Stories from Thursday, May 8, 2003

With one match remaining before district competition, Central's boys tennis team scored an impressive 5-4 home win over previously unbeaten Farmington on Wednesday. The top three singles players lost tough matches for Central (5-7), but the Tigers' Nos. ...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi doctors in white lab coats took to the streets Wednesday chanting, "New clean era!" insisting they won't accept the U.S.-appointed Health Ministry chief because of his ties to Saddam Hussein's regime. But for the United States, weeding out the true believers from Saddam's Baath party will not be easy: Membership was required for top officials and most bureaucrats, and many educated, capable Iraqis joined the party...

By Mark Bowles I enjoyed lunch recently with a teacher in the district who, having worked here for nearly 15 years, has stuck it out through good times and bad times. It was a delight to hear him speak with passion (even with the stress of transition) of the good things he is experiencing now: the resurgence of Cape Girardeau's public schools and the need for us to be the premier school district in the region...

Dog travels from kennel to courthouse lawn Early Wednesday morning, Larry Stone stood looking at the concrete pad where his dog training business in Jackson used to be. Normally a jovial character, Stone surveyed the damage. "It's all gone," he said, solemnly...

CINCINNATI -- A vanilla victory left the Cincinnati Reds completely satisfied. Aaron Boone and Adam Dunn homered Wednesday night as the Reds connected early for a change, then held on for a 4-2 victory over the Cardinals. After beating the Cardinals with ninth-inning homers in the first two games of the series, the Reds won their third straight in more run-of-the-mill fashion. No frayed nerves. No theatrics. No home-plate celebration...

May 8, 2003 Dear Patty, Tuesday night at a local night spot called the River City Yacht Club, I was listening to a dog named Sylvia talk about life as a canine. Sylvia's concerns were universal: food, shelter and sex. She sounded like a reasonable dog...

Cape Girardeau's Casey Morgan and Louie Been each won in the Rockford (Ill.) Grand Prix Natural Bodybuilding Championships last weekend. Morgan won in open middleweight, and Been won in novice middleweight. It was Been's first competition of his career and Morgan's second...

From ancient Rome to 21st-century Southeast Missourin, competitive horseshoe throwing has gone the distance. Randy Grady is doing all he can to make sure the sport sticks around. As president of the SEMO Horseshoe Pitching Association, he's optimistic that it will...

The Weather Channel is a popular network for racing promoters, and the news it's delivered this year has been a mixed bag for Malden Speedway owner Bill Hampton. The 3/8-mile dirt track is 3-2 against the weather this year -- three completed events, two rainouts -- with its biggest event scheduled today amid a forecast of scattered thunderstorms...

PONTIAC, Ill. -- An Illinois couple will turn their attention back to adoption now that DNA tests have revealed the 6-year-old girl they've been raising is not a child who disappeared in Florida five years ago, authorities said. "They were very relieved. They're trying to shield her from the public eye and they want to get on with the adoption process, and I think that will move forward now," Police chief Don Schlosser said Wednesday...

'N Sync star tries his hand at sports reporting NEW YORK -- Justin Timberlake is going from center stage to the sidelines as a special correspondent for Turner Sports. The 'N Sync singer will report from several sports events for TNT, including the NBA playoffs, NASCAR races and the PGA championship. For TBS, he'll appear at major league baseball games and Big 12 and Pac-10 college football games...

SEATTLE -- Internet access at portable toilets is coming. The iLoo being developed by the MSN division of Microsoft Corp. in Britain is a standard portable toilet -- a loo to the English -- with a wireless keyboard and height-adjustable plasma screen in front of the seat. There would also be a "Hotmail station" with waterproof keyboard and screen on the outside for those waiting in line...

WHO sends team to province hit by SARS BEIJING -- World Health Organization experts were being sent to a crowded province in China where SARS is spreading fast, while new research published Wednesday suggests the illness is much deadlier than other respiratory diseases...

JERUSALEM -- The appointment of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas marks a "quiet revolution" in Palestinian leadership that could lead to an end of 31 months of violence, Israel's army chief said Wednesday, but three Palestinians, including a baby, were killed in separate incidents...

A handful of Jackson insurance companies played a dual role Wednesday as residents turned to them during disaster. Not only were agents faced with countless home and vehicle claims, they were victims as well. Electricity was out most of the day at a few uptown insurance offices, which made it difficult for agents to process claims...

On May 1, AmerenUE gave $200,000 to East Missouri Action Agency in Cape Girardeau as part of a $3 million program that was intended to pay past-due bills for customers who have fallen in arrears and fall below the poverty line. On May 6, the money was gone...

Outdoor warning sirens at Southeast Missouri State University alerted both students and Cape Girardeau residents to the threat of a tornado Tuesday night. Some residents said it underscored a need for citywide warning sirens. After witnessing the destruction caused by a tornado that plowed through Jackson, the mayors of Cape Girardeau and Jackson said Wednesday that both cities probably need to look at the possibility of installing warning sirens...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Southeast Missouri State University's offense was riding high entering Wednesday's non-conference doubleheader at Southwest Missouri State. But the Indians were limited to just seven hits by a strong SMS pitching staff in the Bears' 3-1 and 11-5 victories. Both games were seven innings...

For a baseball team ranked No. 1 in the state, slump takes on a whole new meaning. In the case of SEMO Conference regular-season champion Sikeston, slumping can still mean winning. Despite having a potent offense throttled for the better part of its last two games, top-seeded Sikeston managed to depart Capaha Field with the SEMO Conference Tournament championship plaque Wednesday after a 6-4 victory over the second-seeded Central Tigers...

FORT DETRICK, Md. -- The first strong evidence that medicine will eventually defeat the SARS virus has come to light in recent days at the Army's biodefense labs, where the world's most intensive and systematic search for a cure is going on around the clock...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Strong thunderstorms with possible tornadoes plowed across Mississippi and into Alabama on Wednesday, damaging homes, knocking down trees and causing scattered power outages. No deaths or serious injuries were reported. Storms that caused widespread damage in Mississippi moved into west Alabama at midmorning, leaving roads in Lamar County covered with trees and water. Several dirt roads were washed out...

Scorpions Rugby Club cruises past Principia The Kohlfeld Scorpions Rugby Club defeated Principia College 71-7 on Saturday in Elsah, Ill. The Scorpions will play their final match of the season Saturday in Little Rock, Ark., against the Little Rock Rugby Club. The Scorpions are the Missouri Union Champions. The Little Rock Rugby Club holds the Ozark Union champion's title...

Briefly Baseball Former Cardinals pitcher Rick Ankiel, a one-time phenom who has been plagued by wildness, will make his first start of the season for the team's Double-A affiliate Friday after starting the year in the bullpen...

A Cape Girardeau teenager was injured in an accident Tuesday in Franklin County, and two women from Advance, Mo., were hurt in an accident Wednesday north of Advance. Christopher Limbaugh, 18, of Cape Girardeau was taken to St. John's Hospital in Washington, Mo., with moderate injuries after an accident on Interstate 44 in Franklin County. It occurred at 7 p.m. Tuesday...

KRCU FM 90.9 raised $10,000 in a record 7 hours and 12 minutes Wednesday, reaching the station's goal of ending its on-air pledge drive the same day it began. The public radio station received a big push from Wood & Huston Bank, which pledged $5,000 if the station could raise $5,000 on its own in a single day. KRCU went over the top at 1:12 p.m. Wednesday, dispelling fears that preoccupation with Tuesday night's storms in the area could hurt the response. The opposite was true...

"Site Works: Dance on Tour" is a sweaty, intellectually challenging piece of dance theater that is sometimes chilling, often provocative, sometimes funny and ultimately thrillingly original. Choreographed by both professors and students in the Department of Dance and Theatre at Southeast Missouri State University, "Site Works" will be presented today through Saturday at four different locations in Southeast Missouri...

A bronze dedication plate, once bolted to the front of Immaculate Conception Catholic School's 1940s-era building, lay on principal Tami Nenninger's desk Wednesday afternoon. "It's been a long night and a long day," Nenninger said with a sigh. "There's so much that's been damaged, so much destroyed. It's just shocking."...

WASHINGTON -- Thousands of customs and immigrations inspectors and other federal homeland security workers are being trained to spot symptoms of SARS, and they have orders to detain people with symptoms of the highly contagious illness. The training is part of the government's effort to prevent an outbreak in the United States of severe acute respiratory syndrome...

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon said Wednesday it may have recovered an Iraqi mobile biological weapons lab, the first such announcement since the start of the war to disarm the government of President Saddam Hussein. American forces in Iraq are doing tests on a trailer that matches the description of such laboratories, given by various sources including a defector who says he helped operate one, Defense Department officials said...

The Southeast Missourian's arts and leisure editor on Wednesday became the first local resident recognized by the College of Liberal Arts at Southeast Missouri State University who is not a university employee. Sam Blackwell received the honorary title of "Champion of the Arts," recognizing his work reporting on cultural events at the university and throughout the area. He has worked for the Southeast Missourian a total of 15 years...

MERMET, Ill. -- Residents across Southern Illinois counted their losses -- and their blessings -- Wednesday after at least four tornadoes cut a swath across this rural area of the state, leaving two people dead, at least 20 injured and scores of homes damaged or destroyed...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- With more desires than money, legislative negotiators are proposing a slightly unbalanced budget that could force Gov. Bob Holden to make more cuts or their colleagues to approve new revenues. As it stands, legislators already have trimmed many parts of the budget, including funding for public schools and social services...

Loving kindness IN MATTHEW 25: 33-46, Jesus tells pastors and church members how to minister to others. As Christians, the attitude of patient, loving kindness and mercy shown to those who can not or do not attend a church service would be a small sacrifice for any to do, considering the awesome sacrifice Christ paid for all of us...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Emmalene Vickie Knott Seabaugh, 77, of Perryville died Tuesday, May 6, 2003, at Perry County Nursing Home. She was born March 7, 1926, in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Herman Jacob and Geda Niswonger Behrle. She first married Elvest H. Knott July 8, 1944. He died Dec. 4, 1961. She later married Loy Seabaugh Sept. 21, 1997...

Albert Leo Davis, 89, of Cape Girardeau died Wednesday, May 7, 2003, at Chateau Girardeau Health Center. He was born March 19, 1914, at Commerce, Mo., son of Samuel W. and Rosa Haman Davis. He and Daisy G. Brundrett were married June 10, 1936, at Illmo. She died Aug. 12, 2002...

Stanley M. Overall Jr., 81, of Farmington, Mo., died Monday, May 5, 2003, as the result of an accident. He was born Jan. 20, 1922, in Ste. Genevieve County, son of Stanley M. and Frances Ethel Barton Overall Sr. He married Helen C. Roth, who died in 2001...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Elwood Mouser, 77, of Marble Hill died Tuesday, May 6, 2003, at his home. He was born March 21, 1926, near Hahn, Mo., son of Hobert and Rosetta Davis Mouser. He and Virginia Lee Stewart were married April 17, 1954, at Zalma, Mo. Mouser served as Bollinger County commissioner from January 1991 through December 1998. He was a member of VFW Post 5900, and of Palmore Baptist Church where he was Sunday School teacher and superintendent...

BENTON, Mo. -- Gilbert H. LeGrand, 79, of Benton died Wednesday, May 7, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Autrie Pounds Sr., 82, died Friday, May 2, 2003, at Thorek Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago. He was born Jan. 13, 1921, in Tupelo, Miss., the son of Benjamin and Vera Bolden Pounds. He was a member of the Rose of Sharon Baptist Church in Chicago, serving on the usher board...

Mildred C. "Sue" Meyer, 78, of Cape Girardeau died Tuesday, May 6, 2003, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Bonita Sue Young, 62, of Perryville died Tuesday, May 6, 2003, at her home. She was born Jan. 3, 1941, in Chester, Ill., daughter of Arkell W. and Dolores M. Sidick Clendenin. She and Scotty Young were married April 7, 1962. Young was a 1958 graduate of St. Vincent High School. She had been a legal secretary for the state's attorney in Chester, office clerk with the Republic-Monitor Newspaper in Perryville, and worked in the packing department at Gilster-Mary Lee Corp...

Kenneth Ray Howard, 58, of Jackson died Tuesday, May 6, 2003, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born Nov. 23, 1944, in Cape Girardeau, son of Dail and Louise Harper Howard. Howard was a real estate agent/broker with Century 21 Heartland Realty in Jackson. He was a member of Calvary Baptist Church at Chaffee, Mo., VFW Post 10495, American Legion Post 158 and Elks Lodge 409, all in Jackson...

Delphine Susie Clay Barfield, 78, of Danville, Ill., and formerly of Karnak, Ill., died Thursday, May 1, 2003, at the Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Ill. She was born Feb. 6, 1925, in Grand Chain, Ill., the daughter of Mark and Alice McClellan Clay. She married Hobert Barfield Sr. on March 4, 1946. He preceded her in death...

Mills Daughter to Stephen Alan and Catherine Elizabeth Mills of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 2:27 p.m. Friday, May 2, 2003. Name, Genevieve Elizabeth. Weight, 7 pounds 10 ounces. Second child, first daughter. Mrs. Mills is the former Catherine Havens, daughter of Carolyn Sanders of Cape Girardeau. She is employed at Jackson-Hewitt Tax Service. Mills is the son of Thomas Mills and Clara Mills of Park Hills, Mo. He is employed at BioKyowa Inc...

GRASSY, Mo. -- A mobile home was destroyed and a nearby house sustained extensive damage from a tornado that touched down in southwestern Bollinger County on Tuesday. Eldon Cowell and his wife, Charlotte, were at church when the twister demolished their mobile home on Route H...

To the editor: As a police professional, I was saddened to read of the arrest of former Cape Girardeau police detective Paul Tipler. His alleged actions are a disgrace to his department and our profession. I hope and trust that, if convicted, he will receive appropriate punishment. The temptations generated by drugs destroy good police officers every day. How sad...

Today Blood drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Notre Dame Regional High School. Donors receive free T-shirt. Blood drive from 2 to 7 p.m. at Eagle Ridge Christian School, sponsored by the Christian Honor Student Association. ...

How do you get to center stage at Carnegie Hall? Forty members of Southeast Missouri State University's Choral Union have the answer to a questions that has inspired many performers. The Choral Union reached any serious performing artist's ultimate goal when its members sang at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Easter Sunday...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate's Republican tax writers struck on agreement Wednesday on a dividend tax cut, ensuring that a scaled-back version of President Bush's call to eliminate such taxes entirely for shareholders will win support in the Senate Finance Committee...

By Laura Meckler ~ The Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The nation's surgeon general is using the soapbox that comes with his crisp white uniform to promote healthy living. It's safe ground, and that's just the way Dr. Richard Carmona likes it...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush lifted U.S. sanctions against the old government of Iraq on Wednesday and prodded the U.N. Security Council to do the same. "No country in good conscience can support using sanctions to hold back the hopes of the Iraqi people," Bush said...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has chosen New Mexico oilman Colin R. McMillan to be the secretary of the Navy and Air Force Secretary James Roche to replace the dismissed secretary of the Army, Thomas White. The White House announced Bush's picks Wednesday...

Florida to preserve 2000 election year ballots TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida's chads are hanging around. The ballots from Florida's disputed 2000 presidential election will be kept in the state archives for their historical value. Secretary of State Glenda Hood sent a letter this week to election supervisors directing them not to destroy the ballots, which will be transferred to Tallahassee this summer...

Standard Democrat BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County officials believe a tornado Sunday was the cause of some damage near Morley, including damage to the county's E-911 center. The E-911 center's roof is leaking now following the storm, Burton said, who estimated winds reached 70-80 mph. Burton said the roof probably can't be patched as it is "old and decrepit."...

PWP to hold orientation meeting today An orientation meeting for Parents Without Partners will be held at 6:30 p.m. today at Dairy Queen (near Schnucks) in Cape Girardeau. Mom's Day 3K set for Saturday in Jackson Celebrate motherhood, health and family fitness at 8 a.m. ...

Memorial Day supper at Zion United Methodist Zion United Methodist Church will hold its annual Memorial Day Supper from 4 to 7 p.m. May 26. In addition to the menu of chicken and dumplings, ham, slaw, green beans, corn, German potato salad, homemade bread amd desserts, the youth group will have hot dogs and hamburgers at a food stand. Crafts, plants, baked goods, jellies, jams, sodas and candy bars will also be available...

Submitted photo St. Francis Medical Center recognized volunteers During the week of April 27, hospitals throughout the United States recognized the dedication and hard work of their volunteers. St. Francis Medical Center volunteers with more than 10,000 hours were front row, from left, Margie Williams, 10,000 hours; Lillian Young, 12,000 hours; Opal Perkins, 19,000 hours; Ruth Westrich, 15,000 hours; and Vernice Baumstark, 16,000 hours. ...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Victims of the storms that ripped through Missouri this week could experience further misfortune with the loss of their homeowner's insurance. The Missouri Department of Insurance has already received two complaints from homeowners who said their insurance agents told them that if they filed a claim for damages from the recent storms, their policies would likely be dropped...

Cape Girardeau Thursday, May 8 Firefighters responded to the following items Tuesday: At 7:09 p.m., a trash fire at 36 S. Henderson. At 8:27 p.m., a motor vehicle accident with injuries at Big Bend Road and Country Club Drive. At 9:31 p.m., a mutual aid to Jackson...

Cape Girardeau Thursday, May 8 The following items were released by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Arrests do not imply guilt. Arrests Robert Lee Ribble Jr., 41, of HC01 Box 589, Zalma, Mo., was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of methamphetamine and marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia...

Missouri taxpayers have been indirectly subsidizing abortions for years, despite the state's long-standing prohibition on using public money for ending the life of unborn children. It has happened in several ways, all of which circumvented the intent of the law...

10 years ago: May 8, 1993 U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. advises Southeast Missouri State University graduates not to cheat in their future endeavors, saying, "When you cheat, someone else suffers"; graduating class is composed of 705 undergraduates and 49 graduates...

Jackson residents picked their way around mangled trees and dangling power lines Wednesday, sifting through debris from the tornado that ripped through the city hours before. In the 10 minutes the tornado was on the ground in central and northeast Jackson, at least 134 homes and 11 businesses were damaged, said Jackson fire chief Brad Golden. Of those, 12 homes and three businesses were destroyed...