absence. The lighthearted tone was in contrast with the more patriotic display last year, weeks after the attacks of Sept. 11...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Two astronauts stepped out Thursday for NASA's first Thanksgiving Day spacewalk to hook up the plumbing on the international space station's newest addition, a 45-foot high-tech beam. It was the second spacewalk this week for shuttle Endeavour crewmen Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, the first American Indian in space. They got an early start to the afternoon's work...

Zsa Zsa Gabor said to be in coma after accident LOS ANGELES -- Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was hospitalized and in a coma Thursday after a car she was riding in struck a light pole on Sunset Boulevard, a family spokesman said. Gabor suffered multiple broken bones, cuts and bruises in Wednesday's accident and was being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said Gerd Birkmann, a spokesman for her husband, Frederic von Anhalt. ...

SALT LAKE CITY -- For a while, Ed and Lois Smart jumped each time the phone rang. The sound instantly filled them with both hope and dread -- hope that police were calling to say their 14-year-old kidnapped daughter Elizabeth had been found safe, dread that they were about to learn she was dead...

MANASSAS, Va. -- When the Virginia Legislature passed a bill this year authorizing the death penalty for acts of terrorism, lawmakers hoped their work would be a mere precaution that never had to be implemented. But just three months after its enactment, sniper suspects John Lee Malvo and John Allen Muhammad are being prosecuted under the new law...

SEATTLE -- The Bush administration's plan to loosen rules governing all 192 million acres of national forests and grasslands has drawn harsh criticism from environmentalists and applause from the timber industry. The revised rules, announced Wednesday, would allow local federal forestry officials to develop or alter management plans for the land they supervise without having to first conduct an in-depth environmental impact study...

ST. LOUIS -- With 22 years of city policing under his gun belt, Sgt. Gary Wiegert has suddenly seen this Gateway to the West look more like the Gateway to the Wild West. So far this year, St. Louis police have been shot at nearly 40 times. That is about even with last year's rate. But police say this year's shootings have been more brazen, and more of them seem senseless and unprovoked. Nine officers have been wounded so far in 2002...

POUNDBURY, England -- Prince Charles has opened a pub called the Poet Laureate in honor of his friend, the late Ted Hughes. The pub is part of Poundbury, a village on the edge of Dorchester in southwest England that has been constructed in keeping with Prince Charles' vision of a community with industry, offices, shops, houses and leisure facilities...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Forty people aboard the Disney cruise liner Magic reported feeling sick on Thursday, pushing the number of reported illnesses on the current voyage to 160, Disney officials said. Disney spokesman Mark Jaronski said 140 guests and 20 crewmembers had reported feeling sick as of Thursday, a day after officials with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a Norwalk-like virus aboard the ship...

AUSTIN -- Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum thought he had been through the worst of an already difficult season. His defense was crumbling, his team was losing at home and disgruntled fans were calling for his job. And then it got worse. On Monday, just as A&M (6-5, 3-2) started preparing for today's game against rival Texas (9-2, 5-2), Aggies freshman defensive lineman Brandon Fails died after collapsing in his dorm...

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- At the start of the season, Michael Vick was like anyone else about to make his debut as a starting quarterback. The playbook was still a bit confusing. He wasn't quite sure what opposing defenses might throw at him. By the end of the season, the Atlanta Falcons' star might have to work on his MVP speech...

PHILADELPHIA -- Ever since the schedule came out, the Philadelphia Eagles have thought about playing the Rams this Sunday in a rematch of last season's NFC championship game. Well, not exactly. At least that's what the players say. "No revenge," running back Duce Staley said. "St. Louis is a good team. We're at home, the crowd's going to be excited, and we're going to be excited. It's just another game we have to get up for and we have to win."...

WASHINGTON -- Colin Powell's question hung in the air of the Cabinet room, premature and bold. With Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait only a half-day old, Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a soldier responsible for following political orders, asked President George Bush and aides if it was worth going to war to liberate Kuwait...

A new program sponsored by the Missouri School Boards Association may lower high-energy costs at Jackson and other school districts across Missouri by as much as 8 percent. With 10 schools and numerous buildings to heat at each school, the Jackson School District paid more than $107,000 last year in natural gas expenditures, and that was during a mild winter. In 2000-2001, the district paid more than $213,000 for natural gas...

The seventh float in Sunday's Christmas Parade of Lights in Cape Girardeau will have a special mailbox on top. Letters put in that mailbox will go directly to Santa Claus at the North Pole. Walking alongside the float will be mail carriers in Santa hats who have one mission Sunday night: To stuff their mail bags with letters to Santa Claus from children along the route...

orget hours of slaving over a hot stove, washing piles of dishes and eating leftover turkey for days. A growing number of local families are opting to skip the rigors of a traditional Thanksgiving meal at home and eat out instead. About 900 area residents turned out in less than four hours to enjoy the massive Thanksgiving lunch buffet at Remington's restaurant inside Holiday Inn. ...

After driving home from his annual pilgrimage to Steamboat Springs, Colo., Lou Hagler of Cape Girardeau was eager to mount a pair of elk antlers from the six-point bull he shot. But the next day, he awoke to begin his hunt for the same pair of antlers all over again...

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- A historian in Mark Twain's hometown is calling into question long-held beliefs about the supposed model for Huck Finn. Terrell Dempsey questions whether Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens, really based Huck on boyhood friend Tom Blankenship. And Dempsey raised doubts that Blankenship really grew up in the building long labeled the home of the real Huck Finn...

Walt Whitman and Robert Frost, two of America's greatest poets, provide the inspiration for half the music in "An American Celebration," a concert planned as a reaction to the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra and the Southeast Choral Union/University Choir will present the concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Academic Auditorium...

NEW ORLEANS -- Gary Garner was worried he might need to help pick up his team for its second game of the University Hoops Classic. Instead, Garner has a different problem -- one he doesn't mind at all. After upsetting Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a pre-tournament favorite, 89-75 Thursday, Southeast Missouri State University will try to come back down to earth against Indiana State at 5 p.m. today...

Southeast Missourian NEW ORLEANS -- Thanksgiving turned into quite a holiday for Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team. The Indians, 12 1/2 point underdogs to Horizon League favorite Wisconsin-Milwaukee, stunned the Panthers 89-75 Thursday in the opening round of the six-team University Hoops Classic...

The Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball team will see a new lineup of opponents this weekend in the Oneida Bingo & Casino Women's Basketball Holiday Tournament at University of Wisconsin at Green Bay. The Otahkians (1-1) will play at 6 p.m. today against UW-Green Bay, which is 2-1 after wins over Wisconsin and Oregon and a loss to Illinois...

The trend toward eating out on holidays has not escaped Cape Girardeau restaurant owners. Several, including Ryan's and Denny's Diner, opened their doors Thursday to offer an alternative solution to the growing number of area residents rebelling against Thanksgiving meal-time traditions...

WASHINGTON -- Michael Jordan said Thursday he will retire for the third and final time after this season and resume his role as partial owner of the Washington Wizards. Jordan told reporters after practice that there is "zero chance" of him coming back again, The Washington Post and the Carroll County (Md.) Times reported...

ST. LOUIS -- An Indianapolis firm that has built eight of the last 11 major league ballparks has been selected to build the Cardinals' new stadium. Hunt Construction Group Inc. was selected Wednesday over three other contractors, said John Loyd, hired by the Cardinals to oversee the new stadium's construction...

LINCOLN, Neb. -- If Nebraska can't save its season, at least it can save face in today's game against Colorado. The Cornhuskers are winding up their worst season in 41 years. A win against the 13th-ranked Buffaloes would be their first against a Top 25 opponent this year and give them something positive on which to build...

CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush jogged, fished, ate and drove around his ranch Thursday -- spending an active Thanksgiving Day with more than a dozen relatives and pets in tow. The president started the day with a 3-mile run -- no doubt in anticipation of the hearty meal ahead, said spokesman Gordon Johndroe. Later, Bush joined family members for a walk around the property, went fishing with his father, the former president, and went on a drive with his mother and wife...

HUTCHINSON, Kan. -- A man was convicted of attempted rape for planning to assault a nonexistent 10-year-old girl who was imagined in an effort to break up a child pornography ring. Prosecutors said Steven Peterman, 44, believed the child was real and that he intended to commit the crime...

Cape Girardeau Friday, Nov. 29 Firefighters responded to the following calls Wednesday: At 12:07 a.m., an alarm at 1201 Lacey. At 6:08 a.m., an alarm at 806 Enterprise. At 2:25 p.m., a box alarm at 1400 Howell. At 4:20 p.m., a citizen's assist at 3967 Granite...

The U.S. economy is always closely watched by business and government forecasters. But with the enormous increase in stock-market investors fueled by strong economic growth during the 1990s and increasing contributions to tax-deferred retirement plans, more Americans than ever are keeping tabs on national and international economic performance trends...

There was plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day in Somerset, Pa. -- the town near the Quecreek coal mine where nine miners were trapped for 77 hours last July after they accidentally dug into an abandoned mine full of floodwater. All nine miners were rescued. And this week the mine reopened...

Reasons for turnover BUSINESSES WITH high employee turnover have to run frequent help-wanted ads because they are usually guilty of two things: poor hiring decisions and poor training. Conduct quality interviews and invest time in training new employees. And treat them like human beings, not an employee number. Companies with high turnover reflect inadequate management...

McLEANSBORO, Ill. -- Mildred M. Eggley, 79, of McLeansboro died Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2002, at Hamilton Memorial Hospital in McLeansboro. She was born June 14, 1923, in Michigan City, Ind., daughter of Oral Raymond and Jessie Bell Sayers. She and Lee Eggley were married Feb. 6, 1943, in St. Louis...

Mary E. Downs Graham, 93, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002, at the Lutheran Home. She was born Sept. 12, 1909, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of William C. and Maude Ferguson Downs. She and Frank T. Graham were married Aug. 13, 1931, in Jackson. He died in 1968...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Estella Howard "Sug" Johnson, 76, died Monday, Nov. 25, 2002, at her home. She was born June 7, 1926, in Miller City, Ill., daughter of Dock and Ludie Randle Howard. She and Jake Johnson Sr. were married, and he preceded her in death...

Gladys Marshall Wooldridge, 85, of Delta died Thursday, Nov. 28, 2002, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 19, 1917, in Mayfield, Mo., son of Franklin Sylvester and Julia Olga Mayfield Wooldridge. He and Veona Moore were married Nov. 6, 1939...

1st Quarter Scholastic Honor Roll 12th Grade - Jordan Hinkle, Sarah Lichtenegger, Sarah Luehrs, Kathryn Perry, Michal Scienski, Fallan Thiele. 11th Grade - Ashley Bartels, Ryan Sitzes, Kristin Smith. A Honor Roll 12th Grade - Kimberly Anderson, Brandon Andrews, James Benson, Jessica Bill, Amanda Birk, Mindy Boettcher, Courtney Bonney, Heather Boyles, Laura Bricknell, Jacob Carter, Kate Carter, MItchell Casteel, Lindsey Chubboy, Courtney Crowden, Sara Dameron, Meredith Detring, Charles Doerge, Kathleen Domian, Ashley Dost, Krista Draper, Sarah Dubbs, Amanda Dumey, Jessica Edwards, Laura Eftink, Emily Essner, Nicole Fadler, Josh Ferguson, Anna Fluegge, Mark Gerecke, Megan Green, David Haas, Jessica Hartle, Daniel Herzog, Jayne Hesselrode, Christopher Higgins, Joshua Hill, Brandy Hodges, Jon Hoffstetter, Erin Holshouser, Joel Houchins, Kristen Howard, Crystal Hudak, Ashley Illers, Deanna Johnston, Matthew Kahle, Cammie Kaminskey, Brent Kassel, Jennifer Kasten, Kris Kauffman, Shawna Klingel, Stuart Knowlan, Jessica Koeper, Trina Lang, Amanda Lange, Lisa Laurentius, Jenna Leet, Christina Leimer, Matthew Litzelfelner, Jessica Markle, Erin Mayfield, James McCormack, Caitlin Mccuan, Austin McDowell, Stuart McIntosh, Nicole McMillan, Mark McMullin, Shaelyne McQuay, Andrew Meyer, Samantha Miller, Brent Neader, Nathan Penland, Natalie Profilet, Paige Pylate, Todd Richbourg, Melissa Shinn, Rachel Smith, Cortney Stanfield, Nicole Stanfield, Clayton Stockard, Lee Strickert, Cortney Thompson, Heather Tuschhoff, Elizabeth Unterreiner, Erika Upchurch, Courtney Vance, Justin Vandergriff, Jaime Vines, Leann Walther, Melinda Ward, Sarah Ward, Carrie Welker, Whitney Werner, Heather West, Leah Wright, Erica Yarbro.. ...

10 years ago: Nov. 29, 1992 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced change in Stake Presidency for Cape Girardeau Stake at semi-annual meeting Nov. 15; Larry Watkins of Marion, Ill., is new president; he selected Jack Kramer of Cape Girardeau as first counselor and Rick Higgenbotham of Farmington as second counselor...

One star In "The Emperor's Club," Kevin Kline stars as Mr. Hundert, a Western Civilization teacher at a private boys school in the 1970s. Mr. Hundert conducts a series of tests about Greek history. The student with the highest score has the honor of being crowned Caesar for the year...

LOS ANGELES one hand, you've got traditional ink-and-paint animation, and on the other, there's 3-D computer animation. In the case of John Silver, a cyborg character in Disney's sci-fi adventure cartoon "Treasure Planet," there's both: His human half was hand-drawn, while his robotic side was created and manipulated digitally...

'The Opera Collection' When opera lovers hear Richard Wagner and Sir Georg Solti in the same breath, they're likely to think of his 1960s recording of the complete "Ring" cycle, a feat still unparalleled for its thrilling singing, high-voltage orchestral playing and awe-inspiring sound effects...

'Jeweled Arts of India ...' opens today ST. LOUIS -- "Treasury of the World: Jeweled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals" opens today at the St. Louis Art Museum. The exhibition consists of more than 300 jeweled items of personal adornment, princely weapons, jade and crystal bowls set with precious stones and more than two dozen gems inscribed with the titles of their imperial owners. ...

Cape Girardeau Friday, Nov. 29 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Property Damage Property damage was reported Thursday at 40 S. Sprigg by the city of Cape Girardeau. A 27-year-old male is in custody pending formal charges...

Mr. F lives alone in a small mobile home. He doesn't have any family members nearby; his closest relative lives in Florida. The holidays are lonely and lean times for him. Items donated to Christmas for the Elderly will help give senior citizens some gifts and items needed throughout the year. The program is organized by the Southeast Missourian and Cape Girardeau Jaycees...

Siblings Bailey, 6, and Bradley, 3, are about as different as day and night when it comes to their interest in toys. Their parents are seeking help from Toybox this year in order to provide the children with holiday gifts. Toybox is a program of the Southeast Missourian and Cape Girardeau Jaycees that provides gifts and toys to needy children up to age 12. Though the real names of the children whose families are seeking aid aren't published, their needs and requests are real...

SEATTLE -- Sixty years after his birth, one of the most important artists ever to emerge from Seattle is -- at least officially -- almost invisible here. There's no Jimi Hendrix Boulevard, no Hendrix Arena, no Hendrix Elementary School. The only thing the city has done to recognize the man many consider the world's greatest guitar player is to give him a rock -- in the African Savanna exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo...

BURBANK, Calif. -- Amanda Bynes believes Hollywood shouldn't stereotype teenagers. "I think they assume all 16-year-old girls are into boys and shopping and all of that -- which generally 16-year-olds are, but not all of them," says the 16-year-old actress, who plays Holly Tyler on The WB's new series "What I Like About You."...

LOS ANGELES -- Eric Roberts has a short answer to why he's starring in a sitcom: "To have a life." Last year, the 46-year-old actor, best known for offbeat dramatic roles in such films as "Star 80" and "The Pope of Greenwich Village," guest-starred on an episode of CBS' "The King of Queens."...

AL-DAWRAH, Iraq -- The U.N. weapons hunters, sweeping through a disused bio-warfare installation Thursday, spotted a disconnected refrigerator. They moved in, threw open the door, and recoiled in disgust. The stench that wafted out may have come from a batch of harmless material left from a long-ago veterinary experiment. But it got the full treatment -- a swab, a sample, analysis to come -- in the second day of the painstaking U.N. search for any Iraqi doomsday arms...

Iraqi agency: U.S.-British warplanes kill civilian BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. and British warplanes attacked a "civilian and services" installation in northern Iraq on Thursday, killing one civilian, the official Iraqi News Agency said. The attack in Nineveh province, 250 miles north of Baghdad, occurred at 11:05 a.m. local time, an unnamed military spokesman told the agency...

JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was re-elected to head the Likud party Thursday in a primary overshadowed by a deadly shooting at a polling station in Israel and two attacks on Israeli tourists in Kenya. Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sharon's only serious challenger, conceded defeat late Thursday and told supporters that he had phoned Sharon to congratulate him...

KIKAMBALA, Kenya -- In a twin attack reminiscent of al-Qaida's well-coordinated 1998 assault on the U.S. embassies in East Africa, suicide bombers in Kenya on Thursday killed 12 people at an Israeli-owned beach hotel and two missiles narrowly missed an airliner carrying home Israeli holidaymakers...

LONDON -- Prepped to perform after fleeing from Muslim-Christian rioting in Nigeria, Miss World contestants were back in action Thursday in their first day of rehearsals for the relocated pageant. "I was a little bit sad as it was not our fault," said Miss Italy, Susanne Zuber, 19, taking a break from practicing her catwalk moves at a west London film studio. "But we should go on. It is a great experience."...

CAMP COMMANDO, Kuwait -- It was approaching noon in the deserts of Kuwait. The sand was not blowing much and it was just about time for Thanksgiving dinner. "They've got actual turkey here," said Lt. Col. Kirk Bruno, addressing the U.S. Marines stationed here. "I'm not sure how good it's going to be."...

ST. LOUIS -- A federal court has awarded $410,000 to 13 landowners along Missouri's Katy Trail in a property rights dispute, a decision that could open the way for awards to 285 other owners of property along the 225-mile hiking and biking trail. The U.S. Court of Claims in St. Louis ruled in the case Nov. 21. The ruling was announced earlier this week by the Missouri Farm Bureau, which sided with landowners...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A Greene County farmer has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of illegally using an animal drug to kill 10 migratory birds. Donald E. Smith, 54, had been charged in September with using Warbex as a poison. Warbex has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration only to treat grub and lice on cattle, and any other use violates federal law, U.S. ...

At least four people died in traffic accidents around the state during the long holiday weekend, including two men who were thrown from a vehicle, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. Raymond Hartley, 22, of Holts Summit, and David Watson, 22, of Jefferson City, died about 1 a.m. ...

The Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The annual Thanksgiving night lighting of the Country Club Plaza attracted hundreds of thousands of people to the upscale shopping center, with a return to its traditional style after last year's more somber, patriotic event. ...

People who feel a little guilty digging into those holiday meals can take comfort in the knowledge that they're not alone. Almost six in 10 Americans say they would like to lose weight, according to a Gallup poll released on the eve of Thanksgiving, a day that makes significant contributions to Americans' weight. Two-thirds of women felt that way, while half of men did...

Baseball Former Seattle manager Rene Lachemann was hired by the Mariners as bench coach under new manager Bob Melvin, who also retained three coaches from Lou Piniella's staff. ...