Stories from Saturday, March 8, 2003

The University of Missouri needs to be affordable for students and accountable to the public whose taxes help fund it, the president of the four-campus system said Friday during a trip through Southeast Missouri. "We should not be wasteful of the resources entrusted to us," said Dr. ...

Three people arrested in death of Ellsinore man ELLSINORE, Mo. -- Three people are being held by the Carter County Sheriff's Department after allegedly confessing to the murder of an Ellsinore man. According to the sheriff's department report, Russell D. Adams, 47, had been missing since Feb. 24. His body was found Thursday in rural Carter County...

WASHINGTON -- Businesses unexpectedly slashed more than 300,000 jobs last month in the largest cuts since the terrorist attacks, pushing the unemployment rate higher as the nation moved closer to war. Economists warned that February's widespread job losses signal a frail economy in danger of toppling back into recession...

A quartz light at Southeast Missouri State University was the cause of a fire that chased two sisters from their dorm room Friday morning, the Cape Girardeau Fire Department reported. About 8 a.m., one of the sisters living in Building J, a part of Greek housing at the university, awoke to the smell of smoke, fire Capt. Steve Niswonger said. She awoke her sister, and both ran from the room. Neither was injured, Niswonger said...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, March 8 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Melvin J. Steward, 17, of 1215 College, Cape Girardeau, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of possession of a marijuana with intent to distribute...

Cape Girardeau Saturday, March 8 Firefighters responded to the following calls Thursday: At 7:25 p.m., carbon monoxide detector sounding at 1714 Anna St. Firefighters responded to the following calls Friday: At 12:16 a.m., an emergency medical service at 22 Edgewood...

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department Saturday, March 8 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. DWI Anna K. Verseman, 21, of Cape Girardeau was arrested Sunday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated...

Southeast Missouri grows more diverse with each passing year. We see different attire on fellow shoppers, enjoy exotic tastes in area restaurants and hear foreign tongues everywhere. But while our new neighbors bring their culture to the area, they also are eager to adopt some of ours -- specifically, the English language...

The picture was disturbing at best, but thankfully the solution was already in the works -- and without a need for new taxes. First, the picture: Kindergarten students sat on one side of a classroom, calmly going about their lessons on a sunny morning. On the other side of the room was a plastic sheet draped where an acoustic ceiling panel should be, installed to catch water on more inclement days...

"Tossing his mane of snows in wildest eddies and tangles, lion-like March comes in ..." -- William Dean Howells January meets us wrapped in a blanket of snow, silent and serene. February speaks to us of peace and joy and love. March arrives in a mad, maniacal flurry, and with good reason....

To the editor: Perhaps you recently read the article in the newspaper or read the March 4 editorial regarding the thermal-imaging camera the firefighters wish to purchase for the Cape Girardeau Fire Department. Firefighters in towns smaller than Cape Girardeau are equipped with these cameras, which can make the difference in finding someone in a smoke-filled house in time to save a life. ...

The Cape Girardeau Seventh-Day Adventist Church has called a new pastor to serve the congregation. John E. Howells IV was named new pastor for the church in an appointment by the Iowa-Missouri Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists. He and his wife, Sandra, have two children...

To the editor: Is affordable oil evil? Anti-war protesters have signs that say "No war for oil." U.S. News & World Report reported "many economists say the more efficient way to help Americans give up oil would be to do what the Europeans do: tax gasoline more heavily."...

JERUSALEM -- Two Palestinian gunmen dressed as Jewish seminary students barged into a sabbath dinner Friday, killing a husband and wife before being shot dead themselves. The attack came hours after Israeli troops reoccupied a northern chunk of the Gaza Strip...

DENVER -- Sharon Fullilove dreamed of flying fighter jets, hoping the Air Force Academy would be a place where she would learn how to serve her country. She said her dreams were shattered when she was raped by an upperclassman at the academy. Fullilove and others kept silent for months, worried that if they reported the assaults, their military careers would be over...

Construction of a new $49.3 million federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau could get under way this fall now that a design-build contractor has been hired, the federal General Services Administration said Friday. If all goes as planned, the new courthouse should be finished by January 2006, officials said. The building will be constructed at the corner of Independence and Frederick streets just west of city hall...

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis isn't getting overly carried away with its late-season success. Heading into the regular-season finale today at East Carolina, the Billikens (14-12, 8-7 Conference USA) have a six-game winning streak. The run may put the team in line for some postseason action, but coach Brad Soderberg said the Billikens need to win the Conference USA tournament to make it to the NCAA tournament...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Austin Peay's women's basketball team has not lost to an Ohio Valley Conference squad all season. If Southeast Missouri State University can change that today, the Otahkians will be in the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time...

Southeast left-hander Tim Alvarez pitched a complete game as Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team ended a three-game losing streak with a 9-2 road victory over Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg, Miss., on Friday. Alvarez struck out nine batters to improve to 3-0 and account for all three victories by the Indians, who improved to 3-5. Southern Mississippi (9-4), which came into the game batting .303 as a team, managed nine hits and drew three walks...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Coaches usually say it's difficult to beat a team three times in one season. That's why Southeast Missouri State University coach B.J. Smith was apprehensive entering Friday afternoon's game against Tennessee Tech in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament...

Something about this time of year makes it hard to say "student-athlete" without cracking up. Just a guess, but maybe it's those scandals that are fast becoming as much a part of college basketball's spring rites as the NCAA Tournament. At the moment, there's major trouble brewing at Georgia, Fresno State and St. Bonaventure -- and still percolating at Michigan, which has been sitting on the NCAA docket for weeks...

Our season ended Tuesday night with a spirited performance by our basketball team in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Morehead, Ky. Morehead State was co-champion of the OVC this year and has an excellent team that was heavily favored. We fell behind by 20 points in the first half but battled back in the second half to throw a real scare at Morehead State...

DETROIT -- Sergei Fedorov scored three goals for the sixth time in his career to lead the Detroit Red Wings to their eighth straight win, a 7-2 victory over the Blues on Friday night. Fedorov, who had missed the previous two games because of a sore back, recorded his sixth career hat trick and second of the season. He also had an assist for Detroit, which is 11-0-0-1 in their last 12 and increased its lead to four points over St. Louis in the Central Division...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Poor shooting in the first half pushed Advance into a deficit early, leading to the Hornets' ultimate loss in the Class 2, District 2 boys basketball championship Friday. Advance, seeded No. 1, lost to No. 2 East Carter County 85-65 at the Black River Coliseum...

The Lutheran South Lancers will try to do something today that graduation and a multiplier have failed to do:Stop the Notre Dame girls basketball team. The Bulldogs have endured the graduation of two all-state players and a two-class jump to reach the quarterfinals for the fifth straight year. Notre Dame (20-7) will seek its third straight trip to the final four when it faces Lutheran South (22-7) of St. Louis at 8:15 p.m. today at the Farmington Civic Center...

BALTIMORE -- Religious leaders are growing more vocal in their opposition to a proposal by Gov. Robert Ehrlich to bring 10,500 slot machines to four racetracks. The United Methodist Church, Ehrlich's own denomination, is urging its 700 Maryland ministers to preach against the slots...

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. -- A short, dumpy man has been going around town faking choking episodes, apparently to get attention from women. He flails his arms, coughs and sputters. After a woman rushes over to help, he showers her with gratitude, hugs and kisses...

To the editor: I commend Mark Gordin for his letter regarding being patient with older drivers who may drive slower than others prefer. I have often had similar thoughts but would not have expressed them as well. I might add a quote that I have adopted as a reminder to be tolerant of others in this and other similar situations: "As I am, so once were you, and as you are, so shall I someday be." Also, if you reverse those statements to "As you are now, so once was I and as I am now, so shall you someday be," it helps to remind us to be tolerant of our youths and, hopefully, they of us.. ...

Jerry Douglas Davis, 60, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, March 5, 2003, in an airplane crash near Sparta, Ill. He was born Nov. 9, 1942, in Cape Girardeau, son of Waddy E. and Elsie Mae Carter Davis. He and Judith K. Barnhouse were married in 1964...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A top Pakistani provincial police official said Friday that a U.S.-led raid in southwestern Afghanistan killed seven al-Qaida men and wounded eight others -- including two sons of Osama bin Laden. U.S. officials disputed the report...

PITTSBURGH -- Unlike other buildings, religious structures can only be nominated for historic status by their owners under a new policy one councilman derided as the "immaculate exception." In a 6-2 vote Feb. 26, the city council approved an amendment to Pittsburgh's historic preservation code, which allows anyone who has lived in the city for more than a year to nominate a building as historic and eligible for protection...

LONDON -- Yusuf Islam, formerly known as pop singer Cat Stevens, has recorded two songs to express his opposition to a U.S.-led war on Iraq. One song is a rerecording of his '70s hit "Peace Train." The other, "Angel of War," reworks his melancholy love song "Lady D'Arbanville."...

JUPITER, Fla. -- Cardinals center fielder Jim Edmonds pulled a calf muscle Friday and will miss at least two weeks, but Rick Ankiel pitched a perfect inning in a 13-10 victory over the Florida Marlins. Albert Pujols homered twice and drove in five runs for the Cardinals, one day after hitting a grand slam and knocking in five runs against Montreal...

President Bush has been trying for months to make the case for using force against Saddam Hussein, but he has won little support from leaders of American and European churches. Yet after heavy, perhaps unprecedented, church agitation and peace appeals from the likes of the pope and archbishop of Canterbury, two prominent lay Christians have emerged to provide intellectual support for those who believe war with Iraq would be moral...

CAMP NEW JERSEY, Kuwait -- Pfc. Charles Bryant got lost for three hours on the way back to his tent, disoriented by thick clouds of sand swirling at 50 mph in this desert camp near the Iraqi border. Sandstorms, a gritty and miserable fact of life in the Persian Gulf region this time of year, are making things uncomfortable for troops waiting for a possible war with Iraq...

UNITED NATIONS -- The United States, joined by key allies Britain and Spain, proposed delivering an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein: Give up banned weapons by March 17 or face war. But a powerful bloc of nations stood firm Friday against any new resolution that would authorize military action...

WASHINGTON -- Shuttle crew member Michael P. Anderson had tried to prepare his daughters for his darkest hour, should it come aboard the Columbia. On Friday, one hugging a teddy bear, they helped lay him to rest. Anderson, who died Feb. 1, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. A blustery wind whipped the more than 100 mourners at the hilltop grave site, where Anderson, 43, was given full military honors...

WASHINGTON -- Millions of users of St. John's wort, calcium and other dietary supplements may soon know for sure they're getting what they pay for: The government proposed the first manufacturing standards for the $19 billion supplement industry Friday in an attempt to cut fraud and contamination...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Proposals to revamp Missouri's transportation department would benefit politicians, not the public, says the chairman of the Missouri State Highways and Transportation Commission. Chairman Ollie Gates took aim Friday at proposals backed both by Democratic Gov. Bob Holden and by Republican Sen. Jon Dolan, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Winning the constitutional authority to build toll roads -- a top priority of the Missouri Department of Transportation -- appears to have little support in the Missouri Legislature. After voters overwhelmingly rejected a tax increase for transportation last summer, department officials decided to focus on the issue of toll roads. ...

In a time when the nation is captivated by news of the crisis in the Middle East, a part of the world where nations are preparing for war and people are living in uncertainty, a group of area women gathered Friday morning for prayer. The annual World Day of Prayer service sponsored by Church Women United was celebrated in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Perryville. ...

WASHINGTON -- Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. on Friday settled federal charges that it blocked the sale of cheaper generic versions of three of its drugs, allegedly costing cancer patients and others hundreds of millions of dollars. The Federal Trade Commission said the company tried to limit competition for two of its anticancer drugs -- Taxol and Platinol -- and the antianxiety drug BuSpar. The company's actions protected nearly $2 billion in annual sales, according to the FTC...

Saturday Saturday Night Alive contemporary praise service at 6:30 p.m. at Illmo Baptist Church in Scott City. For information, call the church at 264-4725. Kapelle concert choir of Concordia University in River Forest, Ill., will perform at 7:15 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. Choirs from area Lutheran schools will join in part of the program...

Dorothy M. King, 81, of Jackson passed away Thursday, March 6, 2003, at Jackson Manor. She was born March 8, 1921, at Whitewater, daughter of William L. and Della L. Smith Kinder. She and John W. King Sr. were married April 20, 1946. He passed away July 31, 1993...

Rudolph Reinhold "Rudy" Kranawetter, 83, of Oak Ridge passed away Thursday, March 6, 2003, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 12, 1919, at Pocahontas, son of Joseph A. and Pauline M. Wittshieben Kranawetter. He and Marjorie L. Baker were married in 1939. She passed away in 1947. He and Bernetta Sides were married in 1971...

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Colleen Gibbons, 78, of Chaffee died Friday, March 7, 2003, at Chaffee Nursing Center. She was born Feb. 11, 1925, in Kennett, Mo., daughter of Wilburn and Lottie Mae Johnson Fish. She and Claude Gibbons were married Dec. 24, 1940, and he died Jan. 16, 1995...

WYATT, Mo. -- Willie Jackson, 88, of Wyatt died Wednesday, March 5, 2003, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. He was born June 15, 1914, at Round Pond, Ark., son of Wills and Hattie Jackson. He and Ida Mae Jackson were married in 1934. He and Susie Mae Hearn were married in 1971...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Blanche Porter, 92, of Stuttgart, Ark., died Thursday, March 6, 2003, at Baptist Hospital in Little Rock, Ark. She was born Oct. 3, 1910, in Cairo, daughter of Hamilton and Ida Mae Smith Hale. She married Henry Martin Porter, who preceded her in death...

The funeral for Carol Jean Wilburn of Scott City will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Scott City. The Rev. Kenneth Strong will officiate. Burial will be in Lightner Cemetery. Friends may call at the chapel from 4 to 8 p.m. today...

10 years ago: March 8, 1993 Thebes, Ill. -- River near flood stage, strong currents and brisk winds are believed to have caused two barge accidents that closed Mississippi River channel for several hours both Saturday and Sunday; two towboats, each pushing more than 20 barges, struck Thebes railroad bridge in separate accidents, dislodging several barges and sinking two...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- New anti-terrorist laws may soon leave legions of model-rocket enthusiasts idling on their launch pads. The Homeland Security Act could ground model-rocket enthusiasts across the United States. A provision in the act, which becomes effective May 24, amends the Safe Explosives act of 1970 in such a way that the government's definition of explosive includes the engines of model rockets...

Briefly Baseball Dodgers closer Eric Gagne is expected to return to the mound after an MRI on his back showed nothing wrong. Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said that Gagne is day-to-day, and that there's no reason to believe his pitching schedule should be interrupted. Gagne had the MRI late Thursday after experiencing stiffness in his back earlier in the week...

Pat Schwent and Saxy Jazz will be at Sidetracks in Jackson at 8 p.m. Thursday. The date was incorrect in Friday's edition. The Southeast Missourian regrets the error.

PresnellSon to Patrick O'Kelly Presnell and Ashley Nicholl Buchheit of Perryville, Mo., St. Francis Medical Center, 1:35 a.m. Friday, Feb. 28, 2003. Name, Kabren Richard. Weight, 6 pounds 11 ounces. Second son. Ms. Buchheit is the daughter of Nick and Renee Buchheit of Perryville. Presnell is the son of Richard and Christy Presnell of Perryville. He is an aircraft mechanic at Sabreliner Corp...

Unfair competition A WATER park or any other business should be built by private investors, not taxpayers. It is not fair for a taxpayer-supported business to compete against a private business. If a water park is such a good economic development, then let private investors build it instead of the taxpayers. It is not a proven fact that a water park will generate revenue to cover its operating expenses. That's just a hopeful guess to persuade taxpayers to vote for a tax increase...

WOLF LAKE, Ill. -- Sean Copeland said goodbye to childhood a long time ago. The 18-year-old from Wolf Lake, Ill., assumed the burdens of adulthood seven years ago after his father died of organ failure and diabetes. His mother, battling alcoholism and depression, also suffered from a rare, debilitating disease that finally took her life in February 2002...